Glossary

Apothecaries

People who prepared and sold medicines and drugs.

Catholic Church

The Christian Church, led by the Pope, or bishop of Rome, and with its headquarters in the Vatican.

Counter-reformation

A reform movement within the Roman Catholic Church that arose in sixteenth-century Europe in response to the Protestant Reformation.

Enlightenment

A European intellectual movement of the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries emphasising reason and individualism rather than traditional sources of authority.

Epidemic diseases

Outbreaks of disease affecting many people simultaneously.

Feudal system

A system of relationships based around the right to use land in return for labour or for services.

French Revolution

An uprising against the monarchy and ruling classes from 1789 to 1799 which resulted in the establishment of France as a republic.

Humours/humoural theory

Fluids found within the body (blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile) which determined if a person remained healthy or became ill.

Industrial Revolution

The rapid development of industry from the late eighteenth century, through the introduction of machinery. It was characterised by the use of steam power, the growth of factories, and the mass production of manufactured goods.

Journeyman

A worker who had completed an apprenticeship. They were employed by masters, and had not yet set up their own workshops.

Latin

The language of the Roman Empire, it continued to be used by educated people throughout the medieval period and much of the early modern period in Europe.

Midwives

Women who helped to deliver babies and supported mothers in the days following birth.

Parish

A small administrative district of the Christian Church, usually with its own church and a priest or clergyman.

Patriarchal

Relating to a group or society where men have authority. This is often reflected in laws and customs.

Physicians

Medical practitioners trained in medical theories (usually in universities) with skills and knowledge in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases.

Protestant Church

The Christian Church that separated from the Roman Catholic Church at the Reformation. The term derives from a letter written by a number of German princes in 1529 protesting against a decree that condemned the teachings of Martin Luther.

Proto-industrialisation

The large scale production of goods prior to the development of factory production in the Industrial Revolution, carried out in homes and workshops in rural areas.

Purgatory

A ​place to which ​Roman Catholics ​believe that the ​spirits of ​dead ​people go and ​suffer for the ​evil ​acts that they did while they were ​alive, before they are ​able to go to ​heaven.

Reformation

A sixteenth-century movement aimed at the reform of abuses within the Roman Catholic Church which ended in the establishment of the Protestant Church. The Reformation is usually thought of as beginning in 1517, when Martin Luther issued 95 theses criticising Church doctrine and practice.

Renaissance

A cultural movement, beginning in Italy, which saw a revival of interest in texts from classical Greece and Rome, resulting in a flowering of the arts and literature.

Scientific revolution

A series of developments in mathematics, physics, astronomy, biology, anatomy and chemistry during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries which transformed views of society and nature.

Surgeons

Medical practitioners specialising in the treatment of wounds and conditions affecting the surface of the body.

Theology

The study of the nature of God and religious belief.

Urbanisation

The process by which an increasing proportion of the population move into towns and cities from rural areas.