Mid-Semester Examination
- Due Oct 26, 2015 by 1:30pm
- Points 100
- Submitting on paper
- Available Aug 3, 2015 at 1am - Oct 26, 2015 at 1:30pm
History of Britain to 1688 August 18, 2015 Dr. Thomas A. Mason
HIST B 309, section 27118 / HIST H 509, section 26988
Review Sheet 1: for Mid-semester Examination, October 26.
The mid-semester exam will take the form of an essay (75%) and matching (25%). For the essay, you will write on one out of twelve available topic options, all of which will be on the exam. Instructions will ask you to support generalizations with detailed and well-defined evidence and to organize carefully your thoughts and argument. You will be expected to develop your answer with details on the what, who, where, when (dates), how, and why of your topic in an essay of several (more than three) substantial paragraphs.
Take a look at the “Key Terms” in the left column below to get an idea of what to expect on matching items; some are listed under more than one chapter when significant discussion appears in more than one chapter. All twenty-five matching items on the exam are drawn from the thirty-nine “Key Terms” in the left column below, but not all “Key Terms” will be matching items. “Background” items in the right column below are for your information only, for use in developing your essay, but will not be potential matching items on the exam.
Please note:
- You are welcome to take examinations early (give me advance notice so I can have the examination made up early).
- No more than one late assignment (book review / essay) or makeup examination will be allowed to any student.
The mid-semester exam will cover all of Hollister-Stacey-Stacey, The Making of England to 1399, and Smith, This Realm of England, 1399–1688, chapters 1–2. A list of potential general essay topics appears below; all twelve options will be on the mid-semester exam.
You may also consider the following as a list of potential topics for your research paper due on December 2. If you choose one of these for your research paper, you must write on a different topic on the mid-semester or final exam. If you would like to write on a topic not on this list for your research paper, please get my approval early in the process!
- How and why did ancient British peoples build Stonehenge?
- In an essay on Roman Britain, discuss why Julius Cæsar, and later Claudius, invaded the island. How did the province of Britannia fit into the Roman Empire? Why did Hadrian, and later Antoninus Pius, build the walls that bear their names? Why did Emperor Honorius abandon Britain?
- Discuss Alfred the Great’s initiatives to achieve political, military, cultural, and religious stability.
- Discuss the causes, course of events, and results of the Norman Conquest.
- In an essay on the growth of Parliament, explain how that representative assembly came to engage the resources of the three estates of the realm (first estate: clergy; second estate: nobility; third estate: commons / burgesses / knights / gentry).
- Discuss the causes, course of events, and results of English participation in the Crusades.
- Cycles of religious / monastic reform: to what perceived abuses / challenges did the several medieval monastic reform movements (Cluniacs, Cistercians, Franciscans, and Dominicans) respond, and how did they respond?
- Discuss the causes, course of events, and results of King John’s conflicts with his barons, with King Philip II (Philip Augustus) of France, and with Pope Innocent III.
- Discuss the causes, course of events, and results of the Hundred Years’ War.
- Discuss the causes, course of events, and results of the Black Death in Britain.
- Discuss the causes, course of events, and results of the Great Rebellion of the English Peasants.
- Discuss the efforts of English monarchs to consolidate their governance in opposition to what Sir John Fortescue called the “overmighty subjects”—feudal warrior aristocrats who could deploy private armies and private castles.
Definitions within quotation marks are from Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 11th ed. (Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 2003). A date following a word or term is the date of the earliest recorded use of that word or term in English.
B.C.E.: Before the Common Era ca.: circa: Latin: about / approximately
C.E.: Common Era d.: died
Class 1 (August 24): Introduction. Geography is Destiny
Key terms Background
(for use in the essays and
potential matching items)
Stonehenge, ca. 3000–ca. 1500 B.C.E. compare / background: Great Pyramid of
Khufu (Greek: Cheops), built ca. 2600
B.C.E.; megaliths (France, England), ca.
2000– ca. 1500 B.C.E. (Greek: megas =
large + lithos = stone)]
Class 2 (August 26): The Roman and Anglo-Saxon Invasions
Hollister-Stacey-Stacey, Chapter 1: Celtic and Roman Britain
Julius Cæsar, 100–44 B.C.E. invaded Britain, 55–54 B.C.E.
Claudius I, 10 B.C.E.–54 C.E.,
Roman emperor (41–54 C.E.),
invaded Britain 43
Hadrian’s Wall, built ca. 121–127 Hadrian, 76–138,
Roman emperor (117–138)
Antonine Wall, built 140–142;
abandoned ca 185
Antoninus Pius, 86–161,
Roman emperor (138–161)
Mithraism / Cult of Mithras mystery cults / Greco-Roman mysteries
Gothic Confederation Battle of the Teutoburg Forest (Germany),
9 C.E.: Germans under Arminius (called
Hermann in modern German) defeated
and annihilated three Roman legions
under Varus.
wergeld: Old English / Anglo-Saxon (wer =
man + geld = payment, tribute): “the
value set in Anglo-Saxon and Germanic
law upon human life in accordance with
rank and paid in compensation to the
kindred or lord of a slain person”
comitatus: Latin: warrior band: agreement
/ bond between a Germanic lord and his
thegns / subordinate followers
thegn (Old English /Anglo-Saxon):
“a free retainer of an Anglo-Saxon lord;
especially one resembling a feudal baron
by holding lands of and performing
military service for the king”
Battle of Abrittus (Mœsia Inferior; modern
Bulgaria), 251: Goths led by Cniva
(Gothic chieftain) defeated the Romans
and killed Decius, the first emperor to
die in battle defending the empire—an
ominous portent.
Battle of Adrianople (Thrace), 378:
Visigoths under Fritigern defeated and
killed Emperor Valens; both Fritigern
and Valens were Arian Christians.
Visigothic sack of Rome, 410
Emperor Honorius told the British that
they must take care of their own
defenses, 410
Class 3 (August 31): Early Anglo-Saxon Britain; The World of Bede
Hollister-Stacey-Stacey, Chapter 2: Conversion and Unification: Anglo-Saxon England to the Death of King Alfred (899)
Gregory I (Gregory the Great),
- 540–604, pope (590–604)
Gregorian chant / plainsong
Augustine of Canterbury, d. 605,
archbishop of Canterbury (601–605)
Synod of Whitby, 664
Bede (673–735), declared a Doctor of the Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum
Church, 1899; canonized 1935 (written 731, Medieval Latin; circulated
in manuscript; first printed Strasbourg
- 1475; translated into Early Modern
English: The History of the Church of
Englande, Antwerp, 1565)
Beowulf (early 8th century or early 11th
century; Old English / Anglo-Saxon)
Alfred the Great, 849–899, Alfred recaptured London, 886: end of the
king of Wessex (870–899) Heptarchy; thereafter the Wessex
dynasty expanded over all of England
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, begun ca. 891
Class 4 (September 2): Late Anglo-Saxon Britain
Hollister-Stacey-Stacey, Chapter 3: Late Anglo-Saxon England
Ethelred the Unready (from Old English /
Anglo-Saxon unræd: without counsel),
- 965–1016, king of England (978–
1016)
Cnut, ca. 995–1035, king of England
(1016–1035), Norway, and Denmark
Edward the Confessor, d. 1066, Harold, ca. 1022–1066, last Anglo-Saxon
king of England (1042–1066) king of England (1066)
(Anglo-Saxon), canonized 1161 Harold III (Harold Hardrada), d. 1066, king of Norway (1046–1066)
Battle of Stamford Bridge, 1066
Class 5 (September 9): The Norman Conquest
Hollister-Stacey-Stacey, Chapter 4: The Impact of the Norman Conquest
William I (William the Conqueror), 1027– Battle of Hastings, 1066
1087, duke of Normandy (1035–1087) Norman Conquest
and king of England (1066–1087) Bayeux Tapestry
Domesday Book, 1085–1086
Class 6 (September 14): The Norman Yoke
Hollister-Stacey-Stacey, Chapter 5: Norman England: William II, Henry I, and Stephen
William II (William Rufus), d. 1100,
king of England (1087–1100)
Henry I, 1068–1135,
king of England (1100–1135)
Stephen, ca 1092–1154,
king of England (1135–1154)
Class 7 (September 16): The Early Plantagenets, the Crusades, and the Magna Carta
Hollister-Stacey-Stacey, Chapter 6: “The Devil’s Brood”: Henry II, Richard, and John
First Crusade, 1095–1099 crusade (Medieval Latin: cruciata; Middle
French: croisade: marked with a cross)
Urban II, ca. 1042–1099,
pope (1088–1099)
Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, 1099–1187
Henry II, 1133–1189, count of Anjou Angevin: French: of Anjou; Plantagenet:
(1151–1189) and king of England family name of the counts of Anjou,
(1154–1189) (first of the Angevin / whose emblem was a sprig of broom
Plantagenet dynasty) plant, “planta genista”)
Thomas à Becket, ca. 1118–1170,
lord chancellor of England (1155–1162),
archbishop of Canterbury (1162–1170),
canonized 1173
Richard I (Richard the Lion-Hearted), Third Crusade, 1187–1192
1157–1199, king of England (1189–1199) Latin Kingdom of Cyprus, 1191–1489
(Angevin / Plantagenet) Château Gaillard (Normandy),
built 1197–1198
John, 1166–1216, king of England
(1199–1216) (Angevin / Plantagenet)
Magna Carta, 1215:
Medieval Latin: Great Charter
Fall of Acre, the last Christian stronghold in
the Middle East, 1291: end of the
crusading era
Class 8 (September 21): Feudalism, Manorialism, and Chivalry
Hollister-Stacey-Stacey, Chapter 7: Society, Economy, and Culture in High Medieval England
agrarian system unit of farming: villa (Latin)
vilage (Anglo-French)
village (Middle English)
manse (Middle English)
manorialism / manorial system unit of landholding / lordship: manor / manor house
feudalism / feudal system unit of land held in return for feudum (Medieval Latin)
military service: fief (Old French)
fee (Middle English)
serfs
demesne
vassals
lords
chivalry (Anglo-French: chevalerie):
the code of medieval knighthood
cycles of religious / monastic reform
Cluny, founded 909 / Cluniacs
chantry: “an endowment for the chanting of
masses commonly for the founder”
Cîteaux, founded 1098 / Cistercians;
arrived in England 1128
Bernard of Clairvaux, 1090–1153;
canonized 1174
Francis of Assisi, 1182–1226;
canonized 1228
Franciscans, founded 1209;
arrived in England, 1224
friar: “a member of a mendicant order”
mendicant (mendicare: Latin: to beg):
“a member of a religious order (as the
Franciscans) combining monastic life
and outside religious activity and
originally owning neither personal nor
community property”
Dominic, 1170–1221; canonized 1224
Dominicans, founded 1216;
arrived in England 1221
Augustinian Hermits, founded ca. 1242;
arrived in England ca. 1242
Class 9 (September 28): The Development of Parliament
Hollister-Stacey-Stacey, Chapter 8: The Troubled Reign of King Henry III (1216–1272): Monarchy, Community, and Parliament
representative assemblies
Althing: Icelandic: general diet,
convened 930
witan: Old English / Anglo-Saxon:
plural of wita: sage, adviser
witenagamot: Old English / Anglo-Saxon:
meeting of counselors
Great Council: the Norman / feudal
representative assembly: predecessor
of Parliament
Curia Regis: Medieval Latin: royal council /
king’s court: predecessor of the Privy
Council, later Cabinet
Henry III, 1207–1272, king of England
(1216–1272) (Angevin / Plantagenet)
Parliament The Great Council came to be called
Parliament ca. 1240.
Simon de Montfort’s Parliament, 1265
Model Parliament, 1295
power of the purse
estates of the realm
first estate: clergy
second estate: nobility
third estate: commons / burgesses /
burghers / bourgeoisie / knights /
gentry
other representative assemblies:
Estates-General (France),
first summoned 1302
Cortes (Spain)
Diet / Reichstag (Germany / Holy Roman
Empire, Poland, Bohemia, Hungary,
Scandinavian countries)
Class 10 (September 30): Edward I Campaigns in Syria, Wales, and Scotland
Hollister-Stacey-Stacey, Chapter 9: The Reign of Edward I
Edward I, 1239–1307, Krak des Chevaliers (Syria), built 1030
king of England (1272–1307) Ninth Crusade, 1270–1272
(Angevin / Plantagenet) Beaumaris Castle (Wales), built ca. 1284
Class 11 (October 5): The Unedifying Reign of Edward II
Hollister-Stacey-Stacey, Chapter 10: The Bloom Fades: England in the Age of Edward II
Edward II, 1284–1327, king of England
(1307–1327) (Angevin / Plantagenet)
Class 12 (October 7): The Hundred Years’ War
Hollister-Stacey-Stacey, Chapter 11: Edward III and the Hundred Years’ War
Edward III, 1312–1377, king of England bastard feudalism
(1327–1377) (Angevin / Plantagenet) Order of the Garter, founded ca. 1346
chivalry (chevalerie: Anglo-French:
the code medieval knighthood)
growth of Parliament
power of the purse
Edward III defaulted on his creditors, the
Bardi and the Peruzzi banking houses in
Florence, 1340.
impeachment, 1376
Hundred Years’ War, 1337–1453 Philip VI, 1293–1350,
king of France (1328–1350)
(first of the Valois dynasty)
Jacob van Artevelde, ca. 1290–1345,
Flemish statesman, head of the Ghent
city government (1337–1345)
Battle of Crécy, 1346
Battle of Poitiers, 1356
Class 13 (October 12): Plague, Proto-Reformation, and the Great Rebellion of the English Peasants
Hollister-Stacey-Stacey, Chapter 12: Death, Disorder, and Creative Flowering
Black Death, 1347–1352 bacterium: Yersinia pestis; named for its
codiscoverer, Alexandre Yersin, who
discovered it in 1894; originally named
Pasteurella pestis, the organism was
renamed in 1967.
bubonic plague
septicemic plague
pneumonic plague
epidemic (Greek: epidēmia, from epi- = on
+ dēmos = people): affecting a dispro-
portionately large number of persons
within a population at the same time
pandemic (Greek: pandēmos, from pan- =
all + dēmos = people): “occurring over a
wide geographic area and affecting an
exceptionally high proportion of the
population”
Statute of Laborers, 1351
cycles of religious reform:
the proto-Reformation
proto- : Greek: before
Babylonian Captivity (Avignon papacy),
1305–1377
Great Schism of the West, 1378–1417
Urban VI, ca. 1318–1389, pope (1378–1389)
Clement VII, d. 1394, antipope (1378–1394)
Council of Constance, 1414–1418
conciliarism / conciliar movement
Geoffrey Chaucer, ca. 1343–1400 Canterbury Tales (written ca. 1387,
Middle English; circulated in
manuscript; published [Westminster],
- 1476–1477 by William Caxton,
England’s first printer)
John Wycliffe, ca. 1330–1384 Lollards
Wycliffe Bible: a translation from the Latin
Vulgate into Middle English, ca. 1384;
circulated in manuscript
Great Rebellion of English peasants, 1381
Richard II, 1367–1399, king of England
(1377–1399) (Angevin / Plantagenet)
Class 14 (October 14): Succession Crises and the End of the Hundred Years’ War
Smith, Chapter 1: The Curse of Disputed Succession
Henry IV, 1367–1413, king of England
(1399–1413) (Angevin / Plantagenet)
Henry V, 1387–1422, king of England Battle of Agincourt, 1415
(1413–1422) (Angevin / Plantagenet) Joan of Arc, 1412–1431,
canonized 1920
Siege of Orléans, 1428–1429
Charles VII (Charles the Victorious),
1403–1461, king of France (1422–1461)
(Valois); crowned at Rheims, 1429
Henry VI, 1421–1471, king of England crowned at as king of France at the age of 10
(1422–1461, 1470–1471) at Notre Dame de Paris, 1431
(Angevin / Plantagenet) Battle of Formigny, 1450
Battle of Castillon, 1453
Class 15 (October 21): Overmighty Subjects Run Amok, Part 1: Bastard Feudalism
Smith, Chapter 2: Economic Collapse and Social Dislocation
bastard feudalism magnate (15th century): “a person of rank,
power, influence, or distinction, often
in a specified area”
retainer (1540): “a person attached or
owing service to a household”
insolvency / sovereign debt default of
England, 1472
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