A History of the World: Chapter 20: Renaissance and Reformation

Their interest in learning and the arts was renewed. This new interest in culture is called the Renaissance, from the French word for "rebirth."

During the Renaissance, most Europeans were still religious. However, they also began to value human efforts outside religion. As a result, people became more secular. That is, they became more interested in worldly ideas and events, not just religious ones.

The population of Italy was becoming more urban. That is, more people were living in cities than in the country.

A mercenary is a full-time soldier who fights in an army for money.

As goods poured into Italy from abroad, merchants had to determine the value of currency, or money, from different countries.

Political affairs in Italy were complex, or complicated.

Diplomacy is the art of making agreements with other countries.

In the 1300s and 1400s, European scholars developed a new way of understanding the world called humanism. It was based on ancient Greek and Roman ideas. Humanists, as these scholars were called, gave importance to the individual and to human society. They wanted to gain knowledge through reason, not just through religious faith.

The Canterbury Tales is a collection of stories told by pilgrims on a religious journey to the town of Canterbury, England. In this work, Chaucer portrayed the entire range of English society. His work shows both nobles at the top of society and the poor at the bottom.

The most important was perspective, a way of showing people and things as they appear at different distances. Artists in the past had tried to use perspective, but Renaissance artists such as Leonardo da Vinci perfected it. Perspective, as used by these artists, gave paintings a realistic, three-dimensional look.

This day is called the feast of Crispian:
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when the day is named,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.

He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbors

But he'll remember with advantages
What feats he did that day: then shall our names.

For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition

And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here

At first, Luther only wanted to reform the Catholic Church. This is why these events are called the Reformation.

An indulgence was a certificate issued by the Church. The certificate granted a pardon for a person's sins. Church members who performed "good works," such as giving money to build a church, could receive this pardon.

Rulers could impose their own church taxes and keep the money for themselves.

Calvin's main idea was that God decides the final outcome of all events in the universe. Therefore, God has already chosen who will go to heaven and who will not. This belief is called predestination.

Henry asked the pope to annul, or declare invalid, his marriage to Catherine so that he could marry Anne.

As queen, Mary restored the Catholic Church in England and arrested Protestants who opposed her.

A seminary is a special school for training and educating priests.

The Spanish Inquisition was a religious court. It was similar to the one that the Catholic Church had set up earlier in Europe to root out heresy, or beliefs that opposed Church teaching.

European monarchs had used religion to help unify, or unite, their people and to build powerful nations.