Early Modern World History: Columbian Exchange & Religious Reformations

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms, historical figures, and theological concepts from the lecture on the Columbian Exchange and the Protestant and Catholic Reformations.

Columbian Exchange

The transfer of goods, foods, animals, populations, and microflora/diseases across the Atlantic world connecting the Americas and Afro-Eurasia starting in the 16th century.

Heterodox groups

Religious or social groups whose beliefs differed from Roman Catholic orthodoxy, such as Jewish people, Muslims, heretics, and individuals accused of practicing witchcraft.

Lay brethren

Individuals during the late medieval period who lived dedicated religious lives without taking official holy vows as monks or nuns.

Pilgrimage

A form of religious travel to sites of religious significance, such as Santiago de Compostela, Jerusalem, or Rome.

Relic

A sacred object purported to belong to a saint or associated with a specific religious event, often preserved in a container called a reliquary.

Frederick of Saxony

A ruler in the German lands who accumulated a collection of over 5,000 religious relics in the early 1500s.

Indulgences

Grants issued by the Catholic Church through donation or pilgrimage that promised to shorten a person's or their loved one's time in purgatory.

Purgatory

In Catholic theology, an intermediate state after death where souls work off their sins before proceeding to heaven.

Christian humanists

Renaissance scholars who applied humanist principles of studying original texts in their original languages (Hebrew, Greek) to Roman Catholic theology and church reform.

Ad fontes

A Latin phrase meaning 'to the fountain' or 'to the source,' summarizing the Christian humanist principle of returning to original foundational texts.

Martin Luther

A German monk (1483–1546) whose opposition to the sale of indulgences and theological writings on salvation catalyzed the Protestant Reformation.

Sola scriptura

A Protestant principle meaning 'only scripture,' asserting that the Bible is the sole authority for faith and practice, above church tradition.

Sola gratia

A Protestant principle meaning 'only grace,' holding that salvation is an unmerited gift from God rather than earned by human good works.

Vernacular

The everyday spoken language of a local population (such as German or French), used in Protestant publications to reach broad audiences outside Latin-educated elites.

Peasants' War

A major 1524–1525 conflict in the German lands where insurgents cited reformed biblical arguments to justify rising up against local authority.

John Calvin

A French Protestant reformer who moved to Geneva and established Calvinism, a distinct branch of Protestantism emphasizing divine sovereignty and predestination.

Predestination

The Calvinist doctrine that God has determined before birth which individuals will be saved through divine grace.

Council of Trent

A long-running Catholic ecumenical council held off and on for roughly 20 years in the Italian Alps to clarify Catholic doctrine and address church practices.

Tridentine Church

A term describing the Roman Catholic Church as defined and shaped by the decrees and reforms of the Council of Trent.

Society of Jesus

A Catholic religious order founded in 1540 (also known as the Jesuits) that answered directly to the pope and focused on education and global missionary work.

Index of Prohibited Books

A censorship list created by the Catholic Church to prevent the publication and reading of Protestant and heretical literature.

Confessional

An enclosed piece of church furniture introduced in the 16th century that allowed for private confession while keeping the interaction in a public setting.

Confessionalization

The historical process in early modern Europe of instructing believers in the specific doctrines and rituals of their specific religious denomination.