Unit 0 AP Euro Voacb

Bubonic Plague / Black Death (1347-1351)

A deadly infection spread to humans by infected fleas and lice. This pandemic resulted in the death of 1/3 to 1/2 of Europe's population, creating a massive labor shortage that fundamentally altered the continent's social and economic structures.

Little Ice Age (c. 1300-1850)

A period of wide-spread cooling that shortened growing seasons, leading to frequent famines and widespread malnutrition. This environmental shift proved the existing feudal system was overstretched and unable to support the population.

Feudalism (Feudal System)

A political and social system based on a rigid hierarchy of three classes (king, nobility, and peasantry/serfs) where status was determined by land ownership. It functioned as a mutually dependent system of obligations: lords provided protection in exchange for labor or military service.

Nobility / Aristocracy

A privileged, hereditary class that held land for the Crown and exercised local political and practical power, often possessing more direct influence than the King.

Serf

An agricultural laborer legally bound to a lord's estate. Unlike free peasants, serfs were tied to the land and required to provide labor and homage to their lords.

Manorialism

The economic counterpart to feudalism, centered on the self-sufficient estate (manor) where serfs lived and worked the land.

Patriarchy

A system of society or government controlled by men, maintaining strict gender hierarchies.

Great Chain of Being

The medieval belief in a rigid, divinely ordained social structure where every individual had a fixed place in a hierarchy extending from God down to the lowest serf.

Homage & Fealty

Ritualized legal and religious oaths where a vassal or freeman pledged life and member (limbs) and worldly honor to a lord in exchange for land (a tenement or benefice).

The Papacy

The office and supreme authority of the Pope, who served as the ultimate moral and political arbiter in medieval Europe.

The Avignon Papacy (1309-1377)

A period where the Pope resided in France rather than Rome, leading to the belief that the Church had become a puppet of the French King and damaging its reputation for holiness.

The Great Schism (1378-1417)

A crisis of authority where multiple popes claimed power simultaneously and excommunicated one another, further destroying the Church's reputation for unity and legitimacy.

Alchemy

A medieval science focused on the transformation of matter, specifically the attempt to convert base metals into gold.

Astrology

The study of celestial movements (planets, sun, moon, stars) to understand their influence on human affairs.

Galen's Humors

The traditional medieval medical theory that health was determined by the balance of four bodily fluids; sickness was often viewed as a punishment for sin or an imbalance of these humors.

Open Field System

The basic medieval agricultural system featuring communal and private land holdings and the use of crop rotation.

Peasants' Revolts of 1381

Violent uprisings, such as the one led by Wat Tyler and John Ball, that challenged the nobility's power when lords tried to freeze wages or restrict the newfound leverage peasants gained after the Black Death.