HIST 211: World Civilizations to 1500

Period in English history following the defeat (1066) of King Harold of England by William, duke of Normandy, who became William I of England. The conquest was formerly thought to have brought about broad changes in all phases of English life. More recently historians have stressed the continuity of English law, institutions, and customs, but the subject remains one of controversy.

Or Magna Charta [Lat., = great charter], the most famous document of British constitutional history, issued by King John at Runnymede. In later centuries the Magna Carta became a symbol of the supremacy of the constitution over the king, as opponents of arbitrary royal power extracted from it various "democratic" interpretations.

1337–1453, conflict between England and France. Its basic cause was a dynastic quarrel that originated when the conquest of England by William of Normandy created the state of Guienne, lying on both sides of the English Channel.

English poet, noted for his narrative skill, humour, and insight, particularly in his most famous work, The Canterbury Tales. Chaucer made a crucial contribution to English literature in using English at a time when much court poetry was still written in Anglo-Norman or Latin. His confidence in the English language encouraged his followers and imitators also to write in English and speeded the transition from French as the language of literature.

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
Traditional name given to the intermittent struggle (1455–85) for the throne of England between the noble houses of York (whose badge was a white rose) and Lancaster (later associated with the red rose).

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
king of England (978–1016), called Æthelred the Unready. He was the son of Edgar and the half brother of Edward the Martyr, whom he succeeded.

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia
King of England from 25 December 1066. He was the illegitimate son of Duke Robert the Devil whom he succeeded as Duke of Normandy in 1035.

King of England (1272-1307); son of Henry III. He conquered Wales (1284) but failed to subdue Scotland.

King of England (1307-27); son of Edward I. He invaded Scotland but was defeated by Robert Bruce at Bannockburn (1314). He was deposed by his wife Isabella and Roger Mortimer; died in prison.

Eldest son of Edward III of England. He was created duke of Cornwall in 1337, the first duke to be created in England, and prince of Wales in 1343. It was apparently the French who called him the Black Prince, perhaps because he wore black armor; the name was not recorded in England until the 16th century.

King of England (1461-70; 1471-83); son of Richard, duke of York. He defeated Henry VI in the Wars of the Roses and became king (1461).

1491–1547, king of England (1509–47), second son and successor of Henry VII.

As increasingly urban, educated, and secular populations became dissatisfied with medieval values—first (circa 1350) in the Italian republics and principalities and then later north of the Alps—they sought to recover the knowledge and wisdom of the ancient world. A new and remarkable self-confidence in human agency resulted, and it sparked an intellectual, cultural, and artistic revolution known as the Renaissance.

Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi was the greatest sculptor of the early Renaissance in Italy and one of the most versatile of all time, unmatched in his technical and expressive range.

Galileo’s fame rests partly on the discoveries he made with the telescope, an instrument which he did not invent but was certainly the first to exploit successfully. His discovery of heavenly bodies that were so demonstrably not circling Earth, together with his open public support for the Copernican heliocentric cosmology, was to bring him into conflict with the Church.

The mass of notes and drawings in which da Vinci recorded his ideas and experiments are not just revealing of the workings of his own mind, but vital for any understanding of the meaning of the Renaissance.

Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni is universally recognized as one of the greatest artists in history, perhaps the greatest. He excelled as a sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the Italian High Renaissance. During his long life, Michelangelo created some of the world's most recognizable works of art.

French Actor and Dramatist of the Renaissance era.

Major artist and painter of the Renaissance era.

The cultural, financial, and transportation center of Italy; printing and publishing; chemicals; motion-picture production; tourism; in ancient times of the Roman Empire (q.v.) and later of the Papal States.

Lo Stato della Chiesa, from 754 to 1870 an independent territory under the temporal rule of the popes, also called the States of the Church and the Pontifical States.

Independent state within the city of Rome, Italy, and the residence of the pope, who is its absolute ruler.

Niccolò Machiavelli has exerted an extraordinary influence on modern thought and practice throughout the world. His writings and career are subject to varied interpretations, but the most common have given rise to a word found in most languages, Machiavellianism, suggesting deceit, tyranny, and the dictum that the end justifies the means.

Venice is a tourist, commercial, and industrial center, located within a lagoon in the Gulf of Venice (an arm of the Adriatic Sea).

apital of Tuscany, northern Italy, on the River Arno. It has printing, engineering, and optical industries; many crafts, including leather, gold and silver work, and embroidery; and its art and architecture attract large numbers of tourists. Notable medieval and Renaissance citizens included the writers Dante and Boccaccio, and the artists Giotto, Leonardo da Vinci, and Michelangelo.

Italian merchant prince, first of the Medici family to rule Florence.

Italian merchant prince, called Lorenzo il Magnifico [the magnificent]. One of the towering figures of the Italian Renaissance, he was an astute politician, firm in purpose, yet pliant and tolerant; a patron of the arts, literature, and learning; and a reputable scholar and poet.

From 1494-1559, a series of regional wars brought on by the efforts of the great European powers to control the small independent states of Italy.

Officially Kingdom of Spain, constitutional monarchy (2005 est. pop. 40,341,000), 194,884 sq mi (504,750 sq km), including the Balearic and Canary islands, SW Europe. It consists of the Spanish mainland (190,190 sq mi/492,592 sq km), which occupies the major part of the Iberian Peninsula; of the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean Sea; and of the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean.

Isabella I or Isabella the Catholic, 1451-1504, Spanish queen of Castile and León (1474-1504).

Tribunal of the Roman Catholic Church established for the investigation of heresy.

Italian by birth, hired by the Spanish in 1492 by the Catholic monarchs of Spain, Isabella and Ferdinand for a transatlantic expedition.

Spanish explorer after whom the continent of America was named.

Spanish soldier and explorer. He is believed to have sailed to the Americas with Christopher Columbus in 1493, and served in Hispaniola 1502–04. He conquered Puerto Rico in 1508, and was made governor in 1509. In 1513 he was the first European to reach Florida.

Holy Roman emperor (1433-37), German king (1410-37), king of Hungary (1387-1437) and of Bohemia (1419-37), elector of Brandenburg (1376-1415), son of Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV.

Bohemia, Czech Čechy, historic region (20,368 sq mi/52,753 sq km) and former kingdom, in W and central Czech Republic. Bohemia is bounded by Austria in the southeast, by Germany in the west and northwest, by Poland in the north and northeast, and by Moravia in the east. Its natural boundaries are the Bohemian Forest, the Erzgebirge ("ore mountains") chain, the Sudetes, and the Bohemian-Moravian heights.

Country in central Europe, bounded north by the Slovak Republic, northeast by Ukraine, east by Romania, south by Serbia and Croatia, and west by Austria and Slovenia.

Republic of Austria, federal republic (2005 est. pop. 8,185,000), 32,374 sq mi (83,849 sq km), central Europe. It is bounded by Slovenia and Italy (S), Switzerland and Liechtenstein (W), Germany and the Czech Republic (N), and Slovakia and Hungary (E). Its capital and by far its largest city is Vienna.

France is bordered by the English Channel (N), the Atlantic Ocean and the Bay of Biscay (W), Spain and Andorra (SW), the Mediterranean Sea (S), Switzerland and Italy (SE), and Germany, Luxembourg, and Belgium (NE).

Queen consort first of Louis VII of France and then of Henry II of England. Daughter and heiress of William X, duke of Aquitaine.

Both a historical and mythical figure, Joan of Arc (Jeanne d'Arc, also known as Jeanne la pucelle) was a peasant maid who guided the weak and contested dauphin Charles, son of Charles VI who submitted to English rule in France, into regaining the French crown and territory during the Hundred Years War between France and England (approximate dates, 1337–1457).

Charlemagne’s influence in both political and social spheres was so great that historians have nicknamed him the “father of Europe.” His use of military force and ability to improvise new systems expanded a struggling western Europe into a strong empire. Additionally, his emphasis on learning created a Carolingian Renaissance that helped form cultural identity in western Europe and laid the groundwork on which the Middle Ages flourished.