Deck 8: European Civilization in the Early Middle Ages, 750-1000

Question 1

The expansion of the Carolingian Empire under Charlemagne

A) was carried out with the largest army in history up to its time.
B) was most successful against the German tribes to the east.
C) resulted in the quick destruction of the Saxons.
D) resulted in the capture of all of Europe except for Italy.
E) succeeded in capturing most of Spain from the Moors.

Answer 1

was most successful against the German tribes to the east.

Question 2

The missi dominici were officials that Charlemagne used to

A) administer the palace school at Aachen.
B) review the liturgy for errors.
C) check on his counts.
D) kill prisoners of war not deemed fit for redemption.
E) serve him wine.

Answer 2

check on his counts.

Question 3

In the Middle Ages, monastic hospitality to travelers was

A) forbidden because monks were to be secluded from any contact with the outside world.
B) offered occasionally, but only with royal permission.
C) offered occasionally, but only with the permission of the abbot.
D) offered to men but not to women, as the latter were potentially too sexually threatening to the celibate monks.
E) a sacred duty.

Answer 3

a sacred duty.

Question 4

The percentage of European land cultivated in the Early Middle Ages is estimated at

A) less than 10 percent.
B) slightly more than 20 percent.
C) 35 percent.
D) 50 percent.
E) just higher than 75 percent.

Question 5

Regarding sexuality, the Catholic Church in the Early Middle Ages

A) could not enforce clerical celibacy.
B) continued the Roman Empire's condemnation of homosexuality.
C) accepted sex for the purpose of pleasure within marriage only.
D) viewed coitus interruptus as the only legitimate birth control method.
E) discouraged marriage because it weakened the spiritual practices of Christians.

Question 6

The staple food in the Carolingian diet was

A) bread.
B) mutton.
C) beef.
D) pork.
E) vegetables.

Question 7

Charlemagne's Carolingian Renaissance was characterized by

A) outstanding creativity and original thought.
B) illuminated manuscripts done in Merovingian cursive script.
C) the works of Alcuin, who rejected all classical educational ideals.
D) a preference for Greek over German.
E) new copies of classical literary works produced in Benedictine monastic scriptoria.

Question 8

In the early Middle Ages, Germanic tribes newly converted to Christianity still held pagan beliefs such as

A) nymphs inhabited rivers and ponds.
B) trees were sacred beings and could not be cut down.
C) the flight of birds could predict the future.
D) mirrors could "steal" the souls of their owners.
E) it was unlucky to pray.

Question 9

The Treaty of Verdun in 843

A) established peace with the Spanish caliphate.
B) divided the Carolingian empire.
C) reunited the Catholic and Orthodox churches.
D) created the Papal States.
E) ceded land to a party of Vikings.

Question 10

In the Early Middle Ages, the cultivation of new land was hard because

A) the forests of Europe were so thick.
B) climatic changes, including colder temperatures, shortened growing seasons.
C) crude tools of the era made land clearing arduous.
D) all the above
E) a and c

Question 11

Who wrote The Life of Charlemagneꟷwritten between 817 and 830?

A) Notker the Stammerer.
B) Charles Martel.
C) Einhard.
D) Charlemagne.
E) Seutonius the Pius.

Question 12

Which of the following was a similarity between medicine in the Early Middle Ages and medicine in earlier pagan times?

A) Both relied heavily on primitive surgery.
B) In both periods, magical rites, charms, and amulets were used.
C) Anesthesia was unknown in both eras.
D) Medical training was unknown in both periods.
E) All medical treatises, few as they were, were written in the vernacular.

Question 13

The coronation of Charlemagne in 800 as emperor of the Romans

A) was performed by Pope Zacharias I.
B) was defended by the Donation of Constantine.
C) symbolized the fusion of Roman, Germanic, and Christian cultures.
D) greatly pleased the new emperor who had long coveted this office.
E) was approved beforehand by the Byzantine Emperor.

Question 14

The Carolingian monks

A) were known for the production of scriptoria, a type of paper.
B) through their copying of manuscripts the works of Latin classical authors were preserved.
C) were best known for their hospitality to travelers.
D) were known for their educational innovations.
E) fought in the armies of Charlemagne and his successors.

Question 15

Initially, the greatest effect of the church on Frankish marriage

A) was to make it one of the sacraments.
B) was to limit sexual license.
C) emphasized the indissolubility of marriage.
D) prohibited the marriage of priests.
E) encouraged warriors, but not peasants, to have multiple wives.

Question 16

Socially and culturally, the church's advocacy of indissoluble marriage resulted in

A) more bachelors who never married.
B) the development of the nuclear family at the expense of the extended family.
C) a great proportion of widows in communities.
D) the birth of fewer children in medieval times.
E) an rapid increase in Europe's population.

Question 17

Charlemagne's most disappointing military campaign came against the

A) Basques.
B) Avars.
C) Saxons.
D) Lombards.
E) Ostrogoths.

Question 18

The first Frankish king to be anointed in holy ceremony by an agent of the pope was

A) Zacharias.
B) Charlemagne.
C) Charles Martel.
D) Pepin.
E) Louis the Pious.

Question 19

The Carolingian scholar Alcuin is best noted for

A) helping to lay the foundation for medieval education.
B) his influential views on the "indissoluble nature" of marriage.
C) his emphasis on Frankish languages over classical Latin.
D) preaching against the lazy monastic orders.
E) his opposition to celibacy.

Question 20

Carolingian society was marked by all of the following except

A) the use of bleeding to cure illness.
B) a total disinterest in bodily cleanliness.
C) different patterns of consumption of foodstuffs among rich and poor.
D) the vices of gluttony and drunkenness.
E) considerable violence.

Question 21

In 987, the Western Frankish nobility met and elected ____ as their king, contributing to the formation of a new dynasty to rule France for centuries.

A) Louis the Pious
B) Hugh of Orleans
C) Hugh Capet
D) Charles of Navarre
E) Philip of Valois

Question 22

In feudal Europe, a vassal was a man who

A) was in the Church as a monk, priest, or bishop.
B) farmed his own land and lived his own life.
C) served another as a warrior.
D) wandered the roads begging for his bread.
E) had been banned from a territory for life.

Question 23

The economic structure of the Early Middle Ages

A) saw feudalism replace manorialism.
B) saw nearly the entire free peasant class become serfs.
C) was underdeveloped and predominantly agricultural.
D) witnessed the complete disintegration of trade.
E) had silver coins replace gold coinage.

Question 24

The Slavs

A) were originally a single people in central Europe.
B) adopted Roman Catholicism as their sole religion.
C) were completely absorbed by the Bulgars in the ninth century.
D) became bitter enemies of western European rulers for their rigid opposition to Christianity.
E) all eventually became Russians.

Question 25

Manorialism

A) marked an end to the fief-holding system of the Early Middle Ages.
B) was an economic system based upon landed estates.
C) brought about a rejuvenated increase in European slavery.
D) devastated the social mobility of the lowest classes in European society.
E) ended with the Viking invasions.

Question 26

The Magyars

A) helped end Muslim expansion in northern Spain.
B) were originally from western Asia.
C) won their most successful victory at the battle of Lechfeld against German troops.
D) were wiped out as a people in the tenth century for their rejection of Christianity.
E) became Muslims.

Question 27

The most successful Muslim raids in the ninth century occurred in

A) northern Italy.
B) the western Frankish territories.
C) Sicily.
D) central Europe.
E) the Isle de France.

Question 28

Under feudalism of the Early Middle Ages

A) the major obligation of a vassal to his lord was to provide military service.
B) a vassal was not required to provide legal assistance at his lord's court.
C) a lord has no formal responsibilities toward his vassals.
D) there was no outlet for the breaking of the bond between lord and vassal.
E) serfdom came to an end.

Question 29

The division of Europe into three kingdoms after the death of Louis the Pious led to

A) the capture of the eastern German lands by Muslim forces.
B) an incessant struggle between Louis the German, Charles the Bald, and their heirs over disputed territories.
C) two centuries of relative calm.
D) the eventual emergence of Lothair as the ruler of a united Europe.
E) political control by the papacy.

Question 30

In feudal Europe, a serf was a man who

A) farmed his own land and lived his own life.
B) wandered the roads begging for his bread.
C) begged for bread outside a castle's gates.
D) served another as a knight.
E) was bound to the land as a farmer.

Question 31

By the early eleventh century, the Byzantine Empire

A) was under the control of the western emperor.
B) had been conquered by the Abbasids.
C) was in terminal decline.
D) had achieved a new brilliance of power and influence under the Macedonians.
E) had finally adopted Catholic Christianity and accepted the leadership of the pope.

Question 32

Among Otto I's more successful actions that clearly benefited the kingship of Germany was

A) his creation and effective government of a new "Roman Empire" with the aid of the eastern Slavs.
B) refusing to employ high church officials as royal administrators.
C) defeat of the Magyars at the battle of Lechfeld in 955 and Christianization of eastern Europe.
D) his conversion to Orthodox Christianity.
E) all the above

Question 33

The English king who helped establish a unified Anglo-Saxon monarchy by defeating the Danish army was

A) Hugh Capet.
B) Alfred the Great.
C) King Edgar.
D) Conrad of Franconia.
E) Edward the Confessor.

Question 34

The Swedish Vikings tended to concentrate on conquests and trade in

A) Spain
B) Russia
C) Scotland
D) France
E) Ireland

Question 35

In feudal Europe, a manor was

A) a wheeled plow used to turn heavy clay soils.
B) a light chain mail vest, worn over a hauberk.
C) a traditional way of cultivating relationships between ruler and ruled.
D) an agricultural estate owned by a lord and worked by peasants.
E) a polite way of treating a man of low birth.

Question 36

In Western Europe, the chief political repercussion of frequent Viking raids was

A) the strengthening of centralized royal authority.
B) an increase in the power of the church.
C) an increase in the power of local aristocrats to whom threatened populations turned for effective protection.
D) a decline in the power of local aristocrats whose inability to stop the raids drove ordinary people into royal cities.
E) an increase in monasticism.

Question 37

Which of the following statements were true of trade during the Middle Ages?

A) During the early centuries of the Middle Ages, trade drastically declined.
B) During the sixth and seventh centuries, silk and perfumes were brought from China.
C) By the ninth century, luxury goods were brought in from the Byzantine Empire.
D) all the above
E) a and c

Question 38

One of the most famous Vikings, who discovered Greenland, was

A) Leif Erikson.
B) Erik the Red.
C) Olaf the Bald.
D) Wilbur the Swede.
E) Ivar the Boneless.

Question 39

The German monarchy was restored in 919 when the German dukes elected Henry the Fowler, Duke of

A) Bavaria.
B) Swabia.
C) Franconia.
D) Naples.
E) Saxony.

Question 40

The lord-vassal relationship in the Germanic practice of medieval Europe

A) marked a complete separation from the German traditions of lordship and loyalty.
B) meant fiefs could never become hereditary.
C) was a direct form of servitude.
D) was an honorable relationship between free men.
E) was a relationship between warriors and peasants.

Question 41

The lord's demesnse on a medieval manor were the common lands of the estate where the peasants and serfs had the right to graze their own domestic animals, hunt wild game, and gather wood and other natural items.

Question 42

Climatic patterns improved around 700 after several centuries of colder and wetter conditions.

Question 43

In 911, the French king granted the lands around mouth of the River Seine to a band of Vikings or Norsemen, and eventually that region became known as Normandy.

Question 44

Muslims contributed little of importance in mathematics or philosophy, stuck as they were in an insular myopia.

Question 45

The best-known of the Abbasid caliphs was

A) al-Ma'mun.
B) Ibn Fadlan.
C) Abu al-Abbas.
D) al-Mas'udi.
E) Harun al-Rashid.

Question 46

When Hugh Capet became king of France in 987, he immediately consolidated and centralized his rule by quickly bringing under his firm control the previously powerful semi-independent lords.

Question 47

The Slavic people of the Rus were best known for

A) their defeat of Rurik, head of the Swedish Vikings, in 862.
B) their preoccupation with cleanliness.
C) their unflinching loyalty to the Roman Catholic church.
D) founding the state that became known as Russia.
E) their monastic tradition and practice of celibacy.

Question 48

The capital of the Abbasid caliphate during the high point of Islamic culture was the city of

A) Mecca.
B) Medina.
C) Istanbul.
D) Damascus.
E) Baghdad.

Question 49

The Abbasids

A) chose all officials exclusively from the Arabic community.
B) translated the Qur'an into Persian, making it the official language of Islam.
C) ruled Spain from Cordoba.
D) broke down the distinctions between Arab and non-Arab Muslims.
E) defeated the Byzantine Empire at the Battle of Manzikert.

Question 50

In the early Middle Ages, books were written on sheepskin inasmuch as papyrus was too expensive to be imported from Egypt, then under Muslim control.

Question 51

An independent Umayyad dynasty survived in Spain until 1453.

Question 52

In the early Middle Ages, the Catholic Church condemned infanticide as immoral and a sin, and because of the powerful position of the church in medieval society, the practice of the killing of infants disappeared.

Question 53

The ruthless Russian leader responsible for tying Russian political and religious ideals to the Byzantine Empire was

A) Oleg.
B) Vladimir.
C) Prince Mieszko.
D) Rurik.
E) Ivan.

Question 54

The Arabic name for Spain was

A) Cordoba.
B) al-Andalus.
C) al-jabr.
D) Berber.
E) al-Hakim.

Question 55

The premier scholar in Charlemagne's court was Alcuin of York.

Question 56

After Constantinople, ____ was Europe's largest city

A) Rome.
B) Paris.
C) London.
D) Lisbon.
E) Cordoba.

Question 57

Unlike in the earlier Germanic band, in the Christian Middle Ages a vassal's primary loyalty was to the local church bishop rather than his secular lord.

Question 58

A comparison of Islam and Western Civilization in the eighth and ninth centuries shows

A) the west's clear superiority in urban culture.
B) Muslim creation of a brilliant and sophisticated urban culture while western society remained a world of petty and violent agricultural villages.
C) a common fascination with decorative arts depicting living things.
D) a greater respect for ancient civilizations and their cultures in the west.
E) western supremacy because of the institutions of feudalism and manorialism.

Question 59

The Swedish Vikingsꟷthe Varangiansꟷbecame known or assimilated with which of the following groups:

A) Magyars
B) Czechs
C) Armenians
D) Bulgars
E) Russians

Question 60

The Poles, Czechs, and Hungarians

A) ignored all efforts of German kings to Christianize them.
B) were united by their cultural links to the Byzantine Empire.
C) were greatly influenced by assimilation into the Catholic church and Latin culture.
D) rejected western Christianity and became increasingly antagonistic toward Christianity.
E) became Orthodox Christians, unlike most of the other Slavic peoples.