Feudalism Vocab Flashcards
A special obligation of a vassal to provide money for such occasions as his lord’s ransom, the marriage of his daughter, the knighting of his son, or for going on Crusade.
Aid
Manorial official, overseer of the manor, chosen by the lord.
Bailiff
fees which a feudal lord imposes on his serfs for the use of his mill, oven, wine press, or similar facilities. It sometimes includes part of a fish catch or the proceeds from a rabbit warren.
Banalities
a heavy, wheeled plow with an iron plowshare.
Carruca
Feudal duty to accompany the lord on a minor expedition or as an escort.
Chevauchee (cavalcade)
in the Middle Ages, the ideal of civilized behavior that developed among the nobility; it was a code of ethics that knights were supposed to uphold.
Chivalry
a uniform system of law that developed in England based on court decisions and on customs and usage rather than on written law codes; replaced law codes that varied from place to place.
Common law
Count; highest English title in the Middle Ages.
Earl
The right of a king (or justices acting in his name) to visit and inspect the holdings of any vassal. It was done periodically, usually at irregular intervals of a few years.
Eyre
In feudal law, any grave violation of the feudal contract between lord and vassal. Later it was expanded in common law to include any crime against the King’s peace and came to mean any serious crime.
Felony
under feudalism, the unwritten rules that determined the relationship between a lord and his vassal.
Feudal contract
political and social order that developed during the Middle Ages when royal governments were no longer able to defend their subjects; nobles offered protection and land in return for service.
Feudalism
under feudalism, a grant made to a vassal; the vassal held political authority within this.
Fief
Term applied to trade associations. The aim of such groups was to protect members from the competition of foreign merchants and maintain commercial standards.
Guilds
In theory, a fief which provided sufficient revenue to equip and support one knight. This was approximately twelve hides or 1500 acres, although the term applies more to revenue a fief could generate than its size; it required about thirty marks per year to support a knight.
Knight’s Fee
Fine paid by unchaste bondwoman, normally when discovered to be pregnant but unmarried.
Leywrite
the “Great Charter” of rights, which King John was forced to sign by the English nobles at Runnymede in 1215.
Magna Carta
political, economic, and social system by which the peasants of medieval Europe were rendered dependent on their land and on their lord.
Manorialism
in medieval Europe, an agricultural estate that a lord ran, and peasants worked.
Manor
The act by which a lord free a serf.
Manumission
A method of trial in which the accused was given a physical test (usually painful and dangerous) which could only be met successfully if he were innocent.
Ordeal
in thirteenth century England, the representative government that emerged; it was composed of two knights from every county, two people from every town, and all the nobles and bishops throughout England.
Parliament
The right of the eldest son to inherit the estate or office of his father.
Primogeniture
in medieval Europe, a peasant legally bound to the land and had to provide labor services, pay rents, and be subject to the lord’s control
Serf
English county.
Shire
Knight-aspirant.
Squire
A tax levied by a manorial lord upon his unfree tenants.
Tallage
A notched stick, which was split in two, one half being kept by the seller and the other half by the receiver.
Tally
Payment for leave to sell livestock.
Toll
A free man who held land (fief) from a lord to whom he paid homage and swore fealty. He owed various services and obligations, primarily military. He was also required to advise his lord and pay him the traditional feudal aids required on the knighting of the lord’s eldest son, the marriage of the lord’s eldest daughter, and the ransoming of the lord should he be held captive.
Vassal
