Unit 1 History: Europe Expanding Terms & Definitions

Black Death

the epidemic form of plague experienced during the Middle Ages, particularly between 1347 and 1351, when it killed nearly half the people of western Europe

- characterized by swollen buboes and death within a few days

- blamed on everything from God's wrath to Jews poisoning wells

Hundred Years' War

Long war between England and France from 1337-1453 (actually 116 years)

- military became more professional and centralized

- increased use of heavy artillery and aggressive mass of foot soldiers, though illusion of chivalry persisted

- temporarily empowered lower classes

Joan of Arc

Peasant girl (1412-1431) whose belief that God sent her to save France helped France succeed in the Hundred Years' War

- burned at the stake as a heretic

Jacquerie and Ciompi revolts

Uprisings of peasants in France and Italy during the Hundred Years' War, which were brutally put down

Hanseatic League

an organization of north German and Scandinavian cities formed in the fourteenth century for the purpose of establishing a commercial alliance and protecting mutual interests in trade and defense

Brethren/Sisters of Common Life

laypeople living in the Low Countries who set up a model school and believed in education as a means to deepen faith

Mysticism

A form of religious belief and practice focusing on the presence of God and Christ and on understanding religion and religious experiences

Vernacular literature

literature written in the language or dialect spoken by the ordinary people of a particular country or region, NOT in Latin

Dante's "Divine Comedy"

Written by Dante Alighieri in 1321 and considered a synthesis of medieval Christian thought.

- describes Dante's travels through heaven, purgatory, and hell and draws on medieval Catholic theology and philosophy to describe a soul after death

Christine de Pisan

Female humanist writer (died 1430ish) who wrote classically inspired poems

- depended on patronage

Italian Renaissance

Period of "rebirth" and intellectual progress throughout the 1400s and 1500s

- following the Middle Ages, a movement that centered on the revival of interest in the classical learning of Greece and Rome, the development of humanism, and developments in art and thought

- began in northern Italy and spread throughout Europe

Giovanni Bocaccio

Italian vernacular writer, including "The Decameron", a collection of short stories that take place during the time of the Black Death

Sandro Botticelli

Italian painter best known for "Birth of Venus"

Fillipo Brunelleschi

Italian architect best known for the creation of the dome of a Florence cathedral (Il Duomo) and his development of linear perspective

Castiglione's "Book of the Courtier"

Written in 1528 by Italian writer Baldassare Castiglione

- describes the qualities of an ideal Renaissance man and woman

- the ideal male courtier was classically educated, skilled in the arts, engaged in government, and possess impeccable character and grace

- the ideal female courtier was educated and helped her husband meet his full potential

Leonardo da Vinci

Italian painter, engineer, musician, and scientist

- considered the most versatile genius of the Renaissance

- filled notebooks with engineering and scientific observations that were in some cases centuries ahead of their time

- as a painter, he is best known for The Last Supper (c. 1495) and Mona Lisa (c. 1503)

Donatello

Florentine sculptor famous for his lifelike sculptures and appreciation of the incredible variety of human nature.

- best known for bronze statue "David"

Michelangelo

Italian sculptor, painter, poet, engineer, and architect

- famous works include the mural on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and the sculpture of the biblical character David

Patronage

Wealthy families (like the Medicis) as well as influential statesmen or clergy members funded the arts by commissioning paintings and allowing the arts to continue developing

Humanism

heightened emphasis on education, knowledge, exploration of individual potential, and dedication to the classical style

- belief that pursuing art and knowledge ultimately betters a person and the people around them

Printing Press

15th century invention by Johannes Gutenberg which revolutionized the ability to print information, which in turn affected the speed of the spread of the information itself

- enabled the spread of Renaissance and Reformation ideas and led to an increase in literacy rates

Nicolo Machiavelli

Italian Renaissance political philosopher who wrote "The Prince" to provide advice to rulers

- believed that people are inherently ungrateful and untrustworthy

- urged rulers to study war, avoid unnecessary kindness, and prioritize being feared over being loved by their people

- "the end justifies the means"

- advocate for ruthless and cunning politics

Petrarch

Father of humanism

- viewed Middle Ages as period of intellectual darkness and coined the term the "Dark Ages"

- collected Latin manuscripts and was one of the first to recover works from Ancient Greece and Rome

- one of the first to write in Italian vernacular

Leon Battista Alberti

Italian architect who emphasized urban space for public activities as well as classical forms in architecture and harmonious proportions between buildings

Linear perspective

Characteristic of Renaissance art in which parallel lines appear to converge with distance

- draws eyes to a focal point

Civic virtue

Renaissance ideals associated with good citizenship

- deeply rooted in classical antiquity, particularly Ancient Greek & Roman philosophy

- active political/social participation, moral integrity, education & knowledge, etc

Civic humanism

The belief that individuals owe a service to their community and its government

- active/engaged citizenship and eloquent leadership

Guilds

Association of merchants or artisans who cooperated to protect their economic interests

- charged dues, negotiated with local governments, and controlled membership

Italian city-states

Venice, Milan, Florence, Papal States, Naples

- contrast to other centralized monarchies in western Europe

- location on the Mediterranean coast led to trade, which led to wealth and cultural diffusion, which led to the development of the Renaissance

Leonardo Bruni

Italian humanist who was the first to use the term "humanism"

- among the most important of the civic humanists

- translated Greek & Latin works

- wrote a history of Florence (thought to be the first modern history)

Isabella d'Este

Prominent woman of the Renaissance

- patron of the arts as well as leader in fashion

Lorenzo de Medici

Italian statesman, scholar, and ruler of Florence who used his power and wealth to become a great patron of the arts, ultimately helping to grow the Renaissance

- employed artists to work on his own palaces as well as commissioning the building and renovating of Florence churches

Peace of Lodi

1454 agreement that ended conflict in major Italian cities and created few large territorial city-states instead of smaller warring cities

Fall of Constantinople

Conquered by the Ottoman Turks in 1453 as part of their expansion movement beginning in the fourteenth century

- 80,000 men laid siege to the city and conquered the city after breaching the city's walls

- marked end of the Byzantine Empire

Vasco Nunez de Balboa

Spanish explorer who became the first European to see the Pacific Ocean in 1510 while exploring Panama

Christopher Columbus

Italian sailor who persuaded King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain to fund his expedition across the Atlantic to discover a new trade route to Asia

- instead of arriving in the West Indies like he believed, he reached the Bahamas in 1492 and explored Cuba and Hispaniola

- claimed lands for Spain and returned for 3 more voyages

Conquistadores

Early sixteenth-century Spanish explorers who conquered Mexico, Central America, and Peru

(examples: Cortes and Pizarro)

Hernan Cortes

Spanish Conquistador who defeated the Aztec Empire and claimed Mexico for Spain

Francisco Pizarro

Spanish explorer who conquered the Incas in what is now Peru and founded the city of Lima

Bartholomew Diaz

Portuguese explorer who in 1488 led the first expedition to sail around the southern tip of Africa (Cape of Good Hope) from the Atlantic and viewed the Indian Ocean

Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain

King and Queen of Spain

- marriage helped to unify Spain and consolidate power

- used the Inquisition to weed out heresy and persecute non-Catholics, strengthening their rule

- military victories led to a strong financial position, enabling them to fund exploration voyages to the New World

Vasco de Gama

Portuguese explorer who was the first European explorer to sail around Africa in 1498 and make it all the way to India

- When he arrived in India, he traded for spices, brought them back, and turned a profit 60 times the cost of the voyage

- Led to increased Portuguese trade in the Indian Ocean

Prince Henry the Navigator

Prince of Portugal who established an observatory/school of navigation for new explorers and directed voyages along the African coast that spurred the growth of Portugal's colonial empire

Ferdinand Magellan

Portuguese navigator who led the Spanish expedition of 1519-1522 that was the first to sail around the world

- died in the Philippines before completing the circumnavigation himself

Encomienda System

It gave settlers in the New World the right to tax local Native Americans or to make them work on plantations in exchange for food and shelter. These settlers were also supposed to protect the Native American people and convert them to Christianity

Columbian Exchange

The exchange of plants, animals, diseases, and technologies between the Americas and the rest of the world following Columbus's voyages

- tomatoes, potatoes, and corn moved from the Americas to Europe

- cattle, horses, and diseases (smallpox, measles, syphilis, etc) moved from Europe to the Americas

Mercantilism

An economic policy under which nations sought to increase their wealth and power by obtaining large amounts of gold and silver and by selling more goods than they bought (more exports than imports)

- belief that colonies can greatly benefit a nation by providing raw materials as well as markets for goods

Treaty of Tordesillas

A 1494 agreement between Portugal and Spain which declared that newly discovered lands to the west of an imaginary line in the Atlantic Ocean would belong to Spain and newly discovered lands to the east of the line would belong to Portugal

Bartolome de las Casas

Dominican priest who spoke out against mistreatment of Native Americans

- believed encomienda system was unjust and argued for indigenous rights

War of the Roses

Struggle for the English throne from 1455-1485 between the House of York (white rose) and the House of Lancaster (red rose), ending with the accession of the Tudor monarch Henry VII

Henry VIII

King of England from 1509 to 1547

- his desire to annul his marriage led to a conflict with the pope, England's break with the Roman Catholic Church, and its embrace of Protestantism

- established the Church of England in 1532.

Castile and Aragon

The two smaller kingdoms that were united by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella to create the powerful nation of Spain

Reconquista

King Ferdinand's efforts to take over Muslim lands and drive them out of Spain

- concluded in 1492

- created uniformly Christian population in Spain

Charles V

Holy Roman Emperor who tried to keep Europe religiously united

Ottoman Empire

An Islamic empire based in Turkey that lasted from the 1300's to 1922, reaching its peak under Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent in the mid 1500s

Secularism

Central component of humanism that rejects religious considerations

- does not mean anti-religion, but simply means not religious

- focus on living life to the fullest instead of aiming towards the afterlife

New Monarchies

Historians' term for the monarchies in France, England, and Spain from 1450-1600

- characteristics include centralized control, suppression of the nobility, and control of the church

Gallicanism

A doctrine in the Catholic Church that emphasizes the independence of the French church from papal authority, advocating for national control over ecclesiastical matters.

Catasto

A tax register in Renaissance Italy used for assessing property and taxation.

Northern Renaissance

A cultural and artistic movement that emerged in Northern Europe during the late 15th and early 16th centuries, characterized by a focus on humanism, religious reform, and detailed naturalism in art.

• centered in France, Low Countries, England, and Germany

• featured greater emphasis on religion than Italian Renaissance

• art was more human-centered and showed nature & everyday life

Christian humanism

Movement that developed in northern Europe during the Renaissance that combined classical learning with the goal of reforming the Catholic Church and promoting personal faith and morality through education and textual study of the Scriptures.

Desiderius Erasmus

Dutch scholar and prominent figure of Christian humanism

• believed that the Catholic Church needed to reform

• wrote “Praise of Folly” to draw attention to issues in the clergy and papacy

• agreed with Martin Luther’s critiques but disagreed with his methods for reform, instead emphasizing the importance of education and self-improvement in achieving such reform.

Joint-stock company

A business entity where shares are owned by shareholders, allowing for pooled investment and shared profits, commonly used for funding colonial ventures and trade in the 16th and 17th centuries.

Dutch East India Company

A notable joint-stock company established in 1602 to oversee Dutch trade interests in Asia and the Americas, playing a significant role in the spice trade.

Subsistence farming

A type of farming where individuals grow enough food to feed themselves and their families, with little surplus for trade or sale.

• dominant in Europe through the 17th century

crop rotation

A farming practice that involves alternating the types of crops grown on a specific piece of land to improve soil fertility and optimize agricultural yields.

• prevents soil nutrients from being depleted all at once

• traditional two-field rotation: one field is planted and one field lays fallow (empty) to allow soil regeneration

• new three-field rotation: two fields are planted while one lays fallow

  • resulted in bigger harvests than the two-field system

Price Revolution

A period of rapid inflation in Europe during the 16th and early 17th centuries, resulting from increased money supply and rising demand for goods.

• caused by influx of precious metals (gold and silver) from the New World colonies along with an increase in population

• led to rising prices over time as well as a growth in commerce

• negatively impacted poorer people but benefitted bankers and merchants, which led them to reinvest money in the countryside

Enclosure

Process of combining small landholdings and common lands into larger farms, often associated with the decline of subsistence farming.

• It allowed for more efficient agricultural practices, increased productivity, and contributed to the rise of commercial agriculture

• increase in food production led to increase life expectancy and increased population

• disrupted life and created hardships for peasants by increasing rural poverty and displacing peasants from their land

• landless peasants now moved into cities and towns