1450-1750
AP World History
Unit 3

 The Renaissance was the rebirth of art and learning from 1350 to 1600.
 Aristocrats, popes, nobles became wealthy patrons and tried to outdo each other.
 City-states sponsored innovations in art and architecture.
 linear perspective to show depth.
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Sculptors created natural poses.

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An Italian statesman and writer.
Considered one of the most significant political thinkers of the Renaissance.
His best-known work, The Prince.
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Describes cunning and unscrupulous methods for rulers to gain and keep power.
“Machiavellian”
 characterized as unscrupulous, treacherous, and cruel toward his political rivals, ”the end justifies the means”

 Simple, elegant style, inherited from the classical Greek and Roman style.
 Magnificent domed cathedrals.
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Brunelleschi's’ cathedral of Florence.
St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.

 Especially strong in France, England, and
Netherlands.
 Focus was more on science, math, and
Christianity.
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Preferred language was Hebrew.
 Strongly supported by the middle classes and lesser nobles.
 Leading figures included Shakespeare,
Erasmus, and Protestant reformers.

 Martin Luther (1483-1546)
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Attacked the sale of indulgences, 1517.
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Attacked corruption in Catholic Church
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Argument reproduced with the printing press.
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Enthusiastic responses from average Christians.
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By mid-16 th century, half of Germany adopted
Lutheranism.
 Luther did not actually create Lutheranism, followers did.

 Reform spread outside Germany.
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Protestant movements popular in Swiss cities and
Netherlands.
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Scandinavian kings liked the movement because it removed the Church as a rival.
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English Reformation was sparked by King Henry
VII’s desire to get a divorce.

 John Calvin.
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Organized a model Protestant community in
Geneva in the 1530s.
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Calvinist missionaries were successful in France.
 Calvinist reformation in Switzerland.
 Presbyterian movement in Scotland.

 Early attempts to reform
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Catholic cardinals and bishops call council in early
15 th century.
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Council of Constance deposes rival popes.
Attempts to assert authority over pope
 Initial reforms
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Catholic intellectuals attack Church corruption.
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Emperor Sigismund attempts to reform the church in Germany.

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Church’s reaction to Luther and the
Protestants.
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Charles V and the Church condemned.
 Luther was excommunicated.
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King Henry VIII condemned Luther.
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Inquisition unleashed on the Protestants.
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Spanish use government wealth to fund anti-
Protestant movements.

 The Council of Trent.
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1545-1563
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Organized to reform the Roman Catholic Church.
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Attacked corruption
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Reaffirmed traditions.
 Bible was valued as co-equal.

 The Society of Jesus.
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Other wise known as “Jesuits”.
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Founded by Ignatius Loyola in 1540.
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High standards in education.
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Combated Protestants with logic, faith, and hard work.
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Became confessors and advisors to the kings.
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Worldwide missionaries.

 Wars were as much social and political as they were religious.
 Civil War in France.
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French Calvinists (Huguenots) and Catholic
League.
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Monarchy often a pawn of both sides and nobles.
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Lasted 36 years.
 1562-1598
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Ended with a new dynasty in France.

 Spanish Armada
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War between Catholic Spain and Protestant
England in 1588.
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Spilled over from the conflict in the Netherlands.
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Questions of the heir to the English throne.
 Catholic Scottish Queen or Protestant Elizabeth.

 Protestant provinces of the Netherlands revolted against the rule of Catholic Spain.
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Originally began as a revolt of all the Netherlands against Spain.
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Eventually split the country into Catholic south
(Belgium) and Protestant north (Holland).
 Scottish Presbyterians revolt.
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Expelled the Catholic Queen with England’s secret assistance.
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Raised her kidnapped son as a Presbyterian.

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The Thirty Years’ War
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1618-1648
Most destructive European war up until World War I.
Began as a local conflict in Bohemia.
 Eventually involved most of Europe.
Devastated the Holy Roman Empire
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Mainly the German states.
Lost 1/3 of the population.
The rise of Sweden and the Hapsburgs as a great powers.
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Lowering Spain’s power.
Independence for Holland and Switzerland.
German was no longer “holy”, “Roman”, or an “empire”.

1450-1750
AP World History
Unit 3

 The re-conception of the universe.
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The Ptolemaic universe.
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A motionless earth surrounded by nine spheres.
 Could not account for the movements of the planets.
Compatible with the Christian concept of Creation.
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The Copernican universe.
 The sun was the center of the universe, 1543.
 Implied that the earth was just another planet.
 Science becomes the new authority and challenges the faith for control.
 Johannes Kepler (1564-1642)
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Demonstrated planetary orbits.

 Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)
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Located sunspots, moons on Jupiter, and mountains on the moon.
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Theory of velocity, falling bodies anticipated modern law of inertia.
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Tried by the Inquisition because his ideas challenged the Papal infallibility.

 Isaac Newton (1642-1727)
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Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy in
1686.
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Mathematical explanations of laws govern movements of bodies.
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His work symbolized the scientific revolution.
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Direct observation
Mathematical reasoning

 Thinkers sought natural laws that governed human society.
 Center was France.
 Theory of progress was a major ideology.
 Applied reason and science to society, government, and laws.
 Voltaire (1694-1778)
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Considered the father of the Enlightenment.
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Religious liberty and individual freedom.

 Adam Smith
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Laws of supply and demand determine price.
 Montesquieu
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Checks and balance in government.
 Deism
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Accepted the existence of a god.
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Denied the supernatural teachings of Christianity.
“God the Clockmaker”.
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Ordered the universe according to rational and natural laws.

 Impact of the Enlightenment
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Weakened the influence of organized religion.
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Encouraged secular values based on reason rather than revelation.
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Subjected society to rational analysis.
 Promoted progress and prosperity.
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Applied science to every day life and made science practical.