Check Your Understanding Questions
1
.
What were the chief weaknesses of the Carolingian Empire?
2
.
Under what circumstances did peoples of different ethnic or cultural background encounter each other in the early Middle Ages?
3
.
In what ways was the Caliphate of Cordoba different from Germanic kingdoms?
4
.
What were the causes of the devolution of Abbasid power?
5
.
Why did the Seljuks assume the title of sultan rather than caliph?
6
.
What caused the Byzantine Empire to seek aid from the Christian West?
7
.
What differences between the eastern and western Christian churches in the eleventh century led to the Great Schism?
8
.
What motivations did western Christians have for leaving their homes and participating in the Crusades?
9
.
Why was Jerusalem so important to Jewish people, Christians, and Muslims in the medieval period?
10
.
Why did many eastern Christians and Jewish people not welcome the arrival of the crusaders into the Holy Land?