Renaissance Vocabulary and People

Conquistadors

A Spanish adventurer who came to Americas in search of gold.

Humanism

A cultural movement of the Renaissance, inspired by Ancient Greece and Rome, that celebrated humans and the natural world.

Printing Press

A machine that used "movable type" to create books, bibles, ect. Was invented by Johann Guttenberg.

Linear perspective

A painting technique that shows the differences between things that are close and things that are far away.

Reformation

A religious movement that began in Europe in the 1500s as an attempt to reform the Catholic Church.

William Shakespeare

English poet and playwright during Renaissance who wrote plays such as Romeo & Juliet, Hamlet and Macbeth

Vernacular

Everyday spoken language

Martin Luther

German Priest who wanted to reform (fix some problems) the Catholic Church but instead started the Protestant Reformation .

Johann Gutenberg

German printer who invented the Printing Press, which made production of books faster.

Galileo Galilei

Italian astronomer who improved the telescope and showed that Heliocentric Theory was correct.

Leonardo da Vinci

Italian painter and sculptor, scientist, inventor, mathematician who is famous for painting the Mona Lisa and Last Supper.

Michelangelo

Italian painter, sculptor who is famous for painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and building the statue of David.

Henry VIII

King of England who left the Roman Catholic Church and started the Anglican Church (Church of England) because the Pope wouldn't give him a divorce.

Protestants

Name of the churches that were formed as a result of protests against the Catholic Church.

New World

North and South America

Slavery

Ownership and control of other people as property

Indulgences

Pardons for sins that were sold by the Catholic Church.

Nicolas Copernicus

Polish astronomer who was the first person to claim that the sun was the center of the universe, NOT the earth.

Feudalism

System of social class organization that depends on birthright, loyalty, and exchange of land for service.

Heliocentric Theory

The belief that the sun is the center of the Universe.

Columbian Exchange

The movement of people, animals, plants, diseases and ideas between Europe and the Americas in the 1400-1500s.

Catholic Church

The only Christian church in Western Europe before the Reformation.

Middle Class

The social class between serfs and the wealthy, which includes skilled workers and merchants.

Renaissance

The time from the 1300s to the 1500s in which Europeans entered an age of thought, learning, art, and science; a French word meaning "rebirth".

Secularism

The view that religion need not be the center of people's life.