All SAT II World History Resources
Example Questions
Example Question #1 : Frank And Germanic History
Which of these men was primarily responsible for the creation of the Frankish Kingdom in the sixth century?
Augustus Caesar
Charles the Bald
Clovis
Alaric
Charlemagne
Clovis
The Frankish Kingdom arose in the sixth century in an area that comprises most of modern-day France and the Low Countries. It was built on the conquest of Clovis, who converted to Christianity having won a major battle; however, in Frankish culture, the territory of a ruler is divided between his sons, so the Frankish Kingdom continued to fracture and be reformed through conquest for the next few hundred years.
Example Question #2 : Frank And Germanic History
After the fall of the Roman Empire, __________ was the first person to be crowned "Emperor of the Romans."
Charlemagne
Genghis Khan
Octavian
Atilla
Pepin
Charlemagne
Charlemagne is the most famous and most successful (in terms of military conquests) of all the Frankish kings. At the height of his empire in the year 800 CE, he controlled all of modern-day France, and much of modern-day Spain, Italy, Germany, Austria, and the Low Countries. Because he was a powerful and devout Christian ruler, he was invited to become the first "Emperor of the Romans" in a few hundred years, an invitation he gleefully accepted.
Example Question #2 : Europe
Which of these Germanic tribes invaded the British Isles?
None of the other answer choices are correct.
Saxons
Jutes
Angles
Angles, Jutes, and Saxons
Angles, Jutes, and Saxons
The British Isles were originally held primarily by the Iceni, Gallic, and Celtic people; however, they were conquered by the Roman Empire in 44 BCE. During and after the fall of the Roman Empire, the British Isles were conquered by various Germanic tribes, most notably the Angles, the Saxons, and the Jutes. English people are often called Anglo-Saxon to this day.
Example Question #1 : Europe
During the fourteenth century, there were Popes in both Rome and __________.
Paris
Genoa
Krakow
Avignon
Seville
Avignon
In the early part of the fourteenth century, the French King Phillip IV and Pope Boniface VIII clashed over whether or not the clergy should be made to pay taxes to secular authorities without the permission of the Pope. This conflict came to an end when Boniface was captured by French forces and died in the ordeal. To ensure continued papal loyalty, Philip installed a new Pope, Clement V, in the city of Avignon in France. The Papacy would continue to reside in France from 1305 to 1378.
Example Question #2 : Europe
After the Concordat of Worms, bishops in the Holy Roman Empire owed their allegiance to __________.
the monarch and the Pope
God alone
the Pope
the monarch
their conscience alone
the monarch and the Pope
The Concordat of Worms (1122) is generally seen as the end of the first major power struggle between the Papacy and the monarchs of Europe (particularly the Holy Roman Emperor) during the medieval era. Prior to the Concordat, the Emperor and the Papacy had disagreed over who had the right to appoint bishops and other church officials and to whom those officials ultimately owed their loyalty. The Concordat determined that in secular matters, the bishops were loyal to the monarch, but in spiritual matters, were loyal to the Pope. Essentially, bishops now owed allegiance to both the Pope and to the monarch. This is seen as a major turning point in European history—both an important part of the rise of Christianity and a precursor to the emergence of nation states.
Example Question #3 : Europe
John Wycliffe and Jan Hus may be best understood as early precursors of __________.
the Protestant Reformation
the Scientific Revolution
the Age of Exploration
the Jesuit movement
the Great Schism
the Protestant Reformation
John Wycliffe was an English theologian in the fourteenth century who was sharply critical of the Papacy and the abuses of the Catholic clergy. Although Wycliffe died of natural causes, he was posthumously excommunicated, his body dug up and "executed" as a heretic in the fifteenth century, demonstrating the dangers of Wycliffe's writings to the established order of things. Jan Hus was another church reformer, a Czech theologian of the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries. He advocated that the Bible should be the guiding force for all Christians and challenged the power of the Papacy. He was executed, a move that sparked the decades long Hussite Rebellion. Both men can be seen as early precursors to the Protestant Reformation that would grip Europe a century later.
Example Question #4 : Europe
The Christian tradition of Scholasticism emerged largely as a result of the writings of __________.
Thomas More
Pope Urban II
Thomas Aquinas
St. Paul
St. Augustine
Thomas Aquinas
The Christian tradition of Scholasticism evolved out of the earlier (and concurrent) tradition of monasticism. It involves marrying Christian ethics and beliefs with an approach to learning focused on reasoning, inference, and questioning. The tradition of Scholasticism grew in prominence in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and much of the tradition is based on the writings of the famous Christian philosopher and theologian, St. Thomas Aquinas.
Example Question #5 : Europe
During the Medieval period, it was common for people to pay one-tenth of their income to the church; this payment is known as a(n) __________.
tariff
indulgence
tithe
petty tax
simony
tithe
The tradition of paying one-tenth of one's income to the church comes from the Jewish faith, but was widely accepted in Christianity during the Medieval period and continues to be in some parts of the world today. This payment was known as a "tithe," and all men were expected to pay it.
Example Question #1 : Feudalism
Which of the following is a title that was given to someone who fought for a lord in the feudal system in exchange for land and payment?
Baron
Vassal
Serf
Fiefdom
Pauper
Vassal
In the feudal system, there were lords (the owners of land and the offerers of protection); vassals (those who fought for the lords in exchange for tracts of land or payment); and serfs (those who worked the land in exchange for protection).
Example Question #2 : Feudalism
In the feudal system, the land was worked by __________.
barons
vassals
knights
serfs
plebeians
serfs
In the feudal system, the land was worked by the serfs, who essentially entered into a state of voluntary slavery in exchange for protection from invasion. The lords offered protection and the vassals were paid to carry out the protection. Of course, only the first generation of serfs "volunteered" for the slavery; later generations were stuck working as effective slaves even once the threat of invasion was lessened, hence the longevity of feudalism in Europe, which in some places lasted for as long as a thousand years.