European History Notes

Flashcards covering key vocabulary and concepts from Unit 1 (The Renaissance), Unit 2 (The Age of Exploration) and Unit 3 (The Reformation)

Petrarch

Father of Humanism who set in motion the rediscovery of texts and put an emphasis on Classical Latin.

Leonardo Bruni

A Humanist who wrote The New Cicero and created Civic Humanism, which is Humanism in service of the state.

Lorenzo Valla

A Humanist who wrote The Elegances of the Latin Language, which aimed to restore Latin's position over vernacular languages.

Pico Della Mirandola

A Humanist who wrote The Oration on the Dignity of Man (manifesto of the Renaissance), emphasizing unlimited human potential and combined ideas of 'universal truth'.

Marsilio Ficino

Translated Plato’s works and began the philosophy known as Neoplatonism which is based off of the Neoplatonic hierarchy of substances and the theory of spiritual love.

Francesco Guicciardini

A Renaissance Historiographer who wrote History of Italy and History of Florence, considering the purpose of history to teach lessons.

Michelangelo

A painter, sculptor, and architect influenced by Neoplatonism, known for the Sistine Chapel, The David, and Creation of Adam, who focused on the ideal human body.

Donato di Donatello

A sculptor who spent time in Rome studying works from antiquity; focused on simplicity and strength. Known for his statue of David.

Raphael

A Renaissance painter known for the School of Athens, focused on balance, harmony, and order in his work, aiming to achieve ideal beauty. Known for many frescoes in the Vatican.

Filippo Brunelleschi

A Renaissance architect who created the Duomo and the Church of San Lorenzo; his architecture reflected a human-centered world.

Jan Van Eyck

A Northern Renaissance painter who was the first to use oil paints, known for Giovanni Arnolfini and His Bride, demonstrating great attention to detail.

Leon Battista Alberti

A humanist philosopher and author who wrote texts regarding paintings, sculptures, and architecture that affected conceptual practices of such. The Model humanist man.

Andrea Palladio

A Renaissance architect who focused on creating villas like Villa Rotunda; his work reflects a human-centered world.

Baldassare Castiglione

Wrote the Book of the Courtier, a handbook for the ideals expected of nobility, who should possess perfect character, achievements like military service, and a classical education.

John Wycliff

An Oxford Theologian who founded the religious Lollardy movement, disgusted with clerical corruption and believed the Bible should be Christians' sole authority.

Jan Hus

His Lollard ideas reinforced Jan Hus’ ideas of reform, and he urged the elimination of worldliness and corruption within the clergy. He was burned at the stake as a heretic after being promised safety.

Isabelle d'Este

One of the most famous Renaissance ruling women, wife of the Marquis of Mantua, very intelligent and knowledgeable, helped attract artists to the Mantuan court, and effectively ruled Mantua.

Niccolò Machiavelli

A secretary of a Florentine council who wrote The Prince, reflecting on political power, believing it could not be restricted by morals and advocating for secularization; one of the first to abandon morality as the basis of political activity.

Erasmus

A Christian Humanist who believed Christianity should be a guiding philosophy rather than a system of dogmatic beliefs, emphasizing inner piety and rewriting the Bible.

Thomas More

Wrote the book Utopia in which More describes his concerns with the current world and advocates for communal ownership. More served Henry the 8th until he broke with Catholicism while trying to get a divorce

Louis XI

King of France, retained the taille, brought many independent duchies under his control, but was not successful in repressing the French nobility.

Henry VII

King of England, first Tudor King after the War of Roses, created the Court of Star Chamber to control nobility, used diplomacy to avoid wars, and regained stability.

Ferdinand & Isabella

Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile married and worked together to strengthen royal control in Spain, reorganized the military, and controlled the Catholic Church; introduced the Inquisition.

Hanseatic League

A league of merchants formed in Northern Germanic coastal towns, established trading bases in many Northern European cities, but slowly declined as it couldn't keep up with larger territorial states.

Medici Family

Based in Florence, The House of Medici was the greatest bank in Europe. Sharp decline around the end of the 15th due to bad leadership and loans. Eventually expelled from Florence and lost all their land

Council of Constance

Meant to reform the Catholic Church, passed two decrees, Sacrosancta and Frequens which ultimately failed to change the pope's absolute power over the church.

Renaissance Popes

Encompasses popes from the Great Schism to the beginning of the reformation who had both spiritual and temporal duties. Great patrons of renaissance culture and employed many painters.

Republic of Florence

Dominated the region of Tuscany, governed by the Medici family, and only republic for appearances.

Papal States

Central Italy controlled by the papacy.

Kingdom of Naples

Most of Southern Italy, a backward monarchy with a population mainly in poverty.

Duchy of Milan

Sforza and Visconti rulers of Milan worked to centralize the territorial state and had efficient systems of taxation.

Republic of Venice

Governed by an oligarchy.

Court of Star Chamber

Court to control nobles in England. Did not use juries and allowed for torture to extract confessions. This was an actual location.

The Habsburgs

Family of Holy Roman Emperors. Much of Habsburgs success was due to marriage. Gained territory through political marriages

War of the Roses

Civil war in England after the 100 years war. Conflict between the ducal houses of Lancaster and York. Henry Tudor emerged victorious over the Yorks.

The Great Schism

Split between the church during the middle ages, aggravated the financial abuses of the CC, with multiple popes instituting separate taxation systems.

100 Years' War

Led to instability within both France and England, which both countries were drained and had to restructure their governments in order to gain back lost profits.

Black Death

Killed a large portion of the European population, took several generations to recover pre Black Death population numbers, and led to viral anti semitism and flagellants.

Renaissance

Means rebirth of antiquity or Greco-Roman civilization after the Middle Ages, revived emphasis on individual ability Primarily applied to upper class Italians.

Italian Renaissance Humanism

Intellectual movement based on the study of classical literary works. Individualism and secularism were major themes of the movement and focused on literary works.

Civic Humanism

A sect of humanism where anyone studying the humanities should use their knowledge to serve the state. Filled important roles in Italy such as chancellor, councilor, or adviser.

Secularization

The rise of scientific, and less religious, decisions and reasonings in society.

Christian/Northern Humanism

A movement that focused on the reform of Christianity, human development, and the importance of education; they valued old, simplistic Christian scripts. Used stained glass windows.

Vernacular

Vernacular is the common language of an area. Latin was the formal language but after the Black Death many began writing in Vernacular. Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio are all trailblazers in the new Italian vernacular.

Modern Diplomacy

Employed ambassadors as diplomatic agents sent to other neighboring territories to discover information. Has developed rights of ambassadors.

The Renaissance Family & Women

Families with the same surname often lived near each other and family bond was a great source of security.

Hierarchal Society & The Decline of Serfdom and Manorial System

Society was split into three estates: clergy, nobility, and peasants. Serfdom continued to be eliminated as there were less peasants available to work so they could ask for wages

Slaves

Used as skilled laborers in Italy. Primarily obtained from the E.Mediterranean and Black sea regions

The Impact of printing

Johannes Gutenberg's printing press had changed western European society.Printing had encouraged the development of scholarly research and had interested more people in education.

Compass

A device that shows the cardinal directions used for navigation and geographic orientation.

Rudder

A primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, aircraft, or other conveyance that moves through a fluid medium

Portolani

Charts made by medieval mathematicians and navigators. Useful for short journeys, but not for long ones as they didn’t account for the curvature of the earth

Quadrant

A tool that allows the user to determine his or her latitude by measuring the altitude of a heavenly body

Astrolabe

An ancient astronomical instrument that was a handheld model of the universe.

Lateen Rig

A triangular sail set on a long yard mounted at an angle on the mast, and running in a fore-and-aft direction

Prince Henry the Navigator

Portuguese prince who wanted to find a Christian kingdom, acquire trade opportunities, and spread Christianity and founded a school for navigators.

Bartholomeu Dias

Portuguese sea captain who was the first person to round the Cape of Good Hope in Africa.

Vasco da Gama

Portuguese Sailor who sailed around the Cape of Good Hope and reached Africa. He Reached India and found spices there and blocked the area of the Red Sea to monopolize the spices.

Pedro Cabral

Portuguese sailor who found the continent of South America accidentally and claims Brazil.

John Cabot

Venetian Seaman,explored the New England coastline of the Americas under license of Henry the 7th of England

Amerigo Vespucci

Florentine who accompanied several voyages with Cabot and wrote letters about the geography of the New World. These letters where published and the new world was named America off of his name

Christopher Columbus

Italian Explorer who was employed by Spain who set out to find Asia from Europe.He reached the Bahamas and proclaimed it Asia, converting ‘Indians’ to Christianity

Vasco Nuñez de Balboa

Spanish explorer who led an expedition off the Isthmus of Panama and reached the Pacific ocean

Ferdinand Magellan

First credited circumnavigation of the globe

Treaty of Tordesillas, 1494

Divided the New World up into seperate spheres of Influence, One for Spain and one for the Portuguese. Route east of the Cape of Good Hope reserved for the Portuguese

Joint-Stock Company

A business entity in which shares of the company's stock can be bought & sold by shareholders. Each shareholder owns company stock in proportion, evidenced by their shares. These companies often funded exploration ventures

Luther

Priest who sparked the Protestant Reformation, writing the 95 theses while opposing corruption by the Catholic Church.

Diet of Worms

At the Diet of Worms HRE Charles the 5th told Luther to recant his 95 theses. Luther refused.

95 Theses

Luther's Theses and struck down the churches abuses including indulgences.

Edict of Nantes

Acknowledged Catholicism as the official religion of France while guaranteeing Huguenots the right to worship and to hold political privileges and jobs.

Christian IV

The King of Denmark was a Lutheran that intervened by leading an army into northern Germany. He was defeated by Wallenstein and ended Danish supremacy in the Baltic.

Albrecht von Wallenstein

Commander of German imperial forces that fought back against Denmark, gaining territory for the Holy Roman Empire. He Also fought the Swedish, but was assassinated in 1634 by order of Emperor Ferdinand.

Gustavus Adolphus

King of Sweden during the Swedish phase who, with his military genius and disciplined army, made Sweden a European superpower. His victory in the Battle of Lutzen against Wallenstein cost him his life.

Fredrick the Wise

Elector of Saxony who hid Luther when Luther was on the run from the Catholic Church

Habsburgs

Family of Holy Roman Emperors who mainly gained more power and through political marriages

Charles V

HRE who had to deal with many attacks from all sides during his rule which allowed Luthers shenanigans to happen. Strongly opposed Protestantism

St Francis

St believed the papacy needed to change after it became more corrupt during the Renaissance.

Fredrick the 5th

The man who ruled the palatinate replacing the Bohemian leader.

Anabaptist

Religious group that focused on there will and non-secularism

The European Witch Hunts

Witch hunts occurred in areas in which Protestantism had been established and also in areas with Catholic and Protestant conflict which each side accusing the other of being allied with the devil