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reformers like Martin Luther, John Calvin and Henry VIII challenged papal authority

The Protestant Reformation was the 16th-century religious, political, intellectual and cultural upheaval that splintered Catholic Europe

Oligarchy means the rule of the few, and those few are generally the people who are richer and more powerful than the others, what you might call the aristocrats or the nobles.

Usually the way it works is that there is a group of people who are in charge, somehow. Sometimes they may be elected, and sometimes they are born into their position, and at other times you might have to have a certain amount of money or land in order to be in the council. Then this group of people meets every so often - every week or every month - to decide important questions, and to appoint somebody to deal with things. Like they might decide that it should be illegal to steal, and then they would appoint one of the nobles to be a judge, and decide if people were guilty of stealing, and decide what to do with them if they were.

document that King John of England (1166 - 1216) was forced into signing. King John was forced into signing the charter because it greatly reduced the power he held as the King of England and allowed for the formation of a powerful parliament.

curb the King and make him govern by the old English laws that had prevailed before the Normans came. The Magna Carta was a collection of 37 English laws - some copied, some recollected, some old and some new. The Magna Carta demonstrated that the power of the king could be limited by a written grant.

Copies of the Magna Carta were distributed to bishops, sheriffs and other important people throughout England.

refers to a historical network of interlinking trade routes across the Afro-Eurasian landmass that connected East, South, and Western Asia with the Mediterranean and European world

Extending 4,000 miles (6,500 km), the Silk Road gets its name from the lucrative Chinese silk trade along it,

silk was certainly the major trade item from China, many other goods were traded, and various technologies, religions and philosophies, as well as the bubonic plague (the "Black Death"), also traveled along the Silk Routes. Some of the other goods traded included luxuries such as silk, satin, hemp and other fine fabrics, musk, other perfumes, spices, medicines, jewels, glassware, and even rhubarb, as well as slaves.[4] China traded silk, teas, and porcelain; while India traded spices, ivory, textiles, precious stones, and pepper; and the Roman Empire exported gold, silver, fine glassware, wine, carpets, and jewels.

CAUTION: THIS STORY, AND ITS LINKS, CONTAIN GRUESOME REFERENCES OR IMAGES  

If the manor land was sold or reassigned to a new owner, the serfs stayed with the land.

Serfs had many jobs on the manor including craftsmen, bakers, farmers, and tax collectors

They had to do the job they were assigned to do. 

The Inquisition was a Roman Catholic tribunal for discovery and punishment of heresy, which was marked by the severity of questioning and punishment and lack of rights afforded to the accused.

While many people associate the Inquisition with Spain and Portugal, it was actually instituted by Pope Innocent III (1198-1216) in Rome.

By 1255, the Inquisition was in full gear throughout Central and Western Europe; although it was never instituted in England or Scandinavia

Ancient Greece was one of the first major civilizations of Europe. Ancient Greek culture officially lasted from the 8th century BC to the 7th century AD, but their height was in the 6th and 5th centuries BC, a period that was so influential on Western culture that we call it the Classical era.

The Greeks cities were some of the first major civilizations to question the rule of a king, and in the 6th Century BC, the people of Athens developed a new government system called democracy