History of Europe Questions
Explore questions in the History of Europe category that you can ask Spark.E!
What attitude did the average medieval peasant have toward agricultural innovations and experimentation? What reasons does Bishop give for this?
"This was the twenty-ninth of May 1453. It is one of the hinge-dates of history. It is commonly taken to mark the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of modern times" (323).What happened on this date and why is it significant to European and world history?
What subjects were students expected to study in order to receive a basic education in grammar schools?
What technological developments led to an increase in the availability of books and the volumeof written material?
How was the study of science viewed by medieval scholars?
Finally, what were the four subjects studied by those seeking to join the learned professions?
How did peasant diets compare to those of the upper classes? What meat would apeasant eat? What meat was a peasant forbidden to eat?
What jobs were typically performed by women during the Middle Ages?
Describe the impact of craft guilds on innovations:
The church took on many more functions during the middle ages than it does today in America and Europe. What were some of the powers and responsibilities that the Church had then that are now most commonly administered by governments?
How fairly and consistently was justice served during the Middle Ages?
Bishop writes, "In the early Middle Ages the Christian world was neatly divided into three castes." What were those three castes and what was the function of each? (143)
What luxury goods were traded heavily throughout the Middle Ages due to the Church's need for these good for sacramental use? (178)
What sorts of stories circulated among European Christians about their Jewish neighbors?
Did later generations of Franciscan friars that followed maintain the original zeal of St. Francis and his followers? Explain why or why not.
During the early Middle Ages, annual trade fairs were common. What development brought about the demise of these annual trade fairs?
Bishop notes that "the great international commerce was in textiles." How did this stimulate trade between England and continental Europe?
What city was the center of East/West trade during the Middle Ages?
How did the collection of tithes during the Middle Ages differ from the collection of tithes in most Western nations today? (174)
How did the establishment of towns affect the balance of power between local lords and the monarch?