Vocab Unit 1+2 AP Euro

Great Famine

A terrible famine in 1315-1322 that hit much of Europe after a period of climate change.

Black Death

Plague that first struck Europe in 1347 and killed perhaps one-third of the population.

The Decameron

14th century collection of 100 tales written in vernacular by Giovanni Boccaccio.

flagellants

People who believed that the plague was God’s punishment for sin and sought to do penance by whipping themselves.

Hundred Years’ War

A war between England and France from 1337-1453, with political and economic causes and consequences.

Agincourt

An English-won and French-lost battle caused by Henry V’s invasion of France.

Avignon

City in France where the papacy resided due to French monarchical influence from 1309-1377.

Great Schism

The division in church leadership from 1378 to 1417 when there were two, then three, popes.

conciliarists

People who believed that the authority in the Roman Church should rest in a general council composed of clergy, theologians, and laypeople, rather than in the pope alone.

Jacquerie

A massive uprising by French peasants in 1358 protesting heavy taxation.

English Peasants’ Revolt

Revolt by English peasants in 1381 in response to changing economic conditions.

vernacular

The common language spoken in a certain area, a part of the development of ethnic identities.

Divine Comedy

An epic poem that uses vernacular, describes the realms of the afterlife, and mentions philosophical topics.

Canterbury Tales

A collection of stories describing the different English social lifestyles whilst discussing cultural tensions.

Renaissance

A French word meaning “rebirth” used to describe the rebirth of the culture of classical antiquity in Italy during the 1300-1500s

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 economical independence from local nobles.

popolo

Disenfranchised common people in Italian cities who resented their exclusion from power.

signori

Government by one-man rule in Italian cities such as Milan; also refers to these rulers.

courts

Magnificent households and palaces where signori and other rulers lived, conducted business, and supported the arts.

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.

virtu

The quality of being able to shape the world according to one’s own will.

Christian humanists

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

New Christians

A term for Jews and Muslims in the Iberian Peninsula who accepted Christianity; in many cases they included Christians whose families had converted centuries ago.

anticlericalism

Opposition to the clergy.

indulgence

A document issued by the Catholic Church lessening penance or time in purgatory, widely believed to bring forgiveness of all sins.

Protestant

The name originally given to followers of Luther, which came to mean all non-Catholic Western Christian groups.

Spanish Armada

The fleet sent by Phillip the II of Spain in 1558 against England as a religious crusade against Protestantism. Weather and the English fleet defeated it.

predestination

The teaching that God has determined the salvation or damnation of individuals based on his will and purpose, not on their merit or works.

The Institutes of Christian Religion

Calvin’s formulation of Christian doctrine, which became a systematic theology for Protestantism.

Holy Office

The official Roman Catholic agency founded in 1542 to combat international doctrinal heresy.

Jesuits

Members of the Society of Jesus, founded by Ignatius Loyola, whose goal was the spread of the Roman Catholic faith.

Huguenots

French Calvinists.

politiques

Catholic and Protestant moderates who held that only a strong monarchy could save France from total collapse.

Edict of Nantes

A document issued by Henry IV of France in 1598, granting liberty of conscience and of public worship to Calvinists, which helped restore peace in France.

Union of Utrecht

The alliance of seven northern provinces (led by Holland) that declared its independence from Spain and formed the United Provinces of the Netherlands.