Scientific Revolution
Observation, experimentation, reason, and mathematics test explanations.
Scientific Method
Population loss created labor shortages and made surviving workers valuable.
Wages rise
Printing produced texts faster and reached wider audiences.
Printing press
Humanism emphasized classical learning, human potential, and life in this world.
Humanism
In 1215, King John accepted limits supporting rule of law.
Magna Carta
Copernicus proposed planets orbit the sun; Galileo’s observations supported it.
Copernicus’s heliocentric model
Contact with Europe and Asia expanded trade in goods and ideas
The Crusades
The Act of Supremacy made Henry head of the Church of England
Henry VIII
The Prince analyzed power realistically and allowed force or deception.
Niccolò Machiavell
Absolute rulers centralized power; divine right justified it.
Absolute monarchy + divine right
Humanists studied classical ideas; scientists tested nature with evidence.
Questioning tradition through reason and inquiry
Crusades expanded trade/contact; Black Death changed labor and weakened feudal ties.
Defensible claim
Print spread Luther’s Ninety-Five Theses and criticism of indulgences.
Printing press + Martin Luther
Humanists questioned inherited ideas and emphasized people’s ability to learn.
It encouraged inquiry and confidence in reason
After 1453, its location supported trade, taxation, defense, and expansion.
Ottoman Empire