BUFFER STATE- This period may be regarded as the Dark Age of geographical knowledge, during which wild

conceptions like those contained in the Hereford map were substituted for the more accurate measurements of the
ancients. Curiously enough, almost down to the time of Columbus the learned kept to these conceptions, instead of
modifying them by the extra knowledge gained during the second period of the Middle Ages, when travellers of all
kinds obtained much fuller information of Asia, North Europe, and even, as, we shall see, of some parts of America.

It is not altogether surprising that this period should have been so backward in geographical knowledge, since the
map of Europe itself, in its political divisions, was entirely readjusted during this period. The thousand years of
history which elapsed between 450 and 1450 were practically taken up by successive waves of invasion from the
centre of Asia, which almost entirely broke up the older divisions of the world.

In the fifth century three wandering tribes, invaded the Empire, from the banks of the Vistula, the Dnieper, and the
Volga respectively. The Huns came from the Volga, in the extreme east, and under Attila, "the Hammer of God,"
wrought consternation in the Empire; the Visigoths, from the Dnieper, attacked the Eastern Empire; while the
Vandals, from the Vistula, took a triumphant course through Gaul and Spain, and founded for a time a Vandal
empire in North Africa. One of the consequences of this movement was to drive several of the German tribes into
France, Italy, and Spain, and even over into Britain; for it is from this stage in the world's history that we can trace
the beginning of England, properly so called, just as the invasion of Gaul by the Franks at this time means the
beginning of French history. By the eighth century the kingdom of the Franks extended all over France, and
included most of Central Germany; while on Christmas Day, 800, Charles the Great was crowned at Rome, by the
Pope, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, which professed to revive the glories of the old empire, but made a
division between the temporal power held by the Emperor and the spiritual power held by the Pope.

One of the divisions of the Frankish Empire deserves attention, because upon its fate rested the destinies of most of
the nations of Western Europe. The kingdom of Burgundy, the buffer state between France and Germany, has now
entirely disappeared, except as the name of a wine; but having no natural boundaries, it was disputed between
France and Germany for a long period, and it may be fairly said that the Franco-Prussian War was the last stage in
its history up to the present. A similar state existed in the east of Europe, viz. the kingdom of Poland, which was
equally indefinite in shape, and has equally formed a subject of dispute between the nations of Eastern Europe.
This, as is well known, only disappeared as an independent state in 1795, when it finally ceased to act as a buffer
between Russia and the rest of Europe. Roughly speaking, after the settlement of the Germanic tribes within the
confines of the Empire, the history of Europe, and therefore its historical geography, may be summed up as a
struggle for the possession of Burgundy and Poland.

CHARLES I (England)- The second son of James VI of Scotland and Anne of Denmark, Charles was born at Fife in
Scotland on 19 November 1600. His father succeeded Queen Elizabeth I and came to the throne of England as King
James I in 1603. Charles was created Duke of Albany at his baptism (December 1600) and Duke of York in 1605. He
was placed in the care of Lord and Lady Fyvie until the age of four, then moved to England where he was brought
up in the household of Sir Robert and Lady Carey. As a child, Charles suffered from weak ankle joints (probably the
result of rickets) which slowed his physical development. He was also slow in learning to speak. He outgrew these
defects, except for a slight stammer which he never overcame. His education was overseen by Thomas Murray, a
Scottish Presbyterian who later became Provost of Eton. Charles was a serious student who excelled at languages,
rhetoric and divinity.

Charles was overshadowed by his brilliant elder brother Prince Henry, to whom he was devoted, but Henry died
when Charles was 12 years old. Charles and his sister Elizabeth mourned Henry together, which created a bond
between them that affected English foreign policy after Elizabeth married the Elector of the Palatinate. Henry's
death made Charles heir to the throne of the Three Kingdoms: England, Scotland and Ireland. By strength of will, he
overcame his physical weaknesses to become a good horseman and huntsman. He developed sophisticated tastes
in the arts and earnestly applied himself to his religious devotions. Created Prince of Wales in 1616, he was
instructed by King James in every aspect of ruling a kingdom. With a profound belief that Kings were appointed by
God to rule by Divine Right, Charles succeeded as the second Stuart King in 1625.

Charles came to the throne amid pressure from English Protestants for intervention against Spain and the Catholic
powers in the religious wars raging in Europe (the Thirty Years War, 1618-48). He allowed England's foreign policy
to be directed by the unpopular Duke of Buckingham, who launched a series of disastrous military expeditions
against Spain and France with the aim of indirectly assisting the Palatinate. Charles dissolved his first two
Parliaments when they attempted to impeach Buckingham but he was forced to call a third because he needed
funds to pursue his warlike policies. In 1628, Charles' opponents formulated the Petition of Right as a defence
against the King's arbitrary use of his powers. Charles grudgingly accepted the Petition in the hope that Parliament
would grant him subsidies, but in practice he ignored its provisions.

After the assassination of Buckingham in 1628, critics in Parliament turned their attention to Charles' religious
policy. He angrily dismissed his third Parliament in 1629, imprisoned several of his leading opponents, and declared
his intention of ruling alone. The eleven-year period of the King's Personal Rule was also described as the "Eleven
Year Tyranny". It was initially successful — during the turmoil of the civil wars, many people looked back upon it as
a golden age of peace and prosperity. Charles had made peace with Spain and France by 1630. Trade and
commerce grew; the King's finances were stable by 1635. This enabled him to commission great works of art by
Rubens and Van Dyck, and also to build up the Royal Navy for England's defence. But without Parliament to grant
legal taxes, Charles was obliged to raise income by obscure and highly unpopular means including forced loans, the
sale of commercial monopolies and, most notoriously of all, ship-money. Along with Charles' controversial religious
policies, these measures alienated many natural supporters of the Crown, including powerful noblemen like Lord
Saye and Sele, and wealthy landowners like John Hampden.

Charles and his advisers made extensive use of the Court of Star Chamber to prosecute opponents. Dating back to
the 15th century, Star Chamber had originally been a court of appeal. Under the Stuarts, it came to be used to
examine cases of sedition, which in practice meant that the court could be used to suppress opposition to royal
policies. Star Chamber sessions were held in secret, with no indictments, no right of appeal, no juries, and no
witnesses. It became synonymous with the King's misuse of his power during the Personal Rule.

In religion, Charles favoured the elaborate and ritualistic High Anglican form of worship. He appointed William Laud
Archbishop of Canterbury in 1633. Laud insisted upon strict compliance to the established tenets of the Church and
vigorously supported the King's Divine Right. Laud also made extensive use of Star Chamber and the ecclesiastical
Court of High Commisson to suppress opposition from Puritans who regarded the High Church Laudian liturgy as
dangerously close to Roman Catholicism. The King's marriage to the French Catholic princess Henrietta Maria also
caused consternation amongst English Protestants, particularly as she was allowed to practise her religion openly
and freely. In some quarters, Henrietta Maria's influence over the King and the royal children was regarded as part
of an international Papist conspiracy against the Protestant faith.

Although Charles himself was high-minded and devout, his religious policies were deeply divisive and turned
Puritans like Pym and Cromwell against him. In collaboration with Archbishop Laud, he insisted upon religious
conformity across the Three Kingdoms. This went disastrously wrong when the Anglican liturgy and Laudian Prayer
Book were forced upon the Scottish Kirk in 1637, resulting in the creation of the Scottish National Covenant against
interference in religion, and the Bishops' Wars between the two nations. In order to finance war against the Scots,
Charles was obliged to recall Parliament in 1640, bringing his eleven-year personal rule to an end.

The strength of feeling against the King's policies in Church and State resulted in vehement opposition from the
Short Parliament of April 1640 and its successor the Long Parliament. Rather than attack the King himself, however,
Parliament impeached and condemned to death his principal ministers Archbishop Laud and the Earl of Strafford,
with Charles doing little to help them.

In November 1641, news of the Irish uprising reached London, provoking a crisis over whether King or Parliament
should control the army that was needed to quell the rebellion. Against a background of riots and civil unrest, the
King and Royal Family were driven from London in January 1642 following Charles' disastrous attempt to arrest the
Five Members regarded as his leading opponents in Parliament. During the spring and summer of 1642, as King and
Parliament appealed for the support of the nation and manoeuvred to gain control of the armed forces, a violent
confrontation became inevitable. King Charles raised his standard at Nottingham Castle on 22 August 1642, which
was his call-to-arms and the beginning of the First Civil War. Ironically, the navy that Charles had built on the
proceeds of ship-money declared for Parliament. Having lost London to the Parliamentarians, Charles set up his
court and military headquarters at Oxford.

Although he lacked military experience, Charles was courageous and developed strategic skills as the war went on.
He personally commanded the army that outwitted and defeated Sir William Waller in the campaign that led up to
the battle of Cropredy Bridge, then pursued and defeated the Earl of Essex at Lostwithiel in the summer of 1644.
But the Royalist war effort was hampered by arguments and jealousies amongst its senior officers, with Charles
himself frequently indecisive or capricious. He was easily swayed by his counsellors, notably Lord Digby, who was
himself conducting a personal vendetta against Prince Rupert. When the King attempted to bring government
troops over from Ireland, Parliament mounted a successful propaganda campaign, raising fears of a Catholic
conspiracy against English Protestants that greatly damaged the Royalist cause. The combination of Parliament's
alliance with the Scottish Covenanters and the formation of the professionally-run New Model Army brought about
the defeat of the Royalists in 1645-6.

Charles fled from Oxford in April 1646 as the New Model Army approached the city. He surrendered to the Scottish
army rather than to Parliament under secret terms negotiated by Cardinal Mazarin's envoy Jean de Montereul, who
hoped to influence a settlement between England and Scotland that was favourable to French interests. Charles
attempted to exploit divisions between the Parliamentarians and the Scots, continually involving himself in plots
and intrigues with the exiled Henrietta Maria in the vain hope of gaining military help from Ireland and France. He
failed to recognise the damage done to his cause in England by his association with foreigners and Catholics. After
Charles refused to accept the terms offered under the Newcastle Propositions, the Scots handed him over to
Parliament in January 1647. The New Model Army — which was itself in disagreement with the Presbyterian faction
in Parliament — secured the King in April 1647.
Charles was held at Hampton Court Palace, where he continued to play off the Army, Parliament and Scots against
one another. He hoped that the Monarchy would be seen as a beacon of stability amongst the political turmoil, but
his obstructiveness and duplicity in negotiations alienated Cromwell and others who had been anxious to reach a
settlement. Believing that Army radicals were planning to murder him, Charles escaped from Hampton Court in
November 1647. However, he ignored the advice of the Earl of Lauderdale to go north to Berwick where the Scots
would support him and went instead to the Isle of Wight to seek the protection of the governor, Colonel Hammond,
intending to take ship from there to France. Torn between loyalty to the King and his duty to Parliament, Hammond
confined King Charles at Carisbrooke Castle.

Refusing to compromise over a settlement with the Army or with Parliament, Charles turned once again to the
Scots. Under the terms of the Engagement signed in December 1647, Charles promised to impose Presbyterianism
in England in exchange for a Scottish army to fight against Parliament. The Marquis of Argyll and the Scottish Kirk
opposed the Engagement because Charles refused to take the Covenant personally or to impose it upon his
subjects, but Argyll's rival the Duke of Hamilton put himself at the head of the Engager army and prepared to
invade England. The Scottish invasion and simultaneous Royalist uprisings in England and Wales resulted in the
short but bitterly-fought Second Civil War, culminating in Cromwell's victory over the Scots at the battle of Preston
in August 1648.

Army officers were furious that Charles could deliberately provoke a second war when his defeat in the first had
been so clear an indication of God's favour to the Parliamentarian cause. Tired of his deceptions and intrigues, the
Army denounced King Charles as the "Man of Blood". Parliament was purged of Presbyterian sympathisers and
moderates in December 1648 and left with a small "Rump" of MPs that was totally dependent on the Army.
Parliament appointed a High Court of Justice in January 1649 and Charles was charged with high treason against the
people of England. The King's trial opened on 20 January. He refused to answer the charges, saying that he did not
recognise the authority of the High Court, but he was found guilty of the charges against him and sentenced to
death on 27 January 1649. The King was beheaded on a scaffold outside the Banqueting House at Whitehall on 30
January.

The King's execution shocked the whole of Europe. He was buried on 9 February at Windsor rather than at
Westminster Abbey to avoid the possibility of public disorder at his funeral. Charles' personal dignity during his trial
and execution had won him much sympathy. His death created a cult of martyrdom around him, which was
encouraged by the publication of a book of his supposed meditations during his final months, Eikon Basilike. The
ideal of Charles the Martyr helped to sustain the Royalist cause throughout the Commonwealth and Protectorate
years. After the Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660, it was sanctified in the Anglican Church. To this day, wreaths
of remembrance are laid on the anniversary of King Charles' death at his statue, which faces down Whitehall to the
site of his beheading.

OLIVER CROMWELL- Oliver Cromwell, born in Huntingdon in 1599, was a strict Puritan with a Cambridge
education when he went to London to represent his family in Parliament. Clothed conservatively , he possessed a
Puritan fervor and a commanding voice, he quickly made a name for himself by serving in both the Short
Parliament (April 1640) and the Long Parliament (August 1640 through April 1660). Charles I, pushing his finances
to bankruptcy and trying to force a new prayer book on Scotland, was badly beaten by the Scots, who demanded
£850 per day from the English until the two sides reached agreement. Charles had no choice but to summon
Parliament.

The Long Parliament, taking an aggressive stance, steadfastly refused to authorize any funding until Charles was
brought to heel. The Triennial Act of 1641 assured the summoning of Parliament at least every three years, a
formidable challenge to royal prerogative. The Tudor institutions of fiscal feudalism (manipulating antiquated feudal
fealty laws to extract money), the Court of the Star Chamber and the Court of High Commission were declared
illegal by Act of Parliament later in 1641. A new era of leadership from the House of Commons (backed by middle
class merchants, tradesmen and Puritans) had commenced. Parliament resented the insincerity with which Charles
settled with both them and the Scots, and despised his links with Catholicism.

1642 was a banner year for Parliament. They stripped Charles of the last vestiges of prerogative by abolishing
episcopacy, placed the army and navy directly under parliamentary supervision and declared this bill become law
even if the king refused his signature. Charles entered the House of Commons (the first king to do so), intent on
arresting John Pym, the leader of Parliament and four others, but the five conspirators had already fled, making the
king appear inept. Charles traveled north to recruit an army and raised his standard against the forces of
Parliaments (Roundheads) at Nottingham on August 22, 1642. England was again embroiled in civil war.

Cromwell added sixty horses to the Roundhead cause when war broke out. In the 1642 Battle at Edge Hill, the
Roundheads were defeated by the superior Royalist (Cavalier) cavalry, prompting Cromwell to build a trained
cavalry. Cromwell proved most capable as a military leader. By the Battle of Marston Moor in 1644, Cromwell's New
Model Army had routed Cavalier forces and Cromwell earned the nickname "Ironsides" in the process. Fighting
lasted until July 1645 at the final Cavalier defeat at Naseby. Within a year, Charles surrendered to the Scots, who
turned him over to Parliament. By 1646, England was ruled solely by Parliament, although the king was not
executed until 1649.
English society splintered into many factions: Levellers (intent on eradicating economic castes), Puritans,
Episcopalians, remnants of the Cavaliers and other religious and political radicals argued over the fate of the realm.
The sole source of authority rest with the army, who moved quickly to end the debates. In November 1648, the
Long Parliament was reduced to a "Rump" Parliament by the forced removal of 110 members of Parliament by
Cromwell's army, with another 160 members refusing to take their seats in opposition to the action. The remainder,
barely enough for a quorum, embarked on an expedition of constitutional change. The Rump dismantled the
machinery of government, most of that, remained loyal to the king, abolishing not only the monarchy, but also the
Privy Council, Courts of Exchequer and Admiralty and even the House of Lords. England was ruled by an executive
Council of State and the Rump Parliament, with various subcommittees dealing with day-to-day affairs. Of great
importance was the administration in the shires and parishes: the machinery administering such governments was
left intact; ingrained habits of ruling and obeying harkened back to monarchy.

With the death of the ancient constitution and Parliament in control, attention was turned to crushing rebellions in
the realm, as well as in Ireland and Scotland. Cromwell forced submission from the nobility, muzzled the press and
defeated Leveller rebels in Burford. Annihilating the more radical elements of revolution resulted in political
conservatism , which eventually led to the restoration of the monarchy. Cromwell's army slaughtered over forty
percent of the indigenous Irishmen, who clung unyieldingly to Catholicism and loyalist sentiments; the remaining
Irishmen were forcibly transported to County Connaught with the Act of Settlement in 1653. Scottish Presbyterians
fought for a Stuart restoration, in the person of Charles II, but were handily defeated, ending the last remnants of
civil war. The army then turned its attention to internal matters.

The Rump devolved into a petty, self-perpetuating and unbending oligarchy, which lost credibility in the eyes of the
army. Cromwell ended the Rump Parliament with great indignity on April 21, 1653, ordering the house cleared at
the point of a sword. The army called for a new Parliament of Puritan saints, who proved as inept as the Rump. By
1655, Cromwell dissolved his new Parliament, choosing to rule alone (much like Charles I had done in 1629). The
cost of keeping a standard army of 35,000 proved financially incompatible with Cromwell's monetarily strapped
government. Two wars with the Dutch concerning trade abroad added to Cromwell's financial burdens.

The military's solution was to form yet another version of Parliament. A House of Peers was created, packed with
Cromwell's supporters and with true veto power, but the Commons proved most antagonistic towards Cromwell.
The monarchy was restored in all but name; Cromwell went from the title of Lord General of the Army to that of
Lord Protector of the Realm (the title of king was suggested, but wisely rejected by Cromwell when a furor arose in
the military ranks). The Lord Protector died on September 3, 1658, naming his son Richard as successor. With
Cromwell's death, the Commonwealth floundered and the monarchy was restored only two years later.

The failure of Cromwell and the Commonwealth was founded upon Cromwell being caught between opposing
forces. His attempts to placate the army, the nobility, Puritans and Parliament resulted in the alienation of each
group. Leaving the political machinery of the parishes and shires untouched under the new constitution was the
height of inconsistency; Cromwell, the army and Parliament were unable to make a clear separation from the
ancient constitution and traditional customs of loyalty and obedience to monarchy. Lacey Baldwin Smith cast an
astute judgment concerning the aims of the Commonwealth: "When Commons was purged out of existence by a
military force of its own creation, the country learned a profound, if bitter, Lesson: Parliament could no more exist
without the crown than the crown without Parliament. The ancient constitution had never been King and Parliament
but King in Parliament; when one element of that mystical nion was destroyed, the other ultimately perished."

ROUNDHEADS- The Roundheads were a group in the English Civil War who promoted a Republican
Commonwealth instead of a monarchy. The term “Roundhead” was actually pejorative, and the Roundheads would
not have used it to describe themselves. However, “Roundhead” is more catchy than “Parliamentarian,” their
official title, and many historians of the English Civil War refer to the parliamentary faction as Roundheads.

The English Civil War was an important event in British history, marked by a major uprising against the traditional
system of Monarchy in Britain. The uprising was led by the Parliament, which was unhappy with many of the
activities of King Charles I, especially when these activities involved abrupt dissolution of the Parliament when it
appeared to be going against him. The Parliamentarians were involved in a series of extensive political moves and
three major conflicts which came to be collectively known as the English Civil War.

Many of the Roundheads were Puritans who dressed and groomed modestly, in marked contrast to the styles in
vogue at the court of King Charles I. This is probably where the slang term “Roundhead” originated, contrasting the
closely-shorn heads of the Roundheads with their long, lustrous locked opponents. Although the hairstyle issue may
seem petty, it is a valuable illustration of the religious and social differences between the two factions, and Puritan
ideals were an important part of the Parliamentarian ethic.

The origins of the term “Roundhead” are somewhat unclear, but it seems to date from around 1641, right before
the outbreak of the English Civil War, and it was definitely meant to be offensive. The Royalists used the term as a
put-down for their opponents, and among Parliamentarians, the word was not uttered. In fact, members of the
Puritan New Model Army, which played an important role in many Civil War victories, could be severely punished for
calling each Roundheads.

Despite being Puritans, the Roundheads were not above a little name calling themselves. They coined the term
“Cavalier” to describe their opposition on the side of the King, meaning to suggest that the Royalists were vain,
reckless, and arrogant. Unlike the Roundheads, the Cavaliers ended up embracing their supposedly offensive title.
Alas for the Cavaliers, the Roundheads ended up being the superior military and political force in the English Civil
War, ultimately masterminding an execution of King Charles I and establishing a new republic. However, the
Republican Commonwealth was shortlived; in 1660, the monarchy was restored.

JACOBINS- The most prominent political clubs of the French Revolution were the Jacobin Clubs that sprung up
throughout Paris and the provinces in August of 1789. By 1791, there were 900 Jacobin clubs in France associated
with the main club in Paris. According to Spielvogel, "Members were usually the elite of their local societies, but
they also included artisans and tradesmen" (688).

Jacobin clubs served as debating socitites where politically minded Frenchmen aired their views and discussed
current political issues. Many members of Jacobin clubs were also deputies and used the meetings to orgam\nize
forces and plan tactics. The most notorious deputy connected with the Jacobin club is Robespierre. Marat was also
aligned with the Jacobin club, and this association caused his death. Charlotte Corday, his murderer, targeted Marat
because she thought that he represented the worst of the Jacobin movement (Dowd, 115).

The club supported and participated in some of the most shocking events of The Revolution. Members of Jacobin
clubs were among the mob invaded the Tuileries on August, 10, 1792. They also supported the execution of Louis
XVI. Druing the Terror, local Jacobin clubs turned the provinces into nightmares of fear and destruction as members
took it upon themselves to be agents of the Terror, and sent thousands to the guillotine (Dowd, 129). The clubs
were also strictly anticlerical, and during the Terror some clubs wages a crusade against the church, imprisoning
priests and looting churches (129). The Jacobin clubs were closed soon after Robespierre was killed in 1794, but not
before they became synonomous with revolutionary fervor and fear.

JUNKERS (Prussia)- Junker, (German: “country squire”), member of the landowning aristocracy of Prussia and
eastern Germany, which, under the German Empire (1871–1918) and the Weimar Republic (1919–33), exercised
substantial political power. Otto von Bismarck himself, the imperial chancellor during 1871–90, was of Junker stock
and at first was regarded as representing its interests. Politically, Junkers stood for extreme conservatism, support
of the monarchy and military tradition, and protectionist policies for agriculture. The German Conservative Party in
the Reichstag, or Imperial Assembly, and the extraparliamentary Agrarian League represented Junker interests
throughout the imperial era. Because the Junkers staffed the Prussian army, which had brought about Germany’s
unification, they were accorded great influence, particularly in Prussia, where a highly illiberal constitution
remained in force (1850–1918). During the Weimar period, Junkers were continuously hostile to the republic, the
collapse of which contributed to the rise of Adolf Hitler.

WATER LOO- One of the most decisive battles of the Napoleonic Wars, Waterloo was fought in a small area (some
10km by 4km) on the main road leading south from Brussels.

It was the first clash of the Titans - Napoleon Bonaparte versus the Duke of Wellington - and it was a win all/lose all
scenario.

Bonaparte had brilliantly outmanouevred both the Anglo-Allied force of (77,000 approx) under Wellington and the
nearby Prussian army of Field Marshal Blucher (102,000).

Together the allied forces easily outnumbered France's 72,000 men

On 16 June, Bonaparte had beaten the Prussians at Ligny, while at the same time Wellington had held a vital set of
crossroads at Quatre Bras against an inept Marshal Ney.

Turning his main strength towards the British, Bonaparte detached Grouchy to keep the Prussians retreating and
away from Wellington near Waterloo.

The emperor found the Anglo-Allied drawn up across a small ridge at Mont St John, just south of the village of
Waterloo, and organised his troops for battle the next day as a massive storm drenched the ground.
At dawn it was decided the ground was too boggy to launch an immediate attack and so the armies faced off
against each other.

The British position was linked with various strongpoints - the chateau of Hougoumont, the farmhouse of La Haye
Sainte and the dwellings of La Haie and Papelotte - and while Wellington knew his troops could hold the French for a
time, he was relying upon the promised arrival of Blucher on his left flank to ensure victory.

Bonaparte began the battle at about 11.30am with salvoes from his massed artillery and then sent an initial
assault, intended as a diversion to draw enemy reserves away, against Hougoumont on the British right flank.

VERNACULAR- Native language of a country

HUMANISM- The great intellectual movement of Renaissance Italy was humanism. The humanists believed that
the Greek and Latin classics contained both all the lessons one needed to lead a moral and effective life and the
best models for a powerful Latin style. They developed a new, rigorous kind of classical scholarship, with which they
corrected and tried to understand the works of the Greeks and Romans, which seemed so vital to them. Both the
republican elites of Florence and Venice and the ruling families of Milan, Ferrara, and Urbino hired humanists to
teach their children classical morality and to write elegant, classical letters, histories, and propaganda.

In the course of the fifteenth century, the humanists also convinced most of the popes that the papacy needed their
skills. Sophisticated classical scholars were hired to write official correspondence and propaganda; to create an
image of the popes as powerful, enlightened, modern rulers of the Church; and to apply their scholarly tools to the
church's needs, including writing a more classical form of the Mass.

The relation between popes and scholars was never simple, for the humanists evolved their own views on theology.
Some argued that pagan philosophers like Plato basically agreed with Christian revelation. Others criticized
important Church doctrines or institutions that lacked biblical or historical support. Some even seemed in danger of
becoming pagans. The real confrontation came in the later sixteenth century, as the church faced the radical
challenge of Protestantism. Some Roman scholars used the methods of humanist scholarship to defend the Church
against Protestant attacks, but others collaborated in the imposition of censorship. Classical scholarship, in the end,
could not reform the Church which it both supported and challenged.

ADAM SMITH- Why Adam Smith is important

Adam Smith (1723-1790) was a Scottish philosopher and economist who is best known as the author of An Inquiry
into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth Of Nations (1776), one of the most influential books ever written.

The old view of economics

In Smith’s day, people saw national wealth in terms of a country’s stock of gold and silver. Importing goods from
abroad was seen as damaging because it meant that this wealth must be given up to pay for them; exporting goods
was seen as good because these precious metals came back.

So countries maintained a vast network of controls to prevent this metal wealth draining out – taxes on imports,
subsidies to exporters, and protection for domestic industries. The same protectionism ruled at home too. Cities
prevented artisans from other towns moving in to ply their trade; manufacturers and merchants petitioned the king
for protective monopolies; labour-saving devices were banned as a threat to existing producers.

The productivity of free exchange

Smith showed that this vast ‘mercantilist’ edifice was folly. He argued that in a free exchange, both sides became
better off. Quite simply, nobody would trade if they expected to lose from it. The buyer profits, just as the seller
does. Imports are just as valuable to us as our exports are to others.

Because trade benefits both sides, said Smith, it increases our prosperity just as surely as do agriculture or
manufacture. A nation’s wealth is not the quantity of gold and silver in its vaults, but the total of its production and
commerce – what today we would call gross national product.

The Wealth of Nations deeply influenced the politicians of the time and provided the intellectual foundation of the
great nineteenth-century era of free trade and economic expansion. Even today the common sense of free trade is
accepted worldwide, whatever the practical difficulties of achieving it.
Social order based on freedom

Smith had a radical, fresh understanding of how human societies actually work. He realised that social harmony
would emerge naturally as human beings struggled to find ways to live and work with each other. Freedom and self-
interest need not produce chaos, but – as if guided by an ‘invisible hand’ – order and concord. And as people struck
bargains with each other, the nation’s resources would be drawn automatically to the ends and purposes that
people valued most highly.

So a prospering social order did not need to be controlled by kings and ministers. It would grow, organically, as a
product of human nature. It would grow best in an open, competitive marketplace, with free exchange and without
coercion.

The Wealth Of Nations was therefore not just a study of economics but a survey of human social psychology: about
life, welfare, political institutions, the law, and morality.

The psychology of ethics

It was not The Wealth Of Nations which first made Smith’s reputation, but a book on ethics, The Theory Of Moral
Sentiments. Once again, Smith looks to social psychology to discover the foundation of human morality. Human
beings have a natural ‘sympathy’ for others. That enables them to understand how to moderate their behaviour and
preserve harmony. And this is the basis of our moral ideas and moral actions.

Self-interest and virtue

Some people wonder how the self-interest that drives Smith’s economic system can be squared with the ‘sympathy’
that drive his ethics. Here is his answer:

How selfish soever man may be supposed, there are evidently some principles in his nature, which interest
him in the fortune of others, and render their happiness necessary to him, though he derives nothing from it
except the pleasure of seeing it.

In other words, human nature is complex. We are self-interested, but we also like to help others too. Smith’s books
are complementary: they show how self-interested human beings can live together peacefully (in the moral sphere)
and productively (in the economic).

The Wealth Of Nations is no endorsement of economic greed, as sometimes caricatured. Self-interest may drive the
economy, but that is a force for good – provided there is genuinely open competition and no coercion. And it is the
poor that economic and social freedom benefits most.

YOUNG ITALY- political movement founded by Mazzini, its goal is to create a unified Italian republic

INDEX AND INQUISITION- The term Inquisition can apply to any one of several institutions which fought against
heretics (or other offenders against canon law) within the justice-system of the Roman Catholic Church. Although
similar institutions existed within Calvinist and other Protestant churches, the term "Inquisition" is usually applied to
that of the Catholic Church. (got it from wiki na lang, basta ang alam ko inquisition is the punishment for those who
have different beliefs from the church.)