Postclassical Europe: The Emergence of Christendom

1. Postclassical Europe: The Emergence of Christendom John Ermer World History AP Miami Beach Senior High School

2. Recovering After Rome’s Fall • Christianity provides cultural unity in diverse Western European kingdoms • Western Europe dominated by many post-Roman, Germanic kingdoms • Elites maintain ties to Classical World by speaking Latin and spreading Christianity • Western Church, and the Bishop of Rome (Pope), free from political control • Western Europe is mostly rural, lacking in trade, economically poor • Byzantine Empire in the east, also Christian, keeps Roman traditions alive • Eastern Church tightly controlled by Byzantine emperors • Byzantine Empire richer, more urban than the west

3. Europe After the Fall of Rome:

4. Eastern Christendom • 330 CE: Constantine builds a new Roman capital—Constantinople—on site of ancient Greek colony of Byzantium • Constantinople well defended, heavily walled • Eastern half of empire wealthier, more urban; 476 CE Rome collapses • Eastern empire survives for another thousand years • Constantinople=Nova Roma (“New Rome”), seeks to preserve old Roman heritage • “Germanic influence” (boots, trousers, long hair) is forbidden by Byzantine emperors • Emperor Justinian (527-565) attempts to reestablish old Roman Empire • Byzantine government highly centralized • Emperors called “peer of the Apostles”=God’s representative on Earth • Bureaucrats and aristocrats trained in Greek rhetoric • Western Europeans, Arabs, and Turks chip away at the empire • 1453: Constantinople falls to the Ottoman Empire, Byzantine Empire collapses

5. Justinian’s Roman Empire

6. Byzantine Church & State • Caesaropapism: Emperor is head of state and church (“caesar” & pope) • Appointed a patriarch to lead the Christian church based in Constantinople • Emperors made decisions about Christian doctrine, saw church as gov’t office • Emperors build many churches around Constantinople and empire • Justinian’s Haiga Sophia church, churches filled with icons • Christianity becomes identity of the empire, engages public • Small differences between the Latin Church in the West and the Greek Church of Byzantium begin to widen • Both the Pope in Rome and the Patriarch in Constantinople claim authority • 1054: Pope and Patriarch excommunicate each other • After 1054, two Christian churches exist • Eastern Orthodox Church, ruled by the patriarch of Constantinople • Roman Catholic Church, ruled by the Bishop of Rome (pope)

7. The Hagia Sophia

8. Byzantium & The World • Following the fall of Rome, Byzantium continues the struggle against Persia • Constant war weakens both, allows for Arabs to take vast territory • Byzantine military uses “Greek fire” and Roman tactics to control smaller borders • Byzantines benefit from position between European and Asia trade routes • Takes over the silk trade and production for the Mediterranean region • Coins widely used, become status symbol in poorer western European kingdoms • Preserved the knowledge of the Greeks, Christianized Slavic peoples • Cyril and Methodius invent new alphabet to translate Bible to Slavic languages • 988: Byzantines convert people of KievanRus to Orthodox Christianity • Vladimir of Kiev converts to Orthodox Christianity to unit people and expand trade • Moscow later known as “third Rome”

9. Rebuilding Western Europe • Western Europe far removed from world’s main trading routes • Main centers of population separated by geography, cultures diverge • In time before and after the Fall of Rome, Roman society in decline • Disease, warfare, violence, hunger, rural population on the rise • Agricultural production, urban population, literacy, trade on the decline • Germanic peoples rise as the dominant peoples of Western Europe • Roman citizens (who referred to Germanics as barbarians) now marginalized • Roman objects and institutions retained high prestige among Germanics • Some Germanic kings wish to restore “Roman Empire” on German terms • Charlemagne, of the Carolingian Empire crowned “Holy Emperor of the Romans” • Otto I of Saxony crowned emperor, renames kingdom Holy Roman Empire

10. Charlemagne’s Carolingian Empire

11. Western Christendom • Rise of Feudalism as result of war and instability after Fall of Rome • Highly fragmented and decentralized society ruled by landowning, warrior elites • Roman style slavery gives way to new system of serfdom • Fiefdoms • Vernacular languages replace Latin • Centralized and Hierarchical Roman Catholic Church fills many voids • Education, Welfare, Administrative and Political functions in some areas • Organized around Pope, bishops, priests—retains Latin as official language • Monasteries • Power brings wealth, and sometimes corruption to the Church • Germanic spirituality blended with Christian theology • Church authorities vs. Secular authorities • Investiture of Bishops, Investiture Controversy

12. Feudalism

13. The Manor System

14. The High Middle Ages (1000-1300) • Germanic migrations & invasions by outsiders = much change • Muslims, Magyars, and Vikings invade from three different sides • By 1000, invasions end and invaders absorbed into European society • Climate change and human engineering = better agriculture, more cities • Trade begins to increase, Italians begin to trade outside Western Europe • Urbanization=merchants, artisans, bankers, universities • Guilds, apprentices • Agricultural technology increases productivity • Water and animal powered grain mills, larger looms • Women’s rights limited, some professional rights, educated at convents • Territorial states with common cultures expand, but decentralized • Great Lords sometimes recognized as kings, but power limited by feudalism • Italian city-states retain independence (Venice, Milan, Genoa, Bologna) • German principalities remain independent, loosely bound by Holy Roman Emp.

15. Invasions of Europe

16. Europe, A.D. 1160

17. The Crusades • 1095: Constantinople is under attack by Turkish Muslims • Emperor Alexius I asks Pope Urban II for help • Pope decides to order Christian soldiers to free Jerusalem from the “infidels” • 1095-1291: Western European Christians rule four Crusader kingdoms • High organization, finance, transport, and recruitment despite decentralization • Crusader cruelty = distrust between Muslim Middle East & Christianity • Sacking of Constantinople (1204-1261) • Effects of the Crusades • Transfer of knowledge, technologies, agriculture from Middle East to Europe • Reintroduction of classical Greek thought/philosophy • Jews also targeted across Europe as infidels • Noblemen sell their land and free serfs before leaving to fight, as lords lose power, kings take more power creating centralized states • Increased trade with the East expands wealth of kingdoms, Italian city-states • Portugal, Spain, England, France emerge as powerful kingdoms by 1400

19. The Middle Ages In Perspective • The Middle Ages = European Dark Age • Politically weaker, less commercialized, technologically inferior to rest of world • China, India, Muslim World, Byzantium all more successful civilizations in Middle Ages • Europeans willing to borrow from others, especially China and Arabs • Marco Polo’s voyage to China; compass, paper, gunpowder, sternpost rudder • Technological Advancements • Northern European heave plow (wheeled and made of iron) • Windmills • Geared mechanisms • Cannons • Political fragmentation = militarism, frequent war, gunpowder revolution • Common language (Latin, later French) facilitate communication • Political independence of merchant class helps business • Parliaments democratize government function • First Estate (Clergy), Second Estate (Nobility), Third Estate (Urban Merchants)

20. Faith & Reason In Western Europe • Tension between human reason and faith • Christianity emerged in world suffused with Greek rationalism, later forgotten • Universities and political independence increases need for reason • Legal systems provide independence • Rise of “Natural Philosophy”, reintroduction of Greek thought • Scholasticism • Melding of Aristotlean philosophy and Christian theology • Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologica and the Five Proofs of God • Separation of church and state in Western Europe = more scientific study • Byzantium and Islamic world seem much less scientific inquiry • Emphasis on history, literature, art, and philosophy rather than science

21. Thomas Aquinas’ Five Proofs of God