Comprehensive Notes

Mercantilism

  • Economic theory promoting government regulation of trade.

Manor

  • Self-sufficient estate of a lord in feudalism.

Vedic Age

  • Period of ancient Indian texts and rituals.

Battle of Hastings

  • 1066 conflict leading to Norman conquest of England.

Crusades

  • Religious wars for control of the Holy Land.

Jihad

  • Struggle or fight against enemies of Islam.

Parliament

  • Legislative body in England representing the people.

Estates General

  • French assembly representing different social classes.

Middle Ages

  • Period in European history from 5th to 15th century.

Mandate of Heaven

  • Chinese belief justifying the emperor's rule.

Black Death

  • Plague that killed millions in 14th century Europe.

Hundred Years War

  • Series of conflicts between England and France.

Great Schism

  • Division of Christianity into Catholic and Orthodox.

War of the Roses

  • Dynastic conflicts for the English throne.

Renaissance

  • Cultural revival in Europe emphasizing art and learning.

Habeas Corpus

  • Legal principle protecting against unlawful detention.

Reincarnation

  • Belief in rebirth of the soul in new bodies.

Constitution

  • Document outlining the fundamental principles of government.

Treaty of Verdun

  • 843 agreement dividing Charlemagne's empire among heirs.

Absolutism

  • Political system where a ruler holds total power.

Fief

  • Land granted to a vassal in feudalism.

Indulgence

  • Grant by the Catholic Church reducing punishment for sins.

Divine Right of Kings

  • Doctrine that kings derive authority from God.

Compurgation

  • Medieval legal practice involving oath-taking for innocence.

Protestant Reformation

  • Movement challenging Catholic Church practices and doctrines.

Jesuits

  • Catholic religious order focused on education and missions.

Page

  • Young boy training to become a knight.

Squire

  • Young man serving a knight as an apprentice.

Magna Carta

  • 1215 document limiting the power of the English king.

Doomsday Book

  • Survey of England's lands and resources in 1086.

Petition of Right

  • 1628 document limiting the king's power in England.

Court of Star Chamber

  • Court used to enforce royal authority in England.

Utopia

  • Ideal society envisioned by Thomas More.

Predestination

  • Doctrine that God has predetermined salvation or damnation.

Caste System

  • Social hierarchy in India based on occupation.

Landlocked

  • Country without access to ocean or sea.

Ancestor Worship

  • Religious practice honoring deceased family members.

Edict of Nantes

  • 1598 decree granting religious freedom in France.

Five Basic Relationships

  • Confucian principle defining social roles and duties.

Dynasty

  • Lineage of rulers from the same family.

Circumnavigate

  • To sail completely around the world.

St. Benedict

  • Founded a community of monks for which he wrote a set of rules.
  • His rules became the standard in the Catholic Church and were used by other groups of monks.

Pope Gregory I

  • Pope who strongly emphasized the sacrament of penance.
  • Encouraged confession for the remission of sins, which made people more dependent on the church for salvation.

Clovis

  • 5th century Frankish leader of a large kingdom who converted to Christianity

Scholastica

  • Benedict’s sister who adapted the rules for women or nuns.

William the Conqueror

  • Duke of Normandy who led the Norman invasion of England
  • Became the first Norman to be King of England

Charlemagne

  • Crowned by the Pope as the head of the Holy Roman Empire in 800 AD.
  • His empire extended from northern Spain to western Germany and northern Italy.
  • His palace was at Aachen in central Europe.

Martin Luther

  • Posted the 95 Thesis in 1517, which led to religious reform in Germany.
  • Denied papal power and absolutist rule.
  • Claimed there were only 2 sacraments: baptism and communion.

Elizabeth I (1533-1603)

  • Queen of England and Ireland between 1558 and 1603.
  • She was an absolute monarch.
  • Considered one of the most successful rulers of all time.

Philip II (1527-1598)

  • King of Spain from 1556 to 1598.
  • Absolute monarch who helped lead the Counter Reformation by persecuting Protestants in his holdings.
  • Sent the Spanish Armada against England.

Henry VIII (1491-1547)

  • King of England from 1509 to 1547.
  • His desire to annul his marriage led to a conflict with the pope.
  • Led England to break with the Roman Catholic Church and embrace Protestantism.
  • Established the Church of England in 1532.

Henry II

  • 12th-century English king who introduced the jury system.

Charles I

  • King of England, Scotland, and Ireland (1625-1649).
  • His power struggles with Parliament resulted in the English Civil War (1642-1648), in which Charles was defeated.
  • He was tried for treason and beheaded in 1649.

Charles II

  • King of England, Scotland, and Ireland (1660-1685) who reigned during the Restoration.
  • The Restoration was a period of expanding trade and colonization and strong opposition to Catholicism.

James I (1603-1625)

  • Stuart monarch who ignored constitutional principles and asserted the divine right of kings.

James II

  • Catholic king of England after Charles II.
  • Granted everyone religious freedom and even appointed Roman Catholics to positions in the army and government.

Oliver Cromwell

  • English general and statesman who led the parliamentary army in the English Civil War (1599-1658)

Peter the Great (1672-1725)

  • Russian tsar (r. 1689-1725).
  • Enthusiastically introduced Western languages and technologies to the Russian elite.
  • Moved the capital from Moscow to the new city of St. Petersburg.

Louis XIV (1638-1715)

  • Known as the Sun King.
  • Was an absolute monarch that completely controlled France.
  • One of his greatest accomplishments was the building of the palace at Versailles.

Henry VII (1491-1547)

  • King of England from 1509 to 1547.
  • His desire to annul his marriage led to a conflict with the pope.
  • Led England to break with the Roman Catholic Church and embrace Protestantism.
  • Established the Church of England in 1532.

Richard the Lion Hearted

  • English king who fought Saladin in the Third Crusade

John I

  • King of England who raised taxes and punished his enemies without a trial.
  • He is best known for being forced to sign the Magna Carta.

Queen Isabella

  • Queen of Spain who gave Columbus the ships and sailors to sail to the new world

John Calvin (1509-1564)

  • French theologian.
  • Developed the Christian theology known as Calvinism.
  • Attracted Protestant followers with his teachings.

Gutenberg

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

Dante Alighieri

  • An Italian poet famous for writing the Divine Comedy.
  • Described a journey through hell and purgatory and paradise guided by Virgil and his idealized Beatrice (1265-1321)

Thomas More

  • He was an English humanist that contributed to the world today by revealing the complexities of man.
  • He wrote Utopia, a book that represented a revolutionary view of society.

Leonardo Da Vinci

  • Italian painter and sculptor and engineer and scientist and architect

Michelangelo (1475-1564)

  • An Italian sculptor, painter, poet, engineer, and architect.
  • Famous works include the mural on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, and the sculpture of the biblical character David.

Vasco Da Gama

  • Portuguese explorer.
  • In 1497-1498 he led the first naval expedition from Europe to sail to India, opening an important commercial sea route.

Bartolomeau Dias

  • First European sailor to sail around the tip of Africa, the Cape of Good Hope

Ferdinand Magellan

  • Portuguese navigator who led the Spanish expedition of 1519-1522 that was the first to sail around the world.

Balboa

  • Spanish explorer who discovered the Pacific Ocean (1475-1519)

Christopher Columbus

  • He mistakenly discovered the Americas in 1492 while searching for a faster route to India.

Seljuk Turks

  • Nomadic invaders from central Asia via Persia.
  • Staunch Sunnis.
  • Ruled in name of Abbasid caliphs from mid-11th century

Machiavelli

  • Renaissance writer; formerly a politician, wrote The Prince, a work on ethics and government, describing how rulers maintain power by methods that ignore right or wrong.
  • Accepted the philosophy that "the end justifies the means."

Feudalism

  • Social system based on land ownership and service.

Lord

  • Noble who grants land to vassals.

Vassal

  • Person granted land in exchange for service.

Legalism

  • Philosophy emphasizing strict laws and harsh punishments.

Confucius (551-479 BCE)

  • A Chinese philosopher known also as Kong Fuzi and created one of the most influential philosophies in Chinese history.