Middle Ages and the Feudal World Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards based on the lecture notes covering feudalism, social structures, agricultural innovations, and the expansion of European and Iberian kingdoms.

Feudalism

A political, economic, and social system in Western Europe that consolidated around the year 1000 and lasted until the 15th century.

Vassalage relationship

A relationship where a king rewarded a noble with a fief in exchange for loyalty, military militias, counsel, and economic assistance.

Fief

An extension of land accompanied by noble titles and privileges granted to a vassal by a monarch.

Serfdom relationships

Relationships between the peasantry and lords where the lord offered protection and justice in return for labor and a portion of the harvest.

Homage

A solemn rite where a free man declared himself a vassal to a lord, expressing dependence in exchange for protection and land.

Privileged estate

A social group consisting of the nobility and clergy who did not pay taxes, did not work, and enjoyed special laws.

Bellatores

A social group in feudal society defined as "those who fight," corresponding to the nobility.

Oratores

A social group in feudal society defined as "those who pray," corresponding to the clergy.

Laboratores

A social group in feudal society defined as "those who work," corresponding to the peasantry.

Lord's rents

Income received by feudal lords from the work of the peasantry and tributes paid for using lands and infrastructures.

Tithe

A delivery of one-tenth of earnings to the Church by the peasantry in ecclesiastical fiefs.

Corvée

The requirement for free peasants to work the lord's lands for free periodically.

Three-field system

An agricultural technique where land was divided into three parts for rotating cereals, legumes, and fallow land.

Mouldboard plough

A tool with wheels that allowed for deeper furrows and soil aeration, often pulled by horses or oxen.

Burgs

New neighborhoods that emerged outside city walls, giving the name to the social group known as the bourgeois.

Upper bourgeoisie

Also known as the urban patriciate, this group included wealthy merchants, bankers, and guild leaders in the cities.

Charter

Also known as a foral document, this granted a city the right to govern itself autonomously and guaranteed specific rights.

Curia Regia

The Royal Council made up of representatives of the nobility and clergy who supported the monarch in governing.

Courts

Also called estates parliaments, these were meetings of the king and the three estates where subsidies were requested and laws approved.

Monastic rule

A set of community norms that governed the daily lives of monks and nuns in monasteries.

Heresies

Religious movements, like the Cathars or Albigensians, that criticized church wealth and the moral laxity of high clergy.

Crusades

A series of eight holy wars between the 11th and 13th centuries aimed at reconquering Jerusalem from the Turks.

Battle of Covadonga

A battle in 722 where a Visigothic settlement defeated the Muslims, originating the Kingdom of Asturias.

Hispanic March

A series of counties established by Charlemagne in the Pyrenees to contain the Muslim advance.

Taifa kingdoms

Independent territories that emerged in Al-Andalus after the collapse of the Caliphate of Córdoba in 1031.

Crown of Aragon

A territorial entity formed in 1137 following the marriage of Petronilla of Aragon and Ramon Berenguer IV.

Parias

Tributes paid by taifa kingdoms to Christian lords in exchange for military protection.

Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa

A 1212 battle marking the defeat of Almohad troops and a major milestone in the Christian conquest.

Universities

Corporations of teachers and students born in the 13th century to provide education independent of direct Church or urban control.