European Society in the Age of the Renaissance Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards covering major concepts, historical figures, terms, and developments from Chapter 12: European Society in the Age of the Renaissance (1350-1550).

Renaissance

A French word meaning 'rebirth,' used to describe the rebirth of the culture of classical antiquity in Italy during the fourteenth to sixteenth centuries.

Patronage

Financial support of writers and artists by cities, groups, and individuals, often to produce specific works or works in specific styles.

Communes

Sworn associations of free men in Italian cities led by merchant guilds that sought political and economic independence from local nobles.

Popolo

Disenfranchised common people in Italian cities who resented their exclusion from power and used armed force to take over city governments.

Condottieri

Military leaders with their own mercenary armies who were brought in by merchant oligarchies to establish order in Italian cities and often seized political power.

Signori

Government by one-man rule in Italian cities such as Milan; also refers to these rulers, who often handed down the right to rule to their sons.

Courts

Magnificent households and palaces where signori and other rulers lived, conducted business, and supported the arts to display their wealth and power.

Florin

The gold coin of Florence that was accepted throughout Europe as a standard currency.

Girolamo Savonarola

A Dominican friar (1452–1498) who preached against moral corruption in Florence, led a new republic, oversaw 'bonfires of the vanities,' and was ultimately executed.

Humanism

A program of study designed by Italians that emphasized the critical study of Latin and Greek literature with the goal of understanding human nature.

Studia humanitates

A course of study proposed by Petrarch around 1350, translated as 'liberal studies' or 'liberal arts,' focusing on ancient Roman authors to teach clear writing, effective arguing, and persuasive speaking.

Virtù

The quality of being able to shape the world according to one's own will, demonstrated by individuals who rose above their background to achieve excellence.

Civic humanism

The belief held by Renaissance humanists that educated men should be active in the political affairs of their city.

Niccolò Machiavelli

A Florentine civic humanist and political theorist (1469–1527) who wrote The Prince, arguing that a ruler's primary function is to preserve order and security.

Christian humanists

Northern humanists who interpreted Italian ideas about and attitudes toward classical antiquity and humanism in terms of their own religious traditions to reform the church.

Utopia

A 1516 book written by Thomas More describing an ideal imaginary island community where all children receive a classical education and private property is abolished.

Perspective

The linear representation of distance and space on a flat surface, pioneered in painting by Piero della Francesca and Andrea Mantegna to enhance realism.

Mannerism

An artistic style developed in the sixteenth century by artists such as Titian in which figures were distorted, musculature exaggerated, and color heightened to express intense emotion and drama.

Debate about women

A debate among Renaissance writers and thinkers concerning women's character, qualities, and proper role in society (also known as querelle des femmes).

New Christians

A term (also called conversos) for Jews and Muslims in the Iberian Peninsula who accepted Christianity, many of whom were targeted by the Spanish Inquisition.

Wars of the Roses

A fifteenth-century civil war in England between the ducal houses of York and Lancaster for control of the Crown.

Court of Star Chamber

A judicial offshoot of the English royal council under Henry VII that used secret sessions, no juries, and torture to reduce aristocratic troublemaking.

Concordat of Bologna

A 1516 agreement between King Francis I of France and Pope Leo X that gave the French king the right to select French bishops and abbots.

Reconquista

The centuries-long campaign by Spanish Christian kingdoms against Muslim forces in the Iberian Peninsula, concluded in 1492 with the conquest of Granada.

Renaissance

A French word meaning 'rebirth,' used to describe the rebirth of the culture of classical antiquity in Italy during the fourteenth to sixteenth centuries.

Patronage

Financial support of writers and artists by cities, groups, and individuals, often to produce specific works or works in specific styles.

Communes

Sworn associations of free men in Italian cities led by merchant guilds that sought political and economic independence from local nobles.

Popolo

Disenfranchised common people in Italian cities who resented their exclusion from power and used armed force to take over city governments.

Condottieri

Military leaders with their own mercenary armies who were brought in by merchant oligarchies to establish order in Italian cities and often seized political power.

Signori

Government by one-man rule in Italian cities such as Milan; also refers to these rulers, who often handed down the right to rule to their sons.

Courts

Magnificent households and palaces where signori and other rulers lived, conducted business, and supported the arts to display their wealth and power.

Florin

The gold coin of Florence that was accepted throughout Europe as a standard currency.

Girolamo Savonarola

A Dominican friar (1452–1498) who preached against moral corruption in Florence, led a new republic, oversaw 'bonfires of the vanities,' and was ultimately executed.

Humanism

A program of study designed by Italians that emphasized the critical study of Latin and Greek literature with the goal of understanding human nature.

Studia humanitates

A course of study proposed by Petrarch around 1350, translated as 'liberal studies' or 'liberal arts,' focusing on ancient Roman authors to teach clear writing, effective arguing, and persuasive speaking.

Virtù

The quality of being able to shape the world according to one's own will, demonstrated by individuals who rose above their background to achieve excellence.

Civic humanism

The belief held by Renaissance humanists that educated men should be active in the political affairs of their city.

Niccolò Machiavelli

A Florentine civic humanist and political theorist (1469–1527) who wrote The Prince, arguing that a ruler's primary function is to preserve order and security.

Christian humanists

Northern humanists who interpreted Italian ideas about and attitudes toward classical antiquity and humanism in terms of their own religious traditions to reform the church.

Utopia

A 1516 book written by Thomas More describing an ideal imaginary island community where all children receive a classical education and private property is abolished.

Perspective

The linear representation of distance and space on a flat surface, pioneered in painting by Piero della Francesca and Andrea Mantegna to enhance realism.

Mannerism

An artistic style developed in the sixteenth century by artists such as Titian in which figures were distorted, musculature exaggerated, and color heightened to express intense emotion and drama.

Debate about women

A debate among Renaissance writers and thinkers concerning women's character, qualities, and proper role in society (also known as querelle des femmes).

New Christians

A term (also called conversos) for Jews and Muslims in the Iberian Peninsula who accepted Christianity, many of whom were targeted by the Spanish Inquisition.

Wars of the Roses

A fifteenth-century civil war in England between the ducal houses of York and Lancaster for control of the Crown.

Court of Star Chamber

A judicial offshoot of the English royal council under Henry VII that used secret sessions, no juries, and torture to reduce aristocratic troublemaking.

Concordat of Bologna

A 1516 agreement between King Francis I of France and Pope Leo X that gave the French king the right to select French bishops and abbots.

Reconquista

The centuries-long campaign by Spanish Christian kingdoms against Muslim forces in the Iberian Peninsula, concluded in 1492 with the conquest of Granada.

Francesco Petrarch

Florentine poet and scholar (1304–1374) who pioneered humanism, collected ancient Roman manuscripts, and coined the term 'dark ages' for the period between Rome and his own era.

Giorgio Vasari

Italian art historian and painter (1511–1574) who first used the word Renaissance in print and authored The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects.

Baldassare Castiglione

Author of The Courtier (1528), a widely influential treatise designed to train young men into courtly gentlemen and outline the ideal conduct for court ladies.

Desiderius Erasmus

Dutch Christian humanist (1466–1536) who wrote The Praise of Folly, produced a landmark Greek/Latin New Testament, and promoted the 'philosophy of Christ.'

Johann Gutenberg

German metalsmith who helped pioneer movable metal type printing in Europe in the 1440s, transforming literacy and information spread.

Leonardo da Vinci

Florentine artist, engineer, and scientist (1452–1519) famous for painting the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper, widely regarded as the original 'Renaissance man.'

Spanish Inquisition

A judicial institution established in 1478 by Ferdinand and Isabella with papal approval to search out and punish conversos suspected of secretly maintaining Jewish practices.

Purity of blood laws

Spanish statutes requiring pure Christian ancestry for noble status, asserting that religious conversion could not change a person's inherited lineage.