Lesson test: What actually ended

Sign in

Libre University uses your GitHub account. Signing in is only needed to sit a final test, so the score is kept on your profile.

What actually ended

1.[3p]
Match each historian or school to the ending it proposed.

Gibbon
Pirenne
the transformation school

the Arab conquests closing the Mediterranean in the seventh century
no fall at all, but accommodation and adaptation
barbarism and religion, ending in the fifth century

Show the answer

Gibbon: barbarism and religion, ending in the fifth century Pirenne: the Arab conquests closing the Mediterranean in the seventh century the transformation school: no fall at all, but accommodation and adaptation

2.[3p]
Why does religion fail as the primary cause of the western collapse?

The eastern empire was more Christian, earlier, and survived a thousand years longer

Correct

Christianity was never adopted by the western provinces

The answer is: The eastern empire was more Christian, earlier, and survived a thousand years longer

The church paid for the western army out of its own revenues

The answer is: The eastern empire was more Christian, earlier, and survived a thousand years longer

Gibbon had no access to the relevant sources

The answer is: The eastern empire was more Christian, earlier, and survived a thousand years longer

3.[3p]
How was Pirenne's thesis tested, and what was the result?

Pottery distribution shows the break well before any Arab army existed

Correct

Written sources confirmed the seventh-century date exactly

The answer is: Pottery distribution shows the break well before any Arab army existed

Coin hoards showed no interruption at any point

The answer is: Pottery distribution shows the break well before any Arab army existed

The thesis cannot be tested against material evidence

The answer is: Pottery distribution shows the break well before any Arab army existed

4.[3p]
What does the disappearance of wheel-thrown pottery from fifth-century Britain show?

Specialisation, continuous production and distribution all failed together

Correct

That the population had been wiped out

The answer is: Specialisation, continuous production and distribution all failed together

That pottery was replaced by imported metal vessels

The answer is: Specialisation, continuous production and distribution all failed together

That kilns had been outlawed by the new rulers

The answer is: Specialisation, continuous production and distribution all failed together

5.[2p]
A simpler economy necessarily meant that individual people were worse fed.

True

The answer is: False

False

Correct

6.[3p]
Why is the disappearance of low-value bronze coin more telling than any change in gold?

Small change is what ordinary people use for ordinary purchases

Correct

Bronze was worth more than gold by weight

The answer is: Small change is what ordinary people use for ordinary purchases

Gold coins were never issued in the west

The answer is: Small change is what ordinary people use for ordinary purchases

Bronze coin was the only currency accepted for tax

The answer is: Small change is what ordinary people use for ordinary purchases

7.[2p]
Constantinople fell in 1453. How many years is that after the deposition of 476?

CorrectNot quite: 977

8.[3p]
What do the law, the church and the imperial title have in common as survivals?

Select all that apply

None of them required a tax system to be maintained

Correct

All could be kept up by a far poorer and simpler society

Correct

All depended on a standing professional army

The answer is: None of them required a tax system to be maintained, All could be kept up by a far poorer and simpler society

All were abandoned in the eastern empire

The answer is: None of them required a tax system to be maintained, All could be kept up by a far poorer and simpler society

9.[3p]
What is the one-sentence answer this course gives to what ended in the west?

A state that taxed a large territory to pay a standing army, and its economy

Correct

The Roman name and the Roman language

The answer is: A state that taxed a large territory to pay a standing army, and its economy

The Christian church and its hierarchy

The answer is: A state that taxed a large territory to pay a standing army, and its economy

Roman law and the codes built on it

The answer is: A state that taxed a large territory to pay a standing army, and its economy

1.[3p] Match each historian or school to the ending it proposed.

2.[3p] Why does religion fail as the primary cause of the western collapse?

3.[3p] How was Pirenne's thesis tested, and what was the result?

4.[3p] What does the disappearance of wheel-thrown pottery from fifth-century Britain show?

5.[2p] A simpler economy necessarily meant that individual people were worse fed.

6.[3p] Why is the disappearance of low-value bronze coin more telling than any change in gold?

7.[2p] Constantinople fell in 1453. How many years is that after the deposition of 476?

8.[3p] What do the law, the church and the imperial title have in common as survivals?

9.[3p] What is the one-sentence answer this course gives to what ended in the west?

1.[3p]
Match each historian or school to the ending it proposed.

2.[3p]
Why does religion fail as the primary cause of the western collapse?

3.[3p]
How was Pirenne's thesis tested, and what was the result?

4.[3p]
What does the disappearance of wheel-thrown pottery from fifth-century Britain show?

5.[2p]
A simpler economy necessarily meant that individual people were worse fed.

6.[3p]
Why is the disappearance of low-value bronze coin more telling than any change in gold?

7.[2p]
Constantinople fell in 1453. How many years is that after the deposition of 476?

8.[3p]
What do the law, the church and the imperial title have in common as survivals?

9.[3p]
What is the one-sentence answer this course gives to what ended in the west?