| A | B |
|---|
| medieval | Latin for “middle age” |
| frontier | sparsely populated |
| missi dominici | officials sent out by Charlemagne to check on the nobles and to make sure that justice was carried out |
| curriculum | formal course of study |
| Islam | religion born in 622 A.D. and spread from Arabia across Northern Africa into Spain |
| Treaty of Verdun | an agreement that split the Frankish empire into three parts |
| Vikings | barbarians/raiders who attacked coastal cities after the Treaty of Verdun causing a further decline of Medieval Europe |
| Clovis | a Frankish leader who united all the tribes of Gaul in 481 A.D. |
| Charlemagne | a great Frankish King who was crowned by Pope Leo III and to be the Emperor of all Romans |
| Franks | one of the Germanic tribes of Europe that became dominant with the fall of Rome |
| Battle of Tours | fight where Muslim armies were halted in Western Europe |
| Charles Martel | a Frankish leader who stopped the Muslim armies in Western Europe |
| muslim | believers in Islam |
| Magyars | nomadic people who attacked Byzantine Empire and Europe later driven to settle in modern day Hungary |
| Aachen | Charlemagne's capital city that became a center of Latin learning |
| charter | a written document that set out the rights and privileges of a town |
| capital | money used for investments |
| partnership | two or more pool their funds to finance an investment |
| bill of exchange | a note from the bank that gave the total of cash a merchant wanted to spend like a modern day check |
| middle class | new class of people between nobles and peasants including merchants |
| craft guild | “an association of workers from a particular occupation (i.e. bakers |
| merchant guild | “an association of businessmen who dominated town life |
| apprentice | trainee to a guild master |
| journeyman | a salaried worker in a guild |
| tenant farmer | peasant who paid rent for their land |
| usury | lending money at interest |
| sacrament | the sacred rites of the Church |
| secular | worldly |
| papal supremacy | authority of pope over all secular rulers |
| excommunication | when individuals were penalized by the Church and lost their right of receiving the sacraments |
| interdict | when villages |
| friar | order of monks who did not live in isolated monasteries but among the people to restore trust in the Church |
| anti-Semitism | prejudice against Jews |
| Dominicans | order established to teach official Roman Catholic beliefs |
| tithe | a 10% tax levied by the Church |
| canon law | the body of Church law |
| simony | the selling of higher Church Offices |
| Benedictine Rule | an ordered way of life within monasteries |
| Francis of Assisi | order of friars who taught poverty |
| lay investiture | the practice of nobles appointing friends into high Church positions (bishop) |
| heresy | beliefs that went against church teachings |
| feudal contract | an agreement between a powerful lord and his vassal |
| fief | a grant of land from a powerful lord to his vassal |
| knight | a mounted warrior |
| tournament | mock battle |
| troubadour | wandering poet |
| manor | a self sufficient estate that belonged to a lord |
| feudalism | a loosely organized system of rule in which powerful local lords divided their landholdings among lesser lords |
| vassal | a lesser lord who pledged loyalty and service to a greater lord |
| chivalry | the knight’s code of conduct |
| serf | a peasant who is bound to the land |
| Eleanor of Aquitaine | powerful and influential French medieval woman she was politically and socially powerful she became Queen of France and later Queen of England |
| autocrat | a sole ruler with complete authority |
| patriarch | a bishop who exercises authority over other bishops or a high church official |
| icon | a holy image or religious picture |
| Hagia Sophia | it’s name means Holy Wisdom and was a great Christian church built by Justinian in the city of Constantinople |
| Corpus Juris Civilis | meaning Body of Civil law or commonly called Justinian’s code |
| Justinian | a great Byzantine Emperor ruled from 527 to 565 A.D. reconquered much of Roman Empire revised Roman law beautified Constantinople and ruled as an autocrat |
| Theodora | shrewd politician who served as advisor and co-ruler to her husband Justinian. At times |
| Belisarius | the loyal general of Justinian who helped him to reconquer land that had once been part of the Roman Empire |
| greek fire | secret weapon of Byzantine Navy & Army it would ignite upon impact but could not be put out with water. |
| schism | permanent division in a church |
