Glossary
aids In England, this refers to payments made by vassals to their lords on important
occasions.
The Annunciation See Virgin Mary (below).
antiking A king elected illegally.
antipope A pope elected illegally.
Book of Hours A prayer book for lay devotion, meant to be read eight times a day
either at home or in church. It normally contained the church calendar; a lesson
from each of the gospels; prayers and other readings in honor of the Virgin Mary
(see below) based on simplified versions of the Divine Office (see Office below);
the penitential psalms; the Office of the Dead; and prayers to saints. Some were
lavishly illustrated, and even humble ones were usually decorated.
bull An official document issued by the papacy. The word derives from bulla, the
lead impression of the pope’s seal that was affixed to the document to validate it.
canon law The laws of the church. These were at first hammered out as need arose at
various regional church councils and in rules issued by great bishops, particularly
the pope. Early collections of canon law were incomplete and sometimes
contradictory. Beginning in the ninth century, commentators began to organize
and systematize them. The most famous of these treatises was the mid-twelfth-
century Decretum of Gratian, which, although not an official code, became the
basis of canon law training in the schools.
cathedral The principal church of a bishop or archbishop.
church To the Roman Catholics of the Middle Ages, this had two related meanings. It
signified in the first place the eternal institution created by Christ, composed of
the whole body of Christian believers, and served on earth by Christ’s ministers
—priests, bishops, the pope. Related to the eternal church were individual, local
churches (parish churches, cathedrals, collegiate churches, chapels) where the
daily liturgy was carried out and the faithful received the sacraments.
