WH- European Middle Ages

Feudalism

A political system in which nobles are granted the use of lands that legally belong to their king, in exchange for their loyalty, military service, and protection of the people who live on the land

Crusades

A series of holy wars from 1096-1270 AD undertaken by European Christians to free the Holy Land from Muslim rule.

Black Death

A deadly plague that swept through Europe between 1347 and 1351

Hundred Years War

England vs. France; France won; Joan of Arc unified France and won it for them

Battle of Hastings (1066)

led by William the conqueror, the Normans invaded and conquered England

Battle of Tours (732)

Frankish army let by Charles Martel repelled a Muslim invasion of Western Europe

Charlemagne

King of the Franks (r. 768-814); emperor (r. 800-814). Through a series of military conquests he established the Carolingian Empire, which encompassed all of Gaul and parts of Germany and Italy.

Fief

land granted by a lord to a vassal in exchange for loyalty and service

Vassal

A knight who promised to support a lord in exchange for land

Gothic Cathedral

Large churches originating in twelfth-century France; built in an architectural style featuring pointed arches, tall vaults and spires, flying buttresses, and large stained-glass windows.

Joan of Arc

French heroine and military leader inspired by religious visions to organize French resistance to the English and to have Charles VII crowned king

Reconquista

The effort by Christian leaders to drive the Muslims out of Spain, lasting from the 1100s until 1492.

Parliament

the lawmaking body of British government

Magna Carta

the royal charter of political rights given to rebellious English barons by King John in 1215

Manor System

economic plan by which a knight allowed peasants to farm land on his estate in return for food or other payment

Common Law

A legal system based on custom and court rulings

Canon Law

Church law

Saladin

The leader of the Muslims in the third crusade and captured Jerusalem in 1187.

Hugh Capet

King of France elected in 987 and founding the Capetian dynasty (940-996)

Pope Leo III

Crowned Charlemagne Holy Roman Emperor on Christmas Day, 800

Middle Ages

Also known as the medieval period, the time between the collapse of the Roman Empire in the fifth century AD and the beginning of the Renaissance in the fourteenth century.

Clovis

king of the Franks who unified Gaul and established his capital at Paris and founded the Frankish monarchy

Secularism

An indifference to religion and a belief that religion should be excluded from civic affairs and public education.

Serfs

People who gave their land to a lord and offered their servitude in return for protection from the lord.

Pope Urban II

Leader of the Roman Catholic Church who asked European Christians to take up arms against Muslims, starting the Crusades

Inquisition

A Roman Catholic tribunal for investigating and prosecuting charges of heresy - especially the one active in Spain during the 1400s.