Ap Euro

study

Black Death

Deadly plague that killed one-third of Europe's population (1347-1351); led to economic and social upheaval.

Giovanni Boccaccio / The Decameron

Italian writer who described plague life in The Decameron, offering insight into medieval society and reactions to the Black Death.

Flagellants

Radical Christians who whipped themselves to atone for sins, believing it would stop the plague; often caused panic.

Hundred Years' War

1337-1453 war between England and France over land and succession; fostered nationalism and military evolution.

Agincourt

1415 English victory in Hundred Years' War; English longbowmen defeated larger French forces, boosting English morale.

Avignon

City where popes resided (1309-1376) during the Babylonian Captivity; weakened papal authority and credibility.

Great Schism

Great Schism

1378-1417 split with multiple popes; divided Europe and weakened Church unity and power

Jacquerie

1358 French peasant revolt due to taxes and war suffering; brutally suppressed but symbolized widespread unrest.

English Peasants' Revolt

1381 uprising over taxes and serfdom; briefly forced concessions from nobility but ultimately failed.

Guild

Medieval association of craftsmen regulating trade, quality, and training; protected members' interests.

Vernacular

Everyday spoken language; authors began using it instead of Latin, increasing literacy and cultural identity.

Dante / Divine Comedy

Italian poet whose Divine Comedy explored sin and salvation; helped shape modern Italian language.

Chaucer / Canterbury Tales

English author whose Canterbury Tales portrayed diverse medieval characters and promoted English vernacular literature.

The Fronde

A series of violent uprisings during the early reign of Louis XIV triggered by growing royal control and increased taxation.

Mercantilism

A system of economic regulations aimed at increasing the power of the state based on the belief that a nation's international power was based on its wealth, specifically its supply of gold and silver.

Peace of Utrecht

A series of treaties from 1713 to 1715 that ended the War of the Spanish Succession, ended French expansion in Europe, and marked the rise of the British Empire.

Junkers

The nobility of Brandenburg and Prussia; they were reluctant allies of Frederick William in his consolidation of the Prussian state.

Boyars

The highest ranking members of the Russian nobility.

Cossacks

Free groups and outlaw armies originally composed of runaway peasants living on the borders of Russian territory from the fourteenth century onward. By the end of the sixteenth century, they had formed an alliance with the Russian state.

Constitutionalism

A form of government in which power is limited by law and balanced between the authority and power of the government on the one hand, and the rights and liberties of the subjects or citizens on the other hand; could include constitutional monarchies or republics.

Republicanism

A form of government in which there is no monarch and power rests in the hands of the people as exercised through elected representatives.

Puritans

Members of a sixteenth- and seventeenth-century reform movement within the Church of England that advocated purifying it of Roman Catholic elements, like bishops, elaborate ceremonials, and wedding rings.

Protectorate

The English military dictatorship (1653-1658) established by Oliver Cromwell following the execution of Charles I.

Test Act

Legislation, passed by the English Parliament in 1673, to secure the position of the Anglican Church by stripping Puritans, Catholics, and other dissenters of the right to vote, preach, assemble, hold public office, and teach at or attend the universities.

Stadholder

The executive officer in each of the United Provinces of the Netherlands, a position often held by the princes of Orange.

Peace of Westphalia

The name of a series of treaties that concluded the Thirty Years' War in 1648 and marked the end of large-scale religious violence in Europe.

Natural Philosophy

An early modern term for the study of the nature of the universe, its purpose, and how it functioned; it encompassed what we would call "science" today.

Copernican Hypothesis

The idea that the sun, not the earth, was the center of the universe.

Experimental Method

The approach, pioneered by Galileo, that the proper way to explore the workings of the universe was through repeatable experiments rather than speculation.

Empiricism

A theory of inductive reasoning that calls for acquiring evidence through observation and experimentation rather than deductive reason and speculation.

Cartesian Dualism

Descartes's view that all of reality could ultimately be reduced to mind and matter.

Enlightenment

The influential intellectual and cultural movement of the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries that introduced a new worldview based on the use of reason, the scientific method, and progress.

Rationalism

A secular, critical way of thinking in which nothing was to be accepted on faith, and everything was to be submitted to reason.

Philosophes

A group of French intellectuals who proclaimed that they were bringing the light of knowledge to their fellow humans in the Age of Enlightenment.

Enlightened Absolutism

Term coined by historians to describe the rule of eighteenth-century monarchs who, without renouncing their own absolute authority, adopted Enlightenment ideals of rationalism, progress, and tolerance.

Cameralism

View that monarchy was the best form of government, that all elements of society should serve the monarch, and that, in turn, the state should use its resources and authority to increase the public good.

Estates General

A legislative body in pre-revolutionary France, made up of representatives of each of the three classes, or estates. It was called into session in 1789 for the first time since 1614.

Socialism

A backlash against the emergence of individualism and the fragmentation of industrial society, and a move toward cooperation and a sense of community; key ideas were economic planning, greater social equality, and state regulation of property.

Marxism

An influential political program based on the socialist ideas of German radical Karl Marx, which called for working-class revolution to overthrow capitalist society and establish a Communist state.

Bourgeoisie

The middle-class minority who owned the means of production and, according to Marx, exploited the working-class proletariat.

Proletariat

The industrial working class who, according to Marx, were unfairly exploited by the profit-seeking bourgeoisie.

Romanticism

An artistic movement at its height from about 1790 to the 1840s that was in part a revolt against classicism and the Enlightenment, characterized by a belief in emotional exuberance, unrestrained imagination, and spontaneity in both art and personal life.

Corn Laws

British laws governing the import and export of grain, which were revised in 1815 to prohibit the importation of foreign grain unless the price at home rose to improbable levels, benefiting the aristocracy but making food prices high for working people.

Battle of Peterloo

The army's violent suppression of a protest that took place at Saint Peter's Fields in Manchester in reaction to the revision of the Corn Laws.

Reform Bill of 1832

A major British political reform that increased the number of male voters by about 50 percent and gave political representation to new industrial areas.

Greater Germany

A liberal plan for German national unification that included the German-speaking parts of the Austrian Empire, put forth at the national parliament in 1848 but rejected by Austrian rulers.

Karlsbad Decrees

Issued in 1819, these decrees were designed to uphold Metternich's conservatism, requiring the German states to root out subversive ideas and squelch any liberal organizations.

Liberalism

The principle ideas of this movement were equality and liberty; liberals demanded representative government and equality before the law as well as individual freedoms such as freedom of the press, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of worship, and freedom from arbitrary arrest.

Laissez-faire

A doctrine of economic liberalism that calls for unrestricted private enterprise and no government interference in the economy.

Nationalism

The idea that each people had its own genius and specific identity that manifested itself especially in a common language and history, and often led to the desire for an independent political state.

Estates

The three legal categories, or orders, of France's inhabitants: the clergy, the nobility, and everyone else

National Assembly

The first French revolutionary legislature, made up primarily of representatives of the third estate and a few from the nobility and clergy, in session from 1789 to 1791

Great Fear

The fear of noble reprisals against peasant uprisings that seized the French countryside and led to further revolt

Jacobin Club

A political club in revolutionary France whose members were well-educated radical republicans

Girondists

A moderate group that fought for control of the French National Convention in 1793

Congress of Vienna

A diplomatic meeting (1814-1815) of Austria, Prussia, Russia, Great Britain, and France to restore stability and redraw Europe after Napoleon's defeat.

Holy Alliance

A conservative alliance formed in 1815 by Austria, Prussia, and Russia to suppress liberal and revolutionary movements in Europe.

Sans-culottes

The laboring poor of Paris, so called because the men wore trousers instead of the knee-breeches of the aristocracy and middle class; the word came to refer to the militant radicals of the city

Reign of Terror

The period from 1793 to 1794, during which Robespierre's Committee of Public Safety tried and executed thousands suspected of treason and a new revolutionary culture was imposed

Napoleonic Code

French civil code promulgated in 1804 that reasserted the 1789 principles of the equality of all male citizens before the law and the absolute security of wealth and private property, as well as restricting rights accorded to women by previous revolutionary laws

Grand Empire

The empire over which Napoleon and his allies ruled, encompassing virtually all of Europe except Great Britain and Russia

Continental System

A blockade imposed by Napoleon to halt all trade between continental Europe and Britain, thereby weakening the British economy and military

Renaissance

A cultural movement beginning in Italy in the 14th century, marked by a revival of classical learning, art, and human-centered values.

Patronage

Financial support of artists and intellectuals by wealthy individuals, families, or institutions

Thermidorian reaction

A reaction to the violence of the Reign of Terror in 1794, resulting in the execution of Robespierre and the loosening of economic controls

Communes

Associations of free men in Italian cities seeking independence from local nobles.

Popolo

The common people in Italian cities, often excluded from political power.

Signori

Rulers of Italian city-states who held power through force or hereditary succession.

Courts

Magnificent households and centers of power where rulers lived and displayed authority.

Humanism

Intellectual movement focusing on study of classical texts, human potential, and secular subjects.

Virtu

A Renaissance concept of excellence and the ability to shape the world through talent and will

Christian humanists

Northern European thinkers who combined classical learning with Christian values.

New Christians

Jews and Muslims in Spain who converted to Christianity, often under pressure, after 1492.

Anticlericalism

Hostility toward the clergy, criticizing corruption, immorality, and the wealth of church officials.

Indulgences

Grants by the Catholic Church that reduced time in purgatory, often sold for money.

Protestant

Followers of reform movements that broke from the Catholic Church, beginning with Luther.

Spanish Armada

The fleet sent by Philip II of Spain to invade England; defeated by English forces.

The Institutes of the Christian Religion

The Institutes of the Christian Religion

John Calvin's foundational theological work outlining Protestant beliefs, especially predestination.

Predestination (Calvinism)

Calvinist belief that God has already chosen who will be saved.

Holy Office

The official Roman Catholic agency founded in 1542 to combat international doctrinal heresy

Jesuits

A Roman Catholic religious order founded in 1540 by Ignatius of Loyola. Known for their commitment to education, missionary work, and intellectual rigor.

Huguenots

French Protestants.

Politiques

Catholic and Protestant moderates who held that only a strong monarchy could save France from total collapse.

Edict of Nantes

Document that granted religious freedom to the Huguenots.

Union of Utrecht

The alliance of seven northern provinces (led by Holland) that declared its independence from Spain and formed the United Provinces of the Netherlands.

Conquistador

A Spanish conqueror of the Americas.

Caravel

A small, highly maneuverable three-masted ship used by the Portuguese and Spanish in the exploration of the Atlantic.

Ptolemy's Geography

A second-century work that synthesized the classical knowledge of geography and introduced the concepts of longitude and latitude. Reintroduced to Europeans around 1410 by Arab scholars, these ideas enabled cartographers to create more accurate maps.

Treaty of Tordesillas

A 1494 agreement between Portugal and Spain, declaring that newly discovered lands to the west of an imaginary line in the Atlantic Ocean would belong to Spain and newly discovered lands to the east of the line would belong to Portugal.

Viceroyalties

The name for the four administrative units of Spanish possessions in the Americas: New Spain, Peru, New Granada, and La Plata.

Encomienda System

A system in Spanish America that gave settlers the right to tax local Indians or to demand their labor in exchange for protecting them and teaching them skills.

Columbian Exchange

The exchange of plants, animals, diseases, and technologies between the Americas and the rest of the world following Columbus's voyages.

Salon

Informal social gatherings at which writers, artists, philosophes, and others exchanged ideas.

Rococo

An artistic and architectural style that emerged in France in the early 18th century, characterized by ornate detail, lightness, elegance, and an exuberant use of color.

Enclosure

A movement in England during the 1600s and 1700s in which the government took public lands and sold them off to private landowners--contributing to a population shift toward the cities and a rise in agricultural productivity.

Proletarianization

Individuals or groups transition from being independent producers or self-employed workers to becoming wage laborers in a capitalist economy.

Cottage Industry

Manufacturing based in homes rather than in a factory, commonly found before the Industrial Revolution.

Putting-out System (Cottage Industry)

A system developed in the eighteenth century in which tasks were distributed to individuals who completed the work in their own homes; also known as the cottage industry.

Guild System

A system for specialized workers in medieval times. It would set regulations for price and other factors to eliminate competition in the town, keep the number of people in a specific job limited, and require them to go through apprenticeship -> journeyman ->master.

Navigation Acts

Laws that governed trade between England and its colonies. Colonists were required to ship certain products exclusively to England. These acts made colonists very angry because they were forbidden from trading with other countries.