key terms Flashcards
Parliamentary Sanction
An official confirmation of a law given by Parliament as the acclaimed body of the State
Acts of Attainder
This declared a landowner guilty of rebelling against a monarch.
The attained noble lost his title, lands and sometimes his head.
Heirs were disinherited.
Tonnage and Poundage
The right to raise revenue for the whole reign from imports and exports
Mercenaries
Hired soldiers who work simply for pay and have no specific commitment to the cause for which they are fighting
Household Government
Medieval system of governance where the head of a household had authority over the property, labour, and mobility of everyone living on his land
Elites
Select groups that are considered to be superior in terms of ability, birth or qualities to the rest of a group or society
Magnate
In this context, a member of the higher ranks of the nobility.
Duchy of Lancaster
A significant body of property, mostly but not exclusively situated in Lancashire, which personally belonged to the king but was formally the territory of the duke; Henry VII’s habit was to grant positions of authority within the duchy to his most trusted servants.
Prerogative rights
Describes those rights or powers which the monarch could exercise without requiring the consent of Parliament.
Bureaucrat
An official in a government department, in particular one perceived as being concerned with procedural correctness at the expense of people’s needs.
Courtier
A person who attends a royal court as a companion or adviser to the monarch.
Chamber
The private areas of the court; also a key department for the efficient collection of royal revenues.
The Lord Chamberlain
Also known as the Chamberlain, an experienced nobleman and member of the king’s council, and a personal friend of the king; he had administrative and political power, often speaking for the monarch in an official capacity, and was also responsible for organising court ceremonies.
Privy Chamber
Compromising the close personal servants of the monarch; its members had direct access to the monarch and therefore could influence him or her more directly.
Chivalrous
To be gallant, or courteous; the chivalrous culture of the early Tudor court was a code of conduct associated historically with the dutiful behaviour of medieval knights.
Extraordinary Revenue
Money raised by the king from additional sources as one-off payments when he faced an emergency or an unforeseeable expense of government; this could be made up of parliamentary grants, loans, clerical taxes, for example.
Fifteenths and Tenths
Standard form of taxation, calculated in the fourteenth century, paid by towns and boroughs to the Crown.
Bond
A legal document which bound an individual to another to perform an action or forfeit a specified sum of money if they failed to do so.
Recognisance
A formal acknowledgement of a debt or other obligation which could be enforce by means of financial penalty.
Wardship
An aspect of the feudal system which enabled the Crown to gain the profits from property held by a minor.
Feudal aid
A right by which the Crown could impose a tax on their tenants for the knighting of the eldest son, the marriage of the eldest daughter or to ransom a lord; this was typical of the skilful way in which Henry revived old forms of raising revenue, much to the irritation of landowners.
Statute of Uses
A law passed to prevent landed property from being turned into trusts which in modern terms were mechanisms for avoiding paying tax on a deceased person’s estate.
Hundred Years War
Conflict that lasted on and off from 1337 to 1453, and was fought between England and the country seen by many English people as the traditional enemy: France.
Suzerainty
The feudal control of one territory by another.
Marriage-by-proxy
One or both of the individuals being united is not physically present, usually being represented instead by another person.
Fiefdom
A territory or sphere of operation controlled by a particular person or group.
Intercursus Magnus
The major commercial treaty between England and the Duchy of Burgundy which restored normal trading links between the two countries
Intercursus Malus
Trade agreement from 1506; this treaty never became fully operative and by the following year trading relationships had been restored on the basis of Intercursus Magnus
Papal Dispensation
Permission was required from the Pope in order to be exempted from the laws or observances of the Church; it was considered only in special or unusual circumstances
Caste
A class or group of people who inherit exclusive privileges or are perceived as socially distinct
Feudal System
The medieval system by which society was structured depending on relationships in which land was held in return for some form of service; at the top end of the structure land was held of the monarch in return for military service, and at the bottom serfs were required to give labour services to their lord in return for the lord’s protection.
Sumptuary Laws
Laws that attempted to regulate how individuals should dress, depending on their social status.
Peerage
Group of persons who held one of the five ranks of aristocracy (duke, marquis, earl, viscount, baron); they were usually considerable landholders, exercised considerable power in their localities and were members of the House of Lords.
Bastard Feudalism
Where wealthy magnates would recruit retainers to serve them, sometimes for military.
Reformation
A sixteenth-century movement opposing the Catholic Church, which resulted in the establishment of Protestant and reformed churches.
Peasant
A country dweller who farms directly land which can be either owned or rented, the term ‘peasant’ does not apply in town-dwellers.
Grazing Rights
A legal term referring to the right of a user to allow their livestock to feed (graze) in a given area
Real Wages
The value of income in relation to prices of goods on the market instead of actual money received
Subsistence Crises
When harvest failure raises food prices to such an extent that significant numbers of the poor die from starvation
Mixed Farming
A system of farming which involves the growing of crops as well as the raising of animals as livestock
Pastoral Farming
Farming involving the rearing of animals - either for animal by-products such as milk, eggs or wool, or for meat
Common Rights
Denotes the legal right of tenants to use common land, for example for keeping animals; the exact nature of these rights varied from place to place
Merchants of the Staple
Incorporated by royal charter in 1319, they controlled the export of wool; the staple was based at Calais (an English possession) from 1363, but the eventual decline in the wool trade reduced the company’s importance
Fulling
A step in woollen cloth making which involves the cleansing of cloth (particularly wool) to eliminate oils, dirt, and other impurities, making it thicker in the process
The Merchant Adventurers
- Founded in 1407
- Dominated by members of the Mercers’ Company, the wealthiest and most influential company of the City of London
- Their domination of the cloth trade matched the domination of the wool trade by the Merchants of the Staple
- They valued their relationship with the crown, as they could act as the voice of the industry and the king increasingly used their expertise in negotiating trade treaties
Hanseatic League
A group of free cities originating in the 13th century which came together to form a commercial union with the intention of controlling trade in the Baltic Sea; the league dominated commercial activity in northern Europe from the 13th to 15th century
Metallurgy
The scientific study of the extraction, refining, alloying and fabrication of metals, and of their structure and properties
Sectional Interests
The interests of a particular group within a community or country
Extort
Obtain (something) by force threats, or other unfair means
Guilds and Confraternities
Voluntary associations of individuals created to promote works of Christian charity or devotion
Erastian
The view that the State should have authority over the Church
Diocese
An area under the pastoral care of a bishop in the Christian Church
Grace
The pure state a soul needed to be in to enter heaven
Purgatory
In traditional Catholic thinking, purgatory was the state in which the souls of the dead were purged of their sins before they could enter the kingdom of heaven
Transubstantiation
The Christian belief that the substance of breed and wine completely changed into the substance of Christ’s body and blood by a validity ordained priest during the consecration at Mass
Corpus Christi
Literally meaning the ‘body of Christ’, Corpus Christi is a feast of the Catholic Church which celebrates the ‘blessed sacrament’ and whose importance developed from the 13th century with the increasing emphasis on transubstantiation
Benefactor
A person who makes a charitable donation
Chantries
Chapels where Masses for the souls of the dead took place
Intercession
The action of saying a prayer on behalf of another; in traditional Catholic thinking it was the role of the priest to intervene with God on behalf of an individual
Pilgrimage
A journey to a place of religious devotion
Heresy
The denial of the validity of the key doctrines of the Church
Anticlericalism
Opposition to the Church’s role in political and other non-religious matters
Laity
Refers collectively to those who were neither priests nor members of a religious order
Renaissance
A cultural and intellectual movement which, beginning in Italy, emphasised a revival if interest in classical learning and the arts
Scholasticism
A system of philosophical analysis in the medieval period
Minstrels’ Gallery
A minstrel was a medieval singer or musician who performed for the nobility, often from a form of balcony inside the great hall of a castle or manor house
Shawm
A medieval and Renaissance wind instrument, forerunner of the oboe, with a double reed enclosed in a wooden mouthpiece, and having a penetrating tone
Sackbut
A medieval wind instrument, forerunner of the trombone
Secular
Something not connected with religious or spiritual matters
Gothic
The style of architecture prevalent in Western Europe in the twelfth to sixteenth centuries, characterised by pointed arches and large windows; English Gothic architecture is divided into Early English, Decorated, and Perpendicular categories
Perpendicular Style
The dominant form of church architecture in England from the later fourteenth to the early sixteenth century, so called because of its emphasis on vertical lines; the most famous perpendicular building is probably the chapel of King’s College Cambridge
Chivalric
Refers to the code of conduct for medieval knights of the realm; the code of chivalry emphasised bravery, military skill, generosity in victory, piety, and courtesy to women
