test requirements

• Magna Carta Libertatum: The "Great Charter." In 1215, the English barons compelled King John of England to cease unlawful taxation and agree to shared governance.
• Estate: Social groups with common goals, economic weight, rights, and the ability to assert interests. During the High Middle Ages, the three main estates included the privileged groups: the nobility, the clergy, and the burghers (or "third estate").
• Holy Roman Empire: Comprised northern and central Italy, modern-day Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and Burgundy. Founded by Otto I (Otto the Great) in 962.
• Estate Monarchy: A feudal state form where the estates and the king jointly govern. The power-sharing is manifested in the estates granting taxes and participating in legislation.
• Knight: Broadly, a medieval man, typically landowning, who could afford the expenses of heavy cavalry warfare. Knights did not form a unified social class, but their moral code applied to all.
• Reconquista: Meaning "reconquest"; the process lasting from the 8th century to 1492 during which Christian states on the Iberian Peninsula expelled the Moors.
• Inquisition: Established officially in 1215 to protect Catholic Christianity, tasked with identifying and punishing heretics. Initially supervised by bishops, it later fell under the pope's jurisdiction.
• Pope: The Bishop of Rome and head of the Roman Catholic Church, elected by the College of Cardinals since the 13th century.
• Patriarch: In the early Church, a title given from the 3rd century to bishops in the most prominent cities (Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem), overseeing multiple ecclesiastical provinces. Some significant dioceses (Venice, Lisbon, Goa, Western India) also received this distinctive title. In the Orthodox Churches, it is the highest title and ecclesiastical dignity.
• Archbishop: The head of an archdiocese in the Catholic Church, overseeing the life of subordinate dioceses.
• Celibacy: Clerical chastity, sexual abstinence. An institution established by apostolic tradition in the Roman Catholic Church. Priests take a vow of purity at their ordination.
• Investiture: Primarily means the ceremonial bestowal of the vestments of an ecclesiastical community (monastic order, society, etc.) or office. In its secondary, more widespread meaning, it refers to the formal installation into office.
• Simony: The act of paying for ordination to a holy office, act of paying to receive sacraments.
• Monk: A person withdrawn from the world, striving for religious and moral perfection. Typically, they lived in closed communities, organized into monastic orders. One exemplary early monastic community was the Benedictine order, founded by St. Benedict in the 6th century. Initially, the term was used only in Christianity, but it is now widely applied.
• 7 Liberal Arts: The system of lower and intermediate education during the Middle Ages. At the lower level was the trivium: grammar, rhetoric, and dialectic. At the higher level was the quadrivium: arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music.
• Peasants / serfs: A social class primarily engaged in agriculture, dependent on the lord. They did not own the land they cultivated, only using it in return for various obligations (taxes, labour, etc.). During the Middle Ages, the majority of the population held the status of serfs.
• Manor: An economic and administrative unit of feudalism, owned by the lord, who also exercised judicial authority over the people living on the domain. Its centre was a castle or manor house. A domain could include multiple villages and the lands associated with them. The portion of the lord's land that was kept for his own use and cultivated by the serfs as part of their labour obligations.
• Lord: The owner of significant estates and rights, who also had jurisdiction over the serfs living on his land, administering justice.
• Serf: A social class primarily engaged in agriculture, dependent on the lord. They did not own the land they cultivated, only using it in return for various obligations (taxes, labour, etc.). During the Middle Ages, the majority of the population held the status of serfs.
• Labour Service / Robot: Unpaid labour. One of the serf's obligations was to work the lord's land using their own tools without any compensation. In some cases, labour service also included assisting in construction or transportation.
• Privilege: Also known as a prerogative, encompassing all rights that differ from general laws. An example from the Middle Ages is the tax exemption right of the nobility.
• Heretic: A person holding heretical beliefs, contradicting a religion's doctrine or opposing the church.
• Monastery: A building complex serving as housing for mendicant orders. It should not be confused with a monastic house, which serves a similar purpose for monastic orders (e.g., Benedictines).
• Catholic: Originally meaning "universal." The term for the Western branch of Christianity before the Reformation.
• Saint: A person recognized by the Catholic and/or Orthodox Church as having reached heaven as a reward for their earthly life. Typically, those who led exemplary lives or martyrs who died for their faith are canonized (first beatified, then sanctified). Miracles are often associated with saints.
• Codex: A handwritten medieval book, mostly written by church officials, using parchment as the material.
• Noble: Broadly, a person with privileges. The main privileges were tax exemption and legal distinction from non-nobles, in exchange for military service to the ruler.
• Feudalism: Also known as the manorial system. A social, political, and economic system based on land ownership and privileges. There was no legal equality between the social groups, with privileges (nobles) or lack thereof (serfs, peasants) determining an individual's place and opportunities in society.
• Vassalage: Based on private law relationships forming a feudal chain, where the lord (senior) grants land to his vassal, thereby obliging him. In return for the fief (land), the vassal owed military service and loyalty to his lord. The eldest son inherited the vassalage relationship.
• King: A secular ruling title, ranked below the emperor. In the Middle Ages, the king was at the top of the feudal chain, concentrating legislative, judicial, and executive powers. Usually held a sacred role as well.
• Crusades: In a broader sense, all wars declared against non-Christians or heretics. In a narrower sense, the campaigns from 1096 to 1291 aimed at conquering Jerusalem and the Holy Land.
• Burgher: Originally meaning a city resident, primarily referring to the wealthy merchant and craftsman class. The burghers gained significant economic weight during the Middle Ages and became a recognized estate. Citizenship could be acquired by birth or if someone could stay in the city for 1 year and 1 day, the "urban air made them free."
• Guild: A medieval urban organization and production form protecting interests. Guild members practiced the same craft, regulating work and competition with common rules. Production typically involved a master working on a product without division of labour. To become a master, one had to first learn as an apprentice, then a journeyman, and finally create a masterpiece to reach the highest rank. Guilds also participated in city life, taking on defence, law enforcement, or social responsibilities.
• Renaissance: Meaning "rebirth." The dominant style of the 14th–16th centuries, originating in Italy and inspired by ancient Greek and Roman art. Its architecture is characterized by horizontal divisions, colonnades, domes, and tympanums. Its art revived antique genres and features, such as mythological figures.
• Middle Ages: 476 – 1492
• Otto the Great: 936/962 – 973
• Holy Roman Empire: 962 – 1806
• Battle of Augsburg: 955
• Battle of Merseburg: 933
• Battle of Hastings: 1066