Court records from medieval France

Answer choices

1. A

   Correct88% picked this

   In the years 1300 to 1400 the French government’s category of violent crimes included an increasing variety of interpersonal

   Why this is right

   This allows us a way to say that even though arrests for violent crimes went up, that doesn't mean documented violence went up, since a bunch of violent crimes were now actually describing nonviolent behavior. This would mean the increase in arrests could be due to the broader classification rather than an actual increase in documented violence.

   Skill tested: Weaken · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.

   88%
2. B

   Opposite Impact1% picked this

   Historical accounts by monastic chroniclers in the years 1300 to 1400 are filled with descriptions of violent attacks committed by people

   This supports the author's conclusion by making it seem like the 1300's really did have more violence.

   1%
3. C

   No Impact3% picked this

   The number of individual agreements between two people in which they swore oaths not to attack each other

   This uptick in "won't attack you" oaths is funny and seemingly such an oath may have contributed to less actual interpersonal violence, but we know that there were more arrests for violent crimes in the 1300s, and this doesn't give us any way to say, "True, but that doesn't mean there was more documented violence."

   3%
4. D

   Opposite / Unclear Impact2% picked this

   When English armies tried to conquer parts of France in the mid-to late 1300s, violence in the northern province of Normandy and

   If this violence is the result of war, then it's irrelevant to the sort of violence we're concerned with. If it's non-war violence, then this supports the author's conclusion by making it seem like the 1300's really did have more violence.

   2%
5. E

   Mixed Impact6% picked this

   The population of medieval France increased substantially during the first five decades of the 1300s, until the deadly bubonic plague decimated the

   The first half of the 1300's has a characteristic (higher population) that would naturally lend itself to more documented violence, thereby strengthening the author's argument. Meanwhile, the second half of the 1300's has a trait (deadly plague / lower population) that would lend itself to less documented violence. This mixed bag has less damaging impact than the correct answer. Additionally, we know that arrests for violent crimes were up overall for the 1300s, so we can't really say "oh, there wasn't as much violence because of the plague." We'd have to respond to the fact that plague or no plague, the number of arrests for violent crimes are higher.

   6%