Western Civ 2 Midterm Key Terms and People

Antiquity

ancient times; Greco-Roman civilization

Middle Ages

Characterized by darkness because of the lack of classical culture, the black death, political disorder, and economic recession

Individualism

emphasis on an interest in the unique traits of each person. Focus on personal rather than religious or political interest

Secularism

the process of becoming more concerned with material, worldly, temporal things and less with spiritual and religious things

Estates

the traditional tripartite division of European society based on heredity rather than wealth or economic standing

Bourgeoisie

social middle class

Patricians

top of the 3rd estate wealthy from trade, industry, or banking; dominated economically, socially and politically

Petty burghers

shopkeepers, artisans, guild masters, and guild members

Vendetta

campaign of revenge fought between two factions or families; a crime committed by one family member fell on the entire family

Dowry

money presented by the wife's family to the husbands upon marriage

City states

small, regional kingdoms and self-governing communities ruled by local dukes or powerful families

Renaissance

rebirth

Medici Family

an influential family in Florence, Italy

Patron

a wealthy/influential supporter of artists, institutions,,etc

Niccolo Machiavelli

diplomat of Florence who wrote The Prince and was among the 1st to abandon morality at the basis for analysis of political activity

Humanism

intellectual movement based on the study of classical literature works

Scholasticism

philosophical movement in the western Christian civilization combining religious dogmas with mystical & intuitional tradition of patristic philosophy

Petrarch

Father of Italian Renaissance humanism

Cicero

Roman Republic senator & orator who humanists admired in the Renaissance

Civic Humanism

belief study of the humanities should be put to the service of the state

Johannes Gutenberg

inventor of the printing press

Fresco

painting done on wet plaster

Tempera

paint made from an egg base

Linear perspective

the illusion of depth & 3-D space achieved by drawing the lines toward a vanishing point

Vanishing point

point at which the lines converge to give the illusion of depth & 3-D space

Artisans

whoever makes something but has no creative liberty

Patrons

those who commission/pay for the art work

Manuscripts

a written composition or document as distinguished from a printed copy

Great Schism

the time period when there was more than one pope and the Avignon papacy

Vernacular

common language, dialogue spoken in everyday life

Vulgate Bible

first Latin translation of the bible

Nepotism

appointing family members to important political positions

Cartography

the making and study of maps

Portolani

detailed charts/early maps

navigation

science of plotting the course of a ship

Ptolemy

one of the most important maps available to Europeans in the 15th century

Encomienda

early administrative system that allowed Spaniards to use indigenous people for labor

Mercantilism

economic philosophy that encouraged exports but limited imports

Treaty of Tordesillas

arrangement between Spain and Portugal to establish separate spheres of influence

Vasco de Gama

Rounded the Cape of Good Hope and made it to India

Ferdinand Magellan

First crew to circumnavigate the globe - died during the journey

Bartolomeo Diaz

Reached the Cape of Good Hope but did not make it to India ( in fear that the crew would mutiny)

Hernando Cortez

Conquered the Aztecs

Amerigo Vespucci

Sailed the coast of South America and mapped what he found - namesake of the Americas

Francesco Pizarro

conquerred the Incas

Vasco Nunez de Balboa

discovered the Pacific ocean via the Isthmus of Panama

Christopher Colombus

Discovered the West Indies

The explorers who sailed for Portugal

Vasco de Gama, Bartolomeo Diaz, Amerigo Vespucci

Explorers who sailed for Spain

Ferdinand Magellan, Hernando Cortez, Francesco Pizarro, Vasco Nunez de Balboa, Christopher Colombus

Council of Trent

General council of Christendom with a goal to resolve religious differences created by the Protestant revolt

Act of Supremacy

Declared that the king was the only supreme head on earth of the Church of England

Peaco of Ausburg

Lutheranism was granted equal legal standing as Catholics

Absenteeism

Church officials ignored their duties and hired underlings who sometimes lacked the proper qualifications 

Desiderius Eramus

most influential Christian Humanist

Ninety-Five Theses

indictment of the abuse in the sale of indulgences

Benefice

an ecclesiastical position that carries with it a salary

Martin Luther

Augustian friar who set the Reformation into motion

Pluralism

general council of Christendom with a goal to resolve religious differences created by the Protestant revolt

John Calvin —→ Calvinism

emphasis on double-predestination

Anabaptist

far more radical reform movement (out of Zwingli)

John Knox

Calvinist reformer of Scotland —→ Presbyterian

King Henry the 8th

only supreme head on earth of the Church of England

Hugenots

French Calvinists

Justification

the act by which a person is made deserving of salvation

Indulgences

a remission of punishment for sin, reduce one’s time in purgatory

Christian Humanism

an intellectual movement in northern Europe that combined the interest in the classics of the Italian Renaissance with an interest in the sources of early Christianity