Through History with The New Monday Quiz: the 1280s

In the 1280s, there were a fair number of people who died of old age after living lives that had been relatively stable and unmarked by violent upheaval.  We're not going to talk much about them.   

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1. In or around the 1280s, humans settled the last significant landmass outside of the polar regions that they hadn’t already got to. Today, it’s a country of four and a half million. What was this final frontier?

2. Back in 1274, the first attempt by the Mongols to invade Japan was thwarted when their warships and troop transports were destroyed by a typhoon. In spring of 1281, the Mongols launched 140,000 troops in 4,400 ships for a second invasion of Japan. What happened this time?

3. March 30, 1282: The War of the Sicilian Vespers begins:

To the sound of the bells messengers ran through the city calling on the men of Palermo to rise against the oppressor. At once the streets were filled with angry armed men, crying "Death to the French." Every Frenchman they met was struck down. They poured into the inns frequented by the French and the houses where they dwelt, sparing neither man, woman nor child. Sicilian girls who had married Frenchmen perished with their husbands. The rioters broke into the Dominican and Franciscan convents; and all the foreign friars were dragged out and told to pronounce the word "ciciri," whose sound the French tongue could never accurately reproduce. Anyone who failed the test was slain… By the next morning some two thousand French men and women lay dead; and the rebels were in complete control of the city.

What is the name for the kind of test that the rioters used to find out which monks were French?

4. On December 11, 1282, Llywelyn ap Gruffudd was killed in battle; the following June his brother Dafydd was captured. Edward I ordered the construction of a ring of state-of-the-art castles and walled towns to consolidate his control over his new domain. And that was the end of what kingdom as an independent entity?

5. According to tradition, King Ramkhamhaeng the Great invented this set of symbols in 1283. What is it?

6. Daniel, youngest son of Alexander Nevsky, accordingly inherited the dregs of his father's holdings in 1283: an "insignificant trading outpost" that "was little more than a small timber fort in the forest of Central Rus'." Yet by avoiding major conflicts, paying off the Mongols, playing nice with his more powerful brothers, and preying on his weaker neighbors, he began to expand his lands and influence. This was the beginning of the Grand Duchy of ______________.

7. Throughout the 13th century, there were three great Italian naval powers: Genoa, Pisa, and Venice. In August 1284, fleets from two of these city-states met at the Battle of Meloria. With the devastation to the losing side’s fleet, it immediately ceased to be a naval power; within a few decades, it would lose its independence altogether. What city-state lost its future at Meloria?

8.

A slave at birth, [Sakoura Mansa] was freed and became a general in the army of Sundiata Keita.... After a debilitating struggle for succession between Sundiata's sons Ouati Keita and Khalifa Keita and his grandson Abu Bakr, Sakoura seized control of the throne himself in about 1285. Near-contemporary historian Ibn Khaldun records that under Sakura's leadership, the Empire made a number of new conquests (most notably of Gao), becoming the dominant political, economic, and military force in the Western Sudan.

Of which empire did Sakoura Mansa take charge?

9. On December 14, 1287, a storm ruptured a line of low hills, causing “St. Lucia’s Flood.” More then 50,000 people died – but the little town of Amsterdam would henceforth become much more important and prosperous. Why did this flood have so much impact?

10. This was painted in the 1280s. By whom? Was it Carracci, Castagno, Cellini, Christo, or Cimabue?

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Through History with The New Monday Quiz: the 1270s

1. The House of Solomon was the imperial family of Ethiopia from 1270 to 1974.
2. The death of Louis IX and the changing priorities of Edward of England were the end, not just of the Eighth and Ninth Crusades, but pretty much of "The Crusades" in general.
3. The famous Venetian travel writer: Marco Polo.
4. An interregnum is a period of time where they're trying to figure out who is supposed to be king, pretty much.
5. Kamikaze means "Divine Wind."  It was a great storm that, after a few inconclusive battles, destroyed and scattered the ships of the invasion fleet, saving the Japanese for the nonce.
6. The spicy French best seller was The Romance of the Rose.  Hubba hubba.
7. The red St. George's cross on white is the flag of England.
8. The Bishop of Urgell and the French head of state are co-rulers of Andorra.
9. The Cholas of South India met their end in 1279.
10. Kublai Khan was now emperor of all China.

Among the five brave, wise, knowledgeable, and dashingly good-looking contestants, Christine M and DrSchnell both hit pretty hard again this week... but the original first edition copy of Romance of the Rose goes to back to back winner pfly.