popular culture

As opposed to high culture, the unofficial written and unwritten culture of the masses, much of which was traditionally passed down orally and centered on public and group activities such as festivals. In the modern age, the term refers to the entertainment, recreation& pleasures that people purchase as part of the mass consumer society.

philosophes

Intellectuals of the 18^th century Enlightenment who believed in applying a spirit of rational criticism to all things, including religion& politics, and who focused on improving and enjoying the world, rather than on the afterlife.  

tithe

A portion of one’s harvest of income, paid by medieval peasants to the village church.

serf

A peasant who is bound to the land and obliged to provide labor services and pay various rents and fees to the lord; considered unfree but not a slave because serfs could not be bought and sold.

orders (estates)

 
The traditional tripartite division of European society based on heredity and quality rather than wealth or economic standing, first established in the Middle Ages and continuing into the 18^th century; traditionally consisted of those who pray(the clergy), those who fight (the nobility), and those who work (all the rest).

salons

Gatherings of philosophes and other notables to discuss the ideas of the Enlightenment; so called from the elegant drawing rooms(salons) where they met.