Aim for FiveEuropean History

Short-answer question (SAQ)

Cranach's Passional of Christ and Antichrist

  • Units 1 and 2
  • 3 points
  • About 13 minutes

You read one source and answer three short parts (A, B and C) about it, each in a few sentences. Each part asks you to describe or explain something about the source or the history around it. On the exam: 3 required questions in 40 minutes (Section I, Part B), 20% of the score. Starting May 2027 every SAQ has a source: question 1 a secondary text, question 2 a primary text, question 3 a non-text source such as an image, map or chart.

The question and its sources

Use the image described below to answer all parts of the question that follows. On the exam you would see the image itself; here it is described in words.

Image

A small printed booklet of woodcut pictures made in Wittenberg in 1521. The pictures come in pairs on facing pages: the left picture shows a scene from the life of Christ, and the right picture shows the pope doing the opposite. Under each picture is a short German text: Bible verses under Christ, and comments citing Church (canon) law under the pope.

Pair 1: On the left, Christ kneels and washes a disciple's feet in a basin while the other disciples watch. On the right, the pope, wearing the triple crown, sits on a raised throne under a canopy while a crowned king kneels to kiss his foot and churchmen and other people crowd behind.

Pair 2: On the left, Christ swings a whip and drives the money changers and merchants out of the Temple; a table lies overturned. On the right, the pope, wearing the triple crown, sits on a raised seat inside a church holding a document, beside a table covered with coins and stacks of papers, while people crowd forward with money. The text below says that he sells dispensations, indulgences and bishoprics.

Source: Lucas Cranach the Elder, German painter and printmaker and friend of Martin Luther, woodcuts for Passional Christi und Antichristi (Passional of Christ and Antichrist), with text by Philip Melanchthon and others, Wittenberg, 1521.

Suggested time: 13 minutes

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Part (a)

1 point

Describe the argument the woodcuts make about the papacy.

0 / 2,500 characters

Part (b)

1 point

Explain how ONE technological development helped sources like this one spread Protestant ideas in the period 1450–1600.

0 / 2,500 characters

Part (c)

1 point

Explain ONE way the Catholic Church responded to criticisms like those in the woodcuts in the period 1520–1600.

0 / 2,500 characters

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