CHURCH & MEDIEVAL HISTORY FINAL STUDY GUIDE

Flashcards of key vocabulary, people, and places.

Clovis

Frankish leader who converted to Christianity because of his wife and calling out to God to help him win a battle.

Patrick

Famous saint who converted Ireland.

Augustine of Canterbury

Sent to the British Isles by Pope Gregory to evangelize the Anglo-Saxons.

Benedict of Nursia

Founder of Western Monasticism.

Leo I (the Great)

The first modern Pope.

Gregory I (the Great)

Pope who sent Augustine to evangelize the Anglo-Saxons; influenced Gregorian chant; advocated for Purgatory, Saints, and Holy Relics.

Charlemagne

Legendary French king; crowned Holy Roman Emperor on Christmas Day 800; eliminated corruption.

Umayyad Caliphate

Sunni; capital in Damascus.

Abbasid Caliphate

Shi’a; capital in Baghdad; considered a golden age of learning.

Sufism

A Muslim group known for mysticism.

People of the Book

Refers to those who have received divine revelation from God through holy scriptures.

Byzantine Empire

The Eastern side of the Roman Empire.

Christology

Branch of theology that focuses on the study of Jesus Christ, particularly his person and work.

Theotokos

Greek meaning God-bearer; used to describe Virgin Mary as mother of God.

Monophysitism

Christological doctrine that posits that Jesus Christ possessed only one nature.

Serfs

Farmers bonded to manor lands.

Vassalage

Position of subordination or submission in a feudal system.

Simony

Buying and selling of church offices.

Lay investiture

Appointment of church officials by secular rulers.

Cluniac reforms

Changes within the Benedictine order to restore traditional monastic life.

Clerical celibacy

Requirement for clergy to remain unmarried.

Crusades

Military expeditions to reclaim the Holy Land.

Alfred the Great

British king who defeated the Vikings, organized England, and reinvigorated Christianity.

Ethelbert

First Anglo-Saxon ruler to be converted to Christianity.

Ethelstan

British king who centralized government and made legal reforms.

Muhammad

Founding prophet of Islam.

Nestorius

Founder of Nestorianism, a heresy claiming Jesus had two natures and two persons.

Cyril of Alexandria

Missionary who created the Cyrillic language for the Slavs.

Justinian

Byzantine emperor responsible for rebuilding the Hagia Sophia and reforming the law code.

Nation-states/nationalism

A state consisting of a single nationality or culture.

Chalcedonian Definition

Theological statement defining the hypostatic union of Jesus Christ.

Mosaic

Visual art created by assembling smaller pieces of colored glass, stone, or tile.

Monothelitism

Christological doctrine asserting that Jesus Christ had two natures but only one will.

Icons/Iconoclasm

The belief that the use of icons was heretical; the action of destroying icons.

Eastern Orthodoxy

Major branch of Christianity characterized by its adherence to the seven ecumenical councils and its rejection of Papal supremacy.

William the Conqueror

Norman ruler who conquered England at the Battle of Hastings.

Battle of Hastings

Battle fought between William the Conqueror and Harold Godwinson.

Excommunication

Action by the church excluding someone from the church and its sacraments.

Concordat of Worms (1122)

Agreement between Pope Calixtus II and HRE Henry V that resolved the Investiture controversy.

Emperor Alexios I

Byzantine emperor who asked the Pope for help.

Saladin

Muslim general; fought in 3 crusade; Sultan of Egypt

Reconquista

Crusade to retake Muslim Spain

Leo IX, Pope

Reconquered North Africa and Italy

Barbarians (Germanic peoples)

Called this because they didn't speak Greek or Latin (bar-bar-bar)

Theodora

Emperor Justinian's wife who convinced him to stay in Constantinople

Heraclius

Byzantine emperor who fought the Persians, and reclaimed the True Cross at Jerusalem

Leo III

Crowned Charlemagne HRE; started iconoclasm(the rejection of the use of icons in the church)

John of Damascus

Theologian who defended the use of icons

Cyril and Methodius

Eastern Orthodox missionary brothers sent to evangelize the Slavs -- and they did

Empirical religiosity

The belief that proper worship brings tangible reward in the world and the next

Franks

Germanic tribe who settled in Gaul

Celts/Celtic spirituality

Positive view of the natural world, positive view of travel, and emphasis on time as a sacred reality

Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor

one of two people involved in the Investiture Controversy

Bayeux Tapestry

Piece of art that tells the story of the Battle of HAsting and is used as a primary source for the history of the battle

1066

The year William of Normandy invaded Englad and fought the battle of Hastings

Gregory VII, Pope

one of two people involved in the Investiture Controversy

Hildegard of Bingen

female church leader and nun who became so popular that she was sought after for her preaching and teaching by kings and queens/ She also composed many songs for the church

Urban II, Pope

the Pope who called for the crusades, called for them because it might unite the Western and Eastern churches, increase a dwindling church devotion, and unite Western and Eastern sects of the empire

Henry II, King of England

King who married Eleanor of Aquitaine and gained lots of territory in modern France; had nation, people with a common language and culture

King John, of England

terrible king of England who lost land possessions in France and was forced to sign Magna Carta

Magna Carta

Document signed by King John that limited the king’s power, created the idea that the king is not above the law, and has been used as a “founding” document for future democracy

Waldensians

religious group that was the precursor to later mendicant monastic orders

Mendicancy/mendicant orders (Franciscans and Dominicans)

Franciscans: focused preaching on God’s love and mcercy, followers rejected all honors and class distinctions; lived in poverty Dominicans: vows included poverty and mendicancy; emphaszied study in order to refute heresy

Fourth Lateran Council (1215)

established the doctrine of transubstantiation, allowed bishops to carry out inquisitions against heresy

Transubstantiation

belief that the Eucharist and wine become the actual body and blood of Christ

Book of Kells

Celtic book of the four gospels with very beautiful illustrations

White martyrs

a form of voluntary asceticism that is a commitment to serving God

Synod of Whitby (663)

a meeting that determined the future of Christanity in England; resulted in accepting Roman practifes over the Celtic ones

Rule of St. Benedict/Benedictine spirituality

a document that ordered the monastic life with strict discipline, but without undue harshness; caused monks to take several oaths like Obedience, Fidelity, and Stability

Monasteries

a settlement for monks dedicated to God; many medival towns grew up around these

Papacy/Pope

literally means father; the highest authority in the Catholic church next to God

Purgatory

a place inbtween earth and heaven/hell where it was believed people were sent to be cleansed of their sins

Battle of Tours (732)

a battle between the French and the Muslims; Charles Martel and the french won

Renaissance

rebirth of classical learning

Philip II, of France

French king who won back land that was lost to England's King Henry

Francis of Assisi

rich kid who renounces wealth for a life of poverty and became the founder of the first mendicant monastic order

Dominic of Caleruega

founded the order of the preachers to combat heresay

Innocent III, Pope

pope who called the fourth lateran council

Boniface VIII, Pope

pope who got in a fight with King Phillip IV and was kidnapped

Giotto

most important painter of the early renaissance

Dante Alighieri

wrote the divine comedy

Anselm of Canterbury

Scholastic thinker who developed the ontological argument for the existence of God; stated God is “that than which nothing greater can be conceived”

Inquisition

an ecclesiastical tribunal established by Pope Gregory IX for the suppression of heresy; allowed church leaders to target anyone they believed was a “heretic”

Humanism

belief which focuses on humanity though the lens of the classical past

Scholasticism

a system of theology and philosophy influenced by the dialectic ideas of Aristotle

Petrarch

famous scholar who began redisovering previously lost works of the Greeks and Romans, and helped launch the humanism of the Italian Renasissance

Dialectic

inquiry into metaphysical contradictions and their solutions

Universities

emerged in Europe 1200; taught the seven liberal arts

Chivalry

code among knights that emphasised bravery, loyalty, generosity, and civility; “courtly love” reflected this ideas

Troubadours

Musicians who sang poems celebrating feminine beautfy and the sexual powers of women

Treaty of Verdun (843)

divided Charlemagne's territory into 3 for the sons of Louis the Pious

Vikings

a group of raiders from Scandinavia, famous for their longships; evangelized by St Anskar

Hijra

Muhammad’s move from Mecca to Medina

Five Pillars

Shahada (declaration of faith), Salah (prayer), Zakat (charity), Sawm (Fasting), Hajj (pilgrimage)

Qur’an

Islam’s holy book; divided into Surahs

Hadith

sayings outside of the Qur’an that some Muslims hold as authoritative

Shari’a

means “the path/way”, a comprehensive system of Islamic law derived from the Qur’an and Muhammad

Caliph/caliphate

chief muslim leader/a form of government where political and reigious leadership is united and the Caliph is a successor to Muhammad

Sunni/Shi’a schism

Sunni believed the leader should be chosen by th ecommunity (Abu Bakr) while the Shi’a believed it should be Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law should’ve been it

Thomas Aquinas

Scholastic writer who wrote “Summa Theologica” and “Summa Contra Gentiles”; developed cosmological and teleological proofs for the existence of God