Unit 3A Content Vocab: Medieval (Post-Classical) Europe

a man of noble rank in medieval society who were granted land (called fiefs) from a king in return for allegiance and military service

• king

• knight

• (feudal) lord

seafaring people from the Scandinavian Peninsula who raided, traded with, and later settled in many parts of northwestern Europe in the 8th –11th centuries

• Vikings

• Seljuk Turks

• peasants

an estate of land held by a vassal on condition of military service to his lord

• serfs

• fief

• medieval manor

a holder of land by feudal contract in exchange for homage and allegiance to the lord which granted the land

• vassal

• fief

• peasant

professional warriors who served lords as mounted, armored soldiers in exchange for food, housing, and other benefits

• serfs

• peasants

• knights

farmers bound under the feudal system to work on his lord's estate and unable to leave

• vassals

• peasants

• serfs

meaning “Great Charter” in Latin, a document that gave certain rights to the English people- these rights were granted by King John on June 15, 1215, under the threat of civil war by English noble lords

• Reconquista

• Magna Carta

• vassal

meaning “re-conquest” in Spanish, a series of campaigns by Christian kingdoms to recapture territory from the Moors (Muslims), who had occupied most of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) in the early 8th century (700’s A.D.)

• Magna Carta

• vassal

• Reconquista

an estate comprised of tracts of agricultural land, a village whose inhabitants worked that land, a church, and a manor house or castle the lord lived in

• vassal

• feudal lord

• medieval manor

a poor farmer of low social status who owns or rents a small piece of land to live on and grow food

• peasant

• serf

• vassal