Renaissance

“Rebirth” of Greco-Roman Ideas, Art , and Architecture

Florence, Italy

A center of medieval European trade and finance and one of the wealthiest cities of the time. Florence is considered the birthplace of the Renaissance.

Medici Family

“The Godfathers of the Renaissance”Giovanni de'Medici (1360-1429) was born into a relatively poor Florentine family and

received only a nominal inheritance when his father died. He founded the Medici Bank in 1397, which became the most successful bank in Florence by his death in 1429.

ClassicismClarity in style, adhering to principles of elegance and symmetry, and created by attention and adherence to traditional forms.

“Renaissance Man”

A person whose expertise spans a significant number of different subject areas. (Leonardo da Vinci, for example)

Leonardo da Vinci

Michelangelo

RealismRealism in the visual arts and literature is the general attempt to depict subjects as they exist in objective reality, without embellishment or interpretation and "in accordance with secular, empirical rules.

Perspective

‘The School of Athens’ by Raphael (1518), a fine example of architectural perspective with a central vanishing point.

Humanism

Beginning in the late 1300s, a group of scholars centered in the Italian city-state of Florence began to look to the past for inspiration. These scholars were later called humanists because they stressed human innovation instead of spiritualism. The humanists studied the classics –

the works of the ancient Greeks and Romans. In the works of the classics, Renaissance scholars found a way of thinking similar to their own time. They believed this outlook had

not been explored since the fall of Greece and Rome.

Machiavelli

Petrarch

Dante Alighieri

The Divine Comedy is an epic poem written by Dante Alighieri between 1308 and his death in 1321. The poem describes Dante's travels through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven;

but at a deeper level, it represents allegorically the soul's journey towards God.

Erasmus“Prince of Humanists”

Erasmus lived against the backdrop of the growing European religious Reformation;

but while he was critical of the abuses within the Church and called for reform, he

kept his distance from Luther and continued to recognize the authority of the pope. Erasmus emphasized a middle way, with a deep respect for traditional faith, piety and grace, and rejected Luther's

emphasis on faith alone.

William Shakespeare

Protestant Reformation

The Protestant Reformation was the 16th-century schism within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants, who objected to

("protested") the doctrines, rituals, and structure of the Roman Catholic Church. This led to the creation of Protestant churches.

IndulgencesBy making a contributing money to the church, a sinner would receive a partial indulgence not to commit further sins, while at the same time, diminishing the time period that he was to suffer in purgatory for remission of his sins.

Martin Luther

Lutheranism

Ninety-Five Theses

The Ninety-Five Theses on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences was written by Martin Luther in 1517 and is widely regarded as the initial catalyst for the Protestant Reformation. The act was a protest against

clerical abuses, especially the sale of indulgences to limit time in purgatory.

Justification by Faith

In Protestantism, righteousness from God is credited to the sinner's account through faith alone, without works.

John CalvinA Christian theologian and pastor, John Calvin regularly preached sermons in Geneva, Switzerland. He preached the doctrine of predestination and the absolute sovereignty of God. Calvin's writing and preachings provided the seeds for the branch of theology that bears his name, Calvinism. The Reformed and Presbyterian churches have spread the theology of Calvinism throughout the world.

Calvinism

Predestination

Predestination is the doctrine that all events have been willed by God. John Calvin interpreted biblical predestination to mean that God willed eternal damnation for some

people and salvation for others.

Henry VIII

King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death, Henry was the second monarch of the House of Tudor, succeeding his father, Henry VII. Besides his six marriages, Henry VIII is known for his

role in the separation of the Church of England from the Roman Catholic Church.

Anglicanism

One of the major branches of the 16th-century Protestant Reformation and a form of Christianity that includes features of both Protestantism and Roman Catholicism. It

represents the offspring of the Church of England established by King Henry VIII, and recognizes the archbishop of Canterbury as its leader.

Counter Reformation

Its aim was to reclaim the superiority of the Roman Catholic Church during the Protestant Reformation.

Council of TrentAfter 20-years of debate, the Council of Trent established the basis for Catholic Counter Reformation. Decrees were issued covering every aspect of Church authority, from the chastity of priests to reform of the monasteries.

Jesuits

Ignatius Loyola was charged with forming the Jesuits, a band of militant missionaries whose task was to reconvert the converted.

Johann Gutenberg

Prince Henry the Navigator

Portuguese Naval Academy – Development of the caravel, lateen sail, and navigational maps

Ferdinand Magellan

Magellan’s expedition completed the first circumnavigation of the Earth, although Magellan himself did not complete the entire voyage, being

killed during the Battle of Mactan in the Philippines.

Dutch East India Co.

Trading company founded by the Dutch in 1602 to protect their trade in the Indian Ocean and to assist in their war of independence from Spain. The company prospered through most of the 17th century as the instrument of the powerful Dutch commercial empire in

the East Indies.

Columbian Exchange

The Columbian Exchange, also known as the Grand Exchange, was the exchange of animals, plants, culture, human populations (including slaves), disease, and ideas between the Americas

and Afro-Eurasia following the voyage to the Americas by Christopher Columbus in 1492.

Coercive Labor

During the period of 1450 to 1750, the introduction of slavery and improvements in

agriculture in the Americas brought a strict form of rule over the indigenous people and black slaves. This form of ruling was known as coercive labor,

however, the diversity of cultures in the Caribbean, Latin America, and the English colonies brought changes in the form in which it was used, which

included the rights of slaves and indigenous people, commodities produced, and freedoms

granted by their masters.

New France

Gold, Glory, God

The Spanish that explored and conquered parts of the New World had three basic ideas that motivated them--Gold, Glory, and God.

Thirty Years WarThe Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) was a series of wars principally fought in Central Europe, involving most of the countries of Europe. No single cause can accurately be described as the main reason for the fighting. Initially, it was fought largely as a religious war between Protestants and Catholics in the Holy Roman Empire; however, gradually, it developed into a more general conflict involving most of the great powers of the time. In this general phase the war became less specifically religious and more a continuation of the rivalry for European political power, leading in turn to further warfare between France and the Hapsburghs.

English Civil War

The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of armed conflicts between Parliamentarians (Roundheads) and Royalists (Cavaliers). The English Civil War led to the trial and execution of Charles I, the exile of his son, Charles II, and replacement of English

monarchy with, first, the Commonwealth of England (1649–53), and then with a Protectorate (1653–59), under Oliver Cromwell's personal rule.

Edict of Nantes

The Edict of Nantes, issued on 13 April 1598, by Henry IV of France, granted the Calvinist Protestants of France (also known as Huguenots) substantial rights in a nation still considered essentially Catholic. In the Edict, Henry aimed primarily

to promote civil unity.

Copernicus

Heliocentrism – the Sun is the center of the Solar System.

Mercantilism

Wealth is Power – Power is WealthMercantilism is the economic doctrine that government control of foreign trade is of

paramount importance for ensuring the military security of the country. In particular, it demands a positive balance of trade. It required building a network of overseas colonies,

forbidding colonies to trade with other nations and the monopolizing markets.

Absolute MonarchyAbsolute monarchy is a monarchical form

of government in which the monarch exercises ultimate governing authority as

head of state and head of government; his or her powers are not limited by a

constitution or by the law. An absolute monarch wields unrestricted political

power over the sovereign state and its people. Absolute monarchies are often hereditary. King Louis XIV of France is

considered to be the epitome of an absolute monarch.

Sir Isaac Newton

An English natural philosopher, generally regarded as the most original and influential theorist in the history of science. In addition to his invention of the infinitesimal calculus and a new theory of light and color, Newton transformed the structure of physical science

with his three laws of motion and the law of universal gravitation.

CaravelA caravel is a small, highly maneuverable sailing ship developed in the 15th century by the Portuguese to explore along the West African coast and into the Atlantic Ocean. Caravels were much used by the Portuguese for the oceanic exploration voyages during the 15th and 16th centuries in the age of discovery.

Lateen Sail

The lateen (triangular) sails gave a Portuguese caravel speed and the capacity for sailing windward. (upwind)

Mestizos

A person of mixed racial ancestry, especially of mixed European and Native American ancestry.

Hernán CortésHernán Cortés was a Spanish explorer

who is famous for his march across Mexico and his conquering of the Aztec Empire in Mexico. The Aztec Empire was ruled by Montezuma II. Cortés arrived in Mexico in March

1519 with a group of about 600 men and a few horses. He made his way

inland to the Aztec capital city, Tenochtitlán. Along the way, he made friends with a native group called the Tlaxcalans, who were enemies of the Aztecs. The Tlaxcalans helped Cortés

against the Aztecs.

Francisco Pizarro

On November 16, 1532, Francisco Pizarro, the Spanish explorer and conquistador, springs a trap on the Incan emperor, Atahualpa. With fewer than 200 men against several

thousand, Pizarro lures Atahualpa to a feast in the emperor's honor and then opens fire on the unarmed Incans. Pizarro's men massacre the Incans and capture Atahualpa,

forcing him to convert to Christianity before eventually killing him.

Vasco de Gama

James Cook

Middle Passage

The Middle Passage was the stage of the triangular trade in which millions of

people from Africa were shipped to the New World, as part of the Atlantic slave

trade.

Brunelleschi

One of the foremost architects and engineers of the Italian Renaissance. He is perhaps most famous for his discovery of perspective and for engineering the dome

of the Florence Cathedral, but his accomplishments also include other

architectural works, sculpture, mathematics, engineering and even ship

design.

Northern Renaissance

VernacularA vernacular is the native language or native dialect of a specific population. Martin Luther translated the Bible into the German vernacular, which was the first non-Latin version of The Bible.

The Inquisition

The Inquisition was a Roman Catholic tribunal for discovery and punishment of religious heresy, which was marked by the severity of questioning, torture, punishment and lack of

rights afforded to the accused.