Unit 1

 Assembly: a meeting of the important people in a tribe or kingdom to make decisions.

 Aula Regia: a Visigoth council that advised the King.

 Barbarians: used by Romans to refer to the peoples living beyond Roman borders, meaning
“savage”.

 Basileus: the Greek Word for the Byzantine emperor.

 Caliph: the political and religous leader of all Muslims.

 Charity: giving the poor or those in need.

 Chieftain: the leader of a tribe, or of a group of people.

 Clergy: all the people who belonged to the Church. They were a privileged estate in medieval
society.

 Code of Justinian: a compilation of laws that were applied throughout the Byzantine Empire in
Justinian´s reign.

 Council: a group of nobles who helped a King to govern.

 Diplomat: a person who represented the Byzantine Empire in other territories.

 Duke: a chieftain who had control over several towns.

 East-West Schism: the Split between the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church.

 Emir: a Muslim prince or noble who acted as a governor and had military authority.

 Free peasant: a peasant who owned a small plot of land and paid taxes, but was free to make
personal decisions.

 Hegira: start of the Muslim calendar, marking the event of Muhammad’s escape from Mecca to
Medina in 622.

 Hereditary: the passing down of a title from a parent to a child.

 Islam: one of the world’s great monotheistic religions that originated in the Arabian Peninsula
in the 7th century.
 Jihad: a holy war fought for Islam.

 King: the ruler of a kingdom. Some kings were chosen by nobles, while somo were hereditaty
titles.

 Monastery: a place where monks lived and worked.

 Monotheistic: the belif in a single God.

 Orthodox Church: the Church of the Byzantine Empire, which was led by the Patriarch of
Constantinople.

 Patriarch of Constantinople: hte highest religious authority in the Byzantine Empire.

 Peasants: the majority of the medieval population. They worked on the land and were
unprivileged.

 Polytheistic: the belief in many gods.

 Qadi: a judge of Islamic law.

 Quran: the sacred book of Islam.

 Ramadan: the month when Muslims fast during the day.

 Roman Catholic Church: the Church of Western Europe, which was under the authority of the
Pope.

 Slave: a people with no rights who was bougth and sold.

 Tribe: a group of people with shared customs who lived together.

 Unwitten laws: a set of rules passed down orally from one generation to the next.

 Visier: a minister to the caliph.

 Wali: a provincial governor in Islamic territory.