Final Exam Study Questions, Western Civ to 1650  (Fall 2007)

The exam will have two sections.  Section A will have two questions, each worth 25 percent of the total exam grade.  Section B will have one question worth 50 percent of the total exam grade. 

TO TAKE THE EXAM, YOU MUST BRING ME A BLANK BLUE BOOK BY 4 DECEMBER!

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In Section A, I will ask TWO (2) of the following questions.  Your answers must make use of information from the Noble textbook and our class discussions, and they must be completely in your own words.

~What policies allowed the Carolingian dynasty to create and then sustain an empire that ruled most of Western Europe, and why did Charlemagne's empire fragment?

~What was the Investiture Conflict/Controversy, and why was it so important to the status (power and influence) of the German Empire and the Roman Catholic Church? 

~How was High Medieval society ordered?  (In other words, who were "those who pray," "those who fight," and "those who work"? What groups did not fit into these three "orders"?)

 ~What social and economic conditions set the stage for the Black Death in the 1300s, and what impact did the plague have on European society?  (Be sure to consider the long-term effect on religion, trade patterns, the rural economy and life in the towns.) 

 ~Explain the basic theological positions taken by each of the following that made them "Protestants":  Martin Luther, Huldrych Zwingli, John Calvin, the Anabaptists.

In Section B, I will ask ONE (1) of the following questions.  Your answer must make use specific examples from The Song of Roland and must be completely in your own words.

~What does The Song of Roland reveal about the importance of honor in the worldview of aristocratic elites in Early Medieval Europe?

~What does The Song of Roland reveal about Christian attitudes towards Muslims during the Middle Ages?  (Be mindful of any distinctions made between Muslims from different lands.)