Unit 2-2 Post Classical China, the Mongols and the Late Middle Ages

Black Death/Bubonic Plague

plague spread by fleas on rats from Asia; killed every 1 in 3 people

Song Dynasty

(960-1279 CE) The Chinese dynasty that placed much more emphasis on civil administration, industry, education, and arts other than military.

Gunpowder

Invented within China during the 9th century, this substance was became the dominate military technology used to expand European and Asian empires by the 15th century.

Grand Canal

Built in 7th century during Sui dynasty; designed to link the original centers of Chinese civilization on the north China plain with the Yangtze river basin to the south; nearly 1200 miles long.

scholar-official

An educated person who worked in China's government.

Neo-Confucianism

term that describes the resurgence of Confucianism and the influence of Confucian scholars during the T'ang Dynasty and Song Dynasty; a unification of Daoist or Buddhist metaphysics with Confucian pragmatism

Footbinding

Practice in Chinese society to mutilate women's feet in order to make them smaller; produced pain and restricted women's movement; made it easier to confine women to the household.

Crusades

A series of holy wars from 1096-1270 AD undertaken by European Christians to free the Holy Land from Muslim rule.

Samurai

A member of the warrior class in premodern feudal Japan

Shogun

A general who ruled Japan in the emperor's name

Golden Horde

Mongol khanate founded by Genghis Khan's grandson Batu. It was based in southern Russia and quickly adopted both the Turkic language and Islam.

Hundred Years War

Series of campaigns over control of the throne of France, involving English and French royal families and French noble families.

Genghis Khan

Also known as Temujin; he united the Mongol tribes into an unstoppable fighting force; created largest single land empire in history.

magnetic compass

navigational instrument invented in China for finding directions

Battle of Tours

(732 CE) European victory over Muslims. It halted Muslim movement into Western Europe.

Kubilai Khan

grandson of Genghis Khan; conquered China; established Yuan dynasty in 1271

Tang Dynasty

(618-907 CE) The Chinese dynasty that was much like the Han, who used Confucianism. This dynasty had the equal-field system, a bureaucracy based on merit, and a Confucian education system.

Joan of Arc

French heroine and military leader inspired by religious visions to organize French resistance to the English and to have Charles VII crowned king

Moscow

Capital of Russia, became major center under Mongol rule (collected taxes and tribute for the Khanate of the Golden Horde)

Magna Carta

a document signed by King John of England in 1215 that constituted fundamental guarantee of rights and privileges and limited the power of the English monarch.

Chivalry

Code of conduct for knights during the Middle Ages

St. Thomas Aquinas

believed that it was possible to prove rationally that God exists

three-field system

a system of farming developed in medieval Europe, in which farm land was divided into three fields of equal size and each of these was successively planted with a winter crop, planted with a spring crop, and left unplanted.

Guilds

Association of merchants or artisans who cooperated to protect their economic interests

Commercial Revolution

the expansion of the trade and buisness that transformed European economies during the 16th and 17th centuries.

Gothic Architecture

Characterized by pointed arches, high ceilings, flying buttresses, and large stained-glass windows

Marco Polo

Venetian merchant and traveler. His accounts of his travels to China offered Europeans a firsthand view of Asian lands and stimulated interest in Asian trade.

Song Dynasty

(960-1279 CE) The Chinese dynasty that placed much more emphasis on civil administration, industry, education, and arts other than military.