HIST2330 FINAL EXAM STUDY GUIDE 1
HIST2330 MEDIEVAL EUROPE, 1050 TO THE REFORMATION
Winter 2015
Final Exam Study Guide
GENERAL GUIDELINES
For studying
i) Find a quiet place to study where you will not be distracted; cut off the connection to the
Internet;
ii) Work from the general themes for each section to the specific content; and
iii) Be an “active studier” (if that is the right word): jotting down skeletal notes as you work
through the material, drawing graphs, and so on.
For the exam itself
i) Please write double-spaced (it does not have to be beautiful prose, but try to use a formal
essay-writing style);
ii) Please try to write in readable script;
iii) Read over the exam and instructions carefully before writing anything (and do not try to
answer every question on the exam like one nervous guy did a few years ago; there is a great
deal of choice on the exam);
iv) Before beginning to write one of the essays, prepare an outline and think about what you will
write (be sure to keep everything relevant and to answer the question);
v) Vague and excessively general answers are highly discouraged; try to be as specific as
possible (you do not need to know every single fact in the textbooks, but you do need enough
specific material and evidence to form an argument; avoid generalities! Think of your role as
that of a lawyer trying to make an argument before a court, an argument that has to be
convincing and based on solid evidence);
vi) Make sure that everything in your answer is relevant;
vii) Pace yourself and keep track of the time so that you do not spend too much time on one
answer at the expense of the other answers (you will need to write quickly); and
viii) Remember to define terms wherever necessary (e.g. Scholasticism).
REQUIRED MATERIAL
HIST2330 FINAL EXAM STUDY GUIDE 2
i) the course textbooks
Rosenwein, Barbara H. A Short History of the Middle Ages. Volume II: From c. 900 to c. 1500.
Third Edition. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2009.
Rosenwein, Barbara H. Reading the Middle Ages: Sources from Europe, Byzantium, and the
Islamic World. Volume II: from c. 900 to c. 1500. Toronto: University of Toronto Press,
2011.
De Troyes, Chrétien. Erec and Enide. Translated by Ruth Harwood Cline. Athens, Georgia:
University of Georgia Press, 2000.
*you also should look over the those handouts that I gave at the beginning of term
iii) the lectures
I provided nuance, qualification, and some further details in the lectures, while
highlighting salient features of the readings. You will not be tested on the content of these
lectures specifically. However, using the lectures in your essay will enhance your answer.
Rather than merely trying to reread all the textbooks and documents word for word, start
first with your lecture notes, your notes on the Power Point presentations, and the reading
guidelines to help you focus your thoughts. Work with the themes first, and then move to the
detail. Think too of connections between different elements in the course.
If you had to miss a lecture or two, feel free to borrow my own lecture notes. The
reading guidelines are still on the course website. I will be holding regular office hours right
through the exam period.
STRUCTURE OF THE EXAM
Part A: Rosenwein Reader Documents
This section will test your knowledge of the Rosenwein documents noted below. The
questions that I choose for the exam will generally be ones that we specifically discussed in
class. You will be given a choice of four out of eight (rather than three out of six) and so spend
about ten minutes on each one (write about two pages double-spaced for each one). Again, the
reading guidelines will be your best guide.
The documents:
4.1 FRAGMENTATION IN THE ISLAMIC WORLD: AL-TABARI, THE DEFEAT OF THE
ZANJ REVOLT (C. 915)
4.2 THE POWERFUL IN THE BYZANTINE COUNTRYSIDE: ROMANUS LECAPENUS,
NOVEL (934)
4.3 DONATING TO CLUNY: CLUNY’S FOUNDATION CHARTER (910) AND VARIOUS
CHARTERS OF DONATION (10TH-11TH C.)
HIST2330 FINAL EXAM STUDY GUIDE 3
4.5 THE PEACE OF GOD AT BOURGES: ANDRE OF FLEURY, THE MIRACLES OF ST.
BENEDICT (1040-1043). Original in Latin
4.11 KIEVAN RUS: THE RUSSIAN PRIMARY CHRONICLE (C. 1113)
4.13 AN OTTONIAN QUEEN: THE “OLDER LIFE” OF QUEEN MATHILDA (973-4)
4.15 LITERACY: KING ALFRED, PREFACES TO GREGORY THE GREAT’S PASTORAL
CARE (C. 890)
5.1 CULTIVATING NEW LANDS: FREDERICK OF HAMBURG’S AGREEMENT WITH
COLONISTS FROM HOLLAND (1106)
5.3 THE ROLE OF ROYAL PATRONAGE: HENRY I, PRIVILEGES FOR THE CITIZENS
OF LONDON (1130-1133)
5.4 THE ROYAL VIEW: HENRY IV, LETTER TO GREGORY VII (1075)
5.5 THE PAPAL VIEW: GREGORY VII, LETTER TO HERMANN OF METZ (1076)
5.6 MARTYRS IN THE RHINELAND: RABBI ELIEZER B. NATHAN (“RABAN”), O GOD,
INSOLENT MEN (early to mid-12th century)
5.8 A WESTERNER IN THE HOLY LAND: STEPHEN OF BLOIS, LETTER TO HIS WIFE
(March 1098)
5.9 THE MUSLIM REACTION: IBN AL-ATHIR, THE FIRST CRUSADE (13TH century)
5.10 THE CRUSADE IN SPAIN AND PORTUGAL: THE CONQUEST OF LISBON, (11471148)
5.11 THE PRO-NORMAN POSITION: WILLIAM OF JUMIÈGES, THE DEEDS OF THE
DUKES OF THE NORMANS (C. 1070)
5.12 THE NATIVE POSITION “FLORENCE OF WORCESTER”: CHRONICLE OF
CHRONICLES (early 12th century)
5.16 RETHINKING THE RELIGIOUS LIFE: HÉLOÏSE, LETTER (1130s)
5.18: THE CISTERCIAN VIEW: ST. BERNARD, APOLOGIA (1125)
5.19 THE CLUNIAC VIEW: PETER THE VENERABLE, MIRACLES (MID 1130s-MID
1150s)
6.1 SALADIN: IBN SHADDAD, THE RARE AND EXCELLENT HISTORY OF SALADIN
(1198-1216)
6.3 THE NORTHERN CRUSADE: HELMOLD, THE CHRONICLE OF THE SLAVS (11671168)
6.5 ENGLISH COMMON LAW: THE ASSIZE OF CLARENDON (1166)
6.7 THE LEGISLATION OF A SPANISH KING: THE LAWS OF CUENCA (1189-1193)
6.9 DOING BUSINESS: A GENOESE SOCIETAS (1253)
6.15 HENRY II AND BECKET: CONSTITUTIONS OF CLARENDON (1164)
6.17: KINGS AND NOBLES: MAGNA CARTA (1215)
6.22 FABLIAUX: BROWNY, THE PRIEST’S COW and THE PRIEST WHO PEEKED (13th
century)
6.23 DISCIPLINING AND PURIFYING CHRISTENDOM: DECREES OF LATERAN IV
(1215)
6.24. ART AND ARCHITECTURE AS RELIGIOUS DEVOTION: SUGER, ON WHAT WAS
DONE UNDER HIS ADMINISTRATION (1148-1149)
6.25 DEVOTION THROUGH POVERTY: PETER WALDO IN THE CHRONICLE OF LAON
(1173-1178)
HIST2330 FINAL EXAM STUDY GUIDE 4
6.27 THE MENDICANT MOVEMENT: ST. FRANCIS, THE CANTICLE OF BROTHER SON
(1225)
6.28 THE EXPULSION OF THE JEWS FROM BURY ST. EDMUNDS: JOCELIN OF
BRAKELOND, CHRONICLE (1190-1202)
7.2 A MONGOL REPLY TO THE POPE: GUYUK KHAN, LETTER TO POPE INNOCENT IV
(1246)
7.3 ACCOMMODATIONS: MENGU-TEMIR KHAN, CHARTER TO PROTECT THE
RUSSIAN CHURCH (1308)
7.4 THE HUNGARIAN KING BEWAILS THE MONGOL INVASIONS. BÉLA IV, LETTER
TO POPE INNOCENT IV (c. 1250)
7.9 FAMINE AT CONSTANTINOPLE: ANTHANASIUS I, PATRIARCH OF
CONSTANTINOPLE, LETTER (1306-1307)
7.12 JEWS IN ENGLAND: STATUTE OF THE JEWRY (1275) AND PETITION OF THE
“COMMONALITY” OF THE JEWS (shortly after 1275)
7.13 A CHARISMATIC RULER: JOINVILLE, THE LIFE OF ST. LOUIS (1272)
7.19 SCHOLASTICISM: THOMAS AQUINAS, SUMMA AGAINST THE GENTILES (12591264)
7.20 MYSTICISM: MEISTER ECKHART, SERMON 101 (1298-1305)
7.21 ITALIAN COMES INTO ITS OWN: DANTE, INFERNO, CANTO 5 (Paolo and
Francesca); PARADISO, CANTO 22 (meeting with St. BENEDICT) 1313-21
8.1 A MEDICAL VIEW: NICEPHORUS GREGORAS, ROMAN HISTORY (c. 1350)
8.3 PRAYERS AT YORK: ARCHBISHOP WILLIAM, LETTER TO HIS OFFICIAL AT YORK
(JULY 1348)
8.4 BLAMING THE JEWS: HEINRICH VON DIESSENHOVEN, ON THE
PERSECUTIONOF THE JEWS (c. 1350)
8.5 A LEGISLATIVE RESPONSE: ORDINANCES AGAINST THE SPREAD OF PLAGUE AT
PISTOIA (1348)
8.7 DIPLOMACY: PEACE AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE OTTOMAN SULTAN MEHMED II
AND THE SIGNORIA OF VENICE (January 25, 1478)
8.9 THE FALL BEWAILED: GEORGE SPHRANTZES, CHRONICLE (BEFORE 1477).
ORIGINAL IN GREEK
8.12 NATIONAL FEELING: JEANNE D’ARC, LETTER TO THE ENGLISH (1429)
8.13 THE COMMONS REVOLT: WAT TYLER’S REBELLION (AFTER 1381)
8.14 THE HUMILIATION OF AVIGNON: ST CATHERINE OF SIENA, LETTER TO POPE
GREGORY XI (1376)
8.15 THE CONCILIARIST MOVEMENT: JEAN GERSON, SERMON AT THE COUNCIL OF
CONSTANCE (1415)
8.19 RE-EVALUATING ANTIQUITY: CINCIUS ROMANUS, LETTER TO HIS MOST
LEARNED TEACHER FRANCISCUS DE FIANA (1416)
8.21 OLD SOURCES CRITICIZED: LORENZO VALLA, DISCOURSE ON THE FORGERY
OF THE ALLEGED DONATION OF CONSTANTINE (1440)
8.22 DEFENDING WOMEN: CHRISTINE DE PISAN, THE BOOK OF THE CITY OF LADIES
(1404-07)
HIST2330 FINAL EXAM STUDY GUIDE 5
Parts B and C: Essays
You will be given a choice of three essay questions for each section. Answer one essay
question from each section. Spend about fifty minutes on each essay and write about 6-8 doublespaced pages (2-3 pages would not be sufficient to answer an essay question, not at this level
anyway). You will be surprised by how much you can write in fifty minutes, but be sure to keep
everything relevant. Everything that you have read for this course (textbooks and primary
documents) as well as the lecture notes can be pertinent here, but be sure to maintain a good
focus.
Each question will revolve around the central themes in the course. Use the course
outline for a bird’s eye view of the course (the separate parts) as well as the reading guidelines
that I mounted on the course website.
Here are some of the overarching general themes in the course:
1. Cultural transmission between Classical civilization and the three “heirs”
2. The relationship between the spiritual and the physical
3. Understanding the Middle Ages and anchoring them in their proper historical context
4. The growing self-awareness, sense of the self
5. The shift from an oral culture to a written culture
6. Emergence of kingdoms/nation-states in Western Europe
7. Gender and the role and status of women
8. Relations between Church and State
9. The Nature of medieval spirituality and religion
10. Attitudes towards religious minorities
11. The nature of historical change; the transition from one period to the next
12. Attitudes towards the classical heritage
13 Medieval concepts of sin, love, and beauty
HIST2330 FINAL EXAM STUDY GUIDE 6
Here are some general issues and themes to consider, for each of the six parts in the
course:
Part One: Foundations
-the “three heirs” of classical civilization
-fundamental components of medieval attitudes
Part Two: An Age of Revival and Recovery
-the connections between politics and culture in the Byzantine and the Islamic world
-elements of political fragmentation and integration
-how the three “heirs” were becoming more distinct from each other; the interaction between the
three “heirs”
-feudalism and political fragmentation in Western Europe
-the Ottonian Renaissance
-the Christianization of pagan territories
Part Three: Expansion, Reform, and Intolerance
-the rise of the Seljuks
-economic revival in Europe
-religious reform in Western Europe
-background to the First Crusade; the heyday of the Crusader States; crusades in Europe
-the changing relationship between church and state
-the early consolidation of medieval monarchies (e.g. Norman England)
-further economic growth and the “embarrassment of riches”
-the new learning and the influence of Aristotle on Western thought
-what monasticism meant for women
Part Four: The Evolution of Medieval Culture
-the strengthening of the Muslim world; the beleaguered Byzantine Empire
-further developments in the medieval state: the contrast between France/England/Spain and
what became known as the Holy Roman Empire
-the next stage in the conflict between church and state: Henry II and the Archbishop of
Canterbury
-the growth of the towns
-the further consolidation of the Church
-the high noon of Gothic culture
-alternative paths to Christian spirituality or spirituality in general; the growing accent on
Christian exclusivity
-the Commercial Revolution
-Erec and Enide
--the new element of “courtly love,” which has a strong female component
--the alignment and clash between knightly chivalric ideals and Christian values
--the depiction and role of women
HIST2330 FINAL EXAM STUDY GUIDE 7
--the understanding of love
--aristocratic knightly culture
Part Five: The Approaching Storm
-how the Mongol invasions changed Europe
-the increasing vulnerability in European society and in the European population, even though
there was economic and urban growth; the growing problem of famine
-further hardening of attitudes towards non-Christians
-further consolidation in the medieval state (in England, through constitutional ideas)
-the next chapter in the conflict between church and state: the Avignon Papacy
-the Scholastic synthesis as representative of an attempt at harmony
-harmony and discordance in European culture
Part Six: Plague, War, and Death; The Early Renaissance
-the element of conjuncture between plague, war, and revolt
-the causes and impact of the Black Death (effects: anti-Semitism, obsession with death,
economic change, and so on)
-the Hundred Years’ War and the role played by Jeanne d’Arc; the effects of the War
-the revolts in France, England, Flanders, and Florence
-the Great Schism in the papacy and how that contributed to the sense of crisis
-the rise of the Ottomans; the connection between the Ottomans and Western Europe
-the fall of the Byzantine Empire
-a new understanding of the status of women
-the Renaissance: connections with the medieval past; Renaissance humanism; reverence for the
classical past; the relationship between Renaissance art and politics
-the early beginnings of European colonization (in the Altantic, the Americas)