AP European History - Unit 1 Vocabulary

Philology

the study of literary texts written in Latin and ancient Greek and originated in the libraries of Alexandria in the fourth century BCE.

Lorenzo Valla

Italian Renaissance humanist, rhetorician, educator and scholar. He is best known for his historical-critical textual analysis that proved that the Donation of Constantine was a forgery, therefore attacking and undermining the presumption of temporal power claimed by the papacy.

Humanism

an intellectual movement typified by a revived interest in the classical world and studies which focussed not on religion but on what it is to be human

Niccolo Machiavelli

Italian Renaissance political philosopher and statesman and secretary of the Florentine republic

Pragmatism

It stresses the priority of action over doctrine, of experience over fixed principles, and it holds that ideas borrow their meanings from their consequences and their truths from their verification.

Secularism

something is not religious in nature

Naturalism

a type of art that pays attention to very accurate and precise details, and portrays things as they are.

Idealism

the idea of an ideal human being and the artistic inspiration for ideal virtue, physique, and actions.

Geometric Perspective

an artistic technique used to create an illusion of three-dimensional space on a two-dimensional surface.

Albrecht Durer

painter, printmaker, and writer generally regarded as the greatest German Renaissance artist

Erasmus

humanist who was the greatest scholar of the northern Renaissance, the first editor of the New Testament, and also an important figure in patristics and classical literature.

Jan van Eyck

Netherlandish Renaissance painter who was famous in his own lifetime for his mastery of oil painting, colouring, naturalistic scenes, and eye for detail

Vernacular

writing in whatever your local language is as opposed to Medieval Latin

Johannes Gutenberg

Invented the movable-type. printing quickened the spread of knowledge, discoveries, and literacy in Renaissance Europe. The printing revolution also contributed mightily to the Protestant Reformation that split apart the Catholic Church.

Moveable Type

a system of printing where individual letters and characters are cast on separate metal pieces and can be rearranged to form different texts.

Christian Humanism

combined humanism's focus on the material world and the love of study with a more personal understanding of Christianity

Martin Luther

German theologian, professor, pastor, and church reformer. He began the Protestant Reformation with the publication of his Ninety-Five Theses on October 31, 1517.

Ferdinand of Aragon

the King of Aragon from 1479 until his death in 1516. He is best known for sponsoring Christopher Columbus' voyage to the Americas and for his marriage to Isabella I of Castile, which led to the unification of Spain.

Isabella of Castile

Reigning together over a dynastically unified Spain, her and Ferdinand are known as the Catholic Monarchs.

Medici

an art-loving family of wealthy bankers (and three popes), helped fund the Renaissance

Spanish Inquisition

(1478-1834), judicial institution ostensibly established to combat heresy in Spain.

Peace of Augsburg

first permanent legal basis for the coexistence of Lutheranism and Catholicism in Germany

Decentralization

the process of shifting control from one main group to several smaller one

Machiavellianism

A type of politics marked by "cunning, duplicity, or bad faith".

Mercantilism

a form of economic nationalism that sought to increase the prosperity and power of a nation through restrictive trade practices

Favorable balance of trade

one in which the value of domestic goods exported exceeds the value of foreign goods imported

Reconquista

The long Christian campaign to recapture Spain and Portugal. It means reconquest.

Treaty of Tordesillas

an agreement between the Kingdoms of Spain and Portugal that defined where each could explore and claim lands

Colonization

the action or process of settling among and establishing control over the indigenous people of an area.

Lisbon, Portugal

Where the portuguese began their exploration and slave trade in the 15th century.

London, England

A port city in southeastern England. This area became a cultural and business center. (It is not Bristol, England)

Bristol, England

A city on the west coast of england. Easily allowed for the export and import of many goods.

Antwerp, Netherlands

On what is now northern Belgium, this area was a trading center near the North sea. Here was the financial and trade center for Northern Europe.

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Dutch port city that surpassed Antwerp and became the major trade port for Europe.

Triangle Trade

a system of transatlantic trade in the 16th century between Europe, Africa, and the Americas

Asiento System

direct slave trading contracts between the Spanish government and European merchants to sell slaves within the Spanish Empire in Latin America

Planter society

an upper middle class of wealthy gentlemen farmers who were well educated, politically astute, and generally came from successful families.

Middle Passage

the second leg of the triangular trade route where enslaved Africans were transported across the Atlantic Ocean to be sold in the Americas