Term
|
Definition
An government ruled by four leaders.
Established in 239 by Emperor Diocletian to address the Roman Empire's political instability, huge size, and complexity.
Diocletian split the empire into east and west, and created four prefectures within the empires: Gaul, Italy, Illyricium, and the East.
Diocletian took control over the East because there were too many problems in Rome and the East was more urban and cultured. He set up his capital in Nicomdeia as senior emperor.
Dicoletian gave equal status to another man who ruled over the western half of the empire from a smalled capital in Milan.
Each emperor took a partner, called a Caesar, who would suceceed them after they stepped down or died. There was a caesar in Gaul at Trier, and Illyricum in Sirmune.
By dividing the empire, Dicoletian solved the problem of Roman Empire's huge size. By creating the new method of succession with experienced, well-trained men, Diocletian solved the problems of conflict over succession, becuase the successors were hand-picked.
Each provence was divided into smaller dioceses which were joined into one of the four prefectures. A tetrach ruled over the prefectures and military, legal, financial, and secretarial offices were created in each to provide stability to a largely ungoverned Rome. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
Convened in 325, it was the first "ecumenical" or "all-the-world council." Several more ecumenical councils would meet in Late Antiquity to deal with major heresies.
The Council of Nicaea was called by the Emperor Constantine in order to deal with all the religious fractions of Christianity and the issue of heresy. The council was the largest gathering of bishops that had occured to that date with between 200-300 present.
It was at the Council of Nicaea that Arianism, the belief that said Jesus was later than the Father, challenging the doctrine of the Trinity, was heretic. The council maintained that Christ was "one in being with the Father," co-equal and co-eternal.
However, the Council failed to create complete unity in Christianity, or eliminate Arianism in the short term. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
Theodoric was the king of the Ostrogoths from 471 to 526. The Ostrogoths were a Germanic peoples who had been living in Pannonia since the 370s as subjects to the Huns. Once the death of Attilla occured, the Ostrogoths began to pose a threat to the Eastern, Byzantine Empire. In 493, the emperor decided to send the Ostrogoths to Italy to recover the area for imperial government. Theodoric was familiar with the Byzantine government and accepted the task, moving his people to Italy. He would reign as king of Italy from 493 to 526, with his capital in Ravenna. Theodoric had a large personality, and through a series of marriage alliance, he became the dominant leader in Western Europe. He promoted peace, stability, and good government.
However, there were two things working against Theodoric, he and his people were Arians, and the people of Italy were accustomed to Imperial rule, and therefore many didn't accept the barbaric ruler. During the 520's, Theodoric became much more suspicious and dictatorial. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
Issued between 529 and 533 by the Byzantine emperor Justinian, the code was composed of three parts that were considered law in the empire.
A group was commissioned to collect all the laws in Roman history since the ruling of Theodosius II in 438.
The Code, was a systematically organized collection of all imperial legistlation.
The Digest, was a a collection of the writings of the classical Roman jurists, the legal philosophers of th Early Empire.
The Institutes, was a textbook for law students.
The law doe was based on the idea that the law should "giver everyone his due," was the most influential legal collection in history. It remained legal until 1453, and has influenced nearly every legal system in the modern world.
It secured the status of Orthodoxy, provided laws against heresy (Arianism), Judaism, and paganism. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
Lived from 480-545.
He abandoned his legal studies and potential government career to persue a life of solitary prayer in a mountain cave east of Rome. His piety attracted a crowd of followers. In 520, he established a monastery at Monte Cassino. He followed cenobitic monasticism. The rule for his community was marked by shrewd insights into the human personality, promoting the bond of mutual love among monks and obedience to the abbot. The Rule assigns the abbot wide powers, but demands him to exercise them gently. Monks were allowed a resonable diet and modest clothing. The Rule preferred loving correction to punishment.
Benedict's Rule would later become the norm for monastic life. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
He was pope from 590-604.
His pontificate exemplies the position of the papacy as defined by the Doctrine of Petrine Primacy. Gregory I had thrown away his public life for a more spiritual one. He was elected pope soon after because of his reputation for holiness and his other credentials and political connections. He had to try and ward off the Lomard threat and improve relations with the emperor. He gave a sound footing for the economy and reorganized the vast estates of the church to place their products and revenues at the disposal of the Romans. He also attended to many of the urban services like baths, and streets.
By 600, the pope viewed himself as the head of a universal, catholic church. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The Hijra occured in 623 and was Muhammad's leaving of Mecca for Medina.It marks the beinning of the Islamic calander. He left Mecca where his status as a member of the Hashimi tribe prevented him from effectively spreading the word of Allah as told to him by the Angel Gabriel. In Medina, Muhammad gained many many converts and travelled back to Mecca with his followers and a jihad ensued. In 630, the "struggle" ended, and Muhammad had conqured Mecca. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
Refers to the first four Caliphs in Islam after Muhammad. Rashidun means "rightly-guided." The first Rashidun Caliph was Abu Bakr who was a companion of Muhammad. He established that zakat was necessary to be a complete Muslim, and he restored peace in Arabia, before turning his sights for Byzantine and the north. His sucessor was Omar, under who the Muslims moved into parts of Persia, Mesopotamia, Syria, North Africa, etc. He lived a simple, austere lifestyle.
The third Caliph was Othman, who was an abd-Sams, called for the compilation of the Qur'an, and saw more expanision of the Islamic empire. He was assassinated, creating complications. Eventually, Ali, son-in-law, and nephew to Muhammad, became the caliph and moved the capital from Medina to Kufa. His reign was the end of unity in the Umma as he was killed in 661, five years into his reign. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| He became the Caliph after the reign of Ali. He was also the leader of the Abd-Sms, and his status as a miliatry leader ensured his position. The Umayyads, Mu'awiya's family, built many of the caliphate's institutions. Greater centralization was achieved during this time through a unified coinage, Arabinization of the administration, and taking tight control of provincial governments and taxation. He moved the capital to Damascus and saw the last of the caliph's expansions. Eventually the sons of Ali, Hassan and Husayn took up arms against Mu'awiya. This created the division in Islam. Sunni Muslims wanted the caliphate to pass through elections, and supported Mu'awiya. Shi'ite Muslims supported Ali's sons, demanding the caliphate be passed through bloodline. Mu'awiya won the civil war though, and appointed his son to be the next Caliph. The Umayyads would continue also build the Dome of the Rock and are considered by many to be illigetimate. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Mawali is the term used for ll the non-Arabs who became "clients" in order to join Islam in the Abbasid Caliphate. When the Muslims were expanding though, and came to an area of few Arabs, they encountered a problem of the Mawali outnumbering the Arabs. The Mawali no longer wanted to be second choice/class citizens, but still wanted to be Muslim. Eventually, rebellion ensued and the Umayyads were overthrown and the capital moved to Baghdad. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| These were pairs of roving inspectors sent out by the emperor Charlemagne to make sure that royal orders were being observed, that the courts were dispensing justice honestly and that persons of power weren't oppressing the powerless. The use of Missi Dominici began in the 780's with Charlemagne's permenant residence in Aachen. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Signed in 843, the Treaty of Verdun put an end to the civil war that had broken out when Louis tried to name his oldest son his sole successor. The Treaty established that Charles the Bald, Lothair, and Louis the German divided up the kingdom of their father and grandfather Charlemagne because of the Carolingian tradition of partible inheritence. However, the boarders drawn up by the treaty didn't last long...the East and West Frankish kingdoms expanded and swallowed the middle kingdom up, creating the framework for the furture France and Germany. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
Came from Scandinavia during the ninth century. Invaded Britian and the Carolingian Empire looking for booty, glory, and political opportunity. The ships of the Vikings were able to go anywhere because they were fast and shallow in draft, meaning they could travel down rivers. So cities who thought they were safe from a sea attack would be incredibly surprised when the vikings showed up via the river and pillaged their towns.
Eventually establihed their own rule in Britian and in Normandy. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
a large estate controlled by a lord and worked by peasants. Manors covered most of Europe. They supplied food, clothing, shelter, and nearly everything else needed by the lords and peasants.
Most manors were made up of the lord's land and small plots of land held by the peasants. The lord lived in a manor house, which was usually surrounded by a garden, an orchard, and farm buildings. The peasants' huts were clustered nearby. Most manors also included a church, a mill for grinding grain into flour, and a press for making wine.
The peasants depended on the lord for protection from enemies, for justice, and for what little government there was. The peasants farmed both the lord's land and their own. Many of the peasants were serfs and, as such, were bound to the soil. This means that they were part of the property, and they remained on the land if a new lord acquired it. Unlike slaves, they could not be sold apart from the land. Peasants rarely traveled far from the manor. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| was the most significant conflict between Church and state in medieval Europe. In the 11th and 12th centuries, a series of popes challenged the authority of European monarchies over control of appointments, or investitures, of church officials such as bishops and abbots. By undercutting the Imperial power established by the Salian emperors, the controversy led to nearly 50 years of civil war in Germany, and the triumph of the great dukes and abbots, until Imperial power was reestablished under the Hohenstaufen dynasty. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| the wife of King Louis VII of France and later of King Henry II of England. She was also the mother of two English kings, Richard the Lion-Hearted and John. Her control of Aquitaine, then a vast independent state next to France, made her a central figure in the struggle for power between France and England. She divorced her husband and then married another king. After she had lost affection for this king she led a revolt against hime, which resulted in her imprisonment. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1162 until his death in 1170. He is venerated as a saint and martyr by both the Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion. He engaged in conflict with Henry II of England over the rights and privileges of the Church and was assassinated by followers of the king in Canterbury Cathedral. Soon after the death of Thomas Becket, Pope Alexander canonised him and the murdered priest was elevated to sainthood. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
took place between the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem and the forces of the Ayyubid dynasty.
The Muslim armies under Saladin captured or killed the vast majority of the Crusader forces, removing their capability to wage war.[4] As a direct result of the battle, Islamic forces once again became the eminent military power in the Holy Land, reconquering Jerusalem and several other Crusader-held cities.[4] These Christian defeats prompted the Third Crusade, which began two years after the Battle of Hattin. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| It was a heavy, wheeled plow with an iron plowshare which came into widespread use by the tenth century. It was used to turn over heavy soils to let them drain, and was thus an important technological advancement for the medieval agricultural economy. Due to its great weight, a team of oxen were required to pull it. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| an annual cycle of trading fairs held in towns in the Champagne and Brie regions of France in the Middle Ages. From their origins in local agricultural and stock fairs, the Champagne fairs became an important engine in the reviving economic history of medieval Europe, "veritable nerve centers"[1] serving as a premier market for textiles, leather, fur, and spices. At their height, in the late twelfth and the thirteenth century, the fairs linked the cloth-producing cities of the Low Countries with the Italian dyeing and exporting centers, with Genoa in the lea |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Heretical Christian sect that flourished in Western Europe in the 12th – 13th century. The Cathari adhered to the dualist belief that the material world is evil and that humans must renounce the world to free their spirits, which are good and long for communion with God. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| founded the Franciscans, a Roman Catholic religious order. The Franciscans devote themselves to preaching and to caring for the poor and the sick. Francis's deep respect for nature and love of animals led Pope John Paul II to name him the patron saint of ecology in 1979. He also led many crusades and attempted to convert some muslim officials to christianity. He traveled through Italy and Spain on religious missions. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| He wrote the "summa theologica" and was an Italian priest of the Catholic Church in the Dominican Order, and an immensely influential philosopher and theologian in the tradition of scholasticism. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| was the legendary queen consort of King Arthur. In tales and folklore, she was said to have had a love affair with Arthur's chief knight Sir Lancelot. This story first appears in Chrétien de Troyes. Guinevere's and Lancelot's alleged betrayal of Arthur was often considered as having led to the downfall of the kingdom. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| factions supporting, respectively, the Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor in central and northern Italy during the 12th and 13th centuries. The struggle for power between the Papacy and the Holy Roman Empire had arisen with the Investiture Conflict of the 11th century. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Flagellantism was a 13th century and 14th century radical Christian movement. It began as a militant pilgrimage and was later condemned by the Catholic Church as heretical. The followers were noted for including public flagellation in their rituals. are practitioners of an extreme form of mortification of their own flesh by whipping it with various instruments. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The city is well known for its Palais des Papes (Palace of the Popes), where several popes and antipopes lived from the early 14th to early 15th centuries. chosen by Pope Clement V as his residence, and from 9 March 1309 until 13 January 1377 was the seat of the Papacy instead of Rome. This caused a schism in the Catholic Church |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| a French national heroine who became a saint of the Roman Catholic Church. She was a simple peasant girl who rescued France from defeat in one of the darkest periods of the Hundred Years' War with England. Her first great triumph was to lead a French army against the English who had laid siege to the city of Orleans. She has often been called the Maid of Orleans in honor of that victory. When she was young she began to see visions and hear voices telling her things of grave importance. her visions allowed her to speak to high officials such as the king, and she was then able to lead in an army that fought against the English. She was then burned at the stake after being accused of witchcraft. |
|
|
