Mixed Up Western History Trivia Quiz

Answer: Fourteenth

The fourteenth century was the heyday of the Black Death.

In tenth-century Europe, it was the Viking invasions that made people want to get out of town.

In the nineteenth century, the Industrial Revolution was in full swing.

In the eighth century, the Battle of Tours (732) halted the Muslim incursion into western Europe.

Answer: Eighteenth

The eighteenth century saw the Seven Years' War (better known in America as the French and Indian War) as well as both the American and French Revolutions.

The Christian faith, for a portion of the first century, was considered to be simply another Jewish sect, like the Pharisees or Essenes.

In the thirteenth century, Francis of Assisi established the order of friars, initially supported only by alms, that bears his name.

The fifth century is often considered to be the one in which the western portion of the Roman Empire fell.

Answer: Twentieth

The twentieth century was probably one of the bloodiest times in history.

The sixteenth century is noted for both Martin Luther's setting the Reformation in motion and the marital woes of Henry VIII.

The fourth century saw Christianity becoming tolerated by the Roman Empire.

The Hundred Years' War between England and France began in the fourteenth century.

Answer: Seventeenth

Anne Bradstreet's book of poetry, "The Tenth Muse . . ." was written after her emigration to the Massachusetts colony in the 1600's.

Some scholars date the end of the Pax Romana ("Roman Peace") to the late second century.

In the twenty-first century there would be nothing remarkable about a woman publishing a book.

The eighteenth century is often called the Age of Enlightenment.

Answer: Sixteenth

The sixteenth century could just as easily be called the Century of Conquest as the Age of Exploration.

The twentieth century was a mixed bag, containing such blessings as polio vaccine and such curses as atomic bombs.

The fourteenth century seems to have displayed the very best aspects of the code of chivalry.

By the third century, the Roman Empire was beginning to decline.

Answer: Nineteenth

In the nineteenth century, trains really helped advance the Industrial Revolution!

The fifteenth century was the time of the Wars of the Roses in England.

In the sixth century, Benedict of Nursia developed a rule for monasteries that became a pattern for such places in western Europe.

Remember all the fuss about 2000, the doomsday predictions and such? Well, the ninth century was sure all sorts of calamities would attend the turn of the first millennium, too!

Answer: First

In the first century, Rome brutally suppressed an uprising in Judea, resulting in the fall of the fortress Masada. In modern Israel, a popular slogan among the military is "Masada shall not fall again!"

The Norman Invasion of England was in the eleventh century.

The other well-known order of friars, the Dominicans, also dates to the thirteenth century.

Marcus Aurelius, "The Philosopher Emperor," wrote his famous "Meditations" in the second century.

Answer: Twenty-first

The destruction of the Twin Towers is one of the landmarks of the twenty-first century.

In the twelfth century, there was a "crusade" to suppress the Cathar heresy in southern France.

The fifth century is generally accepted as the one in which the Irish adopted Christianity.

During the eighteenth century, such "philosophes" as Voltaire and Rousseau were the superstars of their time.

Answer: Eighteenth

There was a lot going on in the eighteenth century, including the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776.

The nineteenth century saw some true heavyweights on the literary scene, such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Leo Tolstoy, and Mark Twain.

Geoffrey Chaucer, author of "The Canterbury Tales," was born in the fourteenth century, and did the bulk of his writing then.

Christmas Day in the year 800--the last year of the eighth century--was when Charlemagne was crowned the first Holy Roman Emperor.

Answer: Twentieth

The twentieth century is not at all noted for the births of my parents, my brothers and sisters, or myself, except in a microscopic circle.

The English Civil War took place during the seventeenth century.

The sixteenth century was a time of great religious upheaval, during which the Lutheran and Presbyterian churches were formed.

In the first century, following the suicide of Nero in 68, Rome had no fewer than three emperors in one year.