AP European History - Reformation & Religious Wars Vocabulary Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards defining key terms, historical figures, events, and theological concepts from AP European History sections 2.2 and 2.3.

The Reformation

A movement that challenged Catholic beliefs and practices.

Indulgences

Payments connected to reducing punishment for forgiven sins, which linked forgiveness and salvation to payments of money.

Martin Luther

A German monk who became a major religious reformer and criticized Catholic practices like indulgences.

Johann Tetzel

A famous preacher who promoted indulgence sales to raise money for restoring St. Peter's Basilica.

Ninety-Five Theses

Martin Luther's written criticisms of indulgences and Church practices.

Simony

Buying and selling Church positions and offices.

Pluralism

Holding several Church positions at the same time.

Nepotism

Appointing relatives and friends to Church positions.

Diet of Worms

An imperial meeting where Martin Luther was ordered to recant his beliefs, which he refused to do.

Charles V

The Holy Roman Emperor who confronted Martin Luther at the Diet of Worms.

Frederick the Wise

The German prince who protected Martin Luther at Wartburg Castle after the Diet of Worms.

Primacy of Scripture

Luther's belief that the Bible alone was the highest religious authority.

Faith Alone

Luther's belief that faith in God was the path to salvation through grace, rather than good works.

Priesthood of all believers

The principle that Christians could have direct access to God without priestly mediation.

Ulrich Zwingli

A Swiss pastor who helped begin the Reformation in Switzerland and taught that the bread and wine of the Eucharist were symbolic.

John Calvin

The leading reformer who published Institutes of the Christian Religion and established Calvinist doctrine in Geneva.

Institutes of the Christian Religion

The major theological work published by John Calvin outlining Calvinist doctrine.

Predestination

Calvin's theology that God had already determined who would be saved.

The Elect

In Calvinist belief, those chosen by God for salvation.

German Peasants' War

A major revolt caused by heavy taxes, rents, labor demands, bad harvests, and population pressure, resulting in about 100,000 peasant deaths.

Twelve Articles

Peasant demands written during the German revolt calling for more church control, fewer restrictions, and lower work and tax burdens.

Anabaptists

A radical group emerging in Zurich in 1525 that rejected infant baptism, advocated adult baptism, avoided military service, and practiced a nonviolent communal life apart from the state.

Jacob Hutter and Menno Simons

Two figures who helped lead Anabaptist groups.

Vernacular Bibles

Bibles printed in the everyday spoken language of the people, which spread religious reform ideas more broadly.

Puritans

English Calvinists who wanted to further purify the Church of England by removing remaining Catholic traditions and practices.

Elizabethan Settlement and Thirty-Nine Articles

Religious compromise measures issued in 1559 and 1571 to appeal to different religious groups in England.

Warsaw Confederation Act

An act pushed by Polish nobles that promoted religious toleration in Poland.

Concordat of Bologna

An agreement giving King Francis I the power to tax clergy and appoint Catholic bishops in France, while the Catholic Church retained the right to collect income from French churches.

Huguenots

French Calvinists who made up about 10 percent of France's population (about 2 million) and about 40 percent of French nobles by 1562.

Peace of Augsburg

An agreement established in 1555 under which each German ruler could choose Catholicism or Lutheranism, establishing that the faith of the ruler became the faith of the state.

Genevan Consistory

A body that enforced Calvinist doctrine and discipline in Geneva, treating sin as a civil offense.

Habsburg Dynasty

The ruling dynasty to which Holy Roman Emperor Charles V belonged.