History and Culture Lecture Flashcards

Vocabulary-style flashcards covering major historical figures, political systems, and cultural movements from the 11th to the 18th centuries.

Absolute monarchy

Form of government where one ruler has total power.

Kings or queens control laws, religion, court, and military.

Time: 16th–18th centuries

Place: Europe (France, Spain, England)

Example: Louis XIV (“The Sun King”)

Martin Luther

Founder of the Protestant Reformation.

German scholar and priest who pushed for reform in the Catholic Church, causing Christianity to split.

Wrote the 95 Theses.

Argued that the pope is just a human representative.

Believed it was wrong to pay for forgiveness of sins.

Criticized tithing and indulgences.

Time: 1500s

Date: 1517 (95 Theses)

Place: Wittenberg, Germany

Humanism

Secularism; celebration of the human body and sexuality not tied down by religion.

Focused on realism and human figures.

Examples include Michelangelo’s David and Mona Lisa.

Time: 14th–16th centuries (Renaissance)

Place: Italy (Florence, Rome), then spread across Europe

Demonologie

A book written by James VI and I.

Guided the court system on laws related to witchcraft.

Discussed what kinds of evidence are accepted.

Deals with the destinies of children.

James I was very religious and paranoid after surviving assassination attempts.

Time: Early 1600s

Date: 1597

Place: England

Cunning woman

Someone who held an important role in a village or society.

A person with healing knowledge.

Not an official doctor — could be a healer, herbalist, or midwife.

Provided essential services to the community.

Usually knowledgeable and not accused of witchcraft.

Time: 1500s–1700s

Place: Europe & Colonial America

Tokugawa Ieyasu

Japanese shogun connected to Japanese feudalism.

Established the Tokugawa Shogunate.

Unified Japan after years of civil war.

Created a long period of peace and stability called the Edo Period.

Controlled trade and limited foreign influence.

Time: 1600s

Date: 1603–1616 (became shogun in 1603)

Place: Japan (Edo/Tokyo)

Pope Urban II

Called for the First Crusade in 1095.

Supported holy war.

Offered crusaders salvation in exchange for military service.

Pope of the Roman Catholic Church.

Wanted Christians to control Jerusalem and the Holy Land.

Encouraged expansion against the Ottoman Empire.

Time: 11th century

Date: 1095 (Council of Clermont)

Place: Rome / Europe & Middle East (Jerusalem)

Cosimo de' Medici

Head of the powerful Medici banking family.

Used wealth for urban planning.

Tried to create a harmonious society.

Wanted public spaces used by everyone.

Wanted cities to be beautiful, useful, balanced, and harmonious.

Wanted these ideas to extend outside the city as well.

Time: 1400s–1500s (Renaissance)

Place: Florence, Italy

Massasoit

Wampanoag chief during the New England era.

Became friends with the English settlers in the 1600s.

Helped the Pilgrims survive their first winters in Plymouth.

His son later led King Philip’s War.

Relationship between Native Americans and English settlers declined after the war.

Time: Early 1600s

Date: Met English around 1621

Place: New England (Plymouth area)

Colonialism

European colonization in North America, Africa, and the Caribbean.

Colonization means taking control of a place and its people.

Benefits for colonizers: resources, power, economic gain.

Disadvantages for native peoples: exploitation, disease, loss of culture, and forced labor.

Colonizers often dominated and exploited native populations.

Time: 1500s–1700s (Age of Exploration)

Place: Americas, Africa, Caribbean

Examples: British in North America, Spanish in Mexico, French in Caribbean, Portuguese in Africa