HH315: AGE OF
CHIVALRY AND FAITH
TAKEHOME MIDTERM
ESSAY (3 March, 2009)
THE ESSAY IS DUE AT
THE BEGINNING OF CLASS ON TUESDAY, 3 MARCH. NO EXTENSIONS WILL BE GIVEN. (I
will accept essays earlier than that but not later. I am serious about this.
You may send me your midterm by email attachment.)
Write an essay on ONE of the following topics.
Length: no more than five, double-spaced pages.
Grading Criteria: Your grade will depend upon your demonstrated mastery of the assigned reading and lectures, your ability to synthesize the class material and apply your understanding to the question, how well you support generalizations with evidence, and the completeness of your response (read to the end of each topic and address all the questions in it). Be as specific as your knowledge permits.
1. Based on the assigned primary source readings
supplemented by Backman’s textbook, analyze the vertical
and horizontal bonds of obligation and association (i.e. kingship, lordship,
kinship, and marriage) that bound the nobility to one another and defined the
political landscape of western and northern
2. Based on the Backman textbook and the assigned primary sources, analyze the role played by women in the political and religious worlds of the eleventh and twelfth centuries. How did male attitudes toward women shape the roles they played? Your essay should deal with the women of “The Agreement of Hugh and Count William,” Orderic’s Mabel of Belleme, Guibert’s portrayals of his mother and Sibylle de Porcien (wife of Enguerrand), and Heloise. (Note: the authors of all the above text were male.)
3. Using Guibert’s and Abelard’s
memoirs as windows on to early twelfth-century
4. Guibert’s life (1053-1125) overlapped those of four significant Churchmen: Pope Gregory VII (pope 1073-1085), Abelard (1079-1142), St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153), and Arnold of Brescia (c.1100-1155). Although he never mentions any of them in his Memoirs, based on the attitudes he expresses in that work, evaluate how he might have responded to each, and each to him. In doing so, explain who and what each of these men were and what they did.
NOTE: This topic requires you to evaluate Guibert’s attitudes toward the Gregorian Reform and Investiture Controversy for which you need to consider seriously some or all of the following: Guibert’s presentation of the manner in which Gaudry became bishop of Laon and the role played in his ‘election’ by the clergy of the diocese of Laon, by the nobility of the diocese, by the king, and by Pope Paschal II); Abelard’s application of logic and Classical philosophy to theology, Abelard’s dealings with Master Anselm of Laon, and Abelard’s relationship with Heloise; toward the type of monastic reform advocated by the Cistercians; and toward the clerical criticism and championship of the Roman commune demonstrated by Arnold. You need to show mastery of Guibert’s memoirs, the relevant material in Barber’s and Bouchard’s surveys, and the online material that I provided on these topics. (Use Backman, pp. 330-32, and the Otto of Freising handout for Arnold of Brescia.)
5. Explain what the “crusades” of the eleventh and twelfth century were and analyze how the following individuals or groups understood their meaning and purpose: Pope Urban II and/or Innocent III; St. Bernard of Clairvaux; noblemen such as Gerard de Quierzy and Thomas of Marle (both of whom went on the First Crusade); and the Muslim elite represented by Usamah ibn Munquidh. For the attitude of the nobility, use Maurice Keen (chap 3) and Raymond of Aguiliers on the sack of Jerusalem, 1099.
6. Demonstrating familiarity with both assigned primary and
secondary sources, analyze the main institutional
and spiritual developments within
the Roman Catholic Church from c.1000 to 1216, including the rise of the
Gregorian Reform, the Investiture Controversy, the rise of the so-called Papal
Monarchy, and the spread of heresy. In doing so, place these developments
within historical context, explaining how ecclesiastical developments related
to changes in the economy and political structures of