Key Terms Flashcards
1
Q
What was the Cortes?
A
- a provincial representative assembly consisting of nobles, clergy and town officials. There were different Cortes in Castile, Aragon, Catalonia and Valencia, all of which were generally summoned to raise taxes and approve legal legislation
2
Q
What was the Mesta?
A
- a powerful organisation that controlled the movement of sheep across the Iberian Peninsula, defended and promoted the interests of wool trade
3
Q
What were the Fueros?
A
- existing laws, traditions and liberties of a province. In contrast with the Castilian Crown, there was greater pressure on the kings of Aragon to observe the fueros
4
Q
What was the Santa Hermandad?
A
- some Castilian towns established hermandades to keep peace. In 1476, F+I placed these organisations under royal control. It was coordinated by a general council and financed by local communities, including clergy and nobility
5
Q
What were the military orders?
A
- chivalric organisations, established to facilitate the reconquest of southern Spain, by 1480s they had accumulated land, property, fortresses and even control over some towns. The most influential military orders were Santiago, Calatrava and Alcántara
6
Q
What was the Audiencia?
A
- the highest court in Castile
7
Q
What was the Reconquista?
A
- after Muslim Arabs conquered the Iberian Peninsula in the eighth century, Christians from the north began a long process of reconquest that often took the form of a crusade. The military subjugation of the Moorish kingdom of Granada by Castile in 1492 marked its end
8
Q
What were Moors?
A
- the Muslims living on the Iberian peninsula were referred to as Moors
9
Q
What were the Corsairs?
A
- Muslim pirates who were much feared by Christian European seaborne traders and travellers
10
Q
What were the Moriscos?
A
- people of Moorish descent who had converted to Christianity. Labelled as New Christians, they were granted legal equality to Old Christians, though they weren’t allowed to possess weapons. The sincerity of their conversion was questioned
11
Q
What were the Conversos?
A
- formerly Jews, who converted to Christianity, labelled as New Christians and sincerity of their conversion was questioned
12
Q
What was the Spanish Inquisition?
A
- established to eradicate heresy from different provinces, predominantly targeted the conversos as it only had the wright to investigate Christians, therefore not Jews or Muslims
13
Q
What were the Conquistadores?
A
- adventures, who sought to discover and explore new lands primarily for the sake of their self-advancement. Most important territorial conquests were against the Aztec and Incan empires in Mexico and Peru
14
Q
What was the Imperial Diets?
A
- the Holy Roman Empire was politically fragmented, composed of diverse princely states and imperial cities. Leading secular and ecclesiastical princes, as well as urban representatives, were invited to discuss policies at the Imperial Diets
15
Q
What was a Fifth column?
A
- a group or faction with a common identity (Moriscos) who seek to undermine from within a larger group with different principles
16
Q
What was the Alcabala?
A
- a 10% sales tax levied in Castile
