1.
accordance: agreement
2.
asasin: a murderer of a politically important person
3.
blasphemous: showing contempt for sacred things
4.
congress: collection
5.
Dominican: a Catholic religious order
6.
eccentric: odd, peculiar person
7.
empirical reasoning: drawing conclusions from physical evidence
8.
etcher: an artist who engraves a picture onto a metal plate, and uses this plate as a stamp
9.
ether: an extremely pure refined substance once thought to occupy the upper regions of space
10.
florin, ducat: gold coins weighing about 3.5 grams
11.
fresco: painted with water colour on fresh wet plaster
12.
hinterland: area surrounding a city
13.
human anatomy: the science of the structure of the human body
14.
inquisition: a Church court that tried heretics, people who disagreed with Church teachings
15.
Mercenary soldiers: soldiers for hire
16.
Old town: a term used to describe the original city centre of a European city
17.
oligarchy: government by a few powerful people
18.
perspective: giving the appearance of distance on a flat surface
19.
pile: a heavy beam driven upright into earth to support a structure
20.
proportion: a correct relation among parts
21.
reason: the ability to think and draw conclusions
22.
Renaissance man: a term traditionally used to describe a person skilled in many areas
23.
republic: a state in which the citizens elect representatives to form a government
24.
stagnation: sluggish, inactive, not progressing
25.
to patronize: to support
26.
to send into exile: to banish
27.
topography: surface features of region
28.
vanity: a worthless pleasure
29.
woodcutter: an artist, an artist who carves a picutre onto a wood block, and uses this block as a stamp