History & Myths · European history
European History Trivia Quiz
Rome To Brussels Europe's biggest stories in one quick tour: Caesars, Vikings, Tudors, Napoleon and the Berlin Wall, plus the history behind Gladiator and Bridgerton.
175 questions · 2 to 12 players, or solo · Typed answers, close enough counts
About this quiz
This European History Trivia Quiz has 175 questions: 62 easy, 70 medium and 43 hard. It is free. Play it with friends in a room for 2 to 12 players, on phones or in a browser, or play it solo. Type your answers: close enough counts, so a small typo still scores.
Sample questions
20 of the 175 European history questions in this pack. Think of your answer, then open it.
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Istanbul was once named after which Roman emperor, the first to become a Christian, who made it his new capital in 330?
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Constantine
His city stayed the capital of the eastern Roman Empire for over 1,000 years, until the Ottomans took it in 1453.
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Bram Stoker named his vampire after a real 15th-century prince of Wallachia, whose father was nicknamed "the Dragon". What was the prince's first name?
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Vlad
Stoker read the name in an old history book and liked that it could also mean "devil"; he never visited Romania.
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Since 1506 the pope has been guarded by soldiers from which country, still in striped red, blue and yellow Renaissance uniforms?
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Switzerland
Pope Julius II hired them, and new recruits still swear their oath every 6 May, the date of their famous stand in the 1527 Sack of Rome.
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Which 16th-century French seer's 942 vague four-line verses are still claimed to predict everything from the Great Fire of London to Hitler?
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Nostradamus
Queen Catherine de' Medici became his fan, and his book has hardly been out of print since 1555.
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Which Leonardo drawing of a man with outstretched arms inside a circle and a square appears on Italy's 1-euro coin?
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Vitruvian Man
Italians picked their coin designs in a TV phone vote; the 10-cent coin shows Botticelli's Birth of Venus.
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In 1515 Albrecht Dürer made a famous woodcut of an exotic animal he never saw, giving it armour plates and an extra horn. Which animal?
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Rhinoceros
The real one reached Lisbon from India, the first seen in Europe since Roman times, then drowned in a shipwreck on its way to the pope.
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Brunelleschi's huge dome, finished in 1436 and still the biggest dome ever built from brick and stone, crowns the cathedral of which Italian city?
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Florence
It was the first eight-sided dome built without a wooden frame to hold it up while it rose.
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Michelangelo insisted he was a sculptor, not a painter, yet spent four years painting which famous ceiling for the pope?
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Sistine Chapel
He even suggested his young rival Raphael do it instead; the pope said no.
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Which Ninja Turtle is named after the painter of The School of Athens, a giant fresco in the Vatican?
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Raphael
The turtles' creators almost gave them Japanese names, then picked four Italian Renaissance artists instead.
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England's hero sailor was "El Draque", the dragon, to the Spanish, whose treasure ships he raided. Who was he?
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Francis Drake
He sailed around the world in the Golden Hind between 1577 and 1580, and the queen knighted him on board.
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In 1911 a Louvre handyman walked out with the Mona Lisa hidden under his clothes. Which country was he from?
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Italy
He kept it in his Paris flat for over two years, and was caught in Florence trying to sell it in 1913.
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Gladiator's wise old emperor really kept a private diary of life advice, now a bestseller with Gen Z "stoics". What is it called?
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Meditations
He wrote it in Greek for himself, probably in army camps by the Danube, and never meant it to be published.
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The EU's student exchange programme, launched in 1987, is named after which Dutch Renaissance scholar?
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Erasmus
Since 1987, more than 16 million people have taken part in it.
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To fix the calendar in October 1582, Catholic countries went straight from Thursday the 4th to Friday the 15th. How many days vanished?
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Ten
Britain held out until 1752, when it had to skip 11 days; much of the world now uses the pope's new calendar.
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Galileo found four moons circling Jupiter in 1610. Which powerful Florentine family did he name them after, to win a job?
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Medici
He called them the "Medicean Stars" for his old pupil Cosimo II, and soon got the post of court scientist in Florence.
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In 1613 a stage cannon set fire to the thatched roof of which Southwark theatre during a play about Henry VIII?
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The Globe
No one was hurt except one man, whose burning trousers were put out with a bottle of ale.
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Which Roman emperor supposedly gave his racehorse Incitatus an ivory manger and purple blankets, and planned to make it a consul?
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Caligula
Ancient writers never say it happened; historians think it was a joke to mock how useless the senators were.
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The Bayeux Tapestry shows a crowd pointing at a bright light in the sky in 1066, taken as a sign of doom for King Harold. What was it?
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Halley's Comet
Its caption reads "these men marvel at the star"; months later Harold lost his crown at Hastings.
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Asterix's village holds out against Julius Caesar, but the real Gaulish chief who led the big revolt surrendered to Caesar at Alesia in 52 BC. Name him.
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Vercingetorix
He was kept prisoner in Rome for about six years and paraded in Caesar's triumph.
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Alfred the Great, hero of The Last Kingdom, hid from the Vikings in a peasant's cottage. In a famous legend, what did he burn?
Show answer
Cakes
The woman scolded him, not knowing he was the king; the story was written down long after his time.
How to play with friends
- Start a room. Open this quiz in Braggit, already picked for you. It plays in any browser or the app.
- Invite your friends. Share the room code or link. Friends join from their own phones, in the same room or over a video call.
- Type, wager, brag. Everyone types an answer before the timer runs out. Wager points when you are sure, then share your brag card.
Questions about this quiz
How many questions are in the European History Trivia Quiz?
175. Each game plays a round of them, so you can come back for more.
Can I play the European History Trivia Quiz with friends online?
Yes. Start a room with this quiz, share the room code or link, and 2 to 12 players join from the Braggit app or any browser. You can also play it solo.
Is the European History Trivia Quiz free?
Yes. Play it free in your browser or in the Braggit app.
Do I have to spell the answers exactly?
No. You type your answers, and Braggit accepts close spellings, so a small typo still scores.
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