The Late Middle Ages: The Black Death and the Hundred Years' War

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms, historical figures, battles, treaties, and socio-economic developments during the Black Death and the Hundred Years' War.

Yersinia pestis

The biological name for the plague bacterium, carried primarily by fleas on black rats.

Flagellants

Religious extremists during the Black Death who whipped themselves in ritual pursuits, believing that suffering like Christ would heal them from the plague.

Statute of Laborers

A law passed by the English Parliament in 1351 that attempted to freeze and lower peasants' wages back to pre-plague levels.

Jacquerie

A French peasants' revolt in 1358 caused by the heavy burden of the war, which was brutally crushed.

Inquisition

A Church Court set up by the Roman Catholic Church to get rid of heretics.

Treaty of Bretigny

A 1360 treaty where King Edward III renounced his claim to the French throne, France agreed to pay 3 million gold crowns for King John II the Good's ransom, and England gained control over certain French territories.

Treaty of Troyes

A 1420 agreement intended to disinherit Charles VI's son, in which King Charles VI of France accepted King Henry V of England as his heir.

Truce of Tours

A 1444 agreement that stopped fighting in the Hundred Years' War until 1449.

Estates General

The French council consisting of clergy, nobles, and townspeople that used the king's need for war taxation to gain power over fiefdoms.

Homage

A formal pledge of loyalty owed to a king, such as the pledge required from the English king as a vassal for French territory.

Capetian Dynasty

The ruling French royal dynasty that ended in 1328 upon the death of King Charles IV without a male heir.

Valois Dynasty

The French ruling dynasty established in 1328 starting with King Philip VI.

Battle of Agincourt

A major 1415 battle won in Normandy by the English army under King Henry V.

Battle of Poitiers

A 1356 battle in which English forces led by the Black Prince captured King John II the Good of France.

Battle of Sluys

A 1340 naval victory at the Bay of Sluys that gave England control of the English Channel.

Joan of Arc

A peasant girl from Lorraine who lifted the siege of Orleans in 1429, was captured in 1430, burned at the stake as a heretic in 1431, and canonized in 1920.

Wat Tyler

A leader of the 1381 English peasants' revolt who led rebellion against pre-plague wage restrictions.

John Ball

A prominent leader alongside Wat Tyler in the 1381 English peasants' revolt against post-plague wage burdens.

Jacob van Artevelde

A leader who led a 1340 revolt against the French in Flanders, bringing Flemish cities into an alliance with England.

Longbow

A 6ft long weapon used by the disciplined English army, capable of penetrating a knight's armor at 200 yards.

Dauphin

The title for the heir to the French throne, held by Charles VII before his coronation at Rheims.

House of Lords and House of Commons

The two houses of the English Parliament, with the House of Commons consisting of townspeople and knights.