History 101                                                                             Professor Wertheimer

Review questions for February 26 – March 9

 

Use the review questions below to pull together the material we have been studying.  Pay particular attention to how to draw together related material from different lectures.  Note: the “useful readings” are included to help you connect readings to lecture materials, but most of the questions are much broader in scope than the specific primary readings. 

 

1).  How did the relationship between Christianity and the Roman government change after the time of Constantine?  What effect did this change have on both Roman government and the Christian church? Most of your answer to this question will be from class rather than the readings, but the readings from St. Benedict and from Pope Gelasius I, “Church and State,” will be useful.

 

2).  What factors brought about the collapse of Roman government in the West?  How did the culture of Europe change as a result? Note: your answer should include both the role of the Germanic peoples and problems within the Empire.

 

3)  In what different ways were the Germanic peoples converted to Christianity, and what effect did this have on both Christian practice and Germanic culture?

            Useful readings: Bede, “History of the English Church and People,” and Einhard, “Forcible Conversion under Charlemagne.”

 

4)  The Carolingian period (9^th century) is identified as a “renaissance” for its efforts to revive the classical Roman world.  How did Charlemagne attempt to do that?  In what way was his kingdom still a Germanic kingdom?  What elements of Christianity were visible in his empire?

 

5)  Discuss the development of government in the early middle ages (from about 500 to 1000, or between the fall of Rome and the collapse of the Carolingian empire).  How did early medieval kings build their power, what obstacles did they face, and how did government change in this period?

 

6)  How did the power of the papacy (the office of the pope) change from 751 (the Franco-Papal Alliance) to 1215 (the time of Pope Innocent III)?  On what theories did the pope base his power, how did he assert it, and how did his relationship with secular rulers develop?

Useful readings:  Gregory VII’s “Letter to the Bishop of Metz” and the “Dictatus Papae.”