Byzantine Empire Vocabulary

Transformation

Conversion; change in character or condition

Structure

An arrangement in a definite pattern of organization

Procurator

In the Roman Empire, an official in charge of a province

Clergy

Church leaders

Laity

Regular church members

Military 

Relating to the armed forces or to soldiers, arms, or war

Collapse

To break down completely; to suddenly lose force of effectiveness

Plague

An epidemic disease

Inflation

A rapid increase in prices

Pursue

To follow up or proceed with

Bishopric

A group of Christian communities, or parishes, under the authority of a bishop

Monk

A man who separates himself from ordinary human society in order to dedicate himself to God; monks live in monasteries headed by abbots 

Monasticism

Practice of living the life of a monk

Missionary

A person sent out to carry a religious message

Nun

A woman who separates herself from ordinary human society in order to dedicate herself to God; nuns live in convents headed by abbesses

Abbess

The head of a covent

Excluded

To bar from incursion or participation in

Ensure

To make sure

Wergild

“Money for a man”; the value of a person in money, depending on social status; in Germanic society, a fine paid by a wrongdoer to the family of the person he or she had injured or killed

Ordeal

A means of determining guilt in Germanic law, based on the idea of divine interventions; if the accused person was unharmed after a physical trial, he or she was presumed innocent 

Legal

Relating to law; founded on law

Enormous

Huge; vast; immense

Patriarch

The head of the Eastern Orthodox Church, originally appointed by the Byzantine Emperor 

Icons

Pictures of religious images

Idolatry

The worship of religious images

Conversion

The change from one belief or form to another