Key terms Flashcards
alacabala
-a sales tax, usually 10%.
alhambra
-the fortress and palace of the Moorish rulers of Granada, built between the 12th and 13th c.
arable
-land that can be ploughed and is suitable for growing crops.
Aragon
-in the mid 15th, the Crown of Aragon consisted of three kingdoms, Aragon, Catalonia and Valencia.
armada
- a fleet of warships.
arquebuse
-an early musket.
artillery
-large military weapons built to fire projectiles far beyond the range of an infantry’s small arms.
audiencia
-a court of appeal.
auto de fé
-a public ceremony at which the Inquisition announced its sentences for those found guilty. The burning of any heretics took place after such ceremonies and was carried out by the secular authorities.
Basque countries
-consisted of Vizcaya, Guipuzcoa, Alava and Navarre and were in the western end of the Pyrenees. In the mid 15h c Navarre, the main Basque country, was partly in Spain and partly in France.
benefice
-a Church appointment with a guaranteed amount of income and property.
blasphemy
-action or offence of speaking in an insulting or disrespectful way towards God.
bullion
-amount of gold and silver valued by weight, before it is minted into coins.
Calvinism
-a more extreme branch of Protestantism. John Calvin was a Protestant reformer based in Geneva who prioritised issues of organisation as well as belief.
Castile
-in the mid 15th c the Crown of Castile occupied the area from Burgos in the north to Toledo in the south.
cathedral chapter
-a group of clerics formed to advise bishops.
Comuneros
-the city dwellers who organised themselves to defend the rights of their communities against the government. The term is often associated with a rebellion or a revolt. (Spanish for members of a community).
comunidad
-many of the towns in Castile joined together in a league to rebel against the imposition of Habsburg authority.
conquistador
-a conquerer, especially one of the Spanish conquerers of Mexico and Peru in the 16th c.
conversos
-Jews who converted to Christianity, many forcibly, to avoid persecution or expulsion from Spain to Portugal.
convivencia
-the coexistence of Christians, Jews and Muslims in medieval Spain.
corregidores
-Crown governors appointed to Castilian towns.
corsairs
-pirates, especially the privateers who operated along the Barbary Coast (north Africa).
Cortes
-the parliament in each of the kingdoms in Castile and Aragon (called Corts in Catalonia).
cruzada
-a tax, or money offering, which was earmarked for the Christian crusades against Muslims.
debasement
-lowering the value of the currency, particularly in connection with the reminting of coins. A coin is debased if its gold, silver, copper or nickel content is reduced.
ducat
-a variety of gold and silver coins that became widely used in western Europe. One ducat was worth 375 maravedís.
encomienda
-a land grant given to an individual in return for his services to the Crown. Settlers receiving these grants also received a specific number of natives from a particular community.
Erasmist
-follower of Erasmus and his doctrine.
excusado
-a tax on clerical property introduced in 1567 and usually paid as a lump sum by the Church.
frontiersmen
-Christian men who lived on the frontier of Christian and Muslim Spain; they had to fight to defend and extend Christian lands.
fueros
-Aragonese laws and privileges.
fuggers
-a politically influential banking family from Germany with trading links throughout Europe. The loans they made to Charles I enabled him to become HRE.
Germanía
-‘brotherhood’. It was a Christian brotherhood of armed volunteers formed to defend the Valerian coast against Muslim pirates.
grandee
-a Spanish nobleman of the highest rank. During the reign of Charles I the number of grandees was limited to 25.
Habsburgs
-rulers of Austria and the Netherlands, they also held the elected position of Holy Roman Emperor, with control over a large number of states of various sizes which made up the Holy Roman Empire.
Hermandad
-a local peace-keeping force (plural Hermandades).
Huguenots
-French Protestants.
Iberian Peninsula
-the land mass occupied by today’s Spain and Portugal. It is separated from France by the Pyrenees Mountains and from Africa by the Strait of Gibraltar.