Download The Middle Ages

THE MIDDLE AGES
TRANSITION FROM ROMAN EMPIRE
• The Byzantine Empire
• Eastern half of the Roman Empire (while the
West slowly crumbled, the East survived
• Tightly centralized rule and smaller Empire
made it easier to maintain
• Combined Church and State (religious leader
was the Emperor)
• Tensions between East and West
• Constantinople (Eastern capital)- Greek,
combination of Church and State, believed
Father and Son were separate and unequal in
power
• Rome (Western capital)- Latin, separation of
Church and State, Father and Son were equal
and coeternal
TRANSITION FROM ROMAN EMPIRE
• Tensions resulted in Schism of 1054
• Religious leaders attempted to excommunicate each
other
• Founding of the Roman Catholic Church and Orthodox
Church
• Roman Catholic Church was the main church in Western
Europe during the Middle Ages
• Church officials had authority over secular officials
• Religious officials such as Bishops and Archbishops sat
on the King’s Council
• Byzantine Empire faced the threat of the growing Islamic
State
• Competition for land and converts in the Middle East
• Drawn into the Crusades (in-between the two warring
groups inevitably got them involved)
FEUDALISM
• Combination social structure and economic
arrangement
• King and Queen
• Ruled over all the land except for the Church
• Nobles/Lords
• Paid taxes to royals for favors and positions at
court
• Power over local villages
• Knights and Vassals
• Served nobles in exchange for land
• Serfs
• Commoners
• Did not own the land they worked on
• Manor System was made up of Lords, Vassals, and Serfs
• Each provided a service for the others
• Largely self-sufficient
RISE OF ISLAM
• Muhammad- considered to be a great prophet and founder
of Islam
• The archangel Gabriel spoke to Muhammad who shared
teaching from God/Allah
• These teachings were written down and are now known
as the Qur’an
• 5 Pillars of Islam- 5 acts that all Muslims should do as a
commitment to their faith
• Testimony
• Prayer
• Alms-giving
• Fasting
• Pilgrimage
• Misconceptions•
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Females have rights according to the Qur’an
The Qur’an condones slavery
There is no mention of 72 virgins in the Qur’an
ISIS members are not Muslim
THE CRUSADES
• Pope Urban II called on the Christian nations of
Western Europe to fight the Muslims and take back
the Holy Land
• Holy Land = Jerusalem
• Known as the First Crusade
• Muslims vowed to take back their land which led to
numerous wars
• Crusades refers to a series of 9 different wars
fought between the Christians and Muslims
• The Byzantine Empire eventually allied itself
with the Europeans
• Promised to share conquered land and
technology
• Europeans never made good on their promises
• Crusades slowly died out as Papal authority in the
Church began to decline (we will see that at the end
of this unit and throughout the next
CHARACTERISTICS OF MEDIEVAL LITERATURE
• Romance
• Tells of exploits of knights
• Often a super natural element involved
• Heroism
• Beowulf
• Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
• Moral lesson
• Loyalty to king
• Chivalry
• Sacrifice
• Christian message
• Concern with salvation
• Interest in spiritual change