Érettségi Történelem key terms

The era before written records, divided into the Stone, Bronze and Iron Ages based on tool-making materials. Hungarian candidates must know the three-period system and the main lifestyle changes from hunter-gatherer to settled farming.

The transition from hunting and gathering to settled agriculture and animal husbandry, beginning around 10,000 BCE in the Fertile Crescent. It produced permanent villages, surplus food, pottery and later social differentiation.

An economy in which people actively produce food through farming and livestock breeding, rather than collecting what nature offers. It is the defining economic feature of the Neolithic and the basis of surplus and urbanisation.

Agriculture dependent on artificial water supply from rivers or canals, typical of Mesopotamia and Egypt. It required organised labour and management, which historians link to the emergence of centralised states and writing.

The earliest writing system, developed in Sumer around 3000 BCE by pressing a reed stylus into clay. It began as accounting notation and later recorded laws, literature and administration.

A Babylonian legal collection from the 18th century BCE inscribed on a stone stele. It combines case law with royal ideology and reflects social ranking, including harsher penalties for lower-status victims.

An independent Greek community consisting of an urban centre and its surrounding territory, with its own laws, army and cults. Athens and Sparta are the classic examples of differing political systems.

The political system of classical Athens in which adult male citizens voted directly in the assembly on laws and war. Participation was direct rather than representative, and women, slaves and foreigners were excluded.

The sovereign assembly of Athenian citizens that met on the Pnyx hill to decide policy, legislation and ostracism. It is the central institution through which direct democracy operated.

An Athenian procedure in which citizens voted on potsherds to exile a politician for ten years without loss of property. It was designed to prevent tyranny but could be used as a political weapon.

A heavily armed Greek infantryman fighting in a phalanx with spear, shield and bronze armour. Hoplites were citizen-soldiers who equipped themselves, tying military service to political rights.

A dense infantry formation of overlapping shields and leveled spears, used by Greek city-states and later Macedon. Its strength depended on discipline and collective cohesion rather than individual combat.

The social and political struggle in the Roman Republic between hereditary patrician families and the plebeians. It ended with plebeians gaining access to offices and the creation of written law.

The Roman state from about 509 BCE to 27 BCE, governed by annually elected magistrates, a senate and popular assemblies. Its checks and balances were admired by later political thinkers.

The first written Roman law code, compiled around 450 BCE on bronze tablets. Its publication limited patrician control over legal interpretation and became a foundation of Roman law.

A medieval system of personal dependence in which a lord granted land to a vassal in return for military service and loyalty. It linked landholding, military obligation and political authority.

The landed estate granted by a lord to a vassal as reward and guarantee of service. It could not normally be freely sold and passed through inheritance with the lord's consent.

The basic agricultural unit of the medieval countryside, comprising the lord's demesne and peasant holdings. Peasants owed labour rent on the demesne, which shaped their dependence.

A peasant legally bound to the land and subject to the lord's jurisdiction, unlike a free peasant. Serfs owed rents in labour, kind or money and could not freely leave the estate.

Unpaid labour owed by peasants to their lord, usually several days per week on the demesne. Its extent is a key indicator of how strongly peasant society was tied to the manor.

An association of craftsmen in a town that regulated production, prices, training and quality within a trade. Guilds protected members' livelihoods but also restricted competition and entry.

A written privilege granted by a ruler or town council that authorised a guild and set out its rules. It defined monopolies, examination requirements and obligations such as defence duties.

A trained craftsman who had finished apprenticeship but not yet become a master. Journeymen worked for wages and often travelled between towns before producing a masterpiece.

The process by which rulers made Christianity the official religion of their state, as Constantine and Theodosius did in Rome. It reshaped law, education, art and church–state relations.

A monastic order following the Rule of St Benedict, based on prayer and manual labour. Benedictine monasteries preserved learning and promoted agriculture and literacy in medieval Europe.

A self-governing corporation of teachers and students that emerged in the 12th and 13th centuries, for example at Bologna and Paris. Universities taught the liberal arts, law, medicine and theology.

A medieval method of learning that reconciled Christian faith with Aristotelian philosophy through logic and disputation. Thomas Aquinas is its most famous representative.

A cultural movement from 14th-century Italy that revived classical antiquity and emphasised human potential and observation. It spread north and influenced art, scholarship and later religious criticism.

An intellectual programme based on the study of classical texts and the cultivation of human virtue and eloquence. Humanists criticised scholastic method and prepared ground for religious reform.

The 16th-century movement that challenged papal authority and led to the creation of Protestant churches. Luther's criticism of indulgences and justification by faith were central.

A Protestant church founded on Martin Luther's teachings, emphasising justification by faith alone and the authority of Scripture. It spread in Germany and northern Europe and strongly influenced Hungary.

A Protestant tradition following John Calvin, stressing God's sovereignty and predestination. It organised self-governing congregations and became a major confession in Hungary and Transylvania.

The Catholic response to Protestantism, combining doctrinal renewal, new religious orders and political pressure. The Jesuits and the Council of Trent were its main instruments.

A Catholic order founded by Ignatius of Loyola in 1540, dedicated to education, missions and loyalty to the pope. It became a leading force in Counter-Reformation schooling and politics.

A form of monarchy in which the ruler concentrates legislative, executive and judicial power and claims authority from God alone. Louis XIV's France is the textbook example.

The doctrine that a monarch's authority comes directly from God and is therefore answerable only to God. It was used to justify resistance to noble and parliamentary limits on royal power.

Reform-minded absolutism in which rulers adopted Enlightenment ideas on administration, law and education without sharing power. Joseph II and Frederick II are standard examples.

An 18th-century intellectual movement trusting reason, science and criticism of tradition and church authority. It shaped ideas of natural rights, popular sovereignty and modern political thought.

The idea that legitimate political authority rests on an agreement among free people rather than divine grant. Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau developed competing versions with different implications for resistance.

The principle that ultimate political authority belongs to the people, who may delegate but not surrender it. It underpins modern constitutions and justified the American and French revolutions.

Rights held by every person by virtue of humanity, such as life, liberty and property in Locke's formulation. They are claimed to precede and limit state power.