Deck 9: The Recovery and Growth of European Society in the High Middle Ages

Question 1

Merchant cities in northern Europe, frequently ending in "-burg" or "-borough," grew up in the 1100s around what?

A)Clearings deep in the forests
B)National universities
C)The castles of noblemen

Answer 1

The castles of noblemen

Question 2

How are guilds as organizations best described?

A)Artisans who directed almost every aspect of the production process of certain trades
B)Citizens trying to defend their political rights
C)Agricultural laborers seeking to improve their wages

Answer 2

Artisans who directed almost every aspect of the production process of certain trades

Question 3

Which of the following cities was a major hub of the North Sea/Baltic trade route in northern Europe in the 1100s and 1200s and an important center of woolen cloth production?

A)Stockholm
B)Flanders
C)Edinburgh

Answer 3

Flanders

Question 4

How is the curriculum of the medieval university best described?

A)It consisted of the trivium and quadrivium .
B)It allowed for a wide degree of student choice.
C)It was determined by the professors of the universities.

Question 5

In which of the following places was significant land "reclaimed" from the sea?

A)Ireland
B)Genoa
C)Netherlands

Question 6

How is medieval university instruction best described?

A)It was delivered in Greek, regardless of the location.
B)It relied on group discussions of assigned books.
C)It used the lecture method.

Question 7

Where did the first university to be founded in Europe appear in?

A)Bologna
B)Padua
C)Rome

Question 8

To protect their interests against nobles, townspeople often formed what kind of groups?

A)Militias
B)Communes
C)Chambers of commerce

Question 9

All were consequences of the revival of trade EXCEPT which of the following?

A)The development of a money economy
B)The final abandonment of old Roman cities
C)The use of contracts and insurance

Question 10

By the twelfth century, how is divorce among nobles best described?

A)It was not possible except through official recognition that a marriage had never been valid.
B)It was increasingly common.
C)It was accepted and approved by the church.

Question 11

The most important six-times-a-year trade fair during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries was sponsored by the counts of which region?

A)Champagne
B)Provence
C)Gascony

Question 12

How are students in medieval universities best described?

A)They came strictly from the upper class.
B)They usually started their instruction while in their late twenties.
C)They often engaged in quarrels with one another and in confrontations with townspeople.

Question 13

On the whole, medieval cities tended to be which of the following?

A)Huge, rivaling modern cities in population
B)Relatively undemocratic; the wealthy usually ruled and voted in civic elections
C)Totally dominated by rural nobles

Question 14

A major cause of pollution in medieval cities was which of the following?

A)The smell and waste of animals and humans
B)Burning coal, a common fuel of the era
C)The production of iron in urban smelters

Question 15

How are marriages among the aristocracy of the High Middle Ages best described?

A)They were frequently motivated by the love brides and grooms felt for one another.
B)They were expected to establish political alliances between families and increase their wealth.
C)They usually occurred when both bride and groom were in their teens.

Question 16

By 1100, charters of liberties granted townspeople which privilege?

A)The right for women to buy and sell property
B)The right of serfs to become free after residing in a city for one month
C)Written urban law that guaranteed their freedom

Question 17

How are medieval cities best described?

A)They were generally clean and covered a large area.
B)They had low population densities.
C)They had skylines dominated by the towers of churches, castles, and town halls.

Question 18

Which area assumed a leading role in the revival of trade in the Middle Ages?

A)Italy
B)Spain
C)Germany

Question 19

Where was the first university in northern Europe founded?

A)Paris
B)Oxford
C)Cambridge

Question 20

Which of the following is true about the dramatic increases in European population between 1000 and 1300?

A)They occurred despite detrimental climatic patterns.
B)They were primarily due to an increased birth rate outstripping high medieval mortality rates.
C)They were the result of better urban planning.

Question 21

How is the medieval theological debate between the scholastic realists and nominalists best described?

A)It was finally resolved by Thomas Aquinas.
B)It centered around the problem of universals and the nature of reality.
C)It was a philosophical issue that only lasted as long as the thirteenth century.

Question 22

Troubadour poetry was chiefly concerned with what?

A)Religious imagery
B)The courtly love of nobles, knights, and ladies
C)The highly irreverent life of wine, women, and song

Question 23

Describe medieval aristocratic life.

Question 24

What was the primary preoccupation of scholasticism?

A)To prove the superiority of Christianity over Islam and Judaism
B)To prove the superiority of faith over rational thought
C)The reconciliation of faith with reason

Question 25

How did water and windmills affect medieval productivity?

Question 26

What was the dominant style of church architecture in the eleventh and twelfth centuries?

A)Gothic
B)Baroque
C)Romanesque

Question 27

The word "vernacular" means what?

A)Church language (Latin)
B)Local language
C)Ribald song or poem

Question 28

Gothic cathedrals seem to soar upward as light and airy constructions due to each innovation EXCEPT which one of the following?

A)The addition of a transept
B)Flying buttresses
C)Thin walls pierced by huge stained glass windows

Question 29

Describe medieval peasant life.

Question 30

How did the production of iron tools affect medieval European agriculture and industry?

Question 31

The Song of Roland is one of the finest examples of which genre of literature?

A)The medieval chanson de geste
B)Twelfth-century courtly romance
C)The Arthurian legend

Question 32

How did the Church influence medieval life?

Question 33

Which of the following statements does NOT apply to the revival of Roman law?

A)It was short-lived, as the orderliness of Roman law no longer appealed to Europeans.
B)It sparked creation of an elaborate, systematic compilation by Italian jurists of all previous legal commentaries known as "the ordinary gloss."
C)It contributed to the decline of older, more barbaric forms of conflict resolution.

Question 34

Which of the following was NOT a characteristic of Romanesque architecture?

A)Churches in this style were built in the rectangular basilica shape.
B)Massive pillars and walls were required for support.
C)Interiors were notoriously bright.

Question 35

Where did much of the surplus resources of medieval urban society go?

A)The salaries of more numerous royal officials
B)The purchase of modern weaponry by kings for expanded royal armies
C)The construction of castles and churches reflecting its basic preoccupations, warfare and God

Question 36

What was one consequence of the new agriculture of the early Middle Ages?

A)The destruction of the forests
B)The contamination of the water supply
C)Increased dependence of serfs on their lords

Question 37

How is the "new agriculture" of the High Middle Ages best described?

A)It resulted from a sharp decline in the total acreage available for farming.
B)It was in part brought about by a change from the two-field to the three-field system.
C)It led to the demise of the cooperative agricultural villages.

Question 38

Peter Abelard's most famous work was which of the following?

A)The Confessions
B)Sic et Non (Yes and No)
C)Summa Theologica

Question 39

How were men's and women's lives different during the medieval period?

Question 40

The revival of classical antiquity in the twelfth century was primarily caused by which of the following?

A)The university movement of the previous century
B)Circulation in the west in Latin translation of many ancient philosophical and scientific works previously saved by Muslim scholars
C)The elaborate and dialectical writings of St. Thomas Aquinas

Question 41

Why did the church begin promoting concepts of chivalry? What effect did this have on medieval gender roles?

Question 42

Why was publishing in the vernacular so significant?

Question 43

How did political authorities benefit from cities under their rule?

Question 44

Whom did universities ultimately serve? Why?

Question 45

Which was most influential to a medieval person's life, their class or their gender? Why?

Question 46

What was a carruca?

A)A new type of blast furnace
B)A Spanish dance involving four partners
C)A heavy-wheeled, iron-tipped plow

Question 47

How did new urban identities compete with traditional feudal ones?

Question 48

Describe a typical medieval European city.

Question 49

How did the rise of cities also promote the growth of skilled trades?

Question 50

Why did some cities choose to constitute themselves as "republics"?

Question 51

Describe the medieval student experience.

Question 52

How important was credit to the medieval economy?

Question 53

Describe the different genres of medieval literature.

Question 54

Describe the origins of universities.

Question 55

Which of the following was NOT used as a source of power by medieval farmers?

A)Horses
B)Coal
C)Water

Question 56

How did cities respond to lords' claims to authority over them?

Question 57

What role did cities play in the medieval economy?

Question 58

Describe the differences between Romanesque and Gothic architecture.

Question 59

What was the main objective of scholasticism?

Question 60

Which was more important to medieval agricultural transformations, iron tools, new farming methods, or new water and windmills?

Question 61

Which came first during the resurgence of medieval Europe, the rise of cities or the rise of trade? How did they affect each other?

Question 62

What gave cities the confidence to issue political challenges to lords? To what extent were cities successful in their efforts to become autonomous? Why?

Question 63

What effect did writing in the vernacular have on medieval literary culture?

Question 64

Why did medieval cities, though republics, limit citizenship to only the wealthiest inhabitants? What effect did this have on urban development?

Question 65

Who gained the most from universities? Where did university graduates usually end up?

Question 66

The high number of fights and accidents described in medieval court records may plausibly be attributed to what?

A)The violence of lords
B)The high consumption of alcohol
C)Generally poor diet and nutrition

Question 67

Each is true of the ideal of civilized behavior known as chivalry EXCEPT which of the following?

A)Knights were to fight to defend the church.
B)Knights were to protect the weak and defenseless.
C)Chivalry was developed without the influence of the church.

Question 68

Why did the translation and circulation of Aristotle have such a large impact on university learning?

Question 69

Which of the following was NOT a consequence of the higher food prices caused by growing demand for agricultural produce in towns and cities?

A)Lords sought to grow more food for profit on their estates.
B)Many serfs were no longer legally tied to the land and were converted into free peasants.
C)Almost all peasants gained complete economic independence from their lords.

Question 70

In medieval thought, how were women usually regarded?

A)Equal to men in all things except war
B)Subservient to men and subject to male authority
C)An equal partner of men in theory, but not in practice

Question 71

What technological advances underpin the transition from Romanesque to Gothic architecture? Why are these significant?