Chpt. 17, The Transformation of the West Flashcards
Niccolo Machiavelli
author of The Prince (16th century), he emphasized the realistic discussion of how to seize and maintain power, justified the right of the ruler to use any means to govern his state
humanism
a focus on humankind as the center of intellectual and artistic endeavor, it was a method of study that emphasized the superiority of classical forms over medieval styles, in particular the study of ancient languages
Northern Renaissance
a cultural and intellectual movement of northern Europe, it began later than the Italian Renaissance c. 1450, and was centered in France, the Low Countries, and Germany, and featured greater emphasis on religion then the Italian Renaissance
Francis 1
a King of France in the 16th century, he was regarded as a Renaissance monarch, and was a patron of the arts; he imposed new controls on the Catholic church, and was an ally of the Ottoman sultan against the Holy Roman Empire
Johannes Gutenberg
he introduced movable type to western Europe in the 15th century, and was credited with greatly expanding the availability of printed books and pamphlets
European-style family
this originated in the 15th century among the peasants and artisans of western Europe, featuring late marriage age, emphasis on the nuclear family, and a large minority who never married
Martin Luther
a German monk who initiated the Protestant Reformation in 1517 by nailing 95 theses to the door of Wittenberg church; he emphasized the primacy of faith over works, and accepted state control over the church
Protestantism; Protestant Reformation
a general wave of religious dissent against the Catholic Church the was generally held to have begun with Martin Luther’s attack on Catholic beliefs in 1517; it included many varieties of religious belief
Anglican Church; aka Church of England
a form of Protestantism set up in England after 1534, it was established by Henry the 8th with himself as the head, at least in part to obtain a divorce from his wife; it became increasingly Protestant following Henry’s death
Jean Calvin
a French Protestant (16th century) who stressed the doctrine of established predestination; he established the center of his group at the Swiss canton of Geneva, and he encouraged ideas of wider access to government, and a wider public education; Calvinism spread from Switzerland to northern Europe and North America
Catholic Reformation
a restatement of traditional Catholic beliefs in response to the Protestant Reformation (16th century); it established councils that revived Catholic doctrine and refuted Protestant beliefs; aka the “Counter-Reformation”
Jesuits; aka the Society of Jesus
a new religious order founded during the Catholic Reformation, it was active in politics, education, and missionary work, and it sponsored missions to South America, North America, and Asia
Edict of Nantes
a grant of tolerance to Protestants in France in 1598, it was granted only after a lengthy civil war between Catholic and Protestant factions
Thirty Years War
a war within the Holy Roman Empire between German Protestants and their allies (Sweden, Denmark, France) and the emperor and his ally, Spain; it ended in 1648 after great destruction with the Treaty of Westphalia
Treaty of Westphalia
this ended the Thirty Years War in 1648, and granted the right to individual rulers within the Holy Roman Empire to choose their own religion, either Protestant or Catholic
English Civil War
lasting from 1642 to 1649, it was an uprising against the religious persecution and strict rule of Charles 1 of England
proletariat
a class of working people without access to producing property; typically consisted of manufacturing workers, paid laborers in an agricultural economy, or urban poor; in Europe, they were the product of the economic changes of the 16th and 17th centuries
witchcraft persecution
reflecting the resentment against the poor and uncertainties about religious truth, this persecution resulted in the death of over 100,000 Europeans between 1590 and 1650, and was particularly common in Protestant areas
Scientific Revolution
culminating in the 17th century, this was a period of empirical advances associated with the development of wider theoretical generalizations, and resulted in changes in traditional beliefs of the Middle Ages
Copernicus
a Polish monk and astronomer (16th century) who disproved the Hellenistic (and still popular) belief that the earth was at the center of the universe; there is controversy as to whether he discovered this himself or copied the works of previous Arab scientists
Johannes Kepler
an astronomer and mathematician who was a prominent figure in the scientific revolution; he used the work of Copernicus and his own observations to prove that the orbits of the planets around the sun were ellipses rather than circles
Galileo
he published Copernicus’ finding (17th century), and added his own discoveries concerning the laws of gravity and planetary motion; he was condemned by the Catholic church for his work
William Harvey
an English physician (17th century) who demonstrated the circulatory movement of blood in animals, and the function of the heart as a pump
Francis Bacon
an English philosopher, author, statesman, and scientist, he was an influential member of the scientific revolution, and is best known for his work on the scientific method
René Descartes
he established the importance of the skeptical review of all received wisdom (17th century) and argued that human reason could develop laws that would explain the fundamental workings of nature
Isaac Newton
an English scientist who in 1687 set forth the basic principles of all motion, defined the forces of gravity, and helped establish the basic scientific method
Deism
the concept of God current during the Scientific Revolution; the role of divinity was to set natural laws in motion, not to regulate once processes had begun
John Locke
an English philosopher who argued that people could learn everything through senses and reason and that the power of government came from the people, not from divine right of kings; he offered the possibility of revolution to overthrow tyrants
absolute monarchy
the concept of government developed during the rise of nation-states in western Europe during the 17th century; it featured monarchs who passed laws without parliaments, appointed professionalized armies and bureaucracies, established state churches, and imposed state economic policies
Louis the 14th
a French monarch of the late 17th century who personified absolute monarchy
Glorious Revolution
the English overthrow of James the 2nd in 1688, it resulted in the affirmation of parliament as having basic sovereignty over the king
parliamentary monarchy
this originated in England and Holland in the 17th century, and was a system in which kings were partially checked by significant legislative powers in parliaments
Frederick the Great
a Prussian king of the 18th century who attempted to introduce Enlightenment reforms in Germany; he built on the military and bureaucratic foundations of his predecessors, and introduced freedom of religion; he also introduced state control of the economy
Enlightenment
an intellectual movement centered in France during the 18th century, it featured scientific advance, application of scientific methods to the study of human society, and the belief that rational laws could describe human behavior
Adam Smith
established liberal economics (Wealth of Nation, 1776), and argued that government should avoid regulation of the economy in favor of the operation of market forces
Denis Diderot
a French Enlightenment figure best known for his work on the first encyclopedia
Mary Wollstonecraft
an Enlightenment feminist thinker in England who argued that new political rights should extend to women, and fought for women’s rights
mass consumerism
the spread of deep interest in acquiring material goods and services below elite levels of society, along with a growing economic capacity to afford some of these goods; while hints of this can be found in several premodern societies, it developed most clearly beginning in Western Europe, from the 18th century onward; constituted the development of a middle class
