Key Terms
Acculturation
Blending of cultural traditions between different peoples
Key successor kingdoms
Franks, Ostrogoths, Visigoths
Social structure
No formal hierarchies; advancement came through serving a powerful chieftain; kings who could not provide loot or glory
Wergild
"blood price" under Germanic law; injured parties compensated according to social status. Chieftains and men of fighting
Germanic religion
Polytheistic; chief deity Wodan (god of war, wisdom, death); his consort Frigg (motherhood, marriage, magic). Parallels
Scandinavian pantheon
Odin and Freyja.
Goths and Vandals adopted Arian Christianity
The teaching that Jesus and the Father were not identical entities (opposed to Catholic doctrine that Jesus was fully di
Partible inheritance
Each son received an equal share of his father's estate. Estates shrank each generation; constant warfare needed to main
Papacy
The set of administrative structures associated with the government of the Catholic Church.
Full name
Charles (Charlemagne = "Charles the Great"). Pépin's son.
Carolingian Renaissance
The period of intellectual revival, educational and religious reform under Charlemagne. Characterized by:
Louis the Pious
Charlemagne's son; continued cultural revival and church reform. Benedict of Aniane reformed monasteries under his autho
Magyars
Nomadic raiders from the steppes of central Asia; settled in modern Hungary at the end of the ninth century; launched ra
Islamic raiders
Fragmentation of Islamic political unity led petty rulers to raid weakened Christian coasts. The Aghlabids pushed into S
Vikings (Norse)
Scandinavian Germanic peoples; polytheistic (Odin, Freyja); aristocracy polygynous; chieftain-based reward system. Popul