-
Authr
- Arthur was a British war chief who won a great victory at
- the Battle of Badon over the Anglo- Saxons. This victory stemmed the tide of
- the invasions and the deeds of Arthur were remembered in western Celtic lands
- and formed the basis for the Arthurian romances.
- Pepin the Short-
- Pepin conquered the Lombards and northern Italy came under the rule of the
- Frankish Carolingians. When the Byzantines demanded tat he return the Italian
- conquests to them, Pepin refused and said that he fought his war for St. Peter,
- so Peter would hand over the conquests. The pope ruled then ruled in central
- Italy as an independent monarch and the “Donation of Pepin” marked the
- beginning of the Papal States.
-
Charles Martel
- Charles Martel was a Frankish military and political leader,
- who served as Mayor of the Palace under the Merovingian. He was offered the
- title of Consul by the Pope, but he refused. He is remembered for winning the
- Battle of Tours and is considered to be a founding figure of the Middle Ages,
- often credited with a seminal role in the development of feudalism and knighthood.
-
Clovis
- Clovis was the first King of the Franks to unite all the
- Frankish tribes under one ruler. He was also the first Catholic King to rule
- over Gaul (France). He is considered the founder of the Merovingian dynasty
- which ruled the Franks for the next two centuries.
-
Justinian
- Justinian was Byzantine Emperor. During his reign, Justinian
- sought to revive the Empire's greatness and reconquer the lost western half of
- the classical Roman Empire.
-
Theodora
- Theodora was empress of the Roman (Byzantine) Empire and the
- wife of Emperor Justinian I. Like her husband, she is a saint in the Orthodox
- Church. Theodora is perhaps the most influential and powerful woman in the
- Roman Empire's history.
-
Theodoric
- Theodoric the Great was king of the Ostrogoths and a viceroy
- of the Eastern Roman Empire. He became a hero of Germanic legend.
-
Lombards
- The Lombards were a Germanic tribe of Scandinavian origin. They
- conquered Byzantine Italy. Their legacy is apparent in the regional appellation
- Lombardy and the term Lombard banking, after the many Lombard bankers,
- money-lenders, and pawn-brokers who operated in Western Europe during the
- Middle Ages.
-
Bulgars
- The Bulgars are a Turko- Mongolian people who came out of
- the steppes of Russia and built a powerful kingdom.
-
Anglo Saxons
- They
- were the Germanic tribes who invaded the south and east of Great Britain. They
- were pagan tribes who restored paganism to parts of the nominally Christian
- empire.
-
Comitatus
- This means there is no absolute ruler. The warrior elite are
- continually consulted in the decisions made for the whole clan.
-
Wergeld
- In Anglo-Saxon and Germanic law, a price set upon a person's
- life on the basis of rank and paid as compensation by the family of a slayer to
- the kindred or lord of a slain person to free the culprit of further punishment
- or obligation and to prevent a blood feud.
-
Franks
- The Franks were a West Germanic tribal confederation. Some
- Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in
- Gaul.
-
Muhammad
- Muhammad
- was a merchant and married a wealthy business woman. He earned a reputation for
- being a good and honest man. He began to have visions, one of which he was told
- to be apostle to his people. These revelations were recorded and collected and
- became the book of inspired scripture of the new religion.
-
Ali
- Ali
- was the prophet’s son in low and cousin. He became the caliph. He promoted the
- idea of equality for all believers, rather than the privileged statys for Arabs
- who had initially spread the prophet’s message.
-
Qur'an
- the Koran was the scripture of the new religion created by
- Muhammad. It contains his visions and revelations. Muslims believe the Koran
- represents the word of god. Many of the faithful memorize and recite the entire
- Koran.
-
Shi'a
- Shia Islam is the second largest denomination of Islam. The
- followers of Shia Islam are called Shi'ites or Shias. They continue to believe
- that the Islamic world should be ruled by imams, men descended from Ali who act
- as true spiritual heads of the community.
-
Sunni
- Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam. Sunni Islam is
- sometimes referred to as the orthodox version of the religion. The word
- "Sunni" comes from the term Sunnah which refers to the sayings and
- actions of Muhammad that are recorded in hadiths (collections of narrations
- regarding Muhammad).
-
Hijira/ hegira
- The flight in which Muslims make from Mecca to Medina is
- known as hijira. It is the turning point in the acceptance of the new religion.
-
Boethius
- Boethius was a high official in Theodoric’s court. He was a
- man of great education and translated works of Aristotle from Greek to Latin.
- These translations became the basis for the study of logic for centuries.
-
Leo III
- Leo
- III was the Byzantine emperor. He ordered all icons destroyed and intended for
- his decree to apply to all of Christendom.
-
Iconoclasts
- iconoclasts is icon breaking. It is the controversy that
- raged for a century in the east, during which time many mosaics in
- Constantinople and Asia Minor were destroyed.
-
Gregory II
- Gregory II was a Pope who defied Leo’s edict. The tensions
- resulting from this struggle strained relations between the eastern and western
- churches even farther.
-
Mecca
- Mecca is an area in Arabia. Mecca housed an important pagan
- shine, which drew Bedoiuns and other Arabs to gather in peace for trade.
-
Medina
- Medina means the city. This is where the Muslims fled to
- from Mecca with Muhammad, the flight known as hijra.
-
Benedict of Nursia
- The Benefict of Nursia was the most influential founder of
- communal monasticism. He created the Benedict’s Rule which required that people
- spend a balanced day divided into work and prayer, with moderate and regular
- meals.
-
Scholastica
- Scholastica is Benedict of Nursia’s twin sister. She
- shared his calling and founded monasteries for women.
-
Gregory the Great
- He dramatically forwarded the case for papl supremacy. He
- defined the role of pope in broad terms. He took over the day to day
- administration of Rome, reorganizing estates and managing them in such a way as
- to generate extra revenue to feed the poor.
-
Whitby
- Whitby is the place where the Anglo Saxon king called a
- council to resolve a discrepancy. Here the monks agreed on the primacy of the
- apostle Peter and Christianity prevailed throughout Europe.
-
Khadijah
- Kadijah was wealthy widow and businesswoman who married
- Muhammad. When Muhammad began to speak of his visions, his wife Khadijah became
- his first covert.
-
Caliph
- Caliph means successor to the Prophet. This name is given to Muslim rulers who
- combined political authority with religious power
-
Hagia Sophia
- Hagia Sophia is one of the greatest surviving examples of
- Byzantine architecture. Of great artistic value was its decorated interior with
- mosaics and marble pillars and coverings. The temple itself was so richly and
- artistically decorated.
-
Bede
- Bede was a well-known as an author and scholar. His most
- famous work, The Ecclesiastical History of the English People, gained him the
- title "The Father of English History". He was a skilled linguist and
- translator, and his work with the Latin and Greek writings of the early Church
- Fathers contributed significantly to English Christianity, making the writings
- much more accessible to his fellow Anglo-Saxons.
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