The Byzantine Empire and Western Europe to 1000 AD

Honorius (r. 394-423 AD)

Honorius (r. 394-423 AD)

• A weak child emperor

• Reign torn by palace intrigues

• Franks, Visigoths, Ostrogoths, Vandals and others invade

• 410 AD: Sack of Rome by Visigoths– Legions Abandon Rome

Huns and Collapse

• 440s-50s: Atilla the Hun drives other tribes into Empire

• 454 AD: Chalons-Sur-Marne: Romans ally with Visigoths and Franks to defeat Atilla

• 455 AD: Vandals sack Rome• Last years a string of military coups and

dictators• 476 AD: Romulus Augustus is deposed

476 AD

The Byzantine Empire (395-1453 AD)

Early Byzantium

• Arcadius (395-408 AD): Beginning of a return to civilian authority in East

• Rise of Byzantium– East had more money; fewer barbarians– Isaurians provide footmen– Leo I (457-474): First crowned by Patriarch of

Constantinople– Empire stabilizes

Justinian I (527-565 AD)

Justinian I (527-565 AD)

• Height of Byzantine Power

• Sought Reconquest of Western Empire– “Africa”, Italy, Spain– But also fought the Sassanids ans Slavs– Imperial Overreach

• Empire of over 1500 cities– Constantinople: 350,000– Governors rule Imperial Cities

Europe at Death of Justinian

Justinian and the Law

• “One Empire, One God, One Religion”

• He creates the Code of Justinian, combining ancient and modern law (“Corpus Juris Civilis”, “Body of Civil Law”)– Codex Justinianus, the Digesta or Pandectae,

the Institutiones, and the Novellae– Set future of Empire and influenced many later

codes

Byzantine Caesaropapism

• Emperor controlled religious belief and secular law

• Second Council of Constantinople (553 AD) recognizes his authority

• Protects Monks and their property

• Suppresses Heretics– The Monophysite Heresy: Jesus is all divine;

mortal side is merely an illusion. Common in Syria, Palestine, Egypt

Foreign Threats

• Avars, Slavs, and Bulgars in Europe (6th-7th century AD)

• Heraclius (610-41)– Reorganizes Roman Military

• Themata system: military units gain land under a strategos in return for military service

• Allows defeat of the Sassanids

– 630 AD: Retaking of Jerusalem

Islamic Onslaught

• 632 AD: Wars with Moslems begin

• 636 AD: Battle of Yarmuk

• Palestine, Egypt, Syria lost

• Leo III (717-40 AD): Regains lost ground– Tax reform and end of serfdom– New Laws– Empire enters a stable state

700 AD

800 AD

The Macedonian Dynasty (9th-11th centuries AD)

• Silver age of Byzantium

• Cities grew; prosperity spreads

• Educaiton and learning Flourishes

• Empire is smaller than Justinian but better organized and well defensible

1000 AD

Basil "the Bulgar-Slayer" II (reigned 976–1025 AD)

Basil "the Bulgar-Slayer" II (reigned 976–1025 AD)

• Allies to Kievan Rus; his sister marries King of Kiev

• Russians help suppress a landowner revolt

• 6000 Russians = Varangian Guard

• Basil Attacks the Bulgars– Battle of Kleidon (1014 AD)– Blinds 99 of every 100 prisoners of 15,000

Manzikert (1071 AD)

• Emperor Romanos Diogenes is defeated by Seljuq Turks

• By 1081, all of ‘Anatolia’ (Modern Turkey) is ruled by Turks

• This leads to calling of the Crusades

1100 AD

Heresies

• Nestorians– Jesus is two persons, one mortal and one

divine, not a unified being– Most popular in Iraq

• Monophysites– Christ is entirely divine; his apparent humanity

is an illusion– Popular in Syria, Palestine, and Egypt

Icons"Christ is the icon of the invisible God" (Col. 2:7)

Iconclasm

• Leo III (717-40 AD) banned the use of religious images--Icons

• Struggle of the Iconoclasts (“Icon-Breakers”, Anti-Icon) and Iconophiles (“Icon Lovers”, Pro-Icon) ensues

• Michael III (842-867) ends it with Iconophile victory

• Iconoclasts believed Icons were idolatry• Iconophiles argued they were aids to faith

Divergence from Catholicism

• Reliance on Imperial Authority and Church Councils

• The Patriarchs are main figures (Constantinople, Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria)

• Priests, but not Bishops, could marry• Church services in local languages• No belief in Purgatory

1054 Schism

• Patriarch of Constantinople and Pope excommunicate each other until 1965– Disputes over who is the boss

– Disputes over the ‘filioque clause’--Does the Holy Spirit derive from the Father alone (orthodoxy) or the Father and the Son (Catholic)

– Liturgical disputes

– Claims of Jurisdiction

Islamic Impact

• Byaznatium loses much land; culture shifts north and west

• Europe will give Greek Ideas to Moslems, who then work with them and pass them back later.– Cordoba, Spain: Where Islam, Judaism, and

Christianity Meet and Mingle

Islamic Gifts to Europe

• Europe gains – field irrigation, – leather tanning, – silk refining, – the 'Arabic Numerals'– Greek traditions of mathematics, philosophy,

medicine, and astronomy.

Western Christianity

• Church replaces Empire– Church is best educated and strongest unifying

force in West Europe

• Rise of Monasticism– Emerges from Hermit Culture after Martyrdom

ends– Basil the Great (321-379 AD) invents

Monasticism• Monks must serve others

Benedict of Nursia (480-547 AD)

• Founds Western Monks

• Abbot is head of Monastery

• Simplicity, Poverty, Hard Work, Prayer and Study

• Self-Sufficiency

Irish Monasticism

• Finnian of Clonard • Linked to Clans• Abbots from Clan

Leading Family• Studied and preserved

Latin Texts• Missionaries to

Western Europe• Clashed with Pope

later

Papal Primacy

• No Kings strong enough to rule Church as Byzantines did

• Patriarch / Bishop of Rome rises to prominence as ‘Pope’– Pope Damasus I (366-384) claimed primacy as

heir of Saint Peter, first Bishop of Rome– Pope Leo I (440-61) -- First Among Bishops– Pope Gelasius I (492-6) -- Pope > King

The Merovingian Dynasty (481 - 751 AD)

• By 509, Clovis (481-511) rules most of modern France

• At height, they rule Modern France, Belgium, Netherlands, Western Germany

• Comes--Counts. Governors of provinces; become hereditary

• Central authority declines

• Kings become puppets of their majordomos--The Mayors of the Palace

The Carolingians

• 639: Pepin I becomes Mayor of the Palace• Charles Martel (714-741 AD) -- Defeats

Moslems at Tours, Creates a Feudal Army• Frankish Church and Carolingians ally• 751: Pope approves Carolingian Coup; Pepin

III crowned King (751-768)• 755: Conquest of Lombards; creation of

Papal States

Charlemagne (Charles the Great, 768-814 AD)

Charlemagne (Charles the Great, 768-814 AD)

Charlemagne (Charles the Great, 768-814 AD)

• A Mighty Conqueror

• Builds Aachen as capital on Rhine

• Christmas Day, 800: “Roman Emperor”

• Huge and Imposing, Friendly and Energetic

• Married 5 times, Many Children

Problems of Government

• Counts / Comes still largely independent

• Missi Dominici struggled to oversee them

• Lack of Money = no independent Bureaucracy

• Land grants for service made officials too independent

Alcuin of York (735-804 AD)

• English Monk• Theologian and Poet• Director of Palace

School for Charlemagne

The Carolingian School

• Intended to train scholars and imperial officials

• Creators of the Carolingian Miniscule– Basis of Modern Western Script– Rounded, uniform letters– Spaces between words and Capital letters– 7000 surviving manuscripts– Made basis of modern typefaces by 15th century

printers

Medieval Economy

• The Manor--Tracts of Land with Attached Peasants and a Lord– Desmene--Lord’s land (25-33%)– Common Lands– Strip Fields Worked Together– Manors are payment to knights for military service– Peasants are ‘bound to the land’, owing traditional

services and a rent to the lord

A Manor

• 3 sets of fields; 2 in use, one lies fallow

• Moldboard Plows now used

• Land divided into strips, interspersed

Religion and Clergy

• Clergy Leaders from noble class

• Average priest is poorly literate peasant who can barely recite the liturgy

• Common folk know little theology, but Church shapes life through rituals--Baptism, Confirmation, Communion, Confession, Marriage, Funerals

Collapse of the Carolingians

• Growth of power of lords; decline of Kings

• Louis the Pious (814-840): Too Many Sons– First Wife: Lothar, Pepin, Louis– Wife 2: Charles– After his death, everyone butchers each other– Pepin dies; Lothar, Louis, Charles each take a

chunk in Treaty of Verdun

The Divided Empire

Vikings, Magyars, and Muslims

• 9th-11th century: Vikings from the North• 9th-10th Century: Magyars from the East• 9th-11th Century: Moslems from Southeast

and South

• Only Decentralized forces easily respond to block raids, so Lords grow in power; Kings decline

Feudalism

• Responds to three problems:– Decentralized Military Response to 9th-11th

century invasions– Necessity to pay servants with land, which then

became hereditary– Rise of a permanent warrior class of elites;

decline of old warbands as many could not afford the best equipment (chainmail, warhorse, sword and lance)

Feudal Structure

• Peasants pledged fealty to Knights and Lords for protection, giving service in agriculture

• Knights pledged to Lords• Lords pledged to Kings• Service paid at each level with land (a fief)• Boss = Lord, Servant = Vassal• Fief is virtually a miniature kingdom

Vassalage

• In return for land, you owe fixed military service (traditionally 40 days)

• Large grants require you to bring multiple knights

• Scutage--Tax paid to evade service

• Lord protects Vassal from other lords; aids in court

• Later, Money Fiefs emerge as economy grows

Church Lands

• Church owes service to king and lords for land

• This poses problems about who appoints Church leaders

• Pope vs. King struggle will ensue