Modern World History

Unit: The High and Late Middle Ages

Peltier rm. 229
Vocabulary
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William the Conqueror- became King of England on Christmas day 1066.

Common Law- a legal system based on custom and court rulings.
Jury- group of men sworn to speak the truth.
King John- son of Henry II of England, he was clever, cruel and
untrustworthy.
5. Magna Carta- great charter, signed in 1215, that took some rights away
from the king.
6. Due Process of Law- the requirement that the government act fairly and in
accordance with established rules in all that it does.
7. Habeas Corpus- principle that no person can be held in prison without first
being charged with a specific crime.
8. Parliament- a great council that became Englands legislature.
9. Louis IX- King of France in 1226 who was very religious.
10.Holy Roman Empire- empire of west central Europe from 962-1806,
comprising present-day Germany and neighboring lands.
11.Henry IV- crowned king of Germany, and later became Holy Roman Emperor.
12.Gregory VII- a pope in early 1000s.
13.Lay Investiture- appointment of bishops by anyone who is not a member of
the clergy.
14.Frederick Barbarossa- Red Beard, Holy Roman emperor Frederick I from
Germany.
15.Pope Innocent III- became pope in 1198, and claimed supremacy over all
rulers.
16.Crusades- religious wars fought between Christians and Muslims for control
of lands in the Middle East.
17.Holy Land- Jerusalem and other places in Palestine where Christians
believed Jesus lived and preached.
18.Pope Urban II- aided Alexius I in raising knights and soldiers to fight the
Muslim Turks.
19.Reconquista- reconquest.
20.Ferdinand & Isabella- unified all of Spain and made a final push to drive
Muslims out of Granada.
21.Inquisition- Church court set up to try people accused of heresy.
22.Scholasticism- the school of thought that used logic and reason to support
Christian beliefs.
23.Thomas Aquinas- philosopher who wrote Summa Theologica, that said faith
and reason exist in harmony.
24.Vernacular- everyday language of ordinary people.
25.Dante Alighieri- Italian poet who wrote the Divine Comedy.
26.Geoffrey Chaucer- English writer who wrote the Canterbury Tales.
27.Gothic Style- type of European architecture characterized by flying
buttresses, ribbed vaulting, thin walls, and high roofs.
28.Flying Buttresses- stone supports that stood outside the church.
29.Illumination- artistic decoration of books.

30.Black Death- also known as the bubonic plague, where one in three people
died.
31.Epidemic- outbreak of rapid-spreading disease.
32.Inflation- rising prices.
33.Schism- split.
34.Longbow- bow and arrow.