Multiple choice questions for a test only 1 option can be selected for each one.

Why in 610 CE did the Archangel Gabriel first visit Mohammad?
To deliver messages from the one and only God
To command him to found a new religion
To guide him to the Islamic promised land
To warn him to leave Mecca for Medina

What did Muhammad and his followers initially think music would do?
Incite the baser passions of the people
Distract the faithful from their true purpose
Make Islam too similar to Christian worship
Cause Muslims to commit the sin of vanity

What does the Arabic word masjid mean?
Friday worship
Stepped pulpit
Direction of Mecca
Place of prostration

Why did Mohammad allow Muslim men to have up to four wives?
To provide protective charity
To convert non-Muslim women
To increase the Muslim population
To lessen the chance of adultery

Why perhaps were conquered Africans eager to convert to Islam?
To receive a share of war booty
To avoid being killed
To avoid enslavement
To gain an army position

Why is the Muslim year shorter than the Christian year?
The Muslim year is based on lunar cycles
The Muslims exclude holy days from count
The Muslim week is only six days
The Muslims use the Hebrew calendar

What structure inspired the design of most mosques?
The Kaaba in Mecca
Muhammad's house in Medina
Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem
The Hagia Sophia in Constantinople

Why in the Qur'an are Muslim women advised to dress modestly?
To identify themselves as Muslim
To show their inferiority to men
To be like the Jewish women
To avoid harassment

Why did Islam split into two main groups around 661?
Answer Dispute about taxation of conquered peoples
Difference in interpretation of the Qur'an
Dissent about allowing images in the mosque
Disagreement over ways of choosing a caliph

What does the word Islam mean?
Chosen
Recitation
Servant
Submission

Which of the following was not a motivation for the First Crusade?
To gain free access to Jerusalem
To receive monetary reward
To free the enslaved Jews
To bring peace to Europe

Why is Beowulf considered an English poem even through its events take place in Scandinavia?
Its main character is English
Its framing tale is set in England
It was written by an English monk
It is written in Old English

What medieval cult is connected to the courtly love literature?
The Cult of Eleanor
The Cult of Guinevere
The Cult of Venus
The Cult of the Virgin

What leads to Roland's death in the Song of Roland?
His sense of pride
His cowardice in battle
His jealousy of Oliver
His refusal to pray

What is the meaning of the old French romans, from which "romance" derives?
Everyday language
A protector
Hot-blooded
A wedding

What advantages did feudalism offer the fiefs?
Higher social status
Free education
Use of land and protection
Payment for their services

What pilgrimage destination was most difficult to reach?
Rome
Lourdes
Santiago de Compostela
Jerusalem

Why were Romanesque churches' portals of special importance?
To showcase local stonemasons' skills
To define the boundary between secular and sacred space
To remind visitors that they would enter the dark (die)
To preview the wonders that lay within the church

What advantages did feudalism offer the nobles?
Military support and goods or produce
Regular rent monies
Blessings from the Church
Servants for the manor houses

What in the Abbey Church of Sainte-Foy made it a popular pilgrimage destination?
The tunic that Mary wore when she gave birth to Christ
The bones of Mary Magdalene
The relics of a martyred child who refused to worship pagan gods
The grave of the apostle Saint James the Greater

Why did Pisano sculpt his Mary, Sister of Moses, which sits on the Siena Cathedral, to lean forward?
To correct the illusion of curving inward
So she would fit underneath the gable
So the viewers below could see her face
To give her drapery more dramatic folds

According to the chapter's "Continuity and Change" section, what exploration was a driving force in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries?
The meaning of the Bible
The limitlessness of human creations
The meaning of being human
The newly rediscovered classical texts

Why were so many of the cathedrals called Notre Dame ("Our Lady")?
They were dedicated to France's Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine
They were dedicated to France, personified as "our lady"
They were dedicated to Mary Magdalene, the "bride of Christ"
They were dedicated to the Virgin Mary, Queen of Heaven

Why was Jean, duke of Berry in the fifteenth century, the wealthiest man in Europe?
He owned the largest collection of art in Europe
His subjects paid the highest taxes in all of Europe
His brother, Pope Felix V, channeled church money to him
The wealthy city Bruges was under his domain

Why did the Florentine families donate chapels to the mendicant churches?
So they dictate the churches' interior decoration
To guarantee the families' salvation
So Florence's churches would outnumber Siena's
To gain favor with Pope Innocent III

Why was Saint Denis not completed during Suger's lifetime?
The main spire kept collapsing, requiring a new design
The stained glass manufacture spanned over a century
Louis VII left for the Crusades and withdrew funding
Norman troops destroyed parts of it in 1151

Where was the first university founded?
Oxford, England
Rome, Italy
Paris, France
Bologna, Italy

Who designed the Abbey of Saint-Denis's renovation and thus began the Gothic style?
Abbot Jesse
Thomas Aquinas
Abbot Suger
Louis VII

Which of the following innovations was key in Gothic architecture?
Barrel vaults
Masonry arches
Rib vaulting
Lancet arches

Why is the Jesse tree a common stained-glass motif?
It connects nature to the heavenly realm
It symbolizes the people's ability to ascend to heaven
It reminds the people of Jesus's suffering for their sins
It establishes Mary's royal lineage from King David

Why does Dante place Judas, Brutus, and Cassius in the lowest level of his hell?
They were hypocrites
They were traitors
They were suicides
They were wrathful

Why does Virgil guide Dante through Hell and Purgatory?
Dante's family claimed to descend from Virgil
Virgil represented the embodiment of reason
Dante considered Virgil the greatest of the pagan poets
Virgil, like Dante, wrote his great work in Latin

Who in Florence was eligible to serve in the government?
Only guild members
Members of the Guelph party
Any free man
Members of the nobility

What literary trend does Boccaccio's Decameron introduce into Western literature?
A framing tale
Romanticism
Satire
Social realism

Why is the Virgin Mary's crown in Simone Martini's Maestrá significant?
It establishes her as both a sacred and a secular queen
It separates her from the halo-clad angels and saints
It defines her position as queen of all the angels
It emphasizes her role as the bride of the Church

Which guild in pre-1355 Siena was most powerful?
Masons
Notaries
Merchants
Carpenters

Why do pictures of the Virgin Mary abound in Siena?
Mary allegedly appeared in Siena in 1317
Siena was home to Italy's largest painter's guild
Their cathedral claimed to have her bones
Siena called itself "ancient city of the virgin"

Why did the flagellants believe Europe was devastated by plague?
God's wrath against human sins
Infected fleas on rodents
Poor sanitation in the cities
The result of trade with pagan Chinese

What was the main charge for which Joan of Arc was tried and executed?
Witchcraft
Insanity
Conspiracy
Cross-dressing

According to legend, who founded Siena?
The Etruscan king Tarquin the Proud
Remus's sons, Senius and Aschius
The Roman emperor Augustus
The Frankish king Charlemagne