​Manors & Burghers

manorialism

economic and political system involving a hierarchy of reciprocal obligations between landlords and their peasant laborers exchanging labor or rents for access to land

estate

houses, outbuildings, supporting farmland, and woods that surround the gardens and grounds of a very large property; also common law term for a person's property, entitlements and obligations

serfs

peasant agricultural laborers bound to lands owned by feudal lords

Black Death

outbreak of bubonic plague that spread across Asia, North Africa, and Europe in the mid-fourteenth century significantly reducing Europe's population and altering the social structure

Hanseatic League

commercial alliance of north German and Scandinavian cities

burgher/bourgeoisie

city dwelling merchants and artisans who formed the middle class; their name came from the German "burg", meaning "castle" referring to the defensive city walls within which they lived

guild

sworn association of people in the same business or craft in a single city; stressed security and mutual control; limited membership, regulated apprenticeship, guaranteed good workmanship