wergild
money for a man", the value of a person in money, depending on social status; in germanic society, a fine paid by a wrong doer to the family of the person he or she killed or injured.
ordeal
a means of determining guilt in germanic law, based on the idea of divine intervvention: if the accused person was unharmed after a physical trial, he or she was presumed innocent.
bishopric
a group of Christian communities, or parishes, under the authoriy of a bishop.
pope
the bishop of Rome and head of the Roman Catholic Curch.
common law
a uniform syster of law that developed in England based on court decisions and on customs and usage rather than on written law codes; replaced law codes that varied from place to place.
schism
the seperation between the two great branches of Christianity that occured when the Roman Pope Leo IX and the Byzantine patriarch Michael Cervlarius excommunicated eachother.
monk
a man who seperated himself from ordinary human society in order to dedicate himself to God; they live in monasteries headed by abbots.
monasticism
practice of living the life of a monk.
missionary
a person sent out to carry a religious message.
nun
a woman who seperates herself from ordinary human society in order to dedicate herself to God; nuns live in convents headed by abbesses.
patriarch
the head of the Eastern Orthodox Church originally appointed by the Byzantine emperor.
Crusades
military expedition carried out by European Christians in the Middle Ages to regain the Holy Land from the Muslims.
abbess
the head of a convent.
feudalism
political and social system that developed during the Middle Ages, when royal governments were no longer able to defend their subjects; nobles offered protection and land in return for service.
vassal
Under feudalism, a man who served a lord in a military capaciy.
knight
Under feudalism, a member of the heavily armored cavalry.
Magna Carta
the "Great Charter" of rights, which King John was forced to sign by the English nobles at Runnymeade in 1215.
infidel
an unbeliever, a term applied to the Muslims during the Crusades.
fief
Under feudalism, a grant of land made to a vassal; the vassal held political authority within his fief.
feudal contract
Under Feudalism, the unwritten rules that determined the relationship between a lord and his vassal.
tournament
under feudalism, a series of martial activites wuch as jousts designed to keep knights busy during peacetime and help them prepare for war.
chivalry
in the Middles Ages, the ideal of civilized behavior that developed amoung the nobility; it was a code of ethics that knights were supposed to uphold.
estate
one of the 3 classes into which French society was divided before the revolution: the clergy (first estate), the nobles (second estate), and the towns-people (third estate).