Deck 7: The Struggle to Bring Order: The Early Middle Ages, C.A 750-1000

Question 1

All of the following were part of traditional German legal procedure except:

A) A fixed number of honorable men who could testify to the character of the accused
B) An ordeal by battle
C) Having the accused pick up a red-hot iron to see if his hand would be damaged
D) A trial conducted by professional judges

Answer 1

A trial conducted by professional judges

Question 2

Wergeld meant

A) An ordeal by battle
B) The process by which a person took an oath testifying to the good character of the accused
C) Compensation from a guilty party to a victim or victim's family
D) Walking on hot coals to prove innocence

Answer 2

Compensation from a guilty party to a victim or victim's family

Question 3

The whole system of Germanic law described in the text indicates that

A) There was no concept that law was made by kings; they were supposed to be recording the will of the people
B) Justice in the Germanic tribes was thought of primarily as vengeance
C) The basic social unit in the Germanic tribes was not the individual but rather the family or the kinship group
D) All of these options are correct

Answer 3

All of these options are correct

Question 4

The most important legacy of early Germanic law in the Middle Ages was

A) That it entirely displaced Roman law, which became completely forgotten
B) That it helped establish the principles of rule of law and representative assemblies
C) That it created a great gulf between king and subject
D) That it insured that German would be that language of all of Europe

Question 5

Bede

A) Was the first Archbishop of Canterbury
B) Was the most important intellectual at the court of Charlemagne
C) Was the author of the medieval history, the Ecclesiastical History of the English People
D) Successfully defeated the Danish invasion of England

Question 6

Anglo-Saxon England

A) Remained pagan until well after 1000 C.E
B) Produced several remarkable intellectuals, such as Bede
C) Was the original home of the Vikings
D) Was the original home of the Visigoths

Question 7

Alfred the Great

A) Ruled England, developed a strong administration and promoted scholarship
B) Wrote the Ecclesiastical History of the English People
C) Conquered Denmark
D) Succeeded Charlemagne as emperor

Question 8

The major problem faced by Alfred the Great in Anglo-Saxon England was

A) A major Danish invasion that overran half of England
B) The resurgence of paganism among a partially Christianized population
C) The lack of officials to carry out royal policies
D) The growth of serfdom, which left the peasants discontent

Question 9

The dominant ruler of Western Europe in the late 8th century was

A) Clovis
B) Bede
C) Alcuin
D) Charlemagne

Question 10

Which of the following was not a characteristic of the Carolingian monarchy under Charlemagne?

A) A vigorous warrior-king who fought fifty-three campaigns, most of them successful
B) An administrator who tried but ultimately failed to establish an effective and lasting mode of governing
C) A monarch who promoted intellectual life, attracting some of the best scholars of his day to his court
D) An attempt to conquer Constantinople to make Charlemagne a universal emperor

Question 11

The effectiveness of the Carolingian administration rested primarily upon

A) Charlemagne's renunciation of military campaigns in favor of a large bureaucracy
B) Copying the Anglo-Saxon institution of sheriffs as the major local officials
C) Charlemagne's designation of traveling inspectors, called missi dominici, to keep him informed
D) Charlemagne's personal charm

Question 12

The coronation of Charlemagne as emperor

A) Led him to move his capital to Constantinople
B) Was performed against the will of the pope
C) Took place when there was an empress, but no emperor, in Constantinople
D) Was the major reason for the campaign against the Saxons

Question 13

Charlemagne's diplomacy

A) Finally led to an 813 agreement with Byzantium that permitted him to use his imperial title
B) Led to an irreparable breach with Harun al-Raschid
C) Led to the First Crusade
D) Led to a breach with the Pope

Question 14

The Carolingian intellectual revival included all of the following except

A) The establishment of schools in the hope of generating an educated clergy
B) The undertaking of scientific research
C) The development of a curriculum that became a foundation of liberal arts studies
D) The development of a standardized handwriting that is the ancestor to the modern printed alphabet

Question 15

The Clunaic Order was

A) A decree by Charlemagne raising taxes to fund new schools
B) A famous book by Bede
C) An administrative system developed by Harun al-Raschid
D) A group of Benedictine monks who were accountable only to the abbot at Cluny and through him, the pope

Question 16

The Treaty of Verdun

A) Temporarily reunited the Carolingian empire under Charles the Bald
B) Established peace between Charlemagne and the Byzantine emperor, who had been upset by Charlemagne's coronation
C) Provided for the independence of the papal states
D) Confirmed the division of the Carolingian empire

Question 17

The tale of Dhuoda, a lady of Carolingian times, illustrates

A) The problems of the decay of Carolingian monasticism
B) The horrors accompanying the Viking attacks
C) The fate of aristocratic families caught up deeply in the civil wars among the grandsons of Charlemagne
D) The scholarly achievements of the Carolingian age

Question 18

The Carolingian empire was shaken by a major wave of invaders. Choose the one group that was not among the invaders.

A) Muslims raiders
B) Ostrogoths
C) Magyars
D) Vikings

Question 19

The society of the Vikings

A) Differed radically from Germanic society
B) Resembled early Germanic society, but tended to be more violent
C) Was that of peaceful fishermen
D) Was influenced by Islamic society

Question 20

The age of the invasions of the Magyars, the Vikings and Muslim raiders had all of the following results except

A) Learning suffered when the attacks required attention and resources
B) The physical area of Western Civilization contracted
C) The church structure deteriorated, as local lords often seized church lands or placed bishops and priests under their control
D) The notion of a Christian Europe headed by emperors and popes collapsed as the empire fragmented

Question 21

The world raided and settled by the Vikings was vast. What is the only area on this list that was not affected by them?

A) India and Arabia
B) Russia and Constantinople
C) Iceland, Greenland and North America
D) England and France

Question 22

In the medieval manor

A) There was pasture, woodlands and water as well as agricultural fields
B) The peasants lived on the land they farmed
C) The land was farmed in large blocks
D) All of these options are correct

Question 23

The medieval serf was

A) A slave, usually from outside Europe, purchased to do menial work on the manor
B) A person who had no obligation to any other person in the social hierarchy
C) A servant, specifically of the village priest
D) Not a slave, but was bound to the land, forbidden to leave it without permission

Question 24

The peasants who lived on the medieval manor

A) Could not use the forests as these were reserved for the lord's use
B) Worked the land in long narrow strips rather than in large blocks
C) Had much livestock, which provided a good amount of meat for their diet
D) Did not use their livestock as a source for clothing

Question 25

The obligations of serfs to the lords included all of the following except

A) The duty to defend the manor house from attack
B) Up to three days a week of work on the lord's land
C) A portion of the cloth and garden vegetables produced by the women
D) The erection of buildings and digging of ditches at the lord's command

Question 26

The adjective used by historians to describe the system of political and social relationships among the nobility in the early Middle Ages is

A) Manorial
B) Capitalist
C) Imperial
D) Feudal

Question 27

Medieval manorial and feudal organization was based on a hierarchy of mutual obligations. Which of the following relationships was not feudal or manorial?

A) King and nobles
B) Husband, wife and children
C) Lord and vassal
D) Serf and lord of the manor

Question 28

The essence of the feudal relationship was

A) The ability of the lords to exploit the serfs
B) The monetary payments made by the lords to their vassals
C) The linking of loyal military service with the possession of land that would support that service
D) The voluntary servitude of the serfs

Question 29

Which of the following was not part of the feudal, as opposed to the manorial, hierarchy?

A) Lords
B) Serfs
C) Kings
D) Vassals

Question 30

Relationships between vassals and lords included all of the following except

A) The vassal owed the lord unlimited military service
B) Lords owed land and military protection to vassals
C) The lord-vassal relationship gradually became hereditary, reducing the control of the lord over his vassals
D) The lord-vassal relationship was considered contractual and could be voided if either side breached the agreement

Question 31

As feudal society became more complex,

A) The complexities destroyed the feudal kingdoms
B) The concept of the liege lord, to whom ultimate obedience was owed, developed
C) It became illegal for a vassal to have multiple lords
D) No vassal could create a vassal beneath him

Question 32

It can be stated of noble women in the early Middle Ages

A) That the church, by enforcing monogamy, enhanced the position of the wife in medieval society
B) That wives often managed their husband's estates when the latter were absent on military campaigns
C) That they could inherit and hold land
D) All of these options are correct

Question 33

It can be said in general of the eighth, ninth and tenth centuries

A) That all the achievements of the Greek and Roman worlds were destroyed
B) That the Carolingian empire succeeded in ending the chaos caused by the various invasions
C) That out of the chaos of the collapse of Carolingian authority there emerged the groundwork for an orderly social and political system
D) That the Roman Catholic Church was in decline

Question 34

Germanic law at the time of the great migrations was often designed to limit the exercise of vengeance.

Question 35

Wergeld fines were the same regardless of the status of the persons involved.

Question 36

The great early English monk and historian, author of the Ecclesiastical History of the English People, was Alcuin.

Question 37

Alfred the Great was not only king of England, but also an important translator of works from Latin to Old English.

Question 38

The political turmoil in the Byzantine Empire was a factor leading to Charlemagne's coronation as emperor in 800.

Question 39

Charlemagne's great enemy in the Islamic world was the caliph of Baghdad, Harun al Raschid.

Question 40

The English scholar invited to Charlemagne's court to improve education was Bede.

Question 41

The major innovation of the abbey of Cluny in late Carolingian times was that it was not subordinate to any noble or king, but only to the pope.

Question 42

Charlemagne envisioned that after his death his empire would remain united under a single ruler rather than be partitioned among multiple heirs.

Question 43

The Treaty of Verdun confirmed the breaking up of the Carolingian Empire into three kingdoms, each ruled by a descendant of Charlemagne.

Question 44

The tale of Dhuoda showed how an aristocratic family could be destroyed by the political turmoil occurring during the collapse of the Carolingian empire.

Question 45

Of all the invaders of the Carolingian empire, the ones who did the most damage were the Magyars.

Question 46

Of the major Viking kings, only Canute succeeded in conquering England.

Question 47

In the medieval manor, the peasant lived on the land he farmed.

Question 48

The livestock on the medieval manor provided the peasant a diet rich in meat.

Question 49

The medieval serf could not leave his village and land without permission of the lord.

Question 50

Feudal society had a clear, well-organized structure.

Question 51

The basic purpose of feudal society was to organize men for war by granting enough land to support a warrior.

Question 52

Because of the complexities of loyalty in feudal Europe, kings tried to develop the idea of a liege lord to whom principal, unrestricted loyalty was owed.

Question 53

The early medieval church's insistence on monogamy enhanced the position of married noble women.

Question 54

In Germanic law, the payment made by the guilty to the family of the victim to avoid vengeance was called the ________.

Question 55

The Germanic legal device by wherein persons testified to the good character of the accused was called ________.

Question 56

The Anglo-Saxon monastic scholar who wrote the Ecclesiastical History of the English People was________.

Question 57

Anglo-Saxon kings appointed ________ (later called sheriffs) to help them maintain control of the local shires.

Question 58

The Anglo-Saxon king who defeated the Danes and who translated works from Latin into Old English was ________.

Question 59

The ninth century Frankish ruler who controlled the kingdom at its territorial peak was ________.

Question 60

When in Rome in 800, Charlemagne was crowned Roman Emperor by _______.

Question 61

The great intellectual whom Charlemagne brought to his court to reform education there was___________.

Question 62

In the Carolingian era, the skill of reading was considered separate from the skill of ________.

Question 63

In the late Carolingian age, an important monastery was founded at Cluny that owed its allegiance solely to ________.

Question 64

The Treaty of ________ partitioned the Carolingian empire among the descendants of Charlemagne.

Question 65

The letters of the Carolingian noble woman ________ to her son show how noble families were caught in the quarrels that led to the division of the Carolingian Empire.

Question 66

Of the invaders of the late Carolingian empire the most important, according to the text, were the________.

Question 67

The ability of the Vikings to raid so many parts of Europe depended especially on their ________.

Question 68

The Danish ruler who conquered England and became its king was ________.

Question 69

The basic rural unit of the Middle Ages was the ________.

Question 70

The medieval peasant who was bound to the land was known as a ________.

Question 71

Peasants owed many services to their lord, but the one service the lord needed that they did not provide was ________.

Question 72

The adjective to describe the relationship between the fighting men of the early Middle Ages was________.

Question 73

As feudal relationships grew more complex, the concept of the ________ who could claim unreserved loyalty developed.

Question 74

Who was the more effective ruler, Charlemagne or Alfred the Great and why?

Question 75

Discuss the concepts of law, justice and the process of judicial decision prevalent among the Germanic tribes who invaded the Roman Empire. Did any of this influence subsequent law?

Question 76

Describe the major intellectual tendencies and accomplishments of the ages of Charlemagne and Alfred the Great.

Question 77

Why and how did the empire of Charlemagne, apparently so powerful, disintegrate?

Question 78

Describe the Vikings, showing who they were, how they became so powerful and what their effect was upon the European world.

Question 79

Describe the medieval manor and the life of the peasant who worked on it.

Question 80

What were the essentials of feudal society and how did they work?