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Abbey

answer

A monastic community, governed by an abbot or abbess. An abbey was distinct from a priory by its larger size, its greater autonomy, or both.

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Albigensianism

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Another word for the medieval heresy of Catharism

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Anti-clericalism

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Opposition to the influence of clergy. In the middle ages, anti-clericalism stressed a) the greed and wickedness of the clergy, (b) the unnecessary role of the clergy in the sacraments, or (c) both.

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Apanage

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a territorial holding, usually carved out of the royal demesne, that was given by the French king to a member of his own family.

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Apprentice

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a young man (or, occasionally young woman) training in a craft or trade.

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Arians

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Early Christian heretics who conceived of the Trinity as three unequal entities. Not to be confused with the racist concept of an Aryan race.

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Artisan

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a skilled craftsperson, such as a goldsmith or shoemaker

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Bailiff

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in a general sense, the chief administrative officer of a manor. In a specific sense, a royal officer used by Philip II and Augustus of France (1180-1223) and his successors to advance royal interests in territories outside the royal demesne.

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Barbarian

answer

in a general sense, a Greek term for those who spoke non-Greek languages. In a specific sense, the term used in the book to designate the frontier tribes that eventually settled within the borders of the Roman Empire-that is, Visigoths, Ostrogoths, Vandals, Franks, Saxons, Angles, Jutes, and the like

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Beguines

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women who lived in religious communities but without ecclesiastical sanction or regulation. Beguines and beguinages (as their communities were called) flourished in northwestern European cities in the 13th century, but they were suppressed by the Church in the early 14th century.

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Bishop

answer

from Greek for "overseer", a bishop is the chief priest of a district (or diocese). Exercising authority over all the priests therin and sometimes monasteries too, the bishop is responsible for pastoral care and moral correction.

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Burgess (burgher)

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a citizen of a town. because not all inhabitants were citizens, burgesses tended to be the wealthiest and most powerful townspeople.

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Caliph

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form Arabic for "successor", the caliph succeeded, after the death of Muhammed, to his position as the secular and religious leader of the Islamic world. In time, however the term came to be applied to leaders of separate polities within Islam such as the Fatimid caliphate in Egypt or the caliphate of Cordoba.

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Canon

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from the Greek word for "standard" or "criterion", canon has many medieval meanings including (a) a church ordinance, law or decree (hence canon law); (b) a cleric who works in the world but follows a quasi-monastic life, usually in association with a cathedral (women were known as canonesses); or (c) when used as an adjective, an equivalent of "authoritative", as in the seven "canonical hours", or holy services, that punctuated each monastic day.

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Canon Law

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the law of the church

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Capitulary

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laws and regulations issued by Charlemagne (768-814) and his successors that were to be observed throughout his empire.

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Cardinal

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created in the 11th century, the position of cardinal entitled its holder to participate in papal elections. it was an honor that could be attached to any clerical position.

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Catharism

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a dualist heresy in the Central Middle Ages, also known as Albigensianism (as in the Albigensian Crusade launched against Cathars, 1209-1229)

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Cathedral

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the principal church of a bishop, located in the city that was the center of his diocese.

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Cathedral schools

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schools attached to cathedrals and therefore, unlike monastic schools, in urban settings. Cathedral schools were more common in the north; municipals schools in the south; both were part of the 11th century expansion of the education that led in the 12th to the founding of the first universities

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Catholic

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in a general sense, "catholic" simply means "universal". In a specific sense, it designates those medieval Christians who looked to the pope in Rome for guidance (since the pope claimed authority over all Christians). Eastern Orthodox Christians rejected the universal claims of the Roman pope, a division that hardened in 1054 when Pope Leo IX (1049-1054) and Patriarch Michael Cerularius (1043-1058) excommunicated each other. "Catholic" would take on new meaning when the Western Christians divided under pressure from "Protestant" reformers in the 16th century, but throughout the middle ages, catholic describes the faith of all orthodox Christians in the medieval west.

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Chansons de geste

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literally "songs of great deeds", these epics were especially popular among the aristocracy of northern France in the 11th century and 12th century.

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Charter

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a written document that records a gift, grant, sale, or other transaction.

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Christendom

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Literally, a Christian realm of imperium Christianum a term used to describe the lands ruled by Charlemagne (768-814). In later centuries, Christendom had considerable ideological power for many medieval Christians, describing a territory roughly equivalent to "Europe" and expressing their vision of a unified Christian society within those lands. Historians today distinguish between Western Christendom and Eastern Christendom (the Byzantine Empire).

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Church

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general sense: simply a place of worship. specific sense: Church refers to the established institution of the medieval Church, headed by the pope in Rome

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Clergy (cleric)

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see secular clergy and regular clergy

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Comitatus

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a barbarian war band, led by a chief to whom men owed absolute loyalty. the personal bonds of the comitatus were one precursor to feudalism

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Common Law

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as developed in England from the 12th century features (1) it was the king's law, available to all free people throughout the realms (2) it was based on custom and precedent, not statute.

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Communal movement

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the effort of cities and towns in the central middle ages to establish rights of self-governance. These movements were often led by associations of citizens who had sworn a communal oath. Also known as the charter movement, because of the charters of self-governance that citizens sought.

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Commune

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a municipality that had obtained a charter of self-governance, as many towns did in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. In a few cases, rural villages also formed communes.

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Compurgation

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proof of innocence by oath of swearing

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Conciliar movement

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a late medieval movement (1378-1449) to make councils not popes the supreme authority within the church

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Cortes

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the representative assemblies of the Christian Kingdoms of the Iberian peninsula.

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Councils

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specific context: refers to general meetings of church officers. the earliet church councils, such as the council of Nicaea in 325, clarified basic matters of christian doctrine. central middle ages: councils were effective tools of papal monarchy, especially the Fourth Lateran Council of 1215. Later middle ages: councils briefly presented a constitutional challenge to papal authority.

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Courtly love

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a modern term coined to describe ideas about romantic love between women and men, as they developed in the literature of France in the 12th century

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Crusader States

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the four states established in the wake of the highly successful First Crusade: the county of Edessa, the principality of Antioch, the county of Tripoli, and the kingdom of Jerusalem (whose king was theoretically the overlord of the other three).

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Curia

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Latin for "court", this term was especially used for the highest courts, such as curia regis (the kings court) or the papal curia

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Curia regis

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the king's court or council in England. from the right of great men to advise the king in council slowly evolved some of the advisory capacities of English parliaments.

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Custom

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a practice that has legal force because of long use. Custom-based law, as opposed to statute law, took its force from the power of past practice: what had been done in the past should be done in the present. see common law

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Demesne

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general sense: the land that an owner kept for his or her direct use, as opposed to land dispersed to tenants, vassals, or others. On a manor, the demesne consisted of lands directly cultivated for the profit of the manorial lord or lady. In a realm, the royal demesne consisted of lands directly controlled by the monarch

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Diet

answer

from Latin for "day", an assembly in the German states.

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Diocese

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the district supervised by a bishop

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Domestic proselytization

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a term coined by the historian Jane Schulenburg to describe conversions to Christianity that were accomplished by the marriages- especially royal marriages- of christian women to pagan men

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Double monastery

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monasteries that included both men and women. In early middle ages these houses were usually ruled by abbesses. Most eventually became single-sex establishments. in central middle ages, new sorts of double monasteries were formed so that men, who were able (if ordained) to administer the sacraments, could assist the nuns.

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Dualism

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a philosophy or religion that emphasizes conflict between the two opposing forces of good and evil, such as Persian Zoroastrianism, Manicheanism in late imperial Rome, and the Cathar heresy of the central middle ages

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Ecclesiastical

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related to the church as an institutional body

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Estates General

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the representative assembly of France, first called by Philip IV the Fair (1285-1314)

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Eucharist

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The christian sacrament that commemorates the Last Supper. By the doctrine of transubstantiation, approved by the fourth lateran council in 1215, the eucharistic bread (the host) and wine were transformed, during the mass, into the body and blood of Christ. this miracle is celebrated in the feast of Corpus Christi (body of Christ), established in the 13th century and celebrated about two months after Easter.

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Excommunication

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removal from communion with the church. Since medieval theologians taught that the sacraments of the church were essential to salvation, excommunication effectively meant damnation.

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Fable

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a genre of urban literature, fables were allegories in which stock characters were presented as animals. Renard the fox, a crafty and unscrupulous fellow who makes almost everyone he encounters into a fool, in the hero of many fables.

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Fabliaux

answer

urban tales that were filled with satire, sex, and comedy

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Fallow

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unplanted land, particularly land left unplanted in order to replenish the fertility of the soil. In the three-field system, a field lay fallow every third year.

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Family church/monastery

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a church or monastery founded by a family and considered part of the family property. Such a family would endow the church and protect it, but it also expected to appoint its clergy and sometimes to control its resources

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Feud

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a prolonged and deadly dispute, usually between two families or clans

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Feudalism

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a modern term coined to describe the political, military, and social customs that maintained the power of the military elite (those who fight) in the central and later middle ages.

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Fief

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a gift (usually an estate, but sometimes an office or annuity) given by a lord or lady to a vassal, in return for service (usually military service). Originally fiefs were for life only, but they soon became hereditary

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Free peasant

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as distinct from a serf or slave, a peasant who could move, work, marry, and otherwise make his or her own life decisions without having to seek the prior approval of a manorial lady or lord.

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Friar

answer

a member of the Dominican or Franciscan orders, both founded in the early 13th century. not bound to the obligation of remaining in a monastery (as were monks and nuns), friars moved about Europe, renowned as preachers, inquisitors, and professors. Known as mendicants, because they begged for a living, friars also include members of the Carmelite and Augustinian orders.

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German, Germanic

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modern sense: the people, language, and state of modern Germany. Medieval history: terms are sometimes used to designate the frontier tribes that eventually settled within the borders of the Roman Empire- that is, Visigoths, Ostrogoths, Vandals, Franks, Saxons, Angles, Jutes, and the like. But Romans rarely described these tribes as Germanic, preferring barbarian instead. These tribes did not always share a common language that was the ancestor of modern German, and their states did not evolve into the modern Federal Republic of Germany

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Gloss

answer

a comment on a text, originally written in its margins by a "glossator" This system of comments, followed by comments on comments, was a critical method of scholasticism.

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Gothic

answer

an architectural style that originated in 12th century France characterized by the use of flying buttresses, pointed arches, and ribbed vaults.

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Guild

answer

general sense: a community of people engaged in a common purpose- such as the guilds of town leaders who wrested charters from overlords in the 11th and 12th centuries (these organizations were also known as communes); the guilds of students or faculty that comprised medieval universities; or the parish guilds that helped support local religious activities (these were sometimes called confraternities). specific sense: guilds were organizations through which urban trades and crafts supervised training, quality, and sales of the products under their jurisdiction.

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Hagiography

answer

the writing of saints' lives, a popular genre of Christian literature

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Heretic

answer

a person who diverges from established belief of his or her religion and then persists in that divergence. Note: Jews and Muslims, as non-Christians, were not heretics in the eyes of the medieval church and therefore were outside the jurisdiction of inquisitors. To medieval Christians, Jews and Muslims were infidels.

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Holy Roman Empire

answer

term not specifically used until 12th century , it generally applies to the German empre after Otto I (936-973), who was crowned as emperor in 962. Otto's successors acceded to the German kingship by primogeniture or election, and their status as emperor relied on coronation by the pope. Throughout its long history, the Holy Roman empire was usually little more than a loose net thrown over largely autonomous German states.

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Host

answer

see Eucharist

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Household

answer

general sense: a group of people who shared a common residence, as well as a common work and provisioning. A household differs from our modern meaning of "family" in that it could include servants, wage-laborers, and even boarders. In medieval Latin, familia usually meant household

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Humanism

answer

an intellectual movement, whose earliest beginnings are associated with Francesco Petrarch (1304-1374), that stressed (a) admiration for classical antiquity; (b) the educational importance of literature, art, and history and (c) an optimistic assessment of human potential

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Icon

answer

an image of saintly or divine figure. In 8th century Byzantium, iconclasts wanted to destroy these images because they feared that people wrongly attributed special power to icons. Inconodules wanted to retain icons because they believed icons were a useful spur to contemplation.

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Infidel

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literally a person without faith, this label was applied to Jews and Muslims by medieval Christians

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Inquisitor

answer

a church official, usually a Dominican friar, given special powers by the pope to search out and punish heretics.

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Interdict

answer

a form of mass excommunication, an interdict forbade the celebration of Christian services or sacraments within a specified area. Among other things, an interdict meant that no infants could be baptized, no couples wed, and no dead properly buried.

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Itinerant Judges

answer

as used particularly by the English crown, these judges moved about the countryside, carrying the power of the king's justice far beyond the king's immediate presence.

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Journeyman/woman

answer

a young man or woman who had finished an apprenticeship but did not yet own a shop as an independent master or mistress. Journeymen and journeywomen were paid wages by the day

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Knight

answer

a man trained and armed to fight on horseback. Many knights-but not all-were also vassals. over the course of the middle ages, the training of knights-as pages and squires-became more elaborate, as did the rituals in which men were armed and made into knights

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Lady

answer

thanks to our Victorian legacy, we associate the term "lady" with gentility and refinement. in the middle ages however, a lady was a domina, a woman who exercised power, whether over a manor, vassals, or realm.

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Laity

answer

general: a person without professional knowledge or interest. As specifically used in medieval history, a term for Christians not professionally active in the church

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Lay investiture

answer

in a strict sense, the practice of laypeople investing clergy with the symbols of their ecclesiastical powers. in a general sense the control of ecclesiastical appointments by laity

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Legate

answer

an ambassador of the pope who usually had extensive powers to act on the pope's behalf.

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Lord

answer

used in many different contexts, a lard was simply a dominus, a man who exercised power over others- as a manorial lord, feudal lord, king, bishop, or otherwise. see also lady, master, vassal

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Magnate

answer

a particularly wealthy or influential aristocrat, usually one with direct access to his king or prince. the greatest nobles of a realm were its magnates.

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Manorialism

answer

the economic arrangements through which serfs and free peasants (those who work) supported the landowning elite. a manor was an estate consisting of land and people who worked the land, and since each manor usually had its own court and officials, it was a jurisdictional as well as an economic unit. see also feudalism

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Master

answer

for the urban and peasant classes, this was the term applied to a male head of household. in urban guilds, it also designated a man who ran his own workshop or business (under whom might work apprentices, journeymen, and journeywomen). from this term, we get the modern title Mr.

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Mendicants

answer

see friars

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Military orders

answer

developed during the crusading movement, military orders combined the skills of soldiering with the rigors of monastic life. the greatest were the Knights Templar, the Hospitalers, the Teutonic Knights (active in the Baltic), and the Knights of Santiago de Compostela (dedicated to fighting Muslims in Iberia).

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Ministerial

answer

a lowborn knight who worked for the Holy Roman emperor, protecting his interests in the German principalities see bailiff and sheriff

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Missi dominici

answer

envoys used by Charlemagne to enforce his rule throughout his wide realm. The missi dominici usually traveled in pairs of one churchman and one layman. for later variations on the use of such officials, see bailiff, ministerial, and sheriff.

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Mistress

answer

for the urban and peasant classes, this term was the equivalent of lady, signifying a woman who was a female head of household or even a woman who ran her own business. From mistress come the modern title Mrs.

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Monastic orders

answer

a group of monastic houses linked by either (a) a common monastic rule or (b) formal structures of administration and governance (the first of these was the Cluniac order, in which Cluny was the main abbey and all other houses were priories under Cluny's governance).

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Monastic rules

answer

guides for monastic living. The most important, often known as simply The Rule, was written by St. Benedict of Nursia (480-550). Because monks and nuns follow such guidelines, they are known as regular clergy (rule=regula in Latin).

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Monastic schools

answer

early monasteries often included schools, but monastic school became especially important after Charlemagne's capitulary of 789 ordered every monastery to provide some educational training. Many monastic school trained external students as well as monks and nuns. Monastic schools were slowly superceded, for men, by cathedral schools and universities buy they remained important in female education throughout the middle ages.

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Mystery plays

answer

plays mounted by urban guilds (also known as mysteries) that recounted stories from the Bible. An entire mystery cycle began with the Creation and ended with the Final Judgement.

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Mystery religions

answer

ancient religions and cults characterized by a promise of mystical revelation (whence "mystery") and an emphasis on individual spiritual development and salvation

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Mysticism

answer

direct contact between humanity and divinity. Christian mystics attempted to initiate such experiences through prayer, fasting, contemplation, and other means, in medieval Islam, Sufi mystics led the way. In Judaism, Kabbalism was the main route to mystical union.

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Neoplatonism

answer

an elaboration of Plato's theory of forms especially associated with the third-century philosopher Plotinus (205-270) who taught of one infinite and unknowable god who can be approached only through mystical experience. To Neoplatonists, the human soul should seek to return, via mysticism, to the perfect oneness of God.

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Nobles

answer

the upper crust of knights, distinguished from other knights by their good birth, wealth, and power.

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Oblation

answer

general sense: a gift. specific sense: the giving of young children to monasteries to be raised as monks or nuns (these children were known as oblates). This practice was discouraged by the church, and it died out in the central middle ages. the term is also applied to gifts that parishioners customarily gave to priests in return for performing marriage, funerals, and other services.

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Open fields

answer

fields surrounding villages in which many tenants held strips of land for growing crops. because fences did not divide these strips, the fields were "open"

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Orthodox

answer

general sense: a "correct opinion" as judged by a designated religious authority. specific sense: indicated by capitalization, Orthodox signifies the Eastern Orthodox Church (which embraces self-governing branches in Greece, Russia, Serbia, and elsewhere.)

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Pagan

answer

general sense: an irreligious person, especially as applied by medieval Christians to Jews and Muslims. specific sense: a pagan is a follower of a polytheistic faith, such as the traditional deities of Rome.

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Papacy

answer

the office of the pope

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Papal bull

answer

general sense: a bull is a document ratified by a seal that is a wax impression. A papal bull is an authoritative document bearing a papal seal.

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Papal curia

answer

the pope's court and bureaucracy

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Parish

answer

the smallest geographical unit in the ecclesiastical system, a parish was the basic unit of public worship. It ideally consisted of a church and a priest who cared for all Christian souls within the parish.

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Parlement

answer

a judicial body, important in the administration of royal justice in France. The French representative assembly was known as the Estates General.

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Parliament

answer

A representative assembly in England that, by the 14th century, was composed of great lords (both lay and ecclesiastical), and representatives from two other groups: shire knights and burgesses.

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Patarenes

answer

In the 11th-century Milan, the patarenes (or rag-pickers) allied with church reformers against the great merchants of the city and the city's bishop, who was then loyal to the emperor. Since the patarenes swore a communal oath, they were precursors of the communal movement by which the cities of Lombardy and elsewhere sought greater rights of self-governance.

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Pontificate

answer

the office of the pope or the period of a pope's rule

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Pope

answer

the bishop of Rome, considered by catholic Christians to be the successor to St. Peter and the true head of all Christians.

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Prelate

answer

a high-ranking church officer, such as a bishop or abbot. Abbesses were sometimes included among prelates, but often not.

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Primogeniture

answer

preference in matters of inheritance to the first-born son.

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Prince

answer

in specific sense, the son of a king, but in the general sense used in book, the chief ruler of a region, whether male or female.

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Priory

answer

a monastic community, governed by a prior or prioress. sometimes priories were under the authority of a superior abbey, but sometimes they were just relatively small communities. In some particularly large abbeys, the prior or prioress did not govern a separate community but was instead second-in-command.

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Quadrivium

answer

the study of mathematics, music, astronomy, and geometry, constituting one part of the liberal arts the other part was the trivium.

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Regular clergy

answer

from the Latin regula or "rule", the regular clergy are in monastic orders-that is, either monks or nuns.

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Relic

answer

an object venerated because of its association with a saint or other religious figure. Relics are often credited with miraculous powers.

question

Ritual murder

answer

starting with a tale that spread through the English town of Norfolk in 1144, accusations of ritual murder became a common pretext for attacks on medieval Jews. In these stories, Jews took the role of the murderers; their victims were usually imagined as young boys; and their methods supposedly mimicked the crucifixion of Jesus. These false accusations often resulted in mass Christian assaults on Jews.

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Romance

answer

a literary genre that emerged in late 12th century France, romances set their heroic stories in historical or legendary ages (such as the time of King Arthur). They explored the great deeds of warriors, as well as the conflicts that could arise between feudal loyalties and courtly love.

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Romanesque

answer

an architectural style prevalent until the 12th century and characterized by rounded arches and stone vault roofs supported by thick walls and columns.

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Sacrament

answer

a religious ceremony that confers God's grace on the recipient. At the fourth Lateran Council in 1215 the sacraments of Western Christianity were fixed at seven: baptism, confirmation, communion, penance, marriage, extreme unction, and ordination. Because ordained priests (see secular clergy) administer the sacraments and because the sacraments are a route to salvation, the sacramental basis of medieval Christianity was a critical part of the institutional power of its church.

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Saint

answer

general sense: holy person. Specific sense: holy person formally recognized as such by a religious authority. as a rule, no living person is a saint; sanctity is a post-mortem recognition of holy life

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Schism

answer

a division especially a religious division. the two greatest religious schisms of the middle ages are traditionally dated as occurring in 1054 (between the catholic church and eastern orthodox church) and 1378 (between two-and later three- rival claimants to the papacy).

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Scholasticism

answer

a philosophical system that reached is apogee with the work of Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274). Scholastics used reason to reconcile conflicting authorities and to create coherent intellectual systems out of the messy abundance of past writings and opinions. Their method entailed careful study, respect for all past authorities, and logical thinking.

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Scriptorium

answer

the place in a monastery where monks and nun copied manuscripts.

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Secular

answer

having to do with the world, as opposed to spiritual and religious matters.

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Secular Clergy

answer

unlike the regular clergy who submit themselves to the discipline of a monastic rule, the secular clergy-that is, priests, bishops, and archbishops-work in the world, serving the pastoral needs of the laity. Most are ordained-that is, empowered to celebrate the mass and other sacraments of the church

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See

answer

from Latin for "seat", a see is the diocese of a bishop, the area under his jurisdiction

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Serf

answer

serfs could not leave their manors; they had to render labor-rent; and they had to pay various fines and fees to their manors. serfs were distinct from both slaves and free peasants

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Sheriff

answer

an English officer who served as a link between the county where he worked and the royal administration to which he reported. Unlike French bailiffs whose loyalty to the crown was absolute, English sheriffs were local men who balanced local interests with royal responsibilities.

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Simony

answer

the sale and purchase of church offices, one of the practices opposed by the Gregorian Reform of the 11th century.

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Slave

answer

Slaves were wholly at the disposal of their owners. slavery was less common in the middle ages than it was in either the ancient world or early modern Europe.

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Sovereignty

answer

Governmental authority, especially authority that is not limited by competing jurisdictions, such as those that might be posed by international bodies (for example, the church) or internal bodies (for example, self-governing cities or autonomous principalities).

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Steward

answer

a manorial officer. sometimes, a steward was the equivalent of a bailiff, the chief officer of a manor. but sometimes a steward oversaw an estate of several manors, and in such cases, he supervised the bailiffs of each manor.

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Strip

answer

a long and narrow area of land within an open field, demarcated by stones or other markers but not fences. Each household might hold one or more strips in each of the open fields of a village.

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Synod

answer

a meeting of church officers, distinct from church councils in that synods usually convened officers from only one region or realm.

question

Tertiary orders

answer

orders of laymen and laywomen attached to the Dominicans or Franciscans. Formally recognized by the church in 1289, tertiaries were guided by friars in their prayers and rituals, but they remained active in family life and worldly affairs.

question

Three-field system

answer

farming in which peasants rotated crops between three fields: the first grew a winter crop, the second a spring crop, and the third lay fallow

question

Tithe

answer

the obligation of Christians to offer one-tenth of all produce and income to the church. from the central middle ages, this was collected as a de facto tax, usually in support of parish church and priest.

question

Toll

answer

a charge to use a road, cross a bridge, or even simply to trade goods. Townspeople objected to tolls and urban charters usually granted them freedom from tolls

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Trail by ordeal

answer

a from of trial, derived from barbarian law, that relied on divine intervention to determine guild or innocence.

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Trivium

answer

The study of grammar, rhetoric, and logic, which together with the subjects of the quadrivium constituted the liberal arts studied in medieval schools and universities.

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Urban charter

answer

a document that granted a town or city extensive rights or self-government

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Usury

answer

loaning money at interest, a practice condemned by the medieval church

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Vassal

answer

a knight who owes loyalty and service to a feudal lord or lady, often in return for a fief.

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Vernacular language

answer

the native spoken language-or mother tongue- of a region. in the middle ages, Latin long dominated all literacy and study, but vernacular literatures began to gain ground from the central middle ages.

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Vulgate Bible

answer

a Latin translation of the Bible produced by St. Jerome (340-420), the Vulgate remained the standard text throughout the middle ages.

question

Wergild

answer

compensation paid for offenses either to the victim or the victim's family. this form of dispute resolution was common among the barbarian tribes.

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