Deck 5: Synthesis: the Rise of the West

Question 1

The landmark event known as the Battle of Hastings is famously recorded in

A) Beowulf.
B) The Song of Roland.
C) the Bayeux Tapestry.
D) the Song of the Nibelungs.

Answer 1

A

Question 2

It may be said of early medieval Western books that they were

A) transcribed and decorated by hand.
B) prepared for and by monks and clerics rather than laypeople.
C) made from vellum or parchment and often other costly materials.
D) All these answers are correct.

Answer 2

D

Question 3

Games of combat imitating medieval warfare were called

A) investitures.
B) latifundia.
C) jousts.
D) trysts.

Answer 3

C

Question 4

The landmark literature of the Germanic tribes took the form of

A) comedic plays.
B) troubadour poetry.
C) epics.
D) All these answers are correct.

Question 5

Medieval feudalism in Europe

A) was modeled on that of Japan.
B) involved the exchange of land for military service.
C) lasted only through the reign of Charlemagne.
D) All these answers are correct.

Question 6

Which of the following statements about twelfth-century troubadours is FALSE?

A) They accompanied their singing with the playing of a lute.
B) They were usually of lowly birth.
C) Their art was influenced by Arabic traditions.
D) Their songs often focused on passionate affection and physical pleasure.

Question 7

The interlace designs of the Book of Kells are most similar to the patterns

A) on stone artifacts from Greco-Roman graves.
B) in paintings in Germanic temples.
C) on metalwork artifacts from Germanic graves.
D) in Buddhist religious texts.

Question 8

Among the most numerous and impressive landmarks of the Carolingian renaissance were

A) illuminated manuscripts in more legible script.
B) stone sculptures.
C) enduring political systems.
D) improvements on Roman engineering.

Question 9

The tradition of courtly love

A) shaped modern concepts of gender.
B) reveals that medieval females were considered the equals of males.
C) originated at the court of Charlemagne.
D) All these answers are correct.

Question 10

The Bayeux Tapestry recorded which historical event?

A) The coronation of Charlemagne
B) The Fourth Crusade
C) The ambush at the "Gate of Spain"
D) The Norman conquest of England

Question 11

The medieval serf was

A) an unfree rural laborer.
B) the vassal of a wealthy lord.
C) a member of the fighting class.
D) All these answers are correct.

Question 12

The first novel in world history was written by

A) Charlemagne.
B) the countess of Dia.
C) Murasaki Shikibu.
D) Chrétien de Troyes.

Question 13

The intellectual elite of Tang and Song China were deeply influenced by

A) the Carolingian renaissance.
B) Japanese traditional culture.
C) Confucian traditions.
D) military imperialism.

Question 14

The Christian Crusades

A) begin as an effort to rescue Jerusalem from the Muslims.
B) were commonly fought by the younger sons of the feudal nobility.
C) were an economic boon to Italian merchants.
D) All these answers are correct.

Question 15

The Carolingian renaissance depended greatly on

A) civil servants.
B) the Crusades.
C) Benedictine monasteries.
D) troubadours.

Question 16

An important center of learning in Charlemagne's time was the palace-school at

A) Lindisfarne.
B) Aachen.
C) Novgorod.
D) Hastings.

Question 17

The primary subject of a chanson de geste was

A) heroic deeds.
B) the pleasures of rural life.
C) the social happenings of an aristocratic court.
D) illicit romance.

Question 18

Medieval music-drama originated with the

A) expansion of troubadour poetry.
B) embellishment of the Mass.
C) study of Greek tragedy.
D) use of musical instruments.

Question 19

Japanese samurai abided by a warrior code known as

A) bushido.
B) Heian.
C) Genji.
D) Daoism.

Question 20

The Battle of Adrianople was a landmark event that

A) opened the door to the Germanic invasion of the West.
B) replaced the Roman emperor with a Germanic one.
C) kept the Germanic tribes out of the West.
D) created a lasting alliance between Roman and Germanic peoples.

Question 21

What were the principal landmarks of the emerging West between ca. 500 and 1100
C.E.? Which are the most memorable?

Question 22

Which of the following was NOT among the landmarks of Tang and Song China?

A) The perfection of porcelain
B) Excellence in landscape painting
C) The creation of a simplified Chinese writing system
D) The use of gunpowder

Question 23

In what ways did feudalism inspire the production of landmarks in the arts?

Question 24

The Tang and Song eras were a Golden Age of

A) maritime expansion.
B) the reformation and simplification of Chinese characters.
C) landscape painting.
D) All these answers are correct.

Question 25

What were the "ingredients" of the early medieval synthesis? How did they come to define the character of the West?