Catherine de Medicis
The powerful Queen Mother of France (1519–1589) who dominated the reigns of her three weak sons. She initially sought compromise between Catholics and Huguenots but is associated with the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre.
Edict of Nantes
A 1598 decree issued by King Henry IV of France that granted the Calvinist Protestants (Huguenots) substantial rights in a largely Catholic nation, ending the French Wars of Religion.
Politiques
French moderates (often Catholics) who believed that national unity and peace were more important than the absolute triumph of a single religious creed. They supported a strong monarchy and pragmatic solutions.
Philip II
The devoutly Catholic King of Spain (reigned 1556–1598). His reign saw Spain's golden age, but also the revolt of the Netherlands and the defeat of the Spanish Armada by England.
Lepanto
The site of the 1571 naval battle where the combined fleets of Spain and Venice (the Holy League) decisively defeated the Ottoman Turkish navy, halting Ottoman expansion in the Mediterranean.
Elizabeth I
The long-reigning Queen of England (reigned 1558–1603). Her reign marked a high point of English culture and national confidence, saw the defeat of the Spanish Armada, and established the Anglican Church's moderate settlement.
Puritans
A group of English Protestants who sought to "purify" the Church of England of what they saw as lingering Catholic practices, often favoring simpler worship and stricter moral codes.
Peace of Westphalia
The series of 1648 treaties that ended the Thirty Years' War (and the Eighty Years' War). It established the principle of state sovereignty and is generally considered the start of the modern international system.
Raison D'état (Reason of State)
A political concept, often associated with Cardinal Richelieu, asserting that the good of the state (survival, power, expansion) is the supreme goal and justification for all political action, overriding moral or religious concerns.
Secularization
The process by which religion loses social and cultural significance in public life as a result of separation of church and state, scientific advancements, and changing societal values.
Scientific Method
A procedure for empirical investigation involving the systematic observation, measurement, and experiment, and the formulation, testing, and modification of hypotheses. Key to the Scientific Revolution.
Heliocentrism
The astronomical model which holds that the Earth and planets revolve around the Sun at the center of the solar system. It replaced the older geocentric model and was popularized by Copernicus and Galileo.
Baroque
An artistic style (c. 1600–1750) characterized by exaggerated motion, dramatic effects, and clear, easily interpreted detail intended to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur, often used by the Catholic Church in the Counter-Reformation.