Angles and Saxons

Germanic peoples from Northern Europe

King Alfred the Great

united various kingdoms during the 9th Century

Battle of Hastings

William of Normandy landed on coast of England and defeated King Harold; October 14, 1066

William of Normandy

crowned king of England; he took a census,Domesday Book; developed system of taxation and royal courts

Domesday Book

first census taken in Europe since Roman times

Henry II

increased the number of criminal cases tried in the King's court; took property cases from local courts to the royal courts; expanded the power of the royal courts and the king's power; replaced law codes with the "common law"; claimed the right to punish

Thomas a Becket

archbishop of Canterbury; highest-ranking English cleric; claimed that only Roman Catholic Church courts could try clerics

King John of England

was forced by the nobles to put his seal on the Magna Carta

Magna Carta

written recognition of the rights of the nobles and kept the English monarch from ever becoming an absolute ruler; the "Great Charter"of rights signed at Runnymede in 1215

King Edward I

established the English Parliament; granted taxes, discussed politics and passed laws

English Parliament

formed by two knights from every county , two people from every town and all the nobles and bishops throughout England

House of Lords

formed by nobles and church lords

House of Commons

formed by knights and townspeople

King Hugh Capet of France

established the Capetian dynasty

Capetian Dynasty

dynasty of French kings; they had little power.

King Philip II Augustus

expanded the income and power of the French monarchy; fought versus English for territories

King Louis IX (France)

religious; made saint by the Catholic Church; tried to bring justice to his people by hearing their complaints in person

King Philip IV (France)

Philip the Fair; made the monarchy stronger by expanding the royal bureaucracy; created a French parliament

French Parliament

1302 began the Estates-General

Three estates or classes of the French Parliament

the clergy (first), the nobles (second) and the townspeople and peasants (third)

Otto I

Saxon king of Germany; patron of German culture and brought the church under his control; crowned emperor of the Romans; created a new Roman Empire

Frederick I

he considered Italy the center of a "holy empire", Holy Roman Empire.

Frederick II

he wanted to establish a strong, centralized state in Italy; lost war with northern Italy also.

Western Slavs

formed Polish (Slavs) and Bohemian (Czechs) Kingdoms; converted into Christianity and became part of Roman Catholic Church

Eastern Slavs

Moravia; converted to Orthodox Christianity

Cyril and Methodius

Byzantine missionary brothers; developed Cyrillic alphabet; created Christian Bible and liturgy in the Slavic language

Southern Slavic

Croats, Serbs and the Bulgarians; most embraced Eastern Orthodoxy

the Rus

native people dominated by the Vikings

Oleg

Viking leader; created the Principality of Kiev; opened trade with the Byzantines

Principality of Kiev

Rus state; Rus = Russia

Vladimir

Rus ruler; married the Byzantine emperor sister and officially accepted Eastern Orthodox Christianity; created cultural unification in the east and separation from Western Europe

Alexander Nevsky

prince of Novgorod; defeated a German invading army in north-western Russia in 1242; rewarded title of grandprince by The Khan; his descendants became princes of Moscow and leaders of Russia

The Khan

leader of the western Mongol Empire