| A | B |
|---|
| feudalism | society organized into a hiearchy based upon ownership of the land |
| chivalry | rules governing the behaviors of knights and ladies |
| pilgrimage | a journey to a place of religious significance |
| crusades | religious wars attempting to reclaim the Holy Land from Muslims |
| courtly love | an idealized love that allows knights to fight for ladies' honor |
| Domesday Book | an inventory of English property |
| Magna Carta | the foundation of constitutional law |
| Sir Gawain and the Green Knight | a medieval romance in which one of Arthur's knights is tested |
| The Canterbury Tales | a collection of tales told by medieval pilgrims |
| ballad | a poem with musical elements that tells a story, often meant for commoners |
| romance | a poem with an ideal hero who is tested by a villain, in which the hero wins |
| quest | a difficult journey undertaken for a noble cause |
| central test | the main conflict of a romance, which the protagonist must pass |
| Arthurian Legend | the collection of tales about knights from the kingdom of Camelot |
| couplet | a pair of rhyming lines of poetry |
| vernacular | the language that is spoken by most people - common language |
| question-answer format | dialogue used in a ballad to slowly present the plot |
| refrain | the portion of a poem or song that is repeated |
| framework story | literature with an outer story that gives context to the main body |
| William the Conqueror | Norman leader, defeated Anglo-Saxon, ended Anglo-Saxon era |
| yeoman | middle class land owner |
| Norman conquest | the invasion of the French who started the Middle Ages |
| Thomas A. Beket | murdered by Henry II knights, his grave becomes a shrine |
| bob and wheel | short rhyming stanza that summarizes action, which follows alliterative lines |
