The Middle Ages Terms Flashcards
A religious institution under the dictatorship of a superior or head of a monastery; a convent
Abbey
The superior or head of a monastery
Abbot
An increase of size or extent by natural growth or by gradual external addition
Accretion
From the Latin word “to walk”; a covered walkway or aisle outdoors or indoors, especially the passageway around the apse and choir of a church
Ambulatory
The circular or multi-angular recess or termination of a church sanctuary; usually the east end of a chapel
Apse
A carved wood or stone placed figure; often in a form of a Heraldic Beast
Beeste
A nautical post which mooring ropes are fastened; (or) any short vertical post of stone, metal, or wood used to inhibit vehicular passage while allowing free movement of pedestrians
Bollard
Italian word for a bell tower; usually detached from the main building or church
Campanile (Italian word for bell - campana)
The part of a church near the altar, often at the east end and set apart by a rail, which is for the use of the clergy and the choir
Chancel
A rectangular courtyard surrounded by an open arcade; also, the covered passageways around an open space or garth; south of the nave to maximize sunlight
Cloister
A small column
Colonnette
The social, political, and economic system in medieval Europe
Feudalism
Under the feudal system; land held from a lord in return for service
Fief
The archaic word for “fountain”; usually of stone; a receptacle for holy water used in baptism
Font
Pertaining to the armorial bearings such as coat of arms and other symbols of genealogy, emblazoned on armor, banners, and other objects of adornment or public display
Heraldry
The house or hut wherein dwells a hermit; secluded retreat away from people
Hermitage
The innermost part of a castle; often the living quarters in a tower surrounded by wall
Keep
A type of piazza; a rectangular space with a structure protruding into one edge; forming a “dogleg” or two-armed public area
L-shaped Piazza
The Italian word for a covered gallery or portico with an open arcade or colonnade on at least one side
Loggia
A small loggia
Loggetta
A large house as the main residence of an estate; (or) in feudal England, the district or land over which the lord had authority; partially divided among his peasants in return for rent or crop sharing
Manor
Interconnecting passages carved in the stone floor of a Medieval church; popular in large public and private gardens in England and Europe from the middle ages to the 9th century
Maze
A trench, usually filled with water around a fortified structure or position
Moat
A place of residence occupied by monks who have retired from the world under religious vows
Monastery
Obscure thought or speculation; occult; transintellectual and intuitive; belief that a human’s chief end lies in seeking an intimate union of the soul with the Divinity, nature, or the world soul, achieved through contemplation
Mysticism
The part of a church between the entrance and the choir flanked by piers or columns that separate it from the aisles
Nave
Planning jargon for resultant built forms derived from a response to localized conditions of the topography and the growth by accretion
Organic
A person of the eastern tribe of the barbarians, which kept a monarchy in Italy between A.D. 493 - A.D. 555
Ostragoth
The portion of a wall above the roof gutter, sometimes battlemented; also applied to the same feature, rising breast high, on balconies or bridges
Parapet
From the Latin word paradisus, “an enclosed garden”; an enclosed court in front of a church, sometimes including a garden
Parvis
An Italian name for a public open square in an urban area; (or) a roofed walkway along the side of a building
Piazza (Spanish - Plaza)
An Italian urban space that has no streets extending directly through the space; the sight line of each street entering the space is terminated in it
Pinwheel Piazza
Rectangular plant beds, typically in the medieval garden; with wooden plans used to retain the mounds of soil; its purpose is to obtain better drainage; to maintain the beds without excessive stooping
Raised beds
Style of architecture based on Roman architecture prevalent in the Western Europe during the ninth and twelfth centuries
Romanesque
A person in feudal servitude, bound to the master’s land and transferred with the land from owner to owner
Serf
Part of a cruciform church at right angles to the nave and chancel; the north and south arms
Transept
A person of the Germanic tribe that ravaged Gaul (France) and Spain, thus, sacked Rome; disregarded the beautiful artworks created by the Romans
Vandal
A Teutonic person of the western group of a Germanic trine of Central Europe; invaded the Roman Empire in the late fourth century A.D.; established own kingdom in France and Spain
Visigoth
The primitive technique of wall building; reeds were woven together and covered with mud or plaster which then dries and becomes hard; held up by a wooden framework
Wattle and Daub
The major church of a diocese, which contains the throne of a bishop
Cathedral
From the word for any figure made up of frequently intersecting lines; embroidery; (or) an English expression for a garden composed of small hedges, bedding plants, and other ground covers in elaborate designs and patterns reminiscent of the design used in embroidery
Knot Garden or Parterre
From the French word that means “embroidery on the ground”; an ornamental arrangement of flowerbeds with paths of gravel, pavement, or turf
Parterre (Broderie par terre)
A religious ceremonial purification by cleansing in water or other liquid; the liquid used
Ablution
The container that holds the cleansing liquid; may be a small or a large pool
Ablution Tank
French and English word for “in the Arab manner”; from Moorish and Persian designs, elaborate surface decoration of intertwined foliage, floral and geometrical patterns, painted or carved in low relief
Arabesque
Glazed pottery tiled usually painted in bright colors with floral and other patterns, much used on the interior and exterior of Spanish and Portuguese buildings
Azulejos
Italian and Spanish for house
Casa
Italian for small house; a summer or garden house of ornamental character for amusement purposes; (or) a small country house or lodge
Casino
A small square elevated structure in Indian (Moghul) gardens; an open dais or gazebo; often placed over a water channel and large enough for at least two persons to sit on, cushioned by oranate carpets and pillows
Chabutra
Persian for “fourfold water garden,” where four water channels symbolize the four rivers of the world
Chadar-Bagh
The Persian word for “plane tree”; Ficus sycomorus; akin to American plane tree or sycamore
Chenar
Lace-like ornamental work of intertwined silver or gold wire; any delicate design
Filigree
Spanish for a traffic circle or a round junction of paths in a garden; equivalent of the French “Rond Point”
Glorieta
The exodus or escape of the prophet Mohammed, from persecutions in Mecca to Medina; (or) the era of Mohammed; (or) a journey, especially when undertaken to escape from danger
Hegira
The religious system of the Almighty Potentate, Allah, begun by Mohammed in A.D. 607-612, in todays’s Saudi Arabia; Mohammedanism
Islam
The sacred book of the Islamic religion; the revelations to Mohammed by Allah, written in Arabic
Koran (Qur’an)
A city in western Saudi Arabia; one of two feudal capitals; birthplace of Mohammed; the religious capital of Islam
Mecca
A slender tower in Islamic architecture, with balcony at its top; built near of as part of, a mosque from which a crier calls the faithful to prayer
Minaret
A Spanish word for “window” or “balcony” that commands view, especially from a garden or courtyard
Mirador
His name means “to praise”; founder of Islam
Mohammed (Muhammad or Mahomet)
A Moslem of Arabic and Berber racial mix living in thr area of Morocco in Northwestern Africa; (or) a person from Morocco who invaded and settled in southern Spain in the eight century; they controlled the region of Andalusia until driven out by Christians in 1492; originated many playful uses of water in the garden
Moor
A place of adoration; a Moslem or Islamic temple or place of worship
Mosque
In Islamic religion, the crier, from minaret, calls the faithful to prayer five times each day
Muezzin
Pertaining to Mohammedism; a believer in Mohammed; an adherent of the Islamic religion
Moslem (Muslim)
Of Spanish origin; a residential courtyard surrounded by low buildings or walls; a paved area adjoining a house used for outdoor living
Patio
The Spanish word for public square in an urban area used as a market, park, or for assembly
Plaza
A small stream; rivulet
Rill or Runnel
A monastic society or fraternity; a society of persons living under the same religious, mora,, or social regulations
Order (i.e. The Franciscan order)
Use as a hall of justice in Roman time; (or) a church with a nave and aisles and with clerestory windows in the nave above the aisle roofs
Basilica
A continental feature and contrasts with the square termination of English Gothic churches; usually at the east end of a chapel or chancel
Apse
The open colonnaded forecourt in the early Christian basilicas or churches; often cloistered
Atrium
