Secular Thought & The "New" State
This 15th-century movement, inspired by models like Cicero, asserted that intellectuals had a moral duty to be active, productive citizens in their government.
What is civic humanist culture?
This 16th-century inflationary period saw a steep rise in food prices across Europe, fueled by population growth and the influx of silver from the New World.
What was the Price Revolution?
Martin Luther primarily challenged this practice of selling certificates that promised to reduce a person's time in Purgatory.
What are indulgences?
This English monarch broke with the Roman Catholic Church primarily for political reasons and established himself as head of the Church of England.
Who is Henry VIII?
This religious order, founded by Ignatius of Loyola in 1540, focused on education and missionary work to combat the Reformation.
Who are the Jesuits?
Proposed by Hugo Grotius, this theory argues that humans are born with innate rights and that leaders should govern by rational principles based in reason rather than force.
What is natural law?
Also known as the "putting-out system," this 15th and 16th-century production model involved entrepreneurs hiring rural families to manufacture goods at home, bypassing the strict rules of urban guilds.
What is the cottage industry?
This Protestant theological doctrine holds that an all-knowing God has already determined who will be saved and who will be damned.
What is predestination?
This 1618–1648 conflict devastated the German states and was the last major religious war in Europe.
What was the Thirty Years' War?
This series of meetings between 1543 and 1563 reaffirmed traditional Catholic doctrines and addressed clerical corruption.
What was the Council of Trent?
This English law court, established in the late 15th century, allowed the monarch’s advisors to hear cases against wealthy and powerful individuals that regular courts feared to convict.
What was the Court of the Star Chamber?
This was a specific contract between the Spanish government and a private party to supply enslaved Africans to the Americas, a system Spain used to compensate for its lack of an African base.
What was the asiento (or asiento system)?
Martin Luther used this Latin phrase to insist that the Bible was the only true source of religious authority, rather than Church tradition.
What is sola scriptura (or primacy of scripture)?
These French Calvinist Protestants represented about 10 percent of the population and fought for political and religious rights.
Who are the Huguenots?
This 17th-century art style used intense emotion and dramatic lighting to inspire religious devotion, as seen in the works of Bernini.
What is Baroque?
In early modern France, this class of people gained status and titles by holding administrative or judicial offices rather than through traditional military service.
Who are the Nobles of the Robe?
This long-term legislative process involved combining communal lands into larger, fenced-in private fields, which increased agricultural yield but displaced many rural peasants.
What was the enclosure movement?
This radical Protestant denomination advocated for adult baptism, the strict separation of church and state, and non-violence.
Who are the Anabaptists?
Issued by Henry IV of France in 1598, this decree granted Huguenots the right to worship and ended decades of religious violence.
What is the Edict of Nantes?
This practice, common in wealthy families, involved the oldest son inheriting the bulk of the family's land and estate.
What is primogeniture?
Blending various philosophical views, this famous work by Pico della Mirandola argued that humans possessed unique dignity and a central place in God’s world order.
What is the Oration on the Dignity of Man?
Developed in Venice, this accounting innovation used ledgers to track both sides of every transaction, becoming an essential tool for the complex dealings of commercial capitalism.
What is double-entry bookkeeping?
This 1555 legal agreement allowed each German prince to determine if his state would be Catholic or Lutheran.
What is the Peace of Augsburg?
This massive 1572 event began in Paris at a royal wedding and resulted in the massacre of an estimated 10,000 to 20,000 Huguenots.
What is the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre?
These 1648 treaties ended the Thirty Years' War and established the modern principles of state sovereignty and international diplomacy.
What is the Peace of Westphalia?