Feudalism Vocabulary

Question 1

Aid

Answer 1

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.

Question 2

Bailiff

Answer 2

Manorial official, overseer of the manor, chosen by the lord.

Question 3

Banalities

Answer 3

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.

Question 4

Carruca

Answer 4

A heavy, wheeled plow with an iron plowshare.

Question 5

Chevauchee (cavalcade)

Answer 5

Feudal duty to accompany the lord on a minor expedition or as an escort.

Question 6

Chivalry

Answer 6

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.

Question 7

Common Law

Answer 7

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.

Question 8

Earl

Answer 8

Count; highest English title in the Middle Ages. Word is related to Jarl. Also known in earlier times as Ealdorman.

Question 9

Eyre

Answer 9

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.

Question 10

Felony

Answer 10

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.

Question 11

Feudal Contract

Answer 11

under feudalism, the unwritten rules that determined the relationship between a lord and his vassal.

Question 12

Feudalism

Answer 12

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.

Question 13

Fief

Answer 13

Exchange of land tied to some form of service. A grant made to a vassal; the vassal held political authority within his fief.

Question 14

Guilds

Answer 14

Term applied to trade associations. The aims of such groups was to protect members from the competition of foreign merchants and maintain commercial standards. Journeymen worked in the shop of a master until they could demonstrate to the leaders of the guild their ability to be made masters.

Question 15

Knights Fee

Answer 15

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.

Question 16

Leywrite

Answer 16

Fine paid by unchaste bondwoman, normally when discovered to be pregnant but unmarried.

Question 17

Magna Carta

Answer 17

The “Great Charter” of rights, which King John was forced to sign by the English nobles at Runnymede in 1215.

Question 18

Manorialism

Answer 18

Also called manorial system, seignorialism, or seigneurial system, political, economic, and social system by which the peasants of medieval Europe were rendered dependent on their land and on their lord.

Question 19

Manor

Answer 19

an agricultural estate that a lord ran, and peasants worked.

Question 20

Manumission

Answer 20

The act by which a lord free a serf.

Question 21

Ordeal

Answer 21

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.

Question 22

Parliament

Answer 22

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.

Question 23

Primogeniture

Answer 23

The right of the eldest son to inherit the estate or office of his father.

Question 24

Serf

Answer 24

a peasant legally bound to the land and had to provide labor services, pay rents, and be subject to the lord’s control

Question 25

Shire

Answer 25

English County

Question 26

Squire

Answer 26

Knight-aspirant

Question 27

Tallage

Answer 27

A tax levied by a manorial lord upon his unfree tenants.

Question 28

Tally

Answer 28

A notched stick, which was split in two, one half being kept by the seller and the other half by the receiver.

Question 29

Toll

Answer 29

Payment for leave to sell livestock

Question 30

Vassal

Answer 30

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.