World History: Patterns of Interaction: Chapter 13

To adapt to rural conditions, the Church built religious communities called monasteries. There, Christian men called monks gave up their private possessions and devoted their lives to serving God.

Under Gregory, the papacy also became a secular, or worldly, power involved in politics.

The person receiving a fief was called a vassal.

The person receiving a fief was called a vassal.

Knights were mounted horsemen who pledged to defend their lords’ lands in exchange for fiefs.

Most peasants were serfs. Serfs were people who could not lawfully leave the place where they were born. Though bound to the land, serfs were not slaves.

The manor was the lord’s estate. During the Middle Ages, the manor system was the basic economic arrangement.

After all these payments to the lord, peasant families owed the village priest a tithe, or church tax. A tithe represented one-tenth of their income.

Knights were expected to display courage in battle and loyalty to their lord. By the 1100s, the code of chivalry, a complex set of ideals, demanded that a knight fight bravely in defense of three masters.

Troubadours were traveling poet-musicians at the castles and courts of Europe.

The pope in Rome headed the Church. All clergy, including bishops and priests, fell under his authority.

Priests and other clergy administered the sacraments, or important religious ceremonies.

All medieval Christians, kings and peasants alike, were subject to canon law, or Church law, in matters such as marriage and religious practices.

The Church was not happy that kings, such as Otto, had control over clergy and their offices. It especially resented the practice of lay investiture, a ceremony in which kings and nobles appointed church officials.

The Church was not happy that kings, such as Otto, had control over clergy and their offices. It especially resented the practice of lay investiture, a ceremony in which kings and nobles appointed church officials.