Terms of the Day for August 25

• The Middle Ages (Medieval Era) – a period of European history that lasted from the 5th until the 15th centuries. It began with the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, and was followed by the Renaissance.  The era is marked by the rising influence of the Catholic church, the development of feudal governments, and many wars and plagues.
• Feudalism – a set of legal and military customs in medieval Europe that flourished between the 9th and 15th centuries, which, broadly defined, was a system for structuring society around relationships derived from the holding of land in exchange for service or labor.
• Convent – a community of priests, religious brothers, religious sisters, or nuns, or the building used by the community, particularly in the Roman Catholic Church.  Most often the term refers to a “nunnery”, specifically a community of women.
• Abbess – the female superior, or mother superior, of a community of nuns, often an abbey.  In feudal Germany, Abbesses were often official women with control of small provinces.
• The Bayeux Tapestry – an embroidered cloth—not an actual tapestry—nearly 230 ft long, which depicts the events leading up to the Norman conquest of England concerning William, Duke of Normandy and Harold, Earl of Wessex, later King of England, and culminating in the Battle of Hastings.