AP Euro Period 1 Review (1450-1648)

Period 1: Renaissance, Reformation, and Exploration (1450-1648)

PERIOD 1 DATES TO KNOW

Past Essay Questions from Period 1

PERIOD 1 KEY CONCEPTS

1.1. Works from Ancient Greece & Rome influenced Europeans’ view of their world.

1. Italian Renaissance humanists promoted revival (Petrarch, Valla, Ficino, Mirandola)
2. Spread of ideas by the printing press shifted education from theology to classic texts.
3. Secular models developed because of influence of Greek & Roman politics.

1. Printing press helped spread Renaissance ideas beyond Italy.
2. Also used by Protestant reformers to spread ideas (Martin Luther).

1. Italian Renaissance artists commissioned to incorporate classical styles.
2. Northern Renaissance was more religious, led to more human-centered naturalism.
3. Mannerist & Baroque artists used distortion, drama, and illusion.

1. Innovations in astronomy led to heliocentrism (Copernicus, Galileo, Newton).
2. Medical and anatomical discoveries challenged Galen (William Harvey).
3. New methods in mathematics promoted experimentation (Bacon, Descartes).
4. Natural philosophers continued to hold traditional views (Paracelsus, Cardano)

1.2. Religious Pluralism in Europe

1. Christian humanism (Erasmus) used Renaissance ideas to reform religion (More).
2. Martin Luther and John Calvin criticized Catholic abuses.
3. Some Protestants viewed wealth as sign of God’s favor (Calvinists).
4. Catholic Reformation revived the church but cemented divisions in Christianity.

1. Some monarchs initiated religious reform from top down (Henry VIII).
2. Some Protestants refused to recognize the subordination of the church (Calvin).
3. Religious conflicts caused by groups challenging the monarch’s control (Huguenots).

1. Religious reform made conflicts between the monarchy and nobility worse.
2. Habsburg rulers attempted to restore Catholic unity across Europe in the face of Ottoman expansion (Charles I, Charles V).
3. States exploited religious conflicts to promote state interests.
4. Some states allowed religious pluralism to keep the peace (Poland, Netherlands).

1.3. Age of Exploration

1. European states wanted direct access to gold, spices, and luxury goods.
2. Mercantilist policies promoted commercial development of overseas colonies.
3. Christianity motivated explorers and justified oppression.

1. Navigation (compass, sternpost rudder) and military tech (horses, guns).

1. Portuguese established colonies along African coast, Asia, and South America.
2. Spanish became dominant with colonies in Americas, Caribbean, and Pacific.
3. France, England, and the Netherlands established colonies in North America.
4. Competition for trade led to conflict (Seven Years’ War, Treaty of Tordesillas).

1. Center of Europe shifted from Mediterranean to Atlantic states.
2. Columbian Exchange resulted in population increase in Europe and destruction of populations in the Americas.
3. African slave trade expanded to support plantation economies in Americas.

1.4. Capitalism shaped European society and everyday life.

1. Cities became centers of finance because of innovations in banking.
2. Growth of commerce created new elites (Gentry in England, Nobles in France).
3. Social status continued to be defined by class, religion, and gender.

1. Most Europeans practiced subsistence agriculture.
2. Agriculture became commercialized after the price revolution (enclosures).
3. Western Europe adopted free peasantry, while serfdom remained in the East.
4. Peasants revolted when landlords attempted to abolish traditional rights.

1. Prices of goods increased more than wages, which lowered living standards.
2. Migrants to cities challenged urban elites.
3. City governments regulated public morals (secular laws, codes).

1. Men and women worked on separate, but complementary tasks.
2. The Renaissance & Reformation triggered debates about roles of women.
3. Economic and environmental crises delayed marriage and childbearing.

1. Activities for leisure were communal and organized by religious and agricultural calendars.
2. Rituals of public humiliation remained popular to enforce communal norms.
3. Accusations of witchcraft peaked between 1580 and 1650.

1.5. Political centralization and the struggle for sovereignty

1. New centralized monarchies monopolized taxes, military force, and justice.
2. The Peace of Westphalia accelerated the decline of the Holy Roman Empire.
3. Commercial and professional groups gained economic and political power.
4. Secular political theorists developed new concepts of state (Machiavelli).

1. The balance of power came into question as religion declined as a cause for war.
2. Military technologies defined the balance of power and changed warfare.

1. English Civil War was fought between monarchy and parliament.
2. Monarchies sought more power and faced challenges from nobles.
3. Competition between minority and dominant national groups (Celtic, Czech).

LIST OF CONCEPTS & VOCABULARY FROM PERIOD 1

• 95 Theses
• Act of Supremacy
• Age of Exploration
• Anabaptist
• Andreas Vesalius
• Atlantic Slave Trade
• balance of power
• British East India Company
• bureaucracy
• Catherine de Medici
• Catholic Reformation
• centralization
• Charles I of England
• Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire
• Christian Humanism
• Columbian Exchange
• Commercial Revolution
• constitutional monarchy
• Council of Trent
• crop rotation
• Divine Right of Kings
• Dutch East India Company
• Edict of Nantes
• Elizabeth I of England
• Enclosure Movement
• English Civil War
• Erasmus
• Ferdinand & Isabella
• Francis Bacon
• French Wars of Religion
• Galileo Galilei
• Gentry
• Glorious Revolution
• God, Glory, and Gold
• Gustavus Adolphus
• Hanseatic League
• Henry IV of France
• Henry VIII of England
• Henry VII of England
• Huguenots
• humanism
• individualism
• Isaac Newton
• James I of England
• Jan Van Eyck
• Jesuits
• John Calvin
• joint-stock companies
• Leonardo da Vinci
• Little Ice Age
• Martin Luther
• mercantilism
• military revolution
• nepotism
• Niccolo Machiavelli
• Nicolaus Copernicus
• Northern Renaissance
• Oliver Cromwell
• Peace of Augsburg
• Peace of Westphalia
• Petrarch
• Philip II of Spain
• Price Revolution
• printing press
• Protestant Revolution
• Puritans
• putting-out system
• Renaissance
• Rene Descartes
• Roman Inquisition
• Scientific Revolution
• secularism
• serfdom
• Sir Thomas More
• social dislocation
• Spanish Armada
• Spanish Inquisition
• St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre
• The Fronde
• Thirty Years' War
• Triangular Trade
• Ursulines
• vernacular language
• War of Three Henries
• William Harvey