Chapter 12 Vocabulary Words

Chapter 12 - Vocabulary

Word	Definition
Balance of power	a distribution of power among several states such that no single nation can dominate or interfere with the interests of another.
Civic humanism	an intellectual movement of the Italian Renaissance that saw Cicero, who was both an intellectual and a statesman, as the ideal and held that humanists should be involved in government and use their rhetorical training in the service of the state.
Condottieri	leaders of bands of mercenary soldiers in Renaissance Italy who sold their services to the highest bidder.
Hermeticism	an intellectual movement beginning in the fifteenth century that taught that divinity is embodied in all aspects of nature; included works on alchemy and magic as well as theology and philosophy. The tradition continued into the seventeenth century and influenced many of the leading figures of the Scientific Revolution.
Humanism	an intellectual movement in Renaissance Italy based upon the study of the Greek and Roman classics.
Neoplatonism	a revival of Platonic philosophy. In the third century a.d., a revival associated with Plotinus; in the Italian Renaissance, a revival associated with Marsilio Ficino who attempted to synthesize Christianity and Platonism.
Nepotism	showing favoritism to relatives; common practice among the Renaissance popes.
New monarchies	the governments of France, England, and Spain at the end of the fifteenth century, where the rulers were successful in reestablishing or extending centralized royal authority, suppressing the nobility, controlling the church, and insisting upon the loyalty of all peoples living in their territories.
Patricians	economic elites who derived their incomes for capitalistic ventures and dominated urban communities during the Renaissance.
Renaissance	the “rebirth” of classical culture that occurred in Italy between c. 1350 and c. 1550; also, the earlier revivals of classical culture that occurred under Charlemagne and in the twelfth century.