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feudalism
A political system in which nobles are granted the use of lands that legally belong to their king, in exchange for their loyalty, military service, and protection of the people who live on the land.
Kings gave fiefs to Lords (vassal)
Lords gave land to knights (vassal)
Lords gave land to peasants who farmed and gave him crops
manors
Large fiefs or estates.
manorial system
Self sufficient, economic structure that is the relationship between the Lord and the peasants or serfs who produced all the necessary goods to keep the manor running. Had small villages with a church, blacksmith shop, a mill, presses.
Serfs were not slaves but were tied to the land and were very much under the lord.
three-field system
A rotational system for agriculture in which one field grows grain, one grows legumes, and one lies fallow. It gradually replaced two-field system in medieval Europe.
Estate-General
Body to advise the king including representatives from each of the three legal classes.
estates
Social classes in France before the Revolution (clergy, nobility, and commoners).
Otto I
Crowned emperor by pope in 962 CE; first emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. Title goes back to Charlemange, Emperor of the Romans.
lay investiture controversy
A dispute over whether a secular leader, rather than the pope, could invest bishops with the symbols of office.
Magna Carta
The royal charter of political rights given to leading English nobles by King John in 1215; e.g. nobles got jury trials, won on the right to be consulted on scutage (tax placed on a knight who wanted to "buy out" of military service).
English Parliament
Formed in 1265; increased the rights of the English nobility, but not the general population.
Crusades
A series of holy wars from 1096-1270 AD undertaken by European Christians to free the Holy Land from Muslim rule.
Great Schism
in 1054 this severing of relations divided medieval Christianity into the already distinct Eastern (Greek) and Western (Latin) branches, which later became known as the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church, respectively. Relations between East and West had long been embittered by political and ecclesiastical differences and theological disputes.
Marco Polo
Italian explorer who introduced Europeans to Central Asia and China, from his travels throughout there. Stimulated interest in catography.
Renaissance
Period characterized by a revival of interest in classical Greek and Roman ltierature, art, culture, and civic virtue.
humanism
Focus on individuals rather than God. Sought education and reform and wrote secular literature.
Little Ice Age
Temporary but significant cooling period between the fourteenth and the nineteenth centuries; accompanied by wide temperature fluctuations, droughts, and storms, causing famines and dislocation.
serfs
People who gave their land to a lord and offered their servitude in return for protection from the lord.
bourgeoisie
French middle class, including merchants, industrialists, and professional people.
primogeniture
A system of inheritance in which the eldest son in a family received all of his father's land. The nobility remained powerful and owned land, while the 2nd and 3rd sons were forced to seek fortune elsewhere. Many of them turned to the New World for their financial purposes and individual wealth.
burghers
A medieval merchant-class town dweller.
antisemitism
hostility to or prejudice against Jews. Grew during the middle ages in Europe
