MIDTERM EXAMINATION - TAKE HOME - DUE MARCH 17 at 12:00

Exams that arrive later than 12:00 will be penalized as per the policies set out in your syllabus. One full grade per day.

An envelope will be hanging on the door to 601 HH for your midterms, clearly marked. They can also be put in my mailbox.

All exams must be typed.

Conform to the word limits with each question. Going significantly over required word-length will lower your grade. Being significantly under the required word length will probably mean that you did not answer the question completely.

You may not discuss your exam answers with other classmates or anyone else. This is independent, take-home, work.

You may use any books or notes that you wish to use. Cite in the simplest form, by using parentheticals - for example, (Madden, 22) or (Stephen of Blois, 73) when using quotations or as necessary. Do feel free to use SHORT quotations to provide evidence for your points. Do not rely on them to answer your questions for you.

-----

Exam: Answer all three questions in short reponses of between 350-400 words each. You do not need to put together formal essays in terms of structure, but will want several paragraphs, strong topic sentences, and good grammar and phrasing. Proofread. Write extra and cut and hone and otherwise put together three very good answers.

Here are three controversial historical interpretations. Take a stand on each one, but be sure to debate BOTH the pros and cons of the statement. One structure could be spending about half of the essay on ideas and evidence that show the possible strengths of the statement and about half of it on ideas and evidence that show the possible weaknesses of the statement. Then conclude by stating your stance on the interpretation. A strong essay is one that supports all the points you make by referring to specific information and to documents from the past. Be sure to explain the reasoning that led you from the evidence to your particular stand.

1. The Crusaders (the soldiers, not the People's Crusaders) were motivated more by desire for land and slaughter than out of any religious motivations.
2. The massacres in the Rhineland and Jerusalem during the First Crusade were an unavoidable result of Urban II's call for penitential warfare.
3. The Franks who settled in the kingdom of Jerusalem and the other crusader states of the Near East successfully assimilated themselves into local culture and politics.

Do not say. "I think that this statement is true." Or any other "I think ..." type statements. Just argue your point.