AP European History
Summer Assignment 2015
Welcome to AP European History! Our course covers the development of Europe from
ca. 1450 to the present day. With over five centuries of history to cover, we will need to
move quickly and efficiently through the course. The summer assignment will provide
you with an opportunity to gain a head start on the material we’ll be covering this coming
year.
Our Textbook
Donald Kagan, Steven Ozment and Frank M. Turner, The Western Heritage, eighth
edition.
I. Reading and Outlining
Chapter Nine, The Late Middle Ages, 1300-1527 (pp. 291-312)
Chapter Ten, Renaissance and Discovery, (pp. 317-348)
Read and outline both chapters.
A good chapter outline need not be a lengthy document. Three to four pages for each
chapter should do it.
Try to summarize rather than copy the most important aspects of the chapter. Your
outline should consist of brief paragraphs in complete sentences. Focus on concepts and
ideas rather than facts and events. You will find that a shorter outline in complete
sentences is worth far more in the long term than a long outline with page after page of
bullet-pointed lists of names, events, etc. Writing in sentences allows you to synthesize
and reflect on the material rather than simply copying it.
Rather than filling your paragraphs with terms and specific definitions, you should
include a list of 10-12 “important terms to remember” at the end of the outline that you
can look up in the chapter when you prepare for an assessment.
Please note: Your two chapter outlines are due in class in printed, or
handwritten form on the first day of school.
II. Thematic Learning Objective Questions (TMOQs)
The AP European History course is designed around a number of Thematic Learning Objectives (TMO).
These objectives apply to all of the chapters we will be covering this year, but not always equally. Each
objective will be more important in some chapters and less so in others.
For more information on TMOs and the AP European History course in general, visit:
https://secure-media.collegeboard.org/digitalServices/pdf/ap/ap-european-history-course-and-examdescription.pdf
Using your reading and outlining of Chapters 9 and 10, you will answer the following discussion questions
in four of the TMOs. Your responses to each question should be a solid paragraph or two short ones in
length. You should be prepared to share and discuss them on the first day of school.
Please note: Your responses to the TMOQs are due in class in printed,
or handwritten form on the first day of school.
TMO- Interaction of Europe and the World
1. Why did Europeans seek contact and interaction with other parts of the world?
2. What political, technical and intellectual developments enabled this contact and interaction?
3. Assess the relative influence of economic, religious and political motives in promoting exploration and
colonization.
TMO- Poverty and Prosperity
1. To what degree did the Black Death change the economic and social structures in the fourteenth and
early fifteenth centuries?
2. Are there any “early indications” of the later rise of capitalism from these fourteenth-century economic
and social developments?
TMO- Objective Knowledge and Subjective Visions
1. To what degree did a worldview based on science and reason both challenge and preserve social order
and social roles in Europe in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries?
2. How did Renaissance humanism, the printing press and the scientific method contribute to a new theory
of knowledge and conception of the universe?
TMO- States and Other Institutions of Power
1. Explain the emergence of civic humanism and the new conceptions of political authority during the
Renaissance.
2. What contributed to the rise of monarchies and nation states in the fourteenth and fifteenth
centuries?
III. “Civilisation” with Sir Kenneth.
In 1969, the BBC released a multi-part film documentary called Civilisation. (The British spell the word
with an “s,” not a “z” as we Americans). It’s been shown on PBS in the United States numerous times in
the decades since it first aired. The episodes were written and hosted by the late great Sir Kenneth Clark, a
highly regarded expert on European Art and Art History. The documentary is almost 50 years old and it’s
challenging, but it still holds up well and looks great in HD on youtube or on DVD from Netflix. Episode
IV provides an amazing visualization of the places, people, art and architecture you will be reading about in
Chapters 9 and 10.
You’ll need to watch Episode IV entitled, Man: The Measure of All Things. In this hour-long episode,
Sir Kenneth discusses the Italian Renaissance and visits many of its most important sites.
Please come to class on the first day of school with three observations and three questions from your
viewing of the film. Everyone will be expected to share their own observations and questions and
contribute to our discussion.
To help you navigate the film and organize your questions and observations, here are the main topics (in
order) that Sir Kenneth covers:
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The Early Renaissance
Leonardo Bruni
Perspective
Jan van Eyck***
Botticelli
The Palace of Urbino
The Court of Mantua
A Civilised Countryside
*** Jan van Eyck’s painting The Arnolfini Marriage (1434) can be found on the cover of your Kagan
textbook.
Please note: There will be an assessment on all of the
material from the summer assignment within the first
few days of school. Please be prepared!