09.04 - Political Powers and Achievements Vocabulary Intro

centralized

controlled by a single government or person

decentralized

loosely organized system in which many people have power in different areas, but they are not unified by any one government or person

feudalism

a decentralized system of power in which land owned by a powerful person is divided up and given to others in exchange for work and a promise to fight for the interest of the land owner. In Medieval Western Europe, kings divided up their land into fiefs and gave them to lords. These lords gave fiefs to vassals. In exchange for the fief, the vassals pledged allegiance to their lord.

manoralism

an economic system used in Western Europe in the Middle Ages in which a group of people lived on a lord's estate called a manor. The lord (sometimes a king or knight) allows peasants called serfs, or people bound to the land, farm the land. In exchange for farming and repairs, serfs were protected by their lord in the event of a war or raid. The manor was self-sufficient which meant that the peasants produced most of everything they needed including food, clothing, tools and furniture. They did not need to trade with others for their basic needs.

social mobility

the ability to become part of a social class other than the one someone is born into

unify

to bring together as a single unit

codify

to arrange into a system of rules or laws

secular

nonreligious

reform

(v) to change; (n) a change

power vacuum

a condition that exists when someone has lost control and no one has replaced them

divergent

tending to develop differently, or in different directions

interdependence

the state of needing another person or group of people