| A | B |
|---|
| Europe | a continent to the north of Africa, connected to Asia in western Russia |
| Ural Mountains | a mountain range that separates Eastern Europe from Asia |
| Volga River | the longest river in Europe |
| Danube River | Europe’s second longest river |
| Rhine River | the main river of the busiest inland system of waterways in the western part of Europe |
| Domesday Book | a book made in 1086 that helped King William keep track of all of the people and property in England |
| England | the southernmost and largest part of the island of Great Britain |
| Middle Ages | a period in European history that lasted from about 500 to about 1500 |
| Charlemagne | 742-814 King of the Franks who was later crowned emperor of the former Roman empire in western Europe |
| Scandinavia | a northwestern region of Europe; includes the nations of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway |
| William the Conqueror | 1028-1087 Norman king who conquered England in 1066 |
| King John | 1167-1216 English king whose lords forced him to agree to the Magna Carta in 1215, which limited royal power |
| Runnymede | the location at which, in 1215, King John was forced to sign the Magna Carta |
| Magna Carta | an English charter in 1215 that limited royal power, also called the “Great Charter” |
| Jerusalem | the capital of the kingdom of Israel |
| Rome | a city near the middle of the western coast of Italy- present-day capital of Italy |
| pope | the leader of the Roman Catholic Church |
| cathedral | a large, important Christian church |
| monk | a man who devotes his life to religion and lives in a monastery |
| nun | a woman who devotes her life to religion and lives in a convent |
| monastery | a community where monks live, study, and pray |
| convent | a community of nuns |
| missionary | a person who teaches a religion to people with different beliefs |
| feudalism | a social, political, and economic system used in the Middle Ages |
| monarch | a king or queen who is a supreme being |
| serf | a person who lived on and farmed feudal land |
| knight | a feudal warrior trained and prepared to fight on horseback |
| chivalry | a knight’s code of behavior |
| manor system | in the Middle Ages, a way to manage feudal lands |
| three-field rotation system | in the Middle Ages, a system whereby the planting of crops on manor lands alternates between three fields |
| guild | a group of craftspeople or merchants who are united by a common interest |
| lady | a woman of nobility |
| Palestine | a Roman province on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea |
| Crusades | major military expeditions by Christians to win back control of Palestine (Holy Land) and to protect the Byzantine Empire |
| Silk Road | a trading route that connected Europe and lands of the former Roman Empire with China |
| Marco Polo | 1254-1324 Venetian merchant, world traveler, and writer who remained in China as a guest for 17 years |
| Plague | an attack of bubonic plague that killed about 25-30 percent of Europe’s population from 1347 to 1352 |
| bubonic plague | an epidemic spread to humans by fleas from rats |
| epidemic | a disease that spreads quickly |
