Download A. Byzantine Empire

The Middle Ages
(500-1500 AD)
I. Successors to Rome:
“Shadows of the Empire”
The Eastern Empire
 As Western Europe
succumbed to the
Germanic invasions,
imperial power
shifted to the
Byzantine Empire
(the eastern part of
the Roman Empire).
A. Byzantine Empire
 Greatest Emperor:
Justinian (527-565 AD)
 Handed classical
learning and science
back to the west
--Justinian’s Code of
Laws (533)
 Rebuilding program in
Constantinople
 The Hagia Sophia (537)
( Church later turned into a
Mosque.)
A. Byzantine Empire
(cont)
 Justinian’s wife
Theodora—life and
influence
 Women’s rights
A. Byzantine Empire
(cont)
-- “Greek fire”
--Ottoman Turks capture
Constantinople (1453)
 Tension between the
eastern and western
churches over icons
The Imperial Goal: Unity
 The imperial goal
in the East was to
centralize
government and
impose legal and
doctrinal
conformity.
One God
One Empire
One Religion
1st Method: Law
 Justinian collated and
revised Roman law. His
Corpus Juris Civilis (body
of civil law) had little effect
on medieval common law.
However, beginning with
the Renaissance, it
provided the foundation
for most European law
down to the 19th century.
2nd Method: Religion
 Religion as well as
law served imperial
centralization. In
380, Christianity had
been proclaimed the
official religion of the
eastern empire. Now
all other religions
were considered
“demented and
insane.”
Increase in Church
Wealth
 Between the 4th and
6th centuries, the
patriarchs of
Constantinople,
Alexandria, Antioch,
and Jerusalem
acquired enormous
wealth in the form of
land and gold.
Increase in Clergy
 The prestige and
comfort that the
clergy enjoyed
swelled the ranks
of the clergy in
the Eastern
Church.
Independent Thinking
 Ideas thought to be heresies by the
Roman Catholic Church received imperial
support:
 Arianism denied that Father and
Son were equal and coeternal.
 Monophysitism taught that Jesus
had only one nature, a composite
divine-human one.
 Iconoclasm forbid the use of
images (icons) because it led to
idolatry.
3rd Method: Strong Cities
 During Justinian’s
reign, the empire’s
strength was its
more than 1,500
cities. The largest
with 350,000
inhabitants, was
Constantinople, the
cultural crossroads
of Asian and
European
civilizations.
Don’t Write
 "Not since the world was
made was there . . . so much
wealth as was found in
Constantinople. For the
Greeks say that two-thirds of
the wealth of this world is in
Constantinople and the other
third scattered throughout the
world."
 --Robert of Clari, a French crusader who
witnessed the pillage of the city in 1204,
describing Constantinople.
Loyal Governors and
Bishops
 Between the 4th and
5th centuries,
councils were made
up of local wealthy
landowners, who
were not necessarily
loyal to the emperor.
By the 6th century,
special governors
and bishops
replaced the
councils and proved
to be more loyal to
the emperor.
Extensive Building Plans
Justinian was an ambitious builder. His greatest monument
was the magnificent domed church of Hagia Sophia (Holy
Wisdom), which was constructed in just five years (53237).
B. Islam and the Islamic
World
 The life of Muhammad
(570-632 AD)—founded
Islam
 The Qua’ran (Koran)—
Muslim’s holy book
 Allah—Muslim name for
God
 The notion of “jihad”religious duty/struggle.
B. Islam and the Islamic
five pillars of
World (cont)  The
Islam
 Black Stone located
in the Kaaba in
Mecca, Saudi Arabia
B. Islam and the Islamic
World (cont)
 Successors to
Muhammad
--Shi’ites vs. Sunnies
 Muslim intellectual and
scientific achievements
--ALGEBRA
--the number “0”
--calligraphy
Middle Ages 500-1500 AD
Medieval
 Missionaries helped spread Christianity
into northern Europe
 St. Patrick—monk who helped convert
Ireland to Christianity
 Monks—religious men who lived apart
from society in isolated communities
 Monasteries—communities of monks
(strictly organized)
 Gave aid, ran schools, copied books
(3) The Carolingian
Dynasty and Charlemagne
 Franks conquered Gaul
(France)480s-Clovis
 Pepin the Short, the first
Carolingian king (751)
 Pepin’s son, Charles the
Great, or Charlemagne
(768-814) helped the
Franks reach their
greatest power
 Charlemagne was a
brilliant warrior and a
strong king
(3) Charlemagne (cont)
 Crowned Holy
Roman Emperor
(Christmas Day, 800)
 This symbolized a
return to the
greatness of the
Roman Empire
 Built schools,
brought in great
scholars
 Charlemagne’s
palace city of Aachen
Origins of Feudalism
•Feudalism originated partly as result of
Viking, Magyar (Hungry), Muslim
invasions
Kings unable to defend their lands, gave
land to their nobles
Nobles had to find way to defend own
lands
Built castles, often on hills
Not elaborate structures; built of wood,
used as place of shelter in case of
attack
Knights (soldiers on horseback) were
usually paid for their services with land.
Land given to a knight for service was
called a fief .
Knight accepting fief, promising to
provide loyalty and support to the lord,
was called a vassal.
Person from whom he accepted fief (land)
was his lord.
Lords were also vassals to the king.
Historians call system of exchanging land
for service the feudal system, or
feudalism .
William the Conqueror
 William, the Duke of Normandy, decided
to conquer England in 1066. He and his
knights sailed into England and defeated
the king near the town of Hasting. To
reward his knights, he gave them large
estates of land. This was the beginning of
feudalism in England.
What is a Knight?
 Almost all nobles (barons) were knights
 Training began at age 7, as a page,
under the guidance of the lady of the
manor
 Became squires at age 15 and were
trained by other knights
 Those deemed worthy were “dubbed”
knights
 Knights lived by strict codes of honor
called chivalry
Workers on the Manor
 There were two groups of peasant
workers on the manor
 Peasants (Freemen)- skilled workers
who paid rent and could leave the manor
whenever they wished. (They usually
had a skill needed by others on the
manor.)
 Serfs – workers bound to the land by
contract with the nobles. (They had no
freedom - they were the noble’s property
but not actually slaves.)
Feudal Contract
LORDS
GIVE
SERVICE
TO
GIVE
PROTECTION TO
VASSALS
Daily Life in the Middle
Ages
 The Castle—surrounded by a large
estate called a manor
• Life in Middle Ages not easy, did not have
comforts we have today
• Early castles built for defense not comfort
• Few windows, stuffy in summer, cold in
winter, dark always
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 Bedrooms
• In early castles, noble family bedrooms
separated from main area by sheets
• Later castles had separate bedrooms;
latrines near bedrooms (no indoor
plumbing)
• Wooden bathtub outside in warm weather,
inside near fireplace in winter
Don’t Write
 Despite discomforts, life in a castle was
preferable to life in a village. The typical
village family lived in a small wooden oneroom house. The roof was made of straw,
the floor of dirt, and the furniture of rough
wood. Open holes in the walls served as
windows.
 The family rose before dawn. Men went to
work in the fields; women did chores.
During harvest, the entire family worked in
the field all day.
• Most families slept on beds of straw on floor
• All shared one room with each other,
animals
• Most glad to have animals to provide extra
heat in cold winters =smallpox?
• Peasant families cooked meals over open
fire in middle of floor
• Typical meal: brown bread, cheese,
vegetables, occasionally meat
• No chimneys, house often full of smoke;
fires common