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Middle Ages

Era in Western Europe known as the Medieval Age (c. 500-1500), divided into Early, High, and Late Middle Ages

Vikings

Scandinavian seafaring pirates and traders who raided and settled in northwestern Europe in the 8th-11th centuries

Fief

Plot of land granted by a lord to a vassal

Knights

Soldiers serving the king and noblemen

Clergy

Group of religious officials authorized to conduct religious services

Gothic

Architectural style with slender columns, pointed arches, and slimness

Three-field system

Crop rotation leaving one field fallow each season

Scholasticism

Theology and philosophy system in medieval European universities

Black Death

Bubonic plague pandemic in Europe from 1346 to 1353

Renaissance

Artistic movement inspired by classical Greece and Rome

Humanism

Celebrating human individuality and focusing on secular matters

Nation-states

Regions with a centralized government and common identity

Vassal

Noble swearing loyalty to a lord in exchange for land

Tithe

One-tenth tax for Church support

Sacraments

Roman Catholic Church's important rituals

Crusades

Religious wars fought by Christians to reclaim the Holy Land

Guild

Association of merchants and craftsmen for mutual aid

Feudalism

Landholding system based on land and service exchange

Serfs

Bound workers tied to the land they worked on

Chivalry

Code of knightly honor

Canon law

Rules governing the Christian Church

Reconquista

Christian reconquest of Spain

Magna Carta

Charter establishing rule of law

Banking

Business of protecting money for others

Patrons

Supporters of artists

Lay investiture

Appointment of religious officials by kings

Lord

Landholder

Manor

Self-contained world on a lord's land

Castles

Fortified medieval buildings

Holy Roman Empire

Roman Catholic empire in Europe

Spanish Inquisition

Tribunal to eliminate heresy

Vernacular

Everyday local language

Parliament

Elected representatives making laws

Great Schism

Split in Christianity

Literacy

Ability to read and write

Printing Press

Invention by Johannes Gutenberg

Gregory the Great

Developed Roman Catholic Church's power

Saladin

Muslim leader during the Crusades

William the Conqueror

Norman Conquest victor in England

Jan Hus

Heretic burned in Prague

Thomas Aquinas

Famous scholastic thinker

Francesco Petrarch

"Father of humanism"

Thomas More

Humanist promoting free education

Charlemagne

First Holy Roman Emperor

Richard the Lion-Hearted

Leader during the Crusades

Henry II (England)

Reformer of English Common Law

Joan of Arc

Military leader in the Hundred Years' War

Michelangelo

Italian Renaissance artist

Niccolo Machiavelli

Author of "The Prince"

Ferdinand & Isabella

Unified Spain and completed the Reconquista

Eleanor of Aquitaine

Duchess and Queen of France and England

Genghis Khan

United Mongol tribes

Louis IX (France)

King of France during a prosperous period

Dante Alighieri

Writer of Divine Comedy

Leonardo da Vinci

Renaissance inventor and artist

Desiderius Erasmus

Humanist leader

Christopher Columbus

Explorer who discovered the New World

Urban II

Pope during the Crusades

Marco Polo

Explorer increasing European interest in Eastern trade

John Wycliffe

Translator of the Bible

Geoffrey Chaucer

English poet known for The Canterbury Tales

Raphael

Italian Renaissance painter

St

Christian bishop and theologian

St

Founder of the Benedictine order