Chapter 14 & 18 Study Guide

Ch 14

Annul – To cancel a marriage.  The church could officially cancel a marriage since divorce was forbidden.

Gravity – A single force that keeps the planets in their orbits around the sun.  The theory of gravity was developed by Newton at Cambridge University over a period of 20 years.

Patron – A financial supporter.  A patron specifically supported the arts; an example would be Lorenzo.

Perspective – An artistic technique used to give drawings and paintings a three-dimensional effect. By making distant objects smaller than those close to the viewer, artists could paint scenes that appeared three dimensional.

Theocracy – A government run by church leaders.  John Calvin set up a theocracy in Geneva, Switzerland.

John Calvin – A reformer who followed Martin Luther.  He was trained as a priest and as a lawyer and ran a theocracy in the city-state of Geneva, Switzerland.

Henry VIII – An English king in the 1500s who came to be at odds with the Church after having his marriage annulled.  He ended papal control over the English church and seized it for himself.

Leonardo da Vinci – An outstanding painter and sculptor who was born in 1452.  He made accomplishments in botany, anatomy, optics, music, architecture, and engineering.

Lorenzo de' Medici – Best known of the Medici’s; Lorenzo represented Renaissance ideals.  He was a clever politician, patron of the arts, and poet.

Niccolo Machiavelli – A diplomat that had observed kings and princes in foreign courts and an author.  Wrote a handbook on how rulers can gain and maintain power.

Heliocentric – A sun centered universe.  In a heliocentric universe, the planets revolve around the sun.

Humanism – An intellectual movement based on the study of classical culture.  Humanism focuses on worldly subjects rather than on the religious that had occupied the medieval times; humanists hoped to use the wisdom of the ancients to increase their understanding of their own times.

Indulgence – A pardon for sins committed during a person’s lifetime.  By the late 1400’s, an indulgence could be exchanged for a money gift to the church.

Predestination – The idea that God pre-determines who gains salvation.  This belief was preached by Calvin and followed by Calvinists.

Recant – To give up a view.  During the Renaissance, the Church tried to persuade Luther to recant his radical views.

Copernicus – A scientist who revolutionized the way people view the universe.  He developed the theory of a heliocentric universe. 

Durer – Known as a “German Leonardo,” he traveled to Italy in 1494 to study the techniques of the Italian masters.  He employed the taught methods into paintings, engravings, and prints, which helped spread the Renaissance to Germany.

Luther – A German monk and professor of theology who began to incite revolts against the Church.  His 95 Theses, a list of arguments against indulgences, was mass printed and distributed across Europe, where they stirred up furious debate.

Newton – A student at Cambridge University in England who by age 24, had devoured the works of the leading scientists of the day.  He developed the Theory of Gravity, which explained the force of gravity using mathematics.

Petrarch – A Florentine who lived from 1304 to 1374.  He was an early Renaissance humanist who hunted down and assembled a library of Greek and Roman manuscripts.

Renaissance focus – The focus of the Renaissance was the re-discovery of classical Roman and Greek schools of thought.  It refocused culture on arts and sciences and the value of the individual, rather than blind religious devotion.

Printing of reformation – The printing of the reformation spread the ideas on a mass level.  It was brought to almost all of Europe as a result of it being printed.

Results of Reformation – The church became split into Lutherans, or Protestants, and the traditional Catholics.  Violence began to break out between the two groups and riots and results erupted as the church gradually divided more and more deeply.

Causes of Renaissance – The Renaissance began in Italy, where the ancient ruins and statues sparked a curiosity in the Roman times.  It was furthered by the funding of Merchants to support the new artists and scholars and was gradually spread to the rest of Europe.

Ch 18

Hobbes – An English thinker who set forth ideas that were to become key to the Enlightenment.  Hobbes argued that people were naturally cruel, greedy, and selfish.

Locke – Another English thinker who founded Enlightenment ideals.  Locke argued that people were basically reasonable and moral, and possessed natural rights.

Joseph II – The most radical enlightened emperor.  He traveled in disguise among his subjects to learn of their problems and chose middle class workers to hold office rather than nobles.

Constitutional govt. – A government whose power is defined and limited by law.  The British Constitution was the first constitutional government, and was composed of all acts of Parliament over the centuries, as well as the Magna Carta and Bill of Rights, as well as unwritten traditions that protect citizen’s rights.

Enlightened despot – An absolute ruler who used their power to bring about political and social change.  Many of these rulers brought great reform as well as political and social change to their people. 

Natural laws – Laws that govern human nature.  By applying scientific knowledge, inventors changed peoples’ lives.

Natural rights – Rights that belong to all humans from birth.  These include the right to life, liberty, and property.

Physiocrat – Thinkers who focused on natural laws to define a national economic system.  Physiocrats rejected mercantilism and urged a policy of laissez faire.

Bach – A devout German Lutheran who wrote complex and beautiful religious works for organ and choirs.  He was one of the most famous musicians of the Age of Reason.

Diderot – A philosophe who labored some 25 years to produce a 28 volume encyclopedia.  He gathered articles on human knowledge and compiled them into abbreviated volumes.

Tom Paine – A British immigrant who lived in American and authored the book Common Sense.  He rejected ancient prejudice and tyranny and appealed to reason, natural laws and the promise of freedom, while echoing the themes of the enlightenment.

Rousseau – The most controversial philosope.  He was a strange, difficult man, who believed that people in their natural state were basically good, and that this natural innocence was corrupted by the evils of society.

Robert Walpole – Often regarded as Britain’s first prime minister, he headed the cabinet from 1721 to 1742.  He molded the cabinet into a unified body, requiring all members to agree on major issues.

Baroque – A grand, complex art style.  Baroque paintings were huge, colorful, and full of excitement.

Free market – The natural forces of supply and demand.  The idea was used by Adam Smith and served as a model during the Industrial Revolution across Europe and America.

Laissez faire – The belief that the government should not interfere with business.  The idea was heavily urged by physiocrats during the enlightenment.

Salon – Informal social gatherings at which writers, artists, philosophers, and others exchanged ideas.  The salon originated in the 1600s, when a group of noblewomen in Paris began inviting a few friends to their homes for poetry readings.

Social contract – An agreement by which people give up the state of nature for an organized society.  The idea was thought of by Hobbes, who believed that only a powerful government could ensure an orderly society.