Major rivers like the Po, Adige, Ebro, and Rhine were
still prime routes for travel and trade, but were becoming
unpopular because of frequent tolls, marked by chains
stretched across the river. Canals existed but were used
mainly for local drainage or irrigation, and their useful-
ness for transportation was limited; not only was upkeep
on them very expensive, but until the invention of the
lock to raise and lower boats they could only run over
level areas. Although such devices possibly existed in the
Netherlands in the 14th century, there is an early docu-
mented instance of a lock in 1438–39 in northern Italy,
and one of LEONARDO DA VINCI’s engineering feats was to
construct six locks linking the canals of Milan.
Travel by land was slow; at best a traveler covered 60
miles in 24 hours. A third of that distance was more nor-
mal. Speediest of all were the professional courier services
which were developed where more settled conditions al-
lowed, mainly from the mid-15th century. These relied on
regular changes of horse at establishments set up for the
purpose (“post houses”). Such a service was beyond the
means of most individuals and was the prerogative of gov-
ernments or wealthy trading companies. Most travellers
were pedestrians, sometimes with pack animals. Some
roads were improved by paving, especially near big cities,
and with adequate hostelries and policing roads could be
tolerably pleasant, but most were muddy tracks, full of
potholes and vulnerable to brigands. Vehicles were im-
proved by movable front axles in the late 15th century and
the first coaches appeared in the late 16th century.
See also: TRAVEL
Further reading: Margaret Wade Labarge, Medieval
Travellers (London: Hamish Hamilton, 1982; New York:
W. W. Norton, 1983); Antoni Maçzak, Travels in Early
Modern Europe, transl. Ursula Phillips (Cambridge, U.K.:
Polity Press and Cambridge, Mass: Blackwell, 1995).
Complutensian Polyglot (1522) A six-volume Spanish
edition of the Bible that made the text available for the
first time in parallel columns of Greek, Latin, and Hebrew.
Begun in 1502, it was edited and financed by Cardinal
Francisco XIMÉNES DE CISNEROS, who was Queen Isabella’s
confessor and the founder of the university of Alcalá
(Latin name: Complutum), the town after which this Bible
is known. The Complutensian Polyglot is an outstanding
early example of humanist scholarship employed in the
service of religious reform within the Catholic Church.
Compromise of Breda See BREDA, COMPROMISE OF
Comuneros, Revolt of the (1520–21) The rebellion of
the Spanish nobility and commoners against their
Flemish-born king, Charles I (Emperor CHARLES V). On
his first visit to Spain (1517), the new king enraged the
nobles by his partiality for his Flemish advisers, upset the
commoners by making heavy financial demands, and
united the two parties against him by his manifest inten-
tion of ruling Spain as an absentee while pursuing his Eu-
ropean ambitions. Open disaffection broke out in 1520,
and for a time Charles’s position seemed seriously threat-
ened. The king however managed to win round part of the
malcontent aristocracy, certain towns, notably Seville, re-
mained loyal, and after a defeat was inflicted on the rebels
at Villalar in April 1521, the revolt collapsed, leaving
Charles with enhanced power and prestige.conceptismo See GÓNGORA Y ARGOTE, LUIS DE; QUEVEDO Y
VILLEGAS, FRANCISCO GÓMEZ DE.concetto (Italian, literally, “concept” or “idea”) From the
17th century a term also having the specialized meaning
“literary conceit,” essentially an elaborate and striking
metaphor drawing a parallel between two very unlike
objects, qualities, or experiences. Two types are usually
distinguished: the Petrarchan conceit, as employed by PE-
TRARCHin his love poems, by his imitators (for example,
the French and Elizabethan sonneteers), and by TASSO;
and the metaphysical conceit, especially associated with
the verse of John Donne and the English Metaphysical
poets. The Petrarchan figure typically compares the be-
loved’s beauty (or the lover’s emotions) to very dissimilar
concrete objects, often with hyperbolic exaggeration. In
many of Petrarch’s imitators, this amounts to nothing
more than the trite and conventional love imagery which
SHAKESPEAREdeflates in his sonnet beginning “My mis-
tress’ eyes are nothing like the sun.”Concord, Book of (1580) The publication comprising
the Lutheran statement of doctrine known as the Formula
of CONCORD, the three ecumenical creeds, Luther’s two
catechisms, the Confession of AUGSBURG, the Apology for
the Confession of Augsburg, and the SCHMALKALDIC ARTI-
CLES. The book was accepted by 86 rulers, princes, and
imperial cities, but rejected by many others, including the
king of Denmark who threw his copy into the fire. It was
first published in German at Dresden, and a Latin edition
appeared in 1584.Concord, Formula of (March 1577) A formulation of
Lutheran faith. Its original inspiration lay in a series of ar-
ticles by Jakob Andreae (1528–90) that had resulted in the
Swabian-Saxon Formula of Concord (1575) and the Tor-
gau Book (1576). The Formula of Concord clarified the
Lutheran position concerning doctrines associated with
MELANCHTHONand CALVINby rejecting the former’s doc-
trine of the Eucharist and the Calvinist doctrine of double
PREDESTINATION. It proved to be only a partial settlement
of Lutheran debates since many Lutherans, especially
those outside Germany, rejected its conclusions, including
the king of Denmark and several important cities. For this11114 4 CCoommpplluutteennssiiaann PPoollyygglloott