Question 1

What factors led to the decline of the Renaissance?

Accepted Answer

The answer of What factors led to the decline of...

Question 2

Historians today generally use the term Renaissance to refer to:

Accepted Answer

A)  a period in economic history when trade was reborn. 
B)  a period in European history when the northern countries dominated the culture of the Continent. 
C)  a period in European history between 1300 and 1550, during which all aspects of European life were united by a common spirit of the age. 
D)  a period of intellectual rebirth after the Dark Ages, when learning had been extinguished. 
E)  a period in intellectual and cultural history, marked by a new interest in the study of classical learning.

Question 3

The early humanist Petrarca criticized late-medieval scholasticism because he felt it:

Accepted Answer

A)  concentrated more on virtuous living than abstract speculation. 
B)  concentrated more on abstract speculation than virtuous living. 
C)  focused too much on Christianity and salvation. 
D)  encouraged a solitary life of contemplation and asceticism. 
E)  was much too worldly in its approach to education.

Question 4

Marsilio Ficino taught that human beings are capable of attaining their own salvation:

Accepted Answer

A)  by understanding the separation of their souls from their bodies. 
B)  through a complete rejection of this world and constant prayer and solitude. 
C)  by engaging fully in ethical civic action. 
D)  through participating in all the sacraments. 
E)  by exercising their own talents to the fullest degree possible.

Question 5

_________ taught that people could achieve salvation through the exercise of their unique talents.

Accepted Answer

A)  Marsilio Ficino 
B)  Lorenzo Valla 
C)  Giovanni Pico della Mirandola 
D)  Niccolò Machiavelli 
E)  Leonardo Bruni

Question 6

After the 1525 battle of Pavia,Italy fell under the control of:

Accepted Answer

A)  Louis XII, king of France. 
B)  Francis I, king of France. 
C)  Pope Clement VII. 
D)  an alliance of independent city-states led by Milan, Florence, and Venice. 
E)  Charles V, king of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor.

Question 7

Renaissance painting techniques of the fifteenth century included:

Accepted Answer

A)  the use of light and dark shading. 
B)  the application of oil-based pigment on canvas. 
C)  precise anatomical renderings of the human body. 
D)  the use of linear perspective to depict three dimensions. 
E)  all of these

Question 8

Sculpture during the Renaissance broke with the past in that statuary:

Accepted Answer

A)  would now be created only to use as memorials for those who had died. 
B)  could now be used as a part of tombs to honor the dead. 
C)  would now be incorporated into the supporting columns of triumphal arches. 
D)  could now be used instead of columns at the front of buildings. 
E)  now became freestanding figures "in the round."

Question 9

During the first half of the sixteenth century,the most important artistic center in Renaissance Italy was:

Accepted Answer

A)  Rome. 
B)  Florence. 
C)  Milan. 
D)  Venice. 
E)  Naples.

Question 10

The Renaissance transformed the _________ aspects of European life.

Accepted Answer

A)  political and economic 
B)  religious 
C)  intellectual and artistic 
D)  religious and political 
E)  religious, political, and economic

Question 11

The author of Utopia was:

Accepted Answer

A)  Desiderius Erasmus. 
B)  Sir Thomas More. 
C)  Ulrich von Hutten. 
D)  Lorenzo Valla. 
E)  Guillaume de Machaut.

Question 12

The retelling of the Song of Roland in fifteenth-century Italy differed from the original by its:

Accepted Answer

A)  setting, which was changed to Italy from Spain. 
B)  lack of any suggestion of heroic idealism. 
C)  language: the original was in vernacular French and the retelling in Latin. 
D)  ending, which had Roland surviving to be rewarded for his heroism by Charlemagne. 
E)  use of irony to stress the heroic idealism of Roland.

Question 13

The literature of the Northern Renaissance:

Accepted Answer

A)  broke completely with the past and created totally new forms of literature such as free verse. 
B)  developed many of the literary forms of the past, but also developed new forms such as the sonnet. 
C)  kept the literary forms developed during the Italian Renaissance, such as the sonnet, but also created one new form, the novel. 
D)  was more imitative than original, as it worked to develop the forms pioneered during the Italian Renaissance. 
E)  consisted, for the most part, in translating the new creations of Italy and the classical works of Greece.

Question 14

Petrarch thought the goal of a Christian writer was to inspire people to do good rather than concentrate on abstract speculation.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 15

The Renaissance originated in Italy because:

Accepted Answer

A)  Greek was still a common language among educated Italian elites. 
B)  in the fourteenth century the papacy was the center of cultural and artistic innovation in Europe. 
C)  during the later Middle Ages, Italy was the wealthiest urban society in Europe. 
D)  during the later Middle Ages, Italian schools were among the weakest in Europe. 
E)  the ancient texts that were being recovered were all in Latin, the language of Italy.

Exam 12: Renaissance Ideals and Realities,c.1350–1550