AP Euro Exam Study Guide Questions and Answers Rated A+

AP Euro Exam Study Guide Questions and Answers Rated A+ Italian Renaissance ✔✔The Italian Renaissance was the beginning of the Renaissance, a period of great cultural change and achievement in Europe that spanned the ...

AP Euro Exam Study Guide Questions and Answers Rated A+ Italian Renaissance ✔✔The Italian Renaissance was the beginning of the Renaissance, a period of great cultural change and achievement in Europe that spanned the period from the end of the 13th century to about 1600. Jacob Burckhart ✔✔A 19th century historian who claimed the Renaissance period stood in distinct contrast to the Middle Ages city-states ✔✔Small independent states mostly in the central and northern Italian peninsula that caused much competition and were not politically unified between the 10th and 15th centuries. Signori ✔✔Despots who controlled much of Italy by 1300. Oligarchies ✔✔rule of merchant aristocracies commenda system ✔✔contract between merchant and "merchant-adventurer" who agreed to take goods to locations and return with the proceeds(for 1/3 of profit condotierri ✔✔mercenary generals of private armies who were hired by cities for military purposes Republic of Florence ✔✔(included Republic of Genoa) was the center of the Renaissance during the 14th and 15th centuries, was dominated by the Medici family Medici family ✔✔Dominated the Republic of Florence,were the bankers of the Catholic Church Cosimo de' Medici ✔✔(1389-1464) allied with other powerful families of Florence and became the unofficial ruler of the Republic of Florence, was the most powerful of the Medici rulers.Lorenzo de' Medici (the Magnificent) ✔✔the son of Cosimo de' Medici. Was a significant patron of the arts. Was damned to hell by Savanarola Duchy of Milan ✔✔ruled by the Sforza family after 1450. Was a major enemy of Venice and Florence until the Peace of Lodi in 1454 Sforza family ✔✔ruled the Duchy of Milan after 1450 Peace of Lodi, 1454 ✔✔created a relative 40-year period of peace in northern Italy and a stable balance of power. The peace was, in part, a response to concerns over the ottaman conquest of Constantinople (1453). Republic of Venice ✔✔longest lasting of the Italian states (did not succumb to foreign powers until Napoleon conquered it in the early 1800's). Was the greatest maritime power in Italy and one of the world's great naval and trading powers during the 14th and 15th centuries. (also called the Venetian Republic Papal States ✔✔the Italian city-states, including Rome, in which the pope served as both a religious and political leader controlling most of central Italy. The Papal States were one of the five powers that dominated the Italian Peninsula also including Venice, Milan, Florence, and the kingdom of Naples Naples, Kingdom of the Two Sicilies ✔✔Italian kingdom that included the southern Italian region of Naples and the island of Sicily. It was the only Italian city-state to officially have a king. King Charles VIII and the French took control until Spain took over in 1435. Charles VIII ✔✔King of France whose reign was from 1483 till 1498. He and his French troops invaded Italy in 1494 beginning the First Italian War. He was encouraged by Milan's despot,Ludovico "the Moor" to invade Milan's enemy, Naples, also causing a series of foreign invasions in Italy Girolamo Savonarola ✔✔A Dominican friar who was the unofficial leader of Florence from 1494 to 1498 who pledged to rid Florence of its corruption. He contributed to the fall of the Medici dynasty by attacking the undemocratic government of Lorenzo de' Medici with his fiery sermons. He was excommunicated later on and burned at the stake Machiavelli ✔✔famous writer of the Renaissance who wrote The Prince, a book that focused on political power: how a ruler should gain, maintain and increase it. His ideas about political superiority dominated the Renaissance. Believed "it was better to be feared than to be loved". He lived from 1469 to 1527 The Prince ✔✔the quintessential political treatise of the 16th century; "ends justified the means;" "better to be feared than loved;" rulers had to be practical and cunning, aggressive and ruthless Cesare Borgia ✔✔son of Pope Alexander VI, inspired/model for Machiavelli's The Prince, made a cardinal at age 18, but became the first person to resign a cardinalship. Sack of Rome, 1527 ✔✔by armies of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V symbolized the end of the Renaissance in Italy Charles V ✔✔the Holy roman Emperor and the King of Spain, leader of the Habsburg family. He split his empire between his brother Ferdinand and his son Philip II of Spain. He fought against Suleiman the Magnificent almost continually. Called for the Diet of Worms during the Reformation. humanism ✔✔revival of antiquity in philosophy, literature, and art; individualism and the great potential of human beings; largely based on the writings of Cicero, Livy, Virgil, and Quintilian, and Plato; largely known to be secularcivic humanism ✔✔the moral, social, and political philosophy that developed in 14th and 15th century Italy that thought education should prepare leaders who would be active in civic affairs Petrarch ✔✔1304-1374) the father of humanism, he is considered the first modern writer and was the first to use critical textual analysis in ancient texts, and he claimed that the Middle Ages (the time period between the Roman empire and the Renaissance) were the Dark Ages. In his writings he used vernacular instead of the Church's language, Latin, and stated that literature was no longer subordinate to religion Boccaccio, Decameron ✔✔a secular Renaissance novel made up of one hundred tales about human character and behavior Leonardo Bruni ✔✔1370-1444) he was one of the most important civic humanists and was the first to use the term humanism. He wrote a history of Florence, which was possibly one of the first history books; and he also wrote a narrative using primary source documents and the division of historical periods. Lorenzo Valla ✔✔1407-1457) an expert on the Latin language, he pointed out errors in the Latin Vulgate and proved that the donation of Constantine was false by using textual criticism, giving ammunition to those against the Church Latin Vulgate ✔✔the late 4th century translation of the Bible into Latin; largely the work of Saint Jerome; commissioned by Pope Damascus I; became the definitive version of the Bible used in the Roman Catholic Church Marsilio Ficino ✔✔one of the most influential humanist philosophers of the early Italian Renaissance, astronomer, and reviver of Neoplatonism, first translator of Plato's compltete extant works into Latin; started the Florentine Academy to revive Plato's School; had enormous influence on the direction of the Italian Renaissance and development of European philosophyPico Della Mirandola ✔✔Italian Renaissance philosopher(1463 - 1494); at he proposed to defend 900 theses on religion, philosophy, natural philosophy, and magic against all comers; wrote Oration on the Dignity of Man, also known as the "Manifesto of the Italian Renaissance" and the key testament to Renaissance humanism Oration on the Dignity of Man ✔✔written by Pico Della Mirandola, called "Manifesto of the Italian Renaissance" and the key testament to Renaissance humanism; pronounced in 1486; served as an introduction to Pico's 900 Theses; The main idea was to display the ideal that humans were created by God and therefore given tremendous potential for greatness, and even union with God if they desired it. However, humans could, through neglect, also choose a negative course. Thus, humans had free will to be great or fail Baldassare Castiglione ✔✔Italian courtier, diplomat, soldier, and prominent Renaissance author; wrote the famous work, "The Book of the Courtier" ("The Courtier") Book of the Courtier ✔✔written by Baldassare Castiglione in 1508 and published in 1528;addresses the constitution of a perfect courtier, and in its last installment, a perfect lady; considered to be most important Renaissance works; descibed the ideal of a Renaissance man who was adept at Roman and Greek works, was a warrior and a great preformer or the arts (music, drama, etc.) they were modest, yet confident. virtú ✔✔"the quality of being a great man"; idea of excelling in all of one's pursuits; believed the key to a good life was Reason and Nature Johann Gutenberg ✔✔German blacksmith; inventor of the printing press in 1454 along with Johann Fust and Peter Schoffer which eventually caused the Printing Revolution printing press, moveable type ✔✔machine that put individual letters, easily movable, together to form words; letters could be arranged into any format, an infinite variety of texts could be printedby reusing and rearranging pieces of type. Caused ideas to spread more rapidly and because the time to make books were greatly reduced quattrocento ✔✔The cultural and artistic events of 15th century(1400s); encompasses the artistic styles of the late Middle Ages, most notably International Gothic, and the early Renaissance. Florence was the main city where this art was made. Giorgio Vasari, The Lives of the Artists ✔✔was a contemporary Renaissance art historian who left much valuable information about Renaissance artists and their works. He wrote The Lives of the Artists. cinquecento ✔✔The 1500's (16th cent) were called the cinquecento. During this time, Rome became the center of Renaissance art Pope Alexander VI ✔✔most notorious of the Renaissance popes. He spent huge sums of art patronage (e.g. Bramante's Tempietto) He had a son, Cesare Borgia, who was made a cardinal at age 18. perspective ✔✔painting technique that creates 3-D effects of a 2-D surface chiaroscuro ✔✔use of dark and light colors to create the illusion of depth stylized faces ✔✔medieval faces in art--more generic than most sfumato ✔✔A technique of blurring or softening sharp outlines- developed by Leonardo Da Vinci contrapposto ✔✔in the visual arts is a sculptural scheme originated by the ancient Greeks, in which the standing human figure is poised so that the weight rests on one leg, freeing the other leg, which is bent at the kneeGreek temple architecture ✔✔triangular pediments, Greek columns, Roman arches, domes. Simplicity, symmetry, and balance were key Giotto ✔✔Florentine painter who gave up the stiff Byzantine style and developed a more naturalistic style, first Renaissance painter Brunelleschi, Il Duomo ✔✔(1420-34) atop Santa Maria del Fiore is his masterpiece; it was the largest dome in European at the time of its construction; he is considered the "father" of perspective Lorenzo Ghiberti, "gates of paradise" ✔✔1378-1455)-sculptor; won a contest in 1403 against Brunelleschi that earned him the commission to sculpt the bronze doors for Florentine baptistry; his two sets of bronze doors(1424-1452) are a masterpiece of sculpture Donatello, David ✔✔(1386-1466) sculpture; his bronze statue of David (1408-09) was the first since antiquity; First Renaissance artist to utilize a nude figure in sculpture; David is depicted as a weak man who is dependent on God Masaccio, Expulsion of Adam & Eve ✔✔1401-28) painter; perhaps first Renaissance painter to portray real, nude human figures in 3-D; Expulsion of Adam and Eve (1427)fresco shows tremendous emotion; both figures are nude Sandro Botticelli, Birth of Venus ✔✔1444-1510) painter; Birth of Venus (c. 1485-86); the painting is a good example of humanism as the subject is Venus, the Roman goddess of love; Venus' stance in contrapposto, with more weight on one leg than the other (this is also humanistic as contrapposto was used frequently by ancient Greek and Roman sculptors "High Renaissance" ✔✔centered in Rome (16th century); the worldly "Renaissance Popes"- Alexander VI, Julius II, and Leo X-provided tremendous patronage to the arts; characteristicsclassical balance, harmony, restraintBramante ✔✔As an architect, he had two major works: Tempietto and St. Peter's Cathedral(rebuilding). His Tempietto marke the beginning of the High Renaissance in Rome(1502). This was a sanctuary that allegedly marked the spot where Peter was crucified. Leonardo da Vinci ✔✔1452-1519) -The definition of a renaissance man. He was a painter, sculptor, architect, engineer, writer, and scientist. His famous works include: Mona Lisa and th Last Supper. Mona Lisa ✔✔Painted by Leonarda da Vinci. Not only is it famous, but it also uses sfumato, a haze that softens the edges of objects in the painting Raphael ✔✔(1483-1520) -Painted Madonna and Child often, but his most famous work is School of Athens School of Athens ✔✔Painted by Raphael. It is a great example of humanism: Greco-Roman architecture is prominent, Plato & Aristotle are in the center of the painting, and the sculptures are painted in contrapposto stance. Michelangelo ✔✔(1457-1564) -Painted the Sistine Chapel, sclupted David, sculpted Pieta, and designed the dome on top of St. Peter's Cathedral. Michelangelo's David ✔✔a masterpiece of Renaissance sculpture created between 1501 and 1504, by Michelangelo; shows the power of man (man without God); stronger and more independent than Donatello's David. Humanistic marble sculpture; glorifies the human body; contrapposto stance; facial features and individualistic and emotional ceiling of Sistine Chapel ✔✔The Sistine Chapel ceiling, painted by Michelangelo between 1508 and 1512, at the commission of Pope Julius II, is a cornerstone work of High Renaissance art; some famous scenes include events from the lives of Moses (journey through Egypt; crossing the Red Sea) and Jesus (baptism; Sermon on the Mount; the Last Supper)Pieta ✔✔a masterpiece of Renaissance sculpture by Michelangelo. It is considered his most perfect work; shows Mary holding the limp body of Christ after he was taken down from the cross dome on St. Peter's basilica ✔✔The dome was created by Michaelangelo, and it was one of the largest of its time. (and is still the largest in Europe today) Titian ✔✔an Italian painter, the most important member of the 16th century Venetian school. His painting methods, particularly in the application and use of color, would exercise a profound influence not only on painters of the Italian Renaissance, but on future generations of Western art. Mannerism ✔✔A reaction against Renaissance ideals of balance, symmetry, simplicity, and realistic use of color. High Renaissance had taken art to perfection; there was little that could be done to improve it; thus mannerists rebelled against it. IT worked often used unnatural colors while shapes were elongated or otherwise exaggerated Tintoretto and El Greco were painters who used this style El Greco ✔✔(1541-1614) - A mannerist who painted Burial of Count Orgaz and Toledo; did most of his greatest work in Spain; perhaps the greatest of the Mannerists with his use of elongated figures and unnatural pigments Northern Renaissance ✔✔(1450-1600)-The later Renaissance that reached the part of Europe "North" of Italy(hence the name). There was a rise in Christian Humanism as well as vernaucalr writers and artists. Important Philosophers of the era include Erasmus and Thomas More. Well known writers from the era are William Shakespear and Miguel de Cervantes Christian humanism ✔✔Humanism that placed emphasis on early Church writings that provided answers on how to improve society and reform the church. It drew on Hebrew and Greek texts of the Bible and the writings of the Church Fathers. The writings led to criticism of the church thus leading to the reformation.Erasmus ✔✔(1466-1536)-The most famous and celebrated of all northern humanists. He made new translations of the Greek and latin versions of the New Testament to create 'purer' editions. Funfact: He was the first humanist to earn a living by writing In Praise of Folly ✔✔A best seller written in Latin by Erasmus. It sought to reform the church by criticizing imoorality and hypocrisy of Church leaders and the clergy. It inspired new calls for reform, and influenced Martin Luther Thomas More ✔✔(1478-1536) -A prime example of a civic humanist who rose to Lord Chancellor of King Henry VIII of England. His written masterpiece was Utopia. Utopia ✔✔More's Humanistic masterpiece. It mixes civic humanism with religious ideas to describe a perfect society located on an imaginary island. More sees the accummalation of property as a root cause for society's ills; a few have it- a few don't. In order to achieve harmony and order, people have to be willing to sacrifice their individual rights for the common good. More also said that war, poverty, religious tolerance, and other problems in the 16th century did not exist. Jacques Lefevre d'Etables ✔✔He was a leading French humanist and good example of how Northern Christian humanists focused on early Church writings. He produced 5 versions of the Psalms that challenged a single authoritative version of the Bible. In the beginning, he was seen as a devout Catholic; however, later, he was condemned by the Church for heresy Francesco Ximenes de Cisneros ✔✔Spanish humanist who reformed the Spanish clergy and Church so that many of the Church abuses that were highlighted during the Reformation did not necessarily apply to Spain. He was the Grand Inquisitor of the Spanish Inquisition. Wrote Complutensian Polyglot Bible which placed Hebrew, Greek, and Latin versions of the Bible in parallel columns which is another example of how Northern Humanists focused on early Church writings and the accuracy of Biblical translations.Francois Rabelais, Gargantua and Pantagruel ✔✔His secular writings portrayed his confidence in human nature and reflected Renaissance tastes. He wrote Gargantua and Pantagruel between 1532 and 1542. Gargantua was a folk epic and comic masterpiece that satirized French society. Pantagruel attacked clerical education and monastic orders; championed secular learning Michel de Montaigne ✔✔Developed essay form which became a vehicle for testing new ideas. He was a skeptic skepticism, essay form ✔✔Essay form was developed by Montaigne. Essay form became a vehicle for testing new ideas. Skepticism is doubt that knowledge could be obtained. Skepticism states that the skeptic must be cautious, critical, and must suspend judgement. Skepticism also states that one must be tolerant of others' views William Shakespeare ✔✔Greatest of the English Renaissance writers during the Elizabethan Era. His works reflected the Renaissance ideas of classical Greek and Roman culture, individualism and humanism. He wrote comedies, tragedies, histories, and sonnets Miguel de Cervantes ✔✔Author of Don Quixote who also had a major influence on the Spanish language. Don Quixote ✔✔Among the greatest pieces of Spanish literature. It was written by Cervantes. Also, it is critical of excessive religious idealism chivalric romance. It is also considered as one of the first modern novels Flemish style ✔✔Part of the Northern Renaissance. The Low Countries produced especially important artists and styles. The characteristics include: they were heavily influenced by the Italian Renaissance, they had more detail throughout paintings than the Italian Renaissance, they used oil paints, had more emotion involved than the Italian style, and their works often preoccupied with death.Jan van Eyck ✔✔He was the most famous and innovative Flemish painter of the fifteenth century. He perfected oil painting and his naturalistic word panel paintings used much religious symbolism. He employed incredible detail to his work which is shown in his masterpiece, Ghent Altarpiece, and his most famous work, Arnolfini and his Wife Bosch ✔✔Painter from Netherlands who was a master of symbolism and fantasy. His art often looks surrealistic and focused often on death and the otrments of Hell. His works reflect confusion and anguish that people felt in the Later Middle Ages. His painting Death and Miser depicts the dance of death theme of the Black Plague era Peter Brueghel, the Elder ✔✔Lived 1520-1569. He was not influenced much by the Italian Renaissance. His paintings including: Peasant Dance, Peasant Wedding, and The Battle Between Carnival and Lent are focused on lives of ordinary people Albrecht Dürer ✔✔He was the foremost Northern Renaissance artist. He was a master of the woodcut. Durer was the first northern artist to master Italian Renaissance techniques of proportion, perspective, and modeling. Some of his notable works include: St. Jerome, Knight Death and Devil, and Four Apostles. He painted numerous self-portraits. Hans Holbein the Younger ✔✔Premier portrait artist of his era: painted Erasmus, More, numerous portraits of King Henry VIII, and also of his family. His work, The Ambassadors encompasses some of the major themes of the era: exploration, religious dioscord, preoccupation with death, and the rising tide of international relations in an age of expansion. Fugger family ✔✔A family in Germany that was significant in patronizing the arts, especially Jacob Fugger. Their fortyune was the result of international banking, much like the Medici's of Florence Christine de Pisan ✔✔prominent member of the French court.contained a broad knowledge of Greek, Latin, French, and Italian literature. Perhaps the most versatile and Prolific writer of thelater Middle Ages. Querelles des Femmes ("The Problem of Women"): A new debate emerged over the proper role of women in society (starting with Christine de Pisan in the 14th century); Wrote "The City of Ladies" (1405) and "The Book of Three Virtues". They were a chronicle of the accomplishments of great women in history. Also, a Renauissance womans survival maunual. She was one of Europe's first feminists and she was extremely well-educated in France Isabella d'Este ✔✔She was the First Lady of the Renaissance.the duchess of Mantua instucted her agent in 1491 to secure a black girl between four and eight years old, "shapely and as black as possible." Set an example for women to break away from their traditional roles as mere ornaments to their husbands. Ruled Mantua after her husband died. She was well-educated and became a big patron of the arts. She founded a school for young women and wrote over 2000 letters that provide a window into politics and courtly life at that time. Artemesia Gentilleschi ✔✔1593-1653) An Italian baroque painter. she was elected into the Florentine Academy of Design at the age of twenty-three (the first female painter to become a member). She painted many pictures of strong and suffering women; most known is herJudith Slaying Holofernes. One of the most accomplished painters in the generations after Caravagio. perhaps the first female artist to gain recognition in the post-Renaissance era.first woman to paint historical and religious scenes (her "Judith" paintings). New Monarchs ✔✔c.1460-1520. They consolidated power and created a foundation for Europe's first modern nation-states in France, England, and Spain; however, they never achieved absolute power. They reduced the power of the nobility, reduced political power of the clergy, and created more efficient bureaucracies. Valois line of French monarchs ✔✔succeeding the House of Capetas kings of France, reigned as dukes of Burgundy from 1363 to 1482.descendants of Charles of Valois, the fourth son of King Philip III. based their claim on the Salic law, which excluded females as well as male descendants through the distaff line from the succession to the French throne. The main goal of France during their time was to keep the German states ununified. They fought a long dynastic struggle claled the Habsbhurg Valois Wars which advanced Protestanism throughout Europe. The main problemthey faced was consolidating their land and keeping it under control. Charles V threatened this multiple times between 1521 and 1555. Louis XI ("Spider King") ✔✔created a large royal army. He dealt ruthlessly with nobles, individually, and within the Estates General. He also increased taxes and and exerted increased power over the clergy. Finally, he actively encouraged economic growth by promoting new industries such as silk weaving, encouraging foreign merchants and craftsman to immigrate to France, and entering into commercial treaties with England, Portugal, and the Hanseatic League. Francis I ✔✔He succeeded to the throne in 1515. Soon after his coronation he rode off to the Italian Wars and recovered the Duchy of Milan. He was a Renaissance patron of the arts, a humanist, and a popular king who traveled throughout France, curtailing abuses by nobles and providing games and processions for the people. Responsible for bringing Leonardo da Vinci to France. Concordat of Bologna, 1516 ✔✔The king of France now had power to appoint bishops to the Gallican (French) Church; represented a major blow to papal influence in France; French control over these appointments was one reason why France did not become Protestant during the Reformation taille ✔✔Francis I instituted a direct head tax on all land and property; enabled the French government to expand its budget on such things asa larger army War of the Roses ✔✔between 1455-1477) Two noble families, the House of York and the House of Lancaster fought a civil war to gain the crown. Yorkists were victorious and gave rise to the Tudor dynasty (which would rule England until 1603 Tudor Dynasty ✔✔"new monarchy" that ruled England and its realms from 1485 to 1603, starting with Henry VII of the Welsh house of Tudor and ending with Elizabeth I. It rose from the Yorkists' victory in the War of the Roses. Members of the Tudor family included Henry VIII, who brokeaway from the Roman Catholic Church and founded the Church of England; and the Catholic Mary I, who married Prince Philip of Spain and tried to return England to the Roman Catholic Church. Henry VII ✔✔(r.1489-1509) was from Wales; founded the house of Tudor; reduced the influence of the nobility during his rule through the Star Chamber. star chamber ✔✔secret trials where nobles were tried without a jury. They could not confront witnesses and were often tortured. Ferdinand and Isabella ✔✔Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile married, unifying Spain. They started the Reconquista and the Spanish Inquisition. Reconquista ✔✔Its purpose was to Christianize Spain by removing the Moors and the Jews. The loss of these people resulted in a decline in the Spanish middle class hermandades ✔✔alliances of cities to oppose nobles; helped bring cities in line with royal authority. Spanish Inquisition ✔✔created by Isabella to enforce the authority of the Catholic Church. Its main target was conversos Tomás de Torquemada ✔✔a Dominican monk who oversaw the Spanish Inquisition conversos/New Christians ✔✔Jews that converted to Christianity but were suspected of drifting back to Judaism Hapsburgs ✔✔family with many branches that ruled various parts of Europe. Their principal roles included Holy Roman Emperors, Rulers of Austria, and Kings of Spain & the Netherlands as well as various other roles. "Other nations wage war; you, Austria, marry." The heir of Mary of Burgundy and Maximilian I, Philip of Burgundy, married Joanna of Castile. She was the daughterof Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain. Philip and Joanna's son, Charles V, ended up inheriting Spain, its New World possessions, and its dominions in Sardinia, Sicily, and Italy. He also inherited Hapsburg lands in Austria, southern Germany, and the Low Countries. Holy Roman Empire ✔✔empire ruled by the Hapsburgs that consisted of about 300 semiautonomous German states. It lasted from 962 to 1806, and it was not a "new monarchy." Charlemagne is considered the first Holy Roman Emperor, and the last was Francis II. Maximilian I ✔✔(r. 1493-1519) Holy Roman Emperor; He gained territory in eastern France via his marriage to Mary of Burgundy. This sparked a fierce dynastic struggle between the French Valois dynasty and the Hapsburgs that would last until 1559 Charles V ✔✔(r. 1519-1556) Holy Roman Emperor and the most powerful ruler in Europe in the 16th century; he controlled the Austrian Hapsburg lands while he ruled the Spanish Empire at the height of its power. His armies sacked Rome in 1527 that symbolically ended the Renaissance in Italy. He sought to prevent spread of Protestant Reformation in Germany during his reign. Commercial Revolution ✔✔(c. 1500-1700) period of European economic expansion, colonialism, and mercantilism, caused by various things including population growth, a price revolution (long slow upward trend in prices), and a rise in capitalism. European society slowly changed from being almost completely rural and isolated to a society that was more developed with the emergence of towns. Because of the Commercial Revolution, more powerful nation-states emerged, and countries competed against each other by creating empires overseas. Middle class (bourgeoisie ✔✔They led the way in investing money in their own businesses or other business ventures (entrepreneurs Antwerp ✔✔located in Flanders; it became the banking and commercial center of Europe in the 16th century.