Reference no: EM133804249

Assignment:

Make sure to answer the following in three to four sentences, using the lectures as a source for your answers.

1. What historical context is cited as a contributing factor for the decline of Christianity in 7th Century England, and what evidence of this decline was discovered at the burial site at Sutton Hoo?

2. How is the Song of Roland an example of medieval fake news? When did the original historical event that inspired this story occur, and what relevant details are cited in the lecture to explain what happened? How do these details evolve when the story is finally codified in writing in the 12th century, and why were these changes made?

3. Begin by answering either prompt A or B below and then explain one reason cited in the lecture to justify the perception that the Crusades were "dark" periods of Western European Christian history: A) from his speech featured in the lecture, what was one of Pope Urban Il's arguments justifying the First Crusade? B) how did primogeniture laws influence the first Crusade?

4. Which famous crusader is cited in the chapter five lecture as an example of the atrocities committed during the first crusade? Who was he, where did he come from, what did he do to fund his army on the way to Jerusalem, and how did he justify this behavior? Did others agree with his strategy? Why or why not?

5. Why is Marco Polo important in the history of contact between China and Europe? Citing an example from the lecture, what did Polo say or describe about China, and how did this help shape the European understanding of Chinese culture? Additionally, who is the explorer who traveled three times the distance as Polo described in the chapter five lecture, and why might you have learned about this person for the first time in college?

6. What ancient Chinese belief about the role of humans in nature is cited in the lecture? What artistic convention is apparent in the artist Guo Xi's representation of this belief in his painting Early Spring? How does this belief differ from the perception of humanity in nature prevalent in European Christianity, and what inspires this contrast?

7. During the Yuan Dynasty in China, how did painted images of bamboo and orchids symbolize Chinese resistance to foreign rule? Explain the points of comparison described in the lecture to justify these images as metaphors for Chinese opposition to Mongol authority.

8. How did adherents to the Shinto religion in Japan first react to the arrival of Buddhism in their country? Why did they respond this way, and how long will that initial reaction persist? Cite an example from the lecture to demonstrate how the relationship between Shinto and Buddhism began to change as early as the 7th century.

9. What type of everyday events (as in, not associated with the end of the world) would the Maya people rely on their calendar to predict or record?

10. Describe how one of the factors cited in the lecture contributed to the decline of the Maya civilization. Why are we limited in what we can know about their culture?

11. How did stained glass windows function as more than decoration in Gothic cathedrals? Explain the theological significance and the practical, everyday purpose for these windows cited in the lecture.

12. Explain two of the similarities cited in the lecture between the university system in the West today and the system that developed as early as the 12th century in Europe. Be specific; in what context did we discuss each example? 13. What intellectual featured in chapter six famously argued that "by doubting we inquire, and by inquiring we arrive at the truth." What is the conventional name for the method of inquiry described in this quote, and what ancient culture inspired it? Finally, who objected to this teaching method in the Gothic Era, and why?

14. In the story of Heloise and Abelard described in the lecture, what three conditions did Heloise have to meet to earn the opportunity to learn from a well-respected intellectual, and why was it necessary for her to be educated in a private home?

15. In the Gothic Era women's health text, On the Diseases of Women, what medication did Trotula recommend during childbirth, and why? What was the religious motivation for condemning and prohibiting this practice in the centuries following the book's publication in Europe?

16. Explain one of the topics included in the summa featured in chapter six. Why was this a topic of concern for the Catholic Church? Additionally, who wrote this summa, what is the conventional name for the method of inquiry described in the text, and why did more traditional Church authorities reject this method in the author's lifetime?

17. Among the reasons for the early success of Dante's Divine Comedy, what does it mean that he wrote the poem in the vernacular? How does this work differ from most European literature available at the time of its original publication?

18. In Dante's Inferno, what does it mean to suggest a sinner's punishment in hell mirrors common societal perceptions of their sin in life? Briefly describe one of the examples discussed in the lecture to explain what this means.

19. Why do scholars conventionally describe the plague introduced to Europe in the 14th Century, which killed as many as 6 in 10 citizens in major cities, as an egalitarian disease? What does egalitarian mean in this context, and why might this meaning be misapplied to diseases like the so-called "Black Death" or COVID-19?

20. The Italian poet Petrarch is commonly remembered as the "father of Humanism." What did a Humanist want to study in the Gothic era, and why? What did Petrarch do to help establish this scholarly tradition in Europe, and how does this effort relate to prior course content?

21. Explain how the Wife of Bath in Chaucer's famous story, Canterbury Tales, exemplifies the key elements of satire discussed in the lecture. Why is it meaningful to Chaucer's audience that she is described as having gaps in her teeth in this satirical context?

22. Christine de Pizan is known as the first woman in Europe to do what professionally? Describe one of the examples cited in the lecture of something specific she did in this profession.