Middle Ages: The Rise of Europe
papal supremacy
Authority of medieval popes over all secular rulers
Battle of Tours
Battle in 732 in which the Christian Franks led by Charles Martel defeated Muslim armies and stopped the Muslim advance into Europe
Catholic Missionaries
Catholics who work to spread their religious beliefs to other areas, such as the Jesuits
chivalry
Code of conduct for knights during the Middle Ages
Secular
Concerned with worldly rather than spiritual matters
Manorialism
Economic system during the Middle Ages that revolved around self-sufficient farming estates where lords and peasants shared the land.
fief
land granted by a lord to a vassal in exchange for loyalty and service
middle class
A social class made up of merchants, traders, and artisans. They ranked between nobles and peasants
capital
money for investment
apprentice
A trainee or person who works for guild master in order to learn a trade.
Knight
Mounted warrior
St. Francis of Assisi
A wealthy Italian who abandoned a life of luxury for a life devoted to Christianity He founded the Franciscan Order of Friars.
Self-Sufficient
Able to provide for your own needs without relying on others
Squire
Acted as a servant to the knight.
Hanseatic League
An economic and defensive alliance of the free towns in northern Germany, founded about 1241 and most powerful in the fourteenth century.
Germanic Kingdoms
Tribal groups that conquered the land that belonged to the Roman Empire in Europ, including Franks, Vandals, Visigoths, Ostrogoths, Lombards, and Saxons
feudal contract
exchange of pledges between lords and vassals
Canon Law
Law of the church
Pope
The head of the Roman Catholic Church.
Charlemagne (Charles the Great)
"Charles the Great" leader of the Franks (France); unified most of the Christian lands of Europe with the help of Pope Leo III who crowned him "Holy Roman Emperor" 800 c.e.
Monastery
A place where communities of monks live lives of devotion to God in isolation from the outside world
excommunication
Banishment from the Roman Catholic Church which included denial of the sacraments
Crusades
1096-1270 AD Christian Europe tried to reclaim Jerusalem; 1st crusade was a success and the rest were a failure; weakens the Byzantines; opens up trade
Treaty of Verdun
1843 treaty between Lothair, Charles the Bald, and Louis the German that split the Frankish empire into three empires. This caused central authority to break down and feudalism to grow.
Franks
A Germanic tribe that conquerd part of the Roman empire named Gaul, and established an empire
Convent
A building set aside for Nuns to worship & study
partnership
A business owned by two or more merchants who unite their funds for larger ventures
Bishop
A church official who leads a large group of Christians in a particular region
Commercial Revolution
A dramatic change in the economy of Europe at the end of the Middle Ages. It is characterized by an increase in towns and trade, the use of banks and credit, and the establishment of guilds to regulate quality and price.
Monarch
A form of government in which power is vested in hereditary kings and queens who govern in the interests of all
Magyars
A group of nomadic people who attacked from Hungary around 900 CE
manor
A large estate, often including farms and a village, ruled by a lord.
Monk
A man who devotes his life to a religious group, often giving up all he owns.
guild
A medieval organization of crafts workers or trades people.
Lords
A person of high rank who owned land but owed loyalty to his king
vassal
A person who received a grant of land from a lord in exchange for a pledge of loyalty and services
Feudalism
A political system in which powerful lords granted the use of land in exchange for their loyalty, military service, and protection of the people who live on the land
Pope Leo III
Escaped Rome & fled to Charlemagne's court; Charlemagne helped the Pope, allowing them to be on good terms; On Christmas day, 800, Charlemagne was crowned "Emperor of Rome". This arrangement conferred "holy" status on the new empire and emperor, with church and state seen almost as one.
tenant farmer
Farmer who works land owned by the lord and pays rent either in cash or crops
Cathedrals
Gothic Architecture used to show religious spirit during the Middle Ages, normally large for mass amounts of people
Medieval
In Latin, "middle age", a term that historians use for the period between ancient and modern times (500 - 1300)
Church Doctrine
Individual or collective official teachings of the church
Clovis
King Clovis was the first Frankish king who established a kingdom that was one of many Germanic kingdoms that replaced the Roman Empire. He converted to Christianity gaining the pope as a powerful ally.
Decentralized Political Structure
Kings gave away much of their power to the nobles, who each controlled their own local areas
Noblewomen
Ladies of the castle who supervised the upbringing of their children, made medicines, tended to the poor etc.
journeymen
Men who worked for payment from many different masters to learn different techniques
Tournaments
Mock battles that combined recreation with combat training
Peasants/Serfs
Peasants who lived on the manor and were bound to the land
Charles Martel
Responsible for defeating Muslims in battle of Tours in 732; ended Muslim threat to western Europe.
Benedictine Rule
Rules drawn up in 530 by Benedict, a monk, regulating monastic life. The Rule emphasizes obedience, poverty, and chastity and divides the day into periods of worship, work, and study.
Vikings
Scandinavian warriors who raided Europe and the Mediterranean in the early Middle Ages
Medieval Society
Set up as a class system where kings, knights, lords, vassals, and serfs had mutual and legal obligations based on the exchange of land for military service.
Agricultural Revolution
The agricultural revolution was a period of agricultural development between the 18th century and the end of the 19th century, which saw a massive and rapid increase in agricultural productivity and vast improvements in farm technology. This was the first the to industrialize.
interdict
The excommunication by the Roman Catholic Church of a town, region, or an entire kingdom
3 Field System
The field rotation system of the Middle Ages that kept one field barren per season
sacraments
The sacred rites or rituals of the Catholic Church
The Dark Ages
The thousand years (about 400-1400) between the dying Roman Empire's adoption of Christianity as its official religion and the rebirth (Renaissance) of interest in classical antiquity, also known as The Middle Ages.
Barter
Trade goods without involving money.
Troubadours
Wandering musicians who sang about the brave deeds of knights and their devotion to their lady loves. Their songs became the basis for epic stories and poems.
Nun
a woman who has taken a sacred vow to devote her life to prayer and service to the church
charter
a written document that set out the rights and privileges of a town
Parish Priest
lowest level of the church hierarchy. Conducted services in the village church and supervised moral and religious instructions. Typically the only member of the Church that the common person would ever speak to.
Castle
medieval castles were also manor houses, early castles built for defense and not comfort
Friars
monks who did not live in isolated monasteries but traveled throughout Europe preaching to the poor
Tithe
one tenth of annual produce or earnings, formerly taken as a tax for the support of the church and clergy.