Deck 8: The Heirs of Rome: Islam, Byzantium, and Europe, 600-750

Question 1

How did Islam, a monotheistic religion like Christianity and Judaism, differ from its predecessors?

Answer 1

Answer would ideally include the following. Unlike Christianity, Islam had neither priests nor sacraments, though it eventually came to have clerics who provided interpretations of the Qur'an and hadith literature. Islam required a set of formal obligations that differed from those of its predecessors. Its adherents were to uphold the Five Pillars of the Faith, the five essential practices of Islam: prayer at least three (later five) times a day, the profession of faith, the fast of Ramadan, giving alms to the poor, and the pilgrimage to Mecca. Muslims prayed in the direction of Mecca, not Jerusalem.

Question 2

What changes did Muhammad make after he realized that the Jews were not accepting Islam?

Answer 2

Answer would ideally include the following. When Muhammad realized, with disappointment, that the Jews were not converting, he took punitive action and made changes to Islamic practices. He expelled two Jewish tribes from Medina and killed all the males of a third tribe. He altered the direction that Muslims faced during prayers from Jerusalem, the center of Jewish worship, to Mecca. He also made Islam more distinct by instituting the zakat, the fast of Ramadan, the hajj, and the salat.

Question 3

What impact did war between the Sasanid Empire of Persia and the Byzantine Empire have on those empires' later experiences with Arab Muslims?

Answer 3

Answer would ideally include the following. Both empires were weakened by their conflicts with each other, making them vulnerable to attack by Muslim Arabs. The constant warfare had diminished the wealth and energy of the region's inhabitants, many of whom welcomed subsequent Muslim invaders into the area.

Question 4

What was the Byzantine emperor's role in the church? How did this contribute to Leo III's decision to adopt iconoclasm in the ninth century?

Question 5

Why had cities declined so much in size and importance by the seventh century in western Europe?

Question 6

Who was St. Martin? How does he typify the unofficial origins and roles of saints?

Question 7

What role did Jews play in the Merovingian world?

Question 8

What was the main function of aristocratic Merovingian marriage? What marriage customs did the Merovingian elite employ?

Question 9

In which ways could aristocratic women exercise power in Merovingian society?

Question 10

How did the reforms of Pope Gregory the Great in the late sixth century lay the foundations for the papacy's later spiritual and temporal ascendancy?

Question 11

Why did Islam expand in the course of the seventh and eighth centuries at a pace far more rapid than that of Christianity in its first two centuries? Where did Islam make its conquests?

Question 12

What is the Qur'an and what is its significance? According to the Qur'an, what is the fundamental unit of Muslim society? Who was responsible for establishing the Five Pillars of Islam? Explain the broader purpose of those pillars, and list four of the five pillars discussed in the text.

Question 13

In the seventh and eighth centuries, war was a constant concern for Byzantine emperors, and it transformed their society. Explain what Byzantine rulers did to strengthen and reorganize society for war and defense. Assess the effect these measures had on Byzantine culture and society and the empire's relationship with western Europe.

Question 14

Explain the role that religion and the church played in the lives of seventh-century western European nobles and kings.

Question 15

Describe how the Roman church won over its Irish rival in England and its Arian rival in Spain. Which was the greater triumph for the Roman church?

Question 16

When did Islam emerge as a religion?

A) Before the birth of Jesus Christ
B) Around the same time as Christianity
C) In the early seventh century
D) During the fifth century

Question 17

What does the term Islam mean?

A) Belief in one God
B) Members of the faith
C) Submission to God
D) Prophet of God

Question 18

Why did Mecca have religious importance even before the rise of Islam?

A) The Ka'ba shrine had been a sacred site of pilgrimage for generations.
B) Two of Jesus's apostles had founded a church there during their travels.
C) It was believed to be the birthplace of Abraham.
D) Zarathustra had retired to Mecca and died there.

Question 19

Muhammad perceived Allah as

A) the true God who had been rejected by Jews and Christians.
B) the same God worshipped by Jews and Christians.
C) the author of the Qur'an.
D) the exclusive god of the Arabs.

Question 20

Muhammad understood himself to be

A) the son of God, like Jesus.
B) the last and final prophet.
C) a spiritual teacher and an enlightened figure, like the Buddha.
D) a scholar of religion.

Question 21

The holy book of Islam is called the Qur'an, meaning "recitation," because

A) Muhammad recited the words given to him by the archangel Gabriel.
B) Muhammad recited the text to his brother, who recorded it.
C) women were allowed to recite the words but were prohibited from learning to read them.
D) the text was compiled from dreams in which Muhammad heard the suras recited aloud.

Question 22

What does the term ummah refer to?

A) Islamic clerics
B) The community of believers
C) Pagans and polytheists
D) Muhammad's night-journey to heaven

Question 23

What was the Hijra?

A) A tax levied on nonbelievers living in an Islamic state
B) The chief religious official of Islam
C) Muhammad's journey from Mecca to Medina
D) The religious court that decided cases of alleged blasphemy

Question 24

What prompted the Hijra?

A) Muhammad's hopes that the Christian inhabitants of Mecca would embrace his message
B) An assassination attempt on Muhammad plotted by Meccan leaders
C) The harassment of Muslims in Mecca
D) A shortage of food and water in Mecca

Question 25

In what way did Muhammad's position in Medina become a model for Islamic governance?

A) Muhammad's political position in the community made Medina's political and religious institutions inseparable.
B) Muhammad established the tradition of doctrinal disputes being settled by a supreme leader, later referred to as the imam.
C) Muhammad resolved all conflict via diplomacy and debate and never through war.
D) Muhammad discouraged Muslims from having any contact with nonbelievers due to fears of spiritual contamination.

Question 26

What is the literal translation of the term jihad?

A) Striving in the way of God
B) Worship of one God
C) Faith in God
D) Intolerance of other faiths

Question 27

Which of the following statements about Islam's expansion is justified by this map?
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A) From the time of Muhammad through the Umayyad dynasty, Islam expanded.
B) The faith expanded to a greater territorial extent under Muhammad than under the Caliphs.
C) Islam never penetrated into Europe or into Africa and remained primarily an Arabian religion.
D) The expansion of Islam was carried out entirely peacefully.

Question 28

Why did Muhammad change his attitude toward the Jews?

A) They refused to pay the zakat.
B) They refused to recognize him as a prophet and convert to Islam.
C) They refused to take part in the battle of Badr.
D) They refused to resettle in either Mecca or Medina.

Question 29

The term caliph refers to

A) the community of believers.
B) Muhammad's triumphant return to Mecca.
C) Muhammad's successors as religious and spiritual leaders of Islam.
D) the Shi'ite rulers who oversaw the caliphate in Baghdad.

Question 30

What facilitated the rapid spread of Islam in the seventh and eighth centuries?

A) The exhaustion of the Byzantine Empire after Pyrrhic victories over the Ostrogoths and Vandals
B) The capitulation of Jewish and Christian leaders
C) Direct military assistance from the Sasanid state
D) The unification of previously fractious and divided Arab tribes

Question 31

What caused the split between Shi'ite and Sunni Muslims?

A) Bitter disagreements over who was to succeed Muhammad as the leader of the new Islamic state
B) Unyielding opposition to the policy of conquering neighboring territories by force
C) Disagreements over whether to treat Christians and Jews in the same manner as pagan polytheists
D) The support that leading Sunni caliphs gave to the arts and literature

Question 32

Why did many Christians in the Middle East welcome the new Islamic overlords?

A) They welcomed the more tolerant Islamic rule after the persecution waged by Byzantine rulers.
B) They appreciated the fact that the Islamic rulers were also monotheists.
C) The Islamic rulers were far less violent than the Vandal and Ostrogoth chieftains had been.
D) They welcomed the opportunity to convert the invading Muslims to Christianity.

Question 33

The Dome of the Rock, a holy Muslim mosque, is located in

A) Mecca.
B) Medina.
C) Jerusalem.
D) Badr.

Question 34

What did hadith literature consist of?

A) Pious narratives about Muhammad
B) Poetry about courage, piety, and even erotic love
C) Arab translations of ancient Greek philosophical and mathematical texts
D) The suras of the Qur'an

Question 35

Why did the Byzantine Empire, an empire based in the east, see itself as the continuation of the old Roman Empire?

A) It retained most of the territories held by the Roman Empire well into the ninth century.
B) It still relied on Latin as its primary language.
C) It maintained Roman laws and systems of taxation.
D) The two empires shared the same capital, Rome.

Question 36

Between 630 and 730, the Byzantine Empire

A) revived the urban lifestyle of the Roman Empire.
B) lost much of its territory to invading armies.
C) recognized the bishop of Rome as the leader of all Christendom.
D) ordered all official documents to be written in Latin instead of Greek.

Question 37

Which of the following statements is justified by the map shown here?
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A) The Sasanid Empire assumed control of the lands formerly occupied by the Muslims.
B) The western Roman Empire had largely disintegrated as a result of barbarian invasions.
C) The Byzantine Empire assumed all lands formerly controlled by the western Roman Empire.
D) The Bulgarian Khanate was a threat to the Sasanids by c. 700.

Question 38

As social life shifted away from decaying urban centers to small rural communities in the seventh and eighth centuries, emperors began to place greater emphasis on

A) slavery, because they needed more slaves to till the fields.
B) religious ceremony; they minted special silver coins that were given to infants at their baptism.
C) family life; they restricted divorce and increased the punishment for adultery.
D) military information; they developed a vast spy network and improved mail delivery from remote outposts.

Question 39

In the seventh century, the Byzantine Empire was divided into military units, each of which was commanded by a general called the

A) strategos.
B) coloni.
C) metropolitan.
D) ctesiphon.

Question 40

Which of the following statements regarding Christian bishops is true?

A) Bishops performed the secular (nonreligious) role of state administrators in their cities.
B) Bishops never engaged in military campaigns, having taken vows of pacifism.
C) The most senior bishops in the western empire were called patriarchs.
D) The bishops exercised absolute control over the monks in the monasteries.

Question 41

Metropolitans were

A) bishops appointed by the patriarchs to preside over entire provinces.
B) Byzantine officials who collected taxes in urban areas.
C) churchmen designated to act as intermediaries between Christian factions.
D) clergymen of the Nestorian Christians in Sasanid-occupied Mesopotamia.

Question 42

Why did sentiment grow against the use of icons in the Byzantine Empire in the eighth century?

A) Icons were used disproportionately by the upper classes, which had become notably corrupt.
B) The use of icons reminded the Byzantines of the religious practices of their enemies, including the Lombards and the Arabs.
C) The use of icons was expressly forbidden in the New Testament.
D) Icons violated prohibitions on the worship of graven images.

Question 43

Who ordered the destruction of all icons after the eighth-century defeat of the Arabs besieging Constantinople?

A) Leo III the Isaurian
B) Gregory of Tours
C) Pippin III
D) Heraclius

Question 44

Which of the following regions was part of the Merovingian kingdoms in the seventh century?
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A) England
B) Burgundy
C) Kingdom of the Visigoths
D) Kingdom of the Lombards

Question 45

What was one major departure from Roman life in Merovingian lands during the sixth and seventh centuries?

A) Slaves were used extensively, even on peasant-owned farms.
B) The Merovingian elites used Greek as their formal language.
C) Cities and trade had decayed drastically.
D) The spread of cereal cultivation replaced the Romans' enormous cattle herds.

Question 46

During the medieval period, Christians showed special religious devotion to

A) Merovingian queens.
B) angels.
C) rural shrines.
D) relics of saints.

Question 47

What does this map of the Merovingian city of Tours c. 600 tell us about religious life of the region?
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A) The bishop preferred to live in the countryside, away from the people.
B) Pilgrims and others expanded the city beyond its fortified walls within three hundred years.
C) Care of the dead's remains was the purview of the state, not the church.
D) The palace of the bishop was a significant pilgrimage center by 600.

Question 48

Between the sixth and tenth centuries, Jews in western Europe were

A) segregated in cities and rarely lived in rural areas.
B) heavily involved in trade and commerce.
C) forced to become traders and pawnbrokers.
D) forbidden to own land or slaves.

Question 49

Aristocratic marriage during the Merovingian period was

A) sometimes relatively informal when wealthy men arranged to support their concubines.
B) formal and ceremonial and always involved the blessing of the church.
C) relatively unimportant because children born out of wedlock could inherit property.
D) expensive for the bride's father, who supplied a dowry of land and livestock.

Question 50

How was it that many bishops were married even though church councils demanded that the clergy be celibate?

A) Rules that applied to the general clergy did not apply to bishops.
B) Bishops were usually appointed late in life, after they had raised a family.
C) Bishops refused to obey the pope or church councils.
D) Exceptions were made for clerics who married before the ruling.

Question 51

Aristocratic Merovingian women

A) were not allowed to participate in religious activities.
B) were not under a husband's authority, unlike Roman women.
C) were often allowed to inherit property.
D) were highly independent and usually insisted on arranging their own marriages.

Question 52

Which of the following factors allowed Merovingian kings to increase their power?

A) Alliances with aristocrats and churchmen
B) The support of local merchants who, in turn, paid taxes
C) The hereditary power to appoint the popes
D) The conquest of Muslim regions in Spain

Question 53

Which mayoral family displaced the Merovingian dynasty and established a new royal line?

A) The Byzantines
B) The Carolingians
C) The Austrasians
D) The Sasanids

Question 54

Following a number of Celtic and Anglo-Saxon invasions, England

A) became largely pagan.
B) became Christian wherever Anglo-Saxons ruled.
C) was gradually Christianized, as the conquerors intermarried with the British elite.
D) allied with Celtic tribes on the continent.

Question 55

Roman Christianity's organization was based on bishops' and archbishops' control of territorial units called

A) oblations.
B) psalms.
C) monks.
D) dioceses.

Question 56

The conflict over Christian orthodoxy that raged in England during the early seventh century was fought between the Roman Catholic church and

A) the Greek Orthodox church.
B) independent Christian groups averse to following the dictates of Rome.
C) Anglican bishops who were opposed to Roman Catholicism's emphasis on ritual.
D) the Irish church.

Question 57

A major conflict between Irish and Roman Christianity was how to calculate the date of

A) Christmas.
B) Easter.
C) Pentecost.
D) Epiphany.

Question 58

Before their conversion to Christianity the Anglo-Saxons and Irish Celts had relied more on oral than written culture. During the seventh century, the use of the Anglo-Saxon language was

A) suppressed by Archbishop Theodore (r. 669-690).
B) limited because it was rarely written.
C) encouraged by Bede (673-735).
D) forbidden by Augustine, archbishop of Canterbury.

Question 59

The monk and historian Bede (673-735), a student of Benedict Biscop, taught

A) many royal advisers.
B) his own students to read Greek.
C) Irish missionaries to convert pagans in Germany.
D) history to students in monastery schools.

Question 60

How did Boniface (680-754), who established churches in Germany and Gaul, demonstrate his loyalty to the church in Rome?

A) By publicly proclaiming his support at meetings of the clergy in England
B) By changing his name from the Anglo-Saxon Wynfrith to the Latin Boniface
C) By insisting that German converts declare loyalty to Rome at their baptism
D) By wearing a monastic habit favored by the Roman church

Question 61

Which of the following accurately describes Spain and Italy with regard to ecclesiastical authority?

A) Bishops in Spain supported their kings, whereas in Italy the papacy was forever at odds with neighboring monarchs.
B) The Spanish bishops opposed their king, whom they blamed for the Muslim invasion, whereas the pope supported the Lombard king as a bulwark against Byzantine influence.
C) The Spanish were more receptive than the Italians to the teachings of the Catholic church and its emphasis on asceticism.
D) The papacy was characterized by a highly organized hierarchy, whereas the Spanish church was merely a loose collection of parishes.

Question 62

Which kingdom in Spain was defeated in 711 by invading Arab armies?

A) The Lombards
B) The Visigoths
C) The Burgundians
D) The Arians

Question 63

Which pope of the late sixth and early seventh centuries is credited with having greatly expanded the political and religious powers of the papacy?

A) Benedict
B) Boniface
C) Leo III
D) Gregory the Great

Question 64

Why did relations between Rome and the Byzantine Empire deteriorate so markedly in the late seventh and early eighth centuries?

A) Constantinople was outraged by Roman support for the Merovingian kings.
B) The Roman pontiffs believed that the Byzantine emperors had not done enough to stem the invasions of the Arabs.
C) Doctrinal issues, including the thorny question of icons, began to divide eastern and western churches.
D) The Byzantine emperor had asserted his right to appoint and dismiss bishops and cardinals.

Question 65

According to this map, which of the following can be said about Islam by about 750?
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A) The Islamic world was significantly threatened by Christianity in Europe.
B) The Islamic world was in steep decline due to conquering by the Byzantine Empire.
C) The Islamic world dwarfed Europe and the Byzantine Empire in size and influence.
D) The Islamic world failed to influence any regions north of the continent of Africa.