PRINCETON UNIVERSITY

DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY

History 211 - The Emergence of Europe, 400-1700

Fall 1993 Professor M.S. Mahoney

MIDTERM EXAMINATION

Part I (15 mins.)

Following are six passages taken from ICCW, the selected readings, and the sidebars in Spielvogel's text. Choose three (3) and for each identify the source and comment on the significance of the passage for the themes we have been pursuing so far this term.

(A) Inquests of novel disseisin, of mort d'ancestor, and of darrein presentment, shall not be held elsewhere than in their own county-courts, and that in the manner following, --We, or, if we should be out of the realm, our chief justiciar, will send two justiciars through every county four times a year, who shall, along with four knights of the county, hold the said assizes in the county court, on the day and in the place of the meeting of that court.

(B) Justice being taken away, then, what are kingdoms but great robberies? For wat are robberies themselves, but little kingdoms? The band itself is made up of men; it is ruled by the authority of a prince, it is knit together by the pact of the confederacy; the booty is divided by the law agreed on. If, by the admittance of abandoned men, the evil increases to such a degree that it holds places, fixes abodes, takes possession of cities, and subdues people, it assumes the more plainly the name of a kingdom, because the reality is now manifestly conferred on it, not by the removal of covetousness, but by the addition of impunity.

(C) They say moreover that John of Cayworth holds a house and 30 acres of land, and owes yearly 2s. at Easter and Michaelmas; and he owes a cock and two hens of Christmas, of the value of 4d. And he ought to harrow for 2 days at the Lenten sowing with one man and his own horse and his own harrow, the value of the work being 4d.; and he is to receive from the lord on each day three meals, of the value of 5d., and then the lord will be at a loss of 1d. Thus his harrowing is of no value to the service of the lord.

(D) And when a gildsman dies, his eldest son or his heir shall have the seat of his father, or of his uncle, if his father was not a gildsman, and of no other one; and he shall give nothing for his seat. No husband can have the seat in the Gild by right of his wife, nor demand a seat by right of his wife's ancestors.

(E) The fifth way is taken from the governance of the world. We see that things which lack knowledge, such as natural bodies, act for an end, and this is evident from their acting always, or nearly always, in the same way, so as to obtain the best result. Hence it is plain that they achieve their end, not fortuitously, but designedly. Now whatever lacks

knowledge cannot move towards an end, unless it be directed by some being endowed with knowledge and intelligence; as the arrow is directed by the archer. Therefore some intelligent being exists by whom all natural things are directed to their end; and this being we call God.

(F) The sad news has come from Jerusalem and Constantinople that the people of Persia, an accursed and foreign race [the Seljuk Turks], enemies of God ... have invaded the lands of those Christians and devastated them with the sword, rapine, and fire. ... Whose duty is it to avenge this and recover that land, if not yours?

(G) Both swords, the spiritual and the material, therefore, are in the power of the church; the one, indeed, to be wielded for the church, the other by the church; the one by the hand of the priest, the other by the hand of kings and knights, but at the will and sufferance of the priest. One sword, moreover, ought to be under the other, and the temporal authority to be subjected to the spiritual.

Part II (30 mins.)

Answer ONE of the following questions. Your essay should have a clear argument supported by specific examples drawn from the readings, lectures, or precept discussions. Keep your answer focused. We're not trying to find out all you know but rather how you can apply what you know to a particular problem.

1. The Catholic Church in the Middle Ages moved in two opposing directions: into the world and away from the world.

2. The historian R.W. Southern has argued that "The existence of Islam was the most far-reaching problem in medieval Christendom." What made it a problem and how did Europeans address the issue? Is Southern taking full account of Europe's encounters with other cultures at the time?

3. As vassals of their lords and lords of their manors, members of the feudal aristocracy were under pressure from both sides to alter the mutual obligations that originally defined their position. Discuss either how the kings of England and France used the feudal system to concentrate power and authority in their hands or how serfs

 

I pledge my honor that I have not violated the Honor Code on this examination