Unit 1: Definitions

Key Words and Definitions:

1. Early Modern Age: Period of time which began in 1453 with the Fall of Constantinople and ended in 1789 with the French Revolution.

2. Guilds: Medieval association of craftworkers with the same skill or trade, which controlled the manufacture and sale of crafts products.

3. Authoritarian Monarchy: Form of government in which the kings succeeded in exerting their authority over the feudal lords creating powerful armies, bureaucracy, a centralized power and a court.

4. Humanism: Intellectual movement which admired the Classical Age (Rome and Greece), and considered humans to be the centre of the universe and used reason to explain reality.

5. Banker: Person who lent money in exchange for returning the same amount of money plus an additional amount called interest.

6. Serfs: Peasant who wasn’t free, tied to the land he worked on. He was not allowed to leave it without the lord’s permission.

7. Tithe: One tenth of the annual produce from farming or livestock which all peasants were obliged to give to the Church.

8. Renaissance: Artistic style that developed in the 15^th and 16^th centuries in Europe and which was inspired by the Classical art of Ancient Greece and Rome.