OCR GCSE History B key terms

A tax assessed on land which existed before the Norman Conquest and continued under Norman rule.

The central area of occupied Poland administered by the Nazis under Hans Frank, separate from Polish territories incorporated into Germany.

The deliberate destruction of a national, ethnic, racial or religious group.

Landowners below the nobility in rank, whose estates provided wealth and social standing.

Making a territory German through measures such as German settlement, the removal of local people and the suppression of their culture.

The explanation that microorganisms, rather than bad smells themselves, can cause disease.

A Spaniard shipwrecked in 1511 who learnt a Maya language and became an interpreter for Cortés in 1519.

The Nazi secret state police, which investigated and suppressed opposition to the regime.

An area of a town or city where authorities forced Jewish people to live, segregated from the wider population and with their movement restricted.

The rapid growth of cheap gin drinking, especially among poorer Londoners in the early eighteenth century, which created serious health and social problems.

The Nazi process of bringing organisations and institutions under Nazi control, often translated as ‘coordination’.

An idealised representation of Elizabeth I as a glorious queen, associated with the character representing her in Edmund Spenser’s poem The Faerie Queene.

A male religious leader in pre-Christian Viking society; a local magnate could perform this role at major sacrifices.

A rapid movement of people into an area following the discovery of gold, usually driven by hopes of becoming wealthy.

A worker who emptied cesspits.

A person appointed to lead and administer a territory or settlement.

Objects placed in a grave with a dead person, which can provide evidence of status and beliefs about life after death.

Farm animals, such as cattle, sheep and goats, that feed on grass and other vegetation.

The crisis in Ireland, usually dated 1845–1852, in which potato blight destroyed a major food crop, causing widespread hunger, disease, death and emigration.

A large Viking invasion force that arrived in England in 865 and campaigned across several Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. Christian writers called it ‘heathen’ because its warriors were not Christians.

An incendiary weapon used by the Byzantines, particularly against enemy ships.

Audience members who paid for standing places in the open yard around the stage of an outdoor theatre.

Responsibility for protecting and maintaining a historic site without necessarily owning it.

Warfare using raids and mobile attacks rather than relying on large, set-piece battles.

An organisation of people in a particular trade or craft which regulated work and could press authorities to restrict foreign competitors.

A legal procedure requiring a detained person to be brought before a court so that the legality of their imprisonment can be examined.

Pieces of silver, including cut coins and jewellery, used for payment according to their weight.