Byzantine Empire

Constantine moved the capital of the Roman Empire from Rome to Byzantium, a Greek city in the eastern part of the empire. Ruled over

the Balkan Peninsula, the Middle East and parts of Italy.

Constantinople• Founded by Emperor

Constantine in 330 AD• Located along land routes

that connected Europe and Asia

• On the Bosporus, a waterway connecting the Black Sea t the Mediterranean

• Surrounded on three sides by water, had thick wall, making it almost invulnerable to attack.

Justinian• Byzantine Emperor• Reconquered much of the old Roman

Empire • Code of Justinian

Code of Justinian

Emperor Justinian collected all of the existing Roman laws and organized them into a single code – listing all the laws and opinions on each subject. Required all

persons to belong to the Eastern Orthodox Christian faith.

Hagia Sophia

Built by the Byzantines with its giant dome. Included colorful icons and mosaics.

Theodora

Strong-willed wife of Emperor Justinian who ruled as Co-Empress and held great influence over the Emperor.

Great Schism A split between the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church in 1054. The Byzantines developed their own form of Christianity – Eastern Orthodoxy – and did not recognize the Pope as the head of their church. There were differences on the role of icons, views on the Trinity, and the shape of the cross.

Orthodox Christianity

Separate from the Roman Catholic Church, Orthodox Christians differed on the role of icons, views on the Trinity, and the shape of the cross.

Roman Catholicism

The single most powerful organization in Western Europe during the Middle Ages. The head of the Catholic Church was the Pope in Rome.

Icons

Images of Jesus and the saints.

Patriarch

Eastern Orthodox Christians did not recognize the Pope as the head of their church. Instead, they had their own Patriarch.

PopeThe head of the Roman Catholic Church. The Pope was regarded as the successor of St. Peter, leader of the apostles after the death of Jesus. Catholics believe the Pope had inherited the role of Peter in running the Church. The Pope governed the Church with the help of cardinals, bishops, and other church officials.

Vikings

Explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands during the Middle Ages. This period of Viking expansion – known as the Viking Age – forms a major part of the medieval history.

Kievan Rus

Viking invaders organized Slavs in the Baltic and Black Sea region into a kingdom centered in Kiev. They carried on a brisk trade with the Byzantine Empire – during which Orthodox

Christianity and the Cyrillic alphabet were introduced to Russia.

Czar

A title used to designate supreme rulers of the Russian Empire. The term is derived from the

Latin word Caesar.

Cyrillic

Named after St. Cyril, a writing system developed in the 9th–10th century ad for Slavic-speaking peoples of the Eastern Orthodox faith.

Middle Ages

From the fall of Rome in 476 AD to the 1400’s, historians refer to this time period as The Middle Ages, or Medieval Period (period between ancient and modern times).

Feudalism

Begun by the Franks and spread to all of Western Europe, kings offered nobles a grant of

land, known as a feud or fief, in exchange for loyalty and service. The nobleman, known as

the vassal, gave allegiance to the king.

Manorialism

During feudalism, most people lived on manors. A manor consisted of the lord’s house and the peasants living in the surrounding territory. This economic system is referred to as

manorialism.

Three-Field System

Farmers laced specific knowledge of how to enrich the soil or rotate crops. Each year, only 2/3 of the land was cultivated, letting the other 1/3 remain fallow or

uncultivated.

Peasants/SerfsPeasant farmers produced the food used by medieval society. Most worked long hours to grow enough food to survive each year. Although most peasants were farmers, some were millers, blacksmiths, and tavern owners. Life revolved around the agrarian calendar. Most of the time was spent working the land. Peasants live din small towns or nearby farms on their lord’s manor. A typical home was a 2 room cottage with wall of dried mud, branches and straw.

Lords/NoblesNobles controlled political life under feudalism. They built large castles for their own protection, often rivaling those of the king in size. They surrounded themselves with armed knights. The king relied on his nobles for his own army, and the nobles often fought among themselves or challenged the king’s authority. Civil wars were frequent, and powerful nobles often grabbed land for themselves.

Monarchs

One who reigns over a state or territory, usually for life and by hereditary right, especially a sole and absolute ruler.

Knights

Lords had small armies of knights – armed warriors on horseback. Knights followed a Code of Chivalry (honor and order).

CharlemagneCharlemagne (King Charles) became king in 768 AD. He expanded the practice of giving land to his nobles in change for their promises of loyalty and service. He enlarged his kingdom to include France, Germany, Holland, Belgium and Northern Italy. He established a new capital a Aachen which he turned into a center of learning. He was crowned Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire in 800 by the Pope.

Crusades

In 1095, Pope Urban II called on all Christians in Europe to unite and fight a holy war to recapture the Holy Land from its Muslim rulers. The Church

promised salvation to all who participated.

Thomas Aquinas

A great Christian thinker who had great influence on the Middle Ages. His most famous book, Summa Theologica, provided a summary of Christian beliefs. Aquinas showed how Christianity was compatible with works by Aristotle and said that God had given man the power to reason to help him explain and interpret the world. There fore, we should trust reason as well as faith.

Magna CartaIn 1215, the English nobles (barons) rebelled against the taxes and forced loans being collected by King John. John was forced to sign an agreement that guaranteed all free men the right to a trial by jury and forced the king to obtain the consent of a council of nobles for most new taxes.

Compound Bow

Originating with the Mongols, compound bows were a transforming technology during the Hundred Years War.

Calicut

During the Middle Ages, Calicut in India was called “City of Spices” for its role as the major trading point of eastern spices such as black pepper and cardamom.

Muslim Arab merchants graded with Calicut as early as the 7th century.

NovgorodNovgorod was the main Russian port for many centuries and was important for Baltic Sea trade. The city participated in the Hanseatic League and was one of the main trade routes from Northern Europe to the Roman Empire and Constantinople.

Hanseatic League

An economic alliance of trading cities and their guilds that dominated trade along the coast of Northern Europe in the Middle Ages. The Hanseatic cities had their own legal

system and furnished their own protection and mutual aid.

Longships

Naval vessels used by the Vikings for trade, commerce, exploration and warfare during the Viking Age. It is characterized by a long, narrow graceful hull.

Hundred Years War

A war between England and France over succession to the throne. This long period of warfare slowly strengthened royal power in both countries and allowed new weapons

to emerge, such as the English long bow.

Joan of ArcA young French maiden who rallied French troops around the heir to the throne during the Hundred Years War. She turned the tide when she successfully drove the English out of the city of Orleans and crowned the new French king at Rheims Cathedral. She was later captured and burned at the stake by the English as a witch.

Norman Invasion

The invasion and subsequent occupation of England by an army of Normans and French led by Duke William II of Normandy. William, who defeated King Harold II of England in 1066 at

the Battle of Hastings, was crowned king . He then consolidated his control and settled many of his followers in England, introducing a number of governmental and societal changes,

including the end of feudalism.

(Bayeux Tapestry)

Holy Roman Empire

Lands in western and central Europe ruled over first by Frankish and then by German kings for 10 centuries, from Charlemagne’s coronation in 800 until the renunciation of the

imperial title in 1806.