Q 01/05

Which event is commonly taken to mark the beginning of the Middle Ages in Europe?

A) The Crowning of Charlemagne

B) The Battle of Hastings

C) The Founding of Constantinople

D) The Fall of the Western Roman Empire

Answer · why

D) The Fall of the Western Roman Empire

The Fall of the Western Roman Empire is dated to 476, when the general Odoacer deposed the young emperor Romulus Augustulus, named no successor and ru...

Q 02/05

What system of reciprocal obligations bound medieval Europe's lords and vassals?

A) Capitalism

B) Manorialism

C) Feudalism

D) Mercantilism

Answer · why

C) Feudalism

Feudalism was sealed in person: the vassal knelt, placed his joined hands between his lord's and swore homage, promising military service in return fo...

Q 03/05

The 14th-century Black Death was a pandemic of which disease?

A) Smallpox

B) Epidemic typhus

C) Bubonic plague

D) Yellow fever

Answer · why

C) Bubonic plague

Bubonic plague, caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, killed so many workers that labour ran short, and in 1351 England's Statute of Labourers trie...

Q 04/05

Which Frankish king was crowned Emperor of the Romans by Pope Leo III in 800 CE?

A) Charlemagne

B) Pepin the Short

C) Louis the Pious

D) Charles the Bald

Answer · why

A) Charlemagne

Charlemagne was crowned in St Peter's on Christmas Day 800; his biographer Einhard claimed he would never have entered the church had he known what th...

Q 05/05

Which English king fought Saladin on crusade and agreed a three-year truce with him in 1192?

A) Henry II

B) Richard I

C) Edward I

D) Henry III

Answer · why

B) Richard I

Richard I, the Lionheart, was seized in Austria on his way home and handed to Emperor Henry VI, who freed him only for a ransom of 150,000 marks raise...