欧洲文化名词解释

1、Division Three The Middle Ages 1the Middle age(s 中世纪): 1) In European history, the thousand-year period from the 5th century to 15th century following the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the fifth century is called the Middle Ages.2)The middle ages is so called because it came between ancient ti

2、mes and modern times. 3) During the Medieval times there was no central government to keep the order. The only organization that seemed to unite Europe was the Christian church.4) Christianity took the lead in politics, law, art, and learning for hundreds of years. It shaped people s lives. That is

3、why the Middle Ages is also called the “ Age of Faith ”. 2. Feudalism (圭寸建主义) ：1) Feudalism in Europe was mainly a system of land holding a system of holding land in exchange for military service. 2) The word “feudalism ” was derived from the Latin“feudum”, a grant of land. 3. Fiefs (圭寸地，采邑)：1) In F

4、eudalism, the ruler of the government redivided the large lands into small pieces to be given to chancellors or soldiers as a reward for their service. 2) The subdivisions were called fiefs. 4. vassals (诸侯)：1)I n Feudalism, the ruler of the gover nment redivided the large lands into small pieces to

5、be given to chancellors or soldiers as a reward for their service. 2)The subdivisions were called fiefs.3) The owners of the fiefs w call vassals. 5. Code of Chivalry (骑士制度) ： 1) In the Middle Ages of western Europe, as a knight, he were pledged to protect the weak, to fight for the church, to be lo

6、yal to his lord and to respect women of noble birth. 2) These rules were known as code of chivalry, from which the western idea of good manners developed. 6. dubbing (骑士头衔加冕仪式 ) ： After a knight was successful in his trails and tournaments, there was always a special ceremony to award him with a tit

7、le, knight. This special ceremony is called dubbing. 7. The Manor (庄园)：1) The centre of medieval life under feudalism was the manor. 2) Manors were founded on the fiefs of the lords. 3) By the twelfth century manor houses were made of stone and designed as fortresses. They came to be called castles.

8、 8. The Catholic Church(天主教):1) In the medieval “ age of faith ” , almost all Europeans belonged to the Cathoicl Church. 2) The word“ catholic ” meant “ universal ” 3) The Catholic Church was highly centralized and disciplined international organization and the Pope was the head of the Church. He no

9、t only ruled Rome and parts of Italy as a king, he was also the head of all Christian churches in western Europe. Those who opposed the Pope lost their membership and their political right. 4) The Church even set up a church court-the Inquisition to stamp out so-called heresy. 5) Latin was the accep

10、ted official language in the Roman Catholic Church. 6) This Church had great influence on people s daily life and the western thinking. 9Monasticism (修道院制度 ): 1)Heeding the spiritual message of Christianity, between 300 and 500 A.D., many men withdrew from worldly contacts to deserts and Ion ely pla

11、ces. 2) This moveme nt developed in to the establishme nt of mon asterieS修 道院)and convents 女修道院)for monks and nuns. 3 Some of the hermits were great scholars known as “Father of the Church”, whose work is generally considered orthodox. 4) Three representatives were St. Jerome, Augustine of Hippo and

12、 St. Benedict. 10. Benedictine Rule本尼迪克特教团)：1) It was foun ded by St. Ben edict, a great monk in 529 A. D. 2) The monks who followed Benedicts rule promised to give up all their possession before entering the monastery. 3) wore simple clothes and ate only certain simple foods. 4) They could not marr

13、y and had to obey without question the orders of the abbot. 5) They had to attend service seven times during the day and once at midnight.6) In addition, they were expected to work five hours a day in the fields surrounding the monastery. 11. holy communio(圣餐)：1) It is one of most important sacramen

14、ts. 2) It helps to remind people that Christ has died to redeem man. 12. The Crusades (十字军东征 1) In 1071 Palest in e fell to the armies of the Turkish Moslems who attacked the Christian pilgrims, killing many of them and sold many others as slaves. 2) News of this kink roused great indignation among

15、Christians in western Europe. 3) The result was a series of holy wars called the Crusades which went on about 200 years. 4) All the soldiers going to Palestine wore a red cross on the tunics as a symbol of obedience to God. 5) There were altogether eight chief Crusades from 1096 to 1291. 6) Aothough

16、 the Crusades did not achieve their goal to regain the Holy land, they had an important effect on the future of both the East and the West. They brought the East into closer contact with the West. And they greatly influenced the history of Europe. 13. Carolingian Renaissanc(e 加洛林复兴)：1) In early medi

17、eval period, the Emperor of the Romans, Charlemagne, encouraged learning by setting up monastery schools, giving support to scholars and setting scribes to work copying various ancient books. Because the scribes performed their tasks well, few of the ancient works that had survived until that time w

18、ere ever lost. 3) The result of Charlemagnes efforts is usually called the“Carolingian Renaissance ”. 4)The term is derived from Charlemagnes name in Latin, Carolus. 5) The most interesting side of this rather minor renaissance is the spectacle of Frankish or Germanic state reaching out to assimilat

19、e the riches of the Roman Classical and the Christianized Hebraic culture. 14. Alfred the Great (阿尔弗雷德大王) 1) As the ruler of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex, he contributed greatly to the medieval European culture. 2) He worried about the disappearance of learning and made Wessex the Anglo-Saxon c

20、ultural centre by introducing teachers and scholars, founding new monasteries, and promoting translations into the vernacular from Latin works. 3)He also inspired the compilation of the Anglo Saxon Chronicles. 15. National Epic(民族史诗)：1) The epic was the product of the Heroic Age. It was an important

21、 and mostly used form. in ancient literature.)2 “National epic” refers to the epic written in vernacular languages that is, the languages of various national states that came into being in the Middle Ages. )3 Literary works were no longer all written in Latin.4) It was the starting point of a gradua

22、l transition of European literature from Latin culture to a culture that was the combination of a variety of national characteristics. 1 16. Beowulf (贝奥武甫)：1) It is an Anglo-Saxon epic in 8 century. 2) It originates from the collective efforts of oral literature. 3) The story is set in Denmark or Sw

23、eden and tells how the hero, Veowulf, defeats the monster Grendel and Grendel s mother, a sea monster, but eventually receives his own death in fighting with a fire dragon. 4) It marks the beginning of English literature. 17. Song of Roland (罗兰之歌)：1) It is the most well-known of a group of French ep

24、ics known as La Chanson de Gestes. 2) It tells how Roland, one of Charlemagne s warriors, fights in Spain and dies defending a pass in the Pyrenees. 18. The Divine Comedy (神曲)：1) It was written by the greatest poet of Italy, Dante. 2) It is one of the landmarks of world literature. 3) The poem itsel

25、f is the greatest Christian poem with a profound vision of the medieval Christian world, and expresses humanistic ideas which foreshadowed the spirit of Renaissance. 4) It was written in Italian rather than in Latin, which influenced decisively the evolution of European literature away from it origins in Latin culture to a new varied expression. 19. The Canterbury Tales (坎特伯雷故事集)：1) The Can terbury Tales was written by English poet Chaucer. 2) The book contains twenty-four tales bold by a group of pilgrims on their journey to Canterbury. 3) Most of the tales are written in ve