90-405: Weasels / ˈ w iː z əl z / are mammals of the genus Mustela of the family Mustelidae . The genus Mustela includes the least weasels , polecats , stoats , ferrets , and European mink . Members of this genus are small, active predators, with long and slender bodies and short legs. The family Mustelidae, or mustelids (which also includes badgers , otters , and wolverines ),
180-622: A "realist" perspective on wars and diplomacy have emphasized the Peace of Westphalia (1648) as a dividing line. It ended the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648), where religion and ideology had been powerful motivating forces for warfare. Westphalia, in the realist view, ushered in a new international system of sovereign states of roughly equal strength, dedicated not to ideology or religion but to enhance status, and territorial gains. The Catholic Church, for example, no longer devoted its energies to
270-888: A universal monarchy in Western Europe. The Habsburgs expanded their control within and outside the Holy Roman Empire as a result of the dynastic policy pursued by Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor . Maximilian I married Mary of Burgundy , thus bringing the Burgundian Netherlands into the Habsburg inheritance. Their son, Philip the Handsome , married Joanna the Mad of Spain (daughter of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella of Castile ). Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (son of Philip and Joanna) inherited
360-578: A courageous elite, and regarded their purpose as one of leading the world toward progress and out of a long period of doubtful tradition, full of irrationality, superstition, and tyranny, which they believed began during a historical period they called the Dark Ages . This movement also provided a framework for the American and French Revolutions , the Latin American independence movement, and
450-744: A formidable new opposition to the dominance of the Catholic Church , especially in Northern Europe. The early modern period also witnessed the circumnavigation of the Earth and the establishment of regular European contact with the Americas and South and East Asia. The ensuing rise of global systems of international economic, cultural and intellectual exchange played an important role in the development of capitalism and represents an identifiable early phase of globalization . Regardless of
540-459: A series of blunders that ruined their efforts to find allies. King Louis XIV of France, by contrast, developed the most sophisticated diplomatic service, with permanent ambassadors and lesser ministers in major and minor capitals, all preparing steady streams of information and advice to Paris. Diplomacy became a career that proved highly attractive to rich senior aristocrats who enjoyed very high society at royal courts, especially because they carried
630-493: A substitute for the term Renaissance , and vice versa. However, "Renaissance" is properly used in relation to a diverse series of cultural developments; which occurred over several hundred years in many different parts of Europe—especially central and northern Italy—and span the transition from late Medieval civilization and the opening of the early modern period. The term "early modern" is most often applied to Europe, and its overseas empire. However, it has also been employed in
720-422: A universal Christendom ), language, or feudal allegiance (belonging to the manor or extended household of a particular magnate or lord ). The beginning of the early modern period is not clear-cut, but is generally accepted to be in the late 15th century or early 16th century. Significant dates in this transitional phase from medieval to early modern Europe can be noted: The end date of the early modern period
810-633: A wholly white coat in winter. They have long, slender bodies, which enable them to follow their prey into burrows. Their tails may be from 34 to 52 mm ( 1 + 1 ⁄ 4 to 2 in) long. Weasels feed on small mammals and have from time to time been considered vermin because some species took poultry from farms or rabbits from commercial warrens. They do, on the other hand, eat large numbers of rodents . Their range spans Europe , North America , much of Asia and South America , and small areas in North Africa . The English word "weasel"
900-675: Is a vertebrate animal of the class Mammalia ( / m ə ˈ m eɪ l i . ə / ). Mammals are characterized by the presence of milk -producing mammary glands for feeding their young, a broad neocortex region of the brain, fur or hair , and three middle ear bones . These characteristics distinguish them from reptiles and birds , from which their ancestors diverged in the Carboniferous Period over 300 million years ago. Around 6,400 extant species of mammals have been described and divided into 27 orders . The largest orders of mammals, by number of species , are
990-505: Is according to the Integrated Taxonomic Information System and MammalDiversity . Worldwide (domesticated); New Zealand (non-native) Europe and Northern Asia division excludes China. Weasels have been assigned a variety of cultural meanings. In Greek culture , a weasel near one's house is a sign of bad luck, even evil, "especially if there is in the household a girl about to be married", since
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#17327810155241080-491: Is often referred to as the "weasel family". In the UK, the term "weasel" usually refers to the smallest species , the least weasel ( M. nivalis ), the smallest carnivoran species. Least weasels vary in length from 173 to 217 mm ( 6 + 3 ⁄ 4 to 8 + 1 ⁄ 2 in), females being smaller than the males, and usually have red or brown upper coats and white bellies; some populations of some species moult to
1170-572: Is primarily driven by human poaching and habitat destruction , primarily deforestation . Over 70% of mammal species are in the orders Rodentia , Chiroptera , and Eulipotyphla . Mammal classification has been through several revisions since Carl Linnaeus initially defined the class, and at present , no classification system is universally accepted. McKenna & Bell (1997) and Wilson & Reeder (2005) provide useful recent compendiums. Simpson (1945) provides systematics of mammal origins and relationships that had been taught universally until
1260-565: Is that when weasels reach several hundred years of age, they become mujina ( Japanese badgers ). In Japanese, weasels are called iizuna or izuna ( 飯綱 ) and in the Tōhoku Region and Shinshu , it was believed that there were families that were able to use a certain practice to freely use kudagitsune as iizuna-tsukai or kitsune-mochi . It is said that Mount Iizuna , from the Nagano Prefecture , got its name due to how
1350-426: Is the viviparous placental mammals , so named for the temporary organ ( placenta ) used by offspring to draw nutrition from the mother during gestation . Most mammals are intelligent , with some possessing large brains, self-awareness , and tool use . Mammals can communicate and vocalize in several ways, including the production of ultrasound , scent marking , alarm signals , singing , echolocation ; and, in
1440-567: Is the period associated with the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603) and was a golden age in English cultural history. It was the height of the English Renaissance , and saw the flowering of English literature and poetry . This was also the time during which Elizabethan theatre grew. William Shakespeare , among others, composed highly innovative and powerful plays. It was an age of expansion and exploration abroad. At home
1530-868: Is variously associated with the Industrial Revolution , which began in Britain in about 1750, or the beginning of the French Revolution in 1789, which drastically transformed the state of European politics and ushered in the Napoleonic era and modern Europe. The role of nobles in the Feudal System had yielded to the notion of the Divine Right of Kings during the Middle Ages (in fact, this consolidation of power from
1620-664: The Anabaptists . Subsequent Protestant churches generally trace their roots back to these initial four schools of the Reformation. It also led to the Catholic or Counter Reformation within the Roman Catholic Church through a variety of new spiritual movements, reforms of religious communities, the founding of seminaries, the clarification of Catholic theology as well as structural changes in the institution of
1710-473: The Cretaceous . The relationships between these three lineages is contentious, and all three possible hypotheses have been proposed with respect to which group is basal . These hypotheses are Atlantogenata (basal Boreoeutheria), Epitheria (basal Xenarthra) and Exafroplacentalia (basal Afrotheria). Boreoeutheria in turn contains two major lineages— Euarchontoglires and Laurasiatheria . Estimates for
1800-842: The Habsburg Netherlands in 1506, Habsburg Spain and its territories in 1516, and Habsburg Austria in 1519. The main opponents of the Habsburg Empire were the Ottoman Empire and the Kingdom of France . The Habsburgs clashed with France in a series of Italian wars. The Battle of Pavia (1525) initiated the Habsburg primacy in Italy and the replacement of France as the main European power. Nevertheless, religious wars forced Charles V to abdicate in 1556 and divide
1890-641: The Holy Roman Empire was also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German nation . The Habsburg House of Austria held the position of Holy Roman Emperors since the mid-1400s and for the entire Early modern period. Despite the lack of a centralized political structure in a period in which national monarchies were emerging, the Habsburg Emperors of the Early modern period came close to form
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#17327810155241980-605: The Hundred Years' War , and the Valois Dynasty's attempts at re-establishing control over the scattered political centres of the country were hindered by the Wars of Religion ). Much of the reigns of Henry IV , Louis XIII and the early years of Louis XIV were focused on administrative centralisation. Despite, however, the notion of " absolute monarchy " (typified by the king's right to issue lettres de cachet ) and
2070-562: The Indies by crossing the Atlantic. He landed on a continent uncharted by Europeans and seen as a new world , the Americas. To prevent conflict between Portugal and Castile (the crown under which Columbus made the voyage), the Treaty of Tordesillas was signed dividing the world into two regions of exploration, where each had exclusive rights to claim newly discovered lands. The structure of
2160-467: The Industrial Revolution in late 18th century England. Some of the more notable trends and events of the early modern period included the Reformation and the religious conflicts it provoked (including the French Wars of Religion and the Thirty Years' War ), the rise of capitalism and modern nation states , widespread witch hunts and European colonization of the Americas . The modern period
2250-564: The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) completed a five-year Global Mammal Assessment for its IUCN Red List , which counted 5,488 species. According to research published in the Journal of Mammalogy in 2018, the number of recognized mammal species is 6,495, including 96 recently extinct. The word " mammal " is modern, from the scientific name Mammalia coined by Carl Linnaeus in 1758, derived from
2340-556: The Latin mamma ("teat, pap"). In an influential 1988 paper, Timothy Rowe defined Mammalia phylogenetically as the crown group of mammals, the clade consisting of the most recent common ancestor of living monotremes ( echidnas and platypuses ) and therian mammals ( marsupials and placentals ) and all descendants of that ancestor. Since this ancestor lived in the Jurassic period, Rowe's definition excludes all animals from
2430-734: The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was the largest country with a large population and was very powerful. It was the largest semi-democratically governed polity of its time. It had low taxes but managed to field thousands of Winged Hussars who composed of nobility who followed Sarmatism . The Polish military routinely beat other respectable opponents such as the Ottomans, the Swedes and the Russians. The papacy continued to exercise significant diplomatic influence during
2520-503: The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth Constitution of May 3 , and also led to the rise of liberalism and the birth of socialism and communism . It is matched by the high baroque and classical eras in music, and the neo-classical period in the arts, and receives contemporary application in the unity of science movement which includes logical positivism . The expression "early modern" is sometimes used as
2610-784: The Protestant Reformation was established and successfully defended against the Catholic powers of Spain and France. The Jacobean era was the reign James I of England (1603–1625). Overseas exploration and establishment of trading factories sped up, with the first permanent settlements in North America at Jamestown, Virginia in 1607, in Newfoundland in 1610, and at Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts in 1620. One king now ruled England and Scotland;
2700-493: The Protestant ethic , economic development , governance , and "dark" outcomes have been identified by scholars. Margaret C. Jacob argues that there has been a dramatic shift in the historiography of the Reformation. Until the 1960s, historians focused their attention largely on the great leaders and also the theologians of the 16th century, especially Luther, Calvin, and Zwingli. Their ideas were studied in depth. However,
2790-716: The Radical Reformation , which gave rise to the Anabaptist , Moravian and other Pietistic movements. The Roman Catholic Church responded with a Counter-Reformation initiated by the Council of Trent . Much work in battling Protestantism was done by the well-organised new order of the Jesuits . In general, Northern Europe, with the exception of most of Ireland, came under the influence of Protestantism. Southern Europe remained Roman Catholic, while Central Europe
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2880-470: The Thirty Years' War , 1618–1648, which had an extremely negative impact on the civilian population of Germany and surrounding areas, with massive loss of life and disruption of the economy and society. The Reformation led to a series of religious wars that culminated in the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648), which devastated much of Germany , killing between 25% and 40% of its entire population. Roman Catholic House of Habsburg and its allies fought against
2970-606: The biological classification scheme used, are the primates : apes , monkeys , and lemurs ; the Cetartiodactyla : whales and even-toed ungulates ; and the Carnivora which includes cats , dogs , weasels , bears , seals , and allies. According to Mammal Species of the World , 5,416 species were identified in 2006. These were grouped into 1,229 genera , 153 families and 29 orders. In 2008,
3060-406: The dominant terrestrial animal group from 66 million years ago to the present. The basic mammalian body type is quadrupedal , with most mammals using four limbs for terrestrial locomotion ; but in some, the limbs are adapted for life at sea , in the air , in trees or underground . The bipeds have adapted to move using only the two lower limbs, while the rear limbs of cetaceans and
3150-459: The post-medieval period , is the period of European history between the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the Industrial Revolution , roughly the mid 15th century to the late 18th century. Historians variously mark the beginning of the early modern period with the invention of moveable type printing in the 1450s, the Fall of Constantinople and end of the Hundred Years' War in 1453,
3240-428: The rodents , bats , and Eulipotyphla (including hedgehogs , moles and shrews ). The next three are the primates (including humans , monkeys and lemurs ), the even-toed ungulates (including pigs , camels , and whales ), and the Carnivora (including cats , dogs , and seals ). Mammals are the only living members of Synapsida ; this clade , together with Sauropsida (reptiles and birds), constitutes
3330-439: The sea cows are mere internal vestiges . Mammals range in size from the 30–40 millimetres (1.2–1.6 in) bumblebee bat to the 30 metres (98 ft) blue whale —possibly the largest animal to have ever lived. Maximum lifespan varies from two years for the shrew to 211 years for the bowhead whale . All modern mammals give birth to live young, except the five species of monotremes , which lay eggs. The most species-rich group
3420-456: The 18th century in European philosophy, and is often thought of as part of a period which includes the Age of Reason. The term also more specifically refers to a historical intellectual movement, The Enlightenment . This movement advocated rationality as a means to establish an authoritative system of aesthetics , ethics, and logic . The intellectual leaders of this movement regarded themselves as
3510-476: The Americas, Asia ( Spanish Philippines ), Europe and some territories in Africa and Oceania. The Ancien Régime (French for "old regime") was the political and social system of the Kingdom of France from about 1450 until the French Revolution that started in 1789. The Ancien Régime was ruled by the late Valois and Bourbon dynasties. Much of the medieval political centralization of France had been lost in
3600-591: The Church of England alternated, for decades, between sympathies for ancient Catholic tradition and more Reformed principles, gradually developing, within the context of robustly Protestant doctrine, a tradition considered a middle way ( via media ) between the Roman Catholic and Protestant traditions. The following outcomes of the Protestant Reformation regarding human capital formation,
3690-763: The Church. The largest Protestant groups were the Lutherans and Calvinists . Lutheran churches were founded mostly in Germany, the Baltics and Scandinavia, while the Reformed ones were founded in Switzerland, Hungary, France, the Netherlands and Scotland. The initial movement within Germany diversified, and other reform impulses arose independently of Luther. The availability of the printing press provided
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3780-780: The Early modern period. The Popes were frequently assembling Holy Leagues to assert Catholic supremacy in Europe. During the Renaissance, Julius II and Paul III were largely involved in the Italian Wars and worked to preserve their primacy among the Italian princes. During the Counter-Reformation, the Papacy supported Catholic powers and factions all over Europe. Pope Pius V assembled the Catholic coalition that won
3870-719: The Habsburg dynasty. For the first time since the days of Martin Luther, political and national convictions again outweighed religious convictions in Europe. Two main tenets of the Peace of Westphalia , which ended the Thirty Years' War, were: The treaty also effectively ended the Papacy's pan-European political power. Pope Innocent X declared the treaty "null, void, invalid, iniquitous, unjust, damnable, reprobate, inane, empty of meaning and effect for all times" in his bull Zelo Domus Dei . European sovereigns, Roman Catholic and Protestant alike, ignored his verdict. Scholars taking
3960-477: The Habsburg empire, was identified as a more powerful nation than France and England globally. Furthermore, despite attacks from other European states, Spain retained its position of dominance with apparent ease. Spain controlled the Netherlands until the Dutch revolt , and important states in southern Italy. The Spanish claims to Naples and Sicily dated back to the 15th century, but had been marred by rival claims until
4050-528: The Habsburg possessions between Spain and Austria. The next Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I completed the Council of Trent and maintained Germany at peace until the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648). The Habsburgs controlled the elective monarchies of Hungary and Bohemia as well, and eventually turned these states into hereditary domains. In 1492 the Catholic Monarchs of Castile and Aragon funded Christopher Columbus 's plan to sail west to reach
4140-619: The Protestant princes of Germany, supported at various times by Denmark, Sweden and France. The Habsburgs, who ruled Spain, Austria, the Crown of Bohemia , Hungary , Slovene Lands , the Spanish Netherlands and much of Germany and Italy, were staunch defenders of the Roman Catholic Church. Some historians believe that the era of the Reformation came to a close when Roman Catholic France allied itself with Protestant states against
4230-709: The Spanish Empire was established under the Spanish Habsburgs (1516–1700) and under the Spanish Bourbon monarchs, the empire was brought under greater crown control and increased its revenues from the Indies. The crown's authority in The Indies was enlarged by the papal grant of powers of patronage , giving it power in the religious sphere. Under Philip II of Spain , Spain, rather than
4320-424: The animal (based on its Greek etymology) was thought to be an unhappy bride who was transformed into a weasel and consequently delights in destroying wedding dresses. In Macedonia , however, weasels are generally seen as an omen of good fortune. In early-modern Mecklenburg , Germany, amulets from weasels were deemed to have strong magic; the period between 15 August and 8 September was specifically designated for
4410-421: The case of humans, complex language . Mammals can organize themselves into fission–fusion societies , harems , and hierarchies —but can also be solitary and territorial . Most mammals are polygynous , but some can be monogamous or polyandrous . Domestication of many types of mammals by humans played a major role in the Neolithic Revolution , and resulted in farming replacing hunting and gathering as
4500-425: The cities of the Low Countries , and later in France, Germany and England. The early modern period also saw the rise and dominance of the economic theory of mercantilism . As such, the early modern period is often associated with the decline and eventual disappearance (at least in Western Europe) of feudalism and serfdom . The Protestant Reformation greatly altered the religious balance of Christendom , creating
4590-757: The clade originating with the last common ancestor of Sinoconodon and living mammals. The earliest-known synapsid satisfying Kemp's definitions is Tikitherium , dated 225 Ma , so the appearance of mammals in this broader sense can be given this Late Triassic date. However, this animal may have actually evolved during the Neogene. As of the early 21st century, molecular studies based on DNA analysis have suggested new relationships among mammal families. Most of these findings have been independently validated by retrotransposon presence/absence data . Classification systems based on molecular studies reveal three major groups or lineages of placental mammals— Afrotheria , Xenarthra and Boreoeutheria —which diverged in
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#17327810155244680-444: The closest thing to an official classification of mammals, despite its known issues. Most mammals, including the six most species-rich orders , belong to the placental group. The three largest orders in numbers of species are Rodentia : mice , rats , porcupines , beavers , capybaras , and other gnawing mammals; Chiroptera : bats; and Eulipotyphla : shrews , moles , and solenodons . The next three biggest orders, depending on
4770-417: The control of human relations in general and to the relations between states and peoples in particular. The fact was almost completely opposite. It was a period of marked unintelligence, immorality and frivolity in the conduct of international relations, marked by wars undertaken for dimly conceived purposes, waged with the utmost brutality and conducted by reckless betrayals of allies." The worst came during
4860-424: The diminution of the absolute authority of the Roman Catholic Church as well as the lessening of the influence of all faiths upon national governments. Many historians have identified the early modern period as the epoch in which individuals began to think of themselves as belonging to a national polity—a notable break from medieval modes of self-identification, which had been largely based upon religion (belonging to
4950-1350: The divergence times between these three placental groups range from 105 to 120 million years ago, depending on the type of DNA used (such as nuclear or mitochondrial ) and varying interpretations of paleogeographic data. Monotremata Marsupialia Xenarthra Afrotheria Glires Euarchonta [REDACTED] Eulipotyphla Chiroptera Pholidota Carnivora [REDACTED] Perissodactyla [REDACTED] Artiodactyla [REDACTED] Monotremata [REDACTED] Paucituberculata [REDACTED] Didelphimorphia [REDACTED] Microbiotheria Notoryctemorphia [REDACTED] Peramelemorphia [REDACTED] Dasyuromorphia [REDACTED] Diprotodontia [REDACTED] Cingulata [REDACTED] Pilosa [REDACTED] Hyracoidea [REDACTED] Sirenia [REDACTED] Proboscidea [REDACTED] Tubulidentata [REDACTED] Macroscelidea [REDACTED] Afrosoricida [REDACTED] Eulipotyphla [REDACTED] Chiroptera [REDACTED] Pholidota [REDACTED] Carnivora [REDACTED] Perissodactyla [REDACTED] Artiodactyla [REDACTED] Scandentia [REDACTED] Lagomorpha [REDACTED] Early modern Europe Early modern Europe , also referred to as
5040-471: The earlier Triassic , despite the fact that Triassic fossils in the Haramiyida have been referred to the Mammalia since the mid-19th century. If Mammalia is considered as the crown group, its origin can be roughly dated as the first known appearance of animals more closely related to some extant mammals than to others. Ambondro is more closely related to monotremes than to therian mammals while Amphilestes and Amphitherium are more closely related to
5130-494: The efforts by the kings to create a centralized state, Ancien Régime France remained a country of systemic irregularities: administrative (including taxation), legal, judicial, and ecclesiastic divisions and prerogatives frequently overlapped, while the French nobility struggled to maintain their own rights in the matters of local government and justice, and powerful internal conflicts (like the Fronde ) protested against this centralization. The need for centralization in this period
5220-441: The encyclopedia Wakan Sansai Zue from the Edo period , a pack of weasels would cause conflagrations, and the cry of a weasel was considered a harbinger of misfortune. In the Niigata Prefecture , the sound of a pack of weasels making a rustle resembled six people hulling rice, so was called the "weasel's six-person mortar", and it was an omen for one's home to decline or flourish. It is said that when people chase after this sound,
5310-434: The end of the Wars of the Roses in 1485, the beginning of the High Renaissance in Italy in the 1490s, the end of the Reconquista and subsequent voyages of Christopher Columbus to the Americas in 1492, or the start of the Protestant Reformation in 1517. The precise dates of its end point also vary and are usually linked with either the start of the French Revolution in 1789 or with the more vaguely defined beginning of
5400-451: The end of the 20th century. However, since 1945, a large amount of new and more detailed information has gradually been found: The paleontological record has been recalibrated, and the intervening years have seen much debate and progress concerning the theoretical underpinnings of systematization itself, partly through the new concept of cladistics . Though fieldwork and lab work progressively outdated Simpson's classification, it remains
5490-504: The genus Neovison . In 2021, both Neovison species, along with the long-tailed weasel ( Mustela frenata ), Amazon weasel ( Mustela africana ) and Colombian weasel ( Mustela felipei ) were moved to the genus Neogale , as the clade containing these five species was found to be fully distinct from Mustela . The genus name Mustela comes from the Latin word for weasel combining the words mus meaning "mouse" and telum meaning "javelin" for its long body. The following information
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#17327810155245580-520: The gods gave people mastery of this technique from there. According to the folklorist Mutō Tetsujō , "They are called izuna in the Senboku District , Akita Prefecture , and there are also the ichiko ( itako ) that use them." Also, in the Kitaakita District , they are called mōsuke (猛助), and they are feared as yōkai even more than foxes ( kitsune ). In the Ainu language , ermines are called upas-čironnup or sáčiri , but since least weasels are also called sáčiri , Mashio Chiri surmised that
5670-402: The gospel. The Protestant position, however, would come to incorporate doctrinal changes such as sola scriptura and sola fide . The Reformation ended in division and the establishment of new church movements. The four most important traditions to emerge directly from the Reformation were Lutheranism , the Reformed (also called Calvinist or Presbyterian ) tradition, Anglicanism , and
5760-688: The history of the Ottoman Empire . In the historiography of Japan, the Edo period from 1590 to 1868 is also sometimes referred to as the "early modern" period. The 17th century saw very little peace in Europe – major wars were fought in 95 years (every year except 1610, 1669 to 1671, and 1680 to 1682.) The wars were unusually ugly. Europe in the late 17th century, 1648 to 1700, was an age of great intellectual, scientific, artistic and cultural achievement. Historian Frederick Nussbaum says it was: "prolific in genius, in common sense, and in organizing ability. It could properly have been expected that intelligence, comprehension and high purpose would be applied to
5850-581: The honorary title poy-sáčiri-kamuy (where poy means "small") refers to least weasels. Kamaitachi is a phenomenon wherein one who is idle is suddenly injured as if his or her skin were cut by a scythe. In the past, this was thought to be "the deed of an invisible yōkai weasel". An alternate theory, asserts that kamaitachi is derived from kamae Tachi ( 構え太刀 , "stance sword") , so were not originally related to weasels at all. [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] Mammal A mammal (from Latin mamma 'breast')
5940-570: The killing of weasels. In Montagne Noire (France), Ruthenia , and the early medieval culture of the Wends , weasels were not meant to be killed. According to Daniel Defoe also, meeting a weasel is a bad omen. In English-speaking areas, weasel can be an insult, noun or verb, for someone regarded as sneaky, conniving or untrustworthy. Similarly, " weasel words " is a critical term for words or phrasing that are vague, misleading or equivocal. In Japan, weasels ( 鼬、鼬鼠 , itachi ) were seen as yōkai (causing strange occurrences). According to
6030-430: The land-owning nobles to the titular monarchs was one of the most prominent themes of the Middle Ages). Among the most notable political changes included the abolition of serfdom and the crystallization of kingdoms into nation-states. Perhaps even more significantly, with the advent of the Reformation , the notion of Christendom as a unified political entity was destroyed. Many kings and rulers used this radical shift in
6120-435: The larger Amniota clade. Early synapsids are referred to as " pelycosaurs ." The more advanced therapsids became dominant during the Guadalupian . Mammals originated from cynodonts , an advanced group of therapsids, during the Late Triassic to Early Jurassic . Mammals achieved their modern diversity in the Paleogene and Neogene periods of the Cenozoic era, after the extinction of non-avian dinosaurs , and have been
6210-618: The latter was fully absorbed by the Acts of Union 1707 . The tumultuous Caroline era was the reign of King Charles I (1625–1645), followed by his beheading by Oliver Cromwell 's regime in 1649 . The Caroline era was dominated by the growing religious, political, and social conflict between the King and his supporters, termed the Royalist party, and the Puritan opposition that evolved in response to particular aspects of Charles' rule. The colonization of North America continued apace, with new colonies in Maryland (1634), Connecticut (1635), and Rhode Island (1636). In early modern Europe,
6300-513: The means for the rapid dissemination of religious materials in the vernacular. The core motivation behind the Reformation was theological , though many other factors played a part, including the rise of nationalism , the Western Schism that eroded faith in the Papacy , the perceived corruption of the Roman Curia , the impact of humanism , and the new learning of the Renaissance that questioned much traditional thought. There were also reformation movements throughout continental Europe known as
6390-415: The mid-16th century and the rule of Philip II. There would be no Italian revolts against Spanish rule until 1647. The death of the Ottoman emperor Suleiman the Magnificent in 1566 and the naval victory over the Ottoman Empire at the Battle of Lepanto in 1571 cemented the status of Spain as a superpower in Europe and the world. The Spanish Empire comprised territories and colonies of the Spanish Monarch in
6480-632: The practice of indulgences to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg , Germany, commonly used to post notices to the University community. It was very widely publicized across Europe and caught fire. Luther began by criticizing the sale of indulgences , insisting that the Pope had no authority over purgatory and that the Catholic doctrine of the merits of the saints had no foundation in
6570-654: The precise dates used to define its beginning and end points, the early modern period is generally agreed to have comprised the Renaissance , the Reformation , the Scientific Revolution , and the Enlightenment . As such, historians have attributed a number of fundamental changes to the period, notably the increasingly rapid progress of science and technology, the secularization of politics, and
6660-716: The primary source of food for humans. This led to a major restructuring of human societies from nomadic to sedentary, with more co-operation among larger and larger groups, and ultimately the development of the first civilizations . Domesticated mammals provided, and continue to provide, power for transport and agriculture, as well as food ( meat and dairy products ), fur , and leather . Mammals are also hunted and raced for sport, kept as pets and working animals of various types, and are used as model organisms in science. Mammals have been depicted in art since Paleolithic times, and appear in literature, film, mythology, and religion. Decline in numbers and extinction of many mammals
6750-481: The related genus Neogale . Of the 16 extant species currently classified in the genus Mustela , 10 have "weasel" in their common names. Among those that do not are the three species of ermine, the polecats , the ferret , and the European mink . The American mink and the extinct sea mink were commonly included in this genus as Mustela vison and Mustela macrodon , respectively, but in 1999 they were moved to
6840-419: The rise of the new social history in the 1960s look at history from the bottom up, not from the top down. Historians began to concentrate on the values, beliefs and behavior of the people at large. She finds, "in contemporary scholarship, the Reformation was then seen as a vast cultural upheaval, a social and popular movement and textured and rich because of its diversity." "The Age of Enlightenment" refers to
6930-703: The search for what became known as a 'balance of power.' Diplomacy before 1700 was not well developed, and chances to avoid wars were too often squandered. In England, for example, King Charles II paid little attention to diplomacy, which proved disastrous. During the Dutch war of 1665–67, England had no diplomats stationed in Denmark or Sweden. When King Charles realized he needed them as allies, he sent special missions that were uninformed about local political, military, and diplomatic situations, and were ignorant of personalities and political factionalism. Ignorance produced
7020-716: The sound stops. They are also said to shapeshift like the fox ( kitsune ) or tanuki , and the nyūdō-bōzu told about in legends in the Tōhoku region and the Chūbu region are considered weasels in disguise, and they are also said to shapeshift into ōnyūdō and little monks. In the collection of depictions Gazu Hyakki Yagyō by Sekien Toriyama , they were depicted under the title 鼬, but they were read not as " itachi ", but rather as " ten ", and "ten" were considered to be weasels that have reached one hundred years of age and became yōkai that possessed supernatural powers. Another theory
7110-651: The status of the most powerful nation in Europe. Increasingly, other nations copied the French model; French became the language of diplomacy, replacing Latin. By 1700, the British and the Dutch, with small land armies, large navies, and large treasuries, used astute diplomacy to build alliances, subsidizing as needed land powers to fight on their side, or as in the case of the Hessians, hiring regiments of soldiers from mercenary princes in small countries. The balance of power
7200-403: The tax on salt ( gabelle ) and by contributions of men and service from the nobility. The key to this centralization was the replacing of personal patronage systems organized around the king and other nobles by institutional systems around the state. The creation of intendants —representatives of royal power in the provinces—did much to undermine local control by regional nobles. The same
7290-548: The therians; as fossils of all three genera are dated about 167 million years ago in the Middle Jurassic , this is a reasonable estimate for the appearance of the crown group. T. S. Kemp has provided a more traditional definition: " Synapsids that possess a dentary – squamosal jaw articulation and occlusion between upper and lower molars with a transverse component to the movement" or, equivalently in Kemp's view,
7380-620: The understanding of the world to further consolidate their sovereignty over their territories. For instance, many of the Germanic states (as well as English Reformation ) converted to Protestantism in an attempt to slip out of the grasp of the Pope. The intellectual developments of the period included the creation of the economic theory of mercantilism and the publication of enduringly influential works of political and social philosophy, such as Machiavelli 's The Prince (1513) and Thomas More 's Utopia (1515). The Protestant Reformation
7470-471: The very difficult task of reclaiming dioceses lost to Protestantism, but to build large-scale missions in overseas colonial possessions that could convert the natives by the thousands Using devoted members of society such as the Jesuits. According to Hamish Scott , the realist model assumes that "foreign policies were guided entirely by "Realpolitik," by the resulting struggle for resources and, eventually, by
7560-485: Was a reform-oriented schism from the Roman Catholic Church initiated by Martin Luther and continued by John Calvin , Huldrych Zwingli , and other early Protestant Reformers . It is typically dated from 1517, lasting until the end of the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) with the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. It was launched on 31 October 1517 by Martin Luther , who posted his 95 Theses criticizing
7650-545: Was a site of a fierce conflict, culminating in the Thirty Years' War , which left it devastated. The Reformation reshaped the Church of England decisively after 1547. The separation of the Church of England (or Anglican Church) from Rome under Henry VIII , beginning in 1529 and completed in 1537, brought England alongside this broad Reformation movement; however, religious changes in the English national church proceeded more conservatively than elsewhere in Europe. Reformers in
7740-435: Was characterized by profound changes in many realms of human endeavor. Among the most important include the development of science as a formalized practice, increasingly rapid technological progress , and the establishment of secularized civic politics, law courts and the nation state . Capitalist economies began to develop in a nascent form, first in the northern Italian republics such as Genoa and Venice as well as in
7830-466: Was directly linked to the question of royal finances and the ability to wage war. The internal conflicts and dynastic crises of the 16th and 17th centuries (the wars between Catholics and Protestants and the Habsburg 's internal family conflict) and the territorial expansion of France in the 17th century demanded great sums which needed to be raised through taxes, such as the land tax ( taille ) and
7920-520: Was originally applied to one species of the genus , the European form of the least weasel ( Mustela nivalis ). This usage is retained in British English , where the name is also extended to cover several other small species of the genus. However, in technical discourse and in American usage, the term "weasel" can refer to any member of the genus, the genus as a whole, and even to members of
8010-416: Was true of the greater reliance shown by the royal court on the "noblesse de robe" as judges and royal counselors. The creation of regional parlements had initially the same goal of facilitating the introduction of royal power into newly assimilated territories, but as the parlements gained in self-assurance, they began to be sources of disunity. This period refers to England 1558–1603. The Elizabethan Era
8100-417: Was very delicately calculated, so that winning a battle here was worth the slice of territory there, with no regard to the wishes of the inhabitants. Important peacemaking conferences at Utrecht (1713), Vienna (1738), Aix-la-Chapelle (1748) and Paris (1763) had a cheerful, cynical, game-like atmosphere in which professional diplomats cashed in victories like casino chips in exchange for territory. Since 1512,
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