Category 1: The Plague & Feudalism
What fraction of Europe's population was wiped out by the Black Death?
Approximately one-third to one-half (1/3 to 1/2) of the population.
Name the famous banking family that took control of Florence.
The Medici Family
What ancient civilizations inspired humanism?
Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome (The Classical Civilizations).
What is the step-by-step process used to find scientific truth?
The Scientific Method.
According to medieval law, how could a runaway serf gain freedom?
By successfully hiding or living in a town for a year and a day without being caught.
What was the name of the overland trade route connecting Europe to Asia?
The Silk Road.
Why did portraits become highly popular during this era?
Humanism celebrated individualism and personal achievement. Wealthy patrons wanted to be remembered for their accomplishments on Earth, rather than just being anonymous figures waiting for heaven.
How did Renaissance art differ from Medieval art?
Medieval art was flat, 2D, lacked accurate proportions, and was strictly religious. Renaissance art introduced linear perspective, realistic human anatomy, shading/shadows, and secular (non-religious) or classical themes.
Explain how the plague caused the feudal system to break down
The massive death toll created a severe shortage of workers. Surviving peasants could demand higher wages, refuse to work for abusive lords, and move to towns for cash-paying jobs, shattering the strict feudal hierarchy.
Contrast Business Model A (fair price) with Business Model B (high profit).
Model A relied on local guilds, local workshops, and paying workers "Christian wages" high enough to support a family. Model B relied on global merchants who imported mass raw materials, outsourced steps to different locations to cut costs, and focused entirely on maximum profit.
How did humanists view the balance between religion and education?
They did not reject God, but they believed God gave humans minds to be used. They believed education should focus on developing human potential, reasoning, and studying the present world, rather than only preparing for the afterlife.
Why did the development of the printing press change society?
It allowed information to be printed quickly and cheaply. This broke the Church's monopoly on knowledge, caused literacy rates to skyrocket, and allowed humanist ideas to spread across Europe faster than ever before.
Describe the major differences between town life and manor life.
Manor life was rural, agricultural, strictly controlled by a lord, and offered zero social mobility. Town life was crowded and dirty, but offered freedom, a cash economy, social mobility, and opportunities to join craft guilds.
List 3 reasons why Italy became the epicentre of European trade.
Any three of: Geography (a peninsula right in the middle of Mediterranean trade routes), Climate (mild winters allowed for year-round shipping and farming), The Crusades (helped establish early trade links with the East), and Lack of a single King (independent city-states governed themselves like businesses).
What does "Civic Humanism" ask citizens to do for their society?
It argues that true humanists shouldn't just study books in private; they have a duty to actively participate in public life, use their education to improve their government, and contribute to the well-being of their community.
Name the astronomer who argued the Sun was the center of the universe.
Nicolaus Copernicus (Galileo Galilei is also acceptable, as he built the telescope to prove it, but Copernicus mathematically introduced the concept).
What major peasant uprising in 1381 in England was directly fueled by post-plague labor laws that tried to freeze wages at pre-plague levels, and what worldview shift did it represent?
The Peasants' Revolt (or Wat Tyler's Rebellion). It represented a shift toward questioning the "divine right" of the nobility and a growing belief in individual value, personal freedom, and social equality.
Define the concept of usury and explain how the changing attitude toward it during the Renaissance reflected a shift in the European economic worldview.
Usury is the practice of charging interest when loaning money. Originally condemned as a sin by the medieval Catholic Church, it was legalized and accepted during the Renaissance because expansion of international trade and banking (by groups like the Medici) required loans. It marks a shift from a worldview focused strictly on the afterlife/sin to one focused on worldly wealth and economic growth.
Who wrote The Courtier, what did it describe as the ultimate "Renaissance Man," and how did this clash with medieval ideals of a perfect noble?
Written by Baldassare Castiglione. It argued that a noble shouldn't just be a physically strong warrior (the medieval knight ideal), but must also be highly educated in the arts, literature, history, and music, possessing sprezzatura (effortless grace). It shifted the ideal from blind loyalty and muscle to intellect and cultural refinement.
Explain how Andreas Vesalius revolutionized medicine during the Renaissance, and why his methods were considered a massive break from medieval scientific traditions.
Vesalius dissected human corpses to draw incredibly accurate anatomical charts of the human body. This broke from medieval traditions because the Church had banned dissection, and medieval doctors relied entirely on blindly trusting ancient texts (like Galen) rather than using direct observation, experimentation, and empirical evidence.