Middle Ages Vocab

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms, social structures, religious concepts, and political systems from the Medieval period and Renaissance.

Guild System

An economic system developed by new traders and master craftsmen to control wages, fix prices, monopolize trade, set quality standards, and strictly regulate who could open a business.

Bourgeoisie

Also known as burgesses or burghers, this was the newly wealthy middle class of town dwellers (merchants and craftsmen) who didn't fit into the old system of land-based estates.

Renaissance

A new historical age meaning the "rebirth of the human spirit," shifting European focus away from strict Church inspiration toward an active interest in man, learning, and the physical world.

Humanism

The dominant philosophy of the Renaissance that was human-centered and heavily emphasized the power of human reason.

Scholasticism

The dominant late-medieval philosophy articulated by St. Thomas Aquinas that tried to reconcile new logical knowledge with Christian dogma, declaring that if reason and dogma clashed, reason must give way.

Seven Sacraments

Seven specific holy rituals (like baptism and communion) that kept medieval individuals constantly connected with God and the Church from birth until death, which Church doctrine held was required to enter heaven.

Excommunication

A punishment where an individual was completely cut off from the Church, preventing them from receiving the vital sacraments.

Interdiction

A powerful political weapon used by the Church to punish rebellious or independent feudal rulers by banning the performance of any sacraments across their entire geographic district.

1st, 2nd, & 3rd Estates

The strict three-part social class structure consisting of the Church officers (First Estate), the land-owning nobility and warriors (Second Estate), and everyone else, mostly poor peasants (Third Estate).

Angles & Saxons

Nomadic Germanic tribes that established their rule and culture in Great Britain, giving it the name "Angleland".

Franks

A Germanic tribe that dominated northern and western Europe, notably unified under Charlemagne to form a vast kingdom.

Holy Roman Empire

Originally Charlemagne's Frankish Kingdom, renamed after he was crowned "Emperor of the Romans" by Pope Leo III; it became a loose confederation of German tribal states entangled with the Church.

Feudalism

A decentralized political organization characterized by weak kings and strong, independent nobles who ruled their own estates through a network of reciprocal relationships.

Vassals

The receiver of a piece of land (a fief) granted by a lord, who pledged military aid and service in return to that lord.

Serfs

The actual farming laborers who were legally bound to the land, transferred from one landlord to another with its title, and provided all the necessities of the manor in exchange for safety.