Unit 1: Renaissance and Exploration Vocabulary

Key words to know related to Unit 1

Black Death/Bubonic Plague (peak 1348-1350)

A deadly disease that travelled to Europe from Asia. Resulted in mass famine, a flipped social structure and hierarchy, and the death of half of medieval Europe.

The Great Schism (1378-1417)

A continental conflict over whether the pope is stationed in Rome or in Avignon (southern France). Resulted in the election of two popes and suspicion of the Church’s authority.

Hundred Year’s War (1337-1453)

A long period of war between France and England over an English claim to the French throne.

Little Ice Age (1300-1850)

A period of mass decrease in global temperature, making agriculture difficult.

Renaissance

A period of European cultural, artistic, scientific, and political rebirth and advancement.

Classical Era

A period of European history spanning from 8th century BC to 5th century AD. Primarily remembered for its artistic achievements.

Humanism

A worldview centered around nature and the significance and investment of man. Supporters were known as humanists.

Patronage

Sponsorship for a product, service, or cause.

Secular

A mindset centered around worldly matters rather than religious ones.

Individualism

A mindset focused on the achievements and pursuit of the individual rather than the church or the state.

Petrarch

Regarded as the Father of Humanism and the Renaissance, as well as being a poet laureate of Rome and serving as a diplomat and ambassador to surrounding communities.

Cicero

A politician and orator from the late Roman Republic.

Vernacular

The language used by common, everyday folk. Not to be confused with Latin.

Philological

The study of the structure, historical development, and relationships of languages.

Lorenzo Valla

Italian Renaissance humanist best known for undermining the papacy’s claimed temporal power.

Marsilio Ficino

Catholic Priest who became one of the most influential humanism philosophers of the early Italian Renaissance.

Giovanni Pico della Mirandola

Italian Renaissance philosopher best known for his Oration on the Dignity of Man

Leonardo Bruni

Italian statesman known for being the first to introduce humanism in the political atmosphere.

City-states

A region independently ruled by a major city

Democracy

A system of government by all eligible citizens of the state.

Representative government

A kind of government run by representatives of state, typically selected through election.

Civic humanism/Classical republicanism

A form of republicism developed in the Renaissance inspired by texts and ideas from ancient Greece and Rome.

Baldassare Castiglione

Italian diplomat known for being the model of civilized and polished behavior.

Nicolo Machiavelli

Florentine Renaissance author of famous philosophical works, such as The Prince.

Francesco Guicciardini

Italian historian who documented Italian political activity between 1490 and 1534.

Naturalism

A philosophical belief that everything came from a natural cause, excluding any form of supernatural belief.

Geometric perspective

A drawing method that depicts a three-dimensional scene in a two-dimensional image or picture.

Filippo Brunelleschi

Italian architect considered to be the Father of Renaissance architecture.

Donatello

Italian Renaissance sculptor who paved the way for Renaissance sculpture. (Donatello walked so Michelangelo could run)

Leonardo da Vinci

Italian polymath during the High Renaissance, most notably a painter. He is famous for his paintings “The Last Supper” and “Mona Lisa.”

Fresco

A painting technique involving painting with water-based paint on wet plaster so the paint becomes a part of the plaster itself.

Michelangelo

Italian painter and sculptor during the High Renaissance. Famous for sculpting David, La Pieta, and the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

Raphael

Italian painter and sculptor of the High Renaissance. Famous for The School of Athens and La formarina

Leon Battista Alberti

The original polymath, most notably a humanist and architect. He is credited with being the start of Renaissance polymaths. (He walked so da Vinci could run)

Andrea Palladio

Venetian architect among the most influential in history due to his revival of classic Greek and Roman architecture.

Medici

An Italian banking family notable for their high patronage of the arts during the Renaissance during their rule of Florence

Botticelli

Italian painter of the Early Renaissance. Best known for The Birth of Venus.

Northern Renaissance

The Renaissance which occurred north of the Alps.

Albrecht Durer

German painter, printer, and writer, generally known as the greatest German Renaissance artist

Jan van Eyck

Flemish painter of the Northern Renaissance. He is best known for his use of oil paint in his art.

Pieter Bruegel the Elder

Dutch and Flemish painter of the Northern Renaissance, known for his distinctive landscape style.

Rembrandt

Dutch Golden Age painter, best known for his paintings filled with drama and emotion.

Christian humanism

Humanism applied to religious studies and ideas

Desiderius Erasmus

Dutch Christian humanist and Catholic priest best known for his translation and conversion of the New Testament

Thomas More

English philosopher and statesman best note for his work in theology and law. Referred as a Catholic saint for going against the Protestant Reformation

Christine de Pizan

Italian-French court writer for King Charles VI of France and several French royal dukes, best known for her advocacy of women’s rights and equality.

Centralized Power

A government in which executive and legislative powers are concentrated centrally at a federal level.

Decentralized Power

A government in which executive and legislative powers are shifted to subnational units.

Henry VIII

Former King of England known for his six wives in pursuit of a son and for establishing the Church of England

Mary Tudor

Former Queen of England and Ireland who combatted the Protestant Reformation through heresy laws.

Act of Supremacy

Two acts passed by English (and Irish) parliament declaring English monarchs as the head of the Church of England (and Ireland)

Elizabeth I

Former Queen of England known for being the last monarch of the Tudor dynasty