The Middle Ages: Vocabulary Flashcards
Scandinavia
SCANDINAVIA
- Where Vikings (norsemen or “north men”) came from
- In northern Europe, where Norway, Sweden and Denmark are today.
- Made of long, jagged coastline
- Has little farmland, so people relied on sea for food
- Has many fjords (steep-sided valleys that are inlets to the sea)
Vassal
VASSAL: A noble who held land from and served a higher ranking lord, and in return was given protection.
- Served in lord’s army, and got land as payment
- The land granted to vassals by lords for their military service was known as a FIEF.
- Vassals governed people who lived on their FIEFS.
- Vassals were KNIGHTS
Guilds
GUILDS: medieval business groups formed by merchants and craftspeople (tanners, carpenters, bakers, metal workers, etc.)
- Craft guilds set standards for quality in products, and set prices.
- Guilds decided who could join a trade and how they would be allowed to join.
Heresy
HERESY: Belief that differs from or contradicts the accepted teachings of a religion.
* Church tried to stop heresy by sending friars like the Dominicans to preach the church’s message, then through the INQUISITION, or Church court.
Monastery
MONASTERY: Religious community where monks live and work.
- Monasteries were important in medieval Europe: monks ran schools, gave food and rest to travelers, gave medical care to sick people. They taught weaving and carpentry and developed better farming techniques.
- Each monastery produced goods and owned land, and over time many became wealthy, even though individual monks had to take a vow of poverty, wore simple clothes and ate simple food.
- Many monasteries had writing rooms (scriptoria) where monks copied Christian writings like the Bible, as well as works of Roman and Greek writers. This helped preserve the Latin language.
Holy Roman Empire
HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE: ruled over much of western and central Europe from the 9th century to the 19th century. It envisioned itself as a dominion for Christendom continuing in the tradition of the ancient Roman Empire – THE POPE HAD LOTS OF POWER.
- Origin: After raids by Muslims, Magyars, and Vikings helped destroy the Frankish kingdoms, the eastern Frankish kingdom, which became known as Germany, was divided into lots of tiny states ruled by different royalty and nobles. in AD 911 a group of these nobles sought to unite Germany by electing a king. They didn’t want to give the king much power because they wanted to keep a lot of their own power. Otto was one of the stronger of the kings of Germany. he fought Magyars and sent troops into Italy to protect the pope.
- As a reward to Otto for his protection, the pope declared him emperor of the Romans in AD 962. Ottos’ territory became known as the HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE, and included most of Germany and northern Italy.
- Most emperors of the Holy Roman Empire were not very powerful.
Fief
FIEF: The land granted to a VASSAL by his lord, in exchange for loyalty and serving in the lord’s army.
Manor
MANORS: The lands on the FIEFS of the Middle Ages were called manors.
- Lords ruled the manor, peasants worked the land.
- Most peasants were SERFS, but some were freemen, who paid fees to the noble for the right to farm the land. Freemen had rights and could move if they wanted to.
Theology
THEOLOGY: The study of religion and God.
* Students could go on to earn a doctor’s degree in law, medicine, or theology after getting their basic degree.
Convents
CONVENTS: Places for religious orders (like monasteries were for monks) just for women. Scholarly women found convents ideal places for study and writing.
Excommunicate
EXCOMMUNICATE: To exclude a person from church membership. Catholics believe that if they are excommunicated, they cannot go to heaven.
Clergy
CLERGY: Religious officials, such as priests, given authority to conduct religious services.
* one of 3 classes (1. Clergy, 2. Nobles, 3. Townspeople and peasants) of French society that Philp IV (Philip the Fair) met with to begin the Estates-General, France’s first parliament. It was the first step toward a representative government in France.
Vernacular
VERNACULAR: Everyday language used in a country or part of a country (region)
- Educated people throughout Europe generally spoke or wrote in Latin, and Latin was used in church, and university teachers taught in Latin. Vernacular was the more casual, everyday, local way of speaking.
- The vernacular included early versions of Spanish, French, English, Italian and German.
- Vernacular literature was popular in the 1100s, including troubadour poetry (poems about love), and the heroic epic (stories about bold knights fighting for kings and lords)
Monks
MONKS: men in religious orders that stay in their monasteries, worshiping and leading simple lives of prayer and hard work.
* Played an important role in preserving Roman learning and passing it on to the people of Europe.
Feudalism
FEUDALISM: Political system based on bonds of loyalty between lords and VASSALS.
- Came about after a shift of power from kings to nobles.
- By AD 1000 the kingdoms of Europe were divided into thousands of feudal territories, with a castle/fortress at their centers.
