Deck 16: Europe to the Early 1500s: Revival, Decline, and Renaissance

Question 1

As compared to its experience in the early Middle Ages, western Europe in the High Middle Ages was
(Global Perspective, pp. 382-383)

A) more decentralized.
B) less isolated.
C) less militaristic.
D) more religiously diverse.

Answer 1

less isolated.

Question 2

During the late Middle Ages,

A) kingship was despotic and absolute.
B) kings became more powerful than popes.
C) democracy became an important part of most European governments.
D) developing nations became polarized with little attempt to discuss problems through diplomacy.

Answer 2

kings became more powerful than popes.

Question 3

By the fifteenth century, which of the following nations had developed into a strong national monarchy with a centralized bureaucracy and a professional army?

A) France
B) Spain
C) England
D) All of these answers are correct.

Answer 3

All of these answers are correct.

Question 4

The final reconquest of Spain from the Turks took place (Map 16-1, p. 385)

A) in the eleventh century C.E.
B) in the eighth century C.E.
C) in the fifteenth century C.E.
D) in the seventeenth century C.E.

Question 5

Two major cloth-trading towns of medieval Europe were (Map 16-2, p. 388)

A) Bruges and Paris.
B) Toledo and Pisa.
C) Breslau and Hamburg.
D) Constantinople and Kiev.

Question 6

The European towns that emerged in the High Middle Ages were different from cities in the rest of the world because

A) their inhabitants thought of themselves as citizens with basic rights.
B) they were governed exclusively by artisan guilds.
C) most bureaucrats and lawyers lived in them.
D) they served important functions as market centers.

Question 7

Early European universities appeared in

A) Bologna and Paris.
B) London and Paris.
C) London and Vienna.
D) Vienna and Moscow.

Question 8

Gothic architecture displayed all of the following characteristics except (Image, p. 394)

A) stained-glass windows.
B) soaring structures.
C) much interior light.
D) rounded arches.

Question 9

The dominant family of Renaissance Florence was the

A) Savanrola.
B) Medici.
C) Habsburg.
D) Tudor.

Question 10

Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo personified the Renaissance ideal or "Renaissance man," meaning someone who

A) was not interested in religion or spiritual questions.
B) was motivated primarily by the desire for economic gain.
C) practiced and excelled in a variety of activities or crafts.
D) rejected innovation and emphasized tradition.

Question 11

The main contribution of Ivan II (also called the Great or the Terrible) to Russian state-building was

A) the end of Mongol rule and the unification of northern Russia under the control of Moscow.
B) the development of Kiev as a magnificent political and cultural center.
C) the decision to make Greek Orthodoxy the national religion.
D) the foundation of Russian universities similar to European institutions.

Question 12

What started the Hundred Years' War? What were the underlying causes of the conflict? What advantages did each side have? Why were the French finally able to remove the English presence in France almost entirely?
Conceptual

Question 13

Discuss the struggles between the political and religious rulers of Europe during the Middle Ages. What do you think was the origin of these conflicts? How were they resolved? By the end of the Middle Ages, which side do you think had the upper hand? How do you think one side achieved relative dominance over the other?
Conceptual

Question 14

Contrast some of the factors that led to the unification of France and Spain with those that prevented the unification of Italy and the Holy Roman Empire. What are the primary characteristics of the "modern state"?
Conceptual

Question 15

"The relations between Church and State during the Middle Ages were highly paradoxical. On the one hand, each institution desperately needed the other in order to exist; on the other hand, each institution by its very nature was bound to be antagonistic to the other." Comment on this statement.
Conceptual

Question 16

"The Middle Ages might best be considered a period of chaos and disunity." Do you agree with this assessment? What political, social, and economic factors contributed to instability and disunity in medieval civilization and what factors worked toward stabilizing the society?
Conceptual

Question 17

A common assumption is that creative work proceeds best in periods of calm and peace. How is it possible to explain the simultaneous political instability and cultural productivity of the Italian scene? Is the assumption a valid one?
Conceptual

Question 18

What effects did the Black Death have on European society in the short term? In the long term? Some
historians have argued that the Black Death was actually a positive occurrence for Europe. Do you agree or disagree with this assessment?
Conceptual

Question 19

What was the Renaissance a rebirth of? What does this rebirth suggest about attitudes toward the Middle Ages? Why do you think that people tried to recreate older civilizations instead of creating a new one? How successful do you think they were at recreating the ancient world?
Conceptual

Question 20

What were the primary motivations for the Crusades? Why did the church support them? Why did so many Europeans enlist to fight in them? How would you evaluate their overall success? What do you think were the primary long-term effects of the Crusades?
Conceptual

Question 21

Describe the major changes to European society in the late Middle Ages. What do you think were the primary forces that compelled these changes? Which groups benefited from these changes and which did not?
Conceptual

Question 22

What important developments and new ideas marked the transition from the early Middle Ages to the High Middle Ages?
Conceptual

Question 23

What issues led to the attempt to reform and centralize the church starting in the eleventh century? How did political struggles between the church and state impact the development of a strong papacy?
Conceptual

Question 24

What were some of the major intellectual trends in the Cathedral schools and the universities of the High Middle Ages? With what issues were scholars like Peter Abelard concerned? What impact did Scholasticism have on medieval culture?
Conceptual

Question 25

Who were the humanists and what did they focus on? How did their interests and their scholarly approaches differ from those of the scholastics?
Conceptual