Deck 8: The Heirs to the Roman Empire: Byzantium and the West in the Early Middle Ages

Question 1

In his most famous work,John of Damascus argued against

A)the application of dialectic reasoning to religious belief.
B)Aristotle's influence on Christian theology.
C)iconoclasm.
D)the oppression of women.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Which emperor ignited the Iconoclastic Controversy in 726?

A)Constantine V
B)Leo III
C)Basil II
D)Heraclius

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Compared with the Roman Empire,European governments from 600 to 1000 in both the East and West

A)lost all traces of earlier Roman institutions.
B)became increasingly centralized and unified.
C)provided more services,which required more employees.
D)depended more on the personal relationships between rulers and aristocrats.

Answer 3

D

Question 4

Which king of Saxony was crowned emperor in Rome in 962?

A)Charlemagne
B)Otto I
C)Alfred
D)Hugh Capet

Question 5

On Christmas Day,800,Leo III made which man emperor?

A)Pippin III
B)Otto the Great
C)Charlemagne
D)Hugh Capet

Question 6

Charlemagne's palace complex was

A)located at Aachen.
B)built over the course of almost twenty years.
C)spectacular in appearance,but it was not a model for other early medieval Western churches.
D)All these answers are correct.

Question 7

The development of Carolingian minuscule was an important advance in the field of

A)writing.
B)weaponry.
C)architecture.
D)agriculture.

Question 8

Byzantine soldiers were paid through the theme system,which consisted of

A)the right to sell captured enemies into slavery.
B)grants of land in specific zones.
C)precious metals pillaged from conquered territories.
D)payments from the Byzantine emperor's personal purse.

Question 9

Which seventh-century emperor won brilliant victories over the Persians but lost North Africa,Palestine,and Syria to the Arabs?

A)Leo III
B)Basil II
C)Heraclius
D)Justinian

Question 10

A student trained in the seven liberal arts would have learned about all of the following subjects EXCEPT

A)astronomy.
B)geometry.
C)chemistry.
D)arithmetic.

Question 11

Who became the first Carolingian king of the Franks in 751?

A)Pippin III
B)Charlemagne
C)Charles Martel
D)Otto the Great

Question 12

Who convoked a Council at Nicaea in 787 which restored the veneration of icons?

A)Leo III
B)Irene
C)Heraclius
D)Constantine V

Question 13

Clovis was the most important member of which influential Frankish dynasty?

A)the Carolingians
B)the Merovingians
C)the Ottonians
D)the Capetians

Question 14

The seven liberal arts taught at Carolingian schools included the acquisition of basic grammatical skills in which language?

A)Greek
B)German
C)Latin
D)French

Question 15

The Papal States emerged in the mid-eighth century following the defeat of which people?

A)Arabs
B)Seljuk Turks
C)Visigoths
D)Lombards

Question 16

Who was the greatest Neoplatonist in the Byzantine literary tradition?

A)John of Damascus
B)John Moschus
C)Photius
D)Maximus the Confessor

Question 17

Which of the following statements about Charlemagne is true?

A)He was one of the most accomplished writers of his age.
B)Despite his piety,he sired a dozen illegitimate children.
C)He insisted on calling himself emperor,despite the pope's reluctance to recognize him as such.
D)His religious devotion was purely emotional,and he had no interest in or capacity for the niceties of theological disputes.

Question 18

In 733,Charles Martel defeated a Muslim raiding party in a battle fought near

A)Anjou.
B)Rome.
C)Kent.
D)Poitiers.

Question 19

For over a century the family of Charles Martel dominated which office that served as a sort of "prime minister" to the Frankish court?

A)Patriarch
B)Missi Dominici
C)Mayor of the Palace
D)Capitulary

Question 20

What was the subject matter of The Spiritual Meadow by John Moschus?

A)the split between the Eastern and Western churches
B)the conquest of Byzantine lands by Arab invaders
C)the lives of famous eastern ascetics
D)the evil of worshipping religious icons

Question 21

The accomplishments of Theodulf of Orléans included all of the following EXCEPT

A)designing the chapel at Germigny-des-Prés.
B)composing the finest poetry of his age.
C)applying mathematical perspective to painted art.
D)writing learned treatises about a variety of theological subjects.

Question 22

Who wrote the Alexiad?

A)Anna Comnena
B)Irene
C)Maximus the Confessor
D)Photius

Question 23

The earliest vernacular writings were composed in

A)regions such as Greece and Asia Minor,which remained under the government of the Byzantine Empire.
B)regions such as France and Germany,which retained a significant degree of Roman cultural influence after the fall of Rome.
C)regions such as Wales and Ireland,which lay outside the bounds of the former Roman Empire.
D)the Italian peninsula,where authors attempted to restore the glory of Rome through their literature.

Question 24

Anna Comnena's most famous work can be described as

A)a personal memoir of life at the Byzantine court.
B)a scholarly study of a particular reign of a Byzantine emperor.
C)an account of the wars against the Muslims.
D)the best summation of the Iconoclastic Controversy.

Question 25

The final conquest of Byzantium was in 1453 by the

A)European crusaders.
B)Seljuk Turks.
C)Ottoman Turks.
D)Bulgarians.

Question 26

The most significant military innovations in the early medieval West were related to

A)mounted infantry.
B)sailing vessels.
C)artillery.
D)metal armor.

Question 27

The principles of Benedict's Rule included all of the following EXCEPT

A)obedience.
B)solitude.
C)stability.
D)conversion.

Question 28

Alcuin accomplished all of the following EXCEPT

A)educating Charlemagne's daughters as well as his sons.
B)writing elementary texts.
C)teaching Charlemagne how to write.
D)training two dozen students who founded schools of their own.

Question 29

What significant Byzantine architectural innovation allowed round domes to be placed atop straight walls?

A)columns
B)vaults
C)pendentives
D)arches

Question 30

All of the following statements about Hrotsvitha are true EXCEPT that

A)she wrote six surviving plays.
B)she is the only laywoman from her period whose writings are known.
C)she is considered Germany's first female poet.
D)she celebrated the virtues of female ascetics and martyrs.

Question 31

According to the philosopher John Scottus Eriugena,

A)God was completely distinct from the world he had created.
B)the natural world that could be perceived by the senses had been created by the Devil.
C)nature could be divided into four categories,one of which was equivalent to Platonic forms.
D)nothing in nature could exist unless it took a physical form,so God and the soul must both have a material existence,and ideas had no independent existence.

Question 32

Which of the following statements about Bede is LEAST accurate?

A)He helped to popularize the use of AD dating
B)His writing was poor because he lived in a place where Latin was not spoken.
C)He developed a reference system that anticipated modern footnotes.
D)Along with biblical commentaries,he wrote a history of the development of Christianity in England.

Question 33

Which influential bishop of Seville attempted to write an encyclopedia arranged around the origins and meanings of words?

A)Isidore
B)Alcuin
C)Benedict
D)Theodulf

Question 34

In elucidating Charlemagne's response to the Second Council of Nicaea,Theodulf of Orléans wrote that

A)a picture of Jesus was as holy as Jesus' own body and self,and must be worshipped accordingly.
B)any attempt to depict God,Jesus,or the saints was a blasphemous attempt to mimic God's own creative powers.
C)it was legitimate to possess sacred art for commemoration or decoration,and it was heretical to worship or to destroy such art.
D)religious icons had no inherent religious worth and so could be ignored or destroyed.

Question 35

One of the main features of the West after the collapse of Rome was its

A)centralized government from Paris.
B)economy based on international trade.
C)witnessing of the collapse of the early Christian church.
D)primarily agricultural economy.

Question 36

Which church commissioned by Justinian was profoundly influential,due both to its sheer size and for being the ideal example of a dome placed on a square or elongated nave?

A)San Vitale in Ravenna
B)Hagia Sophia in Constantinople
C)Sant' Apollinare in Classe
D)Dafni near Athens

Question 37

What is the most important contribution of Photius's Library?

A)It provides an intimate glimpse of the inner workings of the Byzantine court.
B)It contains the only surviving extracts from a number of ancient works.
C)It offers important ethnographic information about the peoples living in lands conquered by the Byzantines.
D)It is one of the first known works of history by a woman.

Question 38

Which tenth-century emperor wrote the two treatises On Ceremonies and On the Administration of the Empire?

A)Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus
B)Maurice
C)Alexius I Comnenus
D)Otto I

Question 39

The works of the female author Dhuoda are significant primarily because

A)of the stunning originality of her philosophical ideas.
B)they provide evidence that she was highly educated.
C)they provide the only first-hand account of life in a ninth-century convent.
D)she was one of the first women to argue publicly that women were the equals of men in all things.

Question 40

The Institutes by Cassiodorus can be best described as

A)a list of the best commentaries on religious and secular matters.
B)an account of the conversion of the English kings to Christianity.
C)a list of maxims designed to instruct kings on how to govern in a manner compatible with Christian dogma.
D)a withering attack on the practice of worshipping religious icons.

Question 41

Compare the literary works of early medieval Byzantine to those of the early medieval West.What concerns did they share? In what ways were they different?

Question 42

What were the major characteristics of the Carolingian Renaissance? Was it a real rebirth of learning or a heroic interlude between two dark periods?

Question 43

Did Charlemagne deserve the title of emperor? In what ways was his kingdom an heir to the Roman Empire,and in what ways did it depart from its predecessor?

Question 44

"Neumes" were a significant advance in the field of

A)agriculture.
B)music.
C)military technology.
D)architecture.

Question 45

How did the subject matter of vernacular literature differ from contemporary Latin and Greek literatures? Can vernacular works be assumed to have had more appeal to the average reader? Why or why not?

Question 46

In the Consolation of Philosophy,Boethius

A)argued that everything always turns out for the best.
B)probed the question of why fortune seems so fickle.
C)denounced Christianity.
D)rejected intellectual inquiry as a way to the truth.
Essay Questions

Question 47

Why did Charlemagne's kingdom disintegrate shortly after his death? How had he managed to hold it together for as long as he had?

Question 48

In Byzantine art,a hodegetria depicts

A)Mary and Joseph in an intimate setting.
B)Mary portrayed as if presenting Jesus to the viewer.
C)Jesus alone upon the cross.
D)Jesus surrounded by all of his apostles.

Question 49

The Godescalc Evangelistary is an example of

A)an illuminated manuscript.
B)a basilican church.
C)a Gregorian chant.
D)Irish metalwork.

Question 50

Who preserved more of the legacy of the Roman Empire,the Byzantines or the Franks?

Question 51

Compare the Byzantine Empire to the kingdom of the Franks.Which of the two polities was strongest at the beginning of the early Middle Ages? Which was strongest as the early Middle Ages came to a close?

Question 52

What role did the Orthodox religion play in Byzantine society and culture? Compare and contrast Orthodox religion with the Roman Catholic faith.

Question 53

The Byzantine churches of Hagia Sophia and San Vitale differed from the churches of Rome and the catholic West primarily in that these Byzantine churches

A)incorporated large sections of stained glass windows.
B)innovated the westwork for ceremonial and practical purposes.
C)remained faithful to the basilican architectural form.
D)added an element of verticality that distinguished them from the horizontality of Roman and Western churches.

Question 54

Compare architectural trends in the East and the West during the early Middle Ages.How did architectural developments in the two regions differ,and in what ways were they similar?

Question 55

What do innovations in military technology suggest about warfare in the early medieval West? How did warfare there seem to differ from warfare in the East?