Key Terms
- Black Death
- a pandemic of the plague caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis with far-reaching economic, political, social, and cultural effects that transformed Asia, Europe, and North Africa in the fourteenth century
- flagellants
- penitents who ritually flogged themselves in response to the Black Death as a means of appeasing God and mitigating the spread of the disease
- globalization
- the interconnectedness of societies and economies throughout the world as a result of trade, technology, and the adoption and sharing of various aspects of culture
- Golden Bull
- a document issued by the Holy Roman emperor Charles IV in 1356 that recognized the role of seven princes in electing Holy Roman emperors
- Great Western Schism
- the period from 1378 to 1417 during which three men simultaneously served as pope of the Roman Catholic Church in western Europe
- historical climatology
- the study of historical temperature and climate changes and their effects on human society
- Little Ice Age
- a period in the early fourteenth century during which global mean temperatures dropped an average of 0.6°C, resulting in droughts and decreased agricultural productivity
- Medieval Warm Period
- a time of more temperate climate across the globe from the tenth through the thirteenth century