HIST 101 Final Exam Review Questions and
Answers (100% Correct Answers)
Who conquered and colonized the region around Kiev in the late ninth century?
Ans: The Vikings or Rus
What conclusions may be drawn from the conversion to Byzantine Christianity of
Vladimir, the grand prince of Kiev?
Ans: The Christianization of Europe - By converting to Christianity, the Rus made
themselves heir to Byzantium and its church, customs, art, and political ideology.
However, choosing the Byzantium form of Christianity, rather than the Roman
Catholic, later served to isolate the region from western Europe.
After the revolution of 750, the new Abbasid caliphate moved its capital city from
Damascus to which new location?
Ans: Baghdad in Iraq
How did Charlemagne attempt to combat corruption throughout his vast empire?
Ans: Charlemagne appointed special officials, called missi dominici, to oversee his
regional governors - the counts.
How did Charlemagne resurrect old imperial models?
Ans: He sponsored building programs to symbolize his authority, standardized
weights and measures, and acted as a patron of intellectual and artistic efforts. He
built a capital at Aachen, complete with a chapel that was patterned on Justinian's
church of San Vitale at Ravenna.
The Carolingian renaissance was intended to enhance the glory of the Frankish kings
- what other goals did it have?
Ans: Educate their officials and purify the faith
For what purpose was Alcuin (c.732-804) invited by Charlemagne to come from
England?
Ans: To form a center of study where he became Charlemagne's chief advisor;
writing letters on the king's behalf, counseling him on royal policy, and tutoring the
king's household.
What was the significance of the Treaty of Verdun (843)?
Ans: It divided the empire among Louis the Pious' three remaining sons. The
arrangement roughly defined the future political contours of Western Europe.
Why were the Carolingians unable to hold their empire together after the death of
Charlemagne?
Ans: Charlemagne depended on the loyalty of aristocrats, once the conquests ceased
upon his death, they no longer had hopes of gaining new lands and they acquired
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their own wealth in the regions. Land was divided up, becoming vulnerable to
invasions, and powerful local traditions undermined imperial unity.
What brought about the end of Carolingian rule?
Ans: The Carolingian economy, based on war, profits, trade, and agriculture,
contributed to the dissolution of the empire. The Carolingians' dependence on
manors scattered throughout their kingdom proved to be a source of weakness.
Contemporaries of the German King Otto I thought him a great hero in 955 when he
defeated which adversary?
Ans: Magyars at the battle of Lechfeld
Why did the German kings face difficulties in turning German dukes into loyal
vassals?
Ans: The Dukes hoped to become regional rulers and vassalage was considered
beneath the dignity of free men.
What realm did Mieszko place under the protection of the pope in 991?
Ans: Poland
How did the growth of a money economy help change fundamental positions in the
church toward wealth?
Ans: A movement for reform gathered steam and exploded in three directions:
1. The Investiture Conflict
2. New monastic orders emphasizing poverty
3. The Crusades - money allowed popes, kings, and princes to redefine the nature of
their power
What was the primary function of Medieval fairs?
Ans: Fairs drew in traders from long distances, offered a wide variety of products,
and bankers attended exchanging currency and charging for their services.
What belief drove monastic movements for religious reform in the tenth and eleventh
centuries?
Ans: The impulse to free the church from "the world" - from rulers, wealth, sex,
money, and power - and that the church as a whole remodel itself and become free of
secular entanglements.
The schism of 1054 was a split between whom?
Ans: The eastern and western churches (Greek Orthodox & Roman Catholic)
The reconquista referred to western Christian hopes of restoring Christianity by what
means?