Late Medieval Europe: Key Figures and Terms

Vocabulary flashcards covering key people, events, and terms from Late Medieval Europe notes.

Henry IV

Henry of Lancaster; deposed Richard II and became king of England.

Henry V

English king (1413-1422); famous for the victory at Agincourt.

Hundred Years' War

Series of conflicts (1337-1453) over succession to the French throne.

Isabella

Isabella of France, nicknamed the She-wolf of France.

Joan of Arc

French peasant girl who led troops and inspired French victory.

John II

French king captured at the Battle of Poitiers.

Little Ice Age

Period of cooling spanning roughly the late 13th to the 19th centuries.

Longbow

Powerful Welsh bow used by the English in the Hundred Years' War.

Marsiglio of Padua

Author of Defender of the Peace; argued for limits on church supremacy in politics.

Martin V

Pope elected by the Council of Constance; ended the Western Schism.

Meister Eckhart

Medieval mystic; associated with Christian mysticism.

Mongols

Mongol Empire; helped spread plague from Asia to Europe.

Petrarch

Lyric poet; often called the Father of Humanism.

Philip IV

The Fair; King of France; conflicts with Boniface VIII; his line died out.

Pogroms

Organized massacres of Jews, especially during the Black Death.

Richard II

English king during the Peasant Revolt (1381); later betrayed rebels.

Scutage

Payment to a lord in lieu of military service.

Statute of Laborers

English law limiting wages and restricting peasant mobility.

Visconti

Ruling family of Milan.

Decameron

Book by Boccaccio describing life in plague-ridden Italy.

Divine Comedy

Dante's epic poem about the soul's journey to heaven.

Edward III

English king (1327–1377); claimed the French throne, starting the Hundred Years' War.

English Peasant Revolt of 1381

Uprising against taxes on peasants.

Flagellants

Wanderers who whipped themselves seeking God's forgiveness during plague.

Geoffrey Chaucer

Author of The Canterbury Tales.

Gerard Groote

Founder of the Modern Devotion movement.

Giotto

Italian painter; a forerunner of Renaissance art.

Giovanni Boccaccio

Author of Decameron.

Giovanni di Dondi

Created one of the most accurate clocks of the time.

Grandi

Wealthy ruling class of Florence.

Gregory XI

Last Avignon Pope.

Henry III

English king who kept most French possessions except Gascony.

Ciompi

Florentine wool workers who revolted in 1378.

Clement V

Pope who moved the papacy from Rome to Avignon.

Clement VI

Pope who crushed the Flagellant movement.

Clement VII

Pope elected by French during the Great Schism; rival to Urban V.

Catherine of Siena

Mystic who urged Gregory XI to return the papacy to Rome.

Charles V

French king who recovered lands lost to England.

Charles VI

Insane king of France.

Charles VII

Crowned with help from Joan of Arc; King of France (1422-1461).

Christine de Pizan

Author and early advocate for women's rights.

Calais

Coastal French town captured by England; held for a century.

Capetian Dynasty

French dynasty that eventually went extinct.

Boniface VIII

Pope who clashed with secular rulers; key figure before the Avignon Papacy.

Battle of Agincourt

Overwhelming English victory in 1415 during the Hundred Years' War.

Black Death

Mid-14th century pandemic; the most devastating plague in European history.

Black Prince

Edward, Prince of Wales; famed military leader of the era.

Alexander V

Pope elected by the Council of Pisa during the Western Schism.