Deck 9: The Recovery and Growth of European Society in the High Middle Ages

Question 1

Marriages among the aristocracy of the High Middle Ages were

A) more frequently motivated by the love brides and grooms felt for one another.
B) still included violent blood rituals of betrothal dating back to pagan times.
C) usually occurred when both bride and groom were in their teens.
D) were expected to establish political alliances between families and increase their wealth.
E) required to be always performed by archbishops and popes.

Answer 1

were expected to establish political alliances between families and increase their wealth.

Question 2

The area that assumed a leading role in the revival of trade in the Early Middle Ages was

A) England.
B) Spain.
C) Germany.
D) France.
E) Italy.

Answer 2

Italy.

Question 3

The main part of the medieval castle was called the

A) motte.
B) bailey.
C) moat.
D) tower.
E) keep.

Answer 3

keep.

Question 4

The center of the North Sea/Baltic trade route in northern Europe in the 1100s and 1200s, and an important center of woolen cloth production, was

A) Stockholm.
B) Novgorod.
C) Edinburgh.
D) Hamburg.
E) Flanders.

Question 5

By the twelfth century, divorce among nobles was

A) not possible except through official recognition that a marriage had never been valid.
B) increasingly common.
C) accepted and approved by the church.
D) not possible, even by annulment, as marriage was now a church sacrament.
E) possible only through a dispensation granted exclusively by kings.

Question 6

The dramatic increases in European population between 1000 and 1300

A) occurred despite detrimental climatic patterns.
B) especially benefited women of child-bearing age.
C) were the result of better urban planning.
D) led to populations with many more women than men due to constant warfare.
E) were primarily due to an increased birth rate outstripping high medieval mortality rates.

Question 7

The village church

A) was very harsh in its condemnation of pagan practices.
B) competed with pagan religions for converts.
C) was led by local priests who were often barely literate.
D) outlawed economic pursuits on its grounds.
E) was always built upon the site of a pagan worship center.

Question 8

The basic staple of the peasant diet was

A) potatoes.
B) rice.
C) pork.
D) beef.
E) bread.

Question 9

One consequence of the new agriculture of the Early Middle Ages was

A) the destruction of the forests.
B) the contamination of the water supply.
C) increased dependence of serfs on their lords.
D) increased famine.
E) polluted water systems.

Question 10

The "agricultural revolution" of the High Middle Ages

A) caused little change in the forested areas of Europe.
B) was in part brought about by a change from the two-field to the three-field system.
C) led to the demise of the cooperative agricultural villages.
D) was in large part due to the development of the aratum, an iron ploughshare.
E) was the result of corn imported from the New World.

Question 11

The knightly code of ethics known as chivalry included all of the following requirements except

A) knights were to fight to defend the church.
B) knights were to protect the weak and defenseless.
C) knights were to love the poor.
D) winning glory should be the knight's highest aim and motivating force.
E) knights should fight for their overlords.

Question 12

The high number of fights and accidents described in medieval court records may plausibly be attributed to

A) the violence of lords.
B) the high consumption of alcohol.
C) generally poor diet and nutrition.
D) fears of witchcraft.
E) religious heresy.

Question 13

Which of the following was not used as a source of power by medieval farmers?

A) horses
B) coal
C) water
D) windmills
E) oxen

Question 14

In northern European countries, the most common drink of the medieval peasant was

A) ale.
B) beer.
C) wine.
D) cider.
E) milk.

Question 15

In which of the following places was significant landmass "reclaimed" from the sea?

A) Ireland.
B) Genoa.
C) Netherlands.
D) Spain.
E) Russia.

Question 16

In medieval thought, women were considered

A) equal to men in most things, but still inferior in some.
B) by nature subservient and lesser beings than men.
C) an equal partner of men in theory, but not in practice.
D) totally evil and in need of discipline.
E) superior to men, because the Virgin Mary gave birth to Jesus as God.

Question 17

Male nobles of the High Middle Ages

A) were almost solely preoccupied with warfare.
B) gradually became more involved in economic pursuits.
C) had previously been successful merchants.
D) were very effeminate and shunned the warlike ways of their predecessors.
E) became less committed to war because of the influence of the church.

Question 18

Combative tournaments involving knights

A) were sanctioned by the church as a testing ground for religious faith.
B) consisted of the "melee" in which knights with a grudge fought to the death.
C) were considered excellent and necessary training for warfare.
D) were banned by 1100.
E) were popular only in England but not on the continent.

Question 19

The carruca was

A) a new type of blast furnace.
B) a Spanish dance involving four partners.
C) a heavy-wheeled, iron-tipped plow.
D) a harness for draft animals without collars.
E) a slender blade.

Question 20

Which of the following allowed for a more diversified and intelligent use of farmland?

A) The two-field system.
B) The iron-tipped plow.
C) Serfdom.
D) Riparian water rights.
E) The three-field system.

Question 21

Artisan guilds were organizations of

A) businesses trying to keep prices high.
B) citizens trying to defend their political rights.
C) workers trying to improve their wages.
D) consumers trying to assure free competition.
E) nobles trying to keep a tight reign on society.

Question 22

The growing independence of medieval urban areas was largely attributable to the

A) refusal of lords and kings to grant liberties to the townspeople.
B) granting of self-government to the townspeople by bishops, especially in cathedral cities.
C) huge populations of High Medieval cities.
D) revival of commerce.
E) increase of manorialism.

Question 23

A major cause of pollution in medieval cities was

A) the smell and waste of animals and humans.
B) spills of oil, a common fuel of the era.
C) the production of iron in urban smelters.
D) the use of lead paint in private and public buildings.
E) the lack of any sanitation facilities.

Question 24

The renaissance of the twelfth century was primarily caused by

A) the university movement of the previous century.
B) circulation in the west in Latin translation of many ancient philosophical and scientific works previously saved by Muslim scholars.
C) the elaborate and dialectical writings of St. Thomas Aquinas.
D) the generous financial support of scholars by new European monarchs.
E) renewed contacts with the Byzantine Empire after centuries of separation.

Question 25

The first university to be founded in Europe appeared in

A) Cambridge.
B) Paris.
C) Oxford.
D) Frankfurt.
E) Bologna.

Question 26

The primary preoccupation of scholasticism was

A) to prove the superiority of Christianity over Islam and Judaism.
B) to prove the superiority of faith over rational thought.
C) to disprove the writings of the church fathers through rational thought.
D) to show the superiority of Greek thought over medieval theological thought.
E) the reconciliation of faith with reason.

Question 27

The medieval theological debate between the scholastic realists and nominalists

A) was finally resolved by Thomas Aquinas.
B) centered around the problem of universals and the nature of reality.
C) was a philosophical issue that only lasted as long as the thirteenth century.
D) had little to do with earlier traditions of Greek thought.
E) was ended by papal decree.

Question 28

Students in medieval universities

A) came strictly from the upper class.
B) usually started their instruction while in their late twenties.
C) often engaged in quarrels with one another and in confrontations with townspeople.
D) were both male and female.
E) learned in the vernacular.

Question 29

On the whole, medieval cities tended to be

A) huge, rivaling modern cities in population.
B) relatively undemocratic; the wealthy usually ruled and voted in civic elections.
C) totally dominated by rural nobles.
D) devoid of sophisticated internal systems of government.
E) under the control of democratic communes.

Question 30

Peter Abelard's most famous work was

A) the Confessions.
B) Yes and No.
C) Summa Theologica.
D) consumers trying to assure free competition.
E) Song of Roland.

Question 31

To protect their interests against nobles, townspeople often formed

A) militias.
B) trade unions.
C) chambers of commerce.
D) municipal police forces.
E) communes.

Question 32

The first medical school was established in

A) Padua, Italy.
B) Vatican City.
C) Salerno, Italy.
D) Geneva, Switzerland.
E) Moscow.

Question 33

Drinking water in the cities of the Middle Ages usually came from

A) mountain streams, piped in by aqueducts.
B) rivers.
C) evaporation mats and holding tanks.
D) rainwater.
E) wells.

Question 34

The most important six-times-a-year trade fair during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries was sponsored by the counts of

A) Languedoc.
B) Provence.
C) Gascony.
D) Champagne.
E) Flanders.

Question 35

Concerning the curriculum of the medieval university

A) students studied the trivium and quadrivium.
B) it allowed for a wide degree of student choice.
C) it was determined by the professors of the universities.
D) it was based on the classics of Rome.
E) it was based upon the Bible and the writings of the church fathers.

Question 36

The first university in northern Europe was

A) Paris.
B) Oxford
C) Cambridge.
D) Heidelberg.
E) Bruges.

Question 37

Merchant cities in northern Europe, frequently ending in "-burg" or "-borough", grew up in the 1100s around

A) clearings deep in the forests.
B) national universities.
C) the castles of noblemen.
D) abandoned monasteries.
E) large rivers.

Question 38

A major motive contributing to the revolutionary political behavior of European townspeople was

A) their early embrace of religious heresy.
B) their constant need to ally themselves with more heavily armed aristocrats.
C) their great need for unfettered mobility to conduct trade efficiently.
D) their unwillingness to pay lay and clerical lords for privileges of self-government.
E) the Black Death.

Question 39

The revival of Classical Antiquity in Europe was spurred after 1150 by the recovery of many of the lost works of

A) Boethius.
B) Plato.
C) Ptolemy.
D) Cicero.
E) Aristotle.

Question 40

Medieval cities

A) were generally clean and covered a large area.
B) had low population densities.
C) had skylines dominated by the towers of churches, castles, and town halls.
D) had low standards of hygiene due to the absence of public or private baths.
E) usually experienced low death rates.

Question 41

Gothic cathedrals seem to soar upward as light and airy constructions due to all of the following innovations except

A) ribbed vaults.
B) flying buttresses.
C) thin walls pierced by huge stained glass windows.
D) the wide use of classical columns on Greek models.
E) pointed arches.

Question 42

Representative of the enforced subordination and assumed inferiority of women in the Middle Ages was Eleanor of Aquitaine, born into the aristocracy but who was forced to spend her entire adult life in a rural nunnery.

Question 43

The Song of Roland is one of the finest examples of

A) the medieval chanson de geste.
B) twelfth-century courtly romance.
C) the Arthurian legend.
D) Latin religious verse.
E) troubadour epic.

Question 44

In northern Europe, the center of trade and manufacturing in the Middle Ages was Flanders, famous for its production of high-quality woolen cloth.

Question 45

The first fully Gothic church was the abbey church of Saint-Denis outside of Paris, under the leadership of Abbot Suger in the mid-twelfth century.

Question 46

The Gothic style of architecture emerged and was perfected in

A) England.
B) the Netherlands.
C) Spain.
D) Sweden.
E) France.

Question 47

The word "vernacular" means

A) church language.
B) myth.
C) ribald song.
D) local language.
E) Latin.

Question 48

Much of the surplus resources of medieval urban society went into

A) the salaries of more numerous royal officials.
B) the purchase of modern weaponry by kings for expanded royal armies.
C) the construction of castles and churches reflecting its basic preoccupations, warfare and God.
D) new church taxes going directly to the pope in Rome.
E) revolutionizing agricultural production patterns.

Question 49

Troubadour poetry was chiefly concerned with

A) religious imagery.
B) the courtly love of nobles, knights, and ladies.
C) the highly irreverent life of wine, women, and song.
D) rhyme and a meter based on accent.
E) religious crusades and military conquests.

Question 50

The church figure who tried to reconcile faith with reason in his Summa Theologica was

A) Peter Abelard.
B) Saint Augustine.
C) Boethius.
D) Thomas Aquinas
E) Peter Lombard.

Question 51

Because of the revival of cities and trade, by the thirteenth century Medieval Europe was largely an urban society.

Question 52

By the thirteenth century, the increased agricultural production reduced the price of food in spite of increased urban demand.

Question 53

Because of the depredations caused by Justinian's reconquest of Italy and the later assaults of the Arabic Muslims, urban life in the Mediterranean almost completely disappeared, unlike in northern Europe, where cities and trade readily survived the Dark Ages.

Question 54

Peter Abelard was castrated because of his book Sic et Non.

Question 55

Which of the following statements does not apply to the revival of Roman law?

A) It was short-lived as the orderliness of Roman law no longer appealed to Europeans.
B) It sparked creation of an elaborate, systematic compilation by Italian jurists of all previous legal commentaries known as "the ordinary gloss."
C) It contributed to the decline of older, more barbaric forms of conflict resolution.
D) It changed how professors in law school taught their subject.
E) It replaced the old system of the ordeal by a rational process based upon the collection and analysis of evidence.

Question 56

The dominant style of the church architecture in the eleventh and twelfth centuries was

A) Gothic.
B) Baroque.
C) Romanesque.
D) Naturalistic.
E) Graeco-Roman.

Question 57

The windmill and the watermill were the most important methods for the harnessing of power before the invention of the coal-driven steam engine of the eighteenth century.

Question 58

The revival of trade led to a decline of cities.

Question 59

Which of the following was not a characteristic of Romanesque architecture?

A) churches in this style were built in rectangular shape
B) massive pillars and walls were required for support
C) interiors were designed to be as bright as possible
D) heavy barrel vaults with rounded stone roofs replaced flat wooden roofs
E) few windows.

Question 60

Between 1100 and 1300, the population of Europe trebled.