MEDIEVAL HISTORY VOCABULARY FOR CHAPTER 5
EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGES
Middle Ages: the years between ancient and modern times
Medieval: referring to the Middle Ages (medi-middle and aevum-age)
Feudalism: a system in which land was owned by kings or lords but held by
vassals in return for their loyalty
Manor: a large estate, often including farms and a village, ruled by a lord
Serf: a farm worker considered part of the manor on which he or she worked
Clergy: persons with authority to perform religious services
Excommunication: expelling someone from the church
Guild: a medieval organization of crafts workers or tradespeople
Apprentice: an unpaid person training in a craft or trade
Chivalry: the code of honorable conduct for knights
Troubadour: a traveling poet and musician of the Middle Ages
Holy Land: Jerusalem and parts of the surrounding area where Jesus lived and taught
Crusades: a series of military expeditions launched by Christian Europeans to win the
Holy Land back from Muslim control
Jerusalem: a city in the Holy Land, regarded as sacred by Christians, Muslims, and Jews
Pilgrim: a person who journeys to a sacred place
Magna Carta: the “Great Charter,” in which the king’s power over his nobles was
limited, agreed to by King John of England in 1215
Model Parliament: a council of lords, clergy, and common people that advised the
English king on government matters
Hundred Years War: a series of conflicts between England and France that lasted from
1337 to 1453