Terms of the Day for September 12

• Mannerism - From the Italian word maniera, meaning “style”, this was a period of European art that emerged in the late Italian Renaissance. It is influenced by, and is a reaction to, the harmonious ideals and restrained naturalism of Leonardo, Raphael, and Michelangelo.
• The Protestant Reformation – a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin, and other early Protestants.  The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led to the creation of new national Protestant churches.
• The Counter-Reformation – (also known as the Catholic Revival or Catholic Reformation) The period of Catholic revival beginning with the Council of Trent (1543–1565) and ending at the close of the Thirty Years' War (1648) as a response to the Protestant Reformation.  The reforms put in place were designed to attract people back to the Catholic church and to increase its strength.  It also involved political activities that included the Roman and Spanish Inquisitions.