praj-17/QA-MCQ-Open-ended huggingface dataset:
Title: Middle_Ages
Context: 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
Title: Middle_Ages
Context: 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 Surviving religious works from the Early Middle Ages are mostly illuminated manuscripts and carved ivories, originally made for metalwork that has since been melted down.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
Title: Middle_Ages
Context: 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
Title: Middle_Ages
Context: 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
Title: Middle_Ages
Context: 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
Title: Middle_Ages
Context: 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
Title: Middle_Ages
Context: 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
Title: Middle_Ages
Context: 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
Title: Middle_Ages
Context: 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
Title: Middle_Ages
Context: 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
Title: Middle_Ages
Context: 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
Title: Middle_Ages
Context: 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
Title: Middle_Ages
Context: 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
Title: Middle_Ages
Context: 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
Title: Middle_Ages
Context: 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