| A | B |
|---|
| Middle Ages | 500 to 1500; also called the medieval period |
| Franks | Germanic people who held power in the Roman province of Gaul |
| monastery | religious communities built by the Christian Church |
| secular | worldly |
| Carolingian Dynasty | the reign of Frankish rulersr that lasted from 751 to 987 |
| Charlemagne | Charles the Greatt; seized control of the Frankish kingdom in 771 |
| lord | landowner |
| fief | land granted by lord to a vassal |
| vassal | the person receiving tthe fief from the lord |
| knight | mounted warriors who pledged to defend their lords' lands in exchange for fiefs |
| serf | the people who could not lawfully leave the place where they were not born; a type of peasant |
| manor | the lord's estate |
| tithe | church tax |
| chivalry | a complex set of ideals; code the knights lived by |
| tournament | mock battles |
| troubador | poet-musicians at the castles and courts of Europe |
| clergy | religious officials |
| sacrament | important religious ceremonies |
| canon law | the law of the Church |
| Holy Roman Empire | the strongest kingdom that arose from the ruins of Charlemagne's empire |
| lay investiture | a ceremony in which kings and nobles appointed church officials |
