Important terms
In early modern history – by Tessa Faber
Some of these terms were added to with definitions I found on several websites, but no Ai was used.
Week 1
City-state
A city-state is an independent sovereign city that serves as the primary hub of political, economic, and
cultural life within its contiguous territory. In Northern and Central Italy during the medieval and
Renaissance periods, city-states – with various amounts of associated land – became the standard form of
polity. Some of them, despite being de facto independent states, were formally part of the Holy Roman
Empire. During this time, most of the Italian city-states were ruled by one person, such as the Signoria or
by a dynasty.
Erasmus
Erasmus was a Dutch humanist who was the greatest scholar of the northern Renaissance, the first editor
of the New Testament, and also an important figure in patristics and classical literature. Using the
philological methods pioneered by Italian humanists, Erasmus helped lay the groundwork for the
historical-critical study of the past, especially in his studies of the Greek New Testament and the Church
Fathers. His educational writings contributed to the replacement of the older Scholastic curriculum by the
new humanist emphasis on the classics. By criticizing ecclesiastical abuses, while pointing to a better age
in the distant past, he encouraged the growing urge for reform, which found expression both in the
Protestant Reformation and in the Catholic Counter-Reformation.
Humanism
Humanism disapproved of what it saw as superstitious aspects of popular religion and expressed
frustration with clerical abuses such as ignorance. The renaissance seen as the ‘discovery’ of man. A
modern humanist is someone who has humane values, but at that time humanista denoted a teacher of
the humanities, a particular set of studies based on grammar, rhetoric, poetry, history and moral
philosophy. However, they were not philosophers at all, but more focused on rhetoric. (Would debate
two sides of an agreement). It is considered isle to try and associate humanism with any particular
doctrine. The Humanist movement provided a far less uniformly secular body of writings that the 12th and
13th century Italian rhetoricians, the dictatores. Scholasticism continued to be prominent in the university.
In the course of the 15th century focus on the study of Platonism and neo-Platonism, as humanism spread
north.
Johannes Gutenberg
Johannes Gutenberg of Mainz led the way to a mechanical mass reproduction of a myriad of printed
goods. The defining moment of which being in 1454-55, with the printing of the Gutenberg’s bible.
(Starting out by printing something people already knew). Though movable type was already in use in East
Asia, Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press enabled a much faster rate of printing. (also printing is
harder to do with Chinese characters)
,Patronage
Some women acted as patrons of the arts, as artworks were used to boost prestige. Subjects were
expected to receive patronage from the ruler. Early modern central institutions appear as points of
contact through which patronage, policy and power could be transacted.
Petrarch
Petrarch refers to a ‘Dark age’, as opposed to Flavio Biondo, who referred to a ‘middle age’. Petrarch
suggested that a new era might be dawning, as the radiance of antiquity was rediscovered. As one of the
earliest humanists, Petrarch’s rediscovery of Cicero’s letters is often credited with initiating the 14th
century Italian Renaissance and the founding of Renaissance Humanism.
Printing revolution
There exists debate over whether or not there actually was one. The case for it argues that the
standardization was important to the acquisition of knowledge, as texts could now exactly be reproduced.
The numbers of printed texts increased the amount of scholarly exchange. Through preservation, print
was ‘the art that preserved all other arts’, enabling the accumulation and comparison to texts, data and
opinions. Although large books were expensive, pamphlets were easy to acquire. The Printing Revolution
was hampered in Catholic territories following the papal index librorum prohibitorum. Print fed the
imaginations of those low on the social scale, and historians see print as central to the ‘news revolution’
that followed later on. Regular reporting of global news created the basis for revolutions in trade and
finance that began in the 1690s. Furthermore, print played an essential role in the enlightenment. It was
possible to bypass state censorship by taking advantage of improved travel and communications systems
and the international distribution networks of print trade. Cheaper, pirated, adaptations of important
texts became common. ‘Print communities’ allowed scholars, intellectuals and radicals to communicate as
the public opinion began to act on the state and society. Lastly, it widened support for political
revolutions that brought down governments later on.
The case against a print revolution argues that print was simply part of a wider revolution in early modern
communications, requiring improvements in marketing and transport. It was along these routes that
manuscript newsletters and printed newspapers flowed. Mercantile communication continued to heavily
rely on hand-written letters. The key divide was not between those who did and did not possess texts, but
between those who could and could not read them. This side also argues that print and oral cultures
coexisted, as well as that print could spread misinformation and uncertainty, further boosted by the
anonymity. It is furthermore hard to establish any correlation between text and action.
Signori
Overthrew republican regimes in Italian city states, almost all drawn from Italian nobility. Invariably
leaders of parties, rather than merely talented individuals. Their survival depended on the support of
noble families.
Thomas Moore
English writer and poet.
, Week 2
Agricultural revolution
Classically dated to the 18th and 19th centuries, but there is some evidence of earlier technical progress.
Yield-Seed ratios improved with the advent of new crops and there was a shift away from the traditional
practice of permanent husbandry (arable cultivation), with more progressive farmers learning from their
experience of winter pasturing and reverting their arable fields to pasture at five-year intervals in a
practice that came to be known as ‘up-and-down husbandry’. It was stimulated by increasing demand in
the non-arable sector. There was an introduction of two additional factors of production, the
development of more efficient factors, or some combination of the two. Farmers in Europe were
encouraged to boost output dramatically and they did so principally by using additional factors of
production. There also was evidence of sporadic introduction of new agricultural techniques (further
development of convertible husbandry, floatation of water meadows, and the introduction of new crops
and rotation systems).
Enclosure
Enclosure is a term, used in English landownership, that refers to the appropriation of “waste” or
“common land”, enclosing it, and by doing so depriving commoners of their traditional rights of access
and usage. Agreements to enclose land could be either through a formal or informal process. In England
the movement for enclosure began in the 12th century and proceeded rapidly in the period 1450–1640,
when the purpose was mainly to increase the amount of full-time pasturage available to manorial lords.
Much enclosure also occurred in the period from 1750 to 1860, when it was done for the sake of
agricultural efficiency. By the end of the 19th century the process of the enclosure of common lands in
England was virtually complete. The most significant happening in this is the Enclosure Act of 1773.
Extended family
An extended family is a family that extends beyond the nuclear family of parents and their children to
include aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins or other relatives, all living nearby or in the same household.
Particular forms include the stem and joint families.
Guild
A guild is a professional association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their
craft/trade in a particular territory. Typically, the key "privilege" was that only guild members were
allowed to sell their goods or practice their skill within a city. There might be controls on minimum or
maximum prices, hours of trading, numbers of apprentices, and many other things. Critics argued that
these rules reduced free competition, but defenders maintained that they protected professional
standards. The craft guilds transmitted skills through formal systems of apprenticeship, journeymanship
and mastery, and oversaw the production of goods ranging from textiles and metalwork to glassmaking
and baking.
Industrious revolution
The Industrious Revolution was a period in early modern Europe lasting from approximately 1600 to 1800
in which household productivity and consumer demand increased despite the absence of major
technological innovations that would mark the later Industrial Revolution. Proponents of the Industrious
Revolution theory argue that the increase in working hours and individual consumption traditionally
In early modern history – by Tessa Faber
Some of these terms were added to with definitions I found on several websites, but no Ai was used.
Week 1
City-state
A city-state is an independent sovereign city that serves as the primary hub of political, economic, and
cultural life within its contiguous territory. In Northern and Central Italy during the medieval and
Renaissance periods, city-states – with various amounts of associated land – became the standard form of
polity. Some of them, despite being de facto independent states, were formally part of the Holy Roman
Empire. During this time, most of the Italian city-states were ruled by one person, such as the Signoria or
by a dynasty.
Erasmus
Erasmus was a Dutch humanist who was the greatest scholar of the northern Renaissance, the first editor
of the New Testament, and also an important figure in patristics and classical literature. Using the
philological methods pioneered by Italian humanists, Erasmus helped lay the groundwork for the
historical-critical study of the past, especially in his studies of the Greek New Testament and the Church
Fathers. His educational writings contributed to the replacement of the older Scholastic curriculum by the
new humanist emphasis on the classics. By criticizing ecclesiastical abuses, while pointing to a better age
in the distant past, he encouraged the growing urge for reform, which found expression both in the
Protestant Reformation and in the Catholic Counter-Reformation.
Humanism
Humanism disapproved of what it saw as superstitious aspects of popular religion and expressed
frustration with clerical abuses such as ignorance. The renaissance seen as the ‘discovery’ of man. A
modern humanist is someone who has humane values, but at that time humanista denoted a teacher of
the humanities, a particular set of studies based on grammar, rhetoric, poetry, history and moral
philosophy. However, they were not philosophers at all, but more focused on rhetoric. (Would debate
two sides of an agreement). It is considered isle to try and associate humanism with any particular
doctrine. The Humanist movement provided a far less uniformly secular body of writings that the 12th and
13th century Italian rhetoricians, the dictatores. Scholasticism continued to be prominent in the university.
In the course of the 15th century focus on the study of Platonism and neo-Platonism, as humanism spread
north.
Johannes Gutenberg
Johannes Gutenberg of Mainz led the way to a mechanical mass reproduction of a myriad of printed
goods. The defining moment of which being in 1454-55, with the printing of the Gutenberg’s bible.
(Starting out by printing something people already knew). Though movable type was already in use in East
Asia, Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press enabled a much faster rate of printing. (also printing is
harder to do with Chinese characters)
,Patronage
Some women acted as patrons of the arts, as artworks were used to boost prestige. Subjects were
expected to receive patronage from the ruler. Early modern central institutions appear as points of
contact through which patronage, policy and power could be transacted.
Petrarch
Petrarch refers to a ‘Dark age’, as opposed to Flavio Biondo, who referred to a ‘middle age’. Petrarch
suggested that a new era might be dawning, as the radiance of antiquity was rediscovered. As one of the
earliest humanists, Petrarch’s rediscovery of Cicero’s letters is often credited with initiating the 14th
century Italian Renaissance and the founding of Renaissance Humanism.
Printing revolution
There exists debate over whether or not there actually was one. The case for it argues that the
standardization was important to the acquisition of knowledge, as texts could now exactly be reproduced.
The numbers of printed texts increased the amount of scholarly exchange. Through preservation, print
was ‘the art that preserved all other arts’, enabling the accumulation and comparison to texts, data and
opinions. Although large books were expensive, pamphlets were easy to acquire. The Printing Revolution
was hampered in Catholic territories following the papal index librorum prohibitorum. Print fed the
imaginations of those low on the social scale, and historians see print as central to the ‘news revolution’
that followed later on. Regular reporting of global news created the basis for revolutions in trade and
finance that began in the 1690s. Furthermore, print played an essential role in the enlightenment. It was
possible to bypass state censorship by taking advantage of improved travel and communications systems
and the international distribution networks of print trade. Cheaper, pirated, adaptations of important
texts became common. ‘Print communities’ allowed scholars, intellectuals and radicals to communicate as
the public opinion began to act on the state and society. Lastly, it widened support for political
revolutions that brought down governments later on.
The case against a print revolution argues that print was simply part of a wider revolution in early modern
communications, requiring improvements in marketing and transport. It was along these routes that
manuscript newsletters and printed newspapers flowed. Mercantile communication continued to heavily
rely on hand-written letters. The key divide was not between those who did and did not possess texts, but
between those who could and could not read them. This side also argues that print and oral cultures
coexisted, as well as that print could spread misinformation and uncertainty, further boosted by the
anonymity. It is furthermore hard to establish any correlation between text and action.
Signori
Overthrew republican regimes in Italian city states, almost all drawn from Italian nobility. Invariably
leaders of parties, rather than merely talented individuals. Their survival depended on the support of
noble families.
Thomas Moore
English writer and poet.
, Week 2
Agricultural revolution
Classically dated to the 18th and 19th centuries, but there is some evidence of earlier technical progress.
Yield-Seed ratios improved with the advent of new crops and there was a shift away from the traditional
practice of permanent husbandry (arable cultivation), with more progressive farmers learning from their
experience of winter pasturing and reverting their arable fields to pasture at five-year intervals in a
practice that came to be known as ‘up-and-down husbandry’. It was stimulated by increasing demand in
the non-arable sector. There was an introduction of two additional factors of production, the
development of more efficient factors, or some combination of the two. Farmers in Europe were
encouraged to boost output dramatically and they did so principally by using additional factors of
production. There also was evidence of sporadic introduction of new agricultural techniques (further
development of convertible husbandry, floatation of water meadows, and the introduction of new crops
and rotation systems).
Enclosure
Enclosure is a term, used in English landownership, that refers to the appropriation of “waste” or
“common land”, enclosing it, and by doing so depriving commoners of their traditional rights of access
and usage. Agreements to enclose land could be either through a formal or informal process. In England
the movement for enclosure began in the 12th century and proceeded rapidly in the period 1450–1640,
when the purpose was mainly to increase the amount of full-time pasturage available to manorial lords.
Much enclosure also occurred in the period from 1750 to 1860, when it was done for the sake of
agricultural efficiency. By the end of the 19th century the process of the enclosure of common lands in
England was virtually complete. The most significant happening in this is the Enclosure Act of 1773.
Extended family
An extended family is a family that extends beyond the nuclear family of parents and their children to
include aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins or other relatives, all living nearby or in the same household.
Particular forms include the stem and joint families.
Guild
A guild is a professional association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their
craft/trade in a particular territory. Typically, the key "privilege" was that only guild members were
allowed to sell their goods or practice their skill within a city. There might be controls on minimum or
maximum prices, hours of trading, numbers of apprentices, and many other things. Critics argued that
these rules reduced free competition, but defenders maintained that they protected professional
standards. The craft guilds transmitted skills through formal systems of apprenticeship, journeymanship
and mastery, and oversaw the production of goods ranging from textiles and metalwork to glassmaking
and baking.
Industrious revolution
The Industrious Revolution was a period in early modern Europe lasting from approximately 1600 to 1800
in which household productivity and consumer demand increased despite the absence of major
technological innovations that would mark the later Industrial Revolution. Proponents of the Industrious
Revolution theory argue that the increase in working hours and individual consumption traditionally
