Темы, предлагаемые студентам для самостоятельного изучения// Topics offered to students for self-study

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The New Rome

1.How did the Byzantines promote Christianity?

2.Examine Constantine’s reasons for his location of Constantinople. What over factors are of concern in the location of a city?

3.Explain how religious controversy affected Byzantine politics.

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Byzantine Civilization

1.How did trade affect the Byzantine Empire?

2.Examine how the split between the Roman Catholic Church and the Easter Orthodox Church contributed to the Byzantine Empire’s decline?

3. What do Byzantine mosaics and icons tell you about the focus of Byzantine art?

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Frenkish Rulers

1. Contrast Charkemagne with his weak successors. Why do you think Charlemagne was successful in enlarging and maintaining his empire?

2. Predict what might have happened if scholars had not preserved learning in an age when hardly anyone could read or write. If learning had not been preserved, would life today be different?

3.Explain the reasons why the Vikings, the Magyars, and the Slavs left their homelands and invaded the lands of western Europe

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Medieval life

1. Contrast the daily responsibilities and life-style of a noble with those of a serf?

2. Compare and contrast the feudal class structure with the structure of the varna system discussed in India?

3. Make a list of duties for serfs to carry out in the fall, keeping in mind the need to provide for the medieval manor during the long winter months.

4. Diagram the ways nobles, clerge, knights, and peasants cooperated during the medieval period.

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Medieval Church

1. How did the Roman Catholic Church provide the link between the past and the medieval world?

2. Imagine that you are a religious, but superstitious, peasant. Invent an explanation for the famine that has struck your village.

3. Contrast the atmosphere that led to the Inquisition with our greater tolerance for differences in religious belief and practice.

4. Examine the effectiveness of the actions the Catholic Church took to ensure uniformity of people’s beliefs and practices during the medieval period.

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Rise of European Monarchy

1. What factors account for the differences in the way French and English monarchs build strong states?

2. Judge the importance of the English Parliament in the development of representative government.

3. Imagine the scene at Canossa and compose Henry’s speech of apology to Pope Gregory.

4. Identify reasons for conflict between popes and monarchs. Could they have been resolved peacefully?

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The Crusades

1. Why did both Christians and Muslims feel that Jerusalem should belong to them?

2. The crusades were both a sing of European recovery and a stimulant of further growth. Explain how this could be so.

3. In what ways were the crusades a success? In what ways were they a failure?

4. Describe how cultural diffusion in the Middle Ages occurred as a result of the crusades

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Economic and cultural Revival

1. Write a description of trade fairs in the Middle Ages.

2. Why was membership in a guild advantageous for a medieval artisan? Why was it disadvantageous?

Critical thinking

3. Create an imaginary medieval town. Briefly explain its physical characteristics. Then describe what a typical day for an artisan working there would be like.

4. What would have happened if medieval Europe had remained an agriculture – bases society?

5. Choose one of the following and trace its effect on medieval society: three – field system, money economy, guilds.

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Strengthening of Monarchy

1. What were the causes and results of the Hundred Years’ War?

2.Select one European country and describe how its monarchy changed during the Middle Ages.

3. Contrast the political and geographic relationship of England and France before and after the Hundred Years’ War?

4. Explain the reasons for the struggles between the various European monarchies.

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The Italian Renaissance

1.Think about the Greek concept of what constitutes an ideal person. Do you think Leonardo da Vinci was such a person? Why or why not?

2. Imagine you were present to hear one of Savonarola’s sermons. How might you have reacted?

3. identify one thing in literature or art that was developed during the Renaissance, and explain how it was an innovative elaboration on some aspect of Greek or Roman culture rather than just an imitation.

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Early Explorations

1.why did Portugal and Spain want to find a sea route to Asia?

2. what sciences and new technologies helped sailors to venture into the open ocean and led to European voyages of exploration?

3. how important were European govemments to the operation of the Commercial Revolution?

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Royal Power and Conflict

1.What is absolute monarchy and why did monarchs demand complete loyalty to the crown?

2. How did Philip II’s succesors respond to the Spanish Empire’s decline?

3.Explain how the rule of Elizabeth I and Tudor monarchy affected England.

4. How did Henry IV try to bring religious peace to Frence?

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