Y202: Charlemagne 768-814 | OCR A-Level History A (H505)

Y202: Charlemagne 768-814

79 questions
8 subtopics
Non-British period study, one of twenty-four
Y201 to Y224

Charlemagne 768–814 is unit Y202 of OCR History A, one of the twenty-four options in unit group 2, the non-British period study; a student sits one of them.

Its four key topics are war and conquest, administration and internal affairs, the Carolingian Renaissance, later kingship and imperial rule. 79 recall questions across 8 subtopics.

Sample questions from Y202: Charlemagne 768-814

Answer each one closed book first, then open the answer.

War and conquest: Situation in the Frankish lands and wars against the Saxons

Explain how Charlemagne's motives for war changed over the reign.

Show the answer
Early campaigns were driven by plunder, tribute and the need to reward and occupy his aristocracy, but from the 770s conquest was increasingly justified as the defence and expansion of Christendom, with conversion becoming an aim in itself.
War and conquest: later campaigns, methods of warfare and reasons for success

What threat did the Danes pose in Charlemagne's later years?

Show the answer
King Godfred fortified his southern frontier, attacked Charlemagne's Slav allies and sent a fleet to raid Frisia, exposing the empire's inability to defend a long coastline; only after his death did his successor accept the Eider as the frontier in 811.
Administration and internal affairs: Aims and methods of control and organisation, economic policies

What was the role of a count?

Show the answer
A count administered a district for the king, presiding over its court, summoning its men to the army and collecting royal dues and fines.
Administration and internal affairs: importance of the Church to effective government

What was decided at the council of Frankfurt in 794?

Show the answer
It condemned the Spanish teaching that Christ was only the adopted son of God, rejected the Greek council's ruling on the veneration of images, and issued measures on prices, coinage and church discipline.
The Carolingian Renaissance: motives for patronage, minuscule, chant and the schools

Define the term Carolingian minuscule.

Show the answer
Carolingian minuscule was a clear, rounded script with separated words and consistent letter forms, developed in Frankish scriptoria and adopted across the empire.
The Carolingian Renaissance: work of scholars and extent of a cultural revival

What did Paul the Deacon, a scholar at Charlemagne's court, write and compile?

Show the answer
At Charlemagne's command he compiled the collection of readings from the Church Fathers used in the reformed liturgy, and after returning to Monte Cassino he wrote a history of his own Lombard people.
Later kingship and imperial rule: Leo III and the imperial coronation of 800

How was the charge against Leo III disposed of in December 800?

Show the answer
No trial was held, and Leo instead swore an oath purging himself of the accusations, on the principle that no one has authority to judge the apostolic see.
Later kingship and imperial rule: relations with Byzantium and consolidation or decline in later years

What was the Divisio of 806?

Show the answer
It was Charlemagne's formal partition of his lands among his three sons, Charles, Pippin and Louis, following Frankish custom.

The 8 subtopics

One subtopic is one session. Work down the list.

Subtopic	What it covers	Questions
War and conquest: Situation in the Frankish lands and wars against the Saxons	Recall questions on situation in the Frankish lands on Charlemagne’s accession in 768, succession disputes with Carloman 768–771, reasons and changing motives for war, wars against the Saxons.	9
War and conquest: later campaigns, methods of warfare and reasons for success	Recall questions on the later Saxon wars, the Avars, Slavs and Danes, the Spanish expedition and Roncesvalles, Byzantine relations, the Frankish army and the reasons for Charlemagne’s military success.	11
Administration and internal affairs: Aims and methods of control and organisation, economic policies	Recall questions on aims and methods of control and organisation, capitularies, conciliar decrees, counts and missi dominici, economic policies including coinage.	10
Administration and internal affairs: importance of the Church to effective government	Recall questions on importance of the Church to effective government, religious policies, synods, Admonitio Generalis, church schools, literacy and clerical education, legal reforms, the Programmatic Capitulary and revision of Salic Law, extent of success of administrative and religious policies across the empire.	10
The Carolingian Renaissance: motives for patronage, minuscule, chant and the schools	Recall questions on why Charlemagne funded scholarship, the part of monasteries, Carolingian minuscule and the copying programme, Roman chant and its leading school, and the schools of the revival.	8
The Carolingian Renaissance: work of scholars and extent of a cultural revival	Recall questions on the work of scholars including Alcuin, Einhard and Paul the Deacon, courts at Frankfurt, Aachen and Paderborn, extent of a cultural revival.	11
Later kingship and imperial rule: Leo III and the imperial coronation of 800	Recall questions on relations with Pope Leo III, the attack on Leo in 799, the events of Christmas Day 800, why the imperial title was attractive, Einhard’s account and the consequences of the coronation for Frankish government.	12
Later kingship and imperial rule: relations with Byzantium and consolidation or decline in later years	Recall questions on relations with Byzantium, Divisio, death of his sons and role of Louis, consolidation or decline in later years.	8

Y202: Charlemagne 768-814 is 79 of the 6,240 questions in the guide.Get the guide, £8

How the guide is worked

Answering a question from memory stores it far better than reading the answer again. The guide runs that as a fixed procedure on one subtopic at a time, about twenty minutes a session.

Step 1 · Closed book
Cover the answers. Work through one subtopic and write down what you can. Leave blanks where you have nothing.
Step 2 · Open book
Go back to the top. Read each printed answer and write it out in full, including the ones you had right.
Step 3 · Closed book again
Same questions, same order, from memory. The gap between pass one and pass three is the session result.

Read the full method, the return schedule and the research behind it.