History of the Middle Ages,

    1. What roles did bishops play in medieval states and societies? 2. What role did the Rule of Benedict play in medieval monastic reform movements? 3. What were the short- and long-term consequences of the Investiture Contest beginning with the conflict between Henry IV and Gregory VII? 4. While many Europeans involved in the First Crusade fought in the Middle East, some armies went to the Rhineland and to Northern Spain instead. Compare the objectives and results of these “European crusades” with the one in the Holy Land. 5. How did the kings of France, Louis VI, Louis VII and Philip II Augustus, set about increasing their control over their kingdom? 6. Explain the structure of Medieval Society. 7. Why does your textbook call the pope “the man in the middle”? Explain his ambiguous position and discuss how and why conflicts between the Byzantine Empire and the pope widened the gap between the two. 8. How open and tolerant were the major political entities of the tenth and eleventh centuries?