1. What was feudalism and what mutual obligations bound together monarchs, lords, knights, and peasants?

2. How did the manorial system provide economic self-sufficiency and what was the status of serfs?

3. How did the three-field system and technological improvements like windmills and heavier plows affect agricultural productivity and population growth?

1. How did European monarchies grow more powerful in the later Middle Ages and what role did bureaucracy and military play?

2. What was the Estates-General in France and why did it have limited power?

3. How did the lay investiture controversy affect the relationship between the Holy Roman Empire and the Church?

4. What changes did the Norman conquest of England in 1066 bring to English political organization?

5. How did the Magna Carta and the formation of Parliament limit royal power in England?

6. What were the major results of the Hundred Years' War between England and France?

7. How did the Norman conquests of Sicily and the Christian reconquista in Spain reflect the conflict between Christians and Muslims in medieval Europe?

1. What was the Great Schism of 1054 and how did it divide Christianity in Europe?

2. Why was the Roman Catholic Church the most powerful institution in medieval Europe and what roles did clergy play in communities?

3. How did the Church's control over education and art shape medieval intellectual and cultural life?

4. What was the Church's hierarchical structure and how did bishops and the pope maintain authority?

5. What economic and political functions did monasteries serve in medieval Europe?

6. How did wealth and political power lead to corruption in the Church during the 13th and 14th centuries?

1. What religious, social, and economic factors motivated Europeans to launch the Crusades?

2. How did the Roman Catholic Church use its spiritual authority to recruit Crusaders?

3. What was the outcome of the First Crusade and what cultural exchanges resulted from the Crusades?

4. How did the Fourth Crusade differ from the other major Crusades and what role did Venice play?

1. How did Marco Polo's travels to Asia influence European interest in trade and exploration?

2. What was the bourgeoisie and how did the growth of long-distance commerce create this new social class?

3. How did agricultural improvements and population growth contribute to urban expansion in the late Middle Ages?

4. What was the Black Death and how did the plague's impact on population affect the bargaining power of serfs?

5. How did the Little Ice Age affect agricultural productivity and what social consequences resulted?

6. Why did many northern European Jews become moneylenders and how did this contribute to economic growth?

7. What was antisemitism in medieval Europe and which kingdoms expelled Jewish populations?

8. How did Muslim populations come to live in southeastern Europe and what discrimination did they face?

9. What roles did Jews and Muslims play in medieval European society despite facing persecution?

10. How did gender roles change as Europe transitioned from an agricultural to a more urban society?

1. What was the Renaissance and what characterized the revival of interest in classical Greek and Roman culture?

2. How did Johannes Gutenberg's printing press revolutionize the spread of ideas and literacy in Europe?

3. What was humanism and how did it shift focus from God to individuals?

4. How did the use of vernacular languages in Renaissance literature reflect independence from the Church?

5. How did church patronage and wealthy families like the Medicis support the Southern Renaissance in Italy and Spain?

6. How did Northern Renaissance writers like Geoffrey Chaucer portray middle-class life and criticize the Church?

1. What was Kievan Rus and how did its adoption of Orthodox Christianity affect its relationship with Europe?

2. How did Mongol rule in the 13th century separate Russia from the rest of Europe?

3. How did Ivan the Great lead the region to independence from Mongol rule and establish the modern Russian state?