Spanish History definitions

Question 1

Albaicín

Answer 1

Key district in Granada

Question 2

Alcabala

Answer 2

10% sales tax levied in Castile

Question 3

Alumbrados

Answer 3

Otherwise known as the illuminists
They were mystics who downplayed the external manifestations of religion (including Church ceremonies) who attracted the attention of the Inquisition

Question 4

Arquebuses

Answer 4

Type of firearm

Question 5

Audiencias

Answer 5

High courts, in the new world they became apart of the government

Question 6

Auto da fé

Answer 6

Means act of faith. Popularly used to refer to the act of burning those found guilty of heresy in the inquisition

Question 7

Barbary States

Answer 7

North African states, e.g. Algiers, which professed the Islamic faith and collaborated with the Ottoman empire. They were also the place in which corsairs resided

Question 8

Corsairs

Answer 8

Muslim Pirates e.g. Barbarossa

Question 9

Bureaucracy

Answer 9

system of administration

Question 10

Caballero

Answer 10

A knight belonging to the lower nobility

Question 11

Canon Law

Answer 11

The Catholic Church’s laws used to govern the church and its members

Question 12

Church’s index of forbidden books

Answer 12

represents the Church’s list of censored books, works that were considered to contain heretical ideas

Question 13

Comunidades

Answer 13

refers to the communities and towns in castille which played a prominent role in the Comuneros revolt. They united a revolt under a rebel government (the Santa Junta de Comunidad)

Question 14

Conquistadores

Answer 14

Explorers, entrepreneurs and soldiers who sought to conquer territory in the New World, such as Hernán Cortes and Francisco Pizarro

Question 15

Consulta

Answer 15

Reports summarising the discussions of Council meetings, which would be relayed to the monarch

Question 16

Conversos

Answer 16

New Christians, especially Jewish converts to Christianity

Question 17

Corregidor

Answer 17

royal officials in Castilian towns

Question 18

Defenestrate

Answer 18

Throwing an individual out of a window with a view of harming or killing them

Question 19

Despatches

Answer 19

Documents or correspondence between representatives from different territories, especially those composed by ambassadors

Question 20

Diputación de Reyno

Answer 20

The permanent committee of the Aragonses Cortes which oversaw the administration of revenues and promoted the provinces liberties.

Question 21

Ducats

Answer 21

Unit of currency in Castille however accounting was mainly processed in maravedis (1 ducat = 375 maravedis)

Question 22

Elector

Answer 22

The Holy Roman Emperors were elected by seven electors. They were the most politically influential princes within the Empire

Question 23

Encabezamiento

Answer 23

System that assessed and organised the collection of taxes within localities

Question 24

Encomienda

Answer 24

As applied in the New World, a system whereby some Spanish colonists became the official protectors of large groups of natives in return for tribute, normally in the form of free labour

Question 25

Excusado

Answer 25

A tax upon properties in parishes granted by pope Pius V in 1967

Question 26

Galleasses

Answer 26

Higher, larger and slower than regular galleys, galleases played a major role in the battle of lepanto on account of their firepower

Question 27

Germanía

Answer 27

The brotherhood of rebels in Valencia during the early years of Charles V's reign

Question 28

Hidalgo

Answer 28

Lowest rank of the nobility

Question 29

Janissaries

Answer 29

Elite armed forces of the Ottoman empire

Question 30

Juro

Answer 30

Fixed sum paid by the crown in repayment of a loan

Question 31

Justiciar

Answer 31

The officially appointed legal protector of Aragonese rights and liberties

Question 32

Landgrave

Answer 32

Title of the rulers of certain territories within the holy roman empire, roughly equivalent to the count

Question 33

Letrado

Answer 33

A lawyer with university degrees in law and 10 years experience

Question 34

Maravedí

Answer 34

Unit of currency

Question 35

Mayorazgo

Answer 35

Resisting the division of inheritance so that families retained ownership of land

Question 36

Millones

Answer 36

A tax on meat, wine, oil and vinegar, voted in 1589 which eventually became permanent

Question 37

Moriscos

Answer 37

New Christians, especially Muslims who convert to Christianity

Question 38

Observant Reform

Answer 38

Reform of Catholic religious orders, motivated by the goal of returning to, and indeed, observing the original rules of each orders founders

Question 39

Ottomans

Answer 39

Rulers and inhabitants of the powerful Muslim empire that stretched around the Mediterranean and into Europe in the Sixteenth century. Constantinople was it's imperial capital

Question 40

Papal Bull

Answer 40

document with the papal seal declaring the commands and policies of the papacy

Question 41

Papal fief

Answer 41

territories handed out by the papacy in exchange for loyalty, the provision of funds and the protection of the church

Question 42

Poderes

Answer 42

instructions that town representatives were expected to follow

Question 43

Polygot Bible

Answer 43

A bible containing side-by-side versions of text in several different languages

Question 44

Prerogative

Answer 44

Rights and privileges of a monarch

Question 45

Procurador

Answer 45

Urban representatives in the Castilian Cortes

Question 46

Roman Law

Answer 46

Codified law originating in ancient Rome that contrasted with local customary rules

Question 47

Sea Beggars

Answer 47

Dutch Calvinists who were privateers and opposed spanish rule in the Netherlands

Question 48

Señorío

Answer 48

Lordship associated with particular area

Question 49

Subsidies

Answer 49

Taxes voted in the Cortes

Question 50

Tercio

Answer 50

Elite Spanish regiment that used square formation combining use of arquebuses and pikes

Question 51

Council of Trent

Answer 51

Reforming council of the Roman Catholic Church which opened in 1945 and concluded in 1963. The tridentine decrees focused on doctrines and the reform of discipline. In many countries and regions, they took decades to be implemented

Question 52

Tridentine

Answer 52

Of or pertaining to the Council of Trent (e.g. decrees of reform)

Question 53

Viceroy

Answer 53

Governor of a particular province (e.g. Aragon, Naples and Portugal (later)) to which Spanish rulers delegated their powers