History 1121
Essay
Questions for the Second Exam
1. What
were the beliefs of Christianity which the average man of the
2. Using the
definition I gave at the beginning of the course, briefly describe the culture
of a Christian
of the 1st century A.D. How
would this culture contrast with the culture of the
3. Using the definition I gave at the beginning
of the course, briefly describe the culture of a medieval knight or peasant of the 12th
century.
4. Identify the basic ideas, values and beliefs of the First
5. The
medieval cathedral was a summary of medieval man. How was this so with regard
to: the concept of space, stained glass, sculpture, flying buttresses, and the
Gothic design?
6. How
important to medieval man was the destiny of his soul? Illustrate by reference
to medieval life.
7.
Discuss the life of Mohammed and the beginnings of Islam.
8. I
argued in the printed lecture that the Carolingians, the Popes, and monks
worked together to bring order out of chaos in the early medieval period and
create the culture I called the First
9. The
church worked to soften the barbarism of the early medieval period and to
Christianize society. Give examples of
how this was done.
10. I discussed three trends of medieval life as
a context for the First
11. I argued that the dominant theme in medieval
civilization was the synthesis, expressed in Dante’s Divine
Comedy, Scholasticism, and the medieval cathedral. If you agree, show how the synthesis was a
focus of medieval man by discussing one of those examples. If you disagree, point out how one of these
does not illustrate a penchant for the synthesis.