Unit 6 Content Vocabulary – Middle Ages
1- ordeal
a means of determining guilt in Germanic law, based on the idea of divine intervention; if the
accused person was unharmed after a physical trial, he or she was presumed innocent
2- pope
the bishop of Rome and head of the Roman Catholic Church
3- monk
a man who separates himself from ordinary human society in order to dedicate himself to God;
monks live in monasteries headed by abbots
4- missionary
a person sent out to carry a religious message
5- nun
a woman who separates herself from ordinary human society in order to dedicate herself to
God; nuns live in convents headed by abbesses
6- feudalism
political and social system 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
7- vassal
under feudalism, a man who served a lord in a military capacity
8- knight
under feudalism, a member of the heavily armored cavalry
9- fief
under feudalism, a grant of land made to a vassal; the vassal held political authority within his
fief
10- feudal contract
under feudalism, the unwritten rules that determined the relationship between a lord and his
vassal
11- chivalry
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
12- contract
a binding agreement between two or more people or parties
13- common law
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
14- Magna Carta
the “Great Charter” of rights, which King John was forced by the English nobles to sign at
Runnymeade
in 1215
15- Parliament
16-
1718-
192021-
22232425-
262728-
29303132-
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 of the nobles and
bishops throughout England
schism
the separation between the two great branches of Christianity that occurred when the Roman
Pope Leo IX and the Byzantine patriarch Michael Cerularius excommunicated each other in 1054
patriarch
the head of the Eastern Orthodox Church, originally appointed by the Byzantine emperor
Crusades
military expeditions carried out by European Christians in the Middle Ages to regain the Holy
Land from the Muslims
infidel
an unbeliever; a term applied to the Muslims during the Crusades
manor
in medieval Europe, an agricultural estate that a lord ran and peasants worked
serf
in medieval Europe, a peasant legally bound to the land who had to provide labor services, pay
rents, and be subject to the lord’s control
money economy
an economic system based on money rather than barter
commercial capitalism
economic system in which people invest in trade or goods to make profits
bourgeoisie
the middle class, including merchants, industrialists, and professional people
guild
a business association that is associated with a particular trade or craft; guilds evolved in the
twelfth century and played a leading role in the economic life of medieval cities
apprentice
one who learns a trade by practical experience under skilled craftspeople
technology
the science or study of the practical or industrial arts; applied sciences
lay investiture
the practice by which secular rulers both chose nominees to church offices and gave them the
symbols of their office
interdict
a decree by the pope that forbade priests to give the sacraments of the Church to the people
sacrament
Christian rites
heresy
the denial of basic Church doctrines
theology
the study of religion and God
33- vernacular
the language of everyday speech in a particular region
34- anti-Semitism
hostility toward or discrimination against Jews