Deck 11: Challenges to the Medieval Order

Question 1

Who claimed that the church was a natural rather than a supernatural entity and that the church community was composed of individual Christians who had a right to control it?

A)Marsiglio of Padua
B)William of Ockham
C)Philip of Burgundy
D)John Wyclif
E)Bridget of Sweden

Answer 1

Marsiglio of Padua

Question 2

What kind of natural disaster struck Europe several times during the first third of the fourteenth century?

A)famine
B)plague
C)earthquake
D)flooding
E)volcanic eruption

Answer 2

famine

Question 3

The Mongol leader Temujin,who led his people to conquer parts of China,Russia,and Persia,is better known as

A)Genghis Khan.
B)Saladin.
C)Nuraddin.
D)Timur.
E)Khwarazm.

Answer 3

Genghis Khan.

Question 4

What was the name of the Venetian merchant who claimed to have visited the Mongol court and whose writings are a disputed source of information on thirteenth-century China?

A)Marco Polo
B)John of Piancarpino
C)Alexius Comnenus
D)Marsiglio of Padua
E)Christine de Pizan

Question 5

The Great Schism was an extended dispute over divided claims to what position?

A)pope
B)King of France
C)King of England
D)chancellor of the University of Paris
E)president of the Vatican Council

Question 6

Which of the following was NOT a military innovation of the fourteenth century?

A)stirrups
B)crossbow
C)longbow
D)pike
E)gunpowder

Question 7

The French national legislature,which first met in 1302 under Philip IV,was the

A)Estates General.
B)Lateran Council.
C)Council of Constance.
D)Parliament.
E)Assembly of Notables.

Question 8

Roughly what percentage of the European population was killed by the Black Death between 1347 and 1350?

A)30 to 50 percent
B)40 to 60 percent
C)20 to 40 percent
D)50 to 70 percent
E)10 to 20 percent

Question 9

Who was involved in a conflict in which a secular king challenged and humiliated the papacy?

A)Philip IV and Boniface VIII
B)Benedict XI and Henry II
C)Innocent III and Philip IV
D)Clement V and Frederick I
E)Innocent III and John

Question 10

The Mongols changed from potential European allies to enemies when they

A)converted to Islam.
B)returned to China.
C)made an alliance with Michael Palaeologus.
D)conquered Constantinople.
E)deposed Pope Urban II.

Question 11

Which of these men insisted that because popes were human,they were as prone to error as anyone else and proposed that the best way to determine truth about an issue was to seek a consensus of opinion?

A)William of Ockham
B)Marsiglio of Padua
C)Philip of Burgundy
D)John Wyclif
E)Gerard Groote

Question 12

Which Christian city was sacked during the Fourth Crusade?

A)Constantinople
B)Mecca
C)Cairo
D)Baghdad
E)Vienna

Question 13

Which king was declared heir to both the English and French thrones?

A)Henry VI
B)Charles VI
C)Henry IV
D)Richard II
E)Edward II

Question 14

Which warrior brought the Muslims of the Middle East together,formed an empire that stretched from Africa to Armenia,and founded the Ayyubid dynasty?

A)Saladin
B)Temujin
C)Timur
D)Khwarazm
E)Nuraddin

Question 15

The underlying issue of the Hundred Years' War was

A)the English king's claim to be king of France.
B)the French king's claim to be king of Spain.
C)disputes between England and France over rule of Italy.
D)the pope's claim to be Christendom's supreme leader.
E)Bertrand du Guesclin's claim to be king of France.

Question 16

Which king overthrew his parents,who were serving as regents,to assert his independent rule over England?

A)Edward III
B)Edward I
C)Edward II
D)Henry II
E)Henry V

Question 17

What action did critics refer to as a "Babylonian captivity"?

A)the papacy's sojourn in Avignon
B)excessive Roman influence over the pope
C)restriction of the papacy's authority to church matters
D)unjust papal imprisonment of rival bishops
E)imprisonment of the King of France by the pope

Question 18

Martin V,whose election as pope ended the Great Schism,was chosen by

A)the council at Constance.
B)Philip IV of France.
C)Edward I of England.
D)the Council of Basil.
E)the Estates General.

Question 19

What was the name of the English fraternity of knights,founded in 1348,that was meant to be similar to the knights serving the legendary King Arthur at Camelot?

A)Order of the Garter
B)Royal Order
C)Order of St.George
D)Council of Peers
E)Knights of the Sword

Question 20

Which group did many Europeans blame for causing the plague?

A)Jews
B)Muslims
C)their rulers
D)doctors
E)traveling merchants

Question 21

In the late Middle Ages,political states were

A)just beginning to form.
B)fully formed but inexperienced.
C)maturing and falling into decay.
D)highly nationalist and jingoistic.
E)primarily oligarchies.

Question 22

After 1300,European crop production began to fall due to

A)a long period of slowly diminishing average temperatures.
B)plant diseases introduced from Asia.
C)changes in farming practices.
D)Muslim invasions of Europe.
E)recurrent insect infestations.

Question 23

Eustache Deschamps' poem "Against the Present Day" lamented the problems of what century?

A)fourteenth
B)thirteenth
C)twelfth
D)fifteenth
E)eleventh

Question 24

During the Middle Ages what level of formal education was typically provided to middle- and upper-class girls?

A)elementary training
B)high school training
C)college training
D)no training
E)domestic training

Question 25

Although the late medieval period has been described as an Age of Anxiety,

A)its skepticism and self-doubt helped give rise to the Italian Renaissance.
B)Eustache Deschamps rejected such pessimism.
C)strong papal leadership overcame Europe's problems.
D)only the elite were affected by Europe's problems.
E)writers were clearly overstating Europe's problems.

Question 26

What might be considered the silver lining to the cloud cast over Europe by the Black Death?

A)Survivors found their economic prospects improved.
B)It led to advancements in science and medicine.
C)It caused people to abandon their superstitions and to embrace reason.
D)It ended the Hundred Years' War.
E)The upper classes lost their dominance.

Question 27

The idea that the final authority in spiritual matters belonged to the whole community of Christians was known as

A)conciliarism.
B)Devotio Moderna.
C)absolutism.
D)popular infallibility.
E)nominalism.

Question 28

Why was Saladin able to establish such a widespread empire-from Armenia to Tunisia?

A)It was a loosely controlled federation of principalities.
B)Saladin imposed tight control through a network of bureaucrats.
C)Saladin maintained a tight grip through a network of mosques.
D)Saladin posed as the leader of a unified alliance of Muslim states.
E)It was a well-organized,tightly controlled confederation.

Question 29

Christine de Pizan is best known for her poem celebrating the deeds of

A)Joan of Arc.
B)John of Gaunt.
C)the Black Prince.
D)her family,
E)Queen Isabella.

Question 30

What impact did changes in weaponry have during the Hundred Years' War?

A)The aristocracy began to lose its political dominance.
B)Only the wealthiest could afford to fight.
C)War became too expensive for France and England to fight.
D)Heavily armored knights dominated the battlefield.
E)Kings lost their authority over the common people.

Question 31

Why was Eustache Deschamps despondent about his life and prospects?

A)His otherwise successful professional life was affected by epidemics and invasions.
B)He was too poor to get the education he needed to become a professional.
C)He failed to win royal patronage that had been promised for his foreign travel.
D)He tried repeatedly for political office but failed over and over again.
E)Although he had trained to be a lawyer at the university,he was ostracized by the elite.

Question 32

Arguments questioning the validity of the authority of the medieval church could also be used to question

A)the authority of monarchs.
B)property rights of merchants.
C)patriarchal authority over the family.
D)the value of reason in finding truth.
E)women's role in the family.

Question 33

For Christine de Pizan,what did Joan of Arc represent?

A)the potential inherent in women
B)the extremes of a fanatic
C)a model for patriotic fervor
D)a woman manipulated by politics
E)the ideal nationalistic warrior

Question 34

The long lull in hostilities in the middle of the Hundred Years' War is best explained by

A)internal political problems in England.
B)peace negotiations sponsored by the pope.
C)France becoming too poor to continue fighting.
D)aristocratic knights lost interest in the war.
E)a lack of men willing to fight for pay.

Question 35

Why did the Council of Basel fail?

A)European kings preferred papal power to conciliar power.
B)Church leaders refused to attend any more councils.
C)Philip IV's arrested its leaders.
D)It was unable to decide on a pope and left the office vacant.
E)Most Europeans had lost their faith in the church,

Question 36

In Europe the medieval epidemic killed between 30 and 50 percent of the population.How did losses in the Muslim world compare?

A)Muslim losses were about the same.
B)Muslim losses were much heavier.
C)Muslim losses were much lighter.
D)Muslim losses were slightly heavier.
E)Muslim losses were slightly lighter.

Question 37

The flagellant movement and more frequent depictions of the Last Judgment were responses to what medieval crisis?

A)the Black Death
B)the failure of the Crusades
C)the Hundred Years' War
D)the Mongol invasions
E)the Great Schism in the church

Question 38

During the Middle Ages,the most persistent and longest lasting invasions of others' lands were carried out by

A)crusaders.
B)Mongols.
C)the English.
D)the French.
E)Muslims.

Question 39

If the plague of fourteenth-century Europe was a version of Yersinia pestis,what explains its spread to Europe?

A)global shifts in climate
B)migrations from the Russian steppe
C)migrations from Africa
D)the return of the crusaders
E)exploration of the New World

Question 40

Lacking a trade or profession,Christine de Pizan maintained her household at first by working as a

A)copyist.
B)translator.
C)seamstress.
D)maid.
E)shopkeeper.

Question 41

What was the major reason that Europeans drained swamps,cut down forests,and reclaimed land from the sea from the 1000s to the 1200s?

A)to increase the area of arable land
B)to clear land for cities and towns
C)to create seaports and trade routes
D)to build bridges and canals
E)to dig mines and quarries

Question 42

Why did the reduced temperatures of the Little Ice Age have a serious impact on Europe?

A)The society was mainly agrarian.
B)The society was mainly urban.
C)Most European countries depended on trade.
D)Sea trading routes with Asia were disrupted.
E)Troops were not equipped to fight in winter.

Question 43

During the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries,aristocratic families

A)became increasingly weak and unstable.
B)faced few challenges to their social and economic leadership.
C)benefitted more from the aftermath of the Black Death than did common people.
D)successfully resisted wealthy commoners from joining their ranks.
E)lost most of their social and economic status.

Question 44

The stresses and changes of the late Middle Ages were,in the long run,most harmful to the status of

A)the church.
B)the aristocracy.
C)common people.
D)merchants.
E)scholars.

Question 45

From what information can you infer that Christine de Pizan was successful at her profession?

A)She supported herself and five other people.
B)She lived a life of luxury and extravagance.
C)Her paintings sold at a high price.
D)Her work was translated into five languages.
E)Her heirs contested her will for five years.

Question 46

Why were the crop failures of the early fourteenth century particularly devastating to Europeans?

A)The population of Europe had tripled between the eleventh and fourteenth centuries.
B)Europe had invested heavily in the campaigns of the crusades.
C)The population of Europe had doubled between the eleventh and fourteenth centuries.
D)Over the centuries,inheritance laws had divided land into parcels too small to support the average family.
E)Land was unproductive because people of the Middle Ages had no concept of crop rotation.

Question 47

How was Eustache Deschamps typical of his generation?

A)His life was ruinously affected by the plague and the Hundred Years' War,and he found no support in religious organizations.
B)He suffered famine and was forced to serve in the crusades,and was then re-directed in an attack on Constantinople.
C)He lived in Vienna when it was attacked by the Mongols,who burned his home and killed his family.
D)In spite of the trials he suffered,Deschamps was optimistic that a new era was about to dawn.
E)In spite of his hardships,Deschamps recognized that Western civilization had demonstrated powerful resilience.

Question 48

What made famines less wide-reaching and devastating after the fourteenth century?

A)So many people had died in the plague that there were fewer mouths to feed.
B)The number of people killed in the crusades and wars took pressure off food production.
C)The Little Ice Age caused a migration from Europe,so the land had to support fewer people.
D)Technological breakthroughs made existing land more productive.
E)When land became scarce,people turned to fishing and hunting.

Question 49

Edward II established the Order of the Garter to

A)encourage people to picture him as a new King Arthur.
B)surround himself with a skilled inner guard.
C)train future commanders in military maneuvers.
D)train a group of specialized military governors.
E)lead a campaign on Scottish territory.

Question 50

Who had the most to gain from the papacy's Babylonian Captivity at Avignon?

A)the king of France
B)the College of Cardinals
C)the king of England
D)the pope
E)Roman aristocrats

Question 51

What role did Flanders have in the outbreak of the Hundred Year's War?

A)England had close economic ties to Flanders,which bordered France.
B)Edward III's mother was Flemish.
C)English kings had claimed for centuries to be rightful counts of Flanders.
D)Several fourteenth-century popes were Flemish.
E)France supplied the wool for the Flemish cloth industry.

Question 52

Which statement best characterizes Innocent III's accomplishments?

A)He strengthened the power of the papacy of the church and its clergy.
B)He was able to maintain a semblance of authority but in actuality owed his hold on the papacy to the will of European kings.
C)He was ineffective in using his authority despite several attempts to influence European kings.
D)He gave up much of the authority of the papacy to secular authorities in exchange for peace.
E)He was able to establish power by demanding that European kings be his vassals.