Middle Ages History Finals

Petrarch

(July 20, 1304 - July 19, 1374) Italian scholar and poet in Renaissance Italy, and one of the earliest humanists. Petrarch is often called the "Father of Humanism". In the 16th century, Pietro Bembo created the model for the modern Italian language based on Petrarch's works, as well as those of Giovanni Boccaccio, and, to a lesser extent, Dante Alighieri. Petrarch would be later endorsed as a model for Italian style by the Accademia della Crusca. Petrarch's sonnets were admired and imitated throughout Europe during the Renaissance and became a model for lyrical poetry. He is also known for being the first to develop the concept of the "Dark Ages." This standing back from his time was possible because he straddled two worlds - the classical and his own modern day.

Catherine of Siena

Saint Catherine of Siena, original name Caterina Benincasa (born March 25, 1347, Siena, Tuscany—died April 29, 1380, Rome; canonized 1461). Dominican tertiary, mystic, and patron saint of Italy. She was declared a doctor of the church in 1970 and a patron saint of Europe in 1999. Catherine became a tertiary (a member of a monastic third order who takes simple vows and may remain outside a convent or monastery) of the Dominican order (1363). worked to bring the papacy of Gregory XI back to Rome from its displacement in France and to establish peace among the Italian city-states. When the rebellious city of Florence was placed under an interdict by Pope Gregory XI (1376), Catherine determined to take public action for peace within the church and Italy and to encourage a Crusade against the Muslims.

Of the Imitation of Christ

A Christian devotional book written between 1390 and 1440. The Imitation of Christ in part I gives "exhortations useful for spiritual living," in part II admonishes man to be concerned with the spiritual side of life rather than with the materialistic, and in part III affirms the comfort that results from being centred in Christ. Finally, in part IV it shows how an individual's faith has to be strengthened through the Eucharist, or Holy Communion. The simplicity of the book's language and the direct appeal to the religious sensitivity of the individual in an uncomplicated way are perhaps the primary reasons why this little book has been so widely received and so deeply influential.

Geert Grote

(1340-1384)Dutch priest and educator whose establishment of a centre for manuscript copiers led to the formation of the Brethren of the Common Life, a teaching order that was a major influence in the development of German humanism. A movement known as the Modern Devotion (Devotio Moderna) was founded in the Netherlands by Groote and Florens Radewyns, in the late fourteenth century. For Grote the pivotal point is the search for inner peace. Earlier, in 1371, Groote had joined Florentius Radewunius (of the Church of St. Lebunus in Deventer) in gathering together at one residence a number of impoverished scholars who wished to earn income by copying manuscripts. Out of this grew the Brethren of the Common Life, an order approved by Pope Gregory XI. The Brethren's houses spread rapidly throughout the Netherlands and Germany, and, as a teaching order, the Brethren influenced patterns of elementary and secondary education throughout Europe, stressing Humanistic studies and Latin and establishing graded schooling and new textbooks.

Thomas à Kempis

(1380-1471) Christian theologian, the author of Imitatio Christi (Imitation of Christ), a devotional book that, with the exception of the Bible, has been considered the most influential work in Christian literature. Remarkable for its simple language and style, it emphasizes the spiritual rather than the materialistic life, affirms the rewards of being Christ-centred, and supports Communion as a means to strengthen faith. His writings offer possibly the best representation of the devotio moderna (a religious movement created by Gerhard Groote, founder of the Brethren of the Common Life) that made religion intelligible and practicable for the "modern" attitude arising in the Netherlands at the end of the 14th century. Thomas stresses asceticism rather than mysticism, and moderate—not extreme—austerity.

Jean Gerson

(born Dec. 13, 1363, Gerson, Fr.—died July 12, 1429, Lyon) Theologian and Christian mystic, leader of the conciliar movement for church reform that ended the Great Schism (between the popes of Rome and Avignon). He favored limited reforms, opposed the convocation of a church council to depose the competing popes, and, in 1398, disapproved of the withdrawal of obedience from Benedict XIII, an antipope. In his writings, Gerson defended the council's actions, putting forth the position that Christ had instituted the primacy of the church as the collection of the faithful, with the pope as its deputy. As such, the pope could be removed without his consent by a council of the faithful. In his study De theologia mystica ("On Mystical Theology"), he contrasted the mystical approach to God and religion with that of scholasticism, which emphasized study of the Bible and church history, relying on reason to achieve faith. Christian mystics should find the evidence of God in their hearts, Gerson argued, believing that love would reach further than reason and that the mystic approach was intrinsically more self-fulfilling.

Charles IV (of France or the Holy Roman Empire?)

(born May 14, 1316, Prague—died Nov. 29, 1378, Prague), German king and king of Bohemia (as Charles) from 1346 to 1378 and Holy Roman emperor from 1355 to 1378, one of the most learned and diplomatically skillful sovereigns of his time. He gained more through diplomacy than others did by war, and through purchases, marriages, and inheritance he enlarged his dynastic power. Under Charles's rule Prague became the political, economic, and cultural centre—and eventually the capital—of the Holy Roman Empire. Indeed, from his reign until the 18th century it was understood that the German imperial crown was based on the crown of the king of Bohemia.

John Wyclif

(born c. 1330, Yorkshire, England—died December 31, 1384, Lutterworth, Leicestershire), English theologian, philosopher, church reformer, and promoter of the first complete translation of the Bible into English. He was one of the forerunners of the Protestant Reformation. The politico-ecclesiastical theories that he developed required the church to give up its worldly possessions, and in 1378 he began a systematic attack on the beliefs and practices of the church. The Lollards, a heretical group, propagated his controversial views. Wycliffe attacked the privileged status of the clergy, which was central to their powerful role in England. He then attacked the luxury and pomp of local parishes and their ceremonies. Wycliffe was also an advocate for translation of the Bible into the vernacular. He completed a translation directly from the Vulgate into Middle English in the year 1382, now known as Wycliffe's Bible. Beginning in the 16th century, the Lollard movement was regarded as the precursor to the Protestant Reformation. Wycliffe was accordingly characterized as the evening star of scholasticism and the Morning Star of the English Reformation.

Compactata of Basel

A general council of the Roman Catholic church held in Basel, Switz. It was called by Pope Martin V a few weeks before his death in 1431 and then confirmed by Pope Eugenius IV. Meeting at a time when the prestige of the papacy had been weakened by the Great Schism (1378-1417), it was concerned with two major problems: the question of papal supremacy and the Hussite heresy. (The Hussites were followers of the Bohemian religious Reformer Jan Hus.) The Seventeenth Ecumenical Council of the Roman Catholic Church was convoked as the Council of Basel (Basle in the once-preferred English spelling) by Pope Martin V shortly before his death in February 1431 and took place in the context of the Hussite wars in Bohemia and the rise of the Ottoman Empire. At stake was the greater conflict between the Conciliar movement and the principle of papal supremacy.

Genealogy of the Gentile Gods

A mythography or encyclopedic compilation of the tangled family relationships of the classical pantheons of Ancient Greece and Rome, written in Latin prose from 1360 onwards by the Italian author and poet Giovanni Boccaccio. "humanist in spirit and medieval in structure"

terza rima

A rhyming verse stanza form that consists of an interlocking three-line rhyme scheme. It was first used by the Italian poet Dante Alighieri in the Divine Comedy. The literal translation of terza rima from Italian is 'third rhyme'. Terza rima is a three-line stanza using chain rhyme in the pattern A-B-A, B-C-B, C-D-C, D-E-D. There is no set rhythm for terza rima, but in English, iambic pentameter is generally preferred.

Charles VI

Charles the Beloved or later Charles the Mad, king of France, a member of the House of Valois, who throughout his long reign (1380-1422) remained largely a figurehead, first because he was still a boy when he took the throne and later because of his periodic fits of madness. Charles VI was only 11 when he inherited the throne in the midst of the Hundred Years' War. The government was entrusted to his four uncles: Philip the Bold, Duke of Burgundy; John, Duke of Berry; Louis I, Duke of Anjou; and Louis II, Duke of Bourbon. During the rule of his uncles, the financial resources of the kingdom, painstakingly built up by his father Charles V, were squandered for the personal profit of the dukes, whose interests were frequently divergent or even opposing. As royal funds drained, new taxes had to be raised, which caused several revolts. In 1388 Charles VI dismissed his uncles and brought back to power his father's former advisers, known as the Marmousets. Political and economic conditions in the kingdom improved significantly, and Charles earned the epithet "the Beloved". The following winter Charles visited the antipope Clement VII in Avignon, France, and discussed plans to install Clement as pope in Rome and thus enhance French power in Italy. Reports of those plans brought about the resumption of negotiations with England, which had been at war with France since 1337 (the Hundred Years' War). England's king Richard II favoured the Roman pope Boniface IX. While efforts were being made for peace in 1392, Charles went mad. Royal authority waned, and the dukes of Burgundy and Orléans began to vie for power. The Burgundians, led by John the Fearless, successor of Philip the Bold, arranged the murder of Louis, duc d'Orléans, in 1407 and allied themselves with King Henry V of England, who won the Battle of Agincourt (1415) against the French.

Decameron

Collection of tales by Giovanni Boccaccio, probably composed between 1349 and 1353. The work is regarded as a masterpiece of classical Italian prose. While romantic in tone and form, it breaks from medieval sensibility in its insistence on the human ability to overcome, even exploit, fortune. It is generally acknowledged that Boccaccio borrowed many of the stories from folklore and myth, but the exquisite writing and sophisticated structure of the work make clear that its author was no mere anthologist. His prose influenced many Renaissance writers, and his tales themselves have been borrowed for centuries. While some critics attacked the work as vulgar and cynical, the author maintained an affirmation of moral values throughout even the most licentious passages. In its breadth of treatment of contemporary urban society—from humorous to tragic—as well as in its humanism and its swift and vivid narrative, it remained in the 21st century a remarkably fresh and penetrating document.

contrapasso

Contrapasso is one of the few rules in Dante's Inferno. It is the one "law of nature" that applies to hell, stating that for every sinner's crime there must be an equal and fitting punishment (usually metaphorically rather than literally related to their respective sins). Dante primarily intended to explain biblical justice through his contrapasso, but in order to do so more effectively, expanded upon tradition. Some scholars believe that Dante wanted to properly apply the pre-established standard of justice, according to the bible, to his interpretation of hell. Others, however, contends that Dante is attempting to redefine completely the popular image of hell.

Council of Constance

Council of Constance, (1414-18), 16th ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church. Following the election of two rival popes (Gregory XII in Rome and Benedict XIII in Avignon) in 1378 and the attempt at the Council of Pisa in 1409 to resolve the Great Schism by the election of a new pope, the church found itself with three popes instead of one. Political rivalries so divided the large number of council delegates that a revolutionary system of voting was adopted, whereby each of the four power blocs (Italy, England, Germany, and France) was granted a single vote; later the cardinals were given a vote as a group, and still later Spain was empowered to vote.

Commedia (plot and structure)

Dante's Divine Comedy, a great work of medieval literature, is a profound Christian vision of man's temporal and eternal destiny. On its most personal level, it draws on the poet's own experience of exile from his native city of Florence; on its most comprehensive level, it may be read as an allegory, taking the form of a journey through hell, purgatory, and paradise.The poem amazes by its array of learning, its penetrating and comprehensive analysis of contemporary problems, and its inventiveness of language and imagery. By choosing to write his poem in the Italian vernacular rather than in Latin, Dante decisively influenced the course of literary development. Divided into three major sections—Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso—the narrative traces the journey of Dante from darkness and error to the revelation of the divine light, culminating in the Beatific Vision of God. Dante is guided by the Roman poet Virgil, who represents the epitome of human knowledge, from the dark wood through the descending circles of the pit of Hell (Inferno). Passing Lucifer at the pit's bottom, at the dead-centre of the world, Dante and Virgil emerge on the beach of the island mountain of Purgatory. At the summit of Purgatory, where repentant sinners are purged of their sins, Virgil departs, having led Dante as far as human knowledge is able, to the threshold of Paradise. There Dante is met by Beatrice, embodying the knowledge of divine mysteries bestowed by Grace, who leads him through the successive ascending levels of heaven to the Empyrean, where he is allowed to glimpse, for a moment, the glory of God.

Dante Alighieri

Dante, in full Dante Alighieri (born c. May 21-June 20, 1265, Florence, Italy—died September 13/14, 1321, Ravenna), Italian poet, prose writer, literary theorist, moral philosopher, and political thinker. Dante has been called "the Father of the Italian language". In Italy, Dante is often referred to as il Sommo Poeta ("the Supreme Poet"); he, Petrarch, and Boccaccio are also called "the three crowns". Dante defended use of the vernacular in literature when most of the poems of the time were written in Latin, accessible to only the highly educated. this choice, although highly unorthodox, set a hugely important precedent that later Italian writers such as Petrarch and Boccaccio would follow. As a result, Dante played an instrumental role in establishing the national language of Italy. He is best known for the monumental epic poem La commedia, later named La divina commedia (The Divine Comedy).

Devotio moderna

Devotio Moderna, or Modern Devotion, was a movement for religious reform, calling for apostolic renewal through the rediscovery of genuine pious practices such as humility, obedience and simplicity of life. It began in the late fourteenth-century, largely through the work of Gerard Groote, and flourished in the Low Countries and Germany in the fifteenth century, but came to an end with the Protestant Reformation. It is most known today through its influence on Thomas à Kempis, the author of The Imitation of Christ, a book which proved highly influential for centuries.

1492

Fall of Granada: Muhammad XII, the last Emir of Granada, surrenders his city to the army of the Catholic Monarchs, Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile, after a lengthy siege, ending the 10-year Granada War and the centuries-long Reconquista and bringing an end to 780 years of Muslim control in Al-Andalus. March 31 - Ferdinand and Isabella sign the Alhambra Decree, expelling all Jews from Spain unless they convert to Roman Catholicism. Christopher Columbus' expedition makes landfall in the Caribbean, and in December becomes the first known European to set foot on the island of Hispaniola.

Canterbury Tales

Frame story by Geoffrey Chaucer, written in Middle English in 1387-1400. The framing device for the collection of stories is a pilgrimage to the shrine of Thomas à Becket in Canterbury, Kent. The 30 pilgrims who undertake the journey gather at the Tabard Inn in Southwark, across the Thames from London. They agree to engage in a storytelling contest as they travel, and Harry Bailly, host of the Tabard, serves as master of ceremonies for the contest. Most of the pilgrims are introduced by vivid brief sketches in the "General Prologue." Interspersed between the 24 tales are short dramatic scenes (called links) presenting lively exchanges, usually involving the host and one or more of the pilgrims. Chaucer did not complete the full plan for his book: the return journey from Canterbury is not included, and some of the pilgrims do not tell stories. The pilgrimage, which in medieval practice combined a fundamentally religious purpose with the secular benefit of a spring vacation, made possible extended consideration of the relationship between the pleasures and vices of this world and the spiritual aspirations for the next.

Great Schism

In the history of the Roman Catholic Church, the period from 1378 to 1417, when there were two, and later three, rival popes, each with his own following, his own Sacred College of Cardinals, and his own administrative offices.The double election had disastrous effects upon the church. The followers of the two popes were divided chiefly along national lines, and thus the dual papacy fostered the political antagonisms of the time. The spectacle of rival popes denouncing each other produced great confusion and resulted in a tremendous loss of prestige for the papacy. Various proposals for ending the schism were made, especially by the University of Paris, which suggested either mutual resignation or a decision by an independent tribunal or a general council. This last proposal was in line with the growing conciliar movement, according to which a general council has greater authority than a pope.

Giovanni Boccaccio

Italian poet and scholar, best remembered as the author of the earthy tales in the Decameron. With Petrarch he laid the foundations for the humanism of the Renaissance and raised vernacular literature to the level and status of the classics of antiquity. His humanism comprised not only classical studies and the attempt to rediscover and reinterpret ancient texts but also the attempt to raise literature in the modern languages to the level of the classical by setting standards for it and then conforming to those standards. Boccaccio advanced further than Petrarch in this direction not only because he sought to dignify prose as well as poetry but also because, in his Ninfale fiesolano, in his Elegia de Madonna Fiammetta, and in the Decameron, he ennobled everyday experience, tragic and comic alike. without Boccaccio, the literary culmination of the Italian Renaissance would be historically incomprehensible.

Joan of Arc

Joan of Arc, the Maiden of Orléans (1412-1431) national heroine of France, a peasant girl who, believing that she was acting under divine guidance, led the French army in a momentous victory at Orléans that repulsed an English attempt to conquer France during the Hundred Years' War. Captured a year afterward, Joan was burned to death by the English and their French collaborators as a heretic. She became the greatest national heroine of her compatriots, and her achievement was a decisive factor in the later awakening of French national consciousness. Joan was the daughter of a tenant farmer at Domrémy. In her mission of expelling the English and their Burgundian allies from the Valois kingdom of France, she felt herself to be guided by the voices of St. Michael, St. Catherine of Alexandria, and St. Margaret of Antioch. Joan was endowed with remarkable mental and physical courage, and she possessed many attributes characteristic of the female visionaries who were a noted feature of her time, including extreme personal piety, a claim to direct communication with the saints, and a consequent reliance upon individual experience of God's presence beyond the ministrations of the priesthood and the confines of the institutional church.

Margery Kempe

Margery Kempe (c. 1373-after 1438) was an English Christian mystic, known for dictating The Book of Margery Kempe, a work considered by some to be the first autobiography in the English language. Her book chronicles her domestic tribulations, her extensive pilgrimages to holy sites in Europe and the Holy Land, as well as her mystical conversations with God. She is now honoured in the Anglican Communion, but she was never made a Roman Catholic saint. Part of Margery Kempe's significance lies in the autobiographical nature of her book; it is the best insight available of a female, middle class experience in the Middle Ages. Her Book is revealed as a carefully constructed spiritual and social commentary. Kempe and her Book are significant because they express the tension in late medieval England between institutional orthodoxy and increasingly public modes of religious dissent, especially those of the Lollards.

Guelfs and Ghibellines

Members of two opposing factions (supporting the Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor, respectively) in the Italian city-states of central and northern Italy. During the 12th and 13th centuries, the split between these two parties was a particularly important aspect of the internal policy of medieval Italy. The struggle for power between the Papacy and the Holy Roman Empire had arisen with the Investiture Controversy, which began in 1075 and ended with the Concordat of Worms in 1122. The division between the Guelphs and Ghibellines in Italy, however, persisted until the 15th century. Broadly speaking, Guelphs tended to come from wealthy mercantile families, whereas Ghibellines were predominantly those whose wealth was based on agricultural estates. Guelph cities tended to be in areas where the Emperor was more of a threat to local interests than the Pope, and Ghibelline cities tended to be in areas where the enlargement of the Papal States was the more immediate threat. By 1300 the Florentine Guelphs had divided into the Black and White Guelphs. The Blacks continued to support the Papacy, while the Whites were opposed to Papal influence, specifically the influence of Pope Boniface VIII. Dante was among the supporters of the White Guelphs, and in 1302 was exiled when the Black Guelphs took control of Florence.

Avignon Papacy

The Avignon Papacy was the period from 1309 to 1377, during which seven successive popes resided in Avignon (then in the Kingdom of Arles, part of the Holy Roman Empire, and now in today's France) rather than in Rome.[1] This situation arose from the conflict between the Papacy and the French crown. Distressed by factionalism in Rome and pressed to come to France by Philip IV, Pope Clement V moved the papal capital to Avignon, which at that time belonged to vassals of the pope. In 1348 it became direct papal property. This absence from Rome is sometimes referred to as the "Babylonian Captivity of the Papacy". A total of seven popes reigned at Avignon; all were French,and they increasingly fell under the influence of the French Crown. Finally, on September 13, 1376, Gregory XI abandoned Avignon and moved his court to Rome (arriving on January 17, 1377), officially ending the Avignon Papacy.

Black Death

The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, resulting in the deaths of an estimated 75 to 200 million people and peaking in Europe in the years 1346-53. A rough estimate is that 25 million people in Europe died from plague during the Black Death. The population of western Europe did not again reach its pre-1348 level until the beginning of the 16th century. A cessation of wars and a sudden slump in trade, drastic reduction of the amount of land under cultivation, shortage of labour, general rise in wages for artisans and peasants etc. were all effects of the Black Death. The Roman Catholic Church lost some of its monopoly over the salvation of souls as people turned to mysticism and sometimes to excesses.

Ferdinand and Isabella

The Catholic Monarchs is the title used in history for Queen Isabella I of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon. Their marriage (1469) led to the unification of Spain, of which they were the first monarchs. Pope Alexander VI in 1494 gave them the name of "Catholic King and Queen), in recognition of their reconquest of Granada from the Moors (1481-92), their New World discoveries (1492), and their strengthening of the church by such agencies as the Spanish Inquisition and such measures as compelling Jews to convert to Christianity or face exile (1492). They had a goal of conquering the Muslim kingdom of Granada and completing the Christian reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula. The beginnings of a series of campaigns known as the Granada War. After a number of revolts, Ferdinand and Isabella ordered the expulsion from Spain of all Jews and Muslims.People who converted to Catholicism were not subject to expulsion, but between 1480 and 1492 hundreds of those who had converted were accused of secretly practicing their original religion and arrested, imprisoned, interrogated under torture, and in some cases burned to death, in both Castile and Aragon.

Jacob Burkhardt

The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy (German: Die Cultur der Renaissance in Italien) is an 1860 work on the Italian Renaissance by Swiss historian Jacob Burckhardt. Together with his History of the Renaissance in Italy (Die Geschichte der Renaissance in Italien; 1867) it is counted among the classics of Renaissance historiography.Part One: The State as a Work of Art Part Two: The Development of the Individual Part Three: The Revival of Antiquity Part Four: The Discovery of the World and of Man Part Five: Society and Festivals Part Six: Morality and Religion

Geoffrey Chaucer

The outstanding English poet before Shakespeare and "the first finder of our language." His The Canterbury Tales ranks as one of the greatest poetic works in English. He also contributed importantly in the second half of the 14th century to the management of public affairs as courtier, diplomat, and civil servant. In that career he was trusted and aided by three successive kings—Edward III, Richard II, and Henry IV. But it is his avocation—the writing of poetry—for which he is remembered.

Troilus and Criseyde

Tragic verse romance by Geoffrey Chaucer, composed in the 1380s and considered by some critics to be his finest work. The plot of this 8,239-line poem was taken largely from Giovanni Boccaccio's Il filostrato. It recounts the love story of Troilus, son of the Trojan king Priam, and Criseyde, widowed daughter of the deserter priest Calchas. The poem moves in leisurely fashion, with introspection and much of what would now be called psychological insight dominating many sections. Aided by Criseyde's uncle Pandarus, Troilus and Criseyde are united in love about halfway through the poem, but then she is sent to join her father in the Greek camp outside Troy. Despite her promise to return, she is loved by the Greek warrior Diomedes and comes to love him. Troilus, left in despair, is killed in the Trojan War. These events are interspersed with Boethian discussion of free will and determinism and the direct comments of the narrator. At the end of the poem, when Troilus's soul rises into the heavens, the folly of complete immersion in sexual love is contrasted with the eternal love of God.

Wars of Roses

Wars of the Roses (1455-85), in English history, the series of dynastic civil wars whose violence and civil strife preceded the strong government of the Tudors. Fought between the Houses of Lancaster and York for the English throne, the wars were named many years afterward from the supposed badges of the contending parties: the white rose of York and the red of Lancaster. Both houses claimed the throne through descent from the sons of Edward III. The conflict resulted from social and financial troubles that followed the Hundred Years' War, combined with the mental infirmity and weak rule of Henry VI, which revived interest in Richard, Duke of York's claim to the throne. The final victory went to a claimant of the Lancastrian party, Henry Tudor, who defeated the last Yorkist king, Richard III, at the Battle of Bosworth Field. After assuming the throne as Henry VII, he married Elizabeth of York, the eldest daughter and heiress of Edward IV, thereby uniting the two claims. The House of Tudor ruled England and Wales until 1603.

Hundred Year's War

an intermittent struggle between England and France in the 14th-15th century over a series of disputes, including the question of the legitimate succession to the French crown. The struggle involved several generations of English and French claimants to the crown and actually occupied a period of more than 100 years. By convention it is said to have started in 1337 and ended in 1453, but there had been periodic fighting over the question of English fiefs in France going back to the 12th century. Medieval legalities were such that one king could be the vassal of another king if the first had inherited titles outside his own kingdom. Such was the case with the English kings since William I, who, as the duke of Normandy, had conquered England in 1066. Marriage alliances and wars had altered the nature of the English titles in France, but, at the death of the French king Charles IV in 1328, Edward III of England was also duke of Guyenne (part of Aquitaine in southwestern France) and count of Ponthieu (on the English Channel). Furthermore, because his mother was Charles IV's sister and because Charles IV had no sons, Edward III considered himself a legitimate claimant to the French throne. The other major claimant was the Count of Valois, a grandson of Philip III of France through a younger branch of the family. It was one of the most notable conflicts of the Middle Ages, in which five generations of kings from two rival dynasties fought for the throne of the largest kingdom in Western Europe. The war marked both the height of chivalry and its subsequent decline, and the development of strong national identities in both countries. The dissatisfaction of English nobles, resulting from the loss of their continental landholdings, became a factor leading to the civil wars known as the Wars of the Roses (1455-1487). In France, civil wars, deadly epidemics, famines, and bandit free-companies of mercenaries reduced the population drastically. Shorn of its continental possessions, England was left with the sense of being an island nation, which profoundly affected its outlook and development for more than 500 years.

Utraquist

any of the spiritual descendants of Jan Hus who believed that the laity, like the clergy, should receive the Eucharist under the forms of both bread and wine. the Utraquists were moderates and maintained amicable relations with the Roman Catholic Church. As a consequence, the Council of Basel in 1433 declared them to be true Christians. In 1434 the Utraquists joined Catholic Czech forces to defeat the Taborites at the Battle of Lipany. When, however, the Utraquists developed into an independent church, Rome withheld approval, even though Roman bishops officiated at Utraquist ordinations to the priesthood. The Utraquists, together with all other Protestant sects, were outlawed in Bohemia after the Battle of White Mountain in 1620.

conciliarism

conciliarism, in the Roman Catholic church, a theory that a general council of the church has greater authority than the pope and may, if necessary, depose him. Conciliarism had its roots in discussions of 12th- and 13th-century canonists who were attempting to set juridical limitations on the power of the papacy.

Humanism

humanism began to refer to an ethical philosophy centered on humankind, without attention to the transcendent or supernatural. Humanism is a philosophical and ethical stance that emphasizes the value and agency of human beings, individually and collectively, and generally prefers critical thinking and evidence (rationalism, empiricism) over acceptance of dogma or superstition. The designation Religious Humanism refers to organized groups that sprang up during the late-nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It is similar to Protestantism, although centered on human needs, interests, and abilities rather than the supernatural.[9] In the Anglophone world, such modern, organized forms of humanism, which are rooted in the 18th-century Enlightenment, have to a considerable extent more or less detached themselves from the historic connection of humanism with classical learning and the liberal arts.

Jan Hus

the most important 15th-century Czech religious Reformer, whose work was transitional between the medieval and the Reformation periods and anticipated the Lutheran Reformation by a full century. He was embroiled in the bitter controversy of the Western Schism (1378-1417) for his entire career, and he was convicted of heresy at the Council of Constance and burned at the stake. Hus was a key predecessor to Protestantism, and his teachings had a strong influence on the states of Western Europe, most immediately in the approval of a reformist Bohemian religious denomination, and, more than a century later, on Martin Luther himself. After Hus was executed in 1415, the followers of his religious teachings (known as Hussites) rebelled against their Roman Catholic rulers and defeated five consecutive papal crusades between 1420 and 1431, in what became known as the Hussite Wars. A century later, as many as 90% of inhabitants of the Czech lands were non-Catholic and some still followed the teachings of Hus and his successors.