Renaissance Shift
The catastrophic 14th-century event whose survival gave Europeans a "new lease on life" and sparked the Renaissance.
What was the Black Death (or bubonic plague)?
This term describes anything that is non-religious, worldly, or not connected to the church.
What is secular?
The ultimate "Renaissance Man" who excelled across art, engineering, anatomy, and science.
Who was Leonardo da Vinci?
A certificate sold by the Catholic Church that offered forgiveness from sin and reduced time in purgatory.
What is an indulgence?
Individual, reusable metal or wooden pieces used in a printing press to quickly set up pages for printing.
What is moveable type?
The core Protestant belief that salvation is a gift received through personal faith, not good works or bought indulgences.
What is justification by faith alone?
An intellectual movement of the Renaissance that focused on human potential, achievement, and individual worth.
What is humanism?
The German monk who posted the 95 Theses in 1517, sparking the Protestant Reformation.
Who was Martin Luther?
The suppression or prohibition of books, ideas, or media considered dangerous or religiously threatening.
What is censorship?
The societal transformation that occurred as books became cheaper, breaking the Church's monopoly on reading.
What is the rise in literacy?
Renaissance artists departed from flat, symbolic medieval styles by focusing on this artistic quality, using correct human anatomy.
What is realism?
What is the vernacular?
Author of The Prince, who argued that for a political leader, it is safer to be feared than loved.
Who was Niccolo Machiavelli?
An economic policy where European governments strictly controlled trade and hoarded gold to build state wealth.
What is mercantilism?
Martin Luther's document that "went viral" across Europe precisely because it was printed quickly in the local German vernacular.
What were the 95 Theses?
The scientific view that shifted human understanding by placing the Sun (not the Earth) at the center of the universe.
What is the heliocentric model?
Politics based on practical, realistic objectives and raw power dynamics rather than moral principles.
What is realpolitik?
The inventor who adapted press technology to use movable metal or wooden type, revolutionizing European communication.
Who was Johannes Gutenberg?
A royal grant allowing Spanish landowners in the Americas to force native peoples into plantation labor.
What is the encomienda system?
Besides religious tracts, this newly printed item was essentials for sailors setting out during the Age of Exploration.
What are maps?
Financial support provided by wealthy merchant families (like the Medici in Florence) that allowed artists to create secular work.
What is patronage?
The artistic technique using geometric lines to create the illusion of three-dimensional depth on a flat surface.
What is perspective?
The Italian scholar recognized as the "Father of Humanism" for reviving classical Greek and Roman texts.
Who was Petrarch?
The formal art and science of mapmaking that advanced rapidly during the Age of Exploration.
What is cartopgraphy?
The official list of prohibited texts created by the Catholic Church to block the spread of printed Protestant books.
What was the Index of Forbidden Books?