Deck 11: The Later Middle Ages: Crisis and Disintegration in the Fourteenth Century

Question 1

Discuss the factors that led to the urban and rural revolts in the fourteenth century. Was desperate poverty a chief cause? Why or why not?

Answer 1

Answers will vary.

Question 2

What major problems did European states face in the fourteenth century? How are these problems evident in the history of England, France, and the Holy Roman Empire?

Answer 2

Answers will vary.

Question 3

For each historical identification question, define the term and briefly describe its historical significance.
Giovanni Boccaccio's Decameron

Answer 3

Answers will vary.

Question 4

For each historical identification question, define the term and briefly describe its historical significance.
Wat Tyler and John Ball

Question 5

For each historical identification question, define the term and briefly describe its historical significance.
condottieri

Question 6

What were the main causes of the Great Schism? What were the major results of this great political and religious conflict?

Question 7

What were the root causes of the Hundred Years' War?

Question 8

How did the adversities of the fourteenth century affect urban life?

Question 9

What were the greatest short-term and long-term consequences of the Black Death?

Question 10

For each historical identification question, define the term and briefly describe its historical significance.
the Battle of Agincourt

Question 11

To what extent were climate and disease key factors in producing economic and social changes in the later Middle Ages?

Question 12

What changes occurred in the political life of Italy during the fourteenth century?

Question 13

Compare the French Jacquerie to the English Peasants' Revolt.

Question 14

Discuss the causes and consequences of the failure of Germany and Italy to develop strong centralized governments.

Question 15

Trace the events that marked the decline of the papacy during the fourteenth century.

Question 16

For each historical identification question, define the term and briefly describe its historical significance.
Joan of Arc

Question 17

For each historical identification question, define the term and briefly describe its historical significance.
"little ice age"

Question 18

Compare Dante, Boccaccio, Chaucer, and Christine de Pizan. How did each of these writers contribute to the development of literature in the fourteenth century?

Question 19

For each historical identification question, define the term and briefly describe its historical significance.
Black Death

Question 20

Evaluate the social, military, economic, and political consequences of the introduction and use of cannons and gunpowder.

Question 21

For each historical identification question, define the term and briefly describe its historical significance.
purgatory

Question 22

For each historical identification question, define the term and briefly describe its historical significance.
conciliarism

Question 23

For each historical identification question, define the term and briefly describe its historical significance.
English Peasants' Revolt

Question 24

Which statement about the Black Death is true?

A)It was one of many European plagues that inflicted Europe from the eighth century onward.
B)It started in northern Europe and moved southward to Italy.
C)It recurred in severe outbreaks for centuries.
D)It never reached England.
E)It was restricted to Christian Europe, with the Arabic Middle East escaping from most of the devastation.

Question 25

For each historical identification question, define the term and briefly describe its historical significance.
Hundred Years' War

Question 26

For each historical identification question, define the term and briefly describe its historical significance.
Canterbury Tales

Question 27

For each historical identification question, define the term and briefly describe its historical significance.
Avignon

Question 28

For each historical identification question, define the term and briefly describe its historical significance.
ars moriendi

Question 29

The main cause of early fourteenth-century famines was

A)a blight that struck the wheat crop
B)a lack of knowledge of scientific agriculture
C)the droughts throughout most of Europe
D)a little ice age that induced bad weather with heavy rains
E)the urban pollution that spread into nearby farming regions

Question 30

In which part of the world did the bubonic plague originate?

A)Africa
B)Syria
C)Italy
D)the Azores
E)Asia

Question 31

For each historical identification question, define the term and briefly describe its historical significance.
Great Schism

Question 32

For each historical identification question, define the term and briefly describe its historical significance.
Christine de Pizan

Question 33

Among the adverse economic and population changes in fourteenth-century Europe were

A)shrinking peasant land holdings below the size needed to support a family.
B)an exodus of residents from overpopulated rural areas.
C)rapidly rising numbers of poor people in cities.
D)all productive land was being farmed, including many marginal lands susceptible to changing weather patterns.
E)All of these are correct.

Question 34

For each historical identification question, define the term and briefly describe its historical significance.
Pope Boniface VIII's Unam Sanctam

Question 35

For each historical identification question, define the term and briefly describe its historical significance.
Giotto

Question 36

For each historical identification question, define the term and briefly describe its historical significance.
the Divine Comedy

Question 37

Which group played a key role in the spread of the plague in China?

A)The Huns
B)The Rus
C)The Koreans
D)The Japanese
E)The Mongols

Question 38

For each historical identification question, define the term and briefly describe its historical significance.
Golden Bull of Charles IV

Question 39

For each historical identification question, define the term and briefly describe its historical significance.
gunpowder

Question 40

For each historical identification question, define the term and briefly describe its historical significance.
anti-Semitism

Question 41

Which of the following contributed to peasant discontent in France?

A)The Ciompi movement
B)The Avignon Papacy
C)The Conciliar Movement
D)The Hundred Years' War
E)The Great Schism

Question 42

What was a consequence of the English Peasants' Revolt of 1381?

A)It led to rising economic conditions for ordinary people
B)It led to the elimination of some poll taxes.
C)It succeeded in getting the government to agree to the peasants' demands.
D)It gained long-term results for the peasants.
E)It led to the end of the Hundred Years' War.

Question 43

How did merchants and manufacturers respond to the economic tribulations of the fourteenth century?

A)Increasing their prices
B)Restricting competition and resisting the demands of the lower classes
C)Blaming the Jews and persecuting them
D)Pressuring the government to raise the prices of their products
E)Adopting laissez-faire policies

Question 44

The French government and aristocracy responded to the Jacquerie by

A)drafting the rebels into the army.
B)taking no action and letting it run its course.
C)negotiating a settlement with its leaders.
D)massacring the participants.
E)renouncing their historic privileges.

Question 45

The Statute of Laborers attempted to

A)force all workers to stay in their chosen profession.
B)limit wages to pre-plague levels.
C)fix prices at artificially low levels.
D)improve the lot of England's working poor.
E)expand the number of people who could vote.

Question 46

Where did many of Germany's Jews go in an effort to escape the persecution that accompanied the Black Death?

A)Portugal
B)The Americas
C)England
D)Spain
E)Poland

Question 47

Why was the Battle of Crêcy not a decisive conflict?

A)The English lost too many men to consolidate their advantage.
B)The French lacked the will to follow up their victory.
C)The English lacked the resources to subjugate all of France.
D)The French allied themselves with Spain.
E)The English were distracted by civil war at home.

Question 48

Who were the flagellants?

A)Catholics responsible for miraculous deeds
B)people who physically punished themselves to win the forgiveness of God
C)an organized, economic response to the Black Death
D)a popular religious movement throughout the fifteenth century
E)a group found in isolated rural areas.

Question 49

What were pogroms?

A)Religious ceremonies convened to ask for God's help against the plague
B)Small woolen balls people coughed into when infected with the plague
C)Organized massacres against the Jews
D)The name given to people believed to be responsible for the Black Death
E)Mysterious sites where people could go to miraculously recover from the plague

Question 50

What impact did the great plague and the crises of the fourteenth century have on the economy?

A)They devastated peasants but not nobles.
B)They initiated an economic boom to landlords.
C)They caused only minor changes in agricultural practices.
D)They led to a rise in wages because of a scarcity of labor.
E)They had little impact.

Question 51

How did the European aristocracy respond to the adversity of the great plague?

A)They sought to lower wages by legal means, especially for farm laborers.
B)They produced only the most basic foodstuffs, such as grain.
C)They petitioned kings to order the relocation of laborers.
D)They formed agricultural cooperatives linking landowners, laborers, and city consumers.
E)They invested in trade and commerce rather than agricultural production.

Question 52

A key economic consequence of the plague was

A)the rapid expansion of European civic banking to rebuild industry.
B)a decline in manorialism and weakening of feudalism as noble landlords desperate for cash converted peasant labor service to market rents, freeing their serfs.
C)the more frequent bankruptcy of monarchs as they emptied their treasuries trying to provide poor relief.
D)the very slow enrichment of middling peasant laborers who began to dominate rural communities.
E)a long-term trend to abandon cities for the more secure rural environment.

Question 53

All of the following were reactions to the great plague EXCEPT

A)an increase in violence and murder due to a sense of life's cheapness.
B)the formation of groups like the flagellants, who flogged themselves to save the world.
C)a reduction in the persecution of religious minorities because of the displeasure it caused God.
D)morbidity and preoccupation with death in everyday life.
E)economic depression.

Question 54

What was the mainstay of the English army at the outset of the Hundred Years' War?

A)Heavy cavalry
B)Artillery
C)Musketeers
D)Foot soldiers
E)Knights

Question 55

One major issue behind the Hundred Years' War was a claim to the French throne by the English king

A)John II.
B)Edward II.
C)Edward III.
D)William the Conqueror
E)Henry I.

Question 56

Edward III's early campaigns in France were

A)among the greatest in English history.
B)timid and half-hearted.
C)complete failures.
D)uniformly successful.
E)indecisive and achieved little.

Question 57

The Black Death resulted in a decline of the European population by

A)10 percent.
B)between 15 and 25 percent.
C)between 25 and 50 percent.
D)between 50 and 75 percent.
E)80 percent.

Question 58

Where were the worst organized massacres of Jews carried out in the fourteenth century?

A)Germany
B)Spain
C)Italy
D)England
E)France

Question 59

In the aftermath of the Black Death, ____ led to a dramatic rise in wages.

A)a population surge
B)the abolition of aristocratic privileges
C)new religious teachings
D)a series of crop failures
E)a serious labor shortage

Question 60

What provided a sign of feudalism's decline in the conduct of the Hundred Years' War?

A)Inability of feuding kings to raise armies of knights
B)Reliance of kings on artillery as the main component of royal armies
C)Decisive role of peasant foot soldiers rather than mounted knights
D)Clear intention of kings to destroy the estates of their own vassals
E)Use of heavier armor and larger horses

Question 61

The crucial battle of the Hundred Years' War that was won by Henry V in 1415 and that led to the treaty and apparent victory in the war for Henry and England was the Battle of

A)Brétigny.
B)Tours.
C)Poitiers.
D)Calais.
E)Agincourt.

Question 62

Joan of Arc saved France by inspiring the French soldiers to break the English siege of

A)Bordeaux.
B)Amiens.
C)Orléans.
D)Paris.
E)Geneva.

Question 63

What brought about the Great Schism in 1378?

A)An argument broke out over the nature of the Trinity
B)England broke away from the Catholic Church
C)France was converted to Lutheranism
D)The French cardinals elected a second pope
E)An earthquake split St. Peter's basilica in two

Question 64

What happened to the Great Council of barons during the reign of Edward III of England?

A)It became the chief advisory body of the king.
B)It relinquished most of its main powers.
C)It became the House of Lords forming a hereditary body of peers in Parliament.
D)It became subservient to the House of Commons.
E)It was abolished in favor of a unitary parliament.

Question 65

In what town did the papacy reside in across the French border from 1305 to 1377?

A)Avignon
B)Bordeaux
C)Provence
D)Dijon
E)Paris

Question 66

Who ruled Florence throughout most of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries?

A)The pope
B)A wealthy merchant oligarchy
C)A Parliament
D)Nobles
E)Monks

Question 67

In fourteenth-century Italy, ____ called condottieri, sold their services to the highest bidder.

A)mercenary soldiers
B)rogue priests
C)travelling musicians
D)itinerant scribes
E)trained painters

Question 68

The core lands of the Holy Roman Empire were located in

A)Scandinavia.
B)France.
C)Germany.
D)Russia.
E)Spain.

Question 69

What did King Philip IV do that contributed to a conflict with Pope Boniface VIII?

A)He tried to end corruption in the French Church.
B)He tried to buy the papacy for his nephew, Henry.
C)He taxed churchmen without the Church's permission.
D)He denied the existence of witches.
E)He authorized a French translation of the Bible.

Question 70

Like Germany, by the fourteenth century, ____ had failed to develop a centralized monarchical state.

A)Portugal
B)Denmark
C)England
D)Italy
E)France

Question 71

Prior to the Golden Bull of 1356, Germany was

A)composed the four kingdoms of Bavaria, Prussia, Hanover, and Austria.
B)under the sole authority of the pope.
C)a land of hundreds of virtually independent states.
D)a highly centralized monarchy under the power of the emperor.
E)None of these are correct.

Question 72

How did the Venetian city-state gain its wealth in the fourteenth century?

A)By controlling the finances of the Holy Roman Empire
B)By inducing the bankruptcy of the papacy
C)By creating a maritime commercial empire throughout the Mediterranean and Black seas
D)By monopolizing the shipping of English wool to Flanders
E)By waging a crusade against the Turks in order to gain access to the Holy Land

Question 73

When Christine de Pizan's husband died, she became a ____ to earn her living.

A)painter
B)mercenary solider
C)government official
D)writer
E)singer

Question 74

The Great Schism

A)was ignored by most Christians.
B)badly damaged the faith of Christian believers.
C)renewed support for the church.
D)divided Europe along ideological lines.
E)had profound economic consequences.

Question 75

The chief ambition of the Venetian city-state in the fourteenth century was

A)financial control of the Holy Roman Empire.
B)inducing the bankruptcy of the papacy.
C)to create a maritime commercial empire throughout the Mediterranean and Black seas.
D)monopolizing the shipping of English wool to Flanders.
E)to wage a Crusade against the Turks in order to gain access to the Holy Land.

Question 76

Which political authority controlled most of southern Italy in the fourteenth century?

A)The Kingdom of Naples
B)The papacy
C)The Republic of Venice
D)The Republic of Florence
E)The Duchy of Milan

Question 77

What happened to Joan of Arc after helping drive the English from France?

A)She became rich writing romance novels.
B)She was burned at the stake as a heretic.
C)She married the King of France and produced many children.
D)She married a peasant and lived in poverty and obscurity.
E)She became the first female Roman Catholic priest.

Question 78

What did the Golden Bull of 1356 achieve in Germany?

A)It made Emperor Charles IV the first in a line of hereditary rulers.
B)It ensured the independence of the ecclesiastical states.
C)It gave seven electors the power to choose the "king of the Romans."
D)It ensured strong central authority for Germany in the next century.
E)It gave limited religious toleration to urban Jews.

Question 79

The papacy of Clement VII received its greatest support from

A)England.
B)France.
C)northern Italy.
D)Scandinavia.
E)the Holy Roman Empire.

Question 80

During the reign of England's Edward III,

A)the English monarchy all but collapsed.
B)England broke with the Catholic church.
C)Parliament developed its basic structure and functions.
D)England became the wealthiest kingdom in Europe.
E)the office of the sheriff was invented.