Medieval Europe and Gunpowder Empires Review

Vocabulary review flashcards covering key historical terms from medieval Europe, the Protestant Reformation, and the Islamic Gunpowder Empires (Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal).

Feudalism

A decentralized medieval political and social hierarchy based on mutual obligations and land grants (fiefs) given by lords to vassals in exchange for military service and loyalty.

Manorialism / Manor System

The self-sufficient economic system of medieval Europe where peasant serfs were tied to a lord's agricultural estate (manor) and provided labor in exchange for physical protection.

Agrarian

Relating to cultivated agricultural land or an economic system largely sustained by farming.

Serf

An agricultural laborer legally bound to the land under the European manorial system, obligated to work the lord's estate.

Knights

Armored medieval European cavalry warriors who owed military service to noble lords in exchange for land or financial support.

Code of Chivalry

A medieval European code of behavior for knights that stressed Christian virtues, loyalty, military prowess, honor, and courteous behavior toward women.

Christian Monasteries

Religious communities where monks lived under communal vows to dedicate themselves to prayer, manual labor, manuscript preservation, and charitable service in medieval Europe.

Monasticism

A religious way of life focused on renouncing worldly attachments in order to devote oneself entirely to spiritual contemplation, prayer, and discipline.

Mergery Kempe

A late medieval English mystic whose autobiography, The Book of Margery Kempe, provides extensive records of personal religious devotions, pilgrimages, and daily life.

Hanseatic League

A commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and market towns across Northern Europe along the Baltic and North Sea trade networks.

100 Years War

A series of intermittent armed conflicts fought from 1337 to 1453 between England and France over control of the French throne and territorial sovereignty.

Bubonic Plague (Black Death)

A devastating pandemic that struck Europe and Asia during the mid-14th century, wiping out roughly one-third to one-half of Europe's population and undermining feudal relationships.

Primogeniture

The customary legal right of the firstborn son to inherit the entire family estate, titles, and property.

Joan of Arc

A French peasant girl and military leader who, guided by religious visions, inspired French forces to major victories in the 100 Years War before being captured and executed.

Crusades

A series of military campaigns sanctioned by the Catholic Church between the 11th and 13th centuries to reclaim the Holy Land from Muslim control.

Fourth Crusade

A military expedition (1202–1204) redirected by Venetian leaders that culminated in the sack of the Byzantine capital of Constantinople by Latin Christian crusaders.

Martin Luther

A German Catholic monk and theologian whose protest against clerical abuses launched the Protestant Reformation in 1517.

95 Theses

A list of propositions penned by Martin Luther in 1517 disputing the Catholic practice of selling indulgences and initiating the Protestant Reformation.

Indulgences

Certificates sold or granted by the Catholic Church that remitted the temporal punishment for sins in purgatory.

Protestant Reformation

A 16th-century religious movement that challenged papal authority and Catholic dogma, resulting in the establishment of Protestant churches.

Reconquista

The multi-century military effort by Christian kingdoms in the Iberian Peninsula to reclaim territory from Muslim Moorish rule, ending in 1492.

Spanish Inquisition

A state-run judicial tribunal established in 1478 by Spanish monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella to eradicate heresy and ensure Roman Catholic orthodoxy.

Alhambra Decree

An edict issued in 1492 by the Catholic Monarchs of Spain that mandated the expulsion of all practicing Jews from Castile and Aragon.

English Reformation

The 16th-century movement during which the Church of England severed ties with papal authority, establishing the English monarch as the head of the church.

King Henry VIII

The King of England who engineered the English break from the Catholic Church through the Act of Supremacy (1534) to secure a marriage annulment.

Excommunication

A formal ecclesiastical punishment issued by the Catholic Church that strips an individual of membership and excludes them from receiving the sacraments.

Elizabethan Age

The reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603) in England, characterized by religious compromise, the defeat of the Spanish Armada, and an English literary and cultural golden age.

30 Years War

A destructive European war (1618–1648) fought primarily in the Holy Roman Empire, starting over religious divisions and shifting into a continent-wide struggle for political dominance.

Peace of Westphalia

The 1648 peace treaties that concluded the 30 Years War, establishing diplomatic principles of national sovereignty and non-interference in domestic affairs.

Gunpowder Empires

The early modern Islamic empires—the Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal empires—that relied on centralized artillery, handguns, and cannons to conquer and consolidate large multiethnic realms.

Ottoman Empire

A Sunni Islamic Gunpowder Empire founded in Anatolia that expanded across Southeastern Europe, Western Asia, and North Africa from 1299 to 1922.

Devshirme

An Ottoman recruitment system where young Christian boys from conquered Balkan regions were levied, converted to Islam, and trained as imperial administrators or elite military troops.

Janissaries

Elite Ottoman infantry units and palace guards, recruited primarily through the devshirme system, who formed the backbone of the Ottoman standing army.

Timar System

An Ottoman revenue grant system where agricultural tax yields were assigned to military cavalrymen (sipahis) in lieu of direct wages, in exchange for military service.

Millet System

The administrative structure in the Ottoman Empire that allowed autonomous non-Muslim religious minority communities to resolve civil and legal affairs under their own laws.

Tax Farming

A revenue generation method where private contractors paid the state an advance lump sum for the right to collect taxes and retained any excess collections as profit.

Mehmed the Conqueror

The Ottoman Sultan (Mehmed II) who captured Constantinople in 1453, ending the Byzantine Empire and converting the city into the new Ottoman capital.

Fall of Constantinople

The 1453 siege and conquest of the Byzantine capital by Ottoman forces under Sultan Mehmed II, ending the Byzantine Empire and redirecting global trade routes.

Suleiman the Magnificent

The tenth Ottoman Sultan (reigned 1520–1566) who oversaw the empire's territorial zenith, codified legal structures, and presided over a cultural renaissance.

Safavid Empire

A Shia Muslim Gunpowder Empire that controlled Persia (Iran) from 1501 to 1736, renowned for its architectural heritage, artistic achievements, and rivalry with the Ottomans.

Shi’a/Shiite Muslims

The Islamic branch that maintains rightful succession to Muhammad belongs to his son-in-law Ali and his direct lineage; adopted as the official state creed by the Safavids.

School of Isfahan

An influential intellectual, philosophical, and artistic movement centered in the Safavid capital of Isfahan that promoted Persian miniature painting, architecture, and Islamic philosophy.

Direct Taxation

A tax system where citizens pay revenues directly to imperial government agents rather than through private collectors or tax farmers.

Jizya

A per capita tax historically levied on non-Muslim subjects (dhimmi) living under Muslim rule in exchange for protection and religious autonomy.

Shah Abbas

The Safavid ruler (reigned 1587–1629) who reorganized the imperial military with gunpowder technology, centralized government power, and built Isfahan into a global capital.

Mughal Empire

A Muslim Gunpowder Empire founded by Babur in 1526 that united the majority of the Indian subcontinent and was known for wealth, trade, and architectural grandeur.

Sati

A traditional South Asian custom where a Hindu widow immolated herself on her deceased husband's funeral pyre, which Mughal rulers like Akbar sought to restrict.

Purdah/Veiling

The cultural practice of female seclusion from public spaces through physical curtains, separate quarters, and concealing dress in South Asian and Middle Eastern cultures.

Harem

The private living quarters of an elite Muslim household, including royal palaces, inhabited by wives, concubines, and female family members, often wielding domestic and political influence.

Sikhism

A monotheistic religion founded in late 15th-century Punjab by Guru Nanak, blending elements of Hinduism and Islam and championing equality, devotion to one God, and social justice.

Akbar the Great

The Mughal emperor (reigned 1556–1605) who expanded the empire across northern India and practiced religious tolerance, abolishing the jizya and appointing Hindu officials.

Din-i Ilahi (Divine Faith)

A syncretic belief system created by Mughal Emperor Akbar in 1582, drawing elements from Islam, Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, and Christianity to bridge religious divisions.

Zamindari System

A Mughal tax collection system where hereditary aristocratic landlords (zamindars) collected agricultural revenue from local peasants on behalf of the central court.

Taj Mahal

A monumental white marble mausoleum in Agra, India, commissioned by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan as a tomb for his wife Mumtaz Mahal.

Mumtaz Mahal

The beloved empress consort of Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan, in whose memory the Taj Mahal was constructed following her death in 1631.

Shah Jahan

The fifth Mughal emperor (reigned 1628–1658), known for monumental architectural projects including the Taj Mahal and the Red Fort.

Decline of Gunpowder Empires

The eventual loss of power in the Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal empires caused by succession disputes, financial crises, military complacency, and expanding European maritime dominance.

Janissary Revolt

Military mutinies launched by Ottoman Janissary corps members to safeguard their privileges and resist westernizing institutional reforms by the sultans.

Mughal-Safavid War

A series of 17th-century territorial conflicts fought between the Mughal and Safavid empires, centered on control over the strategically vital fortress city of Kandahar.