‘If history relies upon written records produced by city-based literati, nomadic societies will always receive a hostile representation.’ Would you agree with this statement? Does it explain the reason why Persian chronicles produced such inflated figures of casualties resulting from Mongol campaigns?

Why would the early temple have been much like a house?

What do ancient stories tell us about the civilisation of Mesopotamia?

Compare the Venetian idea of good government with those in contemporary France.

Compare the conditions of life for a French serf and a Roman slave.

Why do we say that it was not natural fertility and high levels of food production that were the causes of early urbanisation?

What was the function of medieval monasteries?

Why did knights become a distinct group and when did they decline?

Why did Genghis Khan feel the need to fragment the Mongol tribes into new social and military groupings?

How did long-term changes in population levels affect economy and society in Europe

Why was trade so significant to the Mongols?

What were the features of humanist thought?

What do ancient stories tell us about the civilisation of Mesopotamia?

Describe two features of early feudal society in France.

Compare details of Italian architecture of this period with Islamic architecture.

Imagine and describe a day in the life of a craftsman in a medieval French town.

Describe a journey from Samarqand to Damascus, referring to the cities on the route.

Compare the conditions of life for a French serf and a Roman slave.

Of the new institutions that came into being once city life had begun, which would have depended on the initiative of the king?

Keeping the nomadic element of the Mongol and Bedouin societies in mind, how, in your opinion, did their respective historical experiences differ? What explanations would you suggest account for these differences?

Write a careful account of how the world appeared different to seventeenth century Europeans.