Medieval World History and Feudal Empires

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering European and Japanese feudalism, the Crusades, the Black Death, imperial China and Vietnam, the Mongol Empire, and the rise of the Ottomans.

William the Conqueror

The ruler who reigned over all of England as well as Normandy, cementing Christianity in England in 1066 CE.

Excommunication

The act of expelling an individual from membership in the Christian Church.

Serfs

Agricultural workers bound to the land and manors of their lord.

Knights

Elite medieval warriors skilled in the use of swords who provided military service to lords.

Habeas corpus

The legal procedure that prevents the government from holding a person indefinitely without appearing before a judge.

Magna Carta

Known as the "Great Charter"; an English document establishing the principle that everyone, including the king, must follow the law.

Parliament

A lawmaking body representing the beginning of a transfer of power away from the English monarch.

Anti-semitism

Hostility toward and discrimination against Jews.

Crusade

A Christian military expedition organized to invade and conquer.

Pope Urban II

The head of the Catholic Church best known for initiating the First Crusade to assist the Byzantine Empire, reclaim the Holy Land, and assert papal authority.

Famine

An extreme shortage of food affecting an entire country or large geographic region.

Black Death

A devastating global plague pandemic originating in Central Asia and transmitted by fleas on rats that caused a sharp decline in Europe's population during the first half of the 1300s.

Hundred Years' War

A major conflict triggered by a political dispute when the King of France died and Edward III of England claimed to be next in line for the French throne.

Great Schism of 1378

A papal division sparked by a rivalry between French and Italian leaders within the church, which was resolved by the Council of Constance.

Movable type

A printing innovation composed of individual clay characters.

Dialects

Regional variations in a spoken language.

Song Dynasty

A prosperous Chinese imperial era characterized by major advancements in agriculture, trade, technology, iron and steel production, and government administration.

Shogun

A Japanese military general who commanded actual political governance and military force, while the emperor retained sacred authority.

Daimyo

Wealthy landowners and powerful regional lords in feudal Japan.

Infrastructure

Transportation and communication networks that support an economy and society.

Ly Dynasty

A Vietnamese dynasty remembered for founding the capital of Hanoi, establishing Vietnam's first university, and expanding imperial territory.

Genghis Khan

Born Temujin, a nomadic leader whose title translates to "universal ruler"; he united all Mongol tribes through steppe diplomacy and established the largest contiguous land empire in world history.

Khanates

The four regional domains (the Golden Horde, the Il-Khanate, the Chaghatai Khanate, and the Empire of the Great Khan) into which the Mongol Empire fractured following the death of Genghis Khan.

Envoys

Diplomatic representatives sent on official missions.

Omnipotence

The state of possessing unlimited or complete power.

The Forbidden City

A massive imperial palace complex situated in the heart of Beijing, China.

Sultan

An Islamic title of nobility meaning "strength" or "one with power."

Osman

The founder and original leader of the Ottoman Turks.

Ghazis

Warriors who fought for Islam.

Mehmed II

The Ottoman ruler famously known as "Mehmed the Conqueror."

Buboes

Painfully swollen lymph nodes that serve as a hallmark physical symptom of the bubonic plague.

Samurai

Elite Japanese warriors who served regional daimyo and adhered to a cultural tradition prioritizing loyalty, discipline, and martial honor.

Fiefs

Grants of land allocated to vassals and knights to support the medieval ruling elite in exchange for military service.

Autocrat

A ruler who consolidates borders with armies, controls religious bodies, curbs nobility, circumvents or rubber-stamps assemblies, decrees laws, and dispenses justice unilaterally.

King John

English monarch who ruled from 1199 to 1216 CE; he was excommunicated in 1207 over the appointment of the Archbishop of Canterbury and lost Normandy, Anjou, Maine, and parts of Poitou in wars against France.

Absolutism

A political governance model where a single monarch holds absolute, unrestricted sovereignty over a state and its population.

Pax Mongolica

A period of "Mongol peace" marked by unrivaled cultural exchange, widespread religious tolerance, and the cross-continental movement of people, technologies, and ideas.

Yuan China

The Mongol-led imperial dynasty in China (1279–1368) founded by Kublai Khan and visited by Venetian traveler Marco Polo.

Divine wind

The legendary typhoons of 1274 and 1281 that destroyed invading Mongol fleets and saved Japan from foreign conquest.