Unit 1: Renaissance and Exploration

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guild

an organization that organized and supported public art in Florence, and dominated the production of goods in towns and cities.

Francesco “Petrarch” Petrarca

(1304–1374) the father of Humanism. His masterpiece The Ascent of Mount Ventoux presents an allegory of his own soul’s struggle to achieve a higher spiritual state. He popularized that Italy was entering a new age of learning and individualism. He also admired Cicero.

Giovanni Pico della Mirandola

one of the foremost intellects of the Italian Renaissance. Pico drew up nine hundred theses for public disputation. As a preface to his theses, he wrote his famous Neoplatonic Oration on the Dignity of Man, in which he proclaimed the unlimited potentiality of humans.

A historian could best use Pico’s discussion of man as evidence for which of the following features of Renaissance intellectual life?"

A) Continued influence of church doctrine on interpretations of classical humanist ideas

The passage most strongly supports the influence of which idea on fifteenth-century Renaissance thought?"

C) Humanism

Pico’s “Oration” was primarily a result of which of the following fourteenth to fifteenth century ideas?"

D) Italians were living in a new era as popularized by Vasari and Petrarch.

Baldassare Castiglione

(1478–1529) an Italian courtier, diplomat, and writer best known for his dialogue, The Book of the Courtier. He provided suggestions for achieving fame, wealth, and position.

scholasticism

(–1100) Medieval Europe theology based on following church dogmas and based in Aristotle’s teachings; a system of theology and philosophy taught by European universities.

Humanism

(1300–) a Renaissance intellectual movement based on the study of the Classical literary works of Greece and Rome that emphasizes the potential and value of man and his ability to reason and use his intellect, as opposed to scholasticism.

city-state

prosperous urban center of trade and commerce in Italy.

popolo

common people.

Habsburg–Valois Wars

(1494) wars begun by the French invasion of Italy. Henry II of France succeeded Francis I and declared war against Holy Roman Emperor Charles V with the intent of recapturing Italy.

Charles V

(1527) Holy Roman Emperor who sacked Rome.

Johannes Gutenberg

(1400–1468) German goldsmith and tinkerer; inventor of the European printing press, which incorporated movable type and a number of technologies in an innovative way. He also wrote the Gutenberg Bible.

cultural diffusion

the spread of the Italian Renaissance and Protestant Reformation, academic ideas and knowledge, and vernacular literature due to the printing press.

vernacular literature

literature written in the language of the people (id est, not Latin).

Based on the information in the map, which of the following most facilitated the rapid adoption of the printing press in Europe in the last half of the 1400s?"

C) Increases in literacy and decreases in the cost of paper

Based on the information in the map, which of the following best explains why the spread of the printing press encouraged the spread of new religious ideas?"

D) The printing press allowed people to bypass the Catholic Church’s traditional monopoly on the production of religious texts.

Which of the following best explains how the printing press contributed to the development of national cultures in Europe?"

A) The printing press encouraged the spread of vernacular literature.

printing press

(1440) the invention by Johann Gutenberg with movable type and metal blocks that assisted in spreading the Renaissance and transformed the lives of Europeans by making propaganda possible, encouraging a sense of national identity, and increasing literacy.

Thomas More

(1478–1535) an English Humanist and author of Utopia, a satire of European society which argues that society, not individual people, needs improving.

Desiderius Erasmus

(1500s) the “prince of Northern humanists,” who supported education and united Humanism with Christian ideas, writing works such as “In Praise of Folly” using the printing press. He “laid the egg that Luther hatched” during the Reformation.

Wars of the Roses

(1455–1485) wars between Yorks and Lancasters. In 1471, Edward IV defeated the Lancasters and began to restore domestic tranquility; Henry VII defeated the House of York and eliminated the high nobility.

Henry VII

king who defeated Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth and established the Tudor dynasty, where the royal council controls the government; the father of Henry VIII.

Tudor

an English dynasty established by Henry VII after the War of the Roses.

Court of Star Chamber

judicial offshoot that dealt with aristocratic threats from nobles in severe and unprecedented ways, taking power away from the nobility.

Reconquista

(1492) an effort to secure borders, subdue the nobility, venture abroad militarily, and Christianize Spain that ended in Granada.

Inquisition

a Spanish effort to consolidate power by seeking out those who were not true converts with permission from Pope Sixtus IV, putting the Catholic Church under the control of the monarchy.

Calais

(1453) an English area that was not pushed out by France.

Charles VII

a French monarch who reorganized government, establishing new taxes on land and products (such as the gabelle on salt and taille income tax) and creating a permanent army and strong administrations.

Louis XI

a French monarch who consolidated control over territory through war, inheritance, and marriage, forcing England out of France. With great trade, he laid the foundations for a strong French monarchy.

Burgundy

a French region conquered by Louis XI.

Concordat of Bologna

(1516) an agreement where the Pope got the first year of income of new bishops and abbots, but the French king controlled appointments (Gallican Liberties).

Based on the rebels’ demands, it can be concluded that Charles V sought to implement in Castile policies characteristic of"

C) New monarchies

Venice

(1400s) a stable, oligarchic republic ruled by wealthy merchant families that dominated the spice trade after the Black Plague due to its contact with the Byzantine and later the Ottoman Empires. Notable are its arsenal and the emphasis of light and color in art.

magnetic compass

a navigational tool that calculates latitude based on Earth’s magnetic field.

astrolabe

a navigational tool that can calculate latitude based on the positions of celestial bodies.

caravel

a ship with triangular sails, much cargo space, cannons, et cetera.

galley

the predecessor to caravels.

Ptolemy’s Geography

a compilation of geographic knowledge that improved cartography.

Bartholomew Dias

(1487) a Portuguese exploprer who rounded the Cape of Good Hope, the tip of South Africa, and ventured further into the Indian Ocean.

Christopher Columbus

(1492) a Genoese explorer who discovered the New World sailing for Spain while looking for a route to China, mistaking his discovery for India.

Vasco da Gama

(1497) a Portuguese explorer who reached India by rounding the Cape of Good Hope with the help of an Indian guide.

Amerigo Vespucci

a Florentine explorer and merchant who realized the Americas were a new continent. He was also a mapmaker who put the continent on his map; the Americas are named after him.

Vasco de Balboa

(1510) a Spanish explorer who was the first European to see the Pacific Ocean.

Ferdinand Magellan

(1519–1522) a Portuguese explorer who completed the first circumnavigation of the globe with funding from Spain. Magellan experienced multiple mutinies due to his no-nonsense discipline and died to Phillipine leaders in 1521.

Hernando Cortés

(1521) a Spanish conquistador who conquered the Mexica (Aztec) empire; he defeated Montezuma by exploiting internal dissention; the empire was conquered due to technology and smallpox.

Francisco Pizarro

(1533) a Spanish conquistador who, inspired by Cortés, conquered the Inca Empire. The Inca leader, Atahualpa, planned to trap the Spaniards, but was captured and held for ransom, then executed.

Which claim about European exploration and conquest is best supported by the image?"

C) Advances in navigation, cartography, and military technology enabled the Europeans to establish overseas colonies and empires.

How did the innovation that the image suggests change the power structure of Europe in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries?"

A) It led to a shift of economic power in Europe from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic states.

Which of the following claims about the Afro-Eurasian trading world prior to Columbus is best supported by the image?"

A) A complex worldwide exchange system in which Europe played a peripheral role.

mercantilism

the belief based on scarcity, wealth, and government intervention that the total volume of trade was unchangeable. Mercantilism promoted obtaining power by creating a favorable balance of trade and accumulating bullion through the acquisition of colonies.

Based on the passage, what does de Azurara argue was the major motive behind Henry’s actions?"

C) His Christian faith

Which of the following claims does de Azurara make in the first paragraph regarding Henry’s motives for keeping armed ships?"

A) Henry kept a fleet for war against the Muslims and for exploration.

Which of the following claims does de Azurara make in the passage regarding the possible benefits of sailing beyond Cape Bojador and the Canary Islands?"

B) It would aid in trade and in spreading the Christian faith.

"1.9 The Slave Trade

Which is the most likely explanation for the high percentage of enslaved people brought into Brazil and the West Indies?"

A) Sugar plantations in those regions could profitably employ the greatest numbers of laborers.

"1.9 The Slave Trade

Which of the following best explains why the labor of enslaved Africans was established in the European colonies?"

A) Most Native Americans had succumbed to disease or overwork.

"1.9 The Slave Trade

The importation of enslaved people into the New World was part of a process known as"

C) triangular trade

improvement

the justification for the enclosure movement.

Luca Pacioli

(1447–1517) the father of accounting, who codified Renaissance math.

double-entry bookkeeping

an accounting system invented in Pacioli’s Summa de Arithmetica where debits and credits are recorded in separate columns.

Which of the following evidence does Azpilcueta give in his second point for money changing in value?"

A) Money as a form of merchandise increases in value as supply decreases and demand increases.

Which of the following evidence regarding France does Azpilcueta use to support his argument?"

B) In France, where less money is available, goods and labor are given for less money.

Which of the following evidence regarding Spain does Azpilcueta use to support his argument?"

A) The cost of goods increased as a result of the influx of gold and silver from the Indies.

secularism

a focus on the here-and-now, and less on the after-world, as had been the preoccupation during the Middle Ages. A secular state is neutral about or rejects religion.

classics

the humanist moral center: Ancient Greece and Rome; Greek, Roman, and Biblical literature.

individualism

the belief, especially prominent in Italy, that learning and human affairs should concern individual improvement and men can do anything they put their minds to.

Leonardo Bruni

(1369–1444) a politician in Florence who wrote a Latin history of the city and is most famous for his admiration of Cicero, the Roman statesman and model of civic virtue. He studied under Chrysoloras, a Greek scholar.

Lorenzo Valla

(1406–1457) a member of the clergy who excelled in philology, the study of ancient languages, and demonstrated that the “Donation of Constantine,” which supposedly granted the pope authority over political bodies, was a forgery.

Lorenzo “the Magnificent” de’ Medici

(1449–1492) ruler of Florence during its Golden Age; a strong advocate of civic Humanism who is most famous for his patronage of intellectuals and the arts. His untimely death led to the invasion of Italy and the decline of Florentine Renaissance culture.

civic Humanism

the civic duty of citizen participation as intellectuals in politics in a classically-inspired republic and a helper of the community, promoted by Lorenzo de’ Medici.

Niccolo Machiavelli

(1469–1527) one of the most famous figures of the Renaissance due to The Prince, where he analyzed politics without morals or religion; a supporter of Florence’s republican traditions, tortured by Spanish and papal forces when they defeated the republic in 1512.

The Prince

(1532) a manual, written by Niccolo Machiavelli and dedicated to the Medici family, that serves as a manual for the pragmatic ruler who must appear virtuous, wise, and courageous (like a lion), at the same time ready to be ruthless and cunning (like a fox).

perspective

theories of optics and geometry from the ancient Greeks and Romans that achieved a strikingly realistic view of a visual plane.

naturalism

the Renaissance preoccupation with the human body, with increased attention to musculature and movement. Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel displays naturalism.

Donatello

(1386–1466) reviver of the free-standing sculpture with his depiction of David, the first life-size statue case in bronze since ancient times.

Masaccio

(1401–1428) an artist who employed perspective and geometry for the first time in his Holy Trinity, and also achieved a depth of realism and three-dimensional space in a series of frescoes in the Branacci Chapel.

Fillipo Brunelleschi

(1377–1446) an architect who expressed interest in all the arts and helped develop the use of perspective geometry in painting. His primary achievement is the massive dome (Il Duomo) he created for the Cathedral of Florence.