Early European SS Vocab

Feudal system

A type of social and political system and which land holders provides land to tenants exchange for their loyal and service during the middle ages

Knight

A person who served his lord as a mounted soldier in armor

Lord

Someone or something having power, authority, or influence; a master or ruler

Fief

In the feudal system, a grant of land to a vassal (lesser noble)

Serf

from 1500s to 1800s a poor peasant farmer who rented land from landlord and had few rights

clergy

the body of people ordained for religious duties especially in the Christian church

noble

belonging to a class with high social or political status

black death

a devastating global epidemic of the bubonic plague that struck Europe and Asia in the middle ages.

crusades

military expeditions of the roman catholic church to take back control of the muslim holy lands in the middle east

manor

a large sufficient estate with farmland and sometimes whole villages, ruled by lords who collected taxes and homes from peasants who formed the land.

Vassel

A person who promised to be loyal to a powerful lord, in exchange for protection and land to live on

city-states

an independent country the size of a city

Renaissance

meaning “rebirth”, a period in the 1300s-1500s in which culture and the arts flourished

Humanism

a system of thought where people are of prime importance rather than deity (god)