Deck 8: The Expansion of Europe 950-1100

Question 1

The Viking kingdoms of Scandinavia were so successful because:

A) they continued to rely on traditional Viking networks of trade and kinship but combined them with newer models of governance.
B) their legitimacy was immediately recognized by other polities, which feared the Vikings would attack them if the kingdoms were not recognized.
C) they refused to convert to Christianity or to recognize Christian kings as legitimate.
D) like the Roman Empire, they relied heavily on a slave economy.
E) they remained isolated and uninvolved in European affairs.

Answer 1

they continued to rely on traditional Viking networks of trade and kinship but combined them with newer models of governance.

Question 2

Europe's first parliamentary democracy developed in:

A) England.
B) France.
C) Ireland.
D) Sicily.
E) Iceland.

Answer 2

Iceland.

Question 3

Although money lending was an important factor in the commercial success of Europe in this period:

A) merchants had to procure loans from Muslim bankers, as such wealth was not available in Europe.
B) the Church taught that all merchants were beyond God's favor.
C) northern medieval towns prospered instead, because of the traditional landed aristocracy.
D) the papacy refused to borrow money in the Middle Ages.
E) the Western Christian church condemned the practice as usurious.

Answer 3

the Western Christian church condemned the practice as usurious.

Question 4

Rapid urbanization in Europe during the eleventh and twelfth centuries was fostered by:

A) lords and monasteries.
B) the nobility alone.
C) only the Church.
D) kings and bishops.
E) the papacy.

Question 5

The medieval economy was based primarily on:

A) manufacturing.
B) cottage industry.
C) mining.
D) agriculture.
E) fishing.

Question 6

Many towns and cities in the High Middle Ages:

A) grew rapidly to populations of over 400,000 people by 1150.
B) grew through continuous immigration from the countryside.
C) were built of stone and were largely impervious to fire.
D) were grimly aware of crowd diseases and emphasized proper sanitation where possible.
E) were controlled by either a local noble or a monastery.

Question 7

Castles often formed the nucleus of new towns because:

A) knights were important consumers of goods.
B) castles became more important than monasteries after 1100.
C) castles provided protection for peasants and merchants who lived close to the walls.
D) lords would offer merchants who would trade at the castle a break on taxes.
E) traveling merchants often stopped at castles for trade.

Question 8

Local lords most frequently developed power bases in areas of western Europe where:

A) centralized authority was either weak or nonexistent.
B) kings founded new cities and gave them special charters.
C) bishops were effective feudal lords over the cities in their area.
D) there was a strong tradition of democracy such as Greece.
E) the Church was strong and Latin was the common language.

Question 9

Historians generally do not use the term feudalism today in part because it:

A) is too narrow a term to capture political and economic relationships in the Middle Ages.
B) was a term often used in the Middle Ages that means little today.
C) is a Marxist term that is inappropriate for use about the Middle Ages.
D) is not a real word.
E) means too many different things to be of use.

Question 10

In the period 950-1100,the West's center of gravity shifted from:

A) western and northern Europe to the Mediterranean.
B) Britain to France.
C) Scandinavia to the Mediterranean.
D) the Mediterranean to western and northern Europe.
E) western and northern Europe to eastern Europe.

Question 11

After 1050,towns replaced _______________ as the nuclei of civilization.

A) Churches
B) Castles
C) Villages
D) Manor houses
E) Monasteries

Question 12

It was more difficult for serfs to improve their economic and social status because:

A) serfs were forced to work every daylight hour of every day to produce food for their lord.
B) serfs were illiterate, and literacy was required for social and economic mobility.
C) serfs were regularly fined large amounts by their lords for very small infractions.
D) serfs were tied to their lord's manorial lands and so could not move.
E) the aristocracy violently oppressed all serfs.

Question 13

Aside from raising food yields,the movement from a two-field system to a three-field system resulted in:

A) lower yields per acre and increased labor output.
B) the use of fewer plough animals like oxen or horses.
C) higher yields per acre and a more even distribution of labor throughout the year.
D) more people being needed on each manor to work the land.
E) the introduction of irrigation systems.

Question 14

In northern Europe,increasing use of the heavy-wheeled plow between 800 and 1050 coincided with:

A) the increasing use of horses as traction animals.
B) rising alcohol consumption among the peasantry.
C) fundamental changes in patterns of peasant settlement.
D) rapidly improving road systems.
E) the first use of oxen as traction animals.

Question 15

One factor that contributed to the increase in agricultural output in the medieval period was:

A) diminished rainfall that allowed for more time to be able to work the fields.
B) a slight cooling of the average temperature that caused a shift to higher yield crops.
C) a rise in average temperature that allowed for a longer growing season.
D) increased rainfall causing a shift in crops grown that had larger yields.
E) the development of the seeder plow paired with the use of manure for fertilizer.

Question 16

During the eleventh century,the most spectacular developments in long-distance trade took place in:

A) Italy.
B) the North Sea.
C) the Rhineland.
D) Sicily.
E) England.

Question 17

The Song of Roland is useful for historians because it:

A) provides much information about the reign of Charlemagne.
B) reflects the culture of the time in which it was written down.
C) provides information about the time it started to be recited orally.
D) provides much information about how battles were fought in the ninth century.
E) reflects Charlemagne's dedication to chivalry.

Question 18

Otto I's rule of Saxony:

A) was a constitutional monarchy.
B) consolidated his rule in England.
C) was modeled on Charlemagne's rule of his empire.
D) confirmed the right of Saxon kings to rule Frankia.
E) was short-lived as the Magyars soon crushed Saxony and Franconia.

Question 19

Charters of liberty allowed towns:

A) to raise a citizen police force if necessary.
B) to build a church.
C) to collect taxes from surrounding countryside.
D) to govern themselves.
E) to place themselves under the care of a local monastery.

Question 20

A major source of mechanical power in medieval Europe after 1050 was the:

A) four-wheeled cart, which was pulled by horse or oxen.
B) watermill, which was used to grind grain, crush paper pulp, and press oil.
C) windmill, which was used primarily to process cloth.
D) steam engine, which was used to produce cloth goods.
E) open-hearth furnace, which was used to forge iron.

Question 21

Simony refers to:

A) the theft of relics.
B) fornication by priests.
C) public preaching by unqualified people.
D) belief in doctrines declared unorthodox by the Church.
E) the use of an ecclesiastical office for personal gain.

Question 22

At Canossa in the winter of 1077:

A) King Henry IV did penance before Pope Gregory VII.
B) King Henry IV captured Pope Gregory VII.
C) Pope Gregory acknowledged the military might of King Henry IV.
D) King Henry IV arrived, but Pope Gregory VII refused to see him.
E) Pope Gregory VII received Henry IV and they resolved their differences through negotiation.

Question 23

The first successful attempt to restore the spiritual authority of the Latin Church can be traced to the establishment of a new kind of monastery at:

A) Toulouse in Burgundy.
B) Lorraine in Alsace.
C) Cluny in Burgundy.
D) Tours in the Île de France.
E) Orléans in Burgundy.

Question 24

Theft of relics occurred in the Middle Ages because:

A) the Middle Ages was a particularly crime-ridden time in history.
B) many relics were fake and needed to be destroyed.
C) such thefts showed the great devotion people had toward the Church.
D) some people believed relics held evil spirits and had to be destroyed.
E) relics were extremely valuable, as pilgrims were attracted to the places that housed them.

Question 25

Which of the following was NOT a likely goal of Pope Urban II's for the First Crusade?

A) To establish peace at home by sending violent knights abroad.
B) To capture Jerusalem.
C) To reunite the Byzantine and Latin Christian churches under the command of the pope.
D) To slay Christ's enemies wherever they could be found, especially Jews and Muslims.
E) To demonstrate the power of the papacy.

Question 26

Taken literally,what did the term investiture mean to medieval Christians in the eleventh century?

A) The legal procedure associated with making a pious Christian man or woman a saint
B) Buying an ecclesiastical office with money, such as the position of bishop or cardinal
C) The practice of appointing a bishop or abbot and dressing him with the symbols of his office
D) A business investment in monastic property with the expectation of a return
E) The Church practice of giving new clergy their vestments

Question 27

In the eleventh century,the struggle for power in central Europe was,for the most part,between:

A) king and pope.
B) king and nobility.
C) nobility and bishops.
D) bishops and pope.
E) king and bishops.

Question 28

In 1071,Byzantium lost Armenia and wealthy Anatolia to the:

A) Saracen Turks.
B) Seljuq Turks.
C) Akko Turks.
D) Abbasid Turks.
E) Fatimid Turks.

Question 29

The tenth century was known for ineffective kingship throughout Europe and:

A) the momentous Investiture Conflict.
B) the beginning of the Christian Crusades against Muslims.
C) a very effective and powerful papacy.
D) local bishops who were surpassing nobles in power and authority.
E) an incompetent and largely corrupt papacy.

Question 30

When preaching the First Crusade,Pope Urban II suggested that those who fought in the service of Christ would receive:

A) sainthood.
B) a year's wages.
C) glory and acclaim from those who did not go on Crusade.
D) absolution of all their sins.
E) a medal commemorating each battle.

Question 31

When Alexius Comnenus asked for western help against the Seljuq Turks,he was hoping for a:

A) crusading army that would recapture Jerusalem.
B) large army of foot soldiers to drive the Turks from Anatolia, the Byzantine heartland.
C) force of heavily armored knights to deploy against the lightly armored Turkish cavalry.
D) group of Norman mercenaries to serve as his palace guard.
E) conquering army he could lead against the Muslims and thus unite all of Christendom.

Question 32

Central to the establishment of feudal monarchies was the:

A) personal relationship between individuals at each level of feudal society.
B) relationship of each lord to the religious authority in his territory.
C) personal relationship that developed between the monarchs of the various countries.
D) blessing given by the pope to his chosen lord in each country.
E) ability of the monarch to protect and provide for the common people in his realm.

Question 33

The importance of the Investiture Conflict was that it:

A) formally, though not in practice, separated the "church" and the "state" in European politics.
B) signaled the decline of the papacy in western Europe.
C) created a lasting conceptual distinction between religion and politics in western Europe.
D) established the cult of the Virgin Mary in medieval Christianity.
E) represented the triumph of the Church over secular authority.

Question 34

In 1059,Pope Nicholas II issued a new decree on papal elections,which gave the power to elect future popes to the:

A) people of Rome.
B) German imperial court.
C) leading abbots of Cluniac monasteries.
D) College of Cardinals.
E) monarchs of England, France, and Germany.

Question 35

William the Conqueror was politically innovative in that he:

A) claimed England in the name of the Roman papacy.
B) rewarded his Norman followers with cash payments rather than English land.
C) combined feudalism with indigenous Anglo-Saxon forms of governance.
D) negotiated an advantageous peace agreement with King Harold of England without resorting to physical violence.
E) managed to retain the English crown while becoming the heir to the French throne.

Question 36

The monastic reform movement that began at Cluny in Burgundy was unique in that Cluniac monasteries:

A) rejected the ideals of poverty, chastity, and obedience popular in other monasteries.
B) were free from control by local lords.
C) stressed political and economic independence from the pope in Rome.
D) were actively involved in the Norman Conquest of England.
E) became the leading religious institutions in eastern Europe.

Question 37

The weakness of the Byzantine Empire in the eleventh century was caused,in part,by:

A) a series of ill kings who did not reign for very long.
B) diplomatic overtures it made to the Islamic Caliphate.
C) a series of raids along the northern border of the empire.
D) a drastic reduction in trade due to closing markets in the East.
E) the debasing of the empire's gold coinage.

Question 38

The exchange of land for service or money in the Middle Ages resulted in a political system that:

A) was rigidly hierarchical.
B) created many different types of ties, both horizontal and hierarchical.
C) only created horizontal ties.
D) was controlled wholly by the king.
E) favored petty lords over lords who held a great deal of land.

Question 39

The expansion of the Byzantine Empire during the tenth and early eleventh centuries was assisted by:

A) Christian missionary activity in the Balkans.
B) Christian missionary activity among the Abbasids.
C) Muslim opposition to commerce.
D) the First Crusade, which captured Jerusalem.
E) the Fourth Crusade, which destroyed Venice.

Question 40

The term feudal comes from the Latin feudum,which refers to:

A) the land a lord controlled.
B) the work owed to a lord by the serfs bound to the land he owns.
C) a village not under the direct control of a lord.
D) a grant that creates a contractual relationship between a giver and a receiver.
E) the contractual relationship existing between a patron and an artist.

Question 41

The Ottonian emperors were the first to be able to exercise actual control in the areas they claimed to rule.

Question 42

All knights in the eleventh century came from the aristocracy.

Question 43

The most long-lasting consequence of the First Crusade was the:

A) European conquest of Jerusalem.
B) rapid development of Islamic and Christian doctrines of holy war.
C) creation of the Knights Templar.
D) foundation of field hospitals to treat wounded Crusaders.
E) fall of the Byzantine Empire.

Question 44

"Town air makes you free."

Question 45

The Crusades marked a fundamental turning point in the relationship between:

A) Byzantium and western Europe.
B) the Islamic world and the Byzantine Empire.
C) the Islamic world and western Europe.
D) western Europe and the Far East.
E) Roman Catholicism and the Orthodox Church.

Question 46

The Muslim world was far advanced over Europe in the area of medicine,as evidenced by the writings of:

A) Ibn Rushd.
B) Umar Khayyam.
C) Avicenna.
D) Ibn Abacus.
E) Umar Imam.

Question 47

Muslim physicians were leaders in developing:

A) anesthetics.
B) rigorous sterilization procedures for surgical instruments.
C) the idea of a single underlying cause for each disease.
D) a system of licensing medical practitioners.
E) the study of dermatology.

Question 48

Although it represented a monumental struggle for power at the highest levels of society,the Investiture Conflict was a largely private affair that had little impact on local political or religious relationships.

Question 49

The medieval epic,The Song of Roland,is similar to Homer's Iliad in that both were the product of a long oral tradition rather than having been composed in a written form.

Question 50

From the Islamic world come some of the best-known poetry in the world,among which is the poetry of:

A) Ibn Rushd.
B) Umar Khayyam.
C) Ibn Sina.
D) Ibn Abacus.
E) Umar Imam.

Question 51

The enormous legacy of Muslim learning for European commerce,literature,and science is most clearly seen in the:

A) adoption of Islam by many people in western Europe during the Middle Ages.
B) unwillingness of European monarchs to conquer Muslim-controlled territory in Europe.
C) presence of prayers for Muslims in most prayer books produced in medieval Europe.
D) introduction of a large number of Arabic and Persian words into European languages.
E) presence of Muslim schools and teachers all over Europe in the Middle Ages.

Question 52

The First Crusade:

A) further strengthened Byzantine commerce and trade in the east.
B) further weakened Byzantine commerce and trade in the east.
C) disrupted Byzantine trade along the Silk Road to China.
D) had little impact on Byzantine trade because the Crusaders were primarily motivated by religion, not commercial gain.
E) disrupted the trade routes between Byzantium and western Europe.

Question 53

No new political entities arose in Europe as a direct result of the Viking raids of the previous century.

Question 54

Arabic mathematics revolutionized European economies by introducing:

A) Arabic numerals, which replaced Roman numerals.
B) the concept of long division.
C) the concept of a decimal.
D) the concept of 1.
E) imaginary numbers.

Question 55

The most common reason for people to go on Crusade was a desire:

A) to fight the "infidels."
B) to make money as a mercenary.
C) to win a principality to rule.
D) for adventure.
E) to complete an armed pilgrimage to Jerusalem.

Question 56

The Crusades take their name from the symbol of the Christian religion.

Question 57

Hugh Capet claimed the title "King of the Franks" after he killed the last Carolingian king in 987.

Question 58

The agricultural revolution was the foundation on which the commercial revolution of the High Middle Ages rested.

Question 59

The European political structure in the tenth and eleventh centuries was typified by social mobility and egalitarianism.

Question 60

Beginning in the eleventh century,the Church asserted its independence from secular rulers.

Question 61

What was the impact of the Crusades on the West?

Question 62

Why did people go on crusade?

Question 63

What issues lay at the heart of the Investiture Conflict,and how were they resolved?

Question 64

How did the Mediterranean serve to unify the vastly different cultures that lived on its shores?

Question 65

What events led to the loss of Byzantium's power and ultimately to Alexius's request for help?

Question 66

What effect did Islam have on the culture and society of Christian Europe?

Question 67

What technological advances were made in the eleventh century,and how did they change Europe?

Question 68

Islamic theology and philosophy had no influence on Catholic philosophy and theology.

Question 69

How did William's rule over the newly conquered England create a new kind of monarchy?

Question 70

Of the three heirs to the Roman Empire,Europe was the most prosperous by 1000.

Question 71

What issues were central in the Cluniac reform?

Question 72

The Christian doctrine of holy war developed during the First Crusade has helped shape more modern narratives of conquest and colonization.

Question 73

What reforms did the papacy undertake in the eleventh century?

Question 74

Crusading knights needed a minimum of two years' revenues in hand to go on crusade.