Middle Ages Vocabulary Middle Ages a period in

Middle Ages Vocabulary

Middle Ages • a period in European history that lasted from about 500 to about 1500

feudalism • the political, social, and economic system which provided protection to the people

the manor system • a way to manage feudal lands during the Middle Ages

monarch • a king or queen who is a supreme leader

knight • a feudal warrior trained and prepared to fight on horseback

chivalry • a knight’s code of behavior

lady • a woman of nobility

serf • a person who lived on and farmed feudal land

three-field rotation • 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

monk • a man who devotes his life to religion

monastery • where monks lived, studied, and prayed

nun • a woman who devotes her life to religion

convent • where nuns lived, studied, and prayed

missionary • a person who teaches a religion to people with different beliefs

Charlemagne • King of the Franks who was later crowned emperor of the former Roman Empire in western Europe

William the Conqueror • Norman King who conquered England in 1066

Domesday Book • a book made in 1086 that helped King William keep track of all of the people and property in England

King John • English King whose lords forced him to agree to the Magna Carta in 1215, which limited royal power

Magna Carta • an English charter (1215) that limited royal power

Christine de Pisan • earned a living by writing • wrote about how women were both glorified and insulted by male authors

Marco Polo • Venetian merchant, world traveler, and writer who remained in China as a guest for 17 years

Silk Road • a trading route that connected Europe and lands of the former Roman Empire with China

Alexius Comnenus • Byzantine emperor who appealed to the pope for Christian knights to fight against the Turks

Pope Urban II • urged Christian knights from Europe to fight against the Muslim Turks

The Crusades • The Crusades were major military expeditions by Christians to win back control of Palestine (Holy Land) and to protect the Byzantine Empire.

epidemic • a disease that spreads quickly

bubonic plague • an epidemic spread to humans by fleas from rats

The Plague • an attack of bubonic plague that killed about 25 -30 percent of Europe’s population from 1347 to 1352

Scandinavia • a northwestern region of Europe; includes the nations of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway

Palestine • a Roman province on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea

Chang’an • a capital city in Central Asia on the Silk Road

Dunhuang • a Chinese city on the edge of the Taklimakan Desert

Genoa • a seaport town in Italy