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

Question 1

​Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio are best known for their works written in Latin.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

The bubonic plague originated in

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

Answer 2

Asia.

Question 3

Because of the resulting economic depression, the price of labor was drastically reduced in the aftermath of the Black Death.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

All medical books, even after the impact of the Black Death, continued to be written in Latin, and all were highly theoretical rather than being practical.

Question 5

The flagellants

A)were praised by the Catholic church for their miraculous deeds.
B)attracted attention and created mass hysteria wherever they went.
C)worked with both Jews and clergy to cope with the disorder and dislocation caused by the plague.
D)remained a popular religious movement throughout the fourteenth century.
E)were only found in isolated rural areas.

Question 6

Pogroms were

A)religious ceremonies convened to ask for God's help against the plague.
B)special indulgences granted to those 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 7

One of France's advantages toward the end of the Hundred Years' War was its adoption of cannon.

Question 8

The Visconti family ruled the Duchy of Milan throughout most of the fourteenth century.

Question 9

The term ars moriendi means

A)the art of dying.
B)the beauty of death.
C)the triumph of life.
D)the art of living well
E)the divine artist

Question 10

What was the main cause of the early fourteenth century famines?

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

Question 11

In contradiction to Thomas Aquinas, William of Occam claimed that the truths of religion could not be proved by reason but could be accepted only by faith.

Question 12

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 13

In France the Estates-General represented the entire kingdom and reflects France's basic unity.

Question 14

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 15

During the Black Death

A)Western Europe became home to large Jewish communities because of persecutions in Russia and Poland.
B)the worst organized massacres of the Jews were carried out in England.
C)the Jews acted as partners of the flagellants in seeking to mitigate the effects of plague.
D)Strasbourg became the most important place of refuge for Jews.
E)Jews were accused of causing the plague by poisoning town wells.

Question 16

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 17

The bubonic plague caused great mortality in Italy but had relatively limited impact on the rest of Europe.

Question 18

It is estimated that famine in the early fourteenth century killed 35 percent of the European population.

Question 19

Christine de Pizan agreed that killing Joan of Arc had been a good idea, as this execution protected the proper ideal of women everywhere.

Question 20

After the Black Death, money payments were increasingly substituted for military service in the lord-vassal relationship.

Question 21

In the conduct of the Hundred Years' War, a sure sign of feudalism's decline was the

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 22

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 23

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 24

Politically, Italy and Germany were similar in the fourteenth century because

A)the plague had equally devastated both regions.
B)both regions failed to develop a centralized monarchical state.
C)local nobles and town governments lost much influence over reigning kings.
D)mercenary captains usurped royal authority and ruled violently.
E)both had begun to develop industrial economies.

Question 25

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 26

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 27

The Italian condottieri were

A)political leaders supporting the pope.
B)bankers with branch banks throughout much of Western Europe.
C)merchants working in northern Europe.
D)reformers within the Catholic Church.
E)leaders of mercenary bands, occasionally ruling as military dictators.

Question 28

Postplague socioeconomic relations between rich and poor in Europe

A)improved noticeably as Christians sought to make peace with one another to please an angry God.
B)did not alter from their preplague character.
C)deteriorated because a surplus of workers resulted in a dramatic downturn in wages.
D)improved radically as the economy entered into a period of sustained prosperity.
E)got much worse as the positions of landlords deteriorated, and they sought to limit the gains of the peasants.

Question 29

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 30

The European aristocracy responded to the adversity of the great plague by

A)seeking to lower wages by legal means, especially for farm laborers.
B)producing only the most basic foodstuffs, such as grain.
C)petitioning kings to order the relocation of laborers.
D)forming agricultural cooperatives linking landowners, laborers, and city consumers.
E)investing in trade and commerce rather than agricultural production.

Question 31

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 32

Politically, France by the end of the fourteenth century saw

A)the dominance of the Estates-General in determining government policy and administering taxes.
B)no new forms of government revenue due to royal opposition.
C)chaos and civil war as rival noble factions fought for control of the realm.
D)new rights of political participation in the Parlement of Paris for poor townspeople.
E)strongly unified as a result of the leadership of Joan of Arc.

Question 33

The English Peasants' Revolt of 1381

A)was caused by the rising economic expectations of ordinary people.
B)was halted when leaders Wat Tyler and John Ball betrayed the peasants' cause.
C)succeeded in getting the government to agree to the peasants' demands.
D)gained long-term results for the peasants.
E)led to the end of the Hundred Years' War.

Question 34

France's "first woman of letters" was

A)Catherine of Siena.
B)Joan of Arc.
C)Heloise.
D)Christine de Pizan
E)Hildegard.

Question 35

During the reign of Edward III of England, the Great Council of the barons

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

Question 36

The Golden Bull of 1356 in Germany

A)made heredity rather than election the process by which German kings were selected.
B)ensured the independence of the ecclesiastical states.
C)gave seven electors the power to choose the "king of the Romans."
D)ensured strong central authority for Germany in the next century.
E)gave limited religious toleration to urban Jews.

Question 37

At the Battle of Crécy

A)the English defeated the French with cannons.
B)the English defeated the French after a lengthy siege of the castle of Crécy.
C)French pikemen defeated the English cavalry.
D)English archers devastated the French cavalry.
E)French mercenaries starved the English out of the city of Crécy.

Question 38

Economically, the great plague and the crises of the fourteenth century

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

Question 39

Merchants and manufacturers responded to the economic tribulations of the fourteenth century by

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 40

Joan of Arc

A)was captured by the Burgundians and turned over to their English allies.
B)was handed over to the Inquisition on charges of witchcraft.
C)was considered transgressive because she wore men's clothing.
D)was condemned as a heretic and burned at the stake.
E)All of these are correct.

Question 41

Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales

A)celebrated English victories in the Hundred Years' War.
B)portrayed characters from a variety of status levels, both high- and low-born.
C)justified the English Peasants' Revolt.
D)praised the church and its clergy.
E)All of these are correct.

Question 42

The Great Schism reflected the divisions

A)among the Italian city-states.
B)between the French and the Burgundians.
C)among the German territorial princes.
D)between the English and the French in the Hundred Years' War.
E)between Christians and Muslims in Spain.

Question 43

The most revolutionary of thirteenth and fourteenth-century inventions was/were

A)the printing press.
B)paper.
C)eyeglasses.
D)clocks.
E)telescope.

Question 44

The mystic who founded the Modern Devotion movement and led the group known as the Brothers of the Common Life was

A)Meister Eckhart.
B)Marsiglio of Padua.
C)Thomas Aquinas.
D)William of Occam.
E)Gerard Groote.

Question 45

The Decameron is set

A)in London during the Hundred Years' War.
B)in Rome during the Great Schism.
C)in German lands after the Golden Bull.
D)in Paris during the Avignon papacy.
E)in Florence at the time of the Black Death.

Question 46

Mysticism in the fourteenth century

A)was especially advocated by the nominalist school of William of Occam.
B)particularly took hold in France and Spain.
C)emphasized an intensely personal feeling of oneness with God.
D)was fully endorsed and carefully controlled by the church.
E)abandoned orthodox Christianity for heterodox pantheism.

Question 47

Florence was ruled throughout most of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries by the

A)grandi.
B)popolo grasso.
C)popolo minuto.
D)ciompi.
E)duce.

Question 48

All of the following are correct about Petrarch EXCEPT he

A)was a Florentine.
B)wrote in the vernacular.
C)wrote sonnets in Latin.
D)perfected the sonnet form.
E)wrote love poems to Laura.

Question 49

Concerning parent-child relationships in the Middle Ages

A)parents were mostly indifferent toward their children, who often died while very young.
B)parents lavished considerable attention and affection on their offspring.
C)children were increasingly given over to be raised by strict church tutors.
D)children often married very young due to parental pressures to establish their own families quickly.
E)because of the number of deaths in the Black Death, children were seen as special and unique and were thus raised in a permissive environment.

Question 50

Meister Eckhart

A)challenged the works of Thomas Aquinas in public disputations.
B)was a mystic who claimed that one could achieve a union of the soul with God.
C)was a noted leader of the flagellants who turned to persecution of the Jews.
D)led the reform of the Franciscan order in Germany.
E)rejected the leadership of the pope and was burnt at the stake.

Question 51

The conflict between Pope Boniface VIII and Philip IV of France began when Philip

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

Question 52

In Defender of the Peace, Marsiglio of Padua took the position that

A)popes have authority over the commoners but not over nobles.
B)the church must consign itself solely to spiritual functions.
C)popes have ultimate authority over all men, even kings.
D)the church was entirely illegitimate.
E)each king ought to establish his own church in his country.

Question 53

The fourteenth-century theologian who claimed that reason could not prove spiritual truth was

A)Thomas Aquinas.
B)Peter Abelard.
C)Oddone Colonna.
D)William of Occam.
E)Meister Eckhart.

Question 54

In fourteenth-century Venice, the real executive power of the state came to be held by the

A)doge.
B)duce.
C)Council of Merchants.
D)Council of Ten.
E)popolo minuto.

Question 55

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 56

Dante's Divine Comedy

A)is considered a supreme summary of medieval thought.
B)was one of the last fourteenth-century works to be written in Latin.
C)lashed out at the "barbarity" of the classical tradition.
D)attacked the science of Aristotle, the Holy Roman Emperor, and the Catholic church.
E)was a new interpretation of the Old Testament written in Italian.

Question 57

The Great Schism

A)put an end to the church's previous financial abuses.
B)badly damaged the faith of many Christian believers.
C)rejuvenated Christianity as it had been on the decline throughout Europe.
D)prohibited the abuse of pluralism.
E)lasted for ten years.

Question 58

From 1305 to 1377, the Papacy resided across the French border in the town of

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

Question 59

Changed urban attitudes in the fourteenth century included

A)the promotion of equality between men and women in the workplace.
B)later marriages and increases in the number of extended families.
C)children being seen as valuable only in their capacity to work and earn money for the family.
D)the regulation and acceptance of prostitution in most communities.
E)the abolition of any property requirement for voting and political participation.

Question 60

The artist Giotto

A)acquired his painting skills in Paris.
B)completed his most famous works while visiting Venice and Constantinople.
C)is considered to represent the perfection of traditional medieval art.
D)painted abstract sacred figures to emphasize the inability of humans to comprehend the divine.
E)created works displaying a new kind of realism.

Question 61

What led to the papacy's decline during the fourteenth century?

Question 62

How did the adversities of the fourteenth century affect urban life and medical practices at the time?

Question 63

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

Question 64

Compare and contrast the Jacquerie with the English Peasants' Revolt.What accounts for the differences?

Question 65

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

Question 66

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

Question 67

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

Question 68

What were the major themes of the vernacular literature of Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio, and Chaucer? How did the work of Christine de Pizan indicate both similar and different concerns?

Question 69

What were the causes and consequences of the failure of Germany and Italy to develop strong centralized governments?

Question 70

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?

Question 71

Women benefited from the Black Death because

A)they were able to find refuge in nunneries.
B)they were immune because of herbs taken in conjunction with pregnancy.
C)of social custom they were isolated, being restricted to their houses.
D)there were new employment opportunities.
E)women always lived longer than men.