Deck 15: Expansion of Europe in the High Middle Ages, 900-1300

Question 1

Discuss the development of the papacy from the early to central middle ages.

Answer 1

Students should be able to trace the increasing influence of the papacy through the period, both by bolstering traditional claims and by expanding their authority by strategic civil and religious alliances.They should be able to discuss some of the fundamental turning points for papal power, especially those of the Gregorian Reform and Gregory VII himself.

Question 2

Food production increased significantly during the High Middle Ages because

A)the climate became warmer.
B)the horse was used more frequently as a draft animal.
C)a heavier plow was introduced.
D)more land was brought into production.
E)All of the above.

Answer 2

All of the above.

Question 3

Historical understanding requires a balance between the broad view of trends and a substantive knowledge of relevant details.In this essay, take the broad view.Describe and explain the expansion of Europe in the High Middle Ages.What were the different ways in which Europe expanded? What seemed to be the final results of the expansion?

Answer 3

An appreciation of the different trends supported by appropriate facts is essential.Students will need to resist the natural tendency to linger on specifics.A coherent final view will test the student's ability to synthesize.

Question 4

Summarize the reasons why France in 1300 was "the largest, richest, and best governed kingdom in Europe."

Question 5

Summarize the factors that led to the First Crusade, including the plight of the Byzantine Empire and the motives of the pope and the Western crusaders.

Question 6

The three-field system meant that

A)every peasant was given three fields.
B)the production of oats for human consumption tripled.
C)one-third of the land was allowed to lie fallow and increase in fertility each year.
D)one field was owned by the peasant, one by the lord, and one by the church.
E)land cultivation of an estate rose from 50 to 100 percent.

Question 7

Which was not an agricultural innovation in the middle ages?

A)use of horses as draft animals
B)crop rotation
C)use of nitrogen-fixing crops
D)artificial fertilizer
E)the heavy plow

Question 8

Which of the following was not a major economic trend in the High Middle Ages?

A)A definite shift of trade route from land to maritime
B)The gradual withering of the money economy
C)Significant improvement in mining and quarrying
D)The growing popularity of agricultural specialization
E)Governments passed laws to secure the safety of highways.

Question 9

Summarize the development of Spain during this period.What was the main preoccupation of the medieval Spanish rulers? How was Spain divided by the thirteenth century?

Question 10

Which of the following statements about Europe between 900 and 1300 is not true?

A)The European population began one of its longest sustained rates of growth.
B)Villages and towns grew in number and size.
C)Religion became less important to the general population.
D)A distinct western European character began to develop.
E)Centralized governments began to re-emergence.

Question 11

On a more specific level, discuss some of the most important elements in the economic recovery of Europe referred to in the chapter.Give examples of significant inventions or practices and how they stimulated production.How was town growth affected by agricultural development?

Question 12

Sketch the course of the investiture controversy.What important issues were at stake on both sides? Which side won?

Question 13

What were some reasons for the decline in the crusading movement in the Holy Land? Explain the Crusades conducted within Europe.What is significant about the crusading phenomenon in the Middle Ages?

Question 14

The term agricultural specialization can be described as all of the following except

A)cultivating intensely those crops that were best suited to local conditions.
B)creating growth in trade.
C)being limited to a small area of Italy.
D)the development of highly prized special products from outside an area.
E)local area goods travelling by land and sea routes.

Question 15

The guilds engaged in all of the following except

A)controlling the quality and prices of their members' products.
B)providing social welfare and family benefits.
C)competing intensely in a free-market system.
D)participating in town government.
E)systematically excluding women from guild membership.

Question 16

Describe how the rulers of England were able to build a strong state with some distinctive features.

Question 17

What were some features of political organization in northern and central Italy? What characterized the development of the south?

Question 18

Compare and contrast the development of France with that of Germany.What was the major political problem for each country at the end of the period surveyed in the chapter?

Question 19

As a part of agricultural specialization the French regions of Burgundy and Bordeaux became famous for

A)grain.
B)wool.
C)wine.
D)cattle.
E)cheese.

Question 20

Describe the "Slavic world" and explain its incorporation into Europe.

Question 21

Increased prosperity and economic specialization made which of the following important again?

A)cities
B)the rural countryside
C)small villages
D)the Manor
E)slaveholding

Question 22

Which of the following illustrates the developing church hierarchical structure of the church of the Middle Ages?

A)The College of Cardinals formed the senate of the church.
B)Popes chose their successors.
C)Popes ruled without advisors.
D)Lateran Councils were composed of the pope and a few chosen advisors.
E)The papal government had not yet developed a legal council.

Question 23

What was the curia?

A)ambassadors to the Pope
B)the papal court
C)a Church council
D)the inquisition
E)canon lawyers

Question 24

As the Saxons made Germany into the pre-eminent power in Europe, they

A)faced the absence of a common German identity.
B)began a centuries-long German expansion into Slavic lands.
C)expanded into Italy and gained the title of Emperor.
D)tried to control the power of the church.
E)All of the above.

Question 25

Radiating from the Ile-de-France in the north, the Capetian kings expanded their control to the Mediterranean coast by

A)campaigning against local heretics, the Albigensians.
B)expelling the English.
C)crusading against Muslims.
D)negotiating with the towns that resented noble control.
E)using a successful but complicated military.

Question 26

Which Saxon emperor began the stabilization of central Europe?

A)Louis the Pious
B)Otto I
C)Hugh Capet
D)Henry III
E)Frederick Barbarossa

Question 27

What problem (s)was/were faced by the West Frankish Kingdom in 843?

A)It involved a state with great internal diversity.
B)It was involved in attacks from Mongol hordes.
C)The Carolingian family was dethroned by pope.
D)Capetians were appointed by popes to rule area.
E)Conflict between non-Christians and Christians was common.

Question 28

The Battle of Legnano resulted in which of the following?

A)The defeat of the Italian city-states.
B)The creation of France.
C)The destruction of the medieval papacy.
D)The independence of the Italian cities.
E)The capture of Italy by Frederick Barbarossa.

Question 29

Post-Carolingian states faced the challenge of

A)achieving territorial integrity.
B)complicated relations among powerful interest groups.
C)new ideas about the state and its function.
D)the rise and decline of Carolingian Germany.
E)All of the above.

Question 30

Using Henry IV and Pope Gregory VII, what central issue was involved pertaining to the Investiture Controversy?

A)The pope questioned the legitimacy of Henry's throne.
B)Henry threatened to excommunicate the pope.
C)The Church challenged the church appointments by laymen.
D)Henry claimed that neither he nor the pope were divine.
E)Henry claimed that layman and especially kings should appoint popes.

Question 31

The investiture controversy was ended by

A)the Battle of Legnano.
B)the Concordat of Worms.
C)the humbling of Henry IV at Canossa.
D)the surrender of Gregory VII to the German emperors.
E)the Coronation of Otto I.

Question 32

The investiture controversy

A)involved a fundamental ideological dispute over whether the emperor or the pope was God's agent on earth.
B)weakened the Holy Roman Empire.
C)ended in an agreement that only after the church gave bishops their spiritual authority could kings invest them with secular power.
D)involved improving the moral and intellectual caliber of the clergy throughout Europe.
E)All of the above.

Question 33

The most striking development in the papacy during the High Middle Ages was

A)doctrinal confusion.
B)the rivalry between monasteries and the church hierarchy.
C)the expansion of its institutions.
D)its increasing subordination to the state.
E)the increasing centralized power in the hands of the popes.

Question 34

The communes in Italy were unusual and radical because

A)their political authority radiated from the "people" upwards.
B)they rejected the growing materialism of the times.
C)the Catholic Church condemned them as heretical.
D)they were started by local nobility and in time became volatile and violent.
E)All of the above.

Question 35

Which of the following does not accurately describe a medieval castle?

A)Castles were most often built on higher sites to better repulse attacks.
B)With the development of new military and assault methods, castles became primarily private residences.
C)Stone castles became prevalent as quarrying methods developed.
D)Castles appeared in Europe after the period of the Crusades.
E)The number of castles in an area signified the political decentralization of that area.

Question 36

Unlike Germany, France

A)had no local territorial powers to obstruct unity.
B)produced a dynasty that enjoyed prestige, a stable succession, and good relations with the church.
C)continued under Carolingian rule throughout the medieval period.
D)remained divided into small territories until the thirteenth century.
E)never developed a central power base.

Question 37

Italy was divided in which manner?

A)German empire, the Norman south, Papal States
B)German empire, free cities in the north, Papal States
C)free cities in the north, Papal States, Byzantine empire
D)free cities in the north, the Norman south, Byzantine Empire
E)free cities in the north, Papal States, the Norman south

Question 38

Which was not a strategy used by the Capetians to centralize power?

A)circumvent the authority of local lords
B)Keep conquered lands directly under the crown
C)Assign officials with no local ties
D)Create a standing army in the 12th century
E)Maintain generally good relations with the Church

Question 39

What was the office of podestà?

A)an imperial official in Italy
B)a communal bishop
C)a parish priest
D)an outside city manager of an Italian commune
E)a military commander

Question 40

What consensus on "just price" did the medieval arrive at?

A)the natural or price
B)a price fixed by law
C)whatever the market would bear, even in famine or dearth
D)the price arrived at by bargaining between free and knowledgeable people
E)the price the Church determined

Question 41

The Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa was

A)one of the last events in the Crusades.
B)a decisive Spanish victory and turning point of the Reconquista.
C)the conquest of Portugal by the Moors.
D)the victory of Aragon over Castile.
E)discouraged by popes who feared the destruction of Christianity in Spain.

Question 42

Kievan Rus was

A)the heart of a trade network extending to Scandinavia, Byzantium, and the caliphate.
B)the first eastern Slavic state.
C)an area that adopted Orthodox Christianity.
D)at one time destroyed by the Mongols.
E)All of the above.

Question 43

The name Crusader signifies

A)an enemy of Islam.
B)one signed by the cross.
C)a papal soldier.
D)a military monk.
E)a pilgrim.

Question 44

National development in the Celtic lands of Ireland, Wales, and Scotland

A)was disrupted by the English.
B)greatly affected Welch and Scottish frontiers.
C)often resulted in the alliances between Normans and local leaders.
D)created civil disturbances in Ireland forcing Irish kings to turn to English kings for help.
E)All of the above.

Question 45

Which was not an Iberian kingdom?

A)Aragon
B)Castile
C)Portugal
D)Al-Andalus
E)Burgundy

Question 46

The Magna Carta

A)created a democracy that included noble women.
B)required the English king to respect the rights of feudal lords.
C)temporarily brought peace between France and England.
D)vastly increased the powers of the English king.
E)gave John the power to refuse any pope's decisions and actions.

Question 47

The Reconquista was

A)the recovery of northern England from the Danes.
B)the struggle of the Spaniards against the Muslim occupiers of Spain.
C)Portugal's struggle for independence from Spain.
D)the war between Aragon and Navarre.
E)the bloody experience of several centuries of war along the Spanish frontier.

Question 48

The first western Slavic state was

A)Poland.
B)Bohemia.
C)Hungary.
D)Great Moravia.
E)Rus.

Question 49

What caused the scramble for the English throne in 1066?

A)Edward the Confessor's lack of children
B)a Norwegian invasion
C)a papal decision
D)interference by the Saxon Emperors
E)Capetian attacks on the English coast

Question 50

Henry II of England did all of the following except

A)enjoy the loyalty and support of his family.
B)invade Ireland.
C)introduce popular judicial reforms.
D)pursue a quarrel with Saint Thomas Becket that led to the archbishop's murder.
E)tried, but failed to judge criminous clerics in royal courts.

Question 51

By the end of the eleventh century, Byzantium

A)was at the height of its military power.
B)had broken with the Catholic Church and suffered a major defeat at Manzikert.
C)had successfully allied with the Abbasids against the Seljuk Turks.
D)had recovered control of Palestine but had lost Anatolia.
E)was rejuvenated by Basil II.

Question 52

England's period of stable Anglo-Saxon rule was followed immediately by

A)a return to numerous, quarreling states.
B)the decisive defeat of Scandinavian raiders.
C)Danish rule by Swein Forkbeard and then Cnut.
D)the Norman Conquest in 1066.
E)Danish marriages to English royalty.

Question 53

Which territory did Edward I conquer?

A)Wales
B)Ireland
C)Scotland
D)Brittany
E)Cornwall

Question 54

All of the following apply to the "Slavic world" except

A)a division of the Slavs into three branches: western, eastern, and southern.
B)a division into Catholic and Orthodox regions.
C)most of the region was never conquered by the Romans.
D)state building was exclusively conducted by "outsiders" such as Germans and Vikings.
E)as the Slavic world emerged, it encountered many of the same problems faced by the West.

Question 55

Which of the following is true of the Mongol Empire?

A)It stretched from China to eastern Europe.
B)It included the Golden Horde, which dominated Rus.
C)It began as a loose coalition of pastoral nomads.
D)Jenghiz Khan turned the Mongols into an invincible fighting force.
E)All of the above.

Question 56

Which of the following statements is true in regard to Middle Ages Scandinavia?

A)Scandinavia was never affected by the Carolingians.
B)Early Scandinavia had no history or tradition of unified government.
C)The Catholic Church never had any power in the area.
D)Danes and Norwegians were strongly influenced by the English culture.
E)The investiture controversy wreaked havoc in the nations of Scandinavia.

Question 57

Geographically, what influenced the history of Scandinavia?

A)severe climate
B)open and easy access to the oceans
C)overland trade
D)landlocked kingdoms
E)droughts that hindered agricultural development

Question 58

William the Conqueror

A)turned most of the estates in England into fiefs.
B)fostered subinfeudation.
C)ordered the compilation of the Doomsday Book.
D)had the goal of dismantling or replacing the old English institutions.
E)All of the above.

Question 59

What fateful event for Christianity occurred in 1054?

A)the calling of the Crusades
B)the beginning of the Gregorian Reform
C)the Concordat of Worms
D)the election of Innocent III
E)the final split between the Orthodox East and the Catholic West

Question 60

All of the following are reasons why Western Europe embarked on the First Crusade except that

A)the popes wanted to aid Byzantium and heal the schism of the Orthodox Church.
B)western Christians resented Turkish attacks on pilgrims to the Holy Land.
C)Europeans wanted to capture Constantinople.
D)many knights were attracted by the prospects of salvation, glory, and adventure.
E)popes saw the opportunity to manifest their leadership over the Christian Church.

Question 61

One of the reasons for France's successes in the medieval period was the great faith they put in the local lords of the region, who were often rewarded with land.

Question 62

One of the long term effects of the Crusades was the disruption of Mediterranean trade.

Question 63

Which of the following is not a long-term effect of the Crusades?

A)a further, if not fatal, weakening of the Byzantine Empire.
B)significant and permanent gains by women with the departure of a large part of the male population.
C)a heightened distrust between European Christians and the Muslim world.
D)increased anti-Semitism in Europe
E)long term disruption of Mediterranean trade

Question 64

The Bayeux Tapestry depicts the conquest of Italy by Duke William of Normandy in 1066.

Question 65

Harold of Wessex failed in his claim to the throne of England when he was defeated at the Battle of Hastings by William of Normandy.

Question 66

The Fourth Crusade resulted in

A)the recapture of Jerusalem.
B)the conquest of Egypt.
C)the destruction of Mecca.
D)the sack of Constantinople.
E)the fall of Acre.

Question 67

Much of the reason for the increase of life expectancy in the Middle Ages came because of a more diverse and healthier diet.

Question 68

One solution to the disorder of the Italian communes was the establishment of the podestà.

Question 69

During the lay-investiture controversy Emperor Henry IV claimed only the king had the right to elect popes.

Question 70

The Mongol Empire stretched from China to Eastern Europe.

Question 71

Which of the following describes the Crusaders' attack on Jerusalem?

A)The Franks were beaten back by the Muslims.
B)The Muslims slaughtered more than 70,000 Frankish crusaders.
C)The Crusaders completely sacked the Dome of the Rock.
D)Islamic Imams and Scholars were spared by Crusader leaders.
E)Judged as a whole, the assault on Jerusalem by the First Crusade was a miserable failure.

Question 72

At the beginning of the Saxon rule Germany consisted of three primary duchies: Saxony, Franconia and Lorraine.

Question 73

Excommunication decreed that one was banished from all religious services, including baptism and burial.