Here are the correct answers for the quiz:
1. C The House of VALOIS ruled France from 1328, when Philippe VI took the throne, until 1589, when Henri VI, the first Bourbon king, took over. During the sixteenth century, it was actually a minor branch of the house, the Valois-Angouleme, who ruled. The monarchs were: Francois I (15115-1547), Henri II (1547-1559), Francois II (1559-1560), Charles IX (1560-1574), and Henri III (1574-1589). Catherine de Medici served as regent for Charles IX, who was only 10 years old when he became king, and again for Henri III.
2. A ERASMUS OF ROTTERDAM was the famous Dutch humanist of the Renaissance. Although he never formally abandoned the Catholic Church, his rationalistic biblical commentaries and other writings provided fodder for those who did. In 1519 Francois invited him to head a new college for the study of the classics, but Erasmus valued his intellectual freedom and, not wishing to be tied to any prince, turned him down. (The fact that he did not want to offend Charles V, from whom he was already receiving a stipend, probably also influenced his decision.) The post at the College went to Janus Lascaris, a noted Greek scholar from Italy, instead. Francois's readers formed the prestigious institute of higher learning now known as the College de France.
3. D TENNIS, or jeu de paume, was the trendy sport favored by kings and courtiers during the Renaissance. There is an excellent article on the history of jeu de paume, which is still played in classical form in France, here. The name "tennis" is thought to derive from the French "Tenez," or "Get ready," called at the beginning of a match; "love" from "l'oeuf," or "egg," meaning "zero." (Wrestling was also practiced by Francois and Henri VIII, but not by courtiers and their ladies as well.)
4. C CHARLES V (1500-1558) was elected Holy Roman Emperor in 1519, beating out Francois, who had run a close race. With Charles ruling Spain, the Netherlands and sizable portions of Italy, France felt threatened on all sides. The political, personal and military rivalry between the two monarchs remained intense their entire lives.
5. B Anne de Pisseleu, eventually honored as the DUCHESSE D'ETAMPES, became Francois's mistress after his return from captivity in Spain in 1526. Whereas Francois's first mistress, Francoise de Foix, played no political role, the duchesse d'Etampes was a member of Francois's privy council and, according to one foreign ambassador, the person who wielded the most influence on the king in matters of state. I will do a longer post on Anne later, as she will be one of the main characters in my second novel. Anne's chief rival at court was Diane de Poitiers, the Dauphin Henri's mistress.
Three people took the quiz--Sarah, Catherine, and Daphne--and they all did quite well. DAPHNE answered all five questions correctly, and Sarah and Catherine only missed one question each. CONGRATULATIONS, ladies! Thank you for playing the game and being faithful readers of the blog. I hope everyone reading learned a little something she didn't know before.
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13 comments:
Not fair, Julianne! If you had said the sport in C was played by ladies, I would have said jeu de paume/tennis, not wrestling. You mislead us by mentioning Francois I and Henri VIII. And what about bowling/boulingrin?
But I won't be a sore loser. Congratulations to Daphne!
Catherine,
Of course I mislead you a bit. On a multiple choice test, you have to have an answer that is almost, but not quite, correct. It can't be too easy! Francois was the great wrestler, not Henri, as the question stated. Perhaps "facilities" was too broad a term. I was referring to the jeu de paume courts that nobles installed at their chateaux, but I suppose you could argue (you're an attorney, right? :)) that one can wrestle anywhere, so wrestling would be a valid answer. I'll grant you that. In any case, you did a great job. I think people know more about the Renaissance than they think they do!
I must find the link for that jeu de paume article. It was full of interesting anecdotes!
And my sympathy on your laptop woes. We have all been there at some point or other...
I read your response, Julianne, just when I was beginning to feel deep compassion for you over the laptop thing.
What do you mean, too easy? Do you treat your students like this?
I'm happy to have gotten four right, and see now how I misread the question I got wrong (duh). At least I got Erasmus! (Only thanks to the last set of Renaissance-era novels I just finished)
Catherine,
What's the point of a quiz if all the correct answers are obvious? The devil in the details, as we say. :)
(I hope you're not really offended. I'm starting to get a bit worried...it's always so difficult to interpret the tone of emails...)
Sarah,
Were those the Linda Proud novels? I must order them soon.
Of course I am not offended! Next quizz I'll be more wary.
I guess I should read more Renaissance novels, but I am up to my eyeballs in 18th century Auvergne, and also cryptozoology. And some say HF is not fun!
Cryptozoology????
Julianne - yes, the Linda Proud ones. Erasmus appears in them quite a bit (in one of the plot strands of books 1 and 3). I haven't read book 2 yet.
The mention of cryptozoology has me curious too!
Wow - I can't believe I got them all right! A couple of them I thought I had a pretty good chance of getting it right (based on process of elimination) but I totally guessed on the Erasmus answer - he was the only one besides Thomas Moore that I had heard of.
That was fun - I'm looking forward to the next one!
Great job, Daphne! There was an earlier quiz, back in March--I don't know if you've seen it. I'll post another one in a few weeks. And welcome to the blog! :)
Yes, crytpozoology, the study of unknown or "weird" animals. The Beast in Book 3 has been the subject of the wildest speculation.
These cases still crop up regularly in the US, but now we have DNA testing. I would post a few links, but the photos are sometimes gruesome and might not be to your taste, or that of your readers.
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