Going For Baroque Trivia Quiz

Answer: Palace of Westminster

Specifically, the plotters hoped to kill King James and the House of Lords during the State Opening of the 1605 session of Parliament. The plotters were a group of English Catholics who included Guy Fawkes (1570-1606), who had previously fought as a mercenary for Spain. Though Fawkes was not in charge of the plot as a whole, he was in charge of guarding the gunpowder that was placed in an undercroft beneath the Palace of Westminster. The gunpowder was found with Guy Fawkes before the planned explosion. Tried for treason, Fawkes was found guilty and sentenced to be hung, drawn, and quartered, but fell from the scaffold and broke his neck shortly before he was to be hung. Since then, November 5th (the date of the discovery of the gunpowder, Guy Fawkes Night has been commemorated in Britain.

The picture shows a representation of the modern Palace of Westminster with its tall clock tower, where the well known bell "Big Ben" can be found.

Answer: Henry IV of France

Henry IV (1553-1610) ruled first the Kingdom of Navarre beginning in 1572 and then from 1589 ruled the Kingdom of France as the first French monarch from the Bourbon Dynasty. Raised as a Protestant, Henry converted to Catholicism to secure his hold on the French throne. He is known for the 1598 Edict of Nantes, which granted a degree of religious freedom in France. When Henry was assassinated in 1610, he was succeeded by his nine-year-old son, Louis XIII. Louis's mother, Marie de' Medici would rule as regent until 1617.

The picture shows an image of a fleur-de-lis, a stylized lily. While this symbol is sometimes associated with royalty in general, it is particularly associated with the French monarchy.

Answer: Plymouth

The roughly one hundred English Separatists or Pilgrims did not arrive in the Cape Cod area until the fall of 1620. Spanish colonists would arrive in Florida to establish St. Augustine in 1565. English colonists would arrive in Virginia to establish Jamestown in 1607. French colonists would arrive in Quebec, Canada, to establish the city of Quebec in 1608.

The picture includes an image of a rock, suggesting Plymouth Rock, a famous landmark in the town.

Answer: Stating that the earth revolved around the sun.

In addition to his work in astronomy, Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) made contributions in the areas of physics and mathematics. The heliocentric model of the universe (the idea that the earth moves around the sun) was not new, but it was enthusiastically supported by Galileo in works like "Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems" (1632), which also seemed to attack then-Pope Urban VIII and the Jesuits. Galileo was forced to publicly deny his beliefs and was then placed under house arrest for the remainder of his life. Gradually, Galileo came back into favor, first when the Catholic Church no longer prohibited publication of his works in the 18th century and then in 1992 Pope John Paul II publicly expressed regret about how Galileo had been treated.

The picture shows an image of a man looking into a telescope--a scientific instrument of which Galileo was one of the earliest users.

Answer: Netherlands

The Dutch Wars of Independence from Spain actually predated the Thirty Years' War, beginning in 1566. Though the northern part of the Netherlands had gained de facto independence by the 1580s, Spain--which still controlled the southern part--refused to recognize this. Switzerland also gained recognition of its independence at this time, also from the Holy Roman Empire. Portugal had been controlled by Spain, but gained its independence several years earlier in 1640. Naples was under the control of the crown of Aragon until 1816.

The picture shows an image of a windmill suggesting the Netherlands which is popularly associated with this type of structure.

Answer: Saturn

Specifically, Christiaan Huygens (1629-1695) observed Titan, the largest moon in orbit around Saturn (and second in size to Jupiter's moon Ganymede among moons of the solar system). In addition, Huygens also designed an improved telescope and invented the pendulum clock. In the field of optics, he suggested the wave theory of light.

The picture shows an image of Saturn with it well known rings. While Uranus and Neptune also have rings, these planets are more bluish in color (as well as not being discovered until 1787 and 1846). Mars is reddish in color and while the planet was known to people since antiquity, its moons were not discovered until the nineteenth century.

Answer: Sweden

Stockholms Banco, the predecessor to Sveriges Riksbank (the Central Bank of Sweden), was the first European institution to issue paper money in 1661. During the seventeenth century, Sweden had a limited supply of silver but a plentiful supply of copper, leading to a large amount of coinage in copper. Increasing supplies of copper pushed down the value of copper leading to increasingly large coins and then plates of copper where the value of the metal would match the amount engraved on the coin/plate. Stockholms Banco, which began operations in 1657, decided (beginning in 1661) to issue paper credit notes that could be redeemed for amounts of copper coinage. Although the notes were popular at first, a serious problem arose when the bank began issuing more notes than it could redeem in copper coinage. The public lost trust in the notes leading to an end of operations for Stockolms Banco by 1664.

The picture shows an image of the flag of Sweden, where Stockholms Banco was located.

Answer: Lithuania

There had been a long standing connection between Poland and Lithuania and the two countries were unified in a commonwealth from 1569 to 1795. John III Sobieski (1529-1596) ruled Poland and Lithuania for 22 years and made his name as a military leader of great prowess. His most famous victory was over the armies of the Ottoman Empire at the 1683 Battle of Vienna. After this battle, the Ottoman Empire was generally losing territory in Europe rather than gaining it.

The picture shows an image of the flag of Lithuania.

Answer: Peter I (the Great)

Peter the Great (1672-1725) would reign from 1682 to 1696 with his elder half-brother Ivan V as nominal co-Tsar and from 1696 to his death alone. Peter, though continuing the autocracy of the Tsars, was very interested in new ideas and technologies that were developing outside of Russia. He traveled "incognito" throughout a large part of Europe in the late 1690s to explore several of these first hand, including naval technology.

The picture shows an image of three stick figures with the middle figure much taller than the other two. Peter as an adult stood about 6 feet, 8 inches tall.

Answer: Philip was a likely successor to the throne of another country.

It was Charles II (1661-1700), who suffered under those handicaps, being the end of a series consanguineous marriages--including his parents who were uncle and niece. His aunt, Maria Theresa, was the wife of Louis XIV of France, and the grandmother of Philip. Philip, who was in line for the throne of France after his father Louis, the Dauphin, and his older brother Louis, was seen as undesirable by many other countries, since having France and Spain ruled by the same person could very well upset the balance of power in Europe. As a condition to the Treaty of Utrecht which ended the War of the Spanish Succession, Philip was forced to renounce his claim to the throne of France, which passed to his nephew (and great-grandson of Louis XIV), Louis (XV) in 1715.

The picture shows an image of two check marks, which I hope suggested the first (Spain) and second (France) countries of which Philip would become king.