SAT II World History : England and the Renaissance

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for SAT II World History

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Example Questions

Example Question #1 : England And The Renaissance

Which of the following is Geoffrey Chaucer famous for writing?

Possible Answers:

The Prince

The Epic of Gilgamesh

Inferno

Gargantua

The Canterbury Tales

Correct answer:

The Canterbury Tales

Explanation:

Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales was written in the fourteenth century in England. It is famous for helping popularize the use of the vernacular (local) language in writing and helped encouraged the spread of humanism during the English Renaissance. 

Example Question #2 : England And The Renaissance

Which of these monarchs was the first to reign over a combined Kingdom of Scotland and England, later called Great Britain?

Possible Answers:

James I

Henry VII

Henry VIII

Elizabeth I

James II

Correct answer:

James I

Explanation:

Following the death of the last Tudor ruler, Queen Elizabeth I, in 1603, the English crown was left without any direct heir. So the Scottish monarch James I, Elizabeth’s cousin, ascended to the throne. In doing so, he began the process of uniting the Scottish and English kingdoms into the Kingdom of Great Britain. Although James I could not himself unify the two kingdoms (he ruled over them both independently), they would be unified a century later during the reign of Queen Anne, the last Stuart monarch.

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