ANGLO-SAXONS Roman civilization can to an end in Britain with the invasions of the Angles, Saxons,...
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Transcript of ANGLO-SAXONS Roman civilization can to an end in Britain with the invasions of the Angles, Saxons,...
ANGLO-SAXONS• Roman civilization can to an end in
Britain with the invasions of the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes– Known together as the the Anglo-
Saxons– Between 450 and 650 AD, they sailed
up rivers, cleared forests, settled on land, built villages and made native Celts their slaves
– Independent Celtic kingdoms survived in the west
• Ireland, Wales, and western Scotland
• But roots of English civilization lay in the laws, customs, language, and institutions of Anglo-Saxons
TAKEOVER• Anglo-Saxons took over Britain
over an extended period of time– Small bands grabbing up
pieces of the island• By 450 AD, Romans had
completely abandoned Britain and native Celts had been enslaved by the invaders– Angles took over northern
England– Saxons took over the south– Jutes took Isle of Wight and
regions of Kent and Hampshire
BEOWULF• Values of Anglo-Saxon
warriors best described in Beowulf– Old English epic poem– Product of Germanic
oral tradition• Beowulf consists of three
episodes– Beowulf’s battle with
the monster Grendel– The slaying of
Grendel’s mother– Beowulf’s attempt to
kill a fire-breathing dragon
Beowulf and Grendel
ANGLO-SAXON VALUES• Strongest bond among Anglo-Saxon warriors
was between man and his lord– This was a society in which every chief and
every king was surrounded by a company of warriors
• Later called thegns– Thengs owed loyal service to their chief
and, in return, he rewarded them with treasure, arms, gold, and land
• Survival of a kingdom depended on the ability of the king to win battles and thereby gain the treasure and land to provide booty for his men
• Greatest virtues in Anglo-Saxon society were courage, honor, endurance, generosity, battlefield prowess, and the ability to drink a lot
Beowulf
Seven Anglo-Saxon
kingdoms occupied Britain by
650 AD
Northumbria
Deira (Kent)
Mercia
East Anglia
Essex
Wessex
Sussex
What would happen
between 650 and 800 AD is
that these seven
kingdoms would be
unified into a single
kingdom known as Anglaland (England)
ST. PATRICK• Conversion of Ireland to Christianity
was, according to legend, the work of St. Patrick– Lived 390-461 AD– Born in England– Captured by Irish pirates as
young man and spent several years in Ireland as a slave
– Escaped to Gaul where he spent the next 20 years studying in monasteries
– Returned to Ireland in 432 and spent the rest of life preaching and teaching there
• Mass conversion of Irish people probably mostly due to his efforts
IRISH CHURCH ORGANIZATION• Irish Christianity developed differently
than it did in the former Roman Empire• Biggest difference was in organization
and administration– Church in old Roman Empire was
divided into districts, each headed by a bishop who made headquarters in an old Roman city
• Monasteries were basic units of church organization in Ireland
– Each clan had its own monastery, ruled by an abbott who was from local chieftain’s family
– Bishops were little more than figureheads
IRISH MONASTERIES
• Irish monasteries were just a cluster of thatched huts surrounding a small church– Guarded by a wooden stockade– Monks spent most of their day in absolute silence
• Underwent frequent fasts• Prayed for hours while immersed in cold water• Tried to lived absolute perfect lives and were obsessed with finding any flaws in
their daily behavior– Led to frequent confessions
CLASSICAL EDUCATION• Irish monks dedicated to learning
– Came from belief that a person could become a perfect Christian only by meditating on the Bible and the writings of the Church Fathers
• Problem was that the Bible was in Latin and the Church Fathers wrote in Greek
– Irish monks therefore studied ancient grammar books and learned these languages in their pure classical form
– Pure classical Latin therefore survived best in the remote island of Ireland, a place that had never been part of the Roman Empire
IRISH MISSIONARIES• Initial reason for the spread of Irish influence
beyond Ireland was the tendency of Irish monks to go into voluntary exile– In 563, St. Columba established monastery
on island of Iona, off the coast of Scotland– St. Columbanus established Irish-style
monasteries in Burgundy and Italy• Irish monasteries in Europe helped to convert
rural peasants to Christianity– Irish monks were rural themselves and knew
how to preach to peasants– Their work led to the mass conversion of the
rural population of Western Europe– Irish missionaries also began to assimilate
Germany into the religious culture of Western Europe
CLEVER TACTICS
• Irish missionaries often assimilated many more-or-less harmless pagan practices into Christianity– Figuring that peasants might be more inclined to accept
Christianity if it contained elements that were part of old traditional popular culture
– Thus old pagan holidays continued to be celebrated under new, Christian names and for Christian purposes
• Christmas, Easter, and All Saints Day were all celebrated at the same time as old pagan holidays
• Carnival still retains strong pagan flavor– Places that had been sacred in pagan religions became
sacred Christian places• Located churches on the sites of old pagan temples
PANTHEON OF SAINTS
• Rural people used to worshipping lots of gods, each with a special function– Saints made good transitional
medium for them• Although not gods, each
had a unique function• People could pray to a saint
for a special problems• Saint could not do anything
on his or her own but could intercede with God on the prayer’s behalf
St Luke
St Christopher
ENGLISH MISSIONARIES
• Irish missionaries also helped to convert Anglo-Saxons of England– Was not easy but by 670 or so all of
England had converted to Christianity• By early 700s, English began to replace
Irish missionaries in still pagan parts of Europe– Most famous was St. Boniface– Zealous, great organizers, and always
worked in close cooperation with Rome
• Strengthened papal control in Europe
St Boniface
VISIGOTHIC SPAIN• 200,000 Visigoths migrated into
Spain in the 400s AD from southwestern France– Established themselves as
overlords of Hispano-Roman population by 497
– Forced native landowners to give 2/3s of their land to them (but did not take everything)
• By the reign of King Leovigild, the Visigoths controlled all of Spain and had made city of Toledo their capital– 568-586
RELIGION
• Visigoths were never assimilated by native population of Spain– Because they were Arian
Christians while Hispano-Romans were mainstream ones
• Ultimately, King Recared converted to mainstream Christianity in 589
– Removed source of tension between Visigoths and Hispano-Romans
– Also removed prohibition against intermarriage between the two groups
King Recared
LAWS
• Visigoths at first governed themselves according to their own laws and let their subjects be governed by their older local laws– Beginning in the reign of King
Leovigild, Visigoths began to pass laws which were binding on entire population
– Collection of these new laws which combined Roman and Gothic measures was drawn up during reign of King Recceswinth (672)
• Book of Judgments• Provided common law for all
Spanish people
Crown of King Recceswinth
SUCCESSION
• Primary source of instability was principle of elective monarchy– Resulted in bloody struggles for the crown each
time a king died– Sometimes a restive noble would murder a king
• Four kings murdered between 531 and 555• Lack of stable succession resulted in ultimate
disappearance of Visigoths as a separate people– In 711, Arabs invaded Spain and took over
without serious opposition because various local Visigothic factions were feuding over succession to throne
ARABIA
• Arabia was a no-man’s land between the Byzantine and Persian empires– Arid region inhabited by
fierce nomadic tribes– No central government– Always in a state of violent
anarchy– A few isolated Christian and
Jewish enclaves in commercial cities along the Red Sea
• But dominant religion was a primitive form of pagan idol worship
MOHAMMAD
• Semi-successful merchant born in city of Mecca in 570• Experienced series of vision when he was thirty years old
– Compiled them in a book known as the Koran– Religion of Islam founded on the basis of these visions
• Mohammad’s god, Allah, was all-powerful and all-knowing– No concept of Trinity– Revealed himself to Man through a series of prophets
• Mohammad was the last prophet and the culmination of all the others• Mohammad’s revelations were the most complete and perfect of them all
PRIME DUTY
• Emphasis on all-powerful god was influenced by Jewish doctrine– Stress on immortality
after death influenced by Christianity
• Claimed that it was prime duty of human beings to carry out the will of Allah– Those who failed would
go to hell– True servants would
enter heaven• Described in great
detail in Koran
ETHICAL COMPONENT• All people equal in Allah’s eyes
– True believers should therefore treat each other with justice and mercy
– Emphasized duty to help the unfortunate, the weak, and the poor
• Had strict dietary regulations– Borrowed from Jewish practice– Could not eat pork– Banned drinking alcoholic beverages and gambling
• Required to pray five times a day• Required to fight for their faith if need be
– Jihad (holy war)• Death in jihad regarded as a sure way to get into heaven
CONTROL OF ARABIA• Originally, Mohammad’s attack on idol
worship aroused the hostility of people of Mecca– Drove him out of the city in 622
• Found refuge in Medina– Converted entire population to
Islam within a year and became religious and political leader of city
– Attacked Mecca in 630, took control of it, and converted all inhabitants to Islam
• Using Mecca and Medina as a power base, he then gradually won over all the tribes in Arabia and united them under Islam and his political authority
UMAYYAD DYNASTY• Mohammad died in 632 and did not name
successor– Followers selected Abu Bakr to lead
Islam• Old friend of Mohammad’s• Gave him title of “caliph”
– Abu Bakr and the two caliphs who followed him founded Umayyad Dynasty
• Ruled Arab world until 750• Briefly challenged by Ali, a son-in-law
of Mohammad’s– Defeated and Ali’s followers
formed a dissident Islamic sect that became the Shi’ites
Abu Bakr
Mohammad had launched several attacks on border
regions of Byzantine Empire before he died
Abu Bakr invaded and took over
Syria and Palestine in 640
Took over Egypt in 641
Conquered entire Persian Empire and ultimately pushed to the
borders of China
Arab armies then pushed west out of
Egypt and took over all of North Africa to
Morocco
Attacked Constantinople in 674 but failed to capture
city
By 700, Umayyads moved their capital to Damascus and ruled the largest empire the world had ever seen
REASONS FOR SUCCESS• Brilliant generals and soldiers were
inspired by a deep, sometimes fanatical, faith
• Also very lucky in the sense that their attacks came when both Persian and Byzantine empires had been seriously weakened by a long war against each other
• Byzantines had imposed heavy taxes on Egypt and Syria to recoup war debts– Also persecuted Jews in Syria and
Monophysites in Egypt• Alienated people of these regions
• Arabs proved to be better rulers than Byzantines– Never persecuted people because of
their religious beliefs
Invaded Spain from North Africa in 700s and took
over Visigothic Kingdom there—with new capital at
Cordoba
Pushed north into southern France in 720 with goal of
conquering entire country and then also Germany
Stopped at the Battle of Tours in 732 by Frankish army led by
Charles Martel
Northward expansion was stopped and the Arabs were
also eventually pushed out of southern France as well
Attacked Constantinople again and once again failed
First wave of Arab expansion was over and Western Europe
remained independent and Christian—as did Constantinople, Asia Minor, and Eastern
Europe
A NEW DYNASTY
• Any chance the Arabs had to renew their attacks in the near future was ruined by a series of civil wars against the Umayyad Dynasty in the late 730s– Umayyads overthrown in 750
and replaced by Abbasid Dynasty
• Moved capital to Baghdad• Unable to maintain firm
control of empire and many areas broke off and became independent Moslem states
– Such as Spain and Egypt
Abbasid palace in Baghdad
CULTURAL AND INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENTS I
• Arabic became an international language and also developed a great vernacular literature– Arabian Nights
• Arabs also assimilated the more advanced cultures of the lands they conquered– Adopted Persian and Byzantine
administrative systems– Translated Greek philosophy and
science into Arabic and then added to by Arab philosophers, theologians, and scientists
– New forms of art and architecture were developed
• Based on Persian—not Greek or Roman--models
Arabic numerals
INTELLECTUAL AND CULTURAL DEVELOPMENTS II
• Famous schools of medicine were founded, based on teachings of Hippocrates
• Arabs picked up sophisticated mathematical concepts from India and China– Such as decimal systme and use of
zero– Invented algebra
• Arab learning was later transmitted to Europe and would profoundly influence medieval thought and culture– But not until after 1000 AD because
Western scholars lacked the intellectual capacity to learn from another culture until that time
MATERIAL PROSPERITY
• Material prosperity of Arab world was at high level– Especially when compared to
Western Europe• Wealthy material base of richest
provinces of old Roman Empire were used by Arab merchants to produce a thriving economy– Great cities with magnificent
mosques, palaces, libraries, schools, hospitals, etc. were built
– At the same time a “city” in Europe was a group of wooden huts surrounded by a crude stockade