Kingdom of the Franks
This king was crowned "Emperor of the Romans" on Christmas Day in the year 800.
Who is King Charlemagne?
This term refers to a trained, mounted warrior who fought on behalf of local lords.
What is a knight?
This term means worldly or non-religious.
What is secular?
This term refers to a professional association of merchants or artisans.
What is a guild?
This term refers to the laws and courts of the Catholic Church.
What is canon law?
In 486, this king conquered the former Roman province of Gaul and established the kingdom of the Franks.
Who is King Clovis?
This term is another word for estate, or land granted by an overlord to a lesser lord.
What is a fief?
This term refers to the sacred rites administered by the Church.
What are sacraments?
This term refers to a trainee who is learning a skill or trade by watching and assisting a master for a period of about seven years.
What is an apprentice?
These people from Scandinavia were farmers and expert sailors.
Who are the Vikings?
This warrior led the Franks to victory against the Iberian Muslims in the battle of Tours in 732, and he was the grandfather of Charlemagne.
Who is Charles Martel?
This term refers to peasants who were bound to a specific tract of land.
What is a serf?
This term means that a person could not receive sacraments or a Christian burial, condemning them to an eternity of hell in the afterlife.
What is excommunication?
This term refers to money used for an investment; this would become increasingly more important in the 1600s.
What is capital?
This person worked as a government official and later wrote the Canterbury Tales.
Who is Geoffrey Chaucer?
These are the officials sent by Charlemagne to assess the status of roads, address grievances, and administer laws.
Who were the missi dominici?
This term refers to a lesser lord who pledges service or loyalty in exchange for lands.
What is a vassal?
This wealthy Italian gave up his inheritance to travel, preach the Gospels, and teach by example; he had a legendary knack for communicating with animals.
Who is Francis of Assisi?
This term refers to a peasant who paid rent for the land that they lived and worked on; they were not tied to the land and did not require an overlord's permission to travel or otherwise leave the land.
What is a tenant farmer?
Around the year 900, these nomadic people from present-day Hungary plundered much of Europe for a period of roughly 50 years.
Who are the Magyars?
This pope requested the assistance of Charlemagne with local political allies in Rome in 799.
Who is Pope Leo III?
This term is a code of conduct: be brave, loyal, and true to your word.
What is chivalry?
This term meant that an entire town, region, or kingdom was barred from receiving sacraments or Christian burials.
What is interdict?
This term refers to a written document that provides a town with specific rights and privileges bestowed by the king or local lord.
What is a charter?
Charlemagne's grandsons divided his kingdom into three regions in this agreement made in the year 843.
What is the Treaty of Verdun?