Chapter 10: The Worlds of Christendom: Contraction, Expansion, and Division, 500–1300

1. This Muslim holy building was constructed on the site of the Jewish Temple.

 a. Kaaba

 b. Dome of the Rock

 c. Grand Mosque of Sana’a

 d. Great Mosque of Córdoba

The answer is b. The Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem was built on the site of the Jewish Temple after the Muslim conquest of 638.

2. This was the dominant sect of Christianity in Syria, Persia, Iraq, and China.

 a. Nestorian

 b. Orthodox

 c. Catholic

 d. Manichaean

The answer is a. The Nestorian branch of Christianity survived in Muslim Syria, Iraq, and Persia, and even took root in China.

3. What led to the decline of Christianity in China in the ninth century?

 a. An active Buddhist mission in China lured away Christians.

 b. Neo-Confucianism developed, proving more attractive to the masses than Christianity.

 c. With the Islamic conquest of Central Asia, the Christians of China no longer had access to priests and missionaries.

 d. The Chinese state turned against all religions of foreign origin.

The answer is d. In the mid-ninth century, the Chinese government turned against foreign religions, including Christianity, Buddhism, and Islam; in the face of government attacks, Christianity nearly vanished.

4. What was the Mongol attitude toward Christianity?

 a. They rejected it, believing that Christians practiced cannibalism.

 b. They appreciated Christianity’s permissiveness regarding food and drink, and a number of prominent Mongols converted.

 c. They were deeply attracted to Christianity, making it the official religion of their state.

 d. They ignored it, showing tolerance but regarding Christianity as a religion for inferior, sedentary peoples.

The answer is b. To the Mongols, Jesus was a prominent shaman, and Christianity’s dietary rules were more appealing than those of Buddhism and Islam.

5. Christianity in this land continued long after the Muslim conquest, only to decline severely in numbers after violent persecution broke out in the mid-fourteenth century; about 10 percent of the population is still Christian today.

 a. Turkey

 b. Persia

 c. Egypt

 d. Ethiopia

The answer is c. Christianity was the majority religion in Egypt by the time of the conquest. The Christian community remained vital for centuries, until it was violently attacked in the mid-fourteenth century.

6. Which of the following is a distinctive feature of Ethiopian Christianity?

 a. A fascination with Judaism and Jerusalem

 b. Belief that Jesus came and preached in their country

 c. Belief that the apostle St. Thomas was the first to spread Christianity in their country

 d. A special veneration for St. Gregory the Great

The answer is a. Ethiopian Christians were fascinated with Judaism and Jerusalem and believed their own king was a descendant of King Solomon.

7. What was the Byzantine Empire?

 a. An Islamic empire focused on the Balkans

 b. The last of the Greek Hellenistic states, formerly called the Seleucid Empire

 c. The Christian state that replaced the Roman Empire in central Europe

 d. The continuation of the eastern half of the Roman Empire

The answer is d. Only called “Byzantine” by modern scholars, the people of this state, which included the eastern half of the Roman Empire, regarded themselves as Romans.

8. What was the “New Rome”?

 a. Paris

 b. Moscow

 c. Constantinople

 d. Athens

The answer is c. Founded in the early fourth century by Emperor Constantine, Constantinople was consciously intended to be a “New Rome” that preserved Rome’s cultural heritage.

9. The ruler of this state claimed to be the “peer of the apostles.”

 a. Ethiopia

 b. France

 c. Papal State

 d. Byzantine Empire

The answer is d. The Byzantine emperors had “peer of the apostles” and “sole ruler of the world” among their titles.

10. What is the term used for a system in which the Church is closely tied to the state, with the secular ruler playing a role as head of the Church?

 a. Caesaropapism

 b. Nicolaitism

 c. Theocracy

 d. Papism

The answer is a. In caesaropapism, the ruler is head both of state and of the Church, embodying the roles of both Caesar and the pope.

11. How was Arian Christianity different from Orthodoxy?

 a. It held that Jesus was a human, not God.

 b. It held that Jesus was created by God the Father, and was not co-eternal with him.

 c. It taught that Jesus only appeared to live on the earth, without actually taking on human form.

 d. It taught that Jesus had only a single, divine nature.

The answer is b. Arius taught that Jesus was a lesser, divine figure than God the Father, who had been created in time rather than existing eternal.

12. Which of the following was a practice of the Western Catholic Church but not of Eastern Orthodoxy?

 a. Western Christians venerated saints while Eastern Christians did not.

 b. Western Christians were under the authority of bishops while Eastern Christians were not.

 c. Western Christians defined Christian doctrine in terms of Greek philosophical concepts while Eastern Christians did not.

 d. Western Christians believed the pope to be the supreme authority over the Church while Eastern Christians did not.

The answer is d. By about the year 1000, Western Christians were united in seeing the pope as the final authority over the Church; it was over this issue above all that the Churches formally broke apart in 1054.

13. What effect did the Crusades have on relations between the Eastern and Western Churches?

 a. They led to worsening relations, as westerners saw Orthodoxy as blasphemous and soon came to attack Byzantines.

 b. They led to improved relations, as westerners came to rescue the Byzantines from the Turks.

 c. They did not have a significant impact on relations between the Churches.

 d. At first they caused tension, but in time they led to a reunification of the two Churches.

The answer is a. The Crusades began as a movement in cooperation with the Byzantine Empire but were plagued from the beginning by cultural and other misunderstandings that made the relationship between the two Churches worse.

14. What was “Greek fire”?

 a. The fire that spontaneously lights in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher every Easter

 b. An early form of bomb

 c. A flammable mixture launched from bronze tubes

 d. A perpetual flame kept in the city of Constantinople to remind emperors that Rome had been lost and must be recovered

The answer is c. Greek fire, a highly flammable combination of oil, sulfur, and lime, was launched from bronze tubes; it was important especially during the Arab sieges of Constantinople.

15. These brothers were missionaries to the Slavs and their development of a script in which to write Slavic languages helped spread both Christianity and literacy.

 a. Cyril and Methodius

 b. Damon and Pytthias

 c. Cosmas and Damian

 d. Harmodias and Aristogeiton

The answer is a. Cyril and Methodius are regarded as the apostles to the Slavs, These Byzantine brothers, who lived in the ninth century, developed a Cyrillic script that made it possible to translate religious writings into Slavic languages.

16. This prince converted to Orthodox Christianity after sending emissaries to bring reports of Judaism, Islam, and both Eastern and Western Christianity, finding the splendor of the Byzantine Church most convincing.

 a. Clovis

 b. Charlemagne

 c. Vladimir

 d. Wenceslas

The answer is c. The tenth-century Vladimir of Kiev, according to early chronicles, sent emissaries to learn of different religions before opting for Orthodoxy; he also received a Byzantine princess as bride.

17. Which of the following statements best describes Western Europe in the early Middle Ages?

 a. It fragmented politically but largely retained the economic structures it had enjoyed during the Roman Empire.

 b. It remained politically united under German successors of the Roman emperors but suffered a steep economic decline.

 c. It was politically fragmented, but its population remained relatively steady, with German invaders replacing Romans who died in several epidemics.

 d. It was politically fragmented and largely rural.

The answer is d. After the end of the Roman Empire in the West, Western Europe was politically fragmented and suffered a sharp decline in urban life.

18. Which statement best describes the relationship between Germans and Roman culture in early medieval western European culture?

 a. Germans rejected Roman culture, regarding it as decadent and inferior to their own.

 b. Germans accepted some elements of Roman culture but rejected their language and religion.

 c. Germans were quick to accept much of Roman culture.

 d. Germans adopted Roman religion but rejected most other elements of Roman culture.

The answer is c. Germans were highly influenced by Roman culture, in everything from a preference for wine to legal systems and Christianity.

19. This Germanic king created a large empire in Western Europe and was crowned as Roman emperor on Christmas Day, 800.

 a. Charlemagne

 b. Otto I

 c. Clovis

 d. Odoacer

The answer is a. Charlemagne, or Charles “the Great,” was a king of the Franks who did his best to re-create the Roman Empire and received imperial coronation from the pope on Christmas Day in the year 800.

20. What was feudalism?

 a. An economic system in which elites exercised control over the serfs who worked the land

 b. A political and social system in which power was largely in the hands of a land-holding warrior elite who swore allegiance to greater lords or kings

 c. A political system in which a king controlled a country by building castles that his officials then controlled

 d. A church system in which people turned their lands over to a local monastery or church in return for protection and prayer

The answer is b. Feudalism was a system of decentralized political power with most power in the hands of land-holding warrior elites who gave their allegiance and military service to more important lords in return for the land that they then controlled.

21. What was the typical pattern for conversion to Christianity in early medieval Western Europe?

 a. A strategy to convert rulers, who would then serve as the missionaries to their people

 b. A grassroots strategy in which missionaries sought to build a popular base so that neighbors could then convert neighbors

 c. A strategy based on dissemination of religious texts to convince the populace

 d. A top-down strategy in which missionaries sought first to convert rulers

The answer is d. Most often, missionaries in Western Europe tried first to convert rulers, so the rulers could then not only protect missionaries but encourage their people to convert as well.

22. Which of the following statements is true of Europe in about the year 1000?

 a. It was suffering severe attacks by Magyars, Vikings, and Muslims.

 b. Agricultural production was going down because of a cooling trend in the weather.

 c. Weather was in a long warming trend, leading to improved agricultural production.

 d. Major wars between Germany and France caused widespread instability.

The answer is c. A warming trend in Europe between about 750 and about 1200 led to greatly improved agricultural production.

23. Why was the Champagne area of France important in the high Middle Ages?

 a. It was the center of feudalism.

 b. It was home to major trade fairs where northern and southern European goods were exchanged.

 c. It was the center of authority of the growing and centralizing French monarchy.

 d. It was a leading center of wine production, setting new standards of excellence.

The answer is b. The Champagne trade fairs were the great meeting place of merchants from Northern and Southern Europe.

24. A group of people in the same line of work who associate together to regulate their trade is a

 a. union.

 b. condotta.

 c. guild.

 d. university.

The answer is c. A guild was an association of all the people in a particular craft; the association regulated quality, prices, and membership.

25. What were Beguines?

 a. Groups of laywomen in Northern Europe who devoted themselves to a religious life

 b. Female members of a guild

 c. Nuns

 d. Women who withdrew from life to a locked cell to lead a life of prayer

The answer is a. Beguines led an informal religious life without formal vows, thus attracting the suspicion of male Church authorities.

26. From which European land did people leave to cross the Atlantic Ocean to establish colonies around the year 1000?

 a. Portugal

 b. Ireland

 c. Italy

 d. Scandinavia

The answer is d. Scandinavians founded colonies on Iceland and Greenland, and from the latter, Leif Erikson established a colony in Newfoundland in about the year 1000.

27. What effect did crusading have on Spain?

 a. Crusading took away men who would otherwise have helped with the reconquest of Spain.

 b. Crusading brought Spain back under Christian rule.

 c. Crusading had little effect on Spain, because Spain was too busy with its own Muslim-Christian struggle to worry about the Holy Land.

 d. Crusading had a devastating effect on Spain, provoking a Muslim counterattack against Christianity that devastated the land for centuries to come.

The answer is b. The warriors who fought the centuries-long reconquest of Spain were regarded as Crusaders.

28. Which of the following statements best describes European technology in the late Middle Ages?

 a. Europeans created a number of new technologies in an independent process that caught them up with the rest of Eurasia by about 1500.

 b. European technology in about 1500 still lagged far behind that of the Islamic world and China.

 c. Europeans borrowed a great number of technological innovations and also created many of their own.

 d. European technology by about 1500 was considerably more advanced than that of China and the Islamic world.

The answer is c. Europeans borrowed and adapted many technologies to work in European conditions, but also invented new technologies of their own.

29. This region had the most advanced use of gunpowder in the world by c. 1500.

 a. China

 b. Turkish Empire

 c. Mughal Empire

 d. Europe

The answer is d. Gunpowder was a Chinese invention, but Europeans were probably the first to make cannons. By 1500, Europeans had the most advanced gunpowder weaponry in the world.

30. Which of the following is a reason for the high degree of militarization of European society at the end of the Middle Ages?

 a. Europe had many political centers that competed constantly with each other.

 b. Europe’s peoples were naturally warlike.

 c. Europe had become accustomed to fighting enemies of the faith in the Crusades.

 d. All of the energies of Europe were directed at stopping the Turkish advance into Europe.

The answer is a. Political life in Europe became a system of competing states that fought each other frequently, thus leading to a high degree of militarization.