G.9
History
Semester I.
The Renaissance and Reformation (1300–1650)
Chose the best answer:
1. What did humanists believe would stimulate an individual's creative
powers?
 Life experience
 Religion
 Understanding of death
 Education
2. How did the Medici family come to control Florence?
 The Medicis were one of the wealthiest, most powerful
merchant families in Europe.
 The Medicis dueled with every noble family that challenged
them and won.
 The Medicis came from a long line of rulers in Northern Italy
and settled in the city-state of Florence.
 The Medicis were granted divine rule by the Pope.
3. Dürer was particularly interested in what art form?
 sculpture
 playwriting
 architecture
 engraving
4. How did the Medici family help the Renaissance to flower?
 The Medici children were all artists.
 They established many city holidays.
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 They were generous patrons of the arts.
 They were devout Catholics.
5. Why did Martin Luther write 95 Theses?
 He was denouncing the sale of indulgences.
 He was translating the Bible in the vernacular.
 He was trying to help raise funds for the Cathedral of St. Peter.
 He wanted to write about the 95 most influential citizens.
6. The followers of John Calvin
 Believed in predestination.
 Believed that people were born without sin.
 Lived free, unrestricted lives.
 Lived in Asia Minor and Russia.
7. How did the attitudes of Renaissance thinkers differ from those of
medieval scholars?
 An emphasis was placed on group achievement.
 Human experience in the present was explored.
 Study was based on religious issues.
 Focus was placed on life after death.
8. What best describes Cervantes' book Don Quixote?
 A tale that mocks romantic notions of medieval chivalry
 A story of an ideal society in which men and women live in
peace and harmony
 The comic adventures of two giants
 A book that outlines the manners, skills, learning and virtues
that a member of the court should have
9. When did Elizabeth become Queen of England?
 When her father, Henry VIII, died
 When her half-sister, Mary Tudor, died
 When her half-brother, Edward VI, died
 When her mother, Anne Boleyn, died
10. In Utopia, Thomas More describes
 The adventures of two gentle giants.
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 The ignorant and immoral behavior of people.
 The follies of young couples in love.
 An ideal society in which men and women live in harmony.
11. The growing middle class began to demand written material in what
language?
 The vernacular
 Latin
 Greek
 Italian, with illustrations
12. What did Lutherans believe about salvation?
 God alone predetermines who will be saved.
 It is achieved through works.
 It is achieved through faith.
 The purchase of indulgences helps achieve salvation.
13. Why was Albrecht Dürer sometimes called the "German
Leonardo"?
 He painted a replica of the Mona Lisa.
 He had a remarkable resemblance to Leonardo da Vinci.
 He spread the Italian Renaissance to his homeland.
 He became a master at etching.
14. Which Italian Renaissance writer stressed that the end justifies the
means in his writings?
 Baldassare Castiglione
 Niccolò Machiavelli
 Francesco Petrarch
 Lorenzo de' Medici
15. According to legend, when Newton saw an apple fall from the tree,
he began to consider what idea?
 Gravity
 Calculus
 Alchemy
 Chemistry
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16. The spread of Calvinism led to what event?
 An overwhelming embrace of their doctrines
 Wars of religion across Europe
 The execution of Luther
 The rise of many new Calvinist city-states in the South of
France
17. Why did Henry VIII want his marriage to Catherine of Aragon
annulled, after 18 years of marriage?
 She was to be canonized.
 She was a Lutheran.
 She did not give birth to a male child.
 She was unfaithful.
18. The Prince and The Book of the Courtier are examples of what type
of literature developed during the Renaissance?
 Poetry that praised courtly love
 Guidebooks to help people with ambition
 Novels that teach about religion and education
 Plays that illustrated the human condition
19. What issues led people to move towards the Protestant
Reformation?
 Popes led lives of luxury and abused their power
 Judaism began to spread in Europe
 The Renaissance led people to believe they could do whatever
they wanted to do, including overthrow the Church.
 More and more people were dissatisfied with the monastic life
20. What Florentine landmark shows how architecture blended beauty
and utility during the Renaissance?
 Michelangelo's sculptures
 The Gothic arches to the city
 The cathedral dome
 Da Vinci's The Last Supper
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Model Answer
The Renaissance and Reformation (1300–1650)
1. What did humanists believe would stimulate an individual's creative
powers?
CORRECT: education
EXPLANATION: Humanists emphasized subjects such as grammar,
rhetoric, poetry, and history that had been taught in ancient Greek and
Roman schools.
2. How did the Medici family come to control Florence?
CORRECT: The Medicis were one of the wealthiest, most
powerful merchant families in Europe.
EXPLANATION: Cosimo de'Medici gained control of the Florentine
government in 1434. The Medicis were a merchant family with
enough money to exert political and economic leadership.
3. Dürer was particularly interested in what art form?
CORRECT: engraving
EXPLANATION: Dürer was interested in engraving—etching designs on
metal plates with acid—using the painting techniques he learned in
Italy. He perfected the technique.
4. How did the Medici family help the Renaissance to flower?
CORRECT: They were generous patrons of the arts.
EXPLANATION: Cosimo de'Medici was a generous financial supporter
of the arts. Artists frequently visited the Medici palace, and sketched
ancient Roman statues in the gardens.
5. Why did Martin Luther write 95 Theses?
CORRECT: He was denouncing the sale of indulgences.
EXPLANATION: Luther was outraged by the sale of indulgences to the
wealthy in order to pay for the rebuilding of Wittenberg Cathedral.
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6. The followers of John Calvin
CORRECT: believed in predestination.
EXPLANATION: Calvin preached predestination, the idea that God had
long ago determined who would gain salvation.
7. How did the attitudes of Renaissance thinkers differ from those of
medieval scholars?
CORRECT: Human experience in the present was explored.
EXPLANATION: Medieval scholars focused more on religious beliefs
and spirituality while Renaissance thinkers explored human
experience in the here and now.
8. What best describes Cervantes' book Don Quixote?
CORRECT: a tale that mocks romantic notions of medieval
chivalry
EXPLANATION: The novel follows the adventures of Don
Quixote, a foolish but idealistic knight, and Sancho Panza, his faithful
servant.
9. When did Elizabeth become Queen of England?
CORRECT: when her half-sister, Mary Tudor, died
EXPLANATION: The throne passed to 25 year old Elizabeth when her
half-sister, Mary Tudor, died in 1558.
10. In Utopia, Thomas More describes
CORRECT: an ideal society in which men and women live in
harmony.
EXPLANATION: Sir Thomas More, who was interested in social reform,
wrote Utopia, which describes an ideal society.
11. The growing middle class began to demand written material in what
language?
CORRECT: the vernacular
EXPLANATION: More and more people began to want to read materials
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that were becoming more widely distributed. They wanted books to be
accessible to them in the language of ordinary people, or the
vernacular.
13. Why was Albrecht Dürer sometimes called the "German
Leonardo"?
CORRECT: He spread the Italian Renaissance to his homeland.
EXPLANATION: Dürer learned the techniques of the Italian masters and
then spread the Renaissance ideas to northern Europe.
14. Which Italian Renaissance writer stressed that the end justifies the
means in his writings?
CORRECT: Niccolò Machiavelli
EXPLANATION: In The Prince, a guide on how to gain and maintain
power, Machiavelli wrote that "the end justifies the means."
15. According to legend, when Newton saw an apple fall from the tree,
he began to consider what idea?
CORRECT: gravity
EXPLANATION: According to one story, Newton saw an apple fall from
a tree, and he began to wonder whether the force that pulled the apple
to earth might not also control the movement of the planets. Newton
would call this force "gravity."
16. The spread of Calvinism led to what event?
CORRECT: wars of religion across Europe
EXPLANATION: In France, wars raged between French Calvinists and
Catholics. Calvinists experienced persecution from both Catholics and
Lutherans as their ideas spread.
17. Why did Henry VIII want his marriage to Catherine of Aragon
annulled, after 18 years of marriage?
CORRECT: She did not give birth to a male child.
EXPLANATION: Henry VIII felt that England's stability depended on his
having a male heir, but Catherine's only surviving child was Mary
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Tudor. He wanted to marry someone who might bear him a son.
18. The Prince and The Book of the Courtier are examples of what type
of literature developed during the Renaissance?
CORRECT: guidebooks to help people with ambition
EXPLANATION: The Prince and The Book of the Courtier are examples
of guidebooks written to help ambitious men and women who wanted
to rise in the Renaissance world.
19. What issues led people to move towards the Protestant
Reformation?
CORRECT: Popes led lives of luxury and abused their power
EXPLANATION: The Church's involvement in worldly affairs and abuses
of power—particularly the sale of indulgences—set the stage for the
Protestant Reformation.
20. What Florentine landmark shows how architecture blended beauty
and utility during the Renaissance?
CORRECT: the cathedral dome
EXPLANATION: Brunelleschi created a majestic dome for the cathedral
in Florence modeled on the dome of the Pantheon in Rome. He
invented many of the machines used to construct the dome.
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