Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Glossary Unit 2
Glossary Unit 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.
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.
Estates (Estados): medieval social groups. Medieval society was divided into three estates:
the Pope.
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
Holy Roman Emperor (Emperador del Sacro Imperio Romano): a title established in AD 800 as a
Lower nobility (baja nobleza): knigths, who sometimes only owned their horse and weapons.
Mayor of the Palace (Mayordomo de palacio): a Frankish official. They were the real rulers of the
Frankish kingdom.
Missi Dominici: were Frankish royal inspectors who controlled regional administration.
Nobles: a privileged estate in medievl society. They had a military role and often controlled large
pieces of land.
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.
Secular clergy (clero secular): priests and bishops. They lived within society and provided
religious services.
Tithe (diezmo): a tax paid on Church land by peasants. It was usually a share of the harvest.
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.