Middle Ages

Vikings

Lived in Scandinavia and were traders, farmers, and explorers known for their warships used in raids.

Magyars

Nomadic people from the east (current-day Hungary) who were superb horsemen and took captives as slaves.

Muslims

Attacked from the south into Italy and Spain, causing people in Western Europe to look to local rulers for protection.

Feudalism

A political system in which nobles are granted the use of lands that legally belong to their king, in exchange for loyalty and military service.

Vassal

A person who receives a fief from a lord in exchange for military protection and other services.

Serfs

Peasants who were bound to the land they worked on, unable to leave but not classified as slaves.

Manor

The lord's estate that served as an economic system during the medieval period.

Peasant Life

Peasants paid taxes on grain and marriage, owed tithes to the village priest, and lived a life of hard labor with limited resources.

Clovis

Intelligent leader of the Franks who united them and was the first legitimate Christian leader in the west.

Charlemagne

Leader of the Franks known for his prosperous reign, efforts in arts and learning, and restoring the Pope's position.

Great Schism

A division between the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church due to cultural and political differences.

Iconoclasm

The destruction of images or icons, a significant issue in the Eastern Church.

Canon Law

Church law that all Christians, including kings and peasants, were subject to regarding marriage and religious practices.

Excommunication

Banishment from the Church, used as a political tool by popes to wield power over rulers.

The Concordat of Worms

A treaty that established the Church's power to elect and invest bishops but allowed the emperor to veto appointments.

Pope Innocent III

A pope who excommunicated kings and extended the Papal States, reaching the height of church political power in the 1200s.