Key Terms in European History: From Ancient Rome to the Renaissance
Posted on May 12, 2024 in History
Key Terms in European History
From Ancient Rome to the Renaissance
- 95 Theses: A list of 95 criticisms about the abuses of the Catholic Church posted on the door of a church in Wittenberg by a German monk named Martin Luther. The theses stated that the Bible is the final authority, so you don’t need popes and bishops, and that there are only two sacraments: baptism and communion. This spread rapidly throughout Europe and sparked the beginning of the Protestant Reformation and the spread of Lutheranism.
- Act of Supremacy: An act passed by King Henry VIII in 1534 that made the king, and not the Pope, the head of the Church in England. He did this so that he could appoint a new Archbishop of Canterbury that would grant him an annulment from his wife so he could marry Anne Boleyn.
- Battle of Hastings: In 1066, Edward the Confessor asked the council to make William, the Duke of Normandy, his heir, but the council did not want a Norman to rule, so they made Harold Godwinson, an Anglo-Saxon, the king. William invaded England to claim his place as king, and during this battle, Harold was killed, the Anglo-Saxon forces were weakened, and William took the throne, marking the beginning of modern-day England.
- Concordat of Worms: An agreement made between Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor, and the Pope in 1122, which ended lay investiture in Germany. Under this agreement, the Emperor would invest people with secular titles, and the Pope would invest people with religious titles. After this, power would go back and forth between the church and the state, leading to instability in Europe, causing people to look to cultural movements like scholasticism to regain stability.
- Council of Trent: A council formed by the Roman Catholic Church in response to the Protestant Reformation. They met for 18 years to try to make reforms that would keep people from leaving the Church and becoming Protestant, but they never actually changed any doctrines, and England never went back to being a Roman Catholic nation.
- Diocletian: A military man who became the emperor of Rome in 284 and then split it up among an Augustus and two Caesars, creating a tetrarchy. During his rule, he strengthened the military, took tax burdens off of the plebeians, and created a police state in which everyone was loyal out of fear of being executed. He and his Augustus left the throne in the hands of the Caesars in 305, putting the empire back into a weakening state of civil war and disorder.
- Hegira: The journey that Mohammed and his family took from Mecca to Medina in 622. In Medina, people listened to his ideas, and the first Muslim community formed; therefore, this is the beginning of the Muslim calendar.
- Humanism: A movement during the Renaissance that concentrated on human aspects of life rather than religious aspects. This was taught by Easterners who moved to Western Europe and many women. They advocated a liberal arts education.
- Hundred Years War: A 116-year-long war between France and England, who both wanted to increase their size and power. Although England had better leadership and weaponry, France won because of their strong sense of nationalism and pushed England completely out of France by 1453. This war was a major turning point in the history of Europe because feudalism started to die out, monarchies and parliaments grew stronger, civil strife peaked, the economy changed, and France, England, Spain, and Portugal were all now fighting for control over the Christians.
- Johann Gutenberg: A German inventor who invented the printing press with movable type in the 1400s that allowed for the printing of large texts. This invention helped the spread of the Reformation as Bibles and other papers with Reformation ideas, like the 95 Theses, could be printed instead of hand-written.
- Magna Carta: A charter that King John of England was pressured by nobles to sign in 1215. It took away power from the monarchy as any money needed by the King (all taxes) had to be approved by nobles. Also, under the charter, no one could be imprisoned for what they say without a trial, and no one can be forcibly removed from their homes, among others. This served as the foundation for the English system of common law.
- Mercantilism: Making profits or wealth through trading/commercialism that became more popular in Europe after the Crusades and the discovery of eastern spices, silks, and jewels. Merchants were making a lot of profits and started to form a middle class that Europe never had before. Mercantilism helped bring about the end of feudalism because merchants would give the king gold for ships, therefore giving him money to pay his own troops so he did not have to rely on the nobles for troops anymore.
- Odovacer: A Visigoth/Germanic general who invaded Rome and was able to break through the gates and conquer it in 476. This was the end of the Western Roman Empire.
- Pharisees: The smallest, wealthiest, most religious, and most orthodox group of Hebrews that served as high priests. When Rome took control of Palestine, they kept their status and privileges as long as they kept the Hebrews under control, making them unofficially in charge.
- Reconquista: In 1031, Spain was divided into 15 independent Muslim units, so the Pope called for a Reconquista, a series of campaigns, to put Spain back into the control of Christian Spaniards. This was successful, and by 1212, Spaniards had control of most of Spain, and the Muslims that remained had very little power.
- Scholasticism: A philosophical and theological school of thought that attempted to bring together both faith and reason to explain the world and life. During medieval times, thinkers put more emphasis on faith, and also, the first major universities rose up and taught scholasticism.
