TAKE HOME FINAL EXAM HSTEU401 Spring 2007
This is an open book exam; you may use books or
notes to organize
and prepare outlines and ideas for answers. Once you start writing,
please limit yourself to about one to one and a half hours per essay,
for a maximum of 3 hours (not necessarily all at one sitting). You
may
type or handwrite, whichever is more comfortable for you.
Exams should be left in O’Neil mailbox in Smith 315 at
the latest by
2:30pm on Friday June 8. Leave self addressed stamped envelope to have
your exam and paper mailed. Otherwise, e-mail Prof. O’Neil after June 8th.
I will be in the week of June 11th and can leave specific exams outside
my
office, Smith 212A if I know you will be picking them up.
Each
of your two essays must contain at least three, underlined “identifications"
of basic persons, events, books, etc, along
with appropriate dates. These
should
include the basics of who, when, what, where and significance.
(Underline just the name or event that you wanted counted as an
ID answer, three per essay.) These take the place of regular ID
type questions on an in-class final.
Pick
any two of the following questions (1 to 1-1/2 hours each). Write a
thoughtful essay that includes specific information within the framework of
a
general response to the question posed.
1.
Medici: How did the
Medici change the form of government in
between 1434 and 1494? Discuss how the family came to power,
concessions to previous governmental arrangements and any evidence
of ongoing opposition to them during this period. Why did they lose
power in 1494?
2. Machiavelli:
Machiavelli became famous for his
analysis of the
political situation in
analysis -- how did he learn about politics? What conclusions does he
draw from his various sources and what advice does he give to the Prince?
3. Political history:
What do historians mean by the “dwarfing
of
How did overall Italian political situation differ before and after 1494?
(Consider the period from at 1454-1530).
4. Humanism:
How is humanism defined by historians,
and how did humanism
help to define the Renaissance in
least three humanist writers discussed in the course, along with a broader
discussion of the goals and methods of humanist learning in the Renaissance
era.
5. Papacy:
Discuss the contributions of three
Popes discussed in the course
to the Renaissance in
What were the major problems confronted by the Papacy in the late 15th
and
early 16th centuries?