From Century to Century Trivia Quiz

Answer: Richard I

Richard I was also known as Richard the Lionheart. He reigned from September 1189 to April 1199. He gained fame as a military leader and warrior. Richard did not permit any women or Jews to be at his coronation. When some Jewish leaders turned up outside Westminster Abbey to present gifts to the king as their feudal lord they were beaten.

It was rumoured that Richard wanted to have all the Jews killed and this led to attacks being made on the Jews. Richard ordered that the Jews be left alone. In spite of his orders, about 130 Jews in York felt they had no alternative but to commit mass suicide the following March. Richard I occupied Sicily and conquered Cyprus.

He also went on a crusade to the Holy Land.

Answer: Ghengis Khan

Ghengis Khan became the sole ruler of the Mongol Plains in 1206. In 1214 he overran Beijing and ravaged the countryside. He gained much loot and information after which he went to the northern frontier passes. In 1219 his envoys were killed when he tried to trade on his western frontiers.

As a result he moved his armies westward and overran prosperous cities such as Bukhara and Samarkand. By 1223 Genghis Khan had invaded Persia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. He also invaded Russia. He died at the age of 65 when he fell off his horse while fighting in north-western China in 1227.

Answer: Edward III

Edward III was very successful and energetic during his early reign. He was responsible for initiating the hundred years war with France. He besieged the French town of Calais until it surrendered on August 3, 1347. However, the Black Death and his military campaigns led to bankruptcy and he had to wind down the war effort.

Despite his earlier successes Edward's later reign one political and military failure.

Answer: Johannes Gutenberg

Johannes Gutenberg invented the mechanical moving printing press which played a pivotal role in initiating the Printing Revolution. He had several occupations as he worked as a blacksmith, goldsmith, printer and publisher. The structure of society was altered as a result of the mass communication that the printing press gave rise to. Gutenberg was not wealthy in his lifetime but by his invention his mark was placed indelibly on the world.

Answer: Martin Luther

Martin Luther was a German friar, priest, theologian and professor. As he studied the Bible he began to reject many of the doctrines of the Late Medieval Catholic Church. He strongly refuted their doctrine of salvation by works and taught that one's good deeds could not earn salvation since this is a free gift from God through faith in Christ.

He refuted the claim that freedom from punishment from sin could be bought with money. He also rejected the Pope's authority. Luther refused to retract his writings and as a result he was excommunicated by the Pope and outlawed by the emperor.

The resulting conflicts caused Christianity to split between the Catholic Church and those who rebelled. The rebels became known as Protestants. The hold that the Papacy had over the Western world was reduced and the power of the Papacy was shaken.

The world was changed spiritually as well as politically.

Answer: Isaac Newton

Isaac Newton was a physicist and mathematician. He was one of the world's greatest scientists. He is well known for his work in formulating the laws of motion and universal gravity ("Principia"). He is also known for his work in Newtonian mechanics, calculus, optics and binomial series.

Answer: Adam Smith

Adam Smith was born in Scotland. He was a political economist as well as a moral philosopher. According to Smith, self interest and competition can lead to economic prosperity. His writings evoked much controversy in his lifetime. However, the classical free market economic theory was founded by him. He was also a central figure in the Scottish Enlightenment.

Answer: Louis Pasteur

Pasteur was born in France on December 27, 1822. He was a chemist and microbiologist. Pasteur disproved the the concept that living organisms such as fleas could be produced from lifeless matter. He did experiments that showed that micro-organisms could not grow unless there was some form of contamination.

He was successful in developing the first vaccines for anthrax and rabies. However, his pasteurization technique which is used to treat milk and wine to prevent contamination by bacteria is what he is best known for.

Answer: Mahatma Gandhi

Gandhi led the Indian Independence Movement which resulted in India's independence from Britain. He was often called Bapu by his people. He used non violent civil disobedience as a means of protest against discrimination and high land taxes. He led the Indians in the Dandi Salt March in 1930 to protest against taxes that the British were imposing on salt. Gandhi was imprisoned many times but he never deviated from his course of upholding non-violence and truth at all times and he encouraged his people to develop the same course of action.

Answer: Stephen Hawking

Stephen Hawking is well known for his book 'A Brief History of Time'. He is also known for the Penrose-Hawking Theorems and Hawking Radiation. He has received a great number of awards including the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Hawking suffers from a form of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis that has gradually paralysed him.

However his work in General Relativity and Quantum Gravity has greatly influenced the twenty-first century.