Absolute Monarchy
A system of government in which the head of state is a hereditary position and the king or queen has almost complete power.
Mary Wollstonecraft
English writer and early feminist who denied male supremacy and advocated equal education for women
Predestination
The belief that what happens in human life has already been determined by some higher power
Cervantes
Spanish writer best remembered for 'Don Quixote' which satirizes chivalry and influenced the development of the novel form (1547-1616).
Social Sciences
The intellectual and academic disciplines designed to understand the social world objectively by means of controlled and repeated observations.
Martin Luther
A German monk who became one of the most famous critics of the Roman Catholic Church. In 1517, he wrote 95 theses, or statements of belief attacking the church practices.
Isaac Newton
English mathematician and scientist who invented differential calculus and formulated the theory of universal gravitation, a theory about the nature of light, and three laws of motion. His treatise on gravitation, presented in Principia Matematica (1687), was supposedly inspired by the sight of a falling apple.
Encyclopedia Britannica
Compilation of scientific and philosophical writings, won a wide audience and a few made their fortune off of it.
Glorious Revolution
In this bloodless revolution, the English Parliament and William and Mary agreed to overthrow James II for the sake of Protestantism. This led to a constitutional monarchy and the drafting of the English Bill of Rights.
Northern Renaissance
The movement in Art in Germany and Flanders that reflected greater religious tones; emphasized critical thinking, developed Christian humanism criticizing the church & society, painting/woodcuts/literature.
Witchcraft
Many people (mostly women) were accused of this and burned at the stake in medieval and early modern Europe.
Louis XIV
King of France from 1643 to 1715; his long reign was marked by the expansion of French influence in Europe and by the magnificence of his court and the Palace of Versailles (1638-1715).
Rabelais
He was a major French Renaissance writer, doctor and humanist. He is regarded as an avant-garde writer of fantasy and satire.
Catholic Reformation
Religious reform movement within the Latin Christian Church, begun in response to the Protestant Reformation. It clarified Catholic theology and reformed clerical training and discipline.
95 Theses
Written by Martin Luther and is widely regarded as the primary catalyst for the Protestant Reformation. It is vitally important to understand that these theses were used for the intent of displaying Luther's displeasure with the Church's indulgences.
William Shakespeare
English poet and dramatist considered one of the greatest English writers (1564-1616).
Protestanism
General wave of religious dissent against the Catholic church; generally held to have begun with Martin Luther's attack on Catholic beliefs in 1517; included many varieties of religious belief.
Deism
The religion of the Enlightenment (1700's). Followers believed that God existed and had created the world, but that afterwards He left it to run by its own natural laws. Denied that God communicated to man or in any way influenced his life.
Capitilism
Economic system in which private citizens own and use the factors of production in order to generate profits.
Leonardo da Vinci
Italian painter and sculptor and engineer and scientist and architect. Famous for Mona Lisa, Last Supper, etc... Discoveries were far ahead of his time: anatomy, science, art.
Parliamentary Monarchy
Originated in England and Holland, 17th century, with kings partially checked by significant legislative powers in parliaments.
Rene Descartes
French philosopher and mathematician; developed dualistic theory of mind and matter; introduced the use of coordinates to locate a point in two or three dimensions (1596-1650).
Boccaccio
(1313-1375) Wrote the Decameron which tells about ambitious merchants, portrays a sensual, and worldly society. Italian poet.
Anglican Church
Form of Protestantism set up in England after 1534; established by Henry VIII with himself as head, at least in part to obtain a divorce from his first wife; became increasingly Protestant following Henry's death.
Jesuits
Also known as the Society of Jesus; founded by Ignatius Loyola (1491-1556) as a teaching and missionary order to resist the spread of Protestantism.
Indulgences
Selling of forgiveness by the Catholic Church. It was common practice when the church needed to raise money. The practice led to the Reformation.
Frederick the Great
This was the Prussian king who embraced culture and wrote poetry and prose. He gave religious and philosophical toleration to all subjects, abolished torture and made the laws simpler
John Kay
1733, a Brit who invented the fly shuttle. Made it possible for one person instead of two to operate a loom in textile manufacturing. It increased the output of woven material and therefore also the demand for yarn.
Lutheranism
The religious doctrine that Martin Luther developed; it differed from Catholicism the doctrine of salvation, which Luther believed could be achieved by faith alone, not by good works; Lutheranism was the first Protestant faith.
Mercantilism
An economic system (Europe in 18th C) to increase a nation's wealth by government regulation of all of the nation's commercial interests.
Niccolo Machiavelli
Italian Renaissance writer, described government in the way it actually worked (ruthless). He wrote The Prince (the end justifies the mean). Statesman of Florence who advocated a strong central government (1469-1527)
Elizabeth I
This queen of England chose a religion between the Puritans and Catholics and required her subjects to attend church or face a fine. She also required uniformity and conformity to the Church of England. Daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn; she succeeded Mary I (Catholic) and restored Protestantism to England; during her reign Mary Queen of Scots was executed and the Spanish Armada was defeated.
Thirty Years War
(1618-48) A series of European wars that were partially a Catholic-Protestant religious conflict. It was primarily a battle between France and their rivals the Hapsburg's, rulers of the Holy Roman Empire.
Adam Smith
Scottish political economist and philosopher. His Wealth of Nations (1776) laid the foundations of classical free-market economic theory, government should not interfere with economics. Advocates Laissez Faire and founder of "invisible hand".
Jean Calvin
French Protestant (16th century) who stressed doctrine of predestination; established center of his group at Swiss canton of Geneva; encouraged ideas of wider access to government, wider public education; Calvinism spread from Switzerland to northern Europe and North America.
Edict of Nantes
1598, decree promulgated at Nantes by King Henry IV to restore internal peace in France, which had been torn by the Wars of Religion; the edict defined the rights of the French Protestants.
Catherine the Great
This was the empress of Russia who continued Peter's goal to Westernizing Russia, created a new law code, and greatly expanded Russia.
Johannes Gutenberg
German printer who was the first in Europe to print using movable type and the first to use a press (1400-1468).
Liberty and Equality
Two ideas that fueled revolution in America and Europe. It was a call for individual human rights.
Henry VIII
English king who created the Church of England after the Pope refused to annul his marriage (divorce with Church approval).
Humanism
The doctrine emphasizing a person's capacity for self-realization through reason.
Scientific Revolution
An era between 16th and 18th centuries when scientists began doing research in a new way using the scientific method.
Copernicus
Polish astronomer who produced a workable model of the solar system with the sun in the center (1473-1543).
Treaty of Westphalia
Ended Thirty Years War in 1648; granted right to individual rulers within the Holy Roman Empire to choose their own religion-either Protestant or Catholic.