| chain mail | a flexible medieval armor made of interlinked metal rings
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| chalice | a goblet; in Christian liturgy, the Eucharistic cup
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| chanson de geste | (French, "song of heroic deeds") an epic poem of the early Middle Ages
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| chivalry | a code of behavior practiced by upper-class men and women of medieval society
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| common law | the body of unwritten law developed primarily from judicial decisions based on custom and precedent; the basis of the English legal system and that of all states in the United States with the exception of Louisiana
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| crenellations | tooth-shaped battlements surmounting a wall and used for defensive combat
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| fealty | loyalty; the fidelity of the warrior to his chieftain
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| feudalism | the system of political organization prevailing in Europe between the ninth and fifteenth centuries and having as its basis the exchange of land for military defense
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| fief | in feudal society, land or property given to a warrior in return for military service
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| historiated | ornamented with figural or decorative elements
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| investiture | the procedure by which a feudal lord granted a vassal control over a fief
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| jongleur | a professional entertainer who wandered from court to court in medieval Europe
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| joust | a form of personal combat, usually with lances on horseback, between men-at-arms
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| keep | a square tower, the strongest and most secure part of the medieval castle
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| kenning | a two-term metaphor used in Old English verse
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| lord | any member of the feudal nobility who invested a vassal with a fief
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| medieval romance | a tale of adventure that supplanted the older chanson de geste and that deals with knights, kings, and ladies acting under the impulse of love, religious faith, or the desire for adventure
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| moat | a wide trench, usually filled with water, surrounding a fortified place such as a castle
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| novel | an extended fictional prose narrative
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| paten | a shallow dish; in Christian liturgy, the Eucharistic plate
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| porcelain | a hard, translucent ceramic ware made from clay fired at high heat
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| primogeniture | the principle by which a fief was passed from father to eldest son
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| refectory | the dining hall of a monastery
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| renaissance | (French, "rebirth") a revival of the learning of former and especially classical culture
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| sequence | a special kind of trope consisting of words added to the melismatic passages of Gregorian chant; also, repetition of a melodic pattern at a different pitch
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| serf | an unfree peasant
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| trope | an addition of words, music, or both to Gregorian chant
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| vassal | any member of the feudal nobility who vowed to serve a lord in exchange for control of a fief
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