Deck 6: The Making of Western Europe

Question 1

The Rule of St.Benedict is

A)a manual of converting pagans to Christianity.
B)Roman-papal law.
C)the codification of Roman law in Lombardy (Italy).
D)a description of the ascetic practices of hermits.
E)a guide to monastic life.

Answer 1

a guide to monastic life.

Question 2

The Council of Whitby in 663 determined that

A)all Christians in Gaul must practice Arian rather than Roman Christianity.
B)the Visigoths would give up all territory in Gaul after their defeat by Clovis.
C)all monasteries would follow the Rule of St.Benedict.
D)Arianism was a heretical belief.
E)Roman rather than Irish Christianity would be practiced in England.

Answer 2

Roman rather than Irish Christianity would be practiced in England.

Question 3

The Doctrine of Petrine Succession requires that

A)all Byzantine emperors submit to the Patriarch of Constantinople in religious matters.
B)the Latin Roman Church and the Greek Orthodox Church remain separate.
C)German kings practice partible inheritance.
D)the Apostle Peter was endowed by Jesus Christ with supreme responsibility of the Roman Church and that the pope was the successor to Peter.
E)the Bishop of Rome be only "one bishop among all bishops."

Answer 3

the Apostle Peter was endowed by Jesus Christ with supreme responsibility of the Roman Church and that the pope was the successor to Peter.

Question 4

Which one of the following was NOT a technological achievement of the Early Middle Ages?

A)three-field system
B)horse collar
C)heavy plow
D)light plow
E)horseshoe

Question 5

Many of the Germanic tribes entered the Roman Empire because

A)of pressure put on them by the westward migration of the Huns.
B)of conversion to Roman Christianity.
C)of defeat and enslavement by Roman armies.
D)of Viking invasions.
E)expansion of the Byzantine Empire forced them to migrate.

Question 6

Why did Constantine move the capital of the Empire from Rome to New Rome (Constantinople)?

A)the Visigothic invasion of Italy
B)the fact that the Patriarch of Constantinople had much higher prestige than the Bishop of Rome
C)the wealth and larger population of the region
D)because of attacks by Attila the Hun
E)his conversion to Arian Christianity

Question 7

The Visigothic defeat of the Byzantine army at Adrianople in 378 demonstrated the superiority of

A)Germanic military strategy.
B)siege warfare over infantry.
C)mounted warriors over infantry.
D)infantry over cavalry.
E)armies composed of the aristocracy over those of peasants.

Question 8

Which of the following Germanic tribes became known as chief defender of the Western Church?

A)Visigoths
B)Ostrogoths
C)Franks
D)Burgundians
E)Vandals

Question 9

What dynamic best describes the "fall" of the Roman Empire to the Germanic tribes?

A)invasion, settlement, and intermarriage between 200-400 A.D.
B)migration/invasion, conquest, settlement, and intermarriage over several centuries beginning around 300 A.D.
C)invasion and conquest in the sixth century
D)defeat of the Roman army by the Frankish army of Clovis in 406 A.D.
E)Justinian the Great's conquest of Rome, Italy, and Spain

Question 10

Much of what we know of early German society derives from which of the following authors?

A)Bede the Venerable
B)Isidore of Seville
C)Clovis
D)Tacitus
E)Justinian the Great

Question 11

Hagia Sophia (Holy Wisdom) refers to

A)classical and early Christian learning preserved in monasteries.
B)the writings of early Christian scholars, particularly Isidore of Seville, Bede the Venerable, and Pope Gregory the Great.
C)a large church in Constantinople.
D)the Greek translation of Scripture.
E)the Rule of St.Benedict.

Question 12

The group of kings responsible for weakening the kingdom of Clovis are known as

A)the Carolingian dynasty of Gaul.
B)the British kings in England, who were conquered by the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes.
C)Reccared and the Visigoths in Spain.
D)the Later Merovingians.
E)the late-Roman emperors.

Question 13

Which characteristic best describes the Germanic tribes?

A)They all spoke the same language, the predecessor to modern German.
B)They all originated in the area of modern Germany.
C)Their egalitarian social structure.
D)They belonged to the same linguistic group.
E)Uniform culture and religious beliefs.

Question 14

The Franks eventually became rulers of

A)Frisia.
B)Byzantium.
C)Italy.
D)Iberia.
E)northern Gaul.

Question 15

Which one of the following was NOT a reason for the emergence of the single-family peasant farm as the basic unit of agricultural production in the Early Middle Ages?

A)The mounted soldier made warfare expensive, so many warriors became full-time farmers.
B)The declining birthrate made it necessary for entire families to work in agricultural production.
C)Horses made it easier, although more expensive, for farmers to support themselves.
D)It was more economically feasible for landowners to rent their land to farmers.
E)Villa owners could no longer purchase slaves.

Question 16

What is the most enduring accomplishment of the reign of Justinian the Great?

A)the separation of the Latin Christian Church from the Greek Orthodox Church
B)the unification of Gaul
C)the restoration of the Roman Empire
D)the systematic codification of Roman law
E)the emergence of the papacy

Question 17

The Germanic tribes

A)took a pessimistic religious view.
B)believed that spirits inhabited natural settings.
C)used spells to influence spirits.
D)believed in gods that inhabited the sky and were interested in humans.
E)All these answers are correct.

Question 18

The Frankish king Clovis

A)unified the region of Gaul.
B)failed to unify the region of Gaul.
C)founded the Carolingian dynasty.
D)refused to convert to Christianity.
E)prohibited the custom of partible inheritance.

Question 19

Many of the German tribes practiced what religion before converting to Roman Christianity?

A)Arian Christianity
B)Catholic Christianity
C)Eastern (or Orthodox) Christianity
D)Nestorianism
E)Monophysite Christianity

Question 20

Greeks and Romans called all foreigners "barbarians" because

A)they were not Christian.
B)they did not live in cities.
C)they did not reside in the Greek or Roman empires.
D)of their unintelligible languages and strange customs.
E)of their pagan religious beliefs.

Question 21

How do the details and figures found in the Chi-Rho letters of the Book of Kells reflect the fusion of Christian themes with the nature and animal motifs of Hibernian-Anglo-Saxon art?

Question 22

Why would an ascetic lifestyle be attractive during the Early Middle Ages?

Question 23

Discuss how the lives of peasants were transformed during the Early Middle Ages.

Question 24

How does the mosaic of Justinian found in this chapter illustrate the connection between the secular and the religious in the Byzantine Empire?

Question 25

Review the "Tacitus on the Early Germans" feature in this chapter.Tacitus never observed Germanic society directly, but instead gathered his information from discussions with German soldiers and travelers.How might his methodology have influenced his understanding of early Germanic society?

Question 26

What contributions to medieval society did the religious orders make during this period? How did monks and nuns contribute to the spread of Christianity?

Question 27

Gregory I provides an excellent example of

A)Germanic kingship.
B)the difficulties encountered by the Frankish custom of partible inheritance.
C)a successful missionary among pagans.
D)the growth of papal primacy in the West.
E)the decline of the Roman Empire in the West.

Question 28

Compare the roles of women in Germanic and Roman society.

Question 29

Review the "Tacitus on the Early Germans" feature in this chapter.How does the structure of Germanic society explain the wergeld? Why do you think the Germanic tribes placed so much importance on public ritual in the exercise of law and in the punishment of criminals?

Question 30

Was Justinian an innovative and effective or overly ambitious and disastrous ruler?

Question 31

What roles did the Church play in the restructuring of the Germanic kingdoms?

Question 32

Review the feature entitled "Sidonius Apollinaris on Living with Germans" in this chapter.In this letter, what is the evidence of Sidonius's classical education and heritage? And how does he appraise his friend's knowledge of German?

Question 33

Why would a Germanic king, for example Clovis, desire the support of the Church in the consolidation of his kingdom?

Question 34

Review the feature entitled "Sidonius Apollinaris on Living with Germans" in this chapter.Sidonius Apollinaris was a Roman patrician.How would his status influence his perception of the barbarians and their culture?

Question 35

What do the illustrations of peasant life depicted in this chapter suggest about medieval agricultural practices?

Question 36

Explain the origins of the papacy.How did it ascend to primacy?

Question 37

How did the Early Middle Ages, and by implication the entire medieval period as well as Western civilization, represent a fusion of Christian, Roman, and Germanic cultures? What did each contribute to this new civilization?

Question 38

Using map 6.1, explain how the invasions of the Germanic tribes were prompted by other invaders.

Question 39

Monasteries in the Early Middle Ages

A)served as centers of learning.
B)played a major role in local politics and government.
C)set an example of innovative agricultural practices.
D)supplied much of the food for kings' armies and administrations.
E)All these answers are correct.

Question 40

Explain the difficulty Christian writers had with classical writers and education as they developed Christian theology and attempted to improve literacy.

Question 41

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: Clovis.

Question 42

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: three-field system.

Question 43

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: Charles Martel.

Question 44

Review the feature entitled "The Rule of St.Benedict on the Clothing of Monks" in this chapter.Why do you think St.Benedict's text was eventually adopted as the standard monastic rule throughout Western Europe by the end of the Early Middle Ages?

Question 45

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: St.Patrick.

Question 46

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: Benedictine missionaries.

Question 47

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: St.Benedict.

Question 48

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: Visigoths.

Question 49

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: Justinian the Great.

Question 50

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: Tacitus.

Question 51

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: comitatus.

Question 52

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: Theodoric.

Question 53

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: Council of Whitby.

Question 54

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: Pepin the Short.

Question 55

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: Gregory the Great.

Question 56

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: Wergeld.

Question 57

Review the feature entitled "The Rule of St.Benedict on the Clothing of Monks" in this chapter.How does St.Benedict include the vows of poverty and obedience in his advice? How does he define poverty? How does it contribute to the ascetic life?

Question 58

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: Attila the Hun.

Question 59

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: scriptoria.

Question 60

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: Boethius.

Question 61

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: Merovingians.

Question 62

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: Hagia Sophia.

Question 63

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: Constantinople.

Question 64

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: Bede the Venerable.

Question 65

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: Ulfila.

Question 66

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: Theodora.

Question 67

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: Ravenna.

Question 68

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: Cassiodorus.

Question 69

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: Corpus Iuris Civilis.

Question 70

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: monasticism.

Question 71

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: Doctrine of Petrine Succession.