Wood 6 Christian Societies in Europe and the Middle East (600-1450 CE) vocab, if used, is in quotations; all vocab is listed at the bottom Big Question: What were the PERSIAN benefits and failures of Christianity from 600-1450 CE? Chapter Thesis: Whereas Islam provided order, organization, cultural unity, and political unification, Christianity provided order, organization, and cultural unity, but not political unification. I. Western Europe: The Middle Ages / medieval times are not considered a period of After the fall of Rome civilization. o Backdrop/Context (N): Germanic tribes that had invaded Roman empire (late 400s CE) settled in kingdoms around Europe A. Early Middle Ages When Rome fell after being invaded, there was neither political, social, or military order, nor agreement among the invaders. o (R, P): The Christian church (based in Rome) did survive the fall though o (P, E, I): Christian church s framework = basis of a new political & economic order o (P): Christianity did not facilitate a centralization of govt o (I, S): Christianity served as a cultural glue that allowed pol, econ, soc l & mil organization to eventually reappear 1. Pol dev t Tribal chieftains replaced Roman governors, family ties & loyalty ties replaced rule by law. Thus there was order & organization, but no political unification. o Backdrop/Context (P, I): warriors pledged loyalty to individual chiefs who had own lands; chiefs gave warriors food, shelter, & weapons; o [Backdrop/Context (P, I): warriors tied to lords = feudalism] o Backdrop/Context (E): where did chiefs get the food? By contracting with peasants who would work the fields (chiefs became land-lords) o [Backdrop/Context (E, I): peasants tied to the lord s land = manorialism ] o Backdrop/Context (P): lords had built-in workers, and built-in protection; basic structure looked like this lords / \ warriors peasants o (P): Clovis (b. ~466, d. 511) led the Franks from 481-511 CE o FYI: founder of the Merovingians o FYI: his realm was the French/Belgian border area
o FYI: his name when Latinized was Clodovechus, which became Ludovicus, which became the French Louis o (P, I, R): Clovis briefly unified Europe by destroying whatever remained of Roman power (Rome fell in 496 CE) imposing control over the Franks attacking neighboring Germanic tribes converting to Christianity (Catholicism) to attract more supporters including that of the pope o (P): Clovis s descendants, Merovingians, lost control FYI: Charles Martel a Carolingian working for the Merovingians (b. ~688, d. 741 CE) defeated Muslims at Battle of Tours, 733 CE FYI: Martel ruled de facto from 737-741 CE FYI: Martel s sons, Carloman and Pepin the Short succeeded their father as de facto rulers from 741-743 FYI: Franks in civil war constantly, so Pope Zachary deposed the Merovingian king, but Pepin convinced Pope Steven II to reinstate the kingdom & crown him king (P): Pepin s son, Charlemagne became king, conquered W. Europe o (P): reasons for Carolingian success constant need for (military) protection from Vikings (793-1000 CE) a political system that worked: kingdom s land broken up into counties, counties governed by counts o heard ppl s complaints, resolved conflicts, announced penalties o counts also raised armies of warriors swore loyalty to the count o counts swore loyalty to the king o counts power was checked by missi dominici singular: missus dominicus) Charlemagne moved about the kingdom Crowned emperor by the Pope in 800 (start of HRE) [Pope] king / \ ( missi domenici ) / \ count count / \ / \ warrior (peas.) warr. (peasant) feudalism = vassals, lords, overlords (P) manorialism = serfs, lords (E) o (P): reason for Carolingian failure/collapse: incompetence & infighting (Charlemagne s three grandsons)
consequence: Treaty of Verdun (three cultural/linguistic divisions, see map next page) 2. Econ c dev t Manorialism evolved. o (E, I): manorialism strengthened when trade declined & Roman protection disappeared o (E, I, S) serfs on self-sufficient estates/manors serfs got protection, justice, grazing rights if they lived on the land and gave the lord a % of produce (E): if trade was necessary, it was based on barter o (I): wooden plows, then the moldboard (9 th century) o (I): three-fields system 3. Church s pol/rel pwr Take a step back to look at religious influence on political leadership: Christianity split when Constantine moved the Roman empire s capital to Constantinople (300s), and eventually Popes (Rome) operated independently of patriarchs (Constantinople). o (R): 300s Catholic missionaries (like St Patrick, 387-493) converted Germanic & Celtic tribes o (P, R): 400s Clovis converted to Catholic Christianity in 496 (not the Arian Christianity of the Germanic tribes) o (P, R, I): Clovis s conversion signaled partnership w/cath Church o (R, P, I): church s hierarchy gave structure to Frankish leadership bishops @ urban areas monasteries in rural areas; (I): Benedictine Rule (I): Benedictine behaviors stabilized society o protected refugees o operated schools o maintained libraries
o copied books; those they were working on weren t destroyed by Germanic invaders ~496 B. Revival: High By 1000 CE, Western Europe was moving away from self-sufficiency & Middle Ages isolation: o (I): cultural diffusion bc of contact w/eastern Europe & Asia o (P): 10 th century, Viking raids less damaging bc kings govts stronger Vikings settled in Europe & intermarried o (I, E): as agriculture improved surpluses pop n increased, demand for trade prosperity city growth 1. Pol dev ts Political structure in medieval Europe discouraged political unification: o (P, I): feudalism, as structured, discouraged centralization o (R, P): Kings had political power, but so did the Church canon law guided behavior when policies for behavior ( law & order ) didn t exist canon law was effective bc of the threat of excommunication and the interdict o no baptism, no valid marriage, no last rites o (P): as kings power increased, friction w/church o (P, E): as manors developed self-sufficiency, they resisted centralization so feudalism survived in some parts of Europe til after 1450, bc (P, R): Church crowned a Germanic emperor of the Holy Roman Empire (962) o implies Church superiority, but Germanic princes (vassals) ignored the emperor and stayed independent (P, E): feudalism worked in places where trade didn t develop (like Eastern Europe) o (P, E): in England, France, and Spain, where trade/commerce prosperity cities grew govts evolved and began to claim nation-states (P, S, I): nobility demanded rights ( Magna Carta, and parliaments in 13 th century) (P): strong monarchs attracted larger armies (I): larger-scale warfare o William the Conqueror invaded England (1066, Battle of Hastings) o France vs. England over English territory in France (Hundred Years War, 14 th -15 th century) power centralized under single monarchs by 1450 2. Impact of Crusades By the 1000 s (11 th century), Western European states expanded south, east, and into the Middle East for two reasons: to push back the Muslims, who encroached as the Christian population grew. o (P): Alexius I asked for help defeating (Muslim) Turks
o (P, R): his request was backed up by the Pope (Urban II), 1095, who promised heaven to crusaders: The Crusades (S): enthusiastic response by knights (P, R): Crusades = 200 years, but failed o First Crusade = defend Jerusalem (lost it) o FYI: Second Crusade = France & Germany vs Seljuk Turks (Fr & Germ lost @ Damascus o FYI: Third Crusade = England & France led it, didn t regain Jerusalem o Fourth Crusade = economically motivated (Christians vs commercial rivals @ Constantinople) o FYI: Fifth Crusade = Hungary & Austria led it, didn t regain Jerusalem o FYI: Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, Ninth Crusades (popes authority deteriorated) o (I): Crusades failed, but introduced Europe to civilization (a kind of cultural diffusion) o returned with luxury goods that Europeans hadn t had bc they d been isolated until now 3. Econ c Developments Venice & Genoa could more easily break from the isolation of Western Europe, for a few reasons (note that none of these is religious). o (N, E): close to the center of the former Roman Empire, never lost reputation as centers of trade (Shakespeare s Merchant of Venice) o (E, I): knights left from Venice & Genoa on their way to the Crusades, had no money to pay for passage, so offered security services in exchange for transportation o (E, I): ships could safely go back and forth, carrying trade goods (trade a characteristic of civilization; most other Western European states weren t engaged in trade) o (E): cities grew wealthy and could challenge Constantinople s trade success o (E, I): trade led to banking, which led to use of money instead of barter; short-distance trade (internal trade) resulted o (E, I): Hanseatic League and guilds developed o (E, S): merchant class grew, challenged aristocracy o (E, S): manorial system still in rural areas, but more lived in towns; serfs became craftsmen, traders, merchants o (E, I): ppl invested in trading ventures o (R, E, I, S): Church opposed usury, so non-catholics (Jews) ended up doing banking (Jews also segregated ( ghettos ), couldn t own land, couldn t be in a guild); 13 th century, Eng/Fr seized Jews land, mobs staged pogroms o (R, E, I): eventually the Church let Christians participate more, and promoted commercial/naval growth in Venice as well as
merchants patronage (Ch eventually owned property and loaned money) o (S, R): women, formerly considerably free (partly bc of Christian emphasis on equality: not segregated, could join monasteries), now more restricted & subservient as cities grew 4. Culture, Arts Trade, reintroduced because of a Christian push to rid Europe of Muslims, led to job specialization and cultural development (which are order & organization), but not political unity. o (P, I): Charlemagne hired teachers in his court o (P, I, R): Charlemagne opened a school for clergy & politicians o (P, I): this Carolingian Renaissance didn t survive after Charl. died o (I, R): universities for clergy were opened in Italy, Fr, Eng, Germ; used they used books that Muslims had preserved o (I): teachers used Socratic method o (I): students practiced scholasticism (how Christian values and Greek philosophy complement each other) o (I, A): Europeans began wrtg, but wrote in the vernacular (Divine Comedy, Canterbury Tales) o (A, I): Renaissance II. Byzantine Empire Eastern part of Roman Empire survived the fall, was renamed Byzantine Empire, (Byzantium), and used the structure of the old Roman empire: authority, roads, communications, imperial institutions. But Christianity didn t unify the empire politically: o (E): bc Byzantium didn t have to reinvent itself, it could pay attention to economic survival, and became known for manufactured goods o (I, R): cultural diffusion influenced Eastern Europe & Russia, which converted to Eastern Orthodox Christianity A. Pol Developments Wealth not Christianity - protected the eastern part of the old Roman empire when Germanic tribes invaded the western part. o (P, R): Eastern emperors combined their pol & rel powers to resolve theological disputes ( caesaropapism ), but this didn t result in political unity powers went unchallenged powers were supported by byzantine bureaucracy ex: Justinian (527-565 CE) o (E): spent money to build monuments, mount military campaigns but successors couldn t defend from invaders o (I): codified Roman law (but this didn t unify) o (P, R): constant invasions by the Muslims, so Alexius asked for pope s help resulted in cultural unity but not political unification B. Econ c Development Successes of the Byzantine Empire are attributable to order and organization that may have been modeled by the Church. o (E, S): Ch is a bureaucracy; bureaucracy controlled the economy (peasant farmers fed cities, and bureaucrats kept food prices low for cities)
o (E): Merchants were restricted in Byz Empire just as they were in Europe: no pol power o (S): women increasingly confined to homes (veils?) C. Cultural Achiev ts Secular achievements can be compared to Christian ones. o (I): Secular achievements: Greek not Latin, Greek philosophy & literature influenced society (hired tutors), state-sponsored schools, widespread literacy but not widespread education; copied Greek works o (I, R, N): Eastern Ch converted many in Russia, Romania, Serbia, Bulgaria, Greece Constantinople was their model (religion, law, literature, art) Strength of Eastern Ch made the split w/western Ch worse: pope and patriarch excommunicated each other 1054 made pol reunion of West & East impossible D. Byzantium & Russia Byzantine Empire left a legacy of legal codes, architecture, religion, and organizational structure (but not political unity). o For example, Russian princes wanted to ally with Byzantine empire, allowed their kingdoms to be influenced by Byzantine culture (art, architecture, law, missions), and thus laid the foundation for a different empire, the Russian Empire. III. Vocab, or People/Places/Events o Benedictine Rule o Canon law o Carolingian family o Charlemagne o Clovis o Excommunication, interdict (put on one card) o Feudalism o Holy Roman Empire o Hundred Years War o Magna Carta, parliaments (put on one card) o Manorialism o Merovingian family (added to the list) o Missi dominici o Crusades o Hanseatic League o Guilds o Usury o Ghettos o Vernacular languages o Byzantine Empire o Caesaropapism o Justinian
Use facts & concepts from Outline, including Vocab, to answer Level 1, 2 and 3 Questions: 1) Level 2-3: How is it possible that Christianity can be called a cultural glue but not a political glue? 2) Level 1-2: Compare and contrast the ways Clovis and Mohammed rose to power. 3) Level 1-2: Compare and contrast the city-states of classical Greece and the estates/manors of medieval Europe. 4) Level 1-2: Compare and contrast the work of the Islamic madrasas and the Benedictine monasteries. 5) Level 2: Create a timeline showing Frankish/Merovingian and Frankish/Carolingian rule. 6) Level 2: Create a timeline showing the development of the Roman Catholic Church. 7) Level 1: Compare and contrast political developments of the Early and High Middle Ages. 8) Level 2: List all the words associated with self-sufficiency and isolation. 9) Level 3: So far (p. 155-164), what are the political benefits and failures of Christianity? 10) Level 3: So far (p. 155-164), were there economic benefits of Christianity? List them. 11) Level 2: So far (p. 155-164), what are the religious benefits of Christianity? 12) Level 1: So far (p. 155-164), what are the social benefits of Christianity? 13) Level 3: So far (p. 155-164), did Christianity inspire any innovations? List them. 14) Level 1: With which geographical regions is Christianity associated? 15) Level 2: Explain how the Crusades are an example of Christian order & organization, but not political unity. 16) Level 2: Explain how Venice & Genoa could more easily break from the isolation of Western Europe, making sure to explain how none of these reasons is religious. 17) Level 2: Explain how trade, which was reintroduced because of a Christian push to rid Europe of Muslims, led to job specialization and cultural development (which are order & organization), but not political unity. 18) Level 2: Explain how the Byzantine Empire left a legacy of legal codes, architecture, religion, and organizational structure (but not political unity). 19) Note that these questions help you answer the Big Question. Students Reflections on Themes: - humans & environment 1. - development of culture, interacting w/other cultures 2. - state-buiding, expanding, dealing w/conflict 3. - creating & expanding trade, interacting w/other economies 4. - development of social structures, changes to social structures 5.