Exam 1 Study Guide

How They Lived

Be familiar with the material in these documents from the class website:

• Important Dates in Medieval History (just those in black letters)
• Defining Orthodoxy in the Early Church
• Overview of the Crusades
• Medieval European Inventions and Importations

Be familiar with major locations on the maps found on the class website (e.g., be able to distinguish France from the Holy Roman Empire, Wessex from Northumbria, the various Crusader kingdoms). Pay special attention to the maps marked with ***.

Be able to associate people marked in red letters on the Family Trees of Select Medieval People with their regions and dynasties.

Be able to identify and describe/briefly discuss the following:

• Medieval Synthesis
• Plato
• Aristotle
• Stoics
• Epicureans
• Tertullian
• Clement of Alexandria
• Origen
• Masoretes
• Heliand
• Ambrose
• Augustine of Hippo
• Emperor Constantine
• Emperor Julian the Apostate
• Emperor Theodosius
• Odoacer
• Theodoric
• major Germanic tribes (Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Vandals, Lombards, Franks, Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Danes)
• major non-Germanic tribes (Huns, Slavs, Magyars)
• Clovis
• Charles Martel
• Battle of Tours
• Ulfilas
• Augustine of Canterbury
• Charlemagne
• King Ethelbert of Kent
• Anglo-Saxon kingdoms
• Cyril & Methodius
• King (and Emperor) Otto I the Great
• Harald Bluetooth
• King Canute
• Tariq ibn Ziyad
• Al-Andalus
• Umayyad Caliphate
• Caliphate of Córdoba
• Three Estates
• Merovingians
• Carolingians
• Emperor Justinian
• Salic Law
• Charter of Liberties
• Magna Carta
• Charter of the Forest
• King John of England
• primogeniture
• Hugh Capet
• Vikings
• Normans
• Medieval Warm Period
• King Alfred the Great of England
• Rollo
• Battle of Mount Badon
• Anglo-Saxon Chronicles
• Danelaw
• William the Conqueror
• Harold Godwinson
• Eleanor of Aquitaine
• King Henry II of England
• Outremer
• King Henry the Lionheart of England
• King Louis VII of France
• Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa
• Bernard of Clairvaux
• Emperor Alexios I Komnenos
• Raynald of Chatîllon
• Battle of Hattin
• King Louis IX of France
• Santiago Matamoros
• King Alfonso VI the Brave
• Taifa kingdoms
• Demesne
• Fief
• Chivalry
• Mead
• wergild
• Guilds
• Marco Polo

Know one significant fact about the following medieval personalities:

• Eleanor of Aquitaine
• King John Lackland of England
• Harald Bluetooth
• Emperor Alexios I Komnenos
• Thomas Becket
• Al-Ghazali
• Empress Theodora (wife of Justinian)
• Peter Waldo

You are responsible for all the assigned readings, but pay special attention to Bishop, chapters IV ("The Noble's Life") and VII ("The Life of Labor").

Other than the dates listed in "Important Dates in Medieval History," you will not be asked about any specific dates. However, you should be able to put important people and/or events in chronological order. For example, you should know that the sequence of Frankish/French kings is Clovis, Charles Martel, Charlemagne, Hugh Capet. You should also know that the sequence is Germanic invasions, Muslim conquests, start of Reconquista, start of Crusades.

Sample multiple choice questions:

• What important event happened in the year 955 (circle your answer)? start of the First Crusade, Charlemagne crowned emperor, Battle of Lechfeld, Battle of Hastings
• For one understanding of Christianity to defeat rival views, it would need to have the following: an effective enforcement mechanism, an ancient pedigree, a sizeable following, persuasive communication tools. The church of Rome had all of these except one by the third century. Circle the one that it did not yet have by the third century.
• The Third Crusade, called in response to Saladin’s capture of Jerusalem, was led by three European rulers. Which of the following was NOT one of the leaders of the Third Crusade (circle your answer)? Godfrey of Bouillon, Philip II Augustus, Frederick Barbarossa, Richard the Lionheart
• Which of the following inventions did not appear before the end of the High Middle Ages (circle your answer)? Greek fire, stirrups, printing press, fireplaces
• Which is NOT one of the Three Estates (circle your answer)? those who prayed, those who fought, those who worked, those who taught
• Which of the following terms has nothing to do with the feudal system (circle your answer)? chivalry, demesne, fief, manor
• Whom did William the Conqueror defeat to become king of England (circle your answer)? Harold Godwinson, Raynald of Chantíllon, Charles Martel, Canute
• What were the Jewish scholars who copied Hebrew Bible manuscripts and invented vowel signs in the Middle Ages called (circle your answer)? Merovingians, Magyars, Masoretes, Moors
• Which of the following was NOT a contributing factor to the population explosion of the High Middle Ages (circle your answer)? increased lifespan, inventions such as the horse collar and chimneys, Medieval Warm Period, introduction of democracy in the cities
• Which of the following was NOT a Christian missionary (circle your answer)? Methodius, Ulfilas, Tariq ibn Ziyad, Augustine of Canterbury

Sample essay/short answer questions:

• Discuss the notions of orthodoxy and heresy in early Christianity.
• What is the Medieval Synthesis?
• Give at least one region of Europe where the following Germanic tribes settled during the last centuries of the Roman Empire and immediately thereafter: Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Vandals, Franks.
• What are the Three Estates? Give examples of each.
• Discuss feudalism as a social system in the Middle Ages.
• Discuss the Viking raids and settlements in Europe and beyond.
• Discuss the growth of cities in the High Middle Ages.