Unit 1 - Renaissance and Exploration

Renaissance

period of rebirth of Greco-Roman culture following the Middle Ages - bridged gap between Middle Ages and modern-day civilization

Jacob Burckhardt

Swiss historian and art critic who created the modern concept of the Renaissance in his book The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy (1860) - revival of antiquity and secularism - exaggerated individuality and secularism of the Renaissance

Leon Battista Alberti

a Florentine architect who said "Men can do all things if they will" and created the idea of the Renaissance man (well-rounded person capable of many achievements)

Hanseatic League

an organization of north German and Scandinavian cities for the purpose of establishing a commercial alliance to protect their mutual trading interests

House of Medici

the greatest bank in Europe owned by the Medici family in Florence - family had controlling interests in industrial enterprises - principle bankers for papacy

Castiglione's Book of the Courtier

a Renaissance book that expressed ideals expected of aristocrats - included three basic attributes of a perfect courtier: fundamental native endowments (like impeccable character and noble birth), cultivate certain achievements, and follow standard of conduct - nobles adhered to this handbook centuries after it was published in 1528

condottieri

Italian military leaders in command of multinational armies brought in to restore order in city-states - often brought their own mercenary armies and took over political power - often served popes

Francisco Sforza

conquered Milan after the death of the last Visconti, established himself as duke of the city - one of leading condottieri of time - worked to create highly centralized state

Cosimo d'Medici

took control of Florence in 1434 and ran gov from behind the scenes - power derived from wealth as banker - patron of arts, learning, and architecture

the Papal States

a group of territories in central Italy ruled by popes until resistance and Great Schism -\> individual cities established territories independent of papal authority - popes tried hard to regain control

Isabella d'Este

First lady of the Renaissance - example for women to break away from traditional roles and even founded a school for young women - ruled Mantua, was well educated, and a big patron of the arts

Peace of Lodi and balance of power

1454 treaty between Italian states that created an alliance system that initiated 40 year peace in Italy but ultimately failed to establish lasting cooperation among major powers - meant to prevent aggrandizement of any one state at the expense of others

1527 sack of Rome

eventual ruling of Italy by the Spaniards because of constant warfare - armies of Spanish king Charles I brought temporary end to Italian wars - thereafter, Spaniards dominated Italy

Machiavelli's The Prince

Niccolo Machiavelli outlined in his book how leaders should rule: with absolute power - said it is better for leaders to be feared than hated - political activity not restricted by moral considerations

civic humanism

humanism with the added belief that one has a duty to be an active and contributing member to one's society

Petrarch

father of Italian Renaissance humanism: revival of classic antiquity focusing on what it means to be human - intellectuals no longer lived a life of solitude

Leonardo Bruni's The New Cicero

classical Roman statesman and intellectual who became intellectual's model during the Civic Humanism movement - served as the inspiration for the Renaissance ideal that an intellectual should live an active life for his state (civic humanism) - fusion of political action and literary creation

Lorenzo Valla

humanist who tried to purify medieval Latin and restore Latin to its proper position over vernacular

Marcilio Ficino and neoplatonism

a leader of the Florentine Platonic Academy who dedicated his life to translation of Plato and his philosophy based on hierarchy of substances and theory of spiritual love -\> all parts of universe held together by spiritual love

Renaissance hermeticism

an intellectual movement in Italy that taught that divinity is embodied in all aspects of nature - this influenced many people in the Scientific Revolution

Pico della Mirandola's Oration

the book that first conceptualized the idea that a man has all the will power to become anything he wishes to become within nature and that humans have unlimited potential

"liberal studies"

taught at Renaissance humanist schools and includes history, moral philosophy, eloquence, letters, poetry, mathematics, astronomy, and music - purpose was to produce complete, well-rounded individuals who followed path of wisdom and could convince others to also - geared toward education of elite

Francesco Guicciardini

an Italian historian during the Renaissance that brought a modern look at the history of Florence and Rome which had not been done as well before - believed purpose of writing history is to teach lessons that aren't always obvious - works relied heavily on personal examples + documentary sources

Johannes Gutenberg

German printer who was the first in Europe to print using movable type and the first to use a press (1400-1468) - accredited with inventing the printing press

Masaccio

Florentine artist regarded as first great painter of Italian Renaissance - birthed new realistic style of painting in which world of reality seemed to be continuation of real world - art had intellectual properties and naturalism as well as rationality, realism, and humanity - used light and dark imagery to illustrate different feelings and emotions

Lorenzo the Magnificent

a leading citizen and artistic patron of Florence who contributed large sums of money to artists so they could create master works of art - powerful member of Medici family

Botticelli's Primavera

a famous artwork reflecting the artist's interest in Greek and Roman mythology - figures possess otherworldly quality far removed from ER realism

Donatello's David

first life-size bronze nude since ancient times - reflected dignity of humanity and human potential - celebrated heroism

Brunelleschi's dome

first modern dome with classical columns from ancient times, rounded arches, coffered ceilings, and human rather than divine expectations for building - new assertion of human individuality

High Renaissance

final stage of Renaissance art (1480-1520) w/ shift marked by increased importance of Rome instead of Florence as new cultural center of Renaissance - dominated by works of Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, and Michelangelo

Leonardo da Vinci

transitional figure in shift to High Renaissance and carried out experimental tradition of Renaissance - stressed need to advance beyond realism - hoped to reveal person's inner life

Raphael

regarded as one of Italy's best painters during High Renaissance - attempted to achieve ideal of beauty beyond human standards - painting School of Athens in Vatican palace reveals world of balance, harmony, and order

Michelangelo

Italian High Renaissance painter, sculptor, and architect influenced by Neoplatonism, evident in Sistine Chapel in Rome - beauty of figures meant to be reflection of divine beauty - sculpted David in Sistine Chapel

Sistine Chapel's David

colossal marble sculpture created by Michelangelo to show the perfections of a human body - 14 feet tall \= largest sculpture in Italy since time of Rome - proclaims beauty of human body + glory of human beings

Bramante and Saint Peter's

Donato Bramante, famous architect, moved to Rome and built a small temple (Tempietto) on the supposed site of Saint Peter's martyrdom; temple summarized the ideals of the High Renaissance; Pope Julius commissioned him to created new Rome basilica which became Saint Peter's

Giorgio Vasari's Lives of the Artists

series of brief biographies about great Renaissance artists

Northern Renaissance

cultural and intellectual movement of northern Europe - began later than Italian Renaissance - centered in France, Low Countries, England, and Germany - featured greater emphasis on emotions of religious feeling than Italian Renaissance - tried to provide exact portrayal of world

Jan van Eyck

Flemish painter among first to use oil paint - enabled variety of colors and fine details - imitated nature through empirical observation and accurate portrayal of details

Albrecht Durer

famous Northern Renaissance artist inspired by Italians - often used woodcutting along with Italian Renaissance techniques like proportion, perspective and modeling - mastered of laws of perspective and Renaissance theories of proportion - in Adoration of the Magi, integrated use of minute details and used them harmoniously -\> tried to achieve standard of ideal beauty by examination of human form

madrigals

short love poems set to music during the Renaissance - music portrayed literal meaning of text

"new monarchies"

Historians' term for the monarchies in France, England, and Spain from 1450 to 1600 - centralization of royal power increased within more or less fixed territorial limits - included greater centralization of power, more regional boundaries, and stronger representative institutions

Louis XI the Spider and Henry VII

FORMER created a large royal army, increased taxes, and exerted power over the clergy, encouraged economic growth, and entered into commercial treaties - expulsion of the English in France and the defeat of the duchy of Burgundy led to the rise of the Valois line of monarchs - The War of the Roses gave rise to the Tudor Dynasty under LATTER est. strong monarchial gov and reduced the influence of the nobility through the Star Chamber and by passing laws that limited nobles - helped develop governmental procedures of law and taxation

Ferdinand and Isabella

during the late 15th century, they became King and Queen of a united Spain after centuries of Islamic domination - worked to strengthen royal control of government - believed monarchy embodied power of state - reorganized Spanish military forces into best in Europe - made Spain a strong Christian nation with strict religious uniformity, ex. Spanish Inquisition sought to discover and torture heretics - expelled all professed Jews from Spain - provided funding to overseas exploration, notably Christopher Columbus

Spanish Inquisition

an organization of priests in Spain that looked for and punished anyone suspected of secretly practicing their old religion instead of Roman Catholicism - cruelly guaranteed orthodoxy of converts but didn't exert authority over practicing Jews

the Habsburgs

powerful royal family that controlled Holy Roman Empire after 1438 - much of success due to well-executed policy of dynastic marriages

Ivan III

prince that made Moscow the new capital of Russia - overthrew the Mongols that were dominating Russia

Constantinople and 1453

the capital and almost the only outpost left of the Byzantine Empire, fell to the army of the Ottoman sultan Mehmed II "the Conqueror" - marked the end of Christian Byzantium

John Wyclif and John Hus

FORMER was an Oxford theologian who strongly believed that the Papacy's power should be limited to what the Bible has to offer - strongly believed in having the church accept the Vernacular for more knowledge (basically the acceptance of Bible in multiple languages)
LATTER also was a Czech chancellor who tried to prove corruption of the clergy as did former - arrested, condemned as Heretic, and burnt at stake in 1415

Both were pro-vernacular and that the pope's power should be more limited

Pius II's Execrabilis

condemned appeals to council over head of pope as heretical -\> popes reasserted supremacy over CC but not temporal governments - caused papal monarchy to lose moral prestige

Renaissance popes

general title given to the popes that would convince the Renaissance artists to work for them in order to enhance the majesty of the churches - wanted to govern Catholic Church as its spiritual leader - pursued interests through use of intrigue or even bloodshed

Prester John

a mythical Christian monarch whose African kingdom supposedly had been cut off from Europe by the Muslim conquests - inspired many explorers to venture out of Europe

The Travels of John Mandeville

a book that spoke of realms w/ precious stones + gold - lure of "other worlds" like this one both enticed and frightened Europeans - inspired many Europeans to explorers to venture out of Europe

Marco Polo

Venetian merchant who wrote the Travels, an informative description of Asia that gave many European explorers an economic incentive to explore

"God, glory, and gold"

motives for European exploration during Age of Exploration

portolani

charts made by medieval navigators and mathematicians in the 13th century - drawn on flat scale and didn't take curvature into account -\> not good for long overseas voyages

Ptolemy's Geography

a 1477 world map that synthesized the classical knowledge of geography and introduced the concepts of longitude and latitude - most accurate world map of its time, but land too big and oceans too small and underestimated circumference of Earth -\> Columbus + others tried to sail from Europe to Asia

lateen sails and square rigs

two renovations to European ships that made them more efficient and technologically advanced - mobile enough to sail against the wind and engage in warfare and large enough to mount heavy cannons and carry goods

compass and astrolabe

enabled sailors navigate the high seas with confidence - worked above and below equator

Prince Henry the Navigator

(1394-1460) Prince of Portugal who explored coast of Africa seeking Christian kingdom as ally against Muslims, trade opportunities, and spreading Christianity - established schools for navigators in Portugal

the Gold Coast

southern coast of West Africa where Portuguese fleets sponsored by Prince Henry the Navigator discovered a new source of gold - named for its gold exports to Europe from the 1470s onward

Bartolomeu Dias

1487 Portuguese who rounded/sailed to tip of Africa called the Cape of Good Hope - inspired further expeditions to search for route to Asia

Vasco da Gama and Calicut

man whose fleet rounded Cape of Good Hope and crossed Arabian Sea to reach port on southwestern coast of India - found spices that earned profit of several thousand percent

Afonso de Albuquerque

a Portuguese general, admiral, and statesman who expanded Portuguese influence across Indian Ocean and constructed reputation as fierce and skilled military commander - contributions to Portuguese efforts to control main trade routes to Asia helped establish Portuguese as important European power

Malacca

Port city in the modern Southeast Asian country of Malaysia - Muslims made it into spice trade hub

Spice Islands

Europeans' name for the Moluccas, islands rich in cloves and nutmeg - largely in control of Portuguese during Age of Exploration

Christopher Columbus

explorer who mistakenly discovered the Americas in 1492 while searching for a faster route to India - felt that Asia could be reached by sailing east - financed by Isabella and Ferdinand bc told them he could find gold and convert natives to Roman Catholicism

John Cabot

Venetian seaman who explored New England coastline of Americas under license from Henry VII of England - important in development of transatlantic trade between Europe and the Americas

Vasco Nunez de Balboa

a Spanish explorer who led expedition across Isthmus of Panama and discovered Pacific Ocean in 1513

Ferdinand Magellan

Portuguese explorer whose crew was first to circumnavigate world (himself killed by natives in Philippines) - found a sea route to the Spice Island by sailing around the American continent

Treaty of Tordesillas

a 1494 agreement between Portugal and Spain, declaring that newly discovered lands to the west of an imaginary line in the Atlantic Ocean would belong to Spain and newly discovered lands to the east of the line would belong to Portugal

Hernan Cortés and Moctezuma

1519- FORMER Spaniard who made alliances with surrounding states that were tired of the Aztecs - LATTER was Aztec monarch who thought Europeans were representatives of god Quetzalcoatl so offered them gold + stay in palace but got kidnapped and taken hostage

the Aztecs and Tenochtitlan

empire located in Mexico - outstanding warriors, built many public buildings and roads, and consolidated their large territory surrounding their capital - capital city was called \________

the Inca and Pachakuti

a civilization of great builders living in the Andes Mountains of Peru - \_____ was a ruler who conquered the entire region, created a centralized state divided into quarters and provinces, and upgraded the capital, Cuzco

Francisco Pizarro

Spanish explorer who conquered the Incas in what is now Peru and founded the city of Lima

encomienda

a Spanish labor system that rewarded conquerors with the labor of particular groups of conquered non-Christian people, especially Indians - laborers theoretically provided with benefits such as Catholic religion

the viceroy and audiencias

in Spanish Empire, \_______ was the royal official who stood in charge for the monarch of a colony (governed New Spain + Peru in Lima) - \__________ were advisors to the viceroy and acted as supreme court judges

Boers and Capetown

Dutch farmers who settled in areas outside the city of \______ - attracted by the area's moderate climate and freedom from tropical diseases

slave trade and the Middle Passage

FORMER: trade of Africans and the passage of slaves from Africa to America which was so terrible that many slaves died on the way
LATTER: journey of slaves from Africa to Americas - lasted at least 100 days - many diseases w/ no immunity

the triangular trade

a system in during the 1600s-1800s in which goods and slaves were transported across Europe, Africa, and the Americas

"sugar factories"

the sugar plantations in the Caribbean - played a prominent role in keeping up with Europe's increasing demand on New World goods

Dutch East India Company

government-chartered joint-stock company that controlled the spice trade in the East Indies

Batavia

Dutch Fort established in 1619 as headquarters of Dutch East India Company operations in Indonesia

Mughal Empire

founded by Babur from the mountainous region north of the Ganges River Valley - ruled most of India, creating greatest Indian empire for 2,000 years - brought almost entire Indian subcontinent together -\> increased trade and power for India

British East India Company

joint-stock trading company that set up trading posts in India in the 1600s, beginning the British economic interest there

Robert Clive

aggressive British empire-builder who eventually became chief representative of East India Company in India - laid foundation of British rule in India through helping secure an Indian empire for Britain

"Black Hole of Calcutta"

an underground prison for holding prisoners, many of whom died in captivity - the Bengal ruler attacked Fort William and imprisoned the local British population here

Ming and Qing dynasties

When the Portuguese arrived in China, Ming dynasty was underway, in the 1630s an epidemic struck them and started a peasant revolt which resulted in an overthrow of the Ming and an opportunity for the Manchus/Qing to conquer, pacified country and corrected the most serious social and economic problems while restoring peace

Lord Macartney and Emperor Qianlong

FORMER was British diplomat who visited Beijing to request for decreased trade restrictions to give British more China trade access but LATTER expressed no interest in British projects

Tokugawa shoguns

military rulers of Japan from 1600-1850 who acted in the name of the powerless emperor, imposed strict rules on communication and society, prevented civil war between feudal lords but were unable to deal with changes in society

Nagasaki and the Dutch

The Dutch, unlike the Spanish and Portuguese, had not allowed missionaries to interfere with their trade interests in Japan so Japan allowed this small trading community to stay - other European trading posts were closed down because the Christian religion interfered with politics

Britain's Navigation Acts

a series of laws regulating goods that could be taken or sold to and from the British colonies in the Americas - increased colonial revenue by taxing goods that were going to and from British colonies, directly economically contributing to American Revolutionary War

Samuel de Champlain

a French navigator who established a settlement at Quebec, displaying France's serious interest in Canada as a colony - mapped parts of Canada and northern modern-day America and was key to French expansion and dominance in New World

the asiento

system that took slaves to the New World to work for the Spanish - done by British and considered a privilege

inflation

a general increase in prices and fall in the purchasing value of money - became economic problem in 16th and early 17th centuries bc wages failed to keep up w/ price increases so wage earner standard of living decreased - aristocrats and commercial and industrial entrepreneurs prospered - influx in precious metals and population growth contributed

joint-stock trading companies

companies in which individuals bought shares and received dividends on their investment while a board of directors ran company and made important business decisions - made it easier to raise large amounts of capital for world trading ventures -\> contributed to commercial expansion of 16th and 17th centuries

House of Fugger

a monopoly over silver, copper, and mercury mines in central Europe that produced profits in excess of 50% per year - Fuggers significantly contributed to capitalistic economic principles and affected intercontinental politics

mercantilism

an economic policy under which nations sought to increase their wealth and power by obtaining large amounts of gold and silver and by selling more goods than they bought - total volume of trade unchangeable - prosperity of nation depended on plentiful supply of precious metals - goods exported \> goods imported - more tariffs on foreign goods -\> goods kept out of country + prevented from competing w/ local industries

mestizos and mulattoes

FORMER: offspring of Europeans and natives
LATTER: offspring of Africans and whites

the Columbian Exchange

the reciprocal importation and exportation of plants and animals between Europe and the Americas - improvement in nutrition -\> rapid increase in population - change in European lifestyle such as coffee and tea houses

Gerardus Mercator

a Flemish cartographer (1512-1594) was one of the first to produce a world map that showed, with relative accuracy, the general outline of the continents