History key terms

A legally recognised pursuit of stolen goods in the borderlands, begun within six days of a raid and openly announced with signals such as a horn and burning turf.

A highly trained professional household soldier serving an Anglo-Saxon king or noble, often equipped with a large battleaxe.

Highly trained professional warriors who formed the core of an Anglo-Saxon king’s army and fought on foot, often using large battle-axes.

The family, servants and attendants who lived with or served a lord.

An agricultural arrangement in which a household worked allocated, collectively owned land, met a required delivery quota and could keep or sell its remaining produce.

The right to vote based on being the householder occupying a home, subject to any further legal qualifications.

An institution where people considered idle or disorderly could be confined and made to work.

The powerful Anglo-Saxon aristocratic family of Earl Godwin, including Harold, Tostig, Gyrth, Leofwine and Edith.

The Spanish institution established in 1503 to regulate colonial trade and voyages and collect colonial taxes.

The royal family to which Henry VIII and his children Edward VI, Mary I and Elizabeth I belonged.

The House Un-American Activities Committee, established in 1938 to investigate activities regarded as threatening to the United States.

A London-based fur-trading company granted a royal charter by Charles II in 1670, claiming exclusive trading rights across the land drained by rivers flowing into Hudson Bay.

An alarm raised to summon the local community to pursue a suspected offender.

The title of the Aztec emperor, meaning ‘Great Speaker’. The emperor stood above the other rulers and nobles in the political hierarchy.

A French Protestant, belonging to a religious minority persecuted in France.

French Protestants, many of whom left France to escape religious persecution.

The Aztec god associated with the sun and war, and the patron god of the capital, Tenochtitlan.

The main body of a ship, which encloses its interior and keeps it afloat.

An intellectual outlook which emphasised human reasoning and enquiry, encouraging people to question accepted explanations.

An approach that emphasises human welfare and the reduction of suffering.

Basic freedoms and protections to which people are entitled, including freedom of expression and protection from persecution.

The constitutional proposal presented by MPs in 1657 which initially offered Cromwell the crown. He rejected kingship but accepted a revised version which retained him as Lord Protector.

A medieval administrative district containing several local communities.

Roosevelt’s first hundred days in office in spring 1933, marked by rapid legislation to tackle the Depression.

The campaign of 1956–57 in which Mao encouraged intellectuals to express criticisms of Communist Party rule.

The records produced by Edward I’s enquiries of 1274–75 into royal rights, lands and abuses by local officials. A hundred was a subdivision of a county.

A series of wars between England and France from 1337 to 1453, interrupted by periods of peace.

Refusing food as a form of protest, used by imprisoned suffragettes.

An election result in which no single party has an overall majority of seats in the House of Commons.

A short, concentrated artillery bombardment intended to disrupt enemy defences before an attack.