_The Earth And Its Peoples_ Terms: Chapter 18, The Transformation Of Europe, 1500-1750 Ce

Front 1

Absolution

Back 1

The theory popular in France and other early modern European monarchies that royal power should be free of constitutional checks.

Front 2

Balance of power

Back 2

The policy in international relations by which, beginning in the eighteenth century, the major European states acted together to prevent any one of them from becoming too powerful.

Front 3

Bourgeoisie

Back 3

In early modern Europe, the class of well-off town dwellers whose wealth came from manufacturing, finance, commerce, and allied professions.

Front 4

Catholic Reformation

Back 4

Religious reform movement within the Latin Christian Church, begun in response to the Protestant Reformation. It clarified Catholic theology and reformed clerical training and discipline.

Front 5

Constitutionalism

Back 5

The theory developed in early modern England and spread elsewhere that royal power should be subject to legal and legislative checks.

Front 6

Deforestation

Back 6

The removal of trees faster than forests can replace themselves.

Front 7

Enlightenment

Back 7

A philosophical movement in eighteenth-century Europe that fostered the belief that one could reform society by discovering rational laws that governed social behavior and were just as scientific as the laws of physics.

Front 8

Habsburg

Back 8

A powerful European family that provided many Holy Roman Emperors, founded the Austrian (Later Austro-Hungarian) Empire, and ruled sixteenth- and seventeenth- century Spain.

Front 9

Holy Roman Empire

Back 9

Loose federation of mostly German states and principalities, headed by an emperor elected by the princes. It lasted form 900s-1800s.

Front 10

Indulgence

Back 10

The forgiveness of the punishment due for past sins, granted by the Catholic Church authorities as a reward for a pious act. Martin Luther's protest against the sale of indulgences is often seen as touching off the Protestant Reformation.

Front 11

Joint-stock company

Back 11

A business, often backed by a government charter, that sold shares to individuals to raise money for its trading enterprises and to spread the risks (and profits) among many investors.

Front 12

Little Ice Age

Back 12

A century-long period of cool climate that began in the 1590s. Its ill effects on agriculture in northern Europe were notable.

Front 13

Papacy

Back 13

The central administration of the Roman Catholic Church, of which the pope is the head.

Front 14

Protestant Reformation

Back 14

Religious reform movement within the Latin Christian Church beginning in 1519. It resulted in the "protesters" forming several new Christian denominations, including the Lutheran and Reformed Churches and the Church of England.

Front 15

Renaissance (European)

Back 15

A period of intense artistic and intellectual activity, said to be a "rebirth" of Greco-Roman culture. Usually divided into an Italian Renaissance, from roughly the mid-fourteenth to mid-fifteenth century, and a Northern (trans-Alpine) Renaissance, from roughly the early fifteenth to early seventeenth century.

Front 16

Scientific Revolution

Back 16

The intellectual movement in Europe, initially associated with planetary motion and other aspects of physics, that by the seventeenth century had laid the groundwork for modern science.

Front 17

Stock exchange

Back 17

A place where shares in a company or business enterprise are bought and sold.

Front 18

Witch-hunt

Back 18

The pursuit of people suspected of witchcraft, especially in northern Europe in the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.