Usury- It is the lending of money at interest. Merchants and bankers would make a profit off of usury, and the nobles and clergy didn�t like it.
Capital- It is money for investment. It increased the development of banking houses, people made money off of it.
Tithe- A tax equal to one tenth of the incomes of Christians. Christians would pay tithes at church, giving back to what God have given them.
Fief- An estate that the lord would grant his vassal. On a fief, peasants would work on them and plant crops for their vassal.
Chivalry- The code of conduct that knights would use. It required knights to be brave, loyal, and true to their word.
Charter- A written document that set out the rights and privileges of the town. Merchants paid the lord or the king a large sum of money or a yearly fee or both.
Troubadour- A troubadour is a wandering poet. They sang love songs that praised the perfection, beauty, and wit of women throughout the ages.
Manor economy- A manor was the lord�s estate. The manors had one or more villages and the surrounding lands, peasants worked the land.
How monks and nuns lived- Monks and nuns spent their lives in the church, singing and praising God. They also tended the sick; they gave alms, or charity, to the poor and set up schools for children.
Why was church reform desired? - A reform was needed in the church because we are only human. Nuns and monks started to please themselves rather than help the church and the people, they grew lazy and slowly the church was slipping.
New agricultural technologies- An iron plow was created, which was a lot better than the wooden plows they were using, and they also were using horses to pull it instead of oxen because a new type of harness was created. A windmill was also invented, which harnessed the power of wind to grind the grain into flour; this way if the estate wasn�t near a river they could use the wind mill.
Defense of castles (moats, etc)- High walls were made to defend a castle, since most armies contained archers they needed high enough walls to deflect the arrows of the enemy. Castles were also surrounded by a moat, which is a river that rings around the outside area of the castle so that attackers couldn�t get close to it, the way civilians got across were by drawbridge.
Battle of Tours- After a long chain of Muslim wins, the Frankish general Charles Morrel and his army defeated them at the Battle of Tours. After that Muslims stopped invading Western Europe and Christians took the win as a sign from God that he was on their side.
Vassals- These people are lords, which are below the nobles, monarchs, and lords. Vassals are granted land by their lord, and then the vassal�s peasants work the fields.
Knights- A knight is a mounted warrior. Many nobles trained when young to grow up and be a knight, and fight for their lord.
Lords- Lords held the largest fiefs; they were below the nobles and monarchs. Lords would grant their vassals a fief, and the vassal would have peasants work the fields.
Why did the church have great power over the people? � Christians believe that everyone is sinners, and in order to avoid hell were to participate in sacraments, which are the sacred rituals of the Church. More and more people began practicing going to Church, and the Church gained much power.
Cluniac reforms- Abbot Berno wanted to end the abuses that were happening in the church, thus creating the Cluniac reforms. The reforms at first revived the Benedictine Rule, he would not permit nobles to interfere in the running of the monastery, and that the monastery would be filled with men who were devoted solely to religious pursuits.
Three field system- One field was planted with grain, the next with legumes, and the last unplanted. This was difference from the two field system that only had half a field unplanted.
Merchant guilds- Guilds are associations, and these merchant guilds dominated life in medieval towns. Guilds consisted of types of trade, they passed laws, levied taxes, and decided whether to spend funds to pave the streets with cobblestones, build protective walls for the city, or raise a new town hall.
Clergy- clergy usually take care of the ritual aspects of the religious life, teach or otherwise help in spreading the religion's doctrine and practices. They often deal with life-cycle events such as childbirth, baptism, circumcision, coming of age ceremonies, marriage, and death.
Nobles- Nobles were at the top of the Feudal System. They were top dog among all the other people of the time which usually meant they were kings.
Charlemagne- He became the emperor of Rome, and he was the grandson of Charles Martel. The thing about Charlemagne was that when his troops went to battle they would fight to the death to serve him; the reason for this is because Charlemagne would charge in with them and fights alongside them.
Leif Erikson- He was the leader of the Vikings; they raided, pillaged, burned, and attacked most of the villages of medieval times. Erikson also set up a small Viking colony on North America in about the year 1000.
Serf- People that were bound to the land, but weren�t slaves. Most of the peasants were serfs which couldn�t leave the land without the lords� permission.
Excommunication- the Church would excommunicate people that sin or are against them which basically excluded them from the church. Almost everyone would shun excommunicated people because they didn�t want to be near or do anything with them.
Steel plow- The steel plow was one of the inventions that sparked the agricultural revolution. Since the only plow they had was a wooden one the steel plow made a huge improvement on their gathering of crops.
Feudal system- This system was the most commonly used in Medieval Times. It consisted of the nobles, monarchs, lords, vassals, and peasants.
Black Death- the Black Death was a disease that was carried over by sea. It was passed on from the fleas that were being carried on rats which then bit people and gave them what was called the �black death� (bubonic plague.) Cairo was the most impacted city, it was one of the world�s largest at the time and the Black Death killed nearly 7,000 people a day. 25% to 50% of Europe was impacted which wiped out a huge amount of the population.
Magna Carta- the Magna Carta was made in order to put restraints on rulers. King John was the current ruler at the time, and people felt he had too much power and he was forced to sign the document.
Concordat of Worms- It brought an end between the struggle of the Holy Roman Empire and the Papacy. They agreed that the Church had the sole power to elect and invest bishops with spiritual authority.
Chief goal of and result of the Crusades- The point was to purify the Church. The Albigensians wanted to return to the simple ways of early Christianity.
Reconquista- means reconquest. The campaign to drive Muslims from Spain was known as Reconquista.
Early jury system- The jury system of medieval times was unjust in the eyes of some people. People were guilty until proven innocent; this basically meant that some innocent people went to jail, but no guilty man got away.
Conflict between emperors and popes- The popes and emperors had conflict every once in awhile because they had different interests. Popes wanted to increase religious views in a given area while emperors wanted to fight or expand their kingdom.