Glossary unit2
- 1. Unit 2: FEUDAL EUROPE.
- 2. Bishop (obispo): a priest entrusted with authority. They were often advisors to a king. Clergy (clero): all the people who belonged to the Church. They were a privileged estate in medieval society. Convent (convento): a place where nuns lived and worked. Court (corte): the followers of a monarch, made up of family memebers, warriors and advisors. Crop rotation (rotación de cultivos): leaving part of a field fallow to allow the soil to rest. Crusades (cruzadas): holy military expeditions by Christians to recover the Holy Land from the Muslims. Demesne (dominio): the land on a fief possesed directly by its lord. Estates (Estados): medieval social groups. Medieval society was divided into three estates: nobility, clergy and the third estate.
- 3. Excommunicate (excomulgar): the expulsion of a person from the Roman Catholic Church by the Pope. Famine (hambruna): a widespread lack of food for a population. Feudalism (feudalismo): the main system in Europe in the 10th-13th centuries based upon a network of feudal ties, in which nobles recieved land from the king in return for military assistance. Fief (feudo): an area of land given to a vassal in return for military assistance. Free peasant (campesino libre): a peasant who owned a small plot of land and pais taxes, but was free to make personal decisions. Holy Roman Emperor (Emperador del Sacro Imperio Romano): a title established in AD 800 as a succesor to the Western Roman emperors. Homage (homenaje): a demonstration of loyalty to a lord.
- 4. Knight (caballero): a noble who offered military assistance to a lord. Lord (señor): a powerful noble with a castle and a large estate. Lower nobility (baja nobleza): knigths, who sometimes only owned their horse and weapons. March (Marca): a well-defended border region of the Frankish kingdom. Mayor of the Palace (Mayordomo de palacio): a Frankish official. They were the real rulers of the Frankish kingdom. Military order (orden militar): an organisation of warrior-monks. Missi Dominici: were Frankish royal inspectors who controlled regional administration. Monastery (monasterio): a place were monks lived and worked. Nobles: a privileged estate in medievl society. They had a military role and often controlled large pieces of land. Page: a noble child who served a knight.
- 5. Peasants (campesinos): the majority of the medieval population. They worked on the land and were unprivileged. Privileged estates (Estados privilegiados): the nobility and clergy, who did have not pay taxes or do manual labour. Regular clergy (clero regular): members of religious orders, who lived in separate communities. Rule (regla): a set of religous obligations that monks followed. Secular clergy (clero secular): priests and bishops. They lived within society and provided religious services. Serf (siervo): a peasant completly under the authority of a lord. Squire (escudero): a young noble who offered military assistance to a knight. Tithe (diezmo): a tax paid on Church land by peasants. It was usually a share of the harvest.
- 6. Upper nobility (alte nobleza): great feudal lords with castles and large estates. Vassal (vasallo): a noble or a knight who has recived land in return for the promise of military support.