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.