Mediterranean and Adriatic
Compare Rome to U.S. (current).
Rome had two consuls, elected by the assembly for one year.
United States of America has A president, elected by the people for four years.
Compare Athens to U.S. (current).
Middle Ages Vocab
Serf - An agricultural laborer bound under the feudal system to work on his lord's estate.
Chivalry - The medieval knightly system with its religious, moral, and social code.
Tournament - A sporting event in which two knights jousted on horseback with blunted weapons, each trying to knock the other off, the winner receiving a prize.
Manor - The lord's estate in feudal Europe.
Troubadour - A medieval poeet and musician who traveled from place to place, entertaining people with songs of courtly love.
Middle Ages - The era in European history that followed the fall of the Roman Empire.
Lord - A person who controlled land and could therefore grant estates to vassals.
Fief - An estate granted to a vassal by a lord under the feudal system in medieval Europe.
Vassal - A person who recieved a grant of land from a lord in exchange for a pledge of loyalty and services.
Knight - An armored warrior who fought on horseback.
Feudalism - Nobles were given land owned by the king in exchange for loyalty and military services.
The bubonic plague, or Black Death, was a killer disease that swept repeatedly through many areas of the world. It wiped out two-thirds of the population in some areas of China, destroyed populations of Muslim towns in Southwest Asia, and then decimated one-third of the European population.
In the Crusades, both Christians and Muslims believed that God was on their side. They both felt justified in using violence to win or to keep the Holy Land. The following excerpts show their belief in the rightness of their deeds.
The Crusades affected Europe both positively and negatively. Crusades affected Europe positively in a way