| A | B |
|---|
| Middle Ages | Period in European history from the fall of Rome until the Renaissance (500 to 1500). |
| Germanic Peoples | Tribes from Scandinavia who settled in Western Europe. |
| Pope Gregory I | Pope (c.590) who used the revenues of the Roman Church to raise armies, repair roads and send missionaries to the French and English. |
| Sippe | A group within a Germanic tribe which claimed a common ancestor. |
| Comitatus | A war band who fought for a Germanic king. |
| Comites or Counts | Companions of a Germanic king who fought for him and shared his food. |
| Oath | Swearing personal loyalty to a political or military leader. |
| Villeins | "Tillers" who worked the land in return for protection. Some were free, some not. |
| Swearing Worth | It defined the social, political and military position of a person. The more important the person, the higher this was. |
| Weirgild | “Man gold” Payment to a man’s family and lord if accidentally killed or injured. |
| Ordeal | Form of trial by water or fire in which God decided guilt. |
| Stirrup | Essential piece of equipment that made the knight on horseback effective. |
| Franks | Germanic tribe that settled in Gaul (France) and Switzerland. |
| Battle of Chalons (Catalunian Fields) | Franks, Burgundians and the Romans defeated the Huns (451). |
| Clovis | Frankish king who ruled North-Central France by 486. |
| Clotild | Wife of Clovis who urged him to become a Christian |
| Bishop Remigius | He baptised Clovis and his warriors in 496. |
| Merovingian Kings | Royal family of Clovis, weak rulers. |
| Mayor of the Palace | Royal official who ruled for the weak Merovingian kings. |
| Charles Martel “The Hammer” | Mayor of the Palace who united the Franks (714 - 718). |
| Battle of Tours (Poitiers) October 10, 732 | Charles Martel defeated a Muslim invasion of France. |
| Pepin the Short | Mayor of the Palace who was elected King of the Franks by an assembly of nobles. |
| Stephen II | Pope who anointed Pepin King of the Franks (754) |
| Childeric III | Last Merovingian king, sent to a monastery by Pepin the Short. |
| Donation of Pepin | Forged document which claimed to give all of Italy to the Pope to rule. |
| Charlemagne | Charles the Great, united Frankland and worked to Christianize Europe.,  |
| Progress | A yearly tour by Charlemagne of all his possessions. |
| Marks | Border provinces given to loyal counts who had extra troops and responsibilities. |
| Counties | 300 local divisions of Frankland, ruled by the counts. |
| missi dominici | "Messengers of the Lord," they carried Charlemagne's orders to the counts and the stewards. |
| Saxons | Barbarian tribe in north Germany with which Charlemagne fougt a 30 - year gurerrilla war to force their conversion to Christianity. |
| Alcuin of York | British scholar who set up Charlemagne's palace school. |
| Carolingian Miniscule Script | Form of writing developed by Carolingian scholars. |
| Pope Leo III | Crowned Charlemagne Emperor of the West on December 25, 800. |
| Aachen | Capital of Charlemagne's Empire.,  |
| Monasteries | Religious communities where men gave up their possessions and followed rules to serve God. |
| Convents | Religious communities where women gave up their possessions and followed rules to serve God. |
| St. Benedict | Monk who wrote the rules for monasteries. |
| St. Scholastica | Sister of St. Benedict, she became the first nun of the Benedictine order. |
