Western Civilization I / Unit 18 WC1 1713 worked example, 60 to 90 seconds
Sample Question Six: Before the Charter, Las Navas
The idea
Questions six through eight refer to a charter of twelve forty-two by which Jaume I of Aragon set terms for the Muslims of Valencia. The sixth asks which early thirteenth-century development most directly led to the surrender agreement, offering Lepanto, Las Navas de Tolosa, Charles Martel's victory, the crusader conquest of Jerusalem, and the Mongols' destruction of the caliphate. The method is date first, place second.
In practice
Lepanto is fifteen seventy-one, three centuries late. Charles Martel's victory is seven thirty-two, five centuries early and in France. The crusaders took Jerusalem in ten ninety-nine from the Fatimids, a century early and in the Levant. The Mongols destroyed the caliphate in twelve fifty-eight, sixteen years after the charter and in Baghdad. Only Las Navas de Tolosa, twelve twelve, is early thirteenth century and in Iberia: the Christian victory over the Almohads that opened Muslim Spain to the conquests whose terms this charter sets. The answer is Las Navas, and unit 11's entry 1005 names it from the witness, since the anchor omits it.
Where people slip
The exam tests place and date together: four options are real Christian or Mongol victories over Muslims, and only one fits Spain in the twelve hundreds. Learn twelve twelve as the Reconquista's turning date.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
Builds on
Unlocks
- Nothing yet depends on this.
Something wrong in this lesson? Flag it