Divyanshu67/squad_v2 huggingface dataset:
Middle_Ages

Christianity was a major unifying factor between Eastern and Western Europe before the Arab conquests, but the conquest of North Africa sundered maritime connections between those areas. Increasingly the Byzantine Church differed in language, practices, and liturgy from the western Church. The eastern church used Greek instead of the western Latin. Theological and political differences emerged, and by the early and middle 8th century issues such as iconoclasm, clerical marriage, and state control of the church had widened to the extent that the cultural and religious differences were greater than the similarities. The formal break came in 1054, when the papacy and the patriarchy of Constantinople clashed over papal supremacy and excommunicated each other, which led to the division of Christianity into two churches—the western branch became the Roman Catholic Church and the eastern branch the Orthodox Church.

Question: What language was used by the eastern church?
Answer: Greek

Question: What language did the western church use?
Answer: Latin

Question: When did the eastern and western churches split?
Answer: 1054

Question: Over what issue did the eastern and western churches split?
Answer: papal supremacy

Question: What was the eastern church subsequently known as?
Answer: the Orthodox Church
Middle_Ages

The ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Empire survived the movements and invasions in the west mostly intact, but the papacy was little regarded, and few of the western bishops looked to the bishop of Rome for religious or political leadership. Many of the popes prior to 750 were more concerned with Byzantine affairs and eastern theological controversies. The register, or archived copies of the letters, of Pope Gregory the Great (pope 590–604) survived, and of those more than 850 letters, the vast majority were concerned with affairs in Italy or Constantinople. The only part of Western Europe where the papacy had influence was Britain, where Gregory had sent the Gregorian mission in 597 to convert the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity. Irish missionaries were most active in Western Europe between the 5th and the 7th centuries, going first to England and Scotland and then on to the continent. Under such monks as Columba (d. 597) and Columbanus (d. 615), they founded monasteries, taught in Latin and Greek, and authored secular and religious works.

Question: When did Gregory the Great become pope?
Answer: 590

Question: About how many of Gregory's letters were concerned with Constantinople or Italy?
Answer: 850

Question: In what region of Western Europe did the pope have influence?
Answer: Britain

Question: When did the Gregorian mission travel to Britain?
Answer: 597

Question: When did Columbanus die?
Answer: 615
Middle_Ages

The Early Middle Ages witnessed the rise of monasticism in the West. The shape of European monasticism was determined by traditions and ideas that originated with the Desert Fathers of Egypt and Syria. Most European monasteries were of the type that focuses on community experience of the spiritual life, called cenobitism, which was pioneered by Pachomius (d. 348) in the 4th century. Monastic ideals spread from Egypt to Western Europe in the 5th and 6th centuries through hagiographical literature such as the Life of Anthony. Benedict of Nursia (d. 547) wrote the Benedictine Rule for Western monasticism during the 6th century, detailing the administrative and spiritual responsibilities of a community of monks led by an abbot. Monks and monasteries had a deep effect on the religious and political life of the Early Middle Ages, in various cases acting as land trusts for powerful families, centres of propaganda and royal support in newly conquered regions, and bases for missions and proselytisation. They were the main and sometimes only outposts of education and literacy in a region. Many of the surviving manuscripts of the Latin classics were copied in monasteries in the Early Middle Ages. Monks were also the authors of new works, including history, theology, and other subjects, written by authors such as Bede (d. 735), a native of northern England who wrote in the late 7th and early 8th centuries.

Question: What religious lifestyle arose in the Early Middle Ages?
Answer: monasticism

Question: Who was the pioneer of cenobitism?
Answer: Pachomius

Question: Who composed the Benedictine Rule?
Answer: Benedict of Nursia

Question: From what part of England did Bede come?
Answer: northern

Question: What was the title of the leader of a monastery?
Answer: abbot
Middle_Ages

The Frankish kingdom in northern Gaul split into kingdoms called Austrasia, Neustria, and Burgundy during the 6th and 7th centuries, all of them ruled by the Merovingian dynasty, who were descended from Clovis. The 7th century was a tumultuous period of wars between Austrasia and Neustria. Such warfare was exploited by Pippin (d. 640), the Mayor of the Palace for Austrasia who became the power behind the Austrasian throne. Later members of his family inherited the office, acting as advisers and regents. One of his descendants, Charles Martel (d. 741), won the Battle of Poitiers in 732, halting the advance of Muslim armies across the Pyrenees.[K] Great Britain was divided into small states dominated by the kingdoms of Northumbria, Mercia, Wessex, and East Anglia, which were descended from the Anglo-Saxon invaders. Smaller kingdoms in present-day Wales and Scotland were still under the control of the native Britons and Picts. Ireland was divided into even smaller political units, usually known as tribal kingdoms, under the control of kings. There were perhaps as many as 150 local kings in Ireland, of varying importance.

Question: Along with Austrasia and Neustria, what kingdom was originally part of the Frankish kingdom?
Answer: Burgundy

Question: What dynasty ruled Neustria?
Answer: Merovingian

Question: From whom did the rulers of the Merovingian dynasty trace their ancestry?
Answer: Clovis

Question: What was the title of Pippin?
Answer: Mayor of the Palace

Question: What leader was victorious at the Battle of Poitiers?
Answer: Charles Martel
Middle_Ages

The Carolingian dynasty, as the successors to Charles Martel are known, officially took control of the kingdoms of Austrasia and Neustria in a coup of 753 led by Pippin III (r. 752–768). A contemporary chronicle claims that Pippin sought, and gained, authority for this coup from Pope Stephen II (pope 752–757). Pippin's takeover was reinforced with propaganda that portrayed the Merovingians as inept or cruel rulers, exalted the accomplishments of Charles Martel, and circulated stories of the family's great piety. At the time of his death in 768, Pippin left his kingdom in the hands of his two sons, Charles (r. 768–814) and Carloman (r. 768–771). When Carloman died of natural causes, Charles blocked the succession of Carloman's young son and installed himself as the king of the united Austrasia and Neustria. Charles, more often known as Charles the Great or Charlemagne, embarked upon a programme of systematic expansion in 774 that unified a large portion of Europe, eventually controlling modern-day France, northern Italy, and Saxony. In the wars that lasted beyond 800, he rewarded allies with war booty and command over parcels of land. In 774, Charlemagne conquered the Lombards, which freed the papacy from the fear of Lombard conquest and marked the beginnings of the Papal States.[L]

Question: What dynasty consisted of descendants of Charles Martel?
Answer: Carolingian

Question: In what year did the Carolingians take over Neustria?
Answer: 753

Question: Who led the coup that gained control over Austrasia?
Answer: Pippin III

Question: When did Stephen II become pope?
Answer: 752

Question: Along with Charles, who was the son of Pippin?
Answer: Carloman
Middle_Ages

The coronation of Charlemagne as emperor on Christmas Day 800 is regarded as a turning point in medieval history, marking a return of the Western Roman Empire, since the new emperor ruled over much of the area previously controlled by the western emperors. It also marks a change in Charlemagne's relationship with the Byzantine Empire, as the assumption of the imperial title by the Carolingians asserted their equivalence to the Byzantine state. There were several differences between the newly established Carolingian Empire and both the older Western Roman Empire and the concurrent Byzantine Empire. The Frankish lands were rural in character, with only a few small cities. Most of the people were peasants settled on small farms. Little trade existed and much of that was with the British Isles and Scandinavia, in contrast to the older Roman Empire with its trading networks centred on the Mediterranean. The empire was administered by an itinerant court that travelled with the emperor, as well as approximately 300 imperial officials called counts, who administered the counties the empire had been divided into. Clergy and local bishops served as officials, as well as the imperial officials called missi dominici, who served as roving inspectors and troubleshooters.

Question: On what date did Charlemagne assume the imperial title?
Answer: Christmas Day 800

Question: Of what class were most inhabitants of the Carolingian Empire?
Answer: peasants

Question: About how many counts existed in the Carolingian Empire?
Answer: 300

Question: In what settlements did most inhabitants of the Carolingian Empire live?
Answer: small farms

Question: Along with the British Isles, with what land did the Carolingians trade?
Answer: Scandinavia
Middle_Ages

Charlemagne's court in Aachen was the centre of the cultural revival sometimes referred to as the "Carolingian Renaissance". Literacy increased, as did development in the arts, architecture and jurisprudence, as well as liturgical and scriptural studies. The English monk Alcuin (d. 804) was invited to Aachen and brought the education available in the monasteries of Northumbria. Charlemagne's chancery—or writing office—made use of a new script today known as Carolingian minuscule,[M] allowing a common writing style that advanced communication across much of Europe. Charlemagne sponsored changes in church liturgy, imposing the Roman form of church service on his domains, as well as the Gregorian chant in liturgical music for the churches. An important activity for scholars during this period was the copying, correcting, and dissemination of basic works on religious and secular topics, with the aim of encouraging learning. New works on religious topics and schoolbooks were also produced. Grammarians of the period modified the Latin language, changing it from the Classical Latin of the Roman Empire into a more flexible form to fit the needs of the church and government. By the reign of Charlemagne, the language had so diverged from the classical that it was later called Medieval Latin.

Question: Where was Charlemagne's court based?
Answer: Aachen

Question: What is the name of the cultural revival associated with Charlemagne?
Answer: Carolingian Renaissance

Question: Of what ethnicity was Alcuin?
Answer: English

Question: In what year did Alcuin die?
Answer: 804

Question: What was the Latin of Charlemagne's era later known as?
Answer: Medieval Latin
Middle_Ages

Charlemagne planned to continue the Frankish tradition of dividing his kingdom between all his heirs, but was unable to do so as only one son, Louis the Pious (r. 814–840), was still alive by 813. Just before Charlemagne died in 814, he crowned Louis as his successor. Louis's reign of 26 years was marked by numerous divisions of the empire among his sons and, after 829, civil wars between various alliances of father and sons over the control of various parts of the empire. Eventually, Louis recognised his eldest son Lothair I (d. 855) as emperor and gave him Italy. Louis divided the rest of the empire between Lothair and Charles the Bald (d. 877), his youngest son. Lothair took East Francia, comprising both banks of the Rhine and eastwards, leaving Charles West Francia with the empire to the west of the Rhineland and the Alps. Louis the German (d. 876), the middle child, who had been rebellious to the last, was allowed to keep Bavaria under the suzerainty of his elder brother. The division was disputed. Pepin II of Aquitaine (d. after 864), the emperor's grandson, rebelled in a contest for Aquitaine, while Louis the German tried to annex all of East Francia. Louis the Pious died in 840, with the empire still in chaos.

Question: Who was Charlemagne's only living son in 813?
Answer: Louis the Pious

Question: How long did Louis the Pious reign?
Answer: 26 years

Question: When did the reign of Louis the Pious end?
Answer: 840

Question: Who ruled Italy after Louis the Pious?
Answer: Lothair I

Question: Who was the middle son of Louis the Pious?
Answer: Louis the German
Middle_Ages

A three-year civil war followed his death. By the Treaty of Verdun (843), a kingdom between the Rhine and Rhone rivers was created for Lothair to go with his lands in Italy, and his imperial title was recognised. Louis the German was in control of Bavaria and the eastern lands in modern-day Germany. Charles the Bald received the western Frankish lands, comprising most of modern-day France. Charlemagne's grandsons and great-grandsons divided their kingdoms between their descendants, eventually causing all internal cohesion to be lost.[N] In 987 the Carolingian dynasty was replaced in the western lands, with the crowning of Hugh Capet (r. 987–996) as king.[O][P] In the eastern lands the dynasty had died out earlier, in 911, with the death of Louis the Child, and the selection of the unrelated Conrad I (r. 911–918) as king.

Question: How many years did the civil war after the death of Louis the Pious last?
Answer: three

Question: Between what two rivers did Lothair receive a kingdom?
Answer: the Rhine and Rhone

Question: In what modern country were Louis the German's lands?
Answer: Germany

Question: In what modern country were Charles the Bald's lands?
Answer: France

Question: When did Louis the Child die?
Answer: 911
Middle_Ages

The breakup of the Carolingian Empire was accompanied by invasions, migrations, and raids by external foes. The Atlantic and northern shores were harassed by the Vikings, who also raided the British Isles and settled there as well as in Iceland. In 911, the Viking chieftain Rollo (d. c. 931) received permission from the Frankish King Charles the Simple (r. 898–922) to settle in what became Normandy.[Q] The eastern parts of the Frankish kingdoms, especially Germany and Italy, were under continual Magyar assault until the invader's defeat at the Battle of Lechfeld in 955. The breakup of the Abbasid dynasty meant that the Islamic world fragmented into smaller political states, some of which began expanding into Italy and Sicily, as well as over the Pyrenees into the southern parts of the Frankish kingdoms.

Question: What group settled in Iceland during this period?
Answer: the Vikings

Question: Who was king of the Franks in 899?
Answer: Charles the Simple

Question: In what region of modern-day France did the Vikings settle?
Answer: Normandy

Question: What group was defeated at the Battle of Lechfeld?
Answer: Magyar

Question: In what year did the Battle of Lechfeld occur?
Answer: 955
Middle_Ages

Efforts by local kings to fight the invaders led to the formation of new political entities. In Anglo-Saxon England, King Alfred the Great (r. 871–899) came to an agreement with the Viking invaders in the late 9th century, resulting in Danish settlements in Northumbria, Mercia, and parts of East Anglia. By the middle of the 10th century, Alfred's successors had conquered Northumbria, and restored English control over most of the southern part of Great Britain. In northern Britain, Kenneth MacAlpin (d. c. 860) united the Picts and the Scots into the Kingdom of Alba. In the early 10th century, the Ottonian dynasty had established itself in Germany, and was engaged in driving back the Magyars. Its efforts culminated in the coronation in 962 of Otto I (r. 936–973) as Holy Roman Emperor. In 972, he secured recognition of his title by the Byzantine Empire, which he sealed with the marriage of his son Otto II (r. 967–983) to Theophanu (d. 991), daughter of an earlier Byzantine Emperor Romanos II (r. 959–963). By the late 10th century Italy had been drawn into the Ottonian sphere after a period of instability; Otto III (r. 996–1002) spent much of his later reign in the kingdom. The western Frankish kingdom was more fragmented, and although kings remained nominally in charge, much of the political power devolved to the local lords.

Question: When did Alfred the Great begin his reign?
Answer: 871

Question: What was the kingdom of Kenneth MacAlpin?
Answer: the Kingdom of Alba

Question: Of what dynasty was Otto I a member?
Answer: Ottonian dynasty

Question: What group did Otto I defeat?
Answer: Magyars

Question: In what year did Otto I become Holy Roman Emperor?
Answer: 962
Middle_Ages

Missionary efforts to Scandinavia during the 9th and 10th centuries helped strengthen the growth of kingdoms such as Sweden, Denmark, and Norway, which gained power and territory. Some kings converted to Christianity, although not all by 1000. Scandinavians also expanded and colonised throughout Europe. Besides the settlements in Ireland, England, and Normandy, further settlement took place in what became Russia and in Iceland. Swedish traders and raiders ranged down the rivers of the Russian steppe, and even attempted to seize Constantinople in 860 and 907. Christian Spain, initially driven into a small section of the peninsula in the north, expanded slowly south during the 9th and 10th centuries, establishing the kingdoms of Asturias and León.

Question: Along with Sweden and Norway, what country saw missionary activity in the 9th and 10th centuries?
Answer: Denmark

Question: Along with 860, in what year did Swedish raiders attempt to conquer Constantinople?
Answer: 907

Question: Along with the kingdom of León, what Spanish kingdom was established during this period?
Answer: Asturias

Question: Along with Iceland, Normandy, Ireland and England, what other area did Scandinavians colonize during this period?
Answer: Russia
Middle_Ages

In Eastern Europe, Byzantium revived its fortunes under Emperor Basil I (r. 867–886) and his successors Leo VI (r. 886–912) and Constantine VII (r. 913–959), members of the Macedonian dynasty. Commerce revived and the emperors oversaw the extension of a uniform administration to all the provinces. The military was reorganised, which allowed the emperors John I (r. 969–976) and Basil II (r. 976–1025) to expand the frontiers of the empire on all fronts. The imperial court was the centre of a revival of classical learning, a process known as the Macedonian Renaissance. Writers such as John Geometres (fl. early 10th century) composed new hymns, poems, and other works. Missionary efforts by both eastern and western clergy resulted in the conversion of the Moravians, Bulgars, Bohemians, Poles, Magyars, and Slavic inhabitants of the Kievan Rus'. These conversions contributed to the founding of political states in the lands of those peoples—the states of Moravia, Bulgaria, Bohemia, Poland, Hungary, and the Kievan Rus'. Bulgaria, which was founded around 680, at its height reached from Budapest to the Black Sea and from the Dnieper River in modern Ukraine to the Adriatic Sea. By 1018, the last Bulgarian nobles had surrendered to the Byzantine Empire.

Question: Of what dynasty was Leo VI a member?
Answer: Macedonian

Question: During what period did Constantine VII reign?
Answer: 913–959

Question: When did Basil I's rule begin?
Answer: 867

Question: During what century did John Geometres flourish?
Answer: 10th

Question: In approximately what year was Bulgaria founded?
Answer: 680
Middle_Ages

Few large stone buildings were constructed between the Constantinian basilicas of the 4th century and the 8th century, although many smaller ones were built during the 6th and 7th centuries. By the beginning of the 8th century, the Carolingian Empire revived the basilica form of architecture. One feature of the basilica is the use of a transept, or the "arms" of a cross-shaped building that are perpendicular to the long nave. Other new features of religious architecture include the crossing tower and a monumental entrance to the church, usually at the west end of the building.

Question: When were the Constantinian basilicas built?
Answer: 4th century

Question: In what part of the church was the monumental entrance typically placed?
Answer: the west end

Question: What type of architecture did the Carolingian Empire bring back into use?
Answer: the basilica

Question: What is a notable architectural feature of the basilica?
Answer: transept

Question: How is the transept positioned in relation to the nave?
Answer: perpendicular
Middle_Ages

During the later Roman Empire, the principal military developments were attempts to create an effective cavalry force as well as the continued development of highly specialised types of troops. The creation of heavily armoured cataphract-type soldiers as cavalry was an important feature of the 5th-century Roman military. The various invading tribes had differing emphasis on types of soldiers—ranging from the primarily infantry Anglo-Saxon invaders of Britain to the Vandals and Visigoths, who had a high proportion of cavalry in their armies. During the early invasion period, the stirrup had not been introduced into warfare, which limited the usefulness of cavalry as shock troops because it was not possible to put the full force of the horse and rider behind blows struck by the rider. The greatest change in military affairs during the invasion period was the adoption of the Hunnic composite bow in place of the earlier, and weaker, Scythian composite bow. Another development was the increasing use of longswords and the progressive replacement of scale armour by mail armour and lamellar armour.

Question: What was the primary military arm of Anglo-Saxon armies?
Answer: infantry

Question: What military arm did the Visigoths have a large amount of?
Answer: cavalry

Question: What Scythian weapon was used during this era?
Answer: composite bow

Question: What weapon replaced the Scythian composite bow?
Answer: Hunnic composite bow

Question: Along with lamellar armor, what armor replaced scale armor?
Answer: mail
Middle_Ages

Carolingian art was produced for a small group of figures around the court, and the monasteries and churches they supported. It was dominated by efforts to regain the dignity and classicism of imperial Roman and Byzantine art, but was also influenced by the Insular art of the British Isles. Insular art integrated the energy of Irish Celtic and Anglo-Saxon Germanic styles of ornament with Mediterranean forms such as the book, and established many characteristics of art for the rest of the medieval period. Surviving religious works from the Early Middle Ages are mostly illuminated manuscripts and carved ivories, originally made for metalwork that has since been melted down. Objects in precious metals were the most prestigious form of art, but almost all are lost except for a few crosses such as the Cross of Lothair, several reliquaries, and finds such as the Anglo-Saxon burial at Sutton Hoo and the hoards of Gourdon from Merovingian France, Guarrazar from Visigothic Spain and Nagyszentmiklós near Byzantine territory. There are survivals from the large brooches in fibula or penannular form that were a key piece of personal adornment for elites, including the Irish Tara Brooch. Highly decorated books were mostly Gospel Books and these have survived in larger numbers, including the Insular Book of Kells, the Book of Lindisfarne, and the imperial Codex Aureus of St. Emmeram, which is one of the few to retain its "treasure binding" of gold encrusted with jewels. Charlemagne's court seems to have been responsible for the acceptance of figurative monumental sculpture in Christian art, and by the end of the period near life-sized figures such as the Gero Cross were common in important churches.

Question: Along with carved ivories, what religious works of the Early Middle Ages were common?
Answer: illuminated manuscripts

Question: What is a notable cross made during this era?
Answer: the Cross of Lothair

Question: Where was a notable hoard found near the former lands of the Byzantine Empire?
Answer: Nagyszentmiklós

Question: What is a notable decorated book with a binding of jewel-encrusted gold?
Answer: Codex Aureus of St. Emmeram

Question: Where was a hoard from Visigothic Spain found?
Answer: Guarrazar
Middle_Ages

The importance of infantry and light cavalry began to decline during the early Carolingian period, with a growing dominance of elite heavy cavalry. The use of militia-type levies of the free population declined over the Carolingian period. Although much of the Carolingian armies were mounted, a large proportion during the early period appear to have been mounted infantry, rather than true cavalry. One exception was Anglo-Saxon England, where the armies were still composed of regional levies, known as the fyrd, which were led by the local elites. In military technology, one of the main changes was the return of the crossbow, which had been known in Roman times and reappeared as a military weapon during the last part of the Early Middle Ages. Another change was the introduction of the stirrup, which increased the effectiveness of cavalry as shock troops. A technological advance that had implications beyond the military was the horseshoe, which allowed horses to be used in rocky terrain.

Question: The importance of what military arm increased during the Carolingian era?
Answer: heavy cavalry

Question: What region raised a militia army called the fyrd?
Answer: Anglo-Saxon England

Question: What Roman weapon began to be used again in the Early Middle Ages?
Answer: the crossbow

Question: Along with the horseshoe, what invention important for cavalry emerged in this period?
Answer: the stirrup

Question: Along with light cavalry, what military arm declined in importance during the Early Middle Ages?
Answer: infantry
Middle_Ages

The High Middle Ages was a period of tremendous expansion of population. The estimated population of Europe grew from 35 to 80 million between 1000 and 1347, although the exact causes remain unclear: improved agricultural techniques, the decline of slaveholding, a more clement climate and the lack of invasion have all been suggested. As much as 90 per cent of the European population remained rural peasants. Many were no longer settled in isolated farms but had gathered into small communities, usually known as manors or villages. These peasants were often subject to noble overlords and owed them rents and other services, in a system known as manorialism. There remained a few free peasants throughout this period and beyond, with more of them in the regions of Southern Europe than in the north. The practice of assarting, or bringing new lands into production by offering incentives to the peasants who settled them, also contributed to the expansion of population.

Question: What was the approximate population of Europe in 1347?
Answer: 80 million

Question: About how many millions of people lived in Europe in the year 1000?
Answer: 35

Question: During the High Middle Ages, what percentage of the European population consisted of rural peasants?
Answer: 90

Question: Along with manors, where did peasants in the High Middle Ages often live?
Answer: villages

Question: What was the term for the practice of giving incentives to peasants to cultivate new lands?
Answer: assarting
Middle_Ages

Other sections of society included the nobility, clergy, and townsmen. Nobles, both the titled nobility and simple knights, exploited the manors and the peasants, although they did not own lands outright but were granted rights to the income from a manor or other lands by an overlord through the system of feudalism. During the 11th and 12th centuries, these lands, or fiefs, came to be considered hereditary, and in most areas they were no longer divisible between all the heirs as had been the case in the early medieval period. Instead, most fiefs and lands went to the eldest son.[R] The dominance of the nobility was built upon its control of the land, its military service as heavy cavalry, control of castles, and various immunities from taxes or other impositions.[S] Castles, initially in wood but later in stone, began to be constructed in the 9th and 10th centuries in response to the disorder of the time, and provided protection from invaders as well as allowing lords defence from rivals. Control of castles allowed the nobles to defy kings or other overlords. Nobles were stratified; kings and the highest-ranking nobility controlled large numbers of commoners and large tracts of land, as well as other nobles. Beneath them, lesser nobles had authority over smaller areas of land and fewer people. Knights were the lowest level of nobility; they controlled but did not own land, and had to serve other nobles.[T]

Question: In what centuries did fiefs become hereditary?
Answer: 11th and 12th

Question: In this period, who usually inherited fiefs?
Answer: the eldest son

Question: What were castles originally built out of?
Answer: wood

Question: What group constituted the lowest nobility?
Answer: Knights

Question: In what century were castles first built?
Answer: 9th
Middle_Ages

The clergy was divided into two types: the secular clergy, who lived out in the world, and the regular clergy, who lived under a religious rule and were usually monks. Throughout the period monks remained a very small proportion of the population, usually less than one per cent. Most of the regular clergy were drawn from the nobility, the same social class that served as the recruiting ground for the upper levels of the secular clergy. The local parish priests were often drawn from the peasant class. Townsmen were in a somewhat unusual position, as they did not fit into the traditional three-fold division of society into nobles, clergy, and peasants. During the 12th and 13th centuries, the ranks of the townsmen expanded greatly as existing towns grew and new population centres were founded. But throughout the Middle Ages the population of the towns probably never exceeded 10 per cent of the total population.

Question: What group constituted the clergy along with the regular clergy?
Answer: the secular clergy

Question: What type of clergy were monks?
Answer: regular clergy

Question: What percentage of the European population consisted of monks?
Answer: less than one per cent

Question: What social class did many members of the regular clergy come from?
Answer: the nobility

Question: From what class were many parish priests?
Answer: the peasant class
Middle_Ages

Jews also spread across Europe during the period. Communities were established in Germany and England in the 11th and 12th centuries, but Spanish Jews, long settled in Spain under the Muslims, came under Christian rule and increasing pressure to convert to Christianity. Most Jews were confined to the cities, as they were not allowed to own land or be peasants.[U] Besides the Jews, there were other non-Christians on the edges of Europe—pagan Slavs in Eastern Europe and Muslims in Southern Europe.

Question: In what type of settlement did most Jews live?
Answer: cities

Question: In what centuries did a Jewish community develop in England?
Answer: the 11th and 12th

Question: What religion were Spanish Jews pressured into converting to?
Answer: Christianity

Question: In what part of Europe did the Slavs live?
Answer: Eastern

Question: What was the religion of the Slavs?
Answer: pagan
Middle_Ages

Women in the Middle Ages were officially required to be subordinate to some male, whether their father, husband, or other kinsman. Widows, who were often allowed much control over their own lives, were still restricted legally. Women's work generally consisted of household or other domestically inclined tasks. Peasant women were usually responsible for taking care of the household, child-care, as well as gardening and animal husbandry near the house. They could supplement the household income by spinning or brewing at home. At harvest-time, they were also expected to help with field-work. Townswomen, like peasant women, were responsible for the household, and could also engage in trade. What trades were open to women varied by country and period. Noblewomen were responsible for running a household, and could occasionally be expected to handle estates in the absence of male relatives, but they were usually restricted from participation in military or government affairs. The only role open to women in the Church was that of nuns, as they were unable to become priests.

Question: Along with gardening, animal husbandry and child-care, what work did medieval peasant women do?
Answer: taking care of the household

Question: Along with spinning, what income-producing work did peasant women engage in?
Answer: brewing

Question: What did peasant women do when it was time for the harvest?
Answer: help with field-work

Question: What role did women fill in the Church?
Answer: nuns
Middle_Ages

In central and northern Italy and in Flanders, the rise of towns that were to a degree self-governing stimulated economic growth and created an environment for new types of trade associations. Commercial cities on the shores of the Baltic entered into agreements known as the Hanseatic League, and the Italian Maritime republics such as Venice, Genoa, and Pisa expanded their trade throughout the Mediterranean.[V] Great trading fairs were established and flourished in northern France during the period, allowing Italian and German merchants to trade with each other as well as local merchants. In the late 13th century new land and sea routes to the Far East were pioneered, famously described in The Travels of Marco Polo written by one of the traders, Marco Polo (d. 1324). Besides new trading opportunities, agricultural and technological improvements enabled an increase in crop yields, which in turn allowed the trade networks to expand. Rising trade brought new methods of dealing with money, and gold coinage was again minted in Europe, first in Italy and later in France and other countries. New forms of commercial contracts emerged, allowing risk to be shared among merchants. Accounting methods improved, partly through the use of double-entry bookkeeping; letters of credit also appeared, allowing easy transmission of money.

Question: What sea were the Hanseatic cities located on?
Answer: Baltic

Question: Along with Venice and Pisa, what was a notable Italian maritime republic?
Answer: Genoa

Question: Who wrote The Travels of Marco Polo?
Answer: Marco Polo

Question: What accounting method was utilized in this period?
Answer: double-entry bookkeeping

Question: In what region was gold coinage first reintroduced?
Answer: Italy
Middle_Ages

The High Middle Ages was the formative period in the history of the modern Western state. Kings in France, England, and Spain consolidated their power, and set up lasting governing institutions. New kingdoms such as Hungary and Poland, after their conversion to Christianity, became Central European powers. The Magyars settled Hungary around 900 under King Árpád (d. c. 907) after a series of invasions in the 9th century. The papacy, long attached to an ideology of independence from secular kings, first asserted its claim to temporal authority over the entire Christian world; the Papal Monarchy reached its apogee in the early 13th century under the pontificate of Innocent III (pope 1198–1216). Northern Crusades and the advance of Christian kingdoms and military orders into previously pagan regions in the Baltic and Finnic north-east brought the forced assimilation of numerous native peoples into European culture.

Question: Along with Poland, what Central European kingdom was formed during the High Middle Ages?
Answer: Hungary

Question: Who was king when the Magyars settled in Hungary?
Answer: Árpád

Question: When did the papacy of Innocent III begin?
Answer: 1198

Question: Along with France and Spain, the kings of what country consolidated power in the High Middle Ages?
Answer: England

Question: In approximately what year did the Magyars settle in Hungary?
Answer: 900
Middle_Ages

During the early High Middle Ages, Germany was ruled by the Ottonian dynasty, which struggled to control the powerful dukes ruling over territorial duchies tracing back to the Migration period. In 1024, they were replaced by the Salian dynasty, who famously clashed with the papacy under Emperor Henry IV (r. 1084–1105) over church appointments as part of the Investiture Controversy. His successors continued to struggle against the papacy as well as the German nobility. A period of instability followed the death of Emperor Henry V (r. 1111–25), who died without heirs, until Frederick I Barbarossa (r. 1155–90) took the imperial throne. Although he ruled effectively, the basic problems remained, and his successors continued to struggle into the 13th century. Barbarossa's grandson Frederick II (r. 1220–1250), who was also heir to the throne of Sicily through his mother, clashed repeatedly with the papacy. His court was famous for its scholars and he was often accused of heresy. He and his successors faced many difficulties, including the invasion of the Mongols into Europe in the mid-13th century. Mongols first shattered the Kievan Rus' principalities and then invaded Eastern Europe in 1241, 1259, and 1287.

Question: What dynasty controlled Germany in the early High Middle Ages?
Answer: Ottonian

Question: What dynasty ruled Germany starting in 1024?
Answer: Salian

Question: When did Henry IV's reign begin?
Answer: 1084

Question: The clash between Henry IV and the pope was part of what greater conflict?
Answer: Investiture Controversy

Question: What was the regnal name of Frederick I Barbarossa's grandson?
Answer: Frederick II
Middle_Ages

Under the Capetian dynasty France slowly began to expand its authority over the nobility, growing out of the Île-de-France to exert control over more of the country in the 11th and 12th centuries. They faced a powerful rival in the Dukes of Normandy, who in 1066 under William the Conqueror (duke 1035–1087), conquered England (r. 1066–87) and created a cross-channel empire that lasted, in various forms, throughout the rest of the Middle Ages. Normans also settled in Sicily and southern Italy, when Robert Guiscard (d. 1085) landed there in 1059 and established a duchy that later became the Kingdom of Sicily. Under the Angevin dynasty of Henry II (r. 1154–89) and his son Richard I (r. 1189–99), the kings of England ruled over England and large areas of France,[W] brought to the family by Henry II's marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine (d. 1204), heiress to much of southern France.[X] Richard's younger brother John (r. 1199–1216) lost Normandy and the rest of the northern French possessions in 1204 to the French King Philip II Augustus (r. 1180–1223). This led to dissension among the English nobility, while John's financial exactions to pay for his unsuccessful attempts to regain Normandy led in 1215 to Magna Carta, a charter that confirmed the rights and privileges of free men in England. Under Henry III (r. 1216–72), John's son, further concessions were made to the nobility, and royal power was diminished. The French monarchy continued to make gains against the nobility during the late 12th and 13th centuries, bringing more territories within the kingdom under their personal rule and centralising the royal administration. Under Louis IX (r. 1226–70), royal prestige rose to new heights as Louis served as a mediator for most of Europe.[Y]

Question: Who was Duke of Normandy in 1066?
Answer: William the Conqueror

Question: During what period did William reign over England?
Answer: 1066–87

Question: When did Robert Guiscard die?
Answer: 1085

Question: What kingdom grew out of the duchy founded by Robert Guiscard?
Answer: Kingdom of Sicily

Question: To what dynasty did Henry II belong?
Answer: Angevin
Middle_Ages

In Iberia, the Christian states, which had been confined to the north-western part of the peninsula, began to push back against the Islamic states in the south, a period known as the Reconquista. By about 1150, the Christian north had coalesced into the five major kingdoms of León, Castile, Aragon, Navarre, and Portugal. Southern Iberia remained under control of Islamic states, initially under the Caliphate of Córdoba, which broke up in 1031 into a shifting number of petty states known as taifas, who fought with the Christians until the Almohad Caliphate re-established centralised rule over Southern Iberia in the 1170s. Christian forces advanced again in the early 13th century, culminating in the capture of Seville in 1248.

Question: What was the name of the Christian reconquest of Iberia from the Muslims?
Answer: the Reconquista

Question: How many major Christian kingdoms existed in Iberia around 1150?
Answer: five

Question: Along with León, Portugal, Aragon and Castile, what major Christian kingdom existed in Iberia around 1150?
Answer: Navarre

Question: What Islamic state controlled southern Iberia until 1031?
Answer: the Caliphate of Córdoba

Question: What Islamic state controlled southern Iberia in the 1170s?
Answer: the Almohad Caliphate
Middle_Ages

In the 11th century, the Seljuk Turks took over much of the Middle East, occupying Persia during the 1040s, Armenia in the 1060s, and Jerusalem in 1070. In 1071, the Turkish army defeated the Byzantine army at the Battle of Manzikert and captured the Byzantine Emperor Romanus IV (r. 1068–71). The Turks were then free to invade Asia Minor, which dealt a dangerous blow to the Byzantine Empire by seizing a large part of its population and its economic heartland. Although the Byzantines regrouped and recovered somewhat, they never fully regained Asia Minor and were often on the defensive. The Turks also had difficulties, losing control of Jerusalem to the Fatimids of Egypt and suffering from a series of internal civil wars. The Byzantines also faced a revived Bulgaria, which in the late 12th and 13th centuries spread throughout the Balkans.

Question: During what decade did the Seljuk Turks occupy Armenia?
Answer: 1060s

Question: In what yer was the Battle of Manzikert fought?
Answer: 1071

Question: Who was taken prisoner at the Battle of Manzikert?
Answer: Byzantine Emperor Romanus IV

Question: Who conquered Jerusalem from the Turks?
Answer: the Fatimids of Egypt

Question: During what century did the Seljuk Turks occupy Persia?
Answer: 11th
Middle_Ages

The crusades were intended to seize Jerusalem from Muslim control. The First Crusade was proclaimed by Pope Urban II (pope 1088–99) at the Council of Clermont in 1095 in response to a request from the Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos (r. 1081–1118) for aid against further Muslim advances. Urban promised indulgence to anyone who took part. Tens of thousands of people from all levels of society mobilised across Europe and captured Jerusalem in 1099. One feature of the crusades was the pogroms against local Jews that often took place as the crusaders left their countries for the East. These were especially brutal during the First Crusade, when the Jewish communities in Cologne, Mainz, and Worms were destroyed, and other communities in cities between the rivers Seine and Rhine suffered destruction. Another outgrowth of the crusades was the foundation of a new type of monastic order, the military orders of the Templars and Hospitallers, which fused monastic life with military service.

Question: What pope launched the First crusade?
Answer: Urban II

Question: At what gathering was the First Crusade preached?
Answer: the Council of Clermont

Question: In what year was the First Crusade proclaimed?
Answer: 1095

Question: What Byzantine Emperor's request for assistance led to the First Crusade?
Answer: Alexios I Komnenos

Question: In what year did the First Crusade take Jerusalem?
Answer: 1099
Middle_Ages

The crusaders consolidated their conquests into crusader states. During the 12th and 13th centuries, there were a series of conflicts between those states and the surrounding Islamic states. Appeals from those states to the papacy led to further crusades, such as the Third Crusade, called to try to regain Jerusalem, which had been captured by Saladin (d. 1193) in 1187.[Z] In 1203, the Fourth Crusade was diverted from the Holy Land to Constantinople, and captured the city in 1204, setting up a Latin Empire of Constantinople and greatly weakening the Byzantine Empire. The Byzantines recaptured the city in 1261, but never regained their former strength. By 1291 all the crusader states had been captured or forced from the mainland, although a titular Kingdom of Jerusalem survived on the island of Cyprus for several years afterwards.

Question: What was the purpose of the Third Crusade?
Answer: to regain Jerusalem

Question: Who took Jerusalem in 1187?
Answer: Saladin

Question: In what year did the Fourth Crusade occur?
Answer: 1203

Question: What state was founded following the Fourth Crusade?
Answer: Latin Empire of Constantinople

Question: After 1291, where did the titular King of Jerusalem reside?
Answer: Cyprus
Middle_Ages

Popes called for crusades to take place elsewhere besides the Holy Land: in Spain, southern France, and along the Baltic. The Spanish crusades became fused with the Reconquista of Spain from the Muslims. Although the Templars and Hospitallers took part in the Spanish crusades, similar Spanish military religious orders were founded, most of which had become part of the two main orders of Calatrava and Santiago by the beginning of the 12th century. Northern Europe also remained outside Christian influence until the 11th century or later, and became a crusading venue as part of the Northern Crusades of the 12th to 14th centuries. These crusades also spawned a military order, the Order of the Sword Brothers. Another order, the Teutonic Knights, although originally founded in the crusader states, focused much of its activity in the Baltic after 1225, and in 1309 moved its headquarters to Marienburg in Prussia.

Question: Along with the Baltic and Spain, in what area were crusades called?
Answer: southern France

Question: Where was the Teutonic Order headquartered in 1309?
Answer: Marienburg

Question: What military order was founded as a result of the Northern Crusades?
Answer: the Order of the Sword Brothers

Question: In what century did the Northern Crusades begin?
Answer: 12th

Question: What century saw the end of the Northern Crusades?
Answer: 14th
Middle_Ages

During the 11th century, developments in philosophy and theology led to increased intellectual activity. There was debate between the realists and the nominalists over the concept of "universals". Philosophical discourse was stimulated by the rediscovery of Aristotle and his emphasis on empiricism and rationalism. Scholars such as Peter Abelard (d. 1142) and Peter Lombard (d. 1164) introduced Aristotelian logic into theology. In the late 11th and early 12th centuries cathedral schools spread throughout Western Europe, signalling the shift of learning from monasteries to cathedrals and towns. Cathedral schools were in turn replaced by the universities established in major European cities. Philosophy and theology fused in scholasticism, an attempt by 12th- and 13th-century scholars to reconcile authoritative texts, most notably Aristotle and the Bible. This movement tried to employ a systemic approach to truth and reason and culminated in the thought of Thomas Aquinas (d. 1274), who wrote the Summa Theologica, or Summary of Theology.

Question: What group opposed the nominalists on the subject of universals?
Answer: realists

Question: What ancient philosopher was rediscovered, leading to a revival of philosophy?
Answer: Aristotle

Question: When did Peter Lombard die?
Answer: 1164

Question: What was the name of the school of thought that combined theology and philosophy?
Answer: scholasticism

Question: Who authored the Summa Theologica?
Answer: Thomas Aquinas