front 1 Commercial Revolution | back 1 A period of economic expansion, beginning in the 11th century, characterized by the growth of trade, banking, and commercial practices in Europe. |
front 2 Guild | back 2 An association of people in the same trade or craft, formed to control the quality and quantity of production, provide mutual aid, and regulate training (e.g., baker's guild, tailor's guild). |
front 3 Apprentices | back 3 A person who works for another in order to learn a trade. This was the first stage of training within a guild. |
front 4 Journeymen/journeywomen | back 4 A person who has completed an apprenticeship and is qualified to work for wages for other masters. They often traveled to gain experience. |
front 5 Masters | back 5 A craftsman who has attained the highest skill level, typically by submitting a "masterpiece" to the guild, and who is permitted to run their own shop and train apprentices. |
front 6 Capitalism | back 6 An economic system in which a country's trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit, rather than by the state. |
front 7 Commune | back 7 A town or city in the Middle Ages, especially in Italy, that gained self-governance from the local lord or bishop. |
front 8 Simony | back 8 The buying or selling of church offices or spiritual things (like pardons or relics), a practice heavily criticized by reformers. |
front 9 Lay Investiture | back 9 The appointment of church officials (like bishops) by secular, non-clergy rulers (like kings or emperors), rather than by the Church itself. |
front 10 Reconquista | back 10 The centuries-long series of military campaigns by which Christian kingdoms re-took control of the Iberian Peninsula (modern Spain and Portugal) from the Muslim Moors. |
front 11 Gregorian Reform | back 11 A series of reforms initiated by Pope Gregory VII and the papacy that focused on the independence of the Church from secular control, especially targeting simony and lay investiture. |
front 12 Henry IV | back 12 Holy Roman Emperor who clashed with Pope Gregory VII over the issue of lay investiture, leading to the Investiture Conflict. |
front 13 Investiture Conflict | back 13 A major political and religious struggle between the medieval Church (Popes) and the Holy Roman Empire (Emperors) over the right to appoint church officials. |
front 14 Concordat of Worms | back 14 A 1122 agreement that officially ended the first phase of the Investiture Conflict. It separated the spiritual appointment of bishops (by the Pope) from the secular appointment of their land/fiefs (by the Emperor). |
front 15 Sacraments | back 15 Christian rites, such as baptism, communion (Eucharist), and marriage, that are considered outward, visible signs of God's grace and are essential for salvation. |
front 16 St. Bernard | back 16 Bernard of Clairvaux (d. 1153), a powerful and influential French abbot who was a key leader in the Cistercian monastic order and a major force behind the Second Crusade. |
front 17 Alexius I | back 17 Byzantine Emperor Alexius I Komnenos (r. 1081–1118) who appealed to Western Europe for military aid against the Seljuk Turks, which contributed to Pope Urban II launching the First Crusade. |
front 18 Urban II | back 18 Pope Urban II (r. 1088–1099) who famously called for the First Crusade at the Council of Clermont in 1095. |
front 19 First Crusade | back 19 The first of the Crusades, launched in 1095, which resulted in the capture of Jerusalem by European Christians in 1099 and the establishment of the Crusader States. |
front 20 Battle of Hastings | back 20 A decisive battle in 1066 where the Norman-French army of William the Conqueror defeated the English army, leading to the Norman Conquest of England and a profound change in English history and culture. |