Agincourt English victory near Arras in Flanders (1415) that led to English reconquest of Normandy. (p. 391)






Babylonian Captivity term applied to the 70 years (1307-1377) when the popes resided in Avignon, rather than in Rome. The phrase refers to the 70 years when the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzer held the ancient Hebrew people in captivity. (p. 393)

banns public announcement by a parish priest that a couple planned to marry; the purpose was to reveal any obstacle to the union, such as a previous marriage by one of the parties. (p. 396)

Black Death bubonic plague that first struck Europe in 1347. It spread in either the bubonic form by flea bites or in the pneumonic form directly from the breath of one person to another. In less virulent forms, the disease re-appeared many times until 1701. (p. 381)

buba the bio, on the neck, armpit, or in the groin that gave the disease its name. (p. 384)






conciliarists people who believed that the authority in the Roman church rested in a general council composed of clergy, theologians, and laypeople, rather than in the pope alone. (p. 394)

Crécy the 1346 battle in northern France where English long-bowmen won decisive victory over the French. (p. 389)






Dalimil Chronicle a late medieval Bohemian history showing strong Czech hostility to Germans. (p. 406)






flagellants people who sough to do penance - believed that the plague was God’s punishment for sin - by flagellating (whipping) one another. (p. 387)






Great Famine terrible famine that hit much of Europe, 1315-1322. (p. 380)






Jacquerie a massive uprising by French peasants in 1358 protesting heavy taxation. (p. 401)

Joan of Arc French peasant girl who raised the (English) siege of Orleans (1429), which marked the turning point in the Hundred Years War. (p. 391)






merchet fine paid to a lord allowing a woman to marry a man from outside the manor of her birth. (p. 396)






nationalism a sense of unity among a people living in a particular area, based on language, shared customs, culture, often accompanied by hostility to outsiders (zenophobia). (p. 393)






racism the belief that race is the main determinant of human traits and abilities, and that racial differences produce an inherently superior and inferior people. (p. 406)

representation the practice of one person standing in place of another, or of a group or region, at an assembly or meeting. The needs of war financing led to the frequent calling of English assemblies. (p. 393)






schism a division, or split, in church leadership (1377-1418) when there were two, then three, popes. (p. 394)

Statute of Kilkenny laws issued by Edward III of England (1366) forbidding marriage between English and Irish, requiring the use of the English language, and denying the Irish access to ecclesiastical offices; a prime example of English racist attitudes. (p. 406)