Go to: Identifications for the Mid-Term Exam
Go to: Short Answer Questions for the Mid-Term Exam
The mid-term examination will consist of three parts, Identifications, Short Answers, and an Essay. In each section, you will have a choice of questions to answer: from the Identifications, you will be asked to answer four out of ten; with the short answers, two, one from each of two groups of questions; and with the essay one out of two. The identifications, listed below, are all taken from the lecture overheads and from the "key terms" lists at the end of each chapter in the course textbook; the short answers are taken from the study questions on the readings; the essay questions will be general in nature and call on you to draw together themes, arguments, and evidence we have been addressing in this course so far.
In all your answers, the main object should be to show not only your command of the material, but also your appreciation of its historical significance. With the Identifications, for example, it is less important to know the exact dates of, say, the Great Famine of 1317, than to understand its historical relationship to subsequent events, especially the “Black Death” of 1347-1351. If you can get the date exactly right, fantastic! If you can put it in the right decade, good! If you can put it in the right century...not so great, especially if it means you can't see its historical significance because you don't know when it happened. You get the picture.The short answers will ask you to write down some of your thoughts on the readings discussed in your sections; here again, if you can relate what you say to the broader themes and arguments we have been discussing this term, so much the better. There are two groups of questions, one each for "Ottavia and Her Music Teacher" and Ludovico di Varthema's "Second Book Concerning India" from 1510. There will be two questions in each group; pick one from each group.
Finally, the essay question. As with the other sections, you will have your choice of topics to write on (one out of three possibilities). None are included in this study guide, but here's a hint on how to prepare: all the essay questions will be about continuity and change. Think about the period of European history we've been examining, roughly from 1348 to 1550, as well as the themes we have been examining -- Renaissance; the "media revolution" of the fifteenth century; the scientific revolution; reform and Reformation in religion; the consolidation of power in the hands of monarchs; changing social relations. Ask yourself whether they exhibited change of revolutionary proportions. Or did continuity outweigh change? On what evidence do I base my argument?
| Identifications
(4 of 10)
Bubonic plague
The Great Famine (1315-1317)
The “Path of Conciliation”
Absenteeism Jacob Burckhardt (1818-1897)
Imitation Cosimo de' Medici (1389-1464)
Prince Henry the Navigator (1394-1460) Christopher Columbus (c. 1446-1506)
The Gabelle |
Sola fide: Salvation by faith
alone Martin
Luther (1483-1546) Claudius Ptolemy (85-165 CE)
Heliocentric Universe Ulrich
Zwingli (1484-1531) King Henry VIII of England (r. 1509-1547) cuius regio, eius religio: He who rules shall establish
the religion The Council of Trent (1545-1563) Society of Jesus—The “Jesuit” Order |
In the short answers section, you will be asked to address one of two questions in each of two groups. Each group corresponds a text you examined in your discussion section. Group A consists of questions about "Ottavia and Her Music Teacher"; group B consists of questions about the Ludovico di Varthema's account of religion and society in southeastern India. You will be asked to pick one question from each group and write a brief response to it, for a total of two short answers.
Group A: What's Love Got to Do With It? Gender, Power, and Agency in Renaissance Europe
1) The court that tried Bernardino assumed, reflexively, that he had abducted Ottavia and that she was a passive victim. And yet the transcript suggests that Ottavia was an active participant. Judging by her statements in court, what role did Ottavia play and what were her motivations?
2) Until the very end, Bernardino insisted that he had had no sexual relations with Ottavia and denied that he had abducted her. Under torture, however, he confessed to both crimes. Which version of his actions do you think is closer to the truth, and what do you think his motivations were?
3) Based on the statements made by Ottavia and Bernardino in Bernardino's trial, how would you describe the options available to young women in sixteenth-century Rome who lacked a dowry?
Group B: Europeans Abroad
1) Why do you think Varthema describes the god of the Indians as the devil? Do you think his tendency to describe Indian gods as diabolical prevented him from describing them accurately? Why or why not?
2) What are the main castes (social groups) that Varthema identifies in his description of southeast Indian society? How does he compare them to European society -- as fundamentally different or fundamentally similar?
3) Why does Varthema focus so much attention on spices, fruits, and money-changing? What does this tell us about the priorities that Renaissance Europeans had regarding the outside world?