Medieval History Belmont University Exam 2

Scholasticism

The medieval method of learning that used logic, debate, and authoritative texts to study theology and philosophy.

Armed pilgrimage

A crusade understood as a penitential pilgrimage carried out with arms, especially to aid eastern Christians and recover holy places.

Concordat of Worms (1122)

The 1122 agreement that helped end the Investiture Controversy by distinguishing spiritual investiture from temporal authority.

Godfrey of Bouillon

A major leader of the First Crusade who became ruler of Jerusalem and refused the title of king.

Mortal hatred

A phrase used in anti-heretical writing to describe the alleged deep hostility of heretics toward the Catholic Church and its sacraments.

Homage and fealty

Homage was the formal act by which a vassal acknowledged a lord and entered his service; fealty was the oath of loyalty sworn to that lord.

Feudal obligations

The duties owed between lord and vassal, especially military service, counsel, loyalty, and various financial payments or aids.

Feudal incidents

Special payments or rights that a lord could claim from a vassal or the vassal's heirs, such as relief, wardship, marriage rights, and escheat.

Feudal aids

Payments a vassal was expected to give a lord on special occasions, such as ransoming the lord, knighting the lord's eldest son, or marrying the lord's eldest daughter.

Peace of God

A Church movement that tried to limit violence by protecting noncombatants such as peasants, clergy, women, and church property from attack.

Truce of God

A Church movement that tried to limit warfare by banning fighting on certain days and during certain holy seasons.

Clermont

The French town where Pope Urban II preached the First Crusade in 1095.

Urban II

Pope who called for the First Crusade at Clermont in 1095.

Alexius I Comnenus

Byzantine emperor who asked the West for military help against the Seljuk Turks, helping trigger the First Crusade.

Kerbogha

The Muslim ruler of Mosul who led forces against the crusaders at Antioch in 1098 and was defeated.

Peter Bartholomew

A crusader associated with the claimed discovery of the Holy Lance at Antioch.

Raymond of St. Gilles

Also called Raymond IV of Toulouse; one of the chief leaders of the First Crusade.

Bohemond of Taranto

A Norman leader of the First Crusade who became ruler of Antioch.

Baldwin of Edessa

Brother of Godfrey of Bouillon; became ruler of Edessa and later king of Jerusalem.

Antioch

A major city captured during the First Crusade after a long siege; later became a crusader principality.

Tancred

A Norman crusader leader, nephew of Bohemond, active in the First Crusade and later in Antioch.

Adhemar of Le Puy

Papal legate for the First Crusade and bishop of Le Puy; an important spiritual leader of the expedition.

Fatimids

A Shiite Muslim dynasty that ruled Egypt and at times controlled Jerusalem before the crusaders took it.

Lay investiture

The practice by which secular rulers invested bishops and abbots with the symbols of office, a major issue in the Investiture Controversy.

Spiritualia

The spiritual powers and responsibilities of a church office, such as the care of souls and religious authority.

Temporalia

The lands, revenues, legal rights, and worldly possessions attached to a church office.

Henry IV

German king and Holy Roman Emperor who clashed with Pope Gregory VII in the Investiture Controversy.

Gregory VII

Pope who opposed lay investiture and excommunicated Henry IV; central figure in the reform papacy.

Canossa

The place where Henry IV went in 1077 to seek absolution from Pope Gregory VII after excommunication.

Cluniac

Relating to Cluny and its reform movement, which emphasized strict monastic observance, prayer, and independence from lay control.

Cistercian

A reform monastic order founded in reaction to perceived excesses; stressed simplicity, manual labor, and austere religious life.

St. Bernard of Clairvaux

A leading Cistercian abbot, major church writer, preacher of the Second Crusade, and powerful spiritual authority.

Obit

A record of a person's death date, often kept so prayers or commemorations could be offered for that person.

Peter Abelard

Famous medieval scholar and theologian known for dialectical reasoning, teaching, and the work Sic et Non.

Lectio

A formal reading or lecture by a master on an authoritative text.

Questiones

Questions raised for debate and analysis in medieval schools as part of the scholastic method.

Responsio

The master's response or answer to a disputed question in scholastic discussion.

Determinatio

The master's final determination or resolution of a disputed academic question.

Bologna

A major medieval university especially famous for the study of law.

Universitas

In the medieval sense, a corporate body or guild of teachers and/or students; from this comes the word university.

Rector

The elected head or official leader of a medieval university.

Collegium

A college or endowed community within a university, often meant to house and support scholars or students.

Licentia docendi

The license to teach; the formal authorization allowing someone to teach in the medieval university system.

Cathedral school

A school attached to a cathedral, important in the development of medieval education and universities.

Île de la Cité

The island in the Seine at the center of medieval Paris, associated with the cathedral and early schools.

Notre-Dame

The great cathedral of Paris, closely tied to the cathedral school out of which the University of Paris developed.

Left Bank

The south side of the Seine in Paris where many schools and students were located.

Latin Quarter

The academic district of Paris on the Left Bank, named for the use of Latin in study and instruction.

Romanesque

An architectural style before Gothic, marked by thick walls, rounded arches, heavy forms, and relatively small windows.

Durham Cathedral

A major Romanesque cathedral in England, often cited as an important example of that style.

Gothic

An architectural style marked by pointed arches, ribbed vaults, flying buttresses, height, and large stained-glass windows.

Abbot Suger

Abbot of Saint-Denis associated with early Gothic architecture and the idea of using light to elevate the soul.

Cathar/Albigensian

A heretical movement, especially strong in southern France, associated with dualist beliefs and opposition to many Church teachings.

Hairesis ('choice')

A Greek word meaning 'choice'; the root of the word heresy, referring to a chosen belief or sect outside accepted orthodoxy.

Dualism

The belief in two opposing principles, often good and evil, spirit and matter; central to Cathar belief.

Perfecti

The spiritual elite among the Cathars who lived strict, ascetic lives and had received the consolamentum.

Credentes

Ordinary believers in Catharism who supported the perfecti but did not live under the same strict discipline.

Peter Waldo (d. 1205?)

A wealthy merchant of Lyon who embraced apostolic poverty and inspired the Waldensian movement.

Waldensian

A religious movement founded by followers of Peter Waldo that emphasized poverty, preaching, and scripture, later condemned as heretical.

Barbe

A Waldensian religious leader or elder, often an itinerant preacher.

Episcopal inquisition

An earlier system in which bishops were responsible for investigating and suppressing heresy in their dioceses.

Papal inquisition

A later system directed more centrally by the papacy, often using trained inquisitors such as Dominicans.

Sermo generalis

A formal public sermon or assembly at which inquisitorial sentences could be announced.

Bernardo Gui

A Dominican inquisitor and author known for manuals on detecting and questioning heretics.

St. Dominic of Caleruega

Founder of the Dominican Order; emphasized preaching, learning, and combating heresy through persuasion and instruction.

Order of Preachers

The Dominican Order, founded to preach orthodox teaching and combat heresy.

St. Francis of Assisi

Founder of the Franciscans; emphasized poverty, humility, preaching, and imitation of Christ.

Week work

Regular labor services peasants owed their lord on the demesne during the normal work week.

Boon work

Extra labor services owed by peasants at especially busy times, such as harvest.

Three-field system

A medieval agricultural system in which land was divided into three parts: one planted in autumn, one in spring, and one left fallow.

Banalités

Fees peasants paid to use the lord's mill, oven, winepress, or other facilities.

heriot

A death duty, often the peasant's best animal or a similar payment, owed to the lord when a tenant died.

merchet

A payment made to the lord, often when a peasant's daughter married.

Wife of Bath

A major character in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, known for her strong voice, views on marriage, and challenge to male authority.

Lincoln rule

A rule or custom associated with urban regulation or civic organization; review class notes for the exact way your professor used this term because it can be course-specific.

Christine de Pisan

A late medieval writer who defended women and criticized misogyny; author of The Book of the City of Ladies.

burgus

A borough or town settlement, often fortified or privileged, associated with medieval urban growth.

elementary liberties

Basic rights granted to towns, such as holding markets, limited self-government, or freedom from certain dues.

advanced liberties

More extensive town privileges, such as broader legal autonomy, self-administration, and commercial rights.

villeneuve

A 'new town,' often deliberately founded by a lord to attract settlers and encourage trade.

populo grosso

The wealthier and more powerful urban groups, especially merchants and leading guild members.

populo minuto

The lesser people of the town, including poorer artisans, laborers, and smaller guild members.

episcopal inquisition failed to eliminate heresy

The episcopal inquisition failed because bishops were often too local, inconsistent, poorly organized, under-resourced, and not vigorous enough to suppress heretical movements permanently across all regions.

pope who forced submission at Canossa in 1077

Gregory VII.

German emperor at Canossa in 1077

Henry IV.

Dominican theologian who wrote Summa Theologiae and Summa contra Gentiles

Thomas Aquinas.

Most crusaders were land-hungry younger sons desperate to establish lordships in the East

This statement is false; historians generally argue that many crusaders were motivated more by piety, penitence, and religious devotion than by greed alone.

university at Paris developed out of

The cathedral school.

person who performs homage to a lord in exchange for a fief

A vassal.

Thomas Aquinas

A Dominican theologian and philosopher who wrote the Summa Theologiae and the Summa contra Gentiles and became one of the most influential scholastic thinkers.

Summa Theologiae

A major theological work by Thomas Aquinas that systematically explains Christian doctrine.

Summa contra Gentiles

A work by Thomas Aquinas written to explain and defend Christian belief using reasoned argument, especially for non-Christians or skeptics.

First Crusade

A military-religious expedition launched after Urban II's call at Clermont in 1095 to aid eastern Christians and recover Jerusalem.

Investiture Controversy

The conflict between popes and rulers over who had the authority to appoint bishops and abbots.

University of Paris

A medieval university that grew from the cathedral school of Notre-Dame and became famous for theology.

vassal

A person who entered into a feudal relationship with a lord by homage and fealty in exchange for a fief or protection.

fief

Land or rights granted by a lord to a vassal in return for service.

heresy

Belief or teaching condemned by the Church as contrary to orthodox doctrine.

orthodoxy

Accepted correct belief, especially in religious doctrine.

consolamentum

In Cathar belief, the spiritual rite received by the perfecti, often seen as the key sacrament of the movement.