Council of Trent- Described as the embodiment of the Counter Reformation.

Held between
1545 and 1562 in Trento, northern Italy.
Counter Reformation- The reform movement in the Roman Catholic Church following the
Reformation.
Louis XIV of France- A monarch of the House of Bourbon who reigned as King of France from
1643 until his death in 1715.
Nicolaus Copernicus-
Heliocentric Theory- The theory that the earth revolves around the sun
Adam Smith- Scottish economist, philosopher and author who believed that more wealth to
common people would benefit a nation's economy and society as a whole.
Renaissance- A period in European history, from the 14th to the 17th century, regarded as the
cultural bridge between the Middle Ages and modern history.
Martin Luther- A German professor of theology, composer, priest, monk, and a seminal figure
in the Protestant Reformation
Jesuits- A member of the Society of Jesus, a Roman Catholic order of priests founded by St.
Ignatius Loyola, St. Francis Xavier, and others in 1534, to do missionary work. The order was
enthusiastic in opposing the Reformation.
Constitutionalism- A constitutional government
Galileo Galilei- Galileo Galilei was an Italian polymath. Galileo is a central figure in the
transition from natural philosophy to modern science and in the transformation of the scientific
Renaissance into a scientific revolution.
Natural Law- A body of unchanging moral principles regarded as a basis for all human conduct
Printing Press- A machine for printing text or pictures
Protestant Reformation- A religious movement of the 16th century that began as an attempt to
reform the Roman Catholic Church and resulted in the creation of Protestant churches.
Absolutism- The acceptance of or belief in absolute principles in political, philosophical, ethical,
or theological matters.
Henry VIII- Ex king of England. He married six times, beheaded two of his wives and was the
main instigator of the English Reformation.
Isaac Newton- Widely recognised as one of the most influential scientists of all time and a key
figure in the scientific revolution.
John Locke- Among the most influential political philosophers of the modern period. In the Two
Treatises of Government, he defended the claim that men are by nature free and equal against
claims that God had made all people naturally subject to a monarch
Humanism- An outlook or system of thought attaching prime importance to human rather than
divine or supernatural matters.
John Calvin- published the landmark text Institutes of the Christian Religion, an early attempt to
standardize the theories of Protestantism.
Peter the Great- Russian czar in the late 17th century who is best known for his extensive
reforms in an attempt to establish Russia as a great nation.
Scientific Revolution- A concept used by historians to describe the emergence of modern
science during the early modern period, when developments in mathematics, physics,
astronomy, biology (including human anatomy) and chemistry transformed the views of society
about nature
Francis Bacon- Bacon served as attorney general and Lord Chancellor of England. He took up
Aristotelian ideas, arguing for an empirical, inductive approach, known as the scientific method,
which is the foundation of modern scientific inquiry.
Voltaire- A French Enlightenment writer who appreciated the liberal, free society established in
England and adopted many of its ideas
Deism- Belief in the existence of a supreme being, specifically of a creator who does not
intervene in the universe