Deck 12: Tradition and Change in European Culture, 1300-1500

Question 1

Which of the following scholars argued that the simplest explanation for any phenomenon is always the best?

A)Thomas Aquinas
B)William of Ockham
C)Chaucer
D)Marsilius
E)Jean Buridan

Answer 1

William of Ockham

Question 2

Civic Humanism emphasized

A)ordinary characters.
B)a rejection of the Greek language.
C)participation in public affairs.
D)monarchical government.
E)a rejection of public affairs.

Answer 2

participation in public affairs.

Question 3

The philosophers known as nominalists

A)believed that only a "nominal" number of individuals could ever attain true enlightenment.
B)asserted that universal natures were discoverable through human reason.
C)denied the existence of universal natures and ideal forms.
D)believed that physical reality was only a reflection of the true reality of ideal forms.
E)believed that the universal natures and ideal forms are discoverable through the contemplation of certain numbers or "nomins."

Answer 3

denied the existence of universal natures and ideal forms.

Question 4

In the fourteenth century the English heretic John Wycliffe taught that

A)only those who embraced monastic vows lived according to God's will.
B)God's will is revealed by the Scripture and the words of Church leaders.
C)priests who stand in God's grace are necessary to perform sacraments like communion.
D)popes and bishops did not necessarily have God's grace and could be defied by princes.
E)papal authority superseded the authority of princes.

Question 5

Which of the following is NOT a correct match?

A)Raphael: constructed dome on Florence's cathedral
B)Michelangelo: sculpted David for the city of Florence
C)Leonardo: engineer as well as painter
D)Titian: preeminent portrait painter of Europe
E)Botticelli: Birth of Venus

Question 6

The Florentine Neoplatonists

A)believed that Platonic thought contradicted Christian thought.
B)believed that Platonic philosophy and Christian belief were reconcilable parts of a single truth.
C)were encouraged by the papacy to continue their studies.
D)emphasized the equality of all beings in God's universe.
E)rejected the pursuit of human perfection.

Question 7

The devotio moderna was similar to Italian Humanism in that it

A)drew its chief inspiration from the works of antiquity.
B)reacted against the pomp and splendor of papal and other ecclesiastical courts.
C)addressed its message to lay people in order to help them lead a higher moral life.
D)drew its inspiration from pagan traditions.
E)All these answers are correct.

Question 8

Masaccio, Donatello, and Brunelleschi, Florentines of the early Renaissance,

A)rejected works of the ancient world as models for the new art.
B)were unable to master the sculpting and engineering techniques of the Romans.
C)avoided depicting the naked human form.
D)stressed balance and harmony in design and the importance of the individual human figure.
E)All these answers are correct.

Question 9

Which of the following statements helps explain the fascination in northern Europe during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries with death, decay, and witchcraft?

A)the failure of the Church to provide consolation
B)the fact that mortality rates from the plague were much higher in northern Europe than in southern Europe
C)the concern of urban elites with lower-class discontent
D)the rejection of materialism
E)All these answers are correct.

Question 10

Which of the following is most accurate concerning the culture of northern Europe during the late fourteenth and fifteenth centuries?

A)Merchants were the greatest art patrons of the era.
B)The Church had lost its role in stimulating great art.
C)Princely courts dominated culture during this period.
D)Literate laymen had no real influence on cultural life.
E)Dense urban areas stimulated shifts in culture.

Question 11

In his search for a model of virtuous behavior, Petrarch turned to

A)the world around him.
B)the Church fathers.
C)Roman writers.
D)both the Church fathers and Roman writers
E)all of these: Roman writers, the Church fathers, and the world around him.

Question 12

Which of the following was NOT characteristic of Renaissance Humanism?

A)liberal education
B)the use of classical languages and authors to train students in eloquence
C)the belief that education and study could improve human beings
D)a rejection of the importance of religion in daily life
E)a commitment to piety

Question 13

The Council of Pisa

A)caused the Great Schism.
B)sought to increase the power of the Italians within the Church.
C)attempted to resolve the Great Schism.
D)excommunicated the followers of the Avignon pope.
E)successfully appointed a new pope.

Question 14

The papacy attempted to overcome its fiscal crisis by

A)collecting a tax for appointments to ecclesiastical offices.
B)selling dispensations.
C)selling future appointments.
D)all of these: collecting a tax for appointments to ecclesiastical offices; selling dispensations; and selling future appointments.
E)None of these answers is correct.

Question 15

The chief concern of humanist education was to

A)train people in Scholastic thought.
B)educate teachers and theologians.
C)teach people a trade.
D)help people to live moral lives.
E)eradicate beliefs in an afterlife.

Question 16

Which was NOT an art form in which northern Europeans excelled in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries?

A)woodcut engravings
B)marble sculpture
C)polyphonic music
D)oil painting
E)None of these answers is correct; all are art forms in which northern Europeans excelled.

Question 17

Vittorino's conception of a humanist education included

A)Latin and Greek.
B)mathematics.
C)physical activities.
D)courteous manners.
E)All these answers are correct.

Question 18

Which of the following is NOT true of Marsilius of Padua?

A)He advocated lay sovereignty within the Church.
B)He asserted that only coercive power gives meaning to law.
C)He claimed that the Church is entirely subject to the sovereign will of the state.
D)He defended papal authority against the rising power of laymen.
E)He claimed that Church laws are not binding because they are not supported by any coercive power.

Question 19

The Italian humanists used historical evidence to

A)provide moral examples.
B)dismiss Greek culture as irrelevant to modern life.
C)demonstrate God's providence.
D)to impose a completely secular world view.
E)standardize vernacular languages.

Question 20

Albrecht Dürer

A)refused to depict biblical themes.
B)joined the court of the Holy Roman Empire.
C)attempted to distance himself from his craftsman origins.
D)maintained his links to his craftsman origins.
E)lived by earning stipends from his patrons.

Question 21

How did the artists of the Italian Renaissance incorporate the new intellectual and cultural trends of their time into their art?

Question 22

Discuss the ways in which dissatisfaction with the character, practices, and beliefs of the Roman Catholic Church was expressed in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.

Question 23

What does map 12.2 demonstrate about political alliances during the Great Schism?

Question 24

How does Masaccio's painting seen in this chapter demonstrate the shared concerns of art and Humanism during the fifteenth century?

Question 25

Why did Renaissance humanists reject the spirituality of the Middle Ages even though faith and spirituality remained important within Renaissance Humanism?

Question 26

What was the relationship between Renaissance Humanism and Scholasticism?

Question 27

Review the feature entitled "Petrarch on Ancient Rome" in this chapter.How does this passage reveal the aspirations of the Renaissance?

Question 28

How do you account for the fact that people in northern Europe seemed to be more concerned about daily devotion and the state of their relationship to God than those in the south? What were the political, intellectual, and artistic concerns of the Italian Renaissance?

Question 29

Consider the works of art shown in Chapter 12.How did artistic styles reflect changing political, religious, social, and intellectual concerns during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries?

Question 30

What was the symbolic significance of the placement of Lorenzo and Cosimo de Medici within the painting by Gozzoli pictured in this chapter?

Question 31

Referring to map 12.1, how did the founding of new universities, especially during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, reflect political and economic trends?

Question 32

It took decades for the princes of northern Europe to appreciate the intellectual and artistic movements associated with Renaissance Italy.Once they did, they found many aspects of these movements attractive and useful.What features of Humanism and Renaissance culture in general would have benefited princes trying to enhance their power and legitimacy?

Question 33

Jan Hus

A)led the Lollards against the Church.
B)led an army against the king of Bohemia.
C)led a crusade against the Utraquist Church.
D)was condemned and executed for his beliefs.
E)was protected by the Church Council at Constance.

Question 34

The increase in lay piety reflected

A)the growing distrust of Humanism.
B)the search for reassurance on the heels of an age of disasters.
C)the Church's attempt to regain control in the aftermath of the Great Schism.
D)the rebuilding of Rome.
E)the efforts of spiritual elites to revive religiosity.

Question 35

How does Albrecht Dürer's The Riders on the Four Horses from the Apocalypse as seen in this chapter echo religious sentiments of northern Europe at the close of the fifteenth century?

Question 36

Some critics have declared that the Renaissance was merely a movement of the male urban political elite.Do you agree or disagree with this claim? Use specific examples to bolster your position.

Question 37

Consider the painting of Mona Lisa pictured in this chapter.Mona Lisa's smile has perplexed critics, historians, and even casual observers for years.What do you think she is smiling at? How does the painting reveal Leonardo's experimental tendencies?

Question 38

Why was the glorification of chivalry in northern Europe in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries unrealistic and escapist?

Question 39

What led to the Great Schism? Why did it prove so difficult to resolve?

Question 40

In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, cultural expression in northern and southern Europe developed in very different ways.Describe some of those differences, and explain them.

Question 41

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: The Courtier.

Question 42

Judging from Hus's tone in the letter, do you think his demeanor affected the outcome of his trial?

Question 43

Review the feature entitled "Hus at Constance" in this chapter.Why do you think that Hus does not address the political nature of the Council of Constance in this letter?

Question 44

Review the feature entitled "Isabella d'Este's Quest for Art" in this chapter.What do these extracts indicate about Isabella d'Este's responsibilities in the household of her husband? Would you consider her a traditional wife? Why or why not?

Question 45

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: Dürer.

Question 46

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: Vittorino da Feltre.

Question 47

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: Raphael.

Question 48

Review the feature entitled "Hus at Constance" in this chapter.Hus complains that the Church had "neither heard nor seen [his books]." What was the purpose of the Council of Constance? Given that purpose, do you think that familiarity with Hus's books would have made a difference?

Question 49

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: Titian.

Question 50

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: Canterbury Tales.

Question 51

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: Brunelleschi.

Question 52

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: Humanism.

Question 53

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: Boccaccio.

Question 54

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: Civic Humanism.

Question 55

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: Marsilio Ficino.

Question 56

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: Neoplatonism.

Question 57

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: danse macabre.

Question 58

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: Giotto.

Question 59

Review the feature entitled "Petrarch on Ancient Rome" in this chapter.What was happening in ancient Rome during the time of "Scipio, Brutus, Cato, and many others"? Does Petrarch romanticize this period of Roman society?

Question 60

Review the feature entitled "Isabella d'Este's Quest for Art" in this chapter.Discuss the motives for having a painting by Bellini or da Vinci hung in your house during the Renaissance.Have these motives changed today regarding the works of these artists?

Question 61

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: Coluccio Salutati.

Question 62

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: relics.

Question 63

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: Petrarch.

Question 64

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: Michelangelo.

Question 65

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: Casa Giocosa.

Question 66

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: Chaucer.

Question 67

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: The Decameron.

Question 68

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: nominalists.

Question 69

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: Pico.

Question 70

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: John Wycliffe.

Question 71

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: Catherine of Siena.

Question 72

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: Donatello.

Question 73

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: Baldassare Castiglione.

Question 74

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: Leonardo.

Question 75

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: Council of Pisa.

Question 76

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: Isabella d'Este.

Question 77

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: Jan Hus.

Question 78

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: patron.

Question 79

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: Great Schism.

Question 80

Identify/define and explain the significance of the following: Masaccio.