Foundations of Western Civilizations (Chapters 8-13)

Questions taken from MCC HIST 133

Which of the following statements about Islam’s expansion is justified by this map?

From the time of Muhammad through the Umayyad dynasty, Islam expanded.

The Münster Anabaptists believed that the end of the world was near and therefore

abolished traditional marriages and allowed men to have multiple wives.

Which of the following was true of the institution of slavery in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries?

It was common throughout the Mediterranean, African, and western Asian worlds.

According to this map, who can be credited with circumnavigating the globe during the sixteenth century?

Ferdinand Magellan

When Michael Servetus, who had published books criticizing Calvin and challenging the concept of the Trinity, passed through Geneva in 1553, Calvin

called for his execution.

Which breakthrough helped make possible the European voyages of discovery in the fifteenth century?

The use of the caravel, a small three-masted ship

Why did the number of French Protestants increase in France until 1560?

A significant number of noble French families on the upper rungs of society had converted to Protestantism.

What caused secular governments in both Catholic and Protestant regions of Europe to begin to assume the responsibility for public charity?

An overall increase in poverty and hardship and the rise of a work ethic that included growing hostility toward the poor

Which of the following was declared by the first Mexican Ecclesiastical Provincial Council in 1555?

Holy orders were not to be bestowed on Indians or people of mixed-race heritage.

Why did Luther escape the fate of Jan Hus, even though Luther attacked the church, called for radical reforms, and even praised Hus at the Imperial Diet of Worms?

Luther enjoyed the protection of a powerful prince, Frederick the Wise, the elector of Saxony.

What began the first phase of European overseas expansion?

Portuguese exploration of the West African coast

Why did Luther advocate for what he called the “priesthood of all believers”?

He believed that the Bible alone contained all teachings necessary for Christians and that a small caste of clerics should find its power reduced.

Christopher Columbus became one of the first European explorers to

begin a regular slave trade based in the Caribbean.

In The Praise of Folly (1509), Erasmus

lampooned many of the un-Christian values held dear by his Christian contemporaries, such as pomposity, greed, and lust for power.

Which of the following contributed to the success of Hernán Cortés (1485–1547), who was sent by the Spanish crown to the Americas in search of gold?

The support of indigenous peoples subjugated by the Aztecs

What actions did Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and the French king Francis I take that shocked the Christian world?

Charles V seized Rome and allowed his troops to sack the city in 1527 to punish the pope for siding with France, while Francis I later made an alliance with the Turkish sultan against the emperor.

What does the Columbian exchange refer to?

The movement of peoples, plants, animals, manufactured goods, precious metals, and diseases between Europe, Africa, and the New World

At the center of his theology, Calvin placed the doctrine of predestination, which argued that

God had preselected every human being for either damnation or salvation, and that those elected to be saved were known only to God.

Johannes Gutenberg was the first European to successfully develop which of the following?

The printing press

What caused secular governments in both Catholic and Protestant regions of Europe to begin to assume the responsibility for public charity?

An overall increase in poverty and hardship and the rise of a work ethic that included growing hostility toward the poor

Which of the following statements is supported by this map?

The Spanish led voyages near the Americas, while Portugal led voyages near Africa.

When Michael Servetus, who had published books criticizing Calvin and challenging the concept of the Trinity, passed through Geneva in 1553, Calvin

called for his execution.

Why did many European powers overextend their budgets and flirt with bankruptcy in the sixteenth century?

The cost of waging war had risen as a result of the need for larger armies and more expensive military technology.

What legislation passed by Parliament in 1534 made Henry VIII head of the Church of England?

The Act of Supremacy

In Freedom of a Christian (1520), Martin Luther argued that

faith, not good works, saved sinners from damnation.

Which forces were represented in the Schmalkaldic League, which was defeated by Emperor Charles V?

The German Protestant princes and most of the imperial cities

Why did the number of French Protestants increase in France until 1560?

A significant number of noble French families on the upper rungs of society had converted to Protestantism.

Why did Luther advocate for what he called the “priesthood of all believers”?

He believed that the Bible alone contained all teachings necessary for Christians and that a small caste of clerics should find its power reduced.

What does the Columbian exchange refer to?

The movement of peoples, plants, animals, manufactured goods, precious metals, and diseases between Europe, Africa, and the New World

Which breakthrough helped make possible the European voyages of discovery in the fifteenth century?

The use of the caravel, a small three-masted ship

The uprising of French peasants against the nobility in 1358 was known as

the Jacquerie.

What triggered the Great Schism in 1378?

The election of Urban VI, an Italian, as pope

How did the Ottomans conquer the Balkans and Anatolia?

Through negotiations and war

What state filled the territorial gap between France and Germany but was, unlike most other European states, an artificial creation whose existence depended entirely on skillful rulers?

Burgundy

What term was used for the European Christian boys who were forced to convert to Islam and made up the core of the Ottoman army?

Janissaries

Where did large numbers of Jews convert to Christianity at the end of the fourteenth century in an effort to save their lives in the face of vast persecution?

Spain

Which of the following statements about the Swiss Confederation is true?

It was the most egalitarian of the political entities of the fifteenth century.

Why did Constantinople finally succumb to invasion in 1453 when it had withstood so many invasions in the past?

The use of cannons allowed its walls to be breached.

Why is the mid-fourteenth century regarded as an era of crisis in the West?

Europe was ravaged by devastating outbreaks of the plague as well as by destructive wars.

In the year 1492, Ferdinand and Isabella succeeded in reunifying Spain by conquering what kingdom on the Iberian peninsula?

The Muslim kingdom of Granada

By the end of the fourteenth century, Lithuania, whose rulers were the last in Europe to remain unconverted to Christianity, had

entered into a union with Poland.

What is Francis Petrarch best known as?

The first humanist

During the late medieval period, there was both a flowering of vernacular literature and a

revival of classical learning that led to a new intellectual movement called humanism.

In what way may the Hundred Years' War be seen as a world war?

Both the English and the French hired mercenaries from other countries.

Which of the following contributed to rising prosperity in England during the fifteenth century?

The expansion of the cloth industry

Which of the following statements about the Swiss Confederation is true?

It was the most egalitarian of the political entities of the fifteenth century.

Which group of invaders marked the end of the Byzantine Empire with their conquest of Constantinople in 1453?

The Ottomans

Which group of invaders marked the end of the Byzantine Empire with their conquest of Constantinople in 1453?

The Ottomans

Why did the plague spread so rapidly on the European continent in the mid-fourteenth century?

The bacterium that likely caused the disease, Yersinia pestis, followed major trade routes to and across the continent.

Under pressure from Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund to resolve the Great Schism, Pope John XXIII convened a church council at Constance in 1414, which elected who as a new pope?

Martin V

Why did Joan of Arc, an unknown peasant girl, succeed in helping the French to turn the tide against the English in the Hundred Years' War?

She inspired French soldiers to rally round the dauphin.

How did the Ottomans conquer the Balkans and Anatolia?

Through negotiations and war

Who succeeded in conquering the city of Constantinople in 1453, thus administering the deathblow to the Byzantine Empire?

Mehmed II

During the late medieval period, there was both a flowering of vernacular literature and a

revival of classical learning that led to a new intellectual movement called humanism.

What is historians' highest estimate for the percentage of the European population that perished from the plague between 1348 and 1400?

60 percent

Individuals who sought to appease God by traveling from city to city and scourging themselves with whips were known as

flagellants.

The distinctive new musical form of the thirteenth century, the motet, was

a polyphony typically consisting of two or three melody lines sung in Latin and French.

After the battle of Lewes, in which he defeated King Henry III of England, Simon de Montfort

convened a parliament to which he summoned not just noblemen but also, for the first time, commoners.

How did Pope Innocent try to realize his vision of the papacy as the supreme lawmaker and of law as an instrument of moral reform?

He convened and presided over a church council that attempted to regulate all aspects of Christian life.

What was the primary outcome of the thirteenth-century European visits to China?

The exposure of Europeans to Chinese riches

The cortes of Castile-León were among the earliest examples in medieval Europe of

representative assemblies.

What were tertiaries?

Laypeople who adopted the practices of the friars while leading normal lives

What feature of Gothic cathedrals made possible the telling of complicated stories through stained-glass windows?

Pointed arches and flying buttresses, which allowed church walls to feature large windows for the first time

Although Louis IX was generally supportive of the papacy, he simultaneously maintained the monarchy's independence from ecclesiastical authority, as exemplified by which of the following?

His refusal to support the church's sentences of excommunication unless he was able to judge the merits of each case for himself

Why did four popes excommunicate Frederick II?

He wanted to control Italy, and in an era of papal expansion, the popes were threatened by his territorial and imperial claims.

In about 1340, the Holy Roman Empire controlled which of the following?

Germany

On receiving the news of the crusaders' sack of Constantinople (1204), the pope ordered them to

remain there for a year to consolidate their gains.

What significance did Henry II's marriage to Eleanor have for future European dynastic holdings?

It gave the English crown possession of Aquitaine in southwestern France.

Which of the following was a lasting accomplishment of the French king Philip II?

Philip's imposition of a royal administration based on extensive record keeping

How did the Slavic ruling classes benefit from the Northern Crusades?

By converting to Christianity and profiting from other crusades further to the east

Based on this map, which region of Spain had the greatest success during the reconquest in reclaiming territory from the Al-Andalus?

Castile

Which of the following territories was directly controlled by Henry II?

England

In the late twelfth century, states that had been formed in Hungary and Russia by powerful individual rulers began to fragment because, compared to England and France, they lacked

clear mechanisms for royal succession.

How was scutage a sign of the expansion of the commercial economy?

It transformed personal service into a cash payment.

The Fourth Crusade proved to be

an unmitigated disaster for Constantinople and the Byzantine Empire.

Which of the following statements regarding the Third Crusade is supported by this map?

It traversed the Mediterranean Sea to target the Middle Eastern region.

Which of the following is most characteristic of Gothic architecture?

Pointed arches and stained glass

Although the Magna Carta (1215) came to be viewed as the first document to guarantee the legal rights of all Englishmen, it was originally intended to serve as a(n)

guarantee of the customary rights of the English barons.

How did the Slavic ruling classes benefit from the Northern Crusades?

By converting to Christianity and profiting from other crusades further to the east

How did the kings of England benefit from Henry II's judicial reforms?

The fees and fines collected by the courts went into the king's treasury.

The Beguines, who established informal pious communities,

worked to support themselves.

The Northern Crusades, although less well known than the crusades to the Holy Land, produced longer lasting results, such as the

Germanization of the northern lands along the Baltic Sea.

What significance did Henry II's marriage to Eleanor have for future European dynastic holdings?

It gave the English crown possession of Aquitaine in southwestern France.

Although the Third Crusade (1189–1192) was intended to recapture Jerusalem after it fell to the armies of Saladin in 1187, what was the actual result of the crusade?

Islamic hegemony over the Holy Land would continue for hundreds of years.

Which of the following statements is justified by this map?

By about 1215, areas under Islamic influence were primarily isolated to North Africa and the Middle East.

How was Frederick I able to acquire the lands of Burgundy and Provence?

Through his marriage to Beatrice

How did the Slavic ruling classes benefit from the Northern Crusades?

By converting to Christianity and profiting from other crusades further to the east

How did the kings of England benefit from Henry II's judicial reforms?

The fees and fines collected by the courts went into the king's treasury.

Modern scholars now believe that many aristocratic women in southern France in the twelfth century were

powerful lords in their own right.

In the medieval courts, jongleurs were

musicians.

Although the Magna Carta (1215) came to be viewed as the first document to guarantee the legal rights of all Englishmen, it was originally intended to serve as a(n)

guarantee of the customary rights of the English barons.

At the close of the twelfth century, western Europeans saw their monarchs not as rulers of a people but rather as

rulers of a clearly defined territory.

King John angered his barons by

imposing higher scutages and feudal dues on his vassals.

Medieval fairs functioned primarily as

marketplaces.

Because of the church's ban on usury,

interest from loans was often disguised as a penalty charge for late payment.

Which of the following precipitated the First Crusade?

The Byzantine emperor sent messengers to the pope to plead for mercenary troops to combat the Turks, but instead Pope Urban II issued a general call to arms to free Jerusalem.

The reconquista referred to western Christian hopes of restoring Christianity by retaking

Spain from the Muslims.

Which of the following was a characteristic of the Concordat of Worms?

It conceded considerable power within the church to the king.

Which of the following statements describe William's rule in England?

He claimed it by right of conquest and ruthlessly replaced the Anglo-Saxon nobility with his Norman followers.

Gratian's Decretum (1140) was published in an effort to

bring order to canon law by showing that seemingly conflicting decrees of popes and councils were actually in harmony.