Deck 11: The Flowering of Medieval Culture: the Christian Synthesis

Question 1

Peter Abelard's colorful life included all of the following except

A)an affair with his student Héloise who as a result entered a convent after giving birth to their child.
B)castration after his scandalous affair.
C)a position as teacher of theology at the Cathedral School of Notre Dame.
D)execution as a heretic.
E)condemnation by the Church and confinement in a monastery.

Answer 1

execution as a heretic.

Question 2

While scholastics believed that reason could illuminate faith (it could, for instance, prove the existence of God), their critics found reason dangerous because it

A)led people to question articles of faith.
B)was a "fabricator of heresies."
C)hindered a person's union with God.
D)could challenge the Church's authority.
E)All of these

Answer 2

All of these

Question 3

In the High Middle Ages, Christian contacts with Islamic culture were centered in

A)Alexandria.
B)Athens and Constantinople.
C)the Balkans.
D)Spain and Sicily.
E)the Holy Land.

Answer 3

Spain and Sicily.

Question 4

In addition to studying, medieval students often

A)caroused.
B)were involved in fights and other public disturbances.
C)suffered from severe financial problems.
D)gambled.
E)All of these

Question 5

The establishment of medieval universities required

A)a corporation of either students or masters.
B)an aristocratic impetus.
C)royal supervision.
D)commercial leaders of the town who thought students might be good for business.
E)separate buildings and funding.

Question 6

In the realm of ideas and culture, Europe in the High Middle Ages

A)revived almost all the learning of the ancient world.
B)restored the dominance of rationalism in a system called scholasticism.
C)brought back a pure form of classical architecture called scholasticism.
D)nearly eliminated illiteracy.
E)None of these

Question 7

Medieval theorists would have least defended the view that

A)stars were constantly moving in relation to the earth and to each other.
B)the universe was earth-centered.
C)the earthly realm consisted of earth, air, fire, and water.
D)celestial bodies were composed of ether, a matter different from earth.
E)objects move in order to find their natural position in the universe.

Question 8

At the heart of scholasticism lay the conviction that

A)reason and revelation can be reconciled.
B)scholarship needs to have a practical application.
C)the clergy, as the spiritual leaders of society, control the educational system.
D)education must be made available to all.
E)religion has no need of philosophy.

Question 9

The Great Chain of Being refers to the medieval belief that

A)all objects had "soul," even if they were apparently inanimate.
B)God was the "first mover" who created the universe and set it in motion but He no longer intervened in history.
C)the tie between master and slave was divinely ordained.
D)the entire universe was organized by God into a hierarchical order.
E)souls were reborn in a chain that ends with the Last Judgment.

Question 10

According to the author, all of the following expressed the medieval sense that all of reality emanated from God except

A)The Divine Comedy.
B)The Song of Roland.
C)the Summa Theologica.
D)the Gothic cathedral.
E)Sic et Non.

Question 11

The Benedictine abbot, Saint Anselm, was known for

A)writing the Summa Theologica.
B)a disreputable affair with Héloise which he eventually disavowed.
C)arguing that faith is the basis of philosophical speculation.
D)analyzing the Trinity in a way that angered churchmen.
E)synthesizing all of medieval learning.

Question 12

In the Early Middle Ages, the principal education centers of Western Christendom were

A)monastery schools.
B)universities.
C)cathedral schools.
D)parish schools.
E)royal courts.

Question 13

Which of the following did not help to make the Twelfth-Century Awakening possible?

A)The revival of trade and the reappearance of urban life
B)The Carolingian Renaissance
C)Increased contacts with Byzantium and the Muslim world
D)A weakening of the Church's position in society
E)Greater political and social order

Question 14

The cultural revival of the High Middle Ages, known as the Twelfth-Century Awakening, included

A)the founding of universities.
B)the reemergence of the study of Latin and of Roman Law.
C)efforts to harmonize Greek rationalism with Christian doctrines.
D)the creation of an original architectural style: Gothic.
E)All of these

Question 15

The university curriculum of the Middle Ages was likely to have

A)an emphasis on practical skills.
B)relied heavily on the works of Aristotle.
C)neglected mathematics and astronomy.
D)stressed Roman law, the Queen of Sciences.
E)introduced the study of the arts.

Question 16

Medieval universities performed all the following functions except

A)developing the habit of reasoned argument.
B)supplying states and the Church with trained secretaries and lawyers.
C)creating a significant variety of worldviews.
D)creating a common culture for all of Latin Christendom.
E)establishing a Western tradition of learning.

Question 17

During the High Middle Ages, the geocentric theory

A)refuted Aristotelian views.
B)offered basic geometry.
C)was accepted by the clergy.
D)proposed that mathematics was the basic language of the universe.
E)was a new revolutionary theory.

Question 18

The medieval worldview held all the following except

A)God was the source of all being and all knowledge.
B)God gave humanity the power to choose and to rise from the bottom of the cosmic hierarchy but only through God's grace and subordination to God's will.
C)God's will flows down to each individual through the angels and the Church.
D)the worth of the individual comes from free will and intelligence, therefore, each person should follow Socrates' and the Stoic's search for knowledge and virtue.
E)humanity is higher than animals but still weak, egocentric, and sinful.

Question 19

According to the author, the core of the medieval Christian worldview was that

A)God determined the rules for leading a good life and that conclusions derived from reason were secondary to divine revelation.
B)when reason and revelation seemed to be in conflict, individuals should follow the dictates of reason.
C)the Greco-Roman cultural heritage was pagan and hence should be rejected in favor of the divine revelations of Scripture.
D)each individual had to follow his or her own path to God.
E)None of these

Question 20

That the lunar and sublunar worlds were entirely different from each other was an idea of

A)Plutarch.
B)Archimedes.
C)Parmenides.
D)Aristotle.
E)Plato.

Question 21

The Corpus Juris Civilis is recognized as

A)a response to the disorder of barbarian invasions.
B)the root word for an early jury system.
C)a compendium of Roman law and various commentaries.
D)a classical text that remained from the period of the Republic.
E)the Church's canon law.

Question 22

The Song of Roland tells of

A)a knight's first love.
B)a vassal's loyalty to his lord and devotion to Christianity.
C)a deserter who returns to battle and dies heroically.
D)troubadours and chivalry.
E)the dark world of Anglo-Saxon politics.

Question 23

A genuine scientific movement in Latin Christendom emerged in the

A)tenth century.
B)tenth and eleventh centuries.
C)twelfth century.
D)twelfth and thirteenth centuries.
E)thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.

Question 24

Sic et Non was an effort to demonstrate that

A)there was an irreconcilable conflict between reason and faith and that the Christian must choose faith.
B)different theologians had conflicting opinions and hence, the enterprise of theology in general was vain.
C)Aquinas's Summa Theologica was methodologically flawed.
D)the conflicting opinions of theologians could be reconciled through reasoned argument (dialectics).
E)questioning inconsistencies in Church pronouncements should be prohibited.

Question 25

In Early Medieval Europe, scientific thought was

A)far behind the Muslims and the Byzantines.
B)lower than it had been since the ancient Greeks.
C)unfamiliar with the scientific writings of Antiquity.
D)far less important than faith.
E)All of these

Question 26

Which work is sometimes called "the Iliad of the Germans"?

A)Beowulf
B)The Divine Comedy
C)Siegfried
D)Nibelungenlied
E)The Love of Tristan and Iseult

Question 27

Which of the following statements best describes Robert Grosseteste?

A)Grosseteste thought that reason can prove that the world is round.
B)Grosseteste believed that the physical world has a mathematical order.
C)Grosseteste experimented on the refraction of light.
D)Grosseteste believed the earth was round, the physical world was mathematical, and experiments were worthwhile.
E)Grosseteste believed that the ancient sources show the world is round and mathematical.

Question 28

Who foresaw that "machines for navigation can be made without rowers so that the largest ships on rivers or seas will be moved by a single man"?

A)St.Thomas Aquinas
B)Roger Bacon
C)Jean Buridan
D)Robert Grosseteste
E)William Caxton

Question 29

Which of the following combined love, war, adventure, and the miraculous?

A)The songs of the troubadours
B)The roman
C)The chanson de geste
D)The fable
E)The romance

Question 30

When Aristotle's writings were translated into Latin and reintroduced to the West

A)church scholars accepted them enthusiastically.
B)church scholars largely discounted them as pagan delusions.
C)there was controversy about whether they would endanger faith.
D)there were doubts about whether the writings were really Aristotle's.
E)they came mainly from the Byzantines and newly rediscovered ancient collections.

Question 31

The chansons de geste are best associated with

A)love poetry.
B)songs of troubadours.
C)heroic deeds.
D)ribald peasant tales.
E)satire.

Question 32

In comparing the ideas of Aristotle with those of Latin Christendom, one may correctly say that

A)Aristotle believed God was an impersonal principle; Christians accepted God as a personal being.
B)both Aristotle and Christian teachings held that the soul might exist outside the body.
C)both accepted the idea that the universe was eternal.
D)Aristotle believed God was an impersonal principle; Christians accepted God as a personal being and both accepted the idea that the universe was eternal.
E)None of these

Question 33

St.Augustine has a strong hold on the medieval mind.However, St.Thomas Aquinas disagreed with St.Augustine's view that

A)philosophy could aid in faith.
B)humanity had sinned and needed God's grace to be saved.
C)knowledge of society and the physical world was of little importance since it is of the City of Man which must pass.
D)ultimate truth comes from God.
E)Jesus Christ was God.

Question 34

Which of the following persons was a conservative churchman who decried university scholars' excessive reliance on dialectical argument?

A)Peter Abelard
B)Saint Anselm
C)Bernard of Clairvaux
D)Adelard of Bath
E)Francis of Assisi

Question 35

The geocentric model of the universe fit with the Christian worldview in that

A)it accorded with the idea that God created the universe for human beings.
B)some monotheistic groups worshipped the sun.
C)Christians did not think of heaven as a physical place.
D)Christians were opposed to sun worship because it was pagan.
E)the geocentric theory was not associated with Greek science.

Question 36

The revival of Roman law in the High Middle Ages

A)was centered in Bologna Italy.
B)was partly due to the work of Irnerius.
C)reintroduced the concept of universal principle in jurisprudence.
D)was harmonized with scholasticism.
E)All of these

Question 37

Avicenna's Canon of Medicine

A)relied on sympathetic magic and prayers for the sick.
B)was used in Roman times, but was then forgotten.
C)placed much faith in herbal cures.
D)synthesized Greek and Arabic medicine.
E)came to be accepted by modern medicine.

Question 38

The work of the Dominican Albert the Great

A)included a study of nature using empirical evidence.
B)drew on views of the universe based on his mystic experiences.
C)rested on philosophy and a belief that to study nature was an arrogant attempt to understand the mind of God.
D)was lost because he never had the opportunity to teach.
E)furthered the influence of the Inquisition.

Question 39

Medieval European Aristotelians were most strongly influenced by

A)Alcuin.
B)Averroës (Ibn Rushd).
C)Saint Anselm.
D)Plato.
E)Avicenna (Ibn Sina).

Question 40

Which of the following statements is inaccurate?

A)Roman legal practice was quite different from feudal practices.
B)Roman law influenced law codes compiled in parts of France, Germany, and the Kingdom of Castile.
C)Roman and feudal law were different only in marginal issues such as trial by jury.
D)Roman law had an influence on church law.
E)The revival of Roman law prompted some standardization of Germanic law.

Question 41

Instructions: Please define the following key terms.Show Who? What? Where? When? Why Important?
Twelfth-Century Awakening

Question 42

Each of the following statements describes important differences between Romanesque and Gothic architecture except

A)Romanesque buildings used rounded arches, while Gothic buildings used pointed ones.
B)Gothic buildings had larger windows than Romanesque.
C)Gothic buildings used flying buttresses, while Romanesque buildings did not.
D)Gothic was a medieval style; Romanesque passed with the fall of the Roman Empire.
E)Romanesque used massive walls and Gothic produced a lighter effect.

Question 43

The greatest literary figure of the Middle Ages, Dante

A)wrote in both Latin and Italian.
B)dedicated his greatest work to his beloved.
C)was familiar with the classics.
D)anticipated the Renaissance.
E)All of these

Question 44

Instructions: Please define the following key terms.Show Who? What? Where? When? Why Important?
scholasticism

Question 45

Instructions: Please define the following key terms.Show Who? What? Where? When? Why Important?
chansons de geste

Question 46

Instructions: Please define the following key terms.Show Who? What? Where? When? Why Important?
Trinity

Question 47

Indicate the author of the following; "For many works are falsely attributed to one of the Fathers to give them authority, and some passages, even in the Bible, are corrupt through the errors of copyists...."

A)St.Anselm
B)Peter Abelard
C)Aquinas
D)St.Augustine
E)Peter Waldo

Question 48

Instructions: Please define the following key terms.Show Who? What? Where? When? Why Important?
Empyrean Heaven

Question 49

The Jewish Maimonides

A)was born in Muslim Spain
B)tried to reconcile philosophy and religion.
C)was respected by Christian and Muslim thinkers.
D)achieved fame in his lifetime and became physician to the Muslim sultan in Egypt.
E)All of these

Question 50

The best examples of Gothic architecture are

A)city fortifications.
B)cathedrals.
C)palaces.
D)noble manor houses.
E)castles.

Question 51

Instructions: Please define the following key terms.Show Who? What? Where? When? Why Important?
ether

Question 52

The statues of Saints Mary and Elizabeth at Reims Cathedral reveal all of the following except

A)a reverence for female saints.
B)the considerable skill of Gothic sculptors.
C)a lack of familiarity with classical sculpture.
D)the importance of the Christian faith.
E)human warmth.

Question 53

The medieval concept of courtly love involved all of the following except

A)a husband-wife relationship.
B)a gentler, more respectful treatment of women.
C)the active influence of noblewomen.
D)eroticism condemned by the Church.
E)the concept of a warrior as a gentleman.

Question 54

Instructions: Please define the following key terms.Show Who? What? Where? When? Why Important?
Incarnation

Question 55

The Divine Comedy presents all the following except

A)a hierarchical vision of the afterworld.
B)a hell in which Lucifer burns eternally for his treachery.
C)a purgatory where the dead destined to go to heaven undergo punishment.
D)a heaven bathed in loving, divine light.
E)a mystical vision of God.

Question 56

The High Middle Ages are set apart from both classical civilization and modern society by

A)their religious orientation.
B)their limited technology.
C)their character as the Dark Ages.
D)their lack of political unity.
E)a lack of dynamism.

Question 57

Instructions: Please define the following key terms.Show Who? What? Where? When? Why Important?
mystic

Question 58

Instructions: Please define the following key terms.Show Who? What? Where? When? Why Important?
Redemption

Question 59

Instructions: Please define the following key terms.Show Who? What? Where? When? Why Important?
geocentric theory

Question 60

Instructions: Please define the following key terms.Show Who? What? Where? When? Why Important?
hierarchy

Question 61

Instructions: Please use this outline map of Europe to answer the question(s).
Locate and label the earliest medieval center of the study of Roman law and the home of Dante.

Question 62

Instructions: Please write a thorough, well-organized essay to answer each question.
Define the term geocentric theory and explain its origins.Why was the geocentric theory compatible with the Christian view of the Middle Ages?

Question 63

Instructions: Please write a thorough, well-organized essay to answer each question.
Synthesize the relevant material from Chapters 10 and 11 into a coherent overview of European civilization during the High Middle Ages.

Question 64

Instructions: Please write a thorough, well-organized essay to answer each question.
Explain the revival of literature in the High Middle Ages.

Question 65

Instructions: Please write a thorough, well-organized essay to answer each question.
Discuss three individuals whose studies during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries contributed to the development of a more scientific approach to nature.Comment on the character of their work.

Question 66

Instructions: Please write a thorough, well-organized essay to answer each question.
Describe the main aspects of the university during the Middle Ages.To what extent was the university a place of academic discourse and learning? Explain.

Question 67

Instructions: Please define the following key terms.Show Who? What? Where? When? Why Important?
Gothic

Question 68

Instructions: Please define the following key terms.Show Who? What? Where? When? Why Important?
Romanesque

Question 69

Instructions: Please write a thorough, well-organized essay to answer each question.
In what ways did Roman law influence the Middle Ages?

Question 70

Instructions: Please write a thorough, well-organized essay to answer each question.
How did the economic, social and political vitality of the High Middle Ages contribute to the intellectual and culture revival beginning with the Twelfth-Century Awakening?

Question 71

Instructions: Please use this outline map of Europe to answer the question(s).
Locate and clearly label the institutions where the following worked or taught: St.Anselm, Peter Abelard, St.Thomas Aquinas, and Robert Grosseteste.

Question 72

Instructions: Please write a thorough, well-organized essay to answer each question.
Discuss the world-view of the Middle Ages, noting why it was different from the Greco-Roman perspective.

Question 73

Instructions: Please write a thorough, well-organized essay to answer each question.
To what extent did the concept of a Great Chain of Being influence medieval thought?

Question 74

Instructions: Please write a thorough, well-organized essay to answer each question.
How might Aristotle's philosophy imperil Christian thought? How successful was the Church in banning Aristotelian ideas?

Question 75

Instructions: Please define the following key terms.Show Who? What? Where? When? Why Important?
roman

Question 76

Instructions: Please write a thorough, well-organized essay to answer each question.
Discuss the ways that the Gothic cathedral of the Middle Ages illustrates the interests or concerns of society during that period of history.What type of architecture do you think holds interest for the masses of people in the contemporary world?

Question 77

Instructions: Please define the following key terms.Show Who? What? Where? When? Why Important?
troubadours

Question 78

Instructions: Please use this outline map of Europe to answer the question(s).
Label the location where the following was written or flourished: The Song of Roland, the troubadours, the Nibelungenlieb, and the Divine Comedy.