Unit 1 AP European History Key Terms

Feudal System

Political, military, and social system in the Middle Ages, based on the holding of lands in relief and relations between lord and vassal.

The Great Schism (1414-1418)

The crisis in the late medieval church when there were two competing popes, in France and in Rome. Ended by the Council of Constance.

Renaissance

The humanistic revival of classical art, architecture, literature, and learning that originated in Italy in the 14th century and later spread throughout Europe.

Oligarchy

The merger of the northern Italian feudal nobility and the commercial elite created this small powerful group of individuals who ruled a city and surrounding countryside.

Republic

While many Italian City- States claimed to be this, and some even had a constitution, in reality almost all were actually controlled by a small group of elites.

Humanism

A term generally applied to the predominant social philosophy and intellectual and literacy currents of the period from 1400 - 1650. The return of the classics stimulated the philosophy of secularism, the appreciation of worldly pleasures, and above all intensified the assertion of personal independence and individual expression.

Individualism

Stressed personality, uniqueness, genius, and full development of one’s capabilities and talents

Nicolo Machiavelli

Florentine diplomat and historian who lived from 1469-1527. Wrote the famous essay, The Prince, which described his view of realistic government with a strong leader concerned only with political power and success of embracing the ideal of seeking to be feared rather than loved by the masses.

Baldassare Castiglione

Italian diplomat who lived from 1478-1429. Published the most famous Renaissance book, The Book of the Courtier. This became the archetype for the “Renaissance man,” who was versed in liberal arts and social graces, as contrasted to the more unrefined Middle Ages knight.

Lorenzo Valla

An Italian humanist, rhetorician, and educator. He is best known for his textual analysis that proved that the Donation of Constantine was a forgery.

Christian Humanism

A Renaissance movement that combined a revived interest in the nature of humanity with the Christian faith. It impacted art, changed the focus of religious scholarship, shaped personal spirituality, and helped encourage the Protestant Reformation.

Utopia(1516)

Work written by Thomas More. Served as a criticism of contemporary society. It depicted an imaginary society based on reason and tolerance that overcame social and political injustice by holding all property and goods in common.

Desiderius Erasmus

Dutch scholar known as “Prince of Northern Humanists.” Lived from 1465-1536. He criticized the lack of spirituality in the Church in The Praise of Folly, which ridicules the superstition, ignorance, and vice of Christians on pilgrimages, in fasting, and the Church’s interpretation of the Bible.

Patrons

Refers to the support that kings, poets and the wealthy have provided to artists such as musicians, painters, and sculptors.

Querelle de Femmes

Meaning “the woman question,” refers to a literacy debate about the nature and status o women. This debate began around 1500 and continued beyond the end of the Renassaince.

Christine de Pizan

A French Renaissance writer who wrote some of the very first feminist pieces of literature and broke with the traditional roles assigned to women in several ways during a time when women had no legal rights and were considered a man’s property.

Pragmatic Sanction of the Bourges (1438)

Issued by Charles VII of France is asserted the superiority of general council over the papacy, giving the French crown major control over the appointment of bishops, and depriving the pope of French ecclesiastical revenues.

Court of the Star Chamber

Established by Henry VII of England and applied principles that ran counter to English common-law and reduced aristocratic trouble making.

Hermandades

Also known as “brotherhoods” and used by Isabella and Ferdinand in Spain to curb aristocratic rebellion. These popular groups in the towns were given authority to act as local police forces and as judicial tribunals. They repressed violence with such savage punishments that by 1498 they could be disbanded.

Treaty of Lodi (1454-1455)

A peace agreement signed in 1454 that ended decades of war between the major Italian city-states brought on by Milanese expansionism. The high mark of Renaissance diplomacy, the treaty established a complex balance of power on the Italian peninsula and maintained stability until France invaded in 1494.

Girolamo Savonarola

A Dominican friar in Florence who preached against sin and corruption and gained a large following. He expelled the Medici from Florence but was later excommunicated and executed for criticizing the Pope.

Columbian Exchange

A period of cultural and biological exchanges between the New and Old Worlds. Exchanges of plants, animals, diseases, and technology transformed European and Native American ways of life.

Astrolabe

An instrument used to make astronomical measurements, typically of the altitudes of celestial bodies, and in navigation for calculating latitudes.

Stern-post rudder

This along with triangular lateen sails made ships like the caravel more maneuverable and able to hold more cargo.

Prince Henry the Navigator (1394-1460)

Was a Portuguese royal prince, soldier, and patron of explorers.

Vasco da Gama (c.1460-1524)

Portuguese explorer whose fleet rounded the Cape of Good Hope to Calicut in India in 1497

Treaty of Tordesillas (1494)

Set the line of Demarcation which was a boundary established in 1493 to define Spanish and Portuguese possessions in the Americas.

Hernando Cortes (1485-1547)

A Spanish Conquistador who initiated the conquest of the Aztec Empire on behalf of Charles V, the king of Castile and Holy Roman Emperor, in the early 16th century.

Ferdinand Magellan (1480-1521)

Commissioned by Charles V to fin a direct route to Asia for spices. Was the first expedition to circumnavigate the Earth.

Christopher Columbus (1451-1506)

Sailed under the authority of the Spanish crown. he was looking for a passage to the Indies by sailing West. Discovered Cuba, the Canary Islands, Hispaniola etc. his voyage lead to the explosion of Spanish exploration and discovered North America.

Encomienda System

Established to grant conquerors the right to use native populations as labor in agriculture and mining in the Americas

Tenochtitlán

Central city of the Aztec Empire

Conquistador

A conquer, especially one of the Spanish conquerors of Mexico and Peru in the 16th century.

Viceroy

A ruler exercising authority in a colony on behalf of a sovereign.

Price Revolution

A term used to describe a series of economic events from the second half of the 15th century to the first half of the

Dutch East India Company

A multinational corporation founded in 1602 as a result of government consolidation, this organization monopolized the spice trade and was the world’s first publicly traded company

Joint Stock Company

A business entity where individuals buy shares in a company and receive dividends on their investment while also limiting the risk involved.

Bank of Amsterdam

Founded in 1609, this financial institution became the first deposit and transfer institution in Europe.