Medieval Europe Vocabulary

Question 1

Franks

Answer 1

Germanic people who settled in the Roman province of Gaul and established a great empire during the MIddle Ages

Question 2

Secular

Answer 2

Worldly rather than spiritual matters

Question 3

Charlemagne

Answer 3

Known as Charles the Great, ruler of the Frankish kingdom. Holy Roman emperor

Question 4

Lord

Answer 4

A person who controlled land and could therefore grant estates to Vassals

Question 5

Vassal

Answer 5

A person who received a grant of land from a lord in exchange for a pledge of loyalty and military services

Question 6

Fief

Answer 6

An estate granted to a Vassal by a lord under the feudal system

Question 7

Knight

Answer 7

An armored warrior who fought on horseback

Question 8

Serf

Answer 8

A peasant legally bound to live in a lord’s estates

Question 9

Manor

Answer 9

A lords estate

Question 10

Tithe

Answer 10

A family’s payment of 1/10th of its income to a church

Question 11

Clergy

Answer 11

A body of officials who perform religious services

Question 12

Crusade

Answer 12

One of the expeditions in which medieval Christian warriors sought to recover control of the Holy Land from the Muslims

Question 13

Pope Urban II

Answer 13

Issued a call for the “Holy War” (the crusade)

Question 14

Saladin

Answer 14

A Kurdish warrior and Muslim leader who conquered Jerusalem

Question 15

Reconquista

Answer 15

The effort by Christian leaders to drive the Muslims out of Spain. Lasting from the 1100’s to 1492.

Question 16

Inquisition

Answer 16

A Roman Catholic tribunal for investigating and prosecuting charges of heresy. (Especially the ones active in Spain during the 1400’s