Semester II Medieval History Short Answer Questions

What were Pope Urban II's major goals in calling the First Crusade?

What different factors can explain the First Crusade's astonishing success and the failure of nearly all the others?

What is Magna Carta, and why does it still matter to us today?

Explain the relationship between lords and vassals under medieval feudalism. What did lords provide for their vassals, and what did the vassals have to do in exchange?

Explain the different stages that a candidate for knighthood progressed through, and describe the ceremony in which he would become a knight.

Describe the code of chivalry; according to its principles, what were the reasons for which knights were supposed to fight?

How did castles evolve from the motte and bailey to the concentric castle?

What were the main features of Gothic architecture, and how did flying buttresses and other engineering advances make this new style of building possible?

How did bishops come to be feudal vassals as well as religious leaders, and what kind of problems arose as a result?

Explain the medieval controversy over investiture. How did this conflict help to create the modern idea of the difference between Church and State?

Compare monks and friars: how are monastic religious orders different from mendicant orders in their organization and purpose?

Describe the life of serfs on a manor. What were their responsibilities, what system did they use to farm, and were there any positive aspects of their position compared to modern life?

Explain the rise of towns during the High Middle Ages and describe the medieval guild system.

What are some of the ways in which the Black Death changed the medieval world and weakened feudalism and the Church?

What were the tactics and weaponry that enabled the English to win battles like Crecy and Agincourt during the Hundred Years’ War? How did these new methods contradict the ideals of chivalry?

What were the results of the Hundred Years’ war? Who (if anyone) won, and how did the war make both England and France more unified nations?