Postclassical Europe: The Emergence of Christendom

John Ermer

World History AP

Miami Beach Senior High School

Recovering After Rome’s FallChristianity 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

Europe After the Fall of Rome:

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

Justinian’s Roman Empire

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)

The Hagia Sophia

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 Kievan Rus to Orthodox Christianity Vladimir of Kiev converts to Orthodox Christianity to unit people and expand trade Moscow later known as “third Rome”

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

Charlemagne’s Carolingian Empire

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

Feudalism

The Manor System

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.

Invasions of Europe

Europe, A.D. 1160

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

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)

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

Thomas Aquinas’ Five Proofs of God

Reason Reasoning Conclusion

Motion: All things must be set into motion, by another moving object

There must have been something that moved

first, on its own, setting all else into motion

God is the first mover

Cause & Effect: For something to happen, or

exist, something else must cause it to do so

There must have been one thing that existed before a

cause

God is the first cause, everything else is the

effect

Transition: All things are in transition between

existing and not

there must have been something that always

existed, since there cannot be a time where nothing

existed

God is that which always existed

Degree: All things are degrees of the perfect form (Plutonic Forms-Allegory of the Cave)

For goodness to exist, there must be a perfect, complete goodness, from which all other goodness

comes

God is the complete goodness

Design: The world is too perfectly ordered, for it to

have come from chaos without a plan

There must have been a designer for the world, and all the things in it

God is the ultimate designer