Medieval Europe
This empire fragmented into three sections after Charlemagne's death in 814.
What is the Carolingian Empire?
This dynasty (581-618) reunified China and completed the Grand Canal linking the Yellow and Yangtze Rivers.
What is the Sui Dynasty?
This pope called for the First Crusade in 1095 at the Council of Clermont.
Who is Pope Urban II?
These mounted warriors, equipped with armor and lances, dominated European warfare for 500 years.
What are knights?
This Japanese warrior class, with a strict honor code called bushido, emerged during the Heian Period.
What are samurai?
These Scandinavian invaders were eventually given land at the mouth of the Seine River and converted to Christianity.
Who are the Vikings (or Norsemen)?
The Tang Dynasty restored this examination system based on Confucian knowledge to select bureaucrats.
What is the Civil Service Exam?
Christian crusaders captured Jerusalem in this year, establishing Crusader States in the East.
What is 1099?
This code of ethics, introduced in the 11th-12th centuries, required knights to defend the Church and treat women with respect.
What is chivalry?
This Chinese invention, perfected during the Tang Dynasty, used a mixture of flame and projectiles and could shoot about 40 yards.
What is the fire-lance?
William of Normandy defeated King Harold at this 1066 battle to conquer this island.
What is England?
This grandson of Genghis Khan completed the conquest of China in 1279 and established the Yuan Dynasty.
Who is Kublai Khan?
This Muslim leader recaptured Jerusalem in 1187 and negotiated with Richard the Lionhearted during the Third Crusade.
Who is Saladin?
This heavy, wheeled plow with an iron plowshare, drawn by 6-8 oxen, revolutionized European agriculture.
What is the carruca?
This architectural style, perfected in the 13th century, used ribbed vaults, pointed arches, and flying buttresses to create tall, light-filled churches.
What is Gothic architecture?
This document, forced upon King John in 1215, recognized that the monarch's power was limited, not absolute.
What is the Magna Carta?
This period (960-1279) saw great prosperity and cultural achievement in China before falling to Mongol invasion.
What is the Song Dynasty?
This church court, developed to deal with heretics, was known for using torture to extract confessions starting in 1252.
What is the Inquisition (or Holy Office)?
These peasants were legally bound to the land and had to provide labor services and pay rents to their lords.
What are serfs?
This famous novel, written by Murasaki Shikibu in 9th-12th century Japan, traces the life of a nobleman and is considered one of the world's great novels.
What is The Tale of Genji?
This French dynasty, beginning with Hugh Capet in 987, initially controlled only the Ile-de-France but expanded to become Europe's largest monarchy by 1300.
What is the Capetian dynasty?
This revised form of Confucianism became the dominant state ideology from the Song Dynasty onward, incorporating ideas about material and spiritual worlds.
What is Neo-Confucianism?
This 1378-1417 division of the Catholic Church, with rival popes in Rome and Avignon, weakened papal authority and led to church reform.
What is the Great Schism?
This field crop rotation system, replacing the two-field system, allowed only one-third of fields to lie fallow instead of half.
What is the three-field system?
This medieval philosophical system attempted to reconcile faith and reason, with Thomas Aquinas being one of its greatest practitioners.
What is Scholasticism?