early modern
Ahead yet current
Early modern refers to the historical period bridging medieval and modern eras, roughly 1500–1800 in European contexts.
The term appears most often in academic writing: early modern English, early modern philosophy, early modern history.
It marks the age of Renaissance humanism, the Reformation, colonial expansion, and the Scientific Revolution—developments that shaped the modern world but preceded industrialization.
Unrestricted governmental authority
- divine rightGod-granted ruling authority
- TudorSixteenth-century English ruling family
- StuartScottish-origin English dynasty
- BourbonFrench ruling family
Habsburg · court · Versailles · succession · dynastic · sovereignty · parliament · English Civil War
Domination through foreign settlement
- New WorldWestern Hemisphere landmasses
- ColumbusOhio's seat of government
- spice tradeHistorical exchange of aromatics
- conquistadorsSpanish colonial soldiers
Magellan · Vasco da Gama · cartography · navigation · galleons · East India Company · circumnavigation · Age of Discovery
Basis or justification
- philosophyStudy of fundamental truths
- empiricismKnowledge through observation
- rationalismReason as knowledge source
- VoltaireFrench Enlightenment satirist
Rousseau · Locke · Newton · Hume · Kant · natural rights · social contract · secularism
Reformation-era Christian movement
- Martin LutherProtestant Reformation founder
- Ninety-Five ThesesAnti-indulgence propositions from 1517
- WittenbergReformation's starting point
- John CalvinFrench Protestant reformer
Calvinism · Lutheranism · indulgences · predestination · Henry VIII · Church of England · Counter-Reformation · Council of Trent
Philosophy prioritizing earthly reason
- patronageSupporter's financial backing
- FlorenceTuscan capital city
- MediciFlorentine banking dynasty
- perspectiveAttitude or spatial rendering
chiaroscuro · frescoes · Leonardo da Vinci · Michelangelo · Raphael · Botticelli · Vitruvian Man · vanishing point
absolutism
Unrestricted governmental authority
- divine rightGod-granted ruling authority
- TudorSixteenth-century English ruling family
- StuartScottish-origin English dynasty
Bourbon · Habsburg · court · Versailles · succession · dynastic · sovereignty · parliament · English Civil War · Thirty Years War
colonialism
Domination through foreign settlement
- New WorldWestern Hemisphere landmasses
- ColumbusOhio's seat of government
- spice tradeHistorical exchange of aromatics
Magellan · Vasco da Gama · conquistadors · cartography · navigation · galleons · East India Company · circumnavigation · Age of Discovery · mercantilism
reason
Basis or justification
- philosophyStudy of fundamental truths
- empiricismKnowledge through observation
- rationalismReason as knowledge source
Voltaire · Rousseau · Locke · Newton · Hume · Kant · natural rights · social contract · secularism · skepticism
Protestantism
Reformation-era Christian movement
- Martin LutherProtestant Reformation founder
- Ninety-Five ThesesAnti-indulgence propositions from 1517
- WittenbergReformation's starting point
John Calvin · Calvinism · Lutheranism · indulgences · predestination · Henry VIII · Church of England · Counter-Reformation · Council of Trent · Huguenots
humanism
Philosophy prioritizing earthly reason
perspective · chiaroscuro · frescoes · Leonardo da Vinci · Michelangelo · Raphael · Botticelli · Vitruvian Man · vanishing point · sonnet
- historical erasStone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age, Middle Ages, Renaissance
- Early ModernRenaissance, 1500s, 1600s, Reformation, sixteenth century
- literary periodsRenaissance, medieval, Victorian, contemporary, ancient
- Nordic HistoryViking Age, Viking raids, longships, runestones, Great Northern War
- Spanish LiteratureDon Quixote, Don Quijote, Cervantes, Miguel de Cervantes, El Cid
- British ErasVictorian era, Victorian age, Tudor era, Tudor period, Elizabethan era
early modernmedieval
Of the Middle Ages
contemporary · ancient · postmodern · Middle Ages · prehistoric
early modernpre-modern
Before contemporary times
postmodern · contemporary · hypermodern · traditional · archaic
early, modern, morning, earlier, earliest, modernize, modernist, modernity, modernism