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The Byzantine Empire and
Western Europe to 1000 AD
Honorius (r. 394-423 AD)
Honorius (r. 394-423 AD)
• A weak child emperor
• Reign torn by palace intrigues
• Franks, Visigoths, Ostrogoths, Vandals and
others invade
• 410 AD: Sack of Rome by Visigoths
– Legions Abandon Rome
Huns and Collapse
• 440s-50s: Atilla the Hun drives other tribes
into Empire
• 454 AD: Chalons-Sur-Marne: Romans ally
with Visigoths and Franks to defeat Atilla
• 455 AD: Vandals sack Rome
• Last years a string of military coups and
dictators
• 476 AD: Romulus Augustus is deposed
476 AD
The Byzantine Empire (395-1453
AD)
Early Byzantium
• Arcadius (395-408 AD): Beginning of a
return to civilian authority in East
• Rise of Byzantium
– East had more money; fewer barbarians
– Isaurians provide footmen
– Leo I (457-474): First crowned by Patriarch of
Constantinople
– Empire stabilizes
Justinian I (527-565 AD)
Justinian I (527-565 AD)
• Height of Byzantine Power
• Sought Reconquest of Western Empire
– “Africa”, Italy, Spain
– But also fought the Sassanids ans Slavs
– Imperial Overreach
• Empire of over 1500 cities
– Constantinople: 350,000
– Governors rule Imperial Cities
Europe at Death of Justinian
Justinian and the Law
• “One Empire, One God, One Religion”
• He creates the Code of Justinian, combining
ancient and modern law (“Corpus Juris
Civilis”, “Body of Civil Law”)
– Codex Justinianus, the Digesta or Pandectae,
the Institutiones, and the Novellae
– Set future of Empire and influenced many later
codes
Byzantine Caesaropapism
• Emperor controlled religious belief and
secular law
• Second Council of Constantinople (553
AD) recognizes his authority
• Protects Monks and their property
• Suppresses Heretics
– The Monophysite Heresy: Jesus is all divine;
mortal side is merely an illusion. Common in
Syria, Palestine, Egypt
Foreign Threats
• Avars, Slavs, and Bulgars in Europe (6th7th century AD)
• Heraclius (610-41)
– Reorganizes Roman Military
• Themata system: military units gain land under a
strategos in return for military service
• Allows defeat of the Sassanids
– 630 AD: Retaking of Jerusalem
Islamic Onslaught
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632 AD: Wars with Moslems begin
636 AD: Battle of Yarmuk
Palestine, Egypt, Syria lost
Leo III (717-40 AD): Regains lost ground
– Tax reform and end of serfdom
– New Laws
– Empire enters a stable state
700 AD
800 AD
The Macedonian Dynasty (9th11th centuries AD)
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Silver age of Byzantium
Cities grew; prosperity spreads
Educaiton and learning Flourishes
Empire is smaller than Justinian but better
organized and well defensible
1000 AD
Basil "the Bulgar-Slayer" II
(reigned 976–1025 AD)
Basil "the Bulgar-Slayer" II
(reigned 976–1025 AD)
• Allies to Kievan Rus; his sister marries
King of Kiev
• Russians help suppress a landowner revolt
• 6000 Russians = Varangian Guard
• Basil Attacks the Bulgars
– Battle of Kleidon (1014 AD)
– Blinds 99 of every 100 prisoners of 15,000
Manzikert (1071 AD)
• Emperor Romanos Diogenes is defeated by
Seljuq Turks
• By 1081, all of ‘Anatolia’ (Modern Turkey)
is ruled by Turks
• This leads to calling of the Crusades
1100 AD
Heresies
• Nestorians
– Jesus is two persons, one mortal and one
divine, not a unified being
– Most popular in Iraq
• Monophysites
– Christ is entirely divine; his apparent humanity
is an illusion
– Popular in Syria, Palestine, and Egypt
Icons
"Christ is the icon of the invisible God" (Col. 2:7)
Iconclasm
• Leo III (717-40 AD) banned the use of
religious images--Icons
• Struggle of the Iconoclasts (“IconBreakers”, Anti-Icon) and Iconophiles
(“Icon Lovers”, Pro-Icon) ensues
• Michael III (842-867) ends it with
Iconophile victory
• Iconoclasts believed Icons were idolatry
• Iconophiles argued they were aids to faith
Divergence from Catholicism
• Reliance on Imperial Authority and Church
Councils
• The Patriarchs are main figures
(Constantinople, Jerusalem, Antioch,
Alexandria)
• Priests, but not Bishops, could marry
• Church services in local languages
• No belief in Purgatory
1054 Schism
• Patriarch of Constantinople and Pope
excommunicate each other until 1965
– Disputes over who is the boss
– Disputes over the ‘filioque clause’--Does the
Holy Spirit derive from the Father alone
(orthodoxy) or the Father and the Son
(Catholic)
– Liturgical disputes
– Claims of Jurisdiction
Islamic Impact
• Byaznatium loses much land; culture shifts
north and west
• Europe will give Greek Ideas to Moslems,
who then work with them and pass them
back later.
– Cordoba, Spain: Where Islam, Judaism, and
Christianity Meet and Mingle
Islamic Gifts to Europe
• Europe gains
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field irrigation,
leather tanning,
silk refining,
the 'Arabic Numerals'
Greek traditions of mathematics, philosophy,
medicine, and astronomy.
Western Christianity
• Church replaces Empire
– Church is best educated and strongest unifying
force in West Europe
• Rise of Monasticism
– Emerges from Hermit Culture after Martyrdom
ends
– Basil the Great (321-379 AD) invents
Monasticism
• Monks must serve others
Benedict of Nursia (480-547 AD)
• Founds Western
Monks
• Abbot is head of
Monastery
• Simplicity, Poverty,
Hard Work, Prayer
and Study
• Self-Sufficiency
Irish Monasticism
• Finnian of Clonard
• Linked to Clans
• Abbots from Clan
Leading Family
• Studied and preserved
Latin Texts
• Missionaries to
Western Europe
• Clashed with Pope
later
Papal Primacy
• No Kings strong enough to rule Church as
Byzantines did
• Patriarch / Bishop of Rome rises to
prominence as ‘Pope’
– Pope Damasus I (366-384) claimed primacy as
heir of Saint Peter, first Bishop of Rome
– Pope Leo I (440-61) -- First Among Bishops
– Pope Gelasius I (492-6) -- Pope > King
The Merovingian Dynasty (481 751 AD)
• By 509, Clovis (481-511) rules most of
modern France
• At height, they rule Modern France,
Belgium, Netherlands, Western Germany
• Comes--Counts. Governors of provinces;
become hereditary
• Central authority declines
• Kings become puppets of their
majordomos--The Mayors of the Palace
The Carolingians
• 639: Pepin I becomes Mayor of the Palace
• Charles Martel (714-741 AD) -- Defeats
Moslems at Tours, Creates a Feudal Army
• Frankish Church and Carolingians ally
• 751: Pope approves Carolingian Coup;
Pepin III crowned King (751-768)
• 755: Conquest of Lombards; creation of
Papal States
Charlemagne (Charles the
Great, 768-814 AD)
Charlemagne (Charles the
Great, 768-814 AD)
Charlemagne (Charles the
Great, 768-814 AD)
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A Mighty Conqueror
Builds Aachen as capital on Rhine
Christmas Day, 800: “Roman Emperor”
Huge and Imposing, Friendly and Energetic
Married 5 times, Many Children
Problems of Government
• Counts / Comes still largely independent
• Missi Dominici struggled to oversee them
• Lack of Money = no independent
Bureaucracy
• Land grants for service made officials too
independent
Alcuin of York (735-804 AD)
• English Monk
• Theologian and Poet
• Director of Palace
School for
Charlemagne
The Carolingian School
• Intended to train scholars and imperial
officials
• Creators of the Carolingian Miniscule
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Basis of Modern Western Script
Rounded, uniform letters
Spaces between words and Capital letters
7000 surviving manuscripts
Made basis of modern typefaces by 15th
century printers
Medieval Economy
• The Manor--Tracts of Land with Attached
Peasants and a Lord
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Desmene--Lord’s land (25-33%)
Common Lands
Strip Fields Worked Together
Manors are payment to knights for military
service
– Peasants are ‘bound to the land’, owing
traditional services and a rent to the lord
A Manor
• 3 sets of fields; 2 in
use, one lies fallow
• Moldboard Plows now
used
• Land divided into
strips, interspersed
Religion and Clergy
• Clergy Leaders from noble class
• Average priest is poorly literate peasant who
can barely recite the liturgy
• Common folk know little theology, but
Church shapes life through rituals--Baptism,
Confirmation, Communion, Confession,
Marriage, Funerals
Collapse of the Carolingians
• Growth of power of lords; decline of Kings
• Louis the Pious (814-840): Too Many
Sons
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First Wife: Lothar, Pepin, Louis
Wife 2: Charles
After his death, everyone butchers each other
Pepin dies; Lothar, Louis, Charles each take a
chunk in Treaty of Verdun
The Divided Empire
Vikings, Magyars, and Muslims
• 9th-11th century: Vikings from the North
• 9th-10th Century: Magyars from the East
• 9th-11th Century: Moslems from Southeast
and South
• Only Decentralized forces easily respond to
block raids, so Lords grow in power; Kings
decline
Feudalism
• Responds to three problems:
– Decentralized Military Response to 9th-11th
century invasions
– Necessity to pay servants with land, which then
became hereditary
– Rise of a permanent warrior class of elites;
decline of old warbands as many could not
afford the best equipment (chainmail, warhorse,
sword and lance)
Feudal Structure
• Peasants pledged fealty to Knights and
Lords for protection, giving service in
agriculture
• Knights pledged to Lords
• Lords pledged to Kings
• Service paid at each level with land (a fief)
• Boss = Lord, Servant = Vassal
• Fief is virtually a miniature kingdom
Vassalage
• In return for land, you owe fixed military
service (traditionally 40 days)
• Large grants require you to bring multiple
knights
• Scutage--Tax paid to evade service
• Lord protects Vassal from other lords; aids
in court
• Later, Money Fiefs emerge as economy
grows
Church Lands
• Church owes service to king and lords for
land
• This poses problems about who appoints
Church leaders
• Pope vs. King struggle will ensue