Vocabulary: Chapter 11: The Middle Ages

Freelancers

🔹 Many knights travelled from one tournament to another. 🔹 In addition to honor and prestige, they could win money, servants, and horses. 🔹 On the other hand, losers sometimes had to forfeit everything they owned to the winner. 🔹 Without a manor to oversee, these knights became known as freelancers. 🔹Today, as a word refers to someone who independently provides a service for someone else.

Excommunication

🔹 Sentenced by which the Christian church expels a person from the church and forbids any priest to give the person communion or to any of the sacraments. 🔹Excommunication was a very serious punishment during the Middle Ages and Renaissance, because life revolved around the church.

Compurgation

🔹 System of justice used during the Middle Ages. 🔹 A person accused of a crime could be cleared of wrongdoing if a number of people supported the oath of the accused that he/she was innocent. 🔹 Compurgation was an alternative to trial by ordeal.

The Black Death

🔹 The Black death was a deadly epidemic that wiped out about one third of the population of Europe, about 20 million people, during the mid 1300s. 🔹 Often called the great plague, it was caused by bacteria that passed into the human population when fleas, caring infected blood from rats, bit people. The rats came from Asia on board to cargo ships.

Holiday

🔹 The word holiday comes from "holy day". 🔹 In addition to Sundays, the Christian church had close to 100 holy days throughout the year. 🔹 And these days, peasants do not have to work.

Christendom

🔹In 800 CE, the pope in Rome crowned Charlemagne, Emperor of the Romans, or Holy Roman Emperor, defender of the faith. 🔹This action united both the politics of kings and the religious power of the pope and elevated the status of the Roman Catholic Church to proclaim kings. 🔹 This unity known, known as Christendom, lasted for over 700 years.

Burgesses

1. Citizen who represented the people and makes laws for them on a local council. 2.Member of parliament for a borough in Britain.

Burghers

1.Town official. 2. Citizen, especially from a middle class, of a borough or town that has a charter from the local lord giving the town independence.

Mêlée

In medieval times, a battle fought hand-to-hand at close quarters. Now we use the word to mean a muddle or a lot of turmoil.

Manor

In the feudal system, the house and estate given to a lord or knight in exchange for a certain duties including providing troops for war.

Magna Carta

Magna Carta (Latin for '"Great Charter"), document that contain 63 demands.

Fief or Feud

Medieval system of landholding in Europe based on the relationship between a lord and his superiors (often the king was at the top) and on duties and services to each other. All members of the system had some rights.

Islam

Religion established through the prophet Muhamed. Followers of Islam are called Muslims. May also be referred to as the Muslim religion.

Demesne

Land held under feudal system and worked by the owner to provide for his own household; usually the land adjacent to a manor house and kept by the lord for his use.

Concentric Castles

Stone castles consisted of outer and inner curtainwalls, with a tower at each corner. These castles are known as concentric castles because of their concentric rings of walls.

Portcullis

Strong gate made of wooden or iron bars and suspended by chains over the entrance to a castle. Vertical grooves down the side allowed the portcullis to slide into place very quickly.

Quran

That and other messages that Muhamed received from God during his 23 years of prophethood were memorize, recorded, and compiled into a book called the Quran.

Moors

The Arab and Berber Muslims, known as the Moors, builds a center for learning in Cordova.

Yurts

The Mongols were nomadic, and they carried their homes, tents called yurts, with them as they travelled.

Berserkers

The fiercest warriors, known as berserkers, worked themselves into a frenzy during battle in order to scare opponents.

Garderope

Toilet in a castle. During medieval times, people sometimes hung expensive clothing in garderope to keep moths away.

Trebuchet & Magonel

Trebuchets and mangonels were both siege machines used to throw projectiles at or over castle walls. Both could fire objects as far as about 400 metres

Page

When a boy was seven years old, he was sent away to train as a page. A page served his apprentice at a castle, waiting on both ladies and knights .

Squire

When your page turn 14, he became a squire and apprenticed directly to a knight. A squire travelled to tournaments with his knight, carried his shield, helped him dress for the event, and provided him with water.

Abbesses

Woman who head communities of nuns.

Selion

a narrow strip of land between two furrows,used in the feudal system to divide an open field among a number of tenants who were usually serfs.

Normandy

🔹 And 911, the Franks granted land in the northwest of what is now France to a group of Vikings led by Rolf the Granger (known as Rollo). 🔹 This territory became known as Normandy, after the Normans who settled there.

Vikings

🔹 Known as Vikings, these Northmen, or Norseman,looted and destroy whatever was in there path. 🔹 Their conquests extended from Britain and France through the Mediterranean to Ukraine. 🔹 There they ruled the city of Kiev for time, establish an important trade route. 🔹 Although often pretrade as barbaric, Vikings were excellent shipbuilders, farmers, and iron craftsmen who also wrote of their adventures and lengthy stories.

Skraeling

Archaeologist have determined that the site (Vinland) was inhabited for only a few years before the Vikings abandoned it because of the attacks by the Skraelings, believed to be first nation peoples.

Muslim

Believers in Islam call themselves Muslims, or "those who submit to God. " Muslim's (as well as Arab Christians and Jews) call God by the name Allah, which means, literally, "the God".

Glebe

Each parish provided it's priest with a plot of land, known as a glebe, for revenue. Those living in the parish took turns working this land.

Appresenticeship

First stage in medieval guild system; period when a person begins to learn a craft or trade.

Hijab

Muhammed's journey from Mecca to Medina is known as the hijab and marks start of the Islamic calendar.

Allah

Muslim's (as well as Arab Christians and Jews) call God by the name Allah, which means, literally, "the God"

Hajj

Muslims are expected to make a pilgrimage, known as the Hajj, to the holy city of Mecca at least once in their lives.

Joust

Part of a medieval tournament where knights and men at arms fought on horseback with lances, at fairly close quarters. Jousts provided entertainment and gave knights an opportunity to practice their skills.

Knights

🔹Knights were fighters who served under nobles and lords, and they were expected to go to war whenever their king demanded it. 🔹To become a knight, a male had to be born the son of a knight or nobleman. 🔻1. at 7 sent➡️to train as a page 🔻2. When a page turned 14➡️ became a squire 🔻3. When a squire was 17➡️ he could become a knight 🔻4. But first he had to prove himself in either a real or mock battle, whether a mêlée or a joust. 🔻5. If he deemed worthy to become a the squire would kneel before the lord or noble who touched on the shoulders with his flattened sword 🔻6. The new knight gave a oath of fealty, or loyalty

Vinland

🔹Leif Eriksson established as a temporary settlement at a place he called Vineland, thought to be located on the northern tip of Newfoundland. 🔹He was son of Eric the Red

Motte and Bailey Castles

🔹The first castles were know as motte and bailey castles. 🔹The motte was the hill on which the keep was constructed. 🔹The king or lord, his family, and the staff lived in the keep. 🔹 The bailey housed the stables, storage, and barracks for the soldiers. 🔹 Surrounding the motte and bailey castle was a wooden palisade, or fence.

Guilds

🔹The first unions, called guild, were formed during the middle ages by crafts people. 🔹Every craft, such as weaving, had its own guild, which set regulation for working conditions. 🔹Non-members were prevented from working in the craft. 🔹 Guides established terms of apprenticeship, standards of quality, and prices.

Habeas Corpus

🔹Writ or court order to determine if someone can be kept in prison before being charged with anything. 🔹It is an important part of the British tradition of law, because it means the people cannot be thrown into prison and kept there without a legal reason. 🔹 Habeas corpus means "thou shalt have the body (in court)".

The Early Middle Ages

🔹when the Western Roman empire ended around 476 CE, the former Roman territories were divided in many small kingdoms. Government became more localized, with power exercise by local nobles or lords (provided the king with soldiers in times of war) 🔹 for the royalty, the nobles received land (fief or feud) from the king 🔻this exchanged led to the development of a new system and social organization called feudalism. 🔹Middle ages is the longest period In European history 🔹 lasted from 470 (Western Roman Empire) to 1300 (Renaissance)