World History Vocab

Procurator

in the Roman empire, official in charge of a province

Clergy

church leaders

Iaity

regular church members

Plague

an epidemic disease

Inflation

a rapid increase in prices

Bishopric

group of Christian communities, or parishes, under authority of a bishop

Monk

a man who separates himself from ordinary human society in order to dedicate himself to God; monks live in monasteries headed by abbots

Missionary

a person sent out to carry a religious message

Nun

a woman who separates herself from ordinary human society in order to dedicate herself to God; nuns live in convents headed by abbesses

Abbess

the head of a covenant

Monasticism

practice of living the life of a monk

Wergild

“money for a man” the value of a person in money, depending on social status; in Germanic society, a fine paid by a wrongdoer to the family of the person he or she had injured or killed

Ordeal

a means of determining guilt in Germanic law, based on the idea of divine intervention: if the accused person was unharmed after a physical trial, he or she was presumed innocent 

Patriarch

the head of the eastern orthodox church, originally appointed by the byzantine emperor

Icons

pictures of religious images

Idolatry

the worship of religious images