As of Sunday, May 4, 2008, all of the notes for Test 2 (the Final Examination) are available on the web.  There will be no more changes.  On the other hand, even though this study guide is largely complete, it is still (as the sign indicates) "under construction" and will remain so for several days.  However, I would submit that you have more than enough to fill your lonely hours with productive study time.  I sincerely wish you all good luck, especially after your very kind round of applause.

General Information:

The examination is objective.

While most of it will be matching, there will also be fill-in-the-blank (selecting from a list), true-or-false, and place in chronological order.

It will be answered on a scantron.

Warning:  The exam may be printed on both sides of the page.  Always check the back of a page in order to be certain you are not skipping questions!!

I.  Matching Questions: 

There will be a number of matching sections, each devoted to a separate topic (for the topics, see the list below.)  At the beginning of each of these section there will be a list of names or terms.  This will be followed by a number of descriptions.  From the list, you are to select the name or term which best fits each description.  (There may be a smaller number of descriptions than of terms; on the other hand, you may be asked to match all of the terms with their proper descriptions.

Matching Sections:

A.  Forerunners to Feudalism:  Patrocinium, Precarium, Comitatus

B.  Battles:  Tricameron, Manzikert, Horns of Hattim, Arsuf, Las Navas de Tolosa,  Ain Jalut,  Nicopolis, Crecy, Castillon

C.  Women who were of importance in the Medieval Period:  Eve, Mary, Guinevere, Theodora, Khadijah, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Joan of Arc

D.  Feudal Terms:  Fief, Maintenance, Homage, Fealty, Hospitality, Aides, Relief, Escheat, Forfeiture, Subinfeudation, Primogeniture, Marriage, Wardship, Immunity

E.  Byzantine Emperors:  Zeno, Justinian, Maurice, Heraclius, Leo III, Alexius Comnenus

F.  Medieval Cities:  Constantinople, Baghdad, Mecca, Medina, Damascus, Cordoba, Toledo, Venice, Jerusalem, Acre

G.  Medieval Warriors (Christian):  Belasarius, Narses, Godfrey de Bouillon, Bohemond, Richard the Lionheart, Simon de Montfort, Jan Zizka

H.  Medieval Warriors (Islamic):  Abu Bekr, Omar, Abd-al-Raman, Alp Arslan, Zengi, Nurredin, Saladin, Baibars, Mehmet II

I.  Medieval castles: Gatehouse, Donjon (Keep), Portcullis, Palisade, Moat, Crenelation, Machicolation, Portcullis, Drawbridge, Hoarding, Motte and Bailey, Concentric Fortification

J.  Arms and Armor:  chain mail, scale armor, plate armor, nasal, gambeson, pot helm, gauntlet, crossbow, longbow, sword, lance, dagger, battleaxe

K.  Crusades: Peasants Crusade, First Crusade, Second Crusade, Third Crusade, Fourth Crusade, Sixth Crusade, Albigensian Crusade, Hussite Crusade; the role of Urban II, Bernard of Clairvaux, and Innocent III

II.  Chronological Order: 

There are only four specific dates that need to be known on the test:
  622:   Mohammed's flight across the Hejaz from Mecca to Medina; provides the era date for Islam
1095:   The launching of the First Crusade at the Council of Clermont
1415:   Opening of the Age of European Expansion with the Portuguese attack on Ceuta in North Africa
1453:   The Fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks and the end of the Byzantine Empire

While only these few specific dates, all of which are medieval benchmarks, will be required, some rough idea of the chronology (or, in other words, the order in which events occurred) will be necessary.  To test this, there will be several chronological-order questions on the exam.  These questions require thinking carefully about the relationship between the different items; consequently, I would advise that you do think rather than just guess!

III.  True-or-false Questions: 

There will be a number of these. 

In answering them, "A" is always TRUE; "B" is always FALSE.

Remember also, a statement is entirely true or it is false!  Even if much of the statement is true, if a single part is false, the whole statement is false.  Consequently, in reading a true-or-false question, a student should always look for some part of the statement which is false.  If no part of the statement appears false, then and only then is it true.

 

IV.  Vocabulary:

Era date, castellan, baliff, Koran, mosque, caliph, Dar al Islam and Dar al Harb, Razzia and jihad, advocatus, pogrom, foederati, cataphracti, Sunnite, Shiite

V.  Questions: 

How did a Tenant-in-Chief differ from a Rear Vassal?

What was an overmighty vassal?  What family provides the principal medieval example?

Did churchmen ever take up arms, despite the ban on bloodletting?  Was it ever actually permitted?

What are the principal differences between Sunnites and Shiites?

What is a major medieval examples of  a "slave army"?