World History Ch: 9&10 vocab

Middle Ages

Period between ancient times and modern times, roughly for 500-1500.

Medieval

From the Latin for middle age, relating to the Middle Ages

Topography

Physical features of a place.

Clergy

People who are trained and ordained for religious services.

Pagan

Related to a religion with many gods

Missionary

Someone who tried to convert others to a particular religion.

Saint

Person believed to be especially holy.

Monastery

Secluded religious community.

Convent

Religious community for women known as nuns.

Sacrament

Sacred rites of Christianity, such as baptism and communion.

Christendom

Large community of Christians spread across the world.

Vassal

In medieval Europe, nobleman who received land from other noblemen in return for his service.

Fief

Estate granted by a lord to a vassal.

Knight

Warriors mounted on horseback.

Chivalry

Code of conduct in medieval Europe that required knights to be brave, loyal, and honest.

Manor

Self-sufficient estate of a medieval lord.

Serf

A peasant who is legally bound to live and work on land owned by a lord.

Crop rotation

Practice of changing the use of fields over time.

Fallow

Unplanted.

Three-field system

System of planting in High Middle Ages which increased the amount of land that could be planted each year.

Guild

Association of people who have common interest.

Mendicant order

Order founded to fight heresy and to preach to ordinary people.

University

School, or group of schools, that trains scholars at the highest level.

Natural law

Idea that there are laws in nature that are basic to both the natural world and human affairs.

Secular

Non religious.

Excommunicate

To exclude a person from a Church or a religious community.

Pilgrimage

A journey undertaken to worship at a religious place.

Magna Carta

A document that promised barons certain rights.

Common law

A body of law that has developed from custom and judge’s decisions rather than from laws passed by a law making assembly.

Habeas corpus

A court order to bring an arrested person before a judge or court.

Writ

A court order

Parliament

An assembly of representatives who make laws.

Judiciary

A system of law courts outside of the control of other branches of government

Crusades

A series of military campaigns to establish Christian control over the Holy Land.

Heresy

A belief that is rejected by official Church doctrine.

Inquisition

A series of investigations designed to find and judge heretics.

Iberian Peninsula

The peninsula where present day Spain and Portugal are located.

Moors

The Muslims in Spain.

Reconquista

The movement to drive Muslims from Spain.

Famine

An extreme scarcity of food.

Hundred Years War

The destruction war between France and England that lasted from 1337-1453

Bubonic plague

A deadly infection spread by fleas that live on rats.

Black Death

Epidemic of the bubonic plague that killed as many as one third of all Europeans between 1347 and 1352.

Peasants’ Revolt

Unsuccessful revolt by peasants against feudal lords in England in 1381.