Glossary Ahe 04 | Research & Encyclopedia Articles

Glossary

Academy of Poetry and Music:

An institution founded in 1570 by the poet Jean de Baïf that established classical literary and aesthetic forms in French literature and music. The Academy was especially influential in the development of early ballets de cour.

Act of Supremacy:

The act of Parliament that established King Henry VIII as the head of the Church in England in 1534, permitting his divorce from Catherine of Aragon.

Allemande:

Popular sixteenth-century dance step, derived from the fifteenth-century bassedance. The word allemande is French for "German" and may indicate the dance's origins.

Alumbrado:

Term for sixteenth-century Spanish mystics suspected of harboring heretical views.

Anabaptist Movement:

A religious movement that practiced a "second baptism" for adult members, and believed in establishing a Christian community separate from the world. Their participation in the Revolution of the Münster Prophets in 1533 and 1534 resulted in widespread persecution.

Ancient Theology:

Philosophy that argued that a pre-Christian but divine wisdom was to be found in all the world's religions. Developed by Renaissance Platonists, it had its origins in the Latin prisca theologica.

Anglicanism:

The English form of Protestantism.

Anthem:

A native musical composition that flourished in late-Renaissance England; anthems relied on mostly-English lyrics and were generally written without elaborate harmonies in order to heighten the audience's understanding of the texts.

Anticlericalism:

Sentiment that is critical of the special rights and privileges of the clergy.

Aristotelianism:

A philosophy that has its inspiration in the ancient Greek thinker Aristotle. Aristotelians typically placed a high emphasis on the importance of matter and thus are often called materialists. Aristotelian elements were to be found in medieval scholasticism, but during the Renaissance a revival of Aristotle's works also led some thinkers, most notably Pomponazzi, to deny the immortality of the soul.

Ars nova:

Literally, the "new art," a style in early fourteenth-century French music that emphasized greater freedom of rhythm and harmony and that eventually came to be adapted elsewhere in fourteenth-century Europe. It led eventually to the development of a new "international style" of musical composition.

Art of Dying:

Popular theme in Renaissance literature, which outlined how to prepare oneself for a good death.

Autos sacramentales:

Religious plays popular in early sixteenth-century Spain; literally "sacramental acts."

Avignon Papacy:

The period between 1309–1378 when the Roman pope ruled from the French-speaking city of Avignon. The Avignon Papacy became synonymous with luxury and corruption, and this period was sometimes referred to as the "Babylonian Captivity," a phrase that likened the Israelites' imprisonment in ancient Babylon to the church's at the hand of the French king. In truth, the French king did not control the popes at Avignon as thoroughly as once thought, and the period gave rise to many innovations in papal government that strengthened the church's financial position. The Avignon Papacy was to have ended with the return to Rome in 1378, but a splinter of cardinals in the French city elected their own rival pope, thus giving rise to the Great Schism (1378–1415).

Ballade:

A lively medieval French song frequently used to accompany dancing. The form spread throughout Europe as a result of the internationalization of musical styles that occurred during the Renaissance.

Ballet de Cour:

French court entertainment combining a story line with poetry, dancing, music, and other theatrical elements. Ballets de cour were first performed in the late sixteenth century, and survived into the Baroque period, at which time they inspired innovations in French opera and the ballet.

Baptism:

One of the seven sacraments of the medieval church, baptism was performed on infant children to wash away the stain of original sin. In the Reformation, infant baptism was one of two sacraments retained by most Protestants. The Anabaptists, however, replaced the practice with a rite performed on adults.

Barrel vault:

A rounded vault used in Renaissance churches that had its origins in the ancient Roman arch. It became popular through the architectural theory of Leon Battista Alberti and was used in Renaissance churches of the later fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, including the famous Il Gesú at Rome.

Bassedance:

A processional dance popular in fourteenth- and fifteenth-century Burgundy.

Bembismo:

A literary movement popular in early sixteenth-century Italy that imitated the difficult and artful syntax and stylistic elements of the works of Pietro Bembo.

Black Death:

A massive epidemic of bubonic plague that began to spread throughout Europe late in 1347 and did not recede completely until 1351. During these years the plague reduced the continent's population by as much as a third. This sudden decline in population had massive effects on the economy of Renaissance Europe, sponsoring a rise in wages and inflation as two of its more prominent effects in the fifteenth century. After the first outbreak of the disease, the bubonic plague continued to recur in Europe until the late seventeenth century.

Boethius:

An early-medieval philosopher who was active in Visigothic Spain. Boethius communicated much ancient knowledge to the Middle Ages, and his philosophical classic, The Consolation of Philosophy, continued to be read throughout the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.

Bonfire of the Vanities:

The custom of throwing cards, dice, and frivolous clothing into huge public bonfires to demonstrate a commitment to lead a more serious and moral life; generally followed the preaching missions of fifteenth-century religious figures like St. Bernard of Siena or St. John of Capistrano.

Book of Common Prayer:

The book of English services first sanctioned for use in the Church of England by Edward VI (r. 1547–1553). Later done away with under the rule of Edward's half-sister Mary I, the Book of Common Prayer re-surfaced during the reign of Elizabeth I (r. 1558–1603). The work had a massive impact on the development of English literary style in the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

Book of Hours:

A collection of prayers used in late-medieval and Renaissance private devotion, often elaborately decorated and commissioned by the wealthiest aristocrats of the time. The greatest of these works, like the Very Rich Hours of the duke of Berry, are masterpieces of Northern Renaissance art.

Braccio:

An Italian unit of measurement for cloth, roughly about 20 inches long.

Branle:

A lively dance popular in France in the early sixteenth century. In England, the form was often known as the "brawl." Many variations on the dance flourished in the 1500s, and some often contained elaborate "pantomimes" that imitated folk customs.

Brethren and Sisters of the Common Life:

A lay religious movement popular in the Netherlands and the Rhineland in the fifteenth century. The Brethren of the Common Life valued education in the Christian classics, and affected the growth of Christian humanism in Northern Europe through their network of secondary schools. The Sisters of the Common Life's foundation actually preceded that of the Brethren.

Bubonic Plague:

See Black Death.

Bull:

A papal letter that defined issues of church doctrine and practice. The term comes from bulla, meaning "stamp" or "seal," and had its origins in the practice of sealing these letters with a round lead seal.

Burgundy:

One of the most powerful states of fifteenth-century Europe, located north and east of the kingdom of France. Burgundy's rise to prominence began as France struggled in the Hundred Years' War. Eventually, the dukes of Burgundy controlled large areas of eastern France as well as the rich cities of the Netherlands and Flanders. The elaborate court life of the duchy affected styles in dance, music, and art in much of northern Europe, even after control of the vast Burgundian lands was divided between the Habsburgs and the Valois dynasty of France following Charles the Bold's death in 1477.

Byzantium:

The Eastern Mediterranean descendant of the ancient Roman Empire. Byzantium's capital and last remaining territories fell to Turkish control in 1453. The crisis that preceded Byzantium's collapse led to the importation of many priceless ancient texts into fifteenth-century Italy.

Cabalism:

An occult or magical philosophy practiced in medieval Judaism that was embraced by Renaissance intellectuals, particularly by Platonists in the late fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

Calvinism:

The form of Reformed Christianity that traces its origins to John Calvin (1509–1564) and the city of Geneva where he worked. Calvinism became a vast international movement in the late sixteenth century, and was a popular religious ideology among the Puritans, English Protestants who eventually founded New World settlements in the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

Cambridge Wits:

A group of late sixteenth-century London playwrights that had received their university education at the University of Cambridge. The most famous of the wits was Christopher Marlowe (1564–1593).

Camerata:

A loose organization of Florentine intellectuals in the late sixteenth century who studied ancient music and poetry. It was influential in the development of early opera.

Campanile:

The Italian word for "bell tower." Campaniles were popular additions that accompanied late-medieval and Renaissance building projects, the most famous being that at Florence as well as the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

Canon:

Meaning "law" or "rule." A late-medieval and Renaissance form of musical counterpoint in which the first singer sets out the theme that is to be imitated by other voices, who are expected to follow according to the laws set down by the composer.

Canon law:

The body of law used in the medieval and Renaissance church.

Cantus firmus:

A plainsong melody originally sung in unison. With the rise of polyphonic musical composition in the Renaissance, cantus firmus melodies gave structure and unity to settings of the Mass.

Capuchins:

A reformed order of Franciscans founded in 1529 that became a force for Catholic reform in the later sixteenth century.

Carols:

Songs originally used in the Middle Ages to accompany dances. During the Renaissance, English composers embraced innovations in the writing of carols that made the genre a distinctly national kind of musical form.

Cassoni:

Meaning "casket." Richly, decorated cassoni carried the dowry payments of wealthy women through the streets of Italian Renaissance cities in the days before the celebration of a wedding.

Catholic Reformation:

A broad movement within the Roman Catholic Church of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries that gave rise to many efforts to deepen piety.

Chaconne:

A sixteenth-century dance of Spanish origin that may have its roots in New World dances. The chaconne was notable for its sexual overtones.

Chanson:

French for "song." Between the fourteenth and early sixteenth centuries French styles of song composition were adopted in many places throughout Europe. In the mid-sixteenth century the rise of the genre of Parisian chansons attempted to revive a native French style in a genre that had by that time become international in nature.

Chantrist:

A priest charged with repeating the Mass for the benefit of the souls of the dead.

Château:

French for "castle." In the sixteenth century châteaux acquired a more domestic and less fortified appearance.

Chiarentina:

A lively Italian dance of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, consisting of an elaborate choreography of hops, skips, and jumps.

Chiaroscuro:

An Italian painting term used to describe the rendering of light and dark shading on a panel or canvas so the composition takes on an appearance of volume.

Chivalry:

A medieval code of conduct that stressed military valor, honor, and personal loyalty as signs of distinction for knights and nobles.

Choir:

The part of a church behind or surrounding the High Altar.

Chopines:

A Renaissance form of woman's shoe constructed with high platform soles made out of wood or cork.

Chorale:

A German hymn popular in Lutheran churches that made use of pre-existing or newly composed melodies.

Choreography:

The compositional arrangement and flow of steps in a dance.

Chorography:

A discipline that mixed geography, history, and descriptions of customs and which was popular especially among the humanists of sixteenth-century Germany.

Chromaticism:

Music that makes use of close and dissonant harmonies. In the sixteenth century chromaticism's rise was associated with the revival of classical Greek forms of musical composition.

Church of St. John Lateran:

The pope's church within the city of Rome, at which he presides as bishop of that city. Several important church councils were held during the Middle Ages and Renaissance in this church.

Ciceronianism:

A sixteenth-century literary movement, popular especially in Italy, that tried to revive the elegant Latin style of rhetoric associated with the ancient Roman orator Cicero (d. 43 B.C.E.).

Civic humanism:

A form of humanism particularly widespread in Florence and other Italian cities that discussed the arts of good government and the ethical qualifications necessary to participate in public life.

Codicology:

The study of variant forms of a literary text in order to establish the original and authoritative version.

Codpiece:

A pouch, flap, or bag that concealed the opening between the legs of men's britches in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

College of Cardinals:

The body of high officials in the Roman Church charged with the election of new popes.

Commedia dell'Arte:

An improvised form of comedy originally performed as street theater in sixteenth-century Italy that mixed short sketches, pantomimes, dances, and music.

Conciliarism:

A political philosophy that emerged in the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries as a result of the crisis of the Great Schism in which rival popes ruled the church from Rome and Avignon. The conciliarists advocated a church council to resolve the crisis, something realized finally at the Council of Constance (1413–1417). In the aftermath of that meeting, many conciliarists continued to argue that the church needed a permanent assembly to approve or disapprove of the actions of the pope. By the end of the fifteenth century conciliar opposition to papal power, though, had grown increasingly weak.

Confession:

A written statement of faith that played an important role in defining religious positions during the Protestant and Catholic Reformations.

Confirmation:

One of the seven sacraments of the medieval church, which marked official entrance into the life of the church. Confirmation was typically received as a child stood on the verge of adulthood at twelve or thirteen. Although Protestants denied the sacramental nature of confirmation, most retained some version of the ritual in their church reforms.

Confraternities:

Brotherhoods and sisterhoods of lay people and clergy that met for prayers and to perform pious good works. Some confraternities adopted penitential rituals like flagellation (self-whipping) and the wearing of hair shirts to deepen their piety. The pious ideals of most of these organizations were closely modeled on the disciplines of monastic life.

Converso:

A Christian convert from Judaism in fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Spain.

Corinthian Order:

The most elegant and decorative of the architectural orders of antiquity. The capitals or peaks of Corinthian columns are decorated with acanthus leaves.

Council of Constance:

The church council that met in the southern German city of Constance between 1413–1417 and resolved the crisis of authority in the church known as the Great Schism. The council also condemned the heresy of the Bohemian heretic John Huss.

Council of Trent:

A council of the Roman Catholic Church that convened in the northern Italian city of Trent during three sessions in the years between 1545–1563. The council defined Catholic teaching and religious practices as well as answered Protestant criticisms of the church. Its definitions of Catholic doctrine largely stood until the Second Vatican Council of the 1960s.

Counter Reformation:

A phrase originally used to describe the attempts of Catholic reformers to negate and condemn the criticisms of Protestantism. It has increasingly been replaced with Catholic Reformation, a phrase that highlights the many positive as well as negative dimensions of renewal in the church between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries.

Counterpoint:

The construction of two or more melodic lines in a musical composition to create an overall harmonic structure.

Depravity:

A teaching concerning sin that was enthusiastically embraced by sixteenth-century Protestant reformers. Their emphasis on human depravity stressed that human beings were utterly controlled by their desire to sin, and thus had no free will to act or participate in their salvation.

Dialogue:

A popular humanist literary form that records the discussion of religious or philosophical issues among two or more people in a lively conversational format.

Diet of Worms:

The meeting of the German parliament in 1521 in the city of Worms at which Martin Luther was called to answer charges of heresy. Luther was condemned to death as a result of the questioning he underwent, but was subsequently spirited away and protected by the elector Frederick the Wise.

Diptych:

A work of religious art painted on two hinged panels and usually intended to serve as an altarpiece.

Dominicans:

An order of friars or itinerant preachers founded in 1215 by St. Dominic (1170–1221). The Dominicans became vital on the education scene of later medieval and Renaissance Europe and were often charged with inspecting regions for heresy. In the sixteenth century many members of the order were powerful opponents of the teaching of Martin Luther.

Donation of Constantine:

A document allegedly written by the ancient Roman emperor Constantine I that ceded control over western Europe to the pope. In the Middle Ages the Donation of Constantine was one of the foundations for the growth of papal power. In 1440, Lorenzo Valla revealed the document as an eighth-century forgery.

Doric Order:

The simplest of the architectural orders derived from the buildings of antiquity in which the capitals are squared.

Doublet:

A close-fitting jacket usually worn under a robe by men during the Renaissance.

Dowry:

A woman's share of her father's inheritance that is conferred to her husband's control at the time of her marriage.

Dualism:

Any philosophical teaching that includes a strong contrast between the realms of the spirit or soul and that of the physical universe or body.

Eclogue:

A rustic form of verse that evoked country themes and was popular among Renaissance poets. The form has its origins in the works of the ancient Latin poet Vergil.

Edict of Nantes:

A proclamation of King Henri IV of France in 1598 that granted a limited degree of toleration to French Protestants.

English Peasants' War:

A rebellion staged in 1381 in protest of the archbishop of Canterbury's plans to introduce a new universal poll tax in England. An angry mob killed the archbishop, who was serving at the time as a royal minister.

Engraving:

The cutting of designs and pictures in a wood or copper plate. German Renaissance masters at the end of the fifteenth and beginning of the sixteenth centuries brought a high level of technical skill to the art form.

Entablature:

An upper section of a wall that is usually decorated and supported by a row of columns.

Epic:

A long narrative poem that retells the exploits of a hero or group of heroes.

Epicureanism:

An ancient philosophy promoted by Epicurus that embraced intellectual pleasure as the highest principle of life. In the mid-fifteenth century the Italian philosopher Lorenzo Valla developed a Christian form of Epicureanism by insisting that the religion's answers to the intellectual problems of existence were the most profound and capable of creating the greatest peace of mind.

Erudite Comedy:

A form of learned comedy inspired by the ancient works of the Latin playwrights Terence and Plautus. Erudite comedies were particularly popular in Italy, from where their five-act structure spread throughout Europe in the later sixteenth century to affect the works of figures as diverse as William Shakespeare in England and Lope de Vega in Spain.

Eucharist:

One of the seven sacraments of the medieval church, also known as Holy Communion. According to medieval theology, the body and blood of Christ were made physically present in the rite through priestly ministration. This doctrine, known as transubstantiation, was rejected by all Protestants, who nevertheless retained the Eucharist as one of the central rituals of their churches.

Evangelical:

Any religious position that places a strong emphasis on the Christian gospels, usually associated with the followers of Martin Luther, who emphasized the doctrine of justification by faith. Also used in Italy to refer to followers of groups like the Oratory of Divine Love, that emphasized the role of divine grace and human unworthiness in their teachings about salvation.

Extreme Unction:

One of the seven sacraments of the medieval church that involved the anointing of the sick and dying in preparation for death. Also known as Last Rites, Extreme Unction was rejected as a sacrament by sixteenth-century Protestants.

Farce:

A short and light comedy popular in sixteenth-century France.

Farthingale:

A wide support of hoops that swelled out the hips of skirts worn by wealthy and aristocratic women in the sixteenth century. In Spain, where these hoop-skirt contraptions originated in the fifteenth century, farthingales were known as verdugado.

Feast of Corpus Christi:

A religious celebration held to commemorate the Eucharist and the Christian community as the Body of Christ. Corpus Christi was usually observed in June, and its celebration often included mystery play cycles in the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. Protestants, especially Calvinists, eliminated the Feast from their religious life, and in France, the annual celebrations of the event often erupted into riots and precipitated religious murders.

Franciscans:

An order of friars or preachers who followed the teachings of St. Francis of Assisi (1182–1226). The Franciscans were particularly important on the urban scene, and in the fifteenth century members of the order like St. Bernard of Siena promoted an uncompromising morality that aimed to reduce splendor in dress and consumption.

Fresco:

A medium of painting images on walls while the plaster was still wet, so that the pigments became fused with the wall surface itself. From the Italian word for "fresh."

Galliard:

A lively dance usually consisting of five steps that were combined in many different patterns. The galliard was particularly popular in sixteenth-century court societies.

Gesso:

A thin coat of whitewash or plaster applied to a panel or canvas to prepare it for painting.

Golden Mean:

A teaching of the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle from his Nichomachean Ethics that argued that human beings should avoid extremes in thoughts and physical actions.

Great Schism:

The split in the Western church occasioned by the return of the papacy to its ancient capital in Rome in 1378. At Avignon, where the papacy had resided between 1309–1378, a rival remnant of cardinals elected their own pope, whose successors continued to compete for allegiance with Rome until 1415. The Council of Constance relied on conciliar teachings to heal the schism by deposing both popes and appointing a new head of the church.

Greek Cross:

A style of church construction in which all four radiating wings of a building are of equal length.

Heresy:

An opinion or teaching that is contrary to the official or "orthodox" views of the church.

Hermeticism:

A body of medieval and Renaissance philosophy texts that traced its origins to the legendary ancient Egyptian author Hermes Trismegisthus (meaning literally, "Thrice Great Hermes"). Hermeticism embraced occult practices like astrology and alchemy (the art of transforming matter), and was popularized in particular through the work of Renaissance Platonists.

Holy Orders:

One of the seven sacraments of the medieval church that involved the taking of priestly or monastic vows. These vows set off the clergy as a separate caste in society and granted them certain rights and privileges, while at the same time requiring that priests, monks, and nuns observe celibacy and other restrictions. Protestants rejected the sacramental nature of Holy Orders.

Holy Roman Empire:

The vast confederated set of states in central Europe that traced its origins to the early medieval empire of Charlemagne. At the beginning of the Renaissance the Holy Roman Empire consisted of some 300 individual states, city-states, and territories. Although it still claimed control over portions of northern Italy at this time, its effective power there was, by the time of the Renaissance, largely a fiction. The government structure of the Holy Roman Empire consisted of an emperor who was chosen by seven electors and a diet or parliament to which the various states sent delegates. By the sixteenth century long-standing traditions of local control had made the empire relatively weak as an international force in Europe, especially when compared to the great centralized monarchies that lay farther west in France, Iberia, and England.

Homophonic:

An adjective used to describe any musical form that makes use of a single melodic line.

Huguenots:

Sixteenth-century French Protestants who were persecuted for their faith. The term may have its origins in the followers of Besançon Hugues, who led a revolt of French-speaking Swiss in 1532. Members of this movement swore an oath (aignos), possibly giving birth to the word "Huguenot."

Humanism:

A nineteenth-century word coined to describe those who practiced the studia humanitatis or "humane studies" in the Renaissance. The disciplines recommended by humanists differed from place to place and over time, but usually included a strong emphasis on rhetoric, grammar, moral philosophy, history, and literature.

Hussitism:

Followers of the teachings of John Huss in Bohemia. The Hussites rejected many key orthodox teachings of the medieval church and more importantly celebrated the Eucharist by allowing the laity to receive wine and bread, a departure from medieval practice. Although several crusades were mounted to try to suppress the movement, Rome granted concessions to some of its more moderate followers, thus giving rise to a national church in parts of Bohemia (the modern Czech Republic) with religious practices different from Rome.

Icon:

A religious image constructed according to styles that flourished in the Eastern or Byzantine Empire, and popularly used for private devotions in Western Europe.

Iconoclasm:

The destruction of religious images and statues. Some radical forms of Protestantism sponsored iconoclastic outbreaks from time to time in sixteenth-century Europe, perceiving the use of religious images as a form of idolatry.

Iconography:

The use of symbols and images in art to convey philosophical and religious truths.

Il Gesù:

The home church of the Jesuit Order in Rome. The Gesù was constructed in the second half of the sixteenth century, and its style, which included an impressive barrel vault, was used in many famous churches of the Jesuit Order throughout Europe.

Index of Prohibited Books:

A list of books forbidden to Catholics as dangerous to church truth. While there were numerous such indexes that circulated throughout Europe during the sixteenth century, the Index eventually became a defined office in the church, charged with inspecting the contents of books at Rome.

Indulgences:

A remission of the punishments or penances that were imposed by a priest in the sacrament of confession. Indulgences were awarded for many pious activities in the Middle Ages and Renaissance and usually stipulated that those who received them were to receive so many days off their time in purgatory following their deaths. The belief in indulgences prompted Luther to write his Ninety-Five Theses in 1517.

Intermedi:

Interludes that consisted of music, dancing, or short dramas that were mounted in the theatrical productions of sixteenth-century Italy.

International Gothic:

A style in sculpture and painting that was particularly popular throughout Europe around 1400. Some of its features included elegant drapery, gold-leafed backgrounds, and an exaggerated sway in the depiction of the human form.

Intonaco:

In Italy, a rough plaster sometimes used to finish the façades of palazzi and churches.

Intronati:

A group of university-educated comics that flourished in the sixteenth-century city of Siena, and that influenced styles of theatricals elsewhere in Italy.

Ionic Order:

One of the architectural orders of antiquity widely used by Renaissance designers. Ionic columns are especially notable for the spiral volutes that adorn their capitals.

Italian Wars:

A series of wars waged in Italy by France, Spain, and the Holy Roman Empire between 1494 and 1559.

Jacquerie:

A French peasant revolt that occurred in 1358 and whose cause lay in part in the economic dislocations the Black Death (1347–1351) produced in Europe at the time.

Jesuit Drama:

Latin school plays embraced by the Jesuit Order as a way of teaching proper language usage to the students in their secondary schools. By the end of the Renaissance these Jesuit dramas had grown increasingly more complex, and had come to rely on many art forms simultaneously, including rich music, stage design, and dance.

Jesuits:

An order of priests founded by St. Ignatius of Loyola in 1534 that became a major force in Catholic renewal in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The Jesuits were also notable for their educational and missionary efforts. By the later sixteenth century Jesuit missionaries were active in the Far East and in the New World.

Justification by Faith:

The doctrine first formulated by Martin Luther and adopted by most Protestants that taught that human beings could not aid in or earn their salvation through works. Salvation was instead a free gift of grace that made the sinner appear "just" in God's eyes.

Keep:

The most heavily defended part of a medieval or Renaissance castle.

Latin Cross:

In church architecture, the term "Latin Cross" is used to describe a church in which one of the arms, the nave, is longer than the other three.

Lieder:

Native German songs that began to be written down at the end of the fifteenth century and circulated in the sixteenth through printed music. The popularity of Lieder gradually gave way to madrigals in German-speaking Europe in the second half of the sixteenth century.

Limewood Sculptors:

An accomplished group of wood sculptors that were active in southern Germany in the late fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Most prominent among these figures were Tilman Riemenschneider and Veit Stoss.

Linear Perspective:

A system for rendering three-dimensional space and volume on a two-dimensional picture plane. This system was perfected in the early fifteenth century in Florence through the efforts of the painter Masaccio and the architect Brunelleschi. Slightly later the humanist and artist Leon Battista Alberti publicized these techniques in a treatise on painting, spreading their knowledge quickly among fifteenth-century artists.

Lollards:

Followers of John Wycliffe in fifteenth- and sixteenth-century England, who advocated a simplified piety based in biblical teachings.

Lute song:

A genre of musical compositions popular in late sixteenth-century England that set fine poetic lyrics to music with lute accompaniments.

Lutheranism:

The religious system that developed out of the teachings of Martin Luther (1483–1546).

Machiavellianism:

The view that politics functions in a realm in which normal moral considerations play no role. Machiavellianism was traced to Niccolò Machiavelli's The Prince and almost always criticized for its amorality in the later Renaissance.

Madrigal:

Medieval form of Italian song, transformed in the High and Late Renaissance into a complex polyphonic creation. In these works composers set to music some of the best verse of the Italian Renaissance. Published and circulated in printed editions, Italian madrigals also inspired national fashions for the form in England, France, Germany, and Spain in the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

Mannerism:

An artistic style that flourished in Florence, Rome, and central Italy in the mid-to late sixteenth century. It found its inspiration in the works of the mature and late Michelangelo, and was characterized by artful elongation and distortion as well as a penchant for difficult themes.

Martyrology:

Literary work that commemorates the ultimate sacrifices of Christians. In the overheated confessional disputes of the late sixteenth century, both Protestant and Catholics produced many martyrologies in an attempt to demonstrate the potency of their religious truths.

Masque:

A form of courtly entertainment first imported into England in 1512 by King Henry VIII. Throughout the sixteenth century court masques grew increasingly more complex and costly, culminating in the great productions of Ben Jonson and Inigo Jones in the first decades of the seventeenth century.

Mass:

The central religious rite of the medieval church, believed to be a sacrifice beneficial to the living and the dead. The latter part of the Mass consists of the Eucharist or Holy Communion.

Mennonites:

Followers of the religious reformer Menno Simons (d. 1559) from Frisia in Holland. The Mennonite Church derived from Anabaptist teachings, including simplicity of life and worship and the rejection of the custom of taking oaths and bearing arms.

Metaphysics:

Literally, those subjects that go "beyond physics." In philosophy, the branch of metaphysics was concerned with all those things that could not be seen or perceived with the senses, and Renaissance meta-physicians were often fascinated by the occult.

Modern Devotion:

The pattern of religious and devotional life popularized by the Brethren and Sisters of the Common Life in the fifteenth-century Netherlands and Rhineland. In particular, the modern devotion promoted prayer, biblical study, an inward contrite heart, and the concept of the "imitation of Christ."

Modes:

The scale system of medieval and Renaissance music, of which there were eight. Some of these resembled the keys used in music after the seventeenth century. Other modes had a very different sound quality than in the modern system of tonality.

Monody:

Music in which a single sound produced either by an instrument or the human voice was intended to imitate the simplicity of ancient Greek music.

Monstrance:

A vessel used for displaying a consecrated wafer used in the sacrament of the Eucharist.

Morality Play:

An allegorical theatrical production popular particularly in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries.

Moresco:

A whirling dance performed in Italy, Spain, and elsewhere in Renaissance Europe, thought to imitate the dances of the Islamic Moors.

Motet:

A polyphonic musical composition in which the various vocal parts originally sang contrasting texts. Motets were some of the most widely performed sacred music of the Renaissance, and the form witnessed rich elaboration over the course of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. In the Roman Catholic Church motet writing survived into modern times.

Mystery Play:

A medieval religious drama often staged by guilds or confraternities whose themes treated the life, death, and sacrifice of Christ. In particular, the Feast of Corpus Christi was one important occasion in the fifteenth century usually commemorated by the performance of one of these plays.

Mysticism:

A term that refers to any set of religious teachings that tried to foster a direct, unmediated communion between God and the sinner in the medieval and Renaissance world. Mysticism was enormously varied and included affective, speculative, and Platonic forms.

Natural Philosophy:

The branch of matter in the philosophical curriculum of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance that was concerned with nature and matter.

Naturalism:

The term used to describe the attempt to relate the natural world faithfully in art, using the testimony of the eyes as one's guide.

Nave:

The main or longer wing of a church built in the Latin Cross-style of construction.

Nominalism:

A theory propounded by the fourteenth-century philosopher William of Ockham that denied that there were universal essences or realities. Instead Ockham taught that concepts were the result of the consequences of human speech, as people created nouns or names to describe those things they commonly observed in the world.

Novella:

Any of a genre of short tales or fables that was popular in Renaissance Italy in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Among the most famous collections of novella was Giovanni Boccaccio's masterpiece, The Decameron.

Octave:

A musical interval or harmony in which the upper or lower tones are separated by eight tones.

Oculus:

A circular window often built into domes to admit light into a structure.

Orthodoxy:

The established or conventional teachings of the church.

Palazzo:

The Italian word for "palace," used to refer to any kind of substantial urban building. During the Renaissance the construction of domestic palaces expanded enormously in towns like Florence and Venice.

Palladianism:

An architectural style that imitates the works of Andrea Palladio, the sixteenth-century northern Italian architect who developed a classical language notable for its great elegance, light, and delicacy.

Pastoral:

Literary work set in the countryside and frequently involving conversations between shepherds, nymphs, and satyrs. Pastorals were particularly popular throughout Europe at the end of the Renaissance.

Patrilineal Inheritance:

The legal custom of passing the bulk of a father's estate to male heirs.

Pavan:

A stately court dance that flourished in sixteenth-century Europe. Of Italian origin, the dance consisted of only two small steps, followed by a double step. The name "Pavan" may derive from the Spanish word for a peacock's tail, or from the dance's origins in the city of Padua.

Peace of Augsburg:

The treaty that ended religious hostilities between Protestant and Catholic rulers in 1555. Its provisions allowed princes to choose the religion their subjects were to follow.

Peasants' War:

A rebellion of peasants that began in the German provinces of Swabia and Franconia and came to encompass many areas of the Holy Roman Empire during 1524–1525. Its manifesto, the Twelve Articles, demanded the establishment of "godly preaching" in the countryside as well as the abolition of recently revived feudal dues and taxes. The war was bitterly suppressed, an event that Luther sanctioned in the spring of 1525.

Penance:

One of the seven sacraments of the medieval church, also known as confession. The word "penance" also refers to the specific acts that are given to Christians as punishment for sin after confession to a priest. Sixteenth-century Protestants rejected penance as a sacrament.

Petrarchism:

In literature, the effort to imitate the style of Francesco Petrarch (1304–1374), an effort that was particularly strong among some writers in early sixteenth-century Italy.

Philology:

The study of words and literature in their historical context which reveals changes language has undergone over time.

Pièta:

Literally, "Pity." Any depiction of the dead Christ being mourned. Among the most famous is Michelangelo's High-Renaissance masterpiece of the same name.

Pietra Serena:

A blue-gray stone typically used to ornament the interiors of buildings in Florence and surrounding Tuscany. The contrast between pietra serena and white plaster became a design principle in the early Renaissance works of Filippo Brunelleschi, and the use of this decorative style survived in the region until the nineteenth century.

Plainsong:

A style of unison chanting used in the medieval and Renaissance church.

Platonism:

A philosophy that develops out of the key ideas of the ancient figure Plato. Revivals of Platonism have occurred throughout Western history. In medieval Europe, the efforts of the scholastic philosophers popularized realism, a philosophy derived in part from his works. Later the Renaissance Platonists of the late fifteenth century studied the philosopher's works more vigorously, giving rise to attempts to harmonize Platonism with Christianity, like Marsilio Ficino's at Florence.

Pleiades:

A group of French poets who in the second half of the sixteenth century tried to imitate the literary style of ancient Greece.

Politiques:

A body of political philosophers in late sixteenth-century France who argued that allegiance to the king and his state should take precedence over the attempt of Protestants and Catholics to establish religious uniformity.

Polyglot Bible:

Editions of the Bible that contained several different ancient versions printed side by side. These allowed scholars to study several different versions of the text at once. The most famous of several printed Polyglot Bibles produced in Renaissance Europe arose from the University of Alcalà in the early sixteenth century, and was known as the Complutensian Polyglot.

Polyphony:

A style of musical composition in which two or more voices are arranged around each other in complementary fashion.

Poulaine:

A pointed-toe shoe popular in Burgundy, France, and other court cultures in the fifteenth century. Poulaines had no heels and were usually made from felt. In dance, they extended the line of the foot, making a dancer appear more elegant. Very much in fashion at the end of the fifteenth century, they were to be replaced with new heeled and soled shoes in the sixteenth century.

Predestination:

The belief that God determines a person's salvation or damnation before one is even born.

Privy Council:

The private council of the monarch in England, which met regularly to advise the king or queen on royal policies.

Protestantism:

A term that originates from a protest staged during the Imperial Diet at Augsburg in 1529. Originally coined to describe the followers of Martin Luther, it very quickly began to be used for anyone who rejected the power of the pope and the teachings of the Roman Church.

Quadrivium:

The four mathematical arts of the liberal arts curriculum: arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy.

Radical Reformation:

A third wing of the Reformation that developed more extreme teachings than Lutheranism and Calvinism. Radical Reformers frequently evidenced a concern for separating their churches from society's wickedness, for purifying it of all medieval traditions, and with imitating the life of the ancient church.

Real Presence:

The notion that in the performance of the Eucharist, Christ's presence comes to reside in the bread and wine of the service.

Realism:

The philosophical school of thought that teaches that the mind understands what the senses present to it because it recognizes these things from higher universal concepts.

Recusants:

English Catholics who practiced their religion in secret for fear of persecution at the hands of Protestant authorities.

Reformed Christianity:

The second major branch of the Reformation to develop, originating in the Zürich of Zwingli and the Geneva of John Calvin. Those who practiced Reformed Christianity focused on purifying the church of customs and practices that had no scriptural foundation. Worship was more severe and unadorned than in the Lutheran or Anglican tradition, although the Puritans, followers in the Reformed tradition, came to agitate for these kinds of reforms in the Church of England.

Relief:

A mode of sculpture in which human forms, landscape, and other pictorial devices are carved into a surface plane of stone or marble or forged in bronze or other metals.

Reliquary:

A vessel created to house the bones, teeth, or other remains of a saint.

Reuchlin Affair:

A dispute that raged in Germany in the first two decades that involved the famous Hebraist Johannes Reuchlin. His efforts to extend knowledge of Hebrew among scholars were opposed by the recent Jewish convert Johann Pfefferkorn, prompting more than ten years of debate and bitter dispute over the issue of Jewish books.

Revolt of the Ciompi:

A rebellion begun in 1378 by the wool carders at Florence and joined by other minor guild members in the city. They demanded their own guilds by which they might oppose the high-handed tactics of the great masters who dominated these institutions. After six weeks in power the Ciompi were defeated.

Rhetoric:

The art of speaking and writing gracefully in order to convince others of one's position. Humanists very much prized this skill.

Romance:

A verse or prose genre that was often based on legend and in which the code of chivalry usually played a strong role.

Rondeau:

A melodic song that originated in medieval France that made use of a two-part refrain.

Royal Entries:

A ceremony popular in the later Middle Ages and Renaissance in which kings entered the major cities of their realm. Entries grew to be increasingly imposing occasions for showing off royal power.

Rustication:

The intentional use of rough-hewn stone in a wall.

Sacraments:

Ceremonies in the medieval church believed to result in the transfer of divine grace to those who participated in them and to work a benefit upon the soul of the Christian. In the medieval church there were seven sacraments: Baptism, Confirmation, Penance, Eucharist, Holy Orders, Marriage, and Extreme Unction. Protestants generally reduced the number of sacraments from seven to two.

Sarabande:

A dance of Spanish origin that became wildly popular in Iberian cities at the end of the sixteenth century, prompting attempts on the part of state and urban officials to prohibit it. The sarabande was feared in its early history as lewd and sexually lascivious, although it soon made its way into courtly society in the seventeenth century, where it became a staid and stately dance.

Schleitheim Confession:

The statement of religious belief set down in the Swiss village of Schleitheim in 1527 that encapsulated the teachings of the young Anabaptist faith. The confession expressed a Christianity that was rooted in community, which did away with the elaborate ritual of the medieval church, and which was intended to isolate the Anabaptists from the wickedness of the world.

Schmalkaldic League:

A league of Protestant cities and territories active in Germany in the 1540s and 1550s in opposing the plans of the emperor to enforce a single religion on Germany. The name derives from the small town of Schmalkalden, where the league was first founded.

Scholasticism:

A medieval philosophical movement that long dominated education in Europe's universities. The scholastics used a rational method of argument to arrive at truth and were consequently masters of the arts of logic.

Scotism:

One form of scholasticism that traces its origins to the ideas of John Duns Scotus, a Scottish philosopher who died in 1308. Scotus emphasized philosophical realism and the importance of the human will, and he tried to harmonize the conflicting teachings of Aristotle and Plato. Scotism was particularly popular in the fourteenth- and fifteenth-century universities, and its founder was known as the "subtle doctor."

Seven Liberal Arts:

The secondary educational curriculum that usually provided preparation to enter a university. The arts were divided into the literary disciplines (grammar, rhetoric, and logic) known as the trivium, and four mathematical arts (arithmetic, music, astronomy, and geometry) known as the quadrivium.

Sfumato:

An Italian word that describes the painting of atmosphere.

Shrove Tuesday Plays:

Plays performed on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday. These works, known in German as Fastnachtspiele were particularly popular in that country, where they were often staged by young apprentices and journeymen as a form of release before the beginning of Lent. They often made use of raucous and bawdy humor in the later Middle Ages. During the Reformation the sexual humor was toned down as writers like Hans Sachs, the Meistersinger of Nuremberg, transformed the Shrove Tuesday plays into vehicles for promoting Lutheran morality.

Slashing:

The custom of making cuts in the layers of Renaissance clothing so that the elaborate undergarments showed through.

Sonnet:

A poem of fourteen lines that was Italian in origin and perfected first in the great sonnets of Francesco Petrarch (1304–1374). During the Renaissance the form, usually written in an iambic pentameter rhyme scheme, was adopted in many European languages, including English. The sonnets of William Shakespeare are some of the highest expressions of this short form.

Sprezzatura:

Meaning "effortless" or done "with graceful ease." The concept of sprezzatura is frequently mentioned in much Italian writing on painting, sculpture, and literature. The ability to do difficult things so that they appeared easy was widely admired at the time, and was also celebrated in works like Baldassare Castiglione's Book of the Courtier as a necessary skill of the astute courtier.

Statutes of Provisors and Praemunire:

Laws enacted by Parliament in England that limited the power of the church. In 1351 the Statute of Provisors claimed for the king the right to appoint bishops and archbishops, while the somewhat later Statute of Praemunire (1353) forbade English subjects from appealing to Rome in legal cases.

Sumptuary Laws:

Laws common throughout Europe in the Renaissance that were designed to regulate the expense of clothes and the displays surrounding celebrations of weddings and the observance of funerals.

Tempera:

A method of painting commonly employed in medieval and Renaissance Italy in which pigments were suspended in egg whites before being applied to panels.

Theatines:

An order of priests established by Gaetano da Thiene in 1524 with the express purpose of raising the standard of clerical morality and fighting heresy.

Theocracy:

A government in which clerical figures share power with state officials. John Calvin's Geneva is commonly identified as one of the theocracies of the sixteenth century.

Thomism:

The rationalistic philosophical method perfected by St. Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274), a scholastic theologian. Thomas made use of the philosophical concept of realism, a teaching that posits that the human mind comprehends what is presented to it by the senses because it recognizes these concepts from higher universals.

Tragicomedy:

A literary and theatrical genre that began to emerge in Italy in the late sixteenth century that merged both tragic and comic elements. Often these tales were enacted in pastoral settings.

Transubstantiation:

The orthodox teaching of the medieval church that the bread and wine used in the Eucharist are transformed into the physical body and blood of Christ. All Protestants rejected this teaching in the sixteenth century.

Triptych:

A religious image or statue that is carved or painted on three panels that are hinged together.

Trivium:

The three language disciplines of the liberal arts curriculum: rhetoric, logic, and grammar.

Trousseau:

The gifts of clothing and household items that families made to their daughters as they entered marriage. Prospective husbands were often expected to counter these gifts with the presentation of an almost equally lavish counter-trousseau.

Twelve Articles:

The manifesto adopted by the rebels of the German Peasants' War in 1524–1525. These demanded the establishment of "godly preaching" in villages and the abolition of recently enacted feudal dues and taxes.

Ursulines:

A teaching order of nuns founded in Italy in the 1530s that exerted a significant influence on Catholic reform efforts in the later sixteenth century.

Vatican:

The headquarters of the pope's government just outside the medieval and Renaissance town walls of the city of Rome. The word is often used to refer more generally to papal government.

Vernacular:

The language that is native to a particular region, such as French to France, and German to Germany.

Virelais:

A lively French song popular in the later Middle Ages and Renaissance as an accompaniment to dances. The virelais form included a refrain that preceded and followed the work's two interior verses.

Virginalists:

A group of English composers who composed keyboard variations at the end of the sixteenth century. Most notable among the Virginalists was William Byrd.

Volta:

A sixteenth-century Italian dance in which couples moved around the floor in a tight embrace and at regular intervals the man raised the woman from the floor.

Vulgate:

The ancient Latin translation of the Bible completed by St. Jerome and authorized for use in the medieval church. Erasmus and other humanists criticized the Vulgate's inadequacies in the sixteenth century.

Weser Renaissance:

A flowering of great architectural distinction that occurred in late sixteenth-century Germany along and in the vicinity of the Weser River valley.

Woodcut:

A print that was made by incising drawings or letters into wooden blocks. Although woodcutting continued to be used as a printing medium for pictures in the sixteenth century, it gradually came to be replaced by the process of copper engraving.

Zwinglianism:

The religious teachings that trace their origins to the works of Ulrich Zwingli and the extreme reforms he made in church practice in the city of Zürich during the 1520s. Zwingli is less remembered today than in the sixteenth century because his influence over Reformed Christianity was gradually superseded by that of John Calvin.