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The Black Death

Peaked in 1347–1351 and killed up to 50% of Europe’s population.

The Jacquerie

Violent peasant revolt in France in 1358 against nobility.

English Peasants’ Revolt

Major uprising in 1381 against poll taxes and feudal oppression.

Dance of Death

Artistic motif showing Death summoning people from all classes after the Black Death.

Dante Alighieri

Author of The Divine Comedy and Italian poet who died in 1321.

Geoffrey Chaucer

Author of The Canterbury Tales and father of English literature.

The Renaissance

Cultural revival of classical art, literature, philosophy from 14th to 16th centuries.

Petrarch

Father of Humanism; Italian scholar who revived classical Latin texts.

Renaissance Humanism

Intellectual movement focusing on human potential and classical learning.

Leon Battista Alberti

Architect and Renaissance 'universal man' who promoted proportion in architecture.

Niccolò Machiavelli

Author of The Prince; Florentine political theorist known for pragmatic advice.

Baldassare Castiglione

Author of The Book of the Courtier; defined the ideal Renaissance gentleman.

Chiaroscuro

Artistic technique using light and shadow for depth in painting.

Leonardo da Vinci

Polymath and painter of The Last Supper and Mona Lisa.

Raphael

High Renaissance painter known for The School of Athens.

Michelangelo

Sculptor of David and painter of the Sistine Chapel ceiling.

Il Duomo (Santa Maria del Fiore)

Cathedral in Florence with an innovative dome engineered by Filippo Brunelleschi.

Andrea Palladio

Architect known for his classical-style buildings and villas.

The Northern European Renaissance

Spread of Renaissance ideas in Northern Europe during the 15th-16th centuries.

Christian Humanism

Merging of humanism with Christian ethics, advocated by Erasmus and More.

Erasmus

Dutch humanist who wrote In Praise of Folly and criticized Church abuses.

De pueris instituendis

Erasmus's work advocating for moral childhood education.

Printing Revolution

Spread of movable-type printing pioneered by Johannes Gutenberg.

Thomas More

Author of Utopia and advocate for social justice.

Reorientation of Western Powers

Shift in focus from Mediterranean to Atlantic and overseas exploration.

Fall of the Byzantine Empire

The end of the Byzantine Empire in 1453 after being conquered by Ottoman Turks.

Ottoman Turks

Muslim empire that rose in power and conquered Byzantine lands.

Mehmed II

Ottoman sultan who captured Constantinople in 1453.

Janissary

Elite Ottoman military corps trained from Christian boys.

Reconquista

Christian reconquest of Spain from Muslim rule, ending in 1492.

Ferdinand and Isabella

Catholic monarchs who united Spain and funded Columbus's voyages.

Sephardic Jews (1492)

Jews expelled from Spain by the Alhambra Decree.

Sack of Rome (1527)

Destruction of Rome by Charles V’s troops, marking end of the High Renaissance.

Expansion Abroad

European exploration and colonization led by Spain and Portugal.

Dutch East India Company

Trade company chartered by the Dutch Republic in 1602.

New Amsterdam

Dutch colony on Manhattan Island founded in 1625.

Indentured Servitude

Labor system where people worked to repay their passage to the New World.

Cape of Good Hope (1488)

Southern tip of Africa rounded by Bartolomeu Dias, opening a sea route to Asia.

Roots of the Reformation

Movements like the Great Western Schism and early reformers led to church reform.

Ninety-five Theses (1517)

Martin Luther's list of criticisms of the Church, sparking the Protestant Reformation.

Calvinism

Protestant branch founded by John Calvin, emphasizing predestination.

Henry VIII

English king who broke from Rome and established the Church of England.

Elizabethan Settlement

Religious compromise blending Protestant and traditional forms in England.

Counter-Reformation

Catholic Church's response to Protestantism through reforming doctrines.

Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648)

Religious conflict in Europe, sparked by the Defenestration of Prague.

Peace of Westphalia (1648)

Treaties ending the Thirty Years’ War, establishing state sovereignty.