Elizabethan Times Glossary Flashcards
1
Q
Abdicate
A
When a monarch gives up their throne
2
Q
Accession
A
The time when an individual becomes a monarch
3
Q
Allegory
A
Writing or art containing metaphorical symbols that have hidden moral or political meanings
4
Q
Alms
A
Charity given to the poor. Almshouses are houses provided for poor people to live in.
5
Q
Ambassador
A
The official representative of a foreign ruler at the Court.
6
Q
Arable land
A
Land used for growing crops
7
Q
Armada
A
A fleet of warships
8
Q
Astrolabe
A
An instrument used by navigators to calculate latitude
9
Q
Beacon
A
A fire set up in a high position as a warning. A chain had been built across England prior to the Armada
10
Q
Broadside
A
A firing of all the guns from one side of a warship
11
Q
Bull
A
A decree issued by the Pope
12
Q
Bureaucracy
A
A system of government involving lots of departments and paper work
13
Q
Burgess
A
An inhabitant of a town or borough who represented that place as an MP
14
Q
Calvinist
A
Protestant followers of John Calvin of Geneva
15
Q
Censorship
A
To block something from being read heard or seen usually by the government
16
Q
Census
A
A population count
17
Q
Chaplain
A
A clergyman attached to the private chapel of a prominent person
18
Q
Circumnavigation
A
To travel all the way around the circumference (of the world)
19
Q
Clergy
A
Churchmen, including priests, bishops and archbishops
20
Q
Colony
A
An area ruled over by another country
21
Q
Conspiracy
A
A secret plan to do something unlawful or harmful
22
Q
Court
A
The residence of the monarch and their household
23
Q
Courtiers
A
Members of the royal court who attended and advised the Queen
24
Q
Cult
A
A system of devotional worship directed towards a particular figure
25
Culverins
A type of cannon used on English ships that was light, easy to reload and had a long range
26
Dearth
When food is so scarce and expensive that it threatens famine
27
Death warrant
An official order for the execution of a condemned person. It had to be signed by the monarch then authenticated with the Royal Seal and then delivered to the place of execution
28
Debasement
To reduce the amount of precious metal in a coin
29
Dynasty
A ruling family
30
Empire
An extensive group of colonies ruled over by a single more powerful county.
31
Enclosure
The division of land, including the village common land, into separate fields with hedges, allowing a change from arable to sheep farming
32
Episcopal
A church hierarchy structured around bishops
33
Excommunicated
To be expelled from the Church
34
Flax
A plant used to make linen
35
Galleon
A large ship especially used by Spain either as a warship or for trading
36
Galley
A type of ship with sails and oars
37
Gauntlet
An armoured glove worn by a soldier
38
Gentry
Well born families who owned land but did not have titles and so were below the rank of nobility
39
Great chain of being
An idea that everything in the universe has its place in a rigid hierarchy
40
Heir
The person who is next in line to inherit the throne
41
Hemp
A plant that could be used to make rope
42
Heretic
A person who did not follow the official religion of the country
43
House arrest
The state of being kept as a prisoner in a house rather than in a prison
44
Huguenot
A French Protestant. They suffered severe persecution and many emigrated
45
Humanism
Intellectual branch of the renaissance drawing on classical texts and stressing the dignity of mankind
46
Illegitimate
The opposite of legitimate meaning a child born out of wedlock
47
Inflation
Rising prices
48
Jesuit
Roman Catholic missionary priests
49
Justice of the peace
A JP is a magistrate who heard minor cases in local areas
50
Legislation
Acts of Parliament (laws) had to be approved by the monarch and both Houses of Parliament
51
Loggia
A gallery with one side opening on to a garden
52
Martyr
Somebody who suffers and dies for their beliefs
53
Mass
One of the seven sacraments re-enacting the last supper. A key catholic ritual
54
Monasteries
The religious houses occupied by monks dissolved by Henry VIII between 1536 and 1540
55
Monopolies
Royal licences giving individuals sole right to sell or make a product leading to their profit and often leading to high prices
56
Mullioned windows
Large windows made up of lots of panes of glass divided by vertical supports
57
Nationalism
Patriotic feelings marked by a desire for superiority over other countries
58
New world
A sixteenth-century term for North and South America newly discovered at this time by Europeans
59
Ottoman Empire
A Muslim empire centred on Turkey that was rapidly expanding at this time extending across North Africa, Arabia and Eastern Europe
60
Patent
A licence that gives a person sole right to do, make, use or sell something
61
Patronage
Using wealth, power and influence to promote individuals who then owe their patrons loyalty
62
Peers
Members of the nobility sitting in the House of Lords
63
Personal monarchy
Where politics and government revolve around the monarch and their court
64
Plague
The bubonic plague was a very infectious disease spread by rats and fleas. It caused swellings called buboes, fever and usually death. When it first struck Europe, it had killed about half the population and it was a recurrent problem in Tudor England.
65
Plantation
A type of colonisation involving the establishment of a government-sponsored settlement of emigrants.
66
Poor rate
A local tax used to fund workhouses and poor relief
67
Printing press
Invented in the fifteenth century in Germany, it allowed the mass production of books and images.
68
Privateers
Pirates licensed by the government to attack and loot enemy ships.
69
Privy councillors
Members of the privy council the committee of ministers appointed to advise the monarch
70
Progresses
Royal tour visits to the homes of the nobility
71
Propaganda
Something that spreads a message in order to encourage people to think or behave in a particular way.
72
Prophesying
Prayer meetings where the bible was discussed and sermons said.
73
Puritan
An extreme Protestant favouring very plain churches and simple church services without music
74
Pursuivants
Government priest-hunters who would search houses suspected of hiding catholics.
75
Queen regnant
A queen ruling in her own right rather than because she is married to a king
76
Rack-renting
Charging an extortionately high rent
77
Recoinage
To stabilise the currency, old debased coins were melted down and new coins issued
78
Recusant
Someone usually a Roman Catholic who refuses to go to church services
79
Reformation
A movement for the reform of abuses in the Roman Catholic Church which ended up splitting the Church with the establishment of separate Protestant churches
80
Regent
A person who governs on behalf of another who is incapable of ruling due to age, ability, illness or location.
81
Regicide
The deliberate killing of a monarch
82
Renaissance
An intellectual and cultural movement originating in Italy in the Middle Ages heavily influenced by the Ancient Greeks and Romans
83
Sacrament
A sacred ritual recognised as of particular importance
84
Sceptre
And ornamental wand held in the hand of a ruling monarch at the coronation as a sign of their power and godliness
85
Seminary
A school providing training for priests
86
Smallpox
An often-fatal viral disease the symptoms of which included fever and blisters
87
Suitor
A man who pursues a relationship with a particular woman with a view to marriage
88
Tavern
A public house serving alcohol and food as well as providing accommodation for travellers
89
Traitor
Somebody guilty of treason
90
Transubstantiation
The belief that the bread and the wine used in the mass turn into the actual body and blood of Jesus Christ
91
Treason
A crime involving disloyalty to your country, Monarch or government.
92
Uniformity
All being the same.
93
Vagabond
A homeless vagrant, wandering from place to place who would beg and steal.
94
Vagrant
A homeless unemployed person who wanders from place to place and begs
95
Vestal virgin
In ancient Rome there were six women who took a vow of chastity and whose lives were dedicated to the goddess Vesta
96
Vestments
The garments worn by the clergy
97
Wattle and daub
Walls built from interwoven wooden strips covered in mud or clay.
98
Workhouse
An umbrella term for the institutions set up by the poor law. Separate institutions were envisaged by the laws but the distinctions between them became blurred over time. In theory poorhouses were to provide shelter for the ‘impotent poor’ workhouses to provide work for the ‘able-bodies poor’ and ‘houses of correction’ were to detain the ‘idle poor’.
99
Yeoman
A farmer who owned his own small estate
