Download Western Christendom after the fall of Rome WHAP/Napp “In the

Western Christendom after the fall of Rome
WHAP/Napp
“In the early centuries of the postclassical era, history must have seemed more significant
than geography, for the Roman Empire, long a fixture of the western Mediterranean
region, had collapsed. The traditional date marking the fall of Rome is 476, when the
German general Odoacer overthrew the last Roman emperor in the West. In itself not very
important, this event has come to symbolize a major turning point in the West, for much
that characterized Roman civilization also weakened, declined, or disappeared in the
several centuries before and after 476. Any semblance of large-scale centralized rule
vanished. Disease and warfare reduced Europe’s population more than 25 percent. Land
under cultivation contracted, while forests, marshland, and wasteland expanded. Urban
life too diminished sharply, as Europe reverted to a largely rural existence. Rome at its
height was a city of 1 million people, but by the tenth century it numbered perhaps 10,000.
Public buildings crumbled from lack of care. Outside Italy, long-distance trade dried up as
Roman roads deteriorated, and money exchange gave way to barter in many places.
Literacy lost ground as well. Germanic peoples, whom the Romans had viewed as
barbarians – Goths, Visigoths, Franks, Lombards, Angles, Saxons – now emerged as the
dominant peoples of Western Europe. In the process, Europe’s center of gravity moved
away from the Mediterranean toward the north and west.
Yet much that was classical or Roman persisted, even as a new order emerged in Europe.
On the political front, a series of regional kingdoms – led by Visigoths in Spain, Franks in
France, Lombards in Italy, and Angles and Saxons in England – arose to replace Roman
authority but many of these Germanic peoples, originally organized in small kinship-based
tribes with strong warrior values, had already been substantially Romanized. Contact with
the Roman Empire in the first several centuries C.E. generated more distinct ethnic
identities among them, militarized their societies, and gave greater prominence to Woden,
their god of war. As Germanic peoples migrated into or invaded Roman lands, many were
deeply influenced by Roman culture, especially if they served in the Roman army. On the
funeral monument of one such person was the telling inscription: ‘I am Frank by
nationality, but a Roman soldier under arms.’” ~ Ways of the World
1. When scholars refer to Western Europe
as a “hybrid civilization,” they are referring
to the combination, after the collapse of the
Roman Empire, of elements of
(A) Byzantine and Slavic cultures to
produce a new civilization.
(B) Classical Roman, Germanic, and Celtic
cultures to produce a new civilization.
(C) Slavic and Germanic cultures to
produce a new civilization.
(D) Byzantine and Celtic cultures to
produce a new civilization.
2. Which of the following was NOT a factor
that left the western part of the Roman
Empire more vulnerable to collapse than the
eastern half at the end of the fourth century
C.E.?
(A) The western portion was if anything
wealthier than the eastern portion, but
squandered its resources foolishly.
(B) The western portion possessed a much
less easily defended capital.
(C) The western portion had a longer
frontier to defend than the eastern portion.
(D) The western portion possessed a weaker
army and navy.
Key Words/ I. Fiefs and Faith: Western Europe after the fall of Rome
Questions
A. A highly fragmented and decentralized society with great local variation
B. Independent, self-sufficient, and isolated landed estates or manors
1. A manor was the lord’s land; an agricultural estate
C. Lesser lords and knights swore allegiance to lords thus becoming vassals
1. Vassals received land for military service to lords (Feudalism)
D. Roman slavery gave way to serfdom
1. Serfs were not slaves but were bound to the lord’s land
E. In absence of central Roman authority, only security lay in manors
II. Roman Catholic Church
A. Hierarchical organization (pope, bishops) modeled on Roman Empire
B. Began the process of converting many of Europe’s “pagan” peoples
C. Provided unity and stability during a time of political fragmentation
D. By 1100, most of Europe had embraced Christianity
E. Church was a center of literacy, received tithes (taxes), and landowner
F. Church Controversies
1. Investiture Controversy during the eleventh and twelfth centuries
2. Church officials and kings debated who had the right to make Church
appointments but eventually Church officials were given the right
G. Pace of change in West picked up in several centuries after 1000
H. By 1000, invasions had been checked and absorbed into societies
1. Called the High Middle Ages (expansion and commerce occurred)
III. Stability and Trade
A. Urbanization proceeded as towns and cities began to attract people
B. Groups organized themselves into guilds or associations of people
pursuing the same line of work in order to regulate professions
C. For women, religious life provided opportunities [like Buddhism]
1. Catholic nuns
D. Further change: 11th – 13th century, monarchs became more powerful
IV. The Crusades
A. Beginning in 1095, the Crusades or a series of “holy wars”
B. Crusaders were offered an indulgence: removed penalties for sins
C. But by 1291, Muslim forces had recaptured all of the temporary
Christian states established in the eastern Mediterranean
1. “Successful failures”: Europeans lost permanent control of the Holy
Land but gained ideas from Islamic golden age
2. Europeans rediscovered their own classical ideas in Muslim libraries
3. But also tremendous cruelty: slaughtered Muslims and Jews
4. Crusading elsewhere too: Spanish waged war for centuries to reclaim
the Iberian Peninsula from Muslim hands (Reconquista)
5. Europeans also learned techniques for producing sugar on large
plantations using slave labor from Muslims
6. Muslim scholarship, together with the Greek learning it
incorporated, also flowed into Europe, largely through Spain
Reflections:
1. “The Crusader states were able to cling to
survival only through frequent delivery of
supplies and manpower from Europe.
[They] were defended primarily by three
semi-monastic military orders: the
Templars, the Hospitallers, and the
Teutonic Knights. Combining monasticism
and militarism, these orders served to
protect pilgrims and to wage perpetual war
against the Muslims.”
Palmira Brummett, world historian, 2007
“Whenever I visited Jerusalem, I always
entered the al-Aqsa Mosque, beside which
stood a small mosque which the Franks had
converted into a church.… [T]he Templars
… who were my friends, would evacuate the
little adjoining mosque so that I could pray
in it.”
Usamah ibn Munqidh, Muslim historian,
Jerusalem, circa 1138
The second passage does not support the
first passage because the second passage
(A) shows that an influx of manpower from
Europe was not critical for the survival of
the Crusader states
(B) shows that Muslims vastly outnumbered
Europeans in the Crusader states
(C) minimizes the importance of
Hospitallers and Teutonic Knights in the
administration of the Crusader states
(D) presents an incident in which a military
order supported a Muslim traveler
2. The political culture of post-Roman
Western Europe possessed all EXCEPT
which of the following?
(A) A church more independent from the
state than in the Byzantine Empire
(B) A more powerful and centralized
political structure than China
(C) A complete lack of politically
independent cities
(D) Political authority exercised exclusively
by the Pope
3. In Western Europe, the multicentered
political system made up of competing states
and a three-way struggle for power within
states between kings, warrior aristocrats,
and Church leaders resulted in
(A) The achievement of an unusual
independence for urban-based merchants.
(B) The Roman Catholic Church losing its
political authority as Western rulers
developed their own version of
caesaropapism.
(C) A slowing in technological development,
because of the devastation of war.
(D) All of the above.
4. A feature of the High Middle Ages in
Western Europe was
(A) Population growth.
(B) Reemergence of political unity as popes
started to take the additional title “Holy
Roman Emperor.”
(C) Considerable growth in long-distance
trade.
(D) Both a and c.
5. Which of the following was NOT a
similarity between the establishment of
Buddhism in China and Christianity in
Western Europe?
(A) Both the Buddhist and Christian
establishments built hierarchies modeled on
their respective empires.
(B) Reformers often accused both Buddhist
and Christian establishments of forgetting
their central spiritual missions.
(C) Both Buddhism and Christianity
appealed to recently settled nomadic rulers
who sought legitimacy for their rule.
(D) Both Buddhist and Christian
monasteries offered relative freedom from
male control for substantial numbers of
women.
Feudalism is a political and military system based on loyalty and exchange. Look at the
diagrams of below. Identify three characteristics of feudal, medieval Western Europe.
Three Characteristics:
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Reading: The Vikings
“From the eighth until the twelfth century, the European north Atlantic was primarily the
province of marauding sailors and raiders from the north. These Vikings were the
ancestors of today’s Norwegians, Swedes, and Danes [Scandinavians]. They were also
colonizers, fishermen, and traders. One group from Norway began to settle Iceland around
870 and Greenland about 982. Under Leif Eriksson they reached Newfoundland in North
America about 1000 and established a settlement there as well, but it did not endure.
Danes and Norwegians plundered along the entire Atlantic coast of Europe, with especially
early and devastating attacks on Lindisfarne off the northern coast of England (793),
Dorestad in Frisia (834), and Nantes in France (842), where they murdered the bishop and
all his clergy. These Vikings were also traders and colonizers who fostered urban
development and trade in the places they conquered.” ~ The World’s History
Critical Thinking Questions:
1- What characteristics did the Scandinavians share with earlier Germanic peoples?
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2- Why did Scandinavians emigrate? What skills did they possess that enabled emigration?
What was the extent of Viking travels?
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How did Vikings interact with the peoples they encountered in their travels and conquests?
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Thesis Practice:
Analyze continuities and changes in Western Europe from 400 C.E. to 1400 C.E.
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