AP European History: Protestant Reformation and Wars of Religion

Vocabulary flashcards covering key concepts, events, doctrines, and terminology from Unit 2 of AP European History, including the Protestant Reformation, Catholic Counter-Reformation, and European Religious Wars.

Simony

The buying and selling of church offices.

Nepotism

The practice of appointing family members and friends to church offices regardless of qualifications.

Indulgences

Certificates sold by the Catholic Church offering individuals a way to buy salvation or buy loved ones out of purgatory.

Priesthood of All Believers

The Protestant doctrine that scriptures do not divide believers into sacred and secular hierarchies, but rather treat all believers as equal priests.

95 Theses

A document composed by Martin Luther on October 31, 1517, criticizing the corruption of the Catholic Church and calling for reform.

Heretic

A person who rejects the accepted beliefs of the church.

Diet of Worms

The trial convened by Catholic Church officials where Martin Luther was ordered to recant his teachings.

Vernacular

The common, everyday language spoken by the ordinary people of a region.

Predestination

The doctrine taught by John Calvin stating that God had determined who would be saved and who would not before the foundation of the world.

The Elect

In Calvinist theology, the individuals chosen by God for salvation who could never lose their saved status.

Theocracy

A system of government in which a state is ruled directly by God rather than by a human sovereign.

Institutes of the Christian Religion

A volume written by John Calvin that served as the first complete, systematic treatment of Reformation doctrines.

Anabaptists

A Protestant group that rejected infant baptism, advocated for adult baptism, and believed in absolute separation of church and state, including refusal of military service.

Huguenots

French Calvinist Protestants.

Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre

A 1572 event organized by Catherine de' Medici in which an estimated 10,000 to 20,000 Protestants were killed across France.

Edict of Nantes

A 1598 decree issued by King Henry IV officially establishing France as Catholic while granting Huguenots freedom to worship without harassment.

Peace of Augsburg

A 1555 agreement establishing that individual rulers within the Holy Roman Empire could decide whether their territories would be Lutheran or Catholic.

Defenestration of Prague

The 1618 incident in which Protestant nobles threw officials of Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II out of a castle window, triggering the Thirty Years' War.

Peace of Westphalia

The 1648 treaty that ended the Thirty Years' War, added Calvinism to the Peace of Augsburg options, and marked the end of major European religious wars.

Catholic Reformation

Also known as the Counter Reformation, the internal renewal movement within the Catholic Church responding to Protestant criticisms and political pressure.

Council of Trent

A Catholic council held between 1545 and 1563 that reformed abuses like simony and indulgences while reaffirming core doctrines like transubstantiation and papal authority.

Jesuits

A religious order founded by Ignatius of Loyola dedicated to spiritual renewal, strict vows of poverty and chastity, education, and global missionary work.

Querelle des femmes

A debate among French intellectuals translated as 'the woman question,' which centered on whether women were fit to receive university education.

Mannerism

An artistic style originating during the Renaissance that utilized distorted figures, exaggerated musculature, and vibrant colors to express intense emotion and drama.

Baroque

An extravagant, ornate, and highly emotional art style promoted by the Catholic Reformation to inspire awe and renew confidence in the Catholic Church.