Late_Middle_Ages

context: Around 1300, centuries of prosperity and growth in Europe came to a halt. A series of famines and plagues, including the Great Famine of 1315–1317 and the Black Death, reduced the population to around half of what it was before the calamities. Along with depopulation came social unrest and endemic warfare. France and England experienced serious peasant uprisings, such as the Jacquerie and the Peasants' Revolt, as well as over a century of intermittent conflict in the Hundred Years' War. To add to the many problems of the period, the unity of the Catholic Church was shattered by the Western Schism. Collectively these events are sometimes called the Crisis of the Late Middle Ages.
qas: answers: the Western Schism
question: What shattered the unity of the Catholic Church?

answers: the Crisis of the Late Middle Ages
question: What are the series of events that ended centuries of prosperity in Europe, starting around 1300, known as?

answers: 1315–1317
question: In what years was the Great Famine?

answers: France and England
question: Which two countries experienced peasant uprisings?

answers: Hundred Years' War
question: What major conflict occurred in Europe during the Crisis of the Late Middle Ages?

context: Despite these crises, the 14th century was also a time of great progress in the arts and sciences. Following a renewed interest in ancient Greek and Roman texts that took root in the High Middle Ages, the Italian Renaissance began. The absorption of Latin texts had started before the Renaissance of the 12th century through contact with Arabs during the Crusades, but the availability of important Greek texts accelerated with the capture of Constantinople by the Ottoman Turks, when many Byzantine scholars had to seek refuge in the West, particularly Italy.
qas: answers: Greek and Roman
question: An interest in texts from which two ancient civilizations sparked the Italian Renaissance?

answers: the Crusades
question: Which conflicts brought Europeans into contact with Arabs prior to the 12th century?

answers: Constantinople
question: Which city was captured by the Ottoman Turks, resulting in the fleeing of scholars to Western Europe?

answers: Ottoman Turks
question: Who captured Constantinople?

answers: Greek
question: What kind of texts did Byzantine scholars take with them when they fled Constantinople?

context: Combined with this influx of classical ideas was the invention of printing which facilitated dissemination of the printed word and democratized learning. These two things would later lead to the Protestant Reformation. Toward the end of the period, an era of discovery began (Age of Discovery). The rise of the Ottoman Empire, culminating in the Fall of Constantinople in 1453, eroded the last remnants of the Byzantine Empire and cut off trading possibilities with the east. Europeans were forced to seek new trading routes, leading to the expedition of Columbus to the Americas in 1492, and Vasco da Gama’s circumnavigation of India and Africa in 1498. Their discoveries strengthened the economy and power of European nations.
qas: answers: printing
question: Which invention resulted in more widespread use of the printed word?

answers: 1453
question: In what year did Constantinople fall?

answers: 1498
question: In what year did Vasco da Gama sail around India and Africa?

answers: 1492
question: In what year was Columbus' expedition to the Americas?

answers: dissemination of the printed word and democratized learning
question: The Protestant Reformation is attributed to what two developments that resulted from the invention of printing?

context: The term "Late Middle Ages" refers to one of the three periods of the Middle Ages, along with the Early Middle Ages and the High Middle Ages. Leonardo Bruni was the first historian to use tripartite periodization in his History of the Florentine People (1442). Flavio Biondo used a similar framework in Decades of History from the Deterioration of the Roman Empire (1439–1453). Tripartite periodization became standard after the German historian Christoph Cellarius published Universal History Divided into an Ancient, Medieval, and New Period (1683).
qas: answers: Early Middle Ages and the High Middle Ages
question: Along with the Late Middle Ages, what are the other two period of the Middle Ages?

answers: 1442
question: When was Leonardo Bruni's "History of the Florentine People" published?

answers: tripartite periodization
question: What is the name for the division of the periods of history introduced by Bruni?

answers: Flavio Biondo
question: Who was the author of "Decades of History from the Deterioration of the Roman Empire

answers: Universal History Divided into an Ancient, Medieval, and New Period
question: What 1683 work resulted in the standard use of tripartite periodization?

context: As economic and demographic methods were applied to the study of history, the trend was increasingly to see the late Middle Ages as a period of recession and crisis. Belgian historian Henri Pirenne continued the subdivision of Early, High, and Late Middle Ages in the years around World War I. Yet it was his Dutch colleague, Johan Huizinga, who was primarily responsible for popularising the pessimistic view of the Late Middle Ages, with his book The Autumn of the Middle Ages (1919). To Huizinga, whose research focused on France and the Low Countries rather than Italy, despair and decline were the main themes, not rebirth.
qas: answers: economic and demographic
question: What methods, applied to the study of history, led to the perception of the Middle Ages as a time of recession and crisis?

answers: Johan Huizinga
question: Which author popularized a pessimistic view of the Late Middle Ages in his 1919 book?

answers: The Autumn of the Middle Ages
question: What was the title of Huizinga's 1919 book on the Middle Ages?

answers: France and the Low Countries
question: Which countries were the focus of Huizinga's research?

answers: Belgian
question: What was the nationality of historian Henri Pirenne?

context: Modern historiography on the period has reached a consensus between the two extremes of innovation and crisis. It is now (generally) acknowledged that conditions were vastly different north and south of the Alps, and "Late Middle Ages" is often avoided entirely within Italian historiography. The term "Renaissance" is still considered useful for describing certain intellectual, cultural, or artistic developments, but not as the defining feature of an entire European historical epoch. The period from the early 14th century up until – and sometimes including – the 16th century, is rather seen as characterised by other trends: demographic and economic decline followed by recovery, the end of western religious unity and the subsequent emergence of the nation state, and the expansion of European influence onto the rest of the world.
qas: answers: the nation state
question: What geopolitical entity emerged from the Late Middle Ages?

answers: the Alps
question: Which mountain range is seen as a dividing line when considering conditions during the Middle Ages?

answers: intellectual, cultural, or artistic
question: The Renaissance is generally used to describe developments in what areas of life in the Middle Ages?

answers: early 14th century up until – and sometimes including – the 16th century
question: Which centuries are considered to be part of the Late Middle Ages?

answers: the end of western religious unity
question: What was the general effect of the Late Middle Ages on religion?

context: After the failed union of Sweden and Norway of 1319–1365, the pan-Scandinavian Kalmar Union was instituted in 1397. The Swedes were reluctant members of the Danish-dominated union from the start. In an attempt to subdue the Swedes, King Christian II of Denmark had large numbers of the Swedish aristocracy killed in the Stockholm Bloodbath of 1520. Yet this measure only led to further hostilities, and Sweden broke away for good in 1523. Norway, on the other hand, became an inferior party of the union and remained united with Denmark until 1814.
qas: answers: 1397
question: When was the Kalmar Union formed?

answers: King Christian II
question: Which Danish King was responsible for the Stockholm Bloodbath?

answers: 1523
question: In what year did Sweden break away from the Kalmar Union?

answers: 1814
question: Denmark and Norway remained in the Kalmar Union until what year?

answers: 1520
question: In what year did the Stockholm Bloodbath take place?

context: Bohemia prospered in the 14th century, and the Golden Bull of 1356 made the king of Bohemia first among the imperial electors, but the Hussite revolution threw the country into crisis. The Holy Roman Empire passed to the Habsburgs in 1438, where it remained until its dissolution in 1806. Yet in spite of the extensive territories held by the Habsburgs, the Empire itself remained fragmented, and much real power and influence lay with the individual principalities. In addition, financial institutions, such as the Hanseatic League and the Fugger family, held great power, on both economic and a political levels.
qas: answers: 1806
question: In what year was the Holy Roman Empire dissolved?

answers: 1356
question: In what year did a Golden Bull make the king of Bohemia first among the imperial electors?

answers: financial
question: The Hanseatic League was what type of institution?

answers: the Habsburgs
question: In 1438, control of the Holy Roman Empire passed to what dynasty?

context: Louis did not leave a son as heir after his death in 1382. Instead, he named as his heir the young prince Sigismund of Luxemburg, who was 11 years old. The Hungarian nobility did not accept his claim, and the result was an internal war. Sigismund eventually achieved total control of Hungary and established his court in Buda and Visegrád. Both palaces were rebuilt and improved, and were considered the richest of the time in Europe. Inheriting the throne of Bohemia and the Holy Roman Empire, Sigismund continued conducting his politics from Hungary, but he was kept busy fighting the Hussites and the Ottoman Empire, which was becoming a menace to Europe in the beginning of the 15th century.
qas: answers: 1382
question: In what year did Louis die?

answers: Sigismund of Luxemburg
question: Who did Louis name as his heir?

answers: 11
question: How old was Sigismund of Luxemburg when he was named heir?

answers: Buda and Visegrád
question: Upon taking the throne of Hungary where did Sigismund establish his court?

answers: internal war
question: What was the result of the Hungarian nobility's refusal to accept Sigismund claim as Louis' heir?

context: The Bulgarian Empire was in decline by the 14th century, and the ascendancy of Serbia was marked by the Serbian victory over the Bulgarians in the Battle of Velbazhd in 1330. By 1346, the Serbian king Stefan Dušan had been proclaimed emperor. Yet Serbian dominance was short-lived; the Serbian army led by the Lazar Hrebljevanovic was defeated by the Ottomans at the Battle of Kosovo in 1389, where most of the Serbian nobility was killed and the south of the country came under Ottoman occupation, as much of southern Bulgaria had become Ottoman territory in 1371. Northern remnants of Bulgaria were finally conquered by 1396, Serbia fell in 1459, Bosnia in 1463, and Albania was finally subordinated in 1479 only a few years after the death of Skanderbeg. Belgrade, an Hungarian domain at the time, was the last large Balkan city to fall under Ottoman rule, in 1521. By the end of the medieval period, the entire Balkan peninsula was annexed by, or became vassal to, the Ottomans.
qas: answers: 1521
question: In what year did Belgrade fall to the Ottomans?

answers: Lazar Hrebljevanovic
question: Who led led the Serbian Army at the Battle of Kosovo?

answers: 1389
question: In what year was the Battle of Kosovo?

answers: Battle of Velbazhd
question: What event resulted in the triumph of Serbia over Bulgaria in 1330?

answers: Albania
question: Which country was conquered by the Ottomans in 1479?

context: Avignon was the seat of the papacy from 1309 to 1376. With the return of the Pope to Rome in 1378, the Papal State developed into a major secular power, culminating in the morally corrupt papacy of Alexander VI. Florence grew to prominence amongst the Italian city-states through financial business, and the dominant Medici family became important promoters of the Renaissance through their patronage of the arts. Other city states in northern Italy also expanded their territories and consolidated their power, primarily Milan and Venice. The War of the Sicilian Vespers had by the early 14th century divided southern Italy into an Aragon Kingdom of Sicily and an Anjou Kingdom of Naples. In 1442, the two kingdoms were effectively united under Aragonese control.
qas: answers: Avignon
question: What city was the seat of the papacy for most of the 14th century?

answers: 1378
question: In what year did the papacy return to Rome?

answers: The War of the Sicilian Vespers
question: What 14th century conflict resulted in the division of southern Italy into two kingdoms?

answers: Aragon Kingdom of Sicily and an Anjou Kingdom of Naples
question: What were the names of the two kingdoms into which southern Italy was divided?

answers: 1442
question: In what year were the two southern Italian kingdoms re-united?

context: The 1469 marriage of Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon and the 1479 death of John II of Aragon led to the creation of modern-day Spain. In 1492, Granada was captured from the Moors, thereby completing the Reconquista. Portugal had during the 15th century – particularly under Henry the Navigator – gradually explored the coast of Africa, and in 1498, Vasco da Gama found the sea route to India. The Spanish monarchs met the Portuguese challenge by financing the expedition of Christopher Columbus to find a western sea route to India, leading to the discovery of the Americas in 1492.
qas: answers: 1469
question: In what year were Isabel I and Ferdinand II married?

answers: 1492
question: When was modern-day Spain created?

answers: Granada
question: The capture of which city finalized the Reconquista?

answers: Vasco da Gama
question: Which explorer discovered a sea-route to India?

answers: 1492
question: In what year did Christopher Columbus discover the Americas?

context: Around 1300–1350 the Medieval Warm Period gave way to the Little Ice Age. The colder climate resulted in agricultural crises, the first of which is known as the Great Famine of 1315-1317. The demographic consequences of this famine, however, were not as severe as the plagues that occurred later in the century, particularly the Black Death. Estimates of the death rate caused by this epidemic range from one third to as much as sixty percent. By around 1420, the accumulated effect of recurring plagues and famines had reduced the population of Europe to perhaps no more than a third of what it was a century earlier. The effects of natural disasters were exacerbated by armed conflicts; this was particularly the case in France during the Hundred Years' War.
qas: answers: the Little Ice Age
question: Which climactic epoch followed the Medieval Warm Period?

answers: sixty percent
question: What was the high end of the estimated death rate of the Black Plague?

answers: Hundred Years' War
question: What major conflict rocked France during the 13th and 14th centuries?

answers: Around 1300–1350
question: When did the Medieval Warm Period end?

answers: agricultural crises
question: What was the effect of the Little Ice Age?

context: As the European population was severely reduced, land became more plentiful for the survivors, and labour consequently more expensive. Attempts by landowners to forcibly reduce wages, such as the English 1351 Statute of Laborers, were doomed to fail. These efforts resulted in nothing more than fostering resentment among the peasantry, leading to rebellions such as the French Jacquerie in 1358 and the English Peasants' Revolt in 1381. The long-term effect was the virtual end of serfdom in Western Europe. In Eastern Europe, on the other hand, landowners were able to exploit the situation to force the peasantry into even more repressive bondage.
qas: answers: 1358
question: When did the French Jacquerie take place?

answers: Statute of Laborers
question: What English law was enacted in order to forcibly reduce wages?

answers: 1351
question: In what year was the Statute of Laborers enacted?

answers: serfdom
question: Which economic system was ultimately ended by the upheavals of the 14th century?

answers: 1381
question: In what year did the English Peasants' Revolt occur?

context: Up until the mid-14th century, Europe had experienced steadily increasing urbanisation. Cities were also decimated by the Black Death, but the role of urban areas as centres of learning, commerce and government ensured continued growth. By 1500, Venice, Milan, Naples, Paris and Constantinople each probably had more than 100,000 inhabitants. Twenty-two other cities were larger than 40,000; most of these were in Italy and the Iberian peninsula, but there were also some in France, the Empire, the Low Countries, plus London in England.
qas: answers: Venice, Milan, Naples, Paris and Constantinople
question: Which European cities likely had populations greater than 100,000 in 1500?

answers: the Black Death
question: What event decimated urban populations in the 14th century?

answers: Twenty-two
question: How many other cities had populations larger than 40,000 by 1500?

answers: London
question: Which English city had a population greater than 40,000 in 1500?

context: Changes also took place within the recruitment and composition of armies. The use of the national or feudal levy was gradually replaced by paid troops of domestic retinues or foreign mercenaries. The practice was associated with Edward III of England and the condottieri of the Italian city-states. All over Europe, Swiss soldiers were in particularly high demand. At the same time, the period also saw the emergence of the first permanent armies. It was in Valois France, under the heavy demands of the Hundred Years' War, that the armed forces gradually assumed a permanent nature.
qas: answers: Hundred Years' War
question: Which conflict in France resulted in the establishment of permanent armies?

answers: national or feudal levy
question: The use of paid mercenaries and domestic retinues replaced which method of raising troops?

answers: Swiss
question: Which soldiers were in high demand under the mercenary system?

answers: Edward III
question: Which English king is associated with the use of mercenaries in the 14th century?

context: Parallel to the military developments emerged also a constantly more elaborate chivalric code of conduct for the warrior class. This new-found ethos can be seen as a response to the diminishing military role of the aristocracy, and gradually it became almost entirely detached from its military origin. The spirit of chivalry was given expression through the new (secular) type of chivalric orders; the first of these was the Order of St. George, founded by Charles I of Hungary in 1325, while the best known was probably the English Order of the Garter, founded by Edward III in 1348.
qas: answers: Order of the Garter
question: What was the chivalric order established by Edward III in 1348?

answers: Charles I of Hungary
question: Who founded the Order of St. George?

answers: 1325
question: In what year was the Order of St. George founded?

answers: chivalry
question: What was the code of conduct of the military orders called?

answers: 1348
question: In what year was the Order of the Garter established?

context: The French crown's increasing dominance over the Papacy culminated in the transference of the Holy See to Avignon in 1309. When the Pope returned to Rome in 1377, this led to the election of different popes in Avignon and Rome, resulting in the Papal Schism (1378–1417). The Schism divided Europe along political lines; while France, her ally Scotland and the Spanish kingdoms supported the Avignon Papacy, France's enemy England stood behind the Pope in Rome, together with Portugal, Scandinavia and most of the German princes.
qas: answers: Papal Schism
question: What was the result of the election of two popes at the same time?

answers: Avignon
question: Where was the Holy See transferred to in 1309?

answers: 1377
question: In what year did the Pope return to Rome from Avignon?

answers: 1378–1417
question: What was the time frame of the Papal Schism?

answers: France, her ally Scotland and the Spanish kingdoms
question: Who were the supporters of the Avignon Papacy?

context: Though many of the events were outside the traditional time-period of the Middle Ages, the end of the unity of the Western Church (the Protestant Reformation), was one of the distinguishing characteristics of the medieval period. The Catholic Church had long fought against heretic movements, but during the Late Middle Ages, it started to experience demands for reform from within. The first of these came from Oxford professor John Wycliffe in England. Wycliffe held that the Bible should be the only authority in religious questions, and he spoke out against transubstantiation, celibacy and indulgences. In spite of influential supporters among the English aristocracy, such as John of Gaunt, the movement was not allowed to survive. Though Wycliffe himself was left unmolested, his supporters, the Lollards, were eventually suppressed in England.
qas: answers: John Wycliffe
question: Which Oxford professor believed that the Bible should be the sole authority in religious questions?

answers: the Lollards
question: What were Jon Wycliffe's supporters called?

answers: the Protestant Reformation
question: What was the event that ended religious unity in the Western Church?

answers: transubstantiation, celibacy and indulgences
question: Which Catholic practices did Wycliffe speak out against?

answers: John of Gaunt
question: Who was one of the English aristocrats who supported the Lollard movement?

context: The marriage of Richard II of England to Anne of Bohemia established contacts between the two nations and brought Lollard ideas to her homeland. The teachings of the Czech priest Jan Hus were based on those of John Wycliffe, yet his followers, the Hussites, were to have a much greater political impact than the Lollards. Hus gained a great following in Bohemia, and in 1414, he was requested to appear at the Council of Constance to defend his cause. When he was burned as a heretic in 1415, it caused a popular uprising in the Czech lands. The subsequent Hussite Wars fell apart due to internal quarrels and did not result in religious or national independence for the Czechs, but both the Catholic Church and the German element within the country were weakened.
qas: answers: 1415
question: In what year was Jan Hus burned at the stake?

answers: Anne of Bohemia
question: Who did Richard II of England marry?

answers: John Wycliffe
question: Whose teachings did Jan Hus base his own on?

answers: Hussites
question: What were the followers of Jan Hus called?

answers: Hussite Wars
question: What conflict resulted from death of Jan Hus?

context: Martin Luther, a German monk, started the German Reformation by posting 95 theses on the castle church of Wittenberg on October 31, 1517. The immediate provocation spurring this act was Pope Leo X’s renewal of the indulgence for the building of the new St. Peter's Basilica in 1514. Luther was challenged to recant his heresy at the Diet of Worms in 1521. When he refused, he was placed under the ban of the Empire by Charles V. Receiving the protection of Frederick the Wise, he was then able to translate the Bible into German.
qas: answers: German
question: Into what language did Martin Luther translate the Bible?

answers: 95 theses
question: What did Martin Luther post on the castle church of Wittenberg?

answers: 1517
question: In what year did Martin Luther post his 95 theses?

answers: he refused
question: What was Martin Luther's response when challenged to recant his heresy?

answers: Frederick the Wise
question: Who acted as protector to Martin Luther when he was under the ban of the Empire?

context: In the late 13th and early 14th centuries, a process took place – primarily in Italy but partly also in the Empire – that historians have termed a 'commercial revolution'. Among the innovations of the period were new forms of partnership and the issuing of insurance, both of which contributed to reducing the risk of commercial ventures; the bill of exchange and other forms of credit that circumvented the canonical laws for gentiles against usury, and eliminated the dangers of carrying bullion; and new forms of accounting, in particular double-entry bookkeeping, which allowed for better oversight and accuracy.
qas: answers: double-entry bookkeeping
question: What new form of accounting was created during the late 13th and early 14th centuries?

answers: Italy
question: In which country did the so-called 'commercial revolution' primarily take place?

answers: reducing the risk of commercial ventures
question: What was the main benefit of the creation of new forms of partnerships during the commercial revolution?

answers: usury
question: Laws against what lending practice were addressed by the creation of bills of exchange?

answers: better oversight and accuracy
question: What were the benefits of the new system of double-entry bookkeeping?

context: With the financial expansion, trading rights became more jealously guarded by the commercial elite. Towns saw the growing power of guilds, while on a national level special companies would be granted monopolies on particular trades, like the English wool Staple. The beneficiaries of these developments would accumulate immense wealth. Families like the Fuggers in Germany, the Medicis in Italy, the de la Poles in England, and individuals like Jacques Coeur in France would help finance the wars of kings, and achieve great political influence in the process.
qas: answers: monopolies
question: What privilege was granted to companies on a national level?

answers: the Fuggers in Germany, the Medicis in Italy, the de la Poles in England
question: Which families financed the wars of kings?

answers: guilds
question: Which economic associations gained power in the towns?

answers: France
question: Where was Jacques Couer from?

context: Though there is no doubt that the demographic crisis of the 14th century caused a dramatic fall in production and commerce in absolute terms, there has been a vigorous historical debate over whether the decline was greater than the fall in population. While the older orthodoxy held that the artistic output of the Renaissance was a result of greater opulence, more recent studies have suggested that there might have been a so-called 'depression of the Renaissance'. In spite of convincing arguments for the case, the statistical evidence is simply too incomplete for a definite conclusion to be made.
qas: answers: demographic crisis
question: What caused the decrease in commerce and production in the 14th century?

answers: depression of the Renaissance
question: What is the alternative to the theory that the Renaissance was a time of great opulence?

answers: statistical
question: What type of evidence is too incomplete for a decision to be made between the two theories of the Renaissance?

answers: greater opulence
question: What is posited as the cause of increased artistic output during the Renaissance?

context: The predominant school of thought in the 13th century was the Thomistic reconciliation of the teachings of Aristotle with Christian theology. The Condemnation of 1277, enacted at the University of Paris, placed restrictions on ideas that could be interpreted as heretical; restrictions that had implication for Aristotelian thought. An alternative was presented by William of Ockham, who insisted that the world of reason and the world of faith had to be kept apart. Ockham introduced the principle of parsimony – or Occam's razor – whereby a simple theory is preferred to a more complex one, and speculation on unobservable phenomena is avoided.
qas: answers: Thomistic
question: Which philosophy attempted to reconcile Aristotelian teachings and Christian theology in the 13th century?

answers: University of Paris
question: Where was the Condemnation of 1277 enacted?

answers: William of Ockham
question: Which philosopher believed that reason and faith were to be kept separate?

answers: Occam's razor
question: What is the common name for William of Ockham's principle of parsimony?

answers: heretical
question: On what types of ideas did the Condemnation of 1277 place restrictions?

context: This new approach liberated scientific speculation from the dogmatic restraints of Aristotelian science, and paved the way for new approaches. Particularly within the field of theories of motion great advances were made, when such scholars as Jean Buridan, Nicole Oresme and the Oxford Calculators challenged the work of Aristotle. Buridan developed the theory of impetus as the cause of the motion of projectiles, which was an important step towards the modern concept of inertia. The works of these scholars anticipated the heliocentric worldview of Nicolaus Copernicus.
qas: answers: the theory of impetus
question: What did Jean Buridan create to explain the motion of projectiles?

answers: Aristotelian
question: What school of scientific thought was challenged by Jean Buridan and Nicole Oresme?

answers: Nicolaus Copernicus
question: What scientist is most associated with the heliocentric worldview?

answers: Jean Buridan, Nicole Oresme and the Oxford Calculators
question: Which scholars made great advances in the theories of motion?

answers: inertia
question: Buridan's theory of impetus led to what modern concept?

context: Certain technological inventions of the period – whether of Arab or Chinese origin, or unique European innovations – were to have great influence on political and social developments, in particular gunpowder, the printing press and the compass. The introduction of gunpowder to the field of battle affected not only military organisation, but helped advance the nation state. Gutenberg's movable type printing press made possible not only the Reformation, but also a dissemination of knowledge that would lead to a gradually more egalitarian society. The compass, along with other innovations such as the cross-staff, the mariner's astrolabe, and advances in shipbuilding, enabled the navigation of the World Oceans, and the early phases of colonialism. Other inventions had a greater impact on everyday life, such as eyeglasses and the weight-driven clock.
qas: answers: Gutenberg
question: Who invented the movable printing press?

answers: the Reformation
question: What religious movement was spurred by the invention of the printing press?

answers: eyeglasses and the weight-driven clock
question: Which inventions of the period had a great impact on everyday life?

answers: gunpowder
question: Which invention with military applications helped bring about the nation state?

answers: shipbuilding
question: Advances in what construction trade helped to increase global navigation?

context: The period saw several important technical innovations, like the principle of linear perspective found in the work of Masaccio, and later described by Brunelleschi. Greater realism was also achieved through the scientific study of anatomy, championed by artists like Donatello. This can be seen particularly well in his sculptures, inspired by the study of classical models. As the centre of the movement shifted to Rome, the period culminated in the High Renaissance masters da Vinci, Michelangelo and Raphael.
qas: answers: Donatello
question: Who championed the scientific study of anatomy for the benefit of art?

answers: linear perspective
question: Which artistic principle was innovated by Brunelleschi?

answers: Michelangelo and Raphael
question: Along with da Vinci, who were two other artists regarded as masters of the High Renaissance?

answers: Greater realism
question: What was achieved though the use of the scientific study of anatomy in the field of art?

answers: classical models
question: What did Donatello study that inspired sculptures?

context: The ideas of the Italian Renaissance were slow to cross the Alps into northern Europe, but important artistic innovations were made also in the Low Countries. Though not – as previously believed – the inventor of oil painting, Jan van Eyck was a champion of the new medium, and used it to create works of great realism and minute detail. The two cultures influenced each other and learned from each other, but painting in the Netherlands remained more focused on textures and surfaces than the idealized compositions of Italy.
qas: answers: idealized compositions
question: What was the focus of paintings in Italy?

answers: the Netherlands
question: Where was the focus of paintings on textures and surfaces?

answers: Jan van Eyck
question: What painter was an early champion of oil as a medium in painting?

answers: great realism and minute detail
question: Jan van Eyck's paintings are known for what characteristics?

context: Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy, written in the early 14th century, merged a medieval world view with classical ideals. Another promoter of the Italian language was Boccaccio with his Decameron. The application of the vernacular did not entail a rejection of Latin, and both Dante and Boccaccio wrote prolifically in Latin as well as Italian, as would Petrarch later (whose Canzoniere also promoted the vernacular and whose contents are considered the first modern lyric poems). Together the three poets established the Tuscan dialect as the norm for the modern Italian language.
qas: answers: Dante Alighieri
question: Who wrote the Divine Comedy?

answers: Latin as well as Italian
question: In what languages did Dante and Boccaccio create their works?

answers: Tuscan
question: Which dialect became the norm for the modern Italian language?

answers: Decameron
question: What is one of Boccaccio's works that helped promote the Italian language?

answers: Petrarch
question: Whose work, Canzoniere, is considered to be the first example of modern lyric poetry?

context: Music was an important part of both secular and spiritual culture, and in the universities it made up part of the quadrivium of the liberal arts. From the early 13th century, the dominant sacred musical form had been the motet; a composition with text in several parts. From the 1330s and onwards, emerged the polyphonic style, which was a more complex fusion of independent voices. Polyphony had been common in the secular music of the Provençal troubadours. Many of these had fallen victim to the 13th-century Albigensian Crusade, but their influence reached the papal court at Avignon.
qas: answers: polyphonic
question: What style of sacred musical form emerged in the 1330s?

answers: Provençal
question: Polyphony was common in the secular music of which French region?

answers: the quadrivium
question: What is the term for the four subjects that comprised the liberal arts in medieval universities?

answers: the motet
question: What was the dominant sacred musical form in the early 13th century?

context: The main representatives of the new style, often referred to as ars nova as opposed to the ars antiqua, were the composers Philippe de Vitry and Guillaume de Machaut. In Italy, where the Provençal troubadours had also found refuge, the corresponding period goes under the name of trecento, and the leading composers were Giovanni da Cascia, Jacopo da Bologna and Francesco Landini. Prominent reformer of Orthodox Church music from the first half of 14th century was John Kukuzelis; he also introduced a system of notation widely used in the Balkans in the following centuries.
qas: answers: John Kukuzelis
question: Who introduced a system of musical notation used in the Balkans in the 14th century?

answers: ars nova
question: What was the name of the new musical style introduced in the Late Middle Ages?

answers: ars antiqua
question: Which musical style did ars nova replace in the 14th century?

answers: Giovanni da Cascia, Jacopo da Bologna and Francesco Landini
question: Who were the leading composers of the trecento period?

answers: Orthodox Church
question: Kukuzelis reformed the music of which religion?

context: Morality plays emerged as a distinct dramatic form around 1400 and flourished until 1550. The most interesting morality play is The Castle of Perseverance which depicts mankind's progress from birth to death. However, the most famous morality play and perhaps best known medieval drama is Everyman. Everyman receives Death's summons, struggles to escape and finally resigns himself to necessity. Along the way, he is deserted by Kindred, Goods, and Fellowship - only Good Deeds goes with him to the grave.
qas: answers: Everyman
question: What is the most famous morality play from the medieval period?

answers: Morality plays
question: Which dramatic form was created around 1400?

answers: Good Deeds
question: What goes to the grave with Everyman in the morality play?

answers: The Castle of Perseverance
question: Which morality play depicted mankind's progress from birth to death?

answers: Death
question: In the morality play, who summoned Everyman?

context: At the end of the Late Middle Ages, professional actors began to appear in England and Europe. Richard III and Henry VII both maintained small companies of professional actors. Their plays were performed in the Great Hall of a nobleman's residence, often with a raised platform at one end for the audience and a "screen" at the other for the actors. Also important were Mummers' plays, performed during the Christmas season, and court masques. These masques were especially popular during the reign of Henry VIII who had a House of Revels built and an Office of Revels established in 1545.
qas: answers: Richard III and Henry VII
question: Which Late Middle Age English kings kept their own troupes of professional actors?

answers: Mummers
question: Who performed the seasonal Christmas plays?

answers: 1545
question: In what year did Henry VIII establish an Office of Revels?

answers: House of Revels
question: What did Henry VIII build in 1545 for the benefit of the theatrical arts?

answers: the Great Hall
question: In what part of a nobleman's house were plays performed?

context: The end of medieval drama came about due to a number of factors, including the weakening power of the Catholic Church, the Protestant Reformation and the banning of religious plays in many countries. Elizabeth I forbid all religious plays in 1558 and the great cycle plays had been silenced by the 1580s. Similarly, religious plays were banned in the Netherlands in 1539, the Papal States in 1547 and in Paris in 1548. The abandonment of these plays destroyed the international theatre that had thereto existed and forced each country to develop its own form of drama. It also allowed dramatists to turn to secular subjects and the reviving interest in Greek and Roman theatre provided them with the perfect opportunity.
qas: answers: religious plays
question: What was banned that led to the demise of medieval drama?

answers: 1558
question: In what year did Elizabeth I ban religious plays?

answers: 1539
question: In what year were religious plays banned in the Netherlands?

answers: secular
question: What types of subjects did dramatists turn to when religious plays were banned?

answers: Paris
question: Where were religious plays banned in 1548?

context: After the end of the late Middle Ages period, the Renaissance would spread unevenly over continental Europe from the southern European region. The intellectual transformation of the Renaissance is viewed as a bridge between the Middle Ages and the Modern era. Europeans would later begin an era of world discovery. Combined with the influx of classical ideas was the invention of printing which facilitated dissemination of the printed word and democratized learning. These two things would lead to the Protestant Reformation. Europeans also discovered new trading routes, as was the case with Columbus’s travel to the Americas in 1492, and Vasco da Gama’s circumnavigation of Africa and India in 1498. Their discoveries strengthened the economy and power of European nations.
qas: answers: democratized learning
question: Along with the invention of printing, and the associated dissemination of the printed word, what other factor is believed to have led to the Protestant Reformation?

answers: Africa and India
question: Which continents did Vasco da Gama circumnavigate in 1498?

answers: strengthened the economy and power
question: What effect did the discoveries of Columbus and da Gama have on European nations?

answers: the Renaissance
question: What historical era is viewed as a bridge between the Middle Ages and the Modern Era?

answers: new trading routes
question: What was discovered as the result of both Columbus' and da Gama's voyages?

context: At the end of the 15th century the Ottoman Empire advanced all over Southeastern Europe, eventually conquering the Byzantine Empire and extending control over the Balkan states. Hungary was the last bastion of the Latin Christian world in the East, and fought to keep its rule over a period of two centuries. After the tragic death of the young king Vladislaus I of Hungary during the Battle of Varna in 1444 against the Ottomans, the Kingdom was placed in the hands of count John Hunyadi, who became Hungary's regent-governor (1446–1453). Hunyadi was considered one of the most relevant military figures of the 15th century: Pope Pius II awarded him the title of Athleta Christi or Champion of Christ for being the only hope of resisting the Ottomans from advancing to Central and Western Europe.
qas: answers: Ottoman
question: Which empire completed its conquest of the Byzantines at the end of the 15th century?

answers: 1444
question: In what year did the Battle of Varna take place?

answers: Vladislaus I
question: Which Hungarian ruler was killed at the Battle of Varna?

answers: count John Hunyadi
question: Who was appointed regent-governor of the Kingdom of Hungary in 1446?

answers: Pope Pius II
question: Who gave the title of Champion of Christ to John Hyundai?

context: Hunyadi succeeded during the Siege of Belgrade in 1456 against the Ottomans, the biggest victory against that empire in decades. This battle became a real Crusade against the Muslims, as the peasants were motivated by the Franciscan monk Saint John of Capistrano, who came from Italy predicating Holy War. The effect that it created in that time was one of the main factors that helped in achieving the victory. However the premature death of the Hungarian Lord left Pannonia defenseless and in chaos. In an extremely unusual event for the Middle Ages, Hunyadi's son, Matthias, was elected as King of Hungary by the nobility. For the first time, a member of an aristocratic family (and not from a royal family) was crowned.
qas: answers: Saint John of Capistrano
question: Which Franciscan monk motivated the peasants to fight against Muslims at the Siege of Belgrade?

answers: 1456
question: In what year was the Siege of Belgrade fought?

answers: Matthias
question: Who did the Hungarian nobility elect as King of Hungary?

answers: Italy
question: Which country did Saint Francis of Capistrano come from?

answers: Pannonia
question: When John Hunyadi died, which province was left in chaos?

context: King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary (1458–1490) was one of the most prominent figures of the period, directing campaigns to the West, conquering Bohemia in answer to the Pope's call for help against the Hussite Protestants. Also, in resolving political hostilities with the German emperor Frederick III of Habsburg, he invaded his western domains. Matthew organized the Black Army of mercenary soldiers; it was considered as the biggest army of its time. Using this powerful tool, the Hungarian king led wars against the Turkish armies and stopped the Ottomans during his reign. After the death of Matthew, and with end of the Black Army, the Ottoman Empire grew in strength and Central Europe was defenseless. At the Battle of Mohács, the forces of the Ottoman Empire annihilated the Hungarian army and Louis II of Hungary drowned in the Csele Creek while trying to escape. The leader of the Hungarian army, Pál Tomori, also died in the battle. This is considered to be one of the final battles of Medieval times.
qas: answers: drowned in the Csele Creek while trying to escape
question: How did Louis II of Hungary die?

answers: Pál Tomori
question: Who was the leader of the Hungarian army at the Battle of Mohács?

answers: 1458–1490
question: In what years did Matthias Corvinus reign as King of Hungary?

answers: Hussite Protestants
question: Who did Matthias defeat to conquer Bohemia?

answers: the forces of the Ottoman Empire
question: Who opposed the Hungarian army at the Battle of Mohács?

context: The changes brought about by these developments have led many scholars to view this period as the end of the Middle Ages and beginning of modern history and early modern Europe. However, the division is somewhat artificial, since ancient learning was never entirely absent from European society. As a result there was developmental continuity between the ancient age (via classical antiquity) and the modern age. Some historians, particularly in Italy, prefer not to speak of the late Middle Ages at all, but rather see the high period of the Middle Ages transitioning to the Renaissance and the modern era.
qas: answers: Italy
question: Historians from what country in particular do not refer to the Late Middle Ages?

answers: classical antiquity
question: What provided developmental continuity between the ancient and modern ages?

answers: the Renaissance
question: What period do Italian historians believe came immediately after the High Period of the Middle Ages?

answers: modern history and early modern Europe
question: What do many scholars regard the Late Middle Ages as the beginning of?