Transcript The Early Middle Ages

The Early Middle Ages
(ca. 600-900)
The Early Middle Ages

“Middle Ages”
 Any
other titles used for this period?
 What images come to your mind?
 What have we been led to think about this
period?
The Early Middle Ages

The Middle Ages
 1,000-year
era following “fall of Rome”
 Originally a negative term
 “Middle”

Ages
Negative traits
 Recent
scholarship
 Middle
Ages was time of greatness, innovation
 “Middle Ages” here to stay
The Rise of Islam

The Arabian Peninsula


Desert
Home of Arabs
 Loyal to tribes
 No centralized authority
 Pastoral nomads
The Rise of Islam

Arabian Religion


Animistic, pagan
Mecca
 Commercial center of
Arabia
 Religious center
 Ka’ba


The Ka’ba
Pilgrimage site
Brought money to city
The Rise of Islam

Muhammad (570-632)




Born in Mecca
Involved in Meccan caravan trade
Spiritual man
Prophet of Islam



Angel Gabriel  worship God alone (ca. 610)
Continued revelations
Must preach to others
The Rise of Islam

Islam on the Rise

Preached in Mecca



Gained converts 
UMMAH
Overall response was
negative
Flight of Muhammad



Invited to Medina
Hijrah (622)
Gained power base,
subdued enemies
The Rise of Islam

Islam on the Rise:
Return to Mecca
 Ummah wanted to see
city converted
 March on Mecca (630)




March on Mecca
Muhammad, 10,000 men
Offer made to city,
accepted by religious
leaders
Muhammad entered city
Cleansed Ka’ba
The Rise of Islam

Questions?
The Rise of Islam

Islam


“Submission to God”
Five Pillars of Islam






“There is no God but Allah
and Muhammad is His
Prophet”
Pray 5 times daily toward
Mecca
Ramadan
Almsgiving
Pilgrimage to Mecca
MOSQUE
Dome of the Rock (687-692), Jerusalem
The Rise of Islam

The Quran


Muhammad’s revelations
Teachings
 Absolute monotheism
 “People of the Book”
 Jesus was an apostle,
prophet of God



“God forbid that he should
have a son!” (4:171)
Judgment on Last Day
Make war on infidels

Jihad
The Rise of Islam
Islamic Conquests (622-733)
The Rise of Islam

Why the Successful
Conquest?



Arabs were fighters!
Exhausted opponents
Toleration of other
monotheists



No forced conversions
Relied on other
monotheists’ leaders
Non-Muslims not equal to
Muslims
The Rise of Islam

The Caliphs



Muhammad died 632
Successor?
THE CALIPHATE



Caliphs: successors of Muhammad
First were early converts, from inner circle of Prophet
Office was political, religious
The Rise of Islam
The Rise of Islam

The Culture of the Islamic World



The “great” civilization of the time
Science, mathematics
Literature, books, libraries
The Rise of Islam

Status of Women


Khadijah
Women in the Quran
 Men may have up to
four wives
 Wives to be treated
equally
 Some inheritance rights
granted
Khadijah was first
convert
The Rise of Islam

Questions?
The Byzantine Empire

The Byzantine Empire




Remnants of Eastern
Roman Empire
Constantinople survived
Strong army, navy
“GREEK FIRE”
 Weapon at sea
 Combustible!
The Byzantine Empire
Greek Fire
The Byzantine Empire

The Iconoclastic
Controversy




Emperors ordered
destruction of icons (726)
Controversy: iconoclasts
vs. iconodules
Iconoclasm first
condemned at Nicaea II
(787)
Iconoclasm resurged,
condemned for good 843
Virgin and Child between
Sts. Theodore and George,
6th or early 7th cent.
The Byzantine Empire

Questions?
The Rise of the West

The West during the Early Middle Ages



Italy, British Isles, Spain, Kingdom of the Franks
Traits of West
 Impoverished
 Fragmented
 Roman cities were shadows of antiquity
 Disintegrated infrastructure
Historical surprise: West came to dominate the
world!
The Rise of the West

Kingdom of the Franks




Dominant in Western
Europe
Unified by 700
Catholic
Ruled by Merovingians
The Rise of the West

The Carolingians


Battle of Poitiers

CHARLES MARTEL
(d. 741)
 Halted Muslim advance
at Battle of Poitiers
(732-33)
Family deposed last
Merovingian king
Allied with papacy
The Rise of the West

Charlemagne
(r. 768-814)



Devoutly Christian
Promoted education
His government
 Ruled “by God’s will”
 Local rule: counts
 Missi dominici
The Rise of the West

Emperor Charlemagne


Pope faced hostility in
Rome  Charlemagne
To Rome




Pope returned with
Frankish escort
Charlemagne arrived soon
after
Crowned augustus
Christmas Day, 800
Emperor Charlemagne
and “new” Roman
Empire?
The Rise of the West
The Rise of the West

The Disintegration of
the Carolingian Empire



Empire divided in three
Centralized government
vanished
Foreign invasion,
fragmentation 
collapse
The Rise of the West

Questions?
The Early Middle Ages

How was this world different from the
ancient world?
 Politically?
 Religiously?
 Culturally?