A Short History of the Middle Ages Chapters 1-6 - PDF

1/9/25, 7:32 AM A short history of the middle ages chapter 1-6 A Short History of the Middle Ages Barbara H. Rosenwein The Roman World Transformed (...

1/9/25, 7:32 AM A short history of the middle ages chapter 1-6 A Short History of the Middle Ages Barbara H. Rosenwein The Roman World Transformed (300-600) Provincialization of the empire (250-350)  Empire is threatened on all sides -> emperors struggle to cope  Militarization of cities and estates -> city walls and farm watchtowers  Lack of military recruits -> settling of allied Germanic tribes: Foederati  Generals are selected not from the wealthy Italian aristocracy, but from the army itself -> soldier emperors emerged in the third century. Crisis of the Third Century (235-284)  Political instability as Severan dynasty ends and soldier generals are able to grab power.  City of Rome loses its political significance as frontier cities gain supremacy in the face of Constant foreign invasion: Trier, Sirmium, Antioch, Milan.  Economic downturn due to inflation, debasement and a lack of tax collection o Leads to taxes and soldier pay being paid in kind A new Religion  Christianity flourished under Constantine (306-337), as the emperor gave the religion equal status before Roman law in 313 with the Edict of Milan. o All church property that had been seized during the persecutions was restored.  Christianity particularly popular with people that suffered inequality: slaves, women, the poor.  Made the Roman state religion in 380 by Theodosius I (379-395).  Christianity was organized in two layers: the people and the faithful. The faithful were led by the pope in Rome. Christian Doctrine  Originally decided upon at the Council of Nicaea in 325 o Arianism: the belief that Jesus was a mortal man and not the same being as God the Father, was banned. o Instead, an ecumenical Nicene doctrine was decided upon, in which Jesus was both mortal and divine: a ‘Homo-Ousias'.  Despite the Nicene Creed, there was still much discussion about the nature of God, leading to the era of competing doctrines (350-450) Sources of God's Grace  The ‘Church Fathers’ were those clergymen that had helped in the shaping of the Nicene Creed. They had laid the foundation of the official Christian church.  Chief amongst them was Augustine of Hippo (354-430). o Augustine proposed two cities: the city of God and city of man about:blank 1/40 1/9/25, 7:32 AM A short history of the middle ages chapter 1-6 o The city of man represented mortal life. It could be destroyed and nothing within it was permanent. True happiness could be found only in the city of God, and people would have to dedicate their lives in the city of man to gain entrance to the second city. This could be done by living a Christian life and by contributing to the Church, state and schools.  Regular people could improve their odds of gaining entry to the city of God by attending church services, as the churchmen were the earthly representatives of God. The Eucharist was particularly important. o The Eucharist was a service in which bread and wine were both served to churchgoers. The bread represented the body of Christ and the wine the blood of Christ. By consuming both could churchgoers be connected to both Jesus and the dead.  Whereas the earliest saints of the Christian church had been mostly martyrs that died in the persecutions, post-Constantinian had to find new ways of becoming saints. o Fasting, exorcism, the endless standing on top of pillars, hermitage and missionary work were all ways of being remembered. o Upon the death of a saint, any and all objects associated with them became items of religious value: relics. Praying to theses relics meant, to these early Christians at least, that your prayer was more meaningful and positioned you closer to God, as the martyr with whom the icon was associated would be able to communicate with God about your good actions and prayers. Art from the Provinces to the Center  As the Roman provinces became more important when compared to the Italian heartland, so did provincial customs and art. This marked a slow departure of the classical Roman art style, to be largely overtaken in later centuries by provincial art with a more religious nature. o Classical Roman art often portrayed natural landscapes, scenes from everyday life or people. People portrayed in this art rarely looked at one another, looking instead at the viewer. o Classical Roman art did not disappear, in fact it enjoyed a resurgence amongst Christian artist during the fourth and fifth century. Sometimes called the ‘renaissance of the late fourth and early fifth centuries’. The Barbarians  ‘Barbarian’ is an umbrella term meant to designate all the different peoples that lived outside of the borders of the Roman empire. o The term is most often associated with the Germanic peoples that Rome encountered in the later centuries of its empire. Most important to western Europe were the Goths, Francs and Vandals.  The Goths originated somewhere around the northern fringes of the black sea. They maintained friendly relations with the Roman empire, frequently trading and settling within the empire’s borders. As the Huns crawled west, they drove tens if not hundreds of thousands of Goths westward, where many sought to settle within the empire. o The Eastern Emperor Valens denied them this, and attempted to slaughter thousands of Goths as they crossed the Danube. This led to open war, getting Valens killed with thousands of his men at the battle of Adrianople (378). Several Gothic bands spread west, one even sacking Rome in 410 under Alaric’s leadership. Many more moved to about:blank 2/40 1/9/25, 7:32 AM A short history of the middle ages chapter 1-6 Spain, occupying it almost entirely. These two groups founded what we know today as the Visigothic and Ostrogothic kingdoms in Spain and Italy respectively.  The Franks, Vandals and Suevi also moved into the empire, in the disastrous crossing of the Rhine in 406, completely overwhelming the western provinces. The Vandals looted their way to North Africa, founding their own kingdom, the Suevi settled in northern Spain. The Francs came to occupy most of Roman Gaul, providing the foundation for the Frankish states.  In 476, the Gothic King Odoacer deposed the last western emperor, declaring the Kingdom of Italy, before being ousted by Theodoric on the orders of the Eastern Emperor Zeno in 493. The New Order The Ruralization of the west  The new ‘barbarian’ kingdoms continued using many of the Roman state institutions, particularly those concerned with tax collection and the judicial system, but the Senate also continued to gather in Italy. o Roman law laid the foundation for the Germanic law codes, like the Visigothic, Burgundian and Frankish codes. Often these codes were Roman codes supplemented with laws applicable to the situation of the Germanic peoples. o In many places, particularly in Italy, did the Germans assimilate into Roman culture. The degree of Romanization differed throughout the former western empire, but Latin continued to be spoken and Roman customs were continued.  Despite continuation, there was also much change. o Wealthy landowners often refused to pay tax imposed upon them by the curiales-> the tax burden shifted to the poor -> the poor could not afford the taxes they owed -> the poor were forced to give up their lands and started working for wealthy landowners who could protect them. The independent middle class effectively disappeared o Cities depopulated rapidly, but did not lose their political and cultural significance. o Bishops became powerful figures within cities, as their populations decreased.  Popes Benedict (575-579) and Gregory (590-604) both played large roles in the compilation of church law. Benedict divided the day into periods of prayer, reading and labor, as well as eight liturgies per day, seven at daytime, one at night. Gregory wrote Benedict’s biography and centralized power in Italy to the church. o Monasteries played an increasingly important role, as societies became increasingly localized. Monasteries possessed large amounts of land and were very wealthy. o Cities depopulated -> Mediterranean trade slowed down -> people became more dependent on local production. Retrenchment in the East  The eastern empire remained powerful, with populous and wealthy cities. The eastern emperors managed to keep their borders largely safe save raids on the Danube frontier, which the imperial court could often simply pay to leave.  Justinian (527-565) made a massive compilation of Roman laws: the Justinian Code in 529. This expanded on the already large Theodosian Code from 438. o Justinian also attempted to reconquer the western provinces, taking north Africa, Italy and extending his Danube frontier westward. These conquests were reasonably short lived, as the empire was hit incredibly hard by the Justinian plague in the 540’s. Italy about:blank 3/40 1/9/25, 7:32 AM A short history of the middle ages chapter 1-6 largely fell to the Lombards in the 6th century, and all provinces from Syria to Africa were lost to the Muslims in the 7th. Dates 306-377 Constantine the Great 313 Edict of Milan 325 Council of Nicaea 378 Battle of Adrianople, death of emperor Valens 380 Edict of Thessalonica, Christianity state religion 410 Gothic sack of Rome 476 Romulus Augustulus deposed; western Roman empire dissolved 590-604 Pope Gregory the Great Part 1: Three cultures from one The emergence of sibling cultures (600-750) Saving Byzantium  The plague, war with Sassanid Persia and the eventual Muslim conquests had ravaged the Roman empire. Little remained of the Roman empire of old. Historians call this transformed Roman empire Byzantium in order to distinguish between the two. Most of Italy, the Balkans, Greece, and all of the eastern provinces had slipped form the Roman yoke. Only southern Greece, Anatolia and the Greek Islands remained, as well as Rome and southern Italy.  Despite these massive setbacks, the empire endured. The defense of the empire was delegated to strategiai, commanded by emperor-appointed egoi, who had the authority to collect taxes and train troops within their assigned territories.  Constantinople stood firm due to the massive Theodosian walls, protecting both the city and its surrounding farmland. The maintenance of this capital city allowed for a continued degree of centralization. In turn allowing for the efficient running of the state and paying of troops. Invasions and their consequences  The Roman-Sassanian war (602-628) saw the Sassanids conquer the Roman east, from Syria to Egypt. King Chosroes II (590 624) fought westwards, besieging Constantinople and inviting the Slavs and Avars to attack the Romans. Emperor Heraclius (610-641) broke the siege and expelled the Persians from the Roman east, before losing it again to the Muslims. The Slavs, Avars and later the Bulgarians all stayed in the Balkans, largely eroding Roman control over that area, with the exception of the coastal cities that could be supplied from Constantinople. Decline of Urban centers  Cities, save Constantinople itself, became less and less important to the Byzantine empire. Some cities were abandoned, some became fortresses and some simply administrative husks. All were depopulated. The population shifted to the countryside, in a move not dissimilar to the west. Ruralization  The countryside was divided between the state, the church and private farmers. The role of the curiales had disappeared, leaving only the imperial governor, local elites and the church to exert power over these regions. Church control especially increased, fostering a more conservative culture based on the Old Testament. o This resulted in harsher punishments for adultery, a taboo towards divorce and the banning of abortion. about:blank 4/40 1/9/25, 7:32 AM A short history of the middle ages chapter 1-6 Iconoclasm  Relics played an important role in Christian life, in both the west and the east. The Byzantines started worshiping icons: visual representation of saints and other important church figures. Many in Byzantium believed that seeing an icon of a saint or other church figure would allow one to better understand them and be more in touch with both the saint and God. o Icon worship started amongst the crises the Byzantine empire faced during the 6th and 7th centuries. In the 8th century however, emperor Leo III (717-741) concluded that the crises the empire faced were actually the result of the icon worship. In 726 Leo publicly denounced icon worship, marking the beginning of a period of iconoclasm. o To add to this, Leo requested the Pope to outlaw the use of icons, as Jesus should be represented only in bread and wine and not in images. This was advantageous to bishops, as they were in possession of relics, which could not be manufactured like icons could. This brought more power to the clergy. The rise of the ‘best community’: Islam The shaping of Islam  The Arabian peoples lived both sedentary and nomadic lifestyles. Caught between the Byzantines and Persians, they were no major player in history up until this point.  The Arabian Peninsula had a well-developed oral and literary culture and traded with its norther and western neighbors.  Muhammad was born in Mecca, a prominent commercial center, and, after being orphaned, fell in with his uncle: the leader of the Quraysh tribe responsible for Mecca and the Ka’ba. o Muhammad moved into the mountains near his home to pray and, from 610 onwards, received visions from the anger Gabriel, which Muhammad wrote down in what later became the Qur’an.  Muhammad’s new faith gained quick popularity with women, as it granted them new dignities and marriage rights and banned infanticide, but little support in Mecca itself. The prophet was even forced to flee to Medina, where Islam found more support.  Muhammad’s followers eventually formed an army and eventually dominated the nomadic groups, the Jews and the Meccans after the conquest of that city in 630.  After converting many nomadic groups, Muhammad died in 632. Out of Arabia  Caliphs, from the term khalifat Allah or deputy of God, led Muslim armies outside of Arabia soon after Muhammad’s death. They conquered the Persian Capital of Ctesiphon in 637, reaching Carthage by 697 and conquering all of Spain by the early 8 th century. o Their success is owed in part to the exhaustion and overextension of the established Roman and Persian empires, but also to sheer Islamic military prowess. o Many conquered peoples welcomed their new masters, particularly groups that had previously been oppressed or unequally treated, like the Jews in Roman lands and Persian Christians. The Muslims instilled upon them a tax, but let them mostly take care of their own affairs.  Although Muslim culture was originally only partially city based, the Caliphs were quick to embrace the urbanized regions which they now ruled. Many soldiers settled within conquered cities, while the Caliphs built palaces and lodges in the countryside. Muslims built large camps and settlements in the rural regions and refrained from assimilating with the local population. Some of these camps eventually grew into cities like Cairo and Baghdad. about:blank 5/40 1/9/25, 7:32 AM A short history of the middle ages chapter 1-6  The Caliphate, was it came to be known, was ruled by a Caliph, who appointed regional governors, called the amirs, to rule in their stead in far-flung regions. They were responsible for governance and military matters. Taxes were collected in the name of the amir by pagarchs, who delegated actual collection to men they hired. The culture of the Umayyads  The first two Caliphs: Abu-Bakr and Umar, were members of the Prophet’s newly formed inner circle. Although some were angered by the fact that they were not members of the original nomadic inner circle. The Third, Uthman, however, sparked resentment. He was a late comer to Islam, and some of his family, the Umayyads, had even persecuted Islam in its forming stages. o Opponents of Uthman supported Ali, the husband of Muhammad’s daughter. Civil war broke out between both sides, ending in 661 with Ali’s death. o The Umayyads ruled for almost 100 years, but Ali’s faction did not die with him. They were the Shi’ites, shunning the Sunni Muslims like the Umayyads that ruled the Caliphate. The Shi’ites awaited the Imam: the leader from the house of Ali.  The Umayyads turned Damascus into their capital. They employed many former Byzantine officials into their administration. The Caliph Abd al Malik (685-705) made Jerusalem a holy city for Muslims as well. o Using many Byzantine traditions, the Umayyads transformed many cities and issued Byzantine and Persian style coins, creating a lively visual culture. o Arabic became the lingua Franca of the Islamic world. Many of the old Persian and Syrian elite became part of the new Muslim elite, creating a wealthy culture of poetry and prose. The making of western Europe  The collapse of the Roman empire had fragmented Europe. Remnants of the old Roman institutions were few and far between. Cities were empty, tools primitive, roads overgrown. Western Europe was a complete backwater when compared to Byzantium or the Caliphate. Impoverishment and its variations  Western Europe was ruled by the Francs in Gaul, now called Francia, the Visigoths and later the Muslims in Spain, the Byzantines, Lombards and Papal states dominated Italy. The British Isles were populated by the Celts and Anglo-Saxons ruling small kingdoms. o The southern Romanized regions were by far the most prosperous, whilst still impoverished and not more than a husk of their former selves, while the north was scarcely populated by farmers. Inland trade was almost non-existent and few coins were being produced as a result. The only trade that managed to continue existing was bartering, which happened primarily between communities and with the British Isles. o In Italy things looked slightly better, with peasants often actually owning the land they worked, and the sporadic minting of silver and copper coins. The north- and Baltic Sea regions actually looked up, with Scandinavian traders linking areas from Estonia to the British coast. Some Roman cities along the coast even experienced a revival of sorts. Politics and Culture Francia  The Frankish states were without question the most powerful in western Europe. The Frankish world was made up of three states: Neustria, Austrasia and Burgundy, whom ruled Aquitaine in southern Gaul together. By 700 the Frankish states had grown increasingly united, about:blank 6/40 1/9/25, 7:32 AM A short history of the middle ages chapter 1-6 slowly forming a single kingdom ruled by the Merovingian dynasty, which Clovis (481-511) was a member of. o The Merovingians relied on a cleverly formed network of alliances and used largely copied the Roman administrative system to exert influence. The Merovingian kings had no capital, the court instead travelled from place to place with family in tow. o The Merovingian courts were largely run by a Mayor, who controlled who had access to the king and who did not. The Mayors quickly became the most influential members of the court. Wealthy landowners also carried much political influence, to the dismay of the kings, whom married freed slaves as to not allow landowners into the line of succession. Aristocratic families vied for influence and land, land which they were able to rule almost as they saw fit. Diplomatic marriages were a large part of the opportunities for power expansion for these aristocratic families, as weddings usually included a substantial dowry. o The royal court, aristocracy and clergy were tightly connected in Francia. The Irish saint Columbanus founded a monastery in Francia around 590, educating its attendants in discipline and devotion. Frankish nobles were impressed by these values, adopting them as their own. Monasteries sprung up throughout the Frankish domain, but also in Italy. Aristocrats often sent their children to monasteries to become monks or nuns, a process known as oblation. Aristocrats themselves gained much religious devotion and piety, and even those that did not attend or patronize monasteries still often read books of penance. The British Isles  The Roman departure in 410 had left a vacuum in Britannia. Germanic peoples from the European coast settled in the south, the Irish settled the west, while the old Celtic kingdoms came down from the North. The Germanic peoples exchanged many cultural aspects with their new neighbors and vice versa. o One key aspect of Germanic life was paganism. Germanic paganism in the British Isles was a shock to the many Christian clergymen on the isles, who found the pagan practices barbaric. The British population was majority Christian at the time due to Roman and Missionary influences, although there were many different doctrines active. o British Christianity was decentralized and local, with rural monasteries serving as bishoprics and population centers. This would change, however, with the arrival of a missionary mission led by Augustine and sent by pope Gregory the Great in 597. This group was allowed to preach by the irreligious king of Kent, Ethelbert. The lack of a true centralized church framework allowed Augustine to create one with strong ties to Rome and the pope. Augustine converted thousands to Nicene Christianity, built churches, divided the land into diocese and appointed bishops. o Doctrinal clashes existed between the Roman and local Christians, but in 664 the king of Northumbria, Oswy held the synod of Whitby, in which he decided that the Roman pope spoke with the voice of Peter, accepting Roman Christianity and the Roman Calendar in his domain. o This caused the British Isles to reromanize to an extent, with people learning Latin, travelling to Rome and taking Roman names, as well as creating a mix of Roman and Anglo-Saxon art. The south: Spain and Italy about:blank 7/40 1/9/25, 7:32 AM A short history of the middle ages chapter 1-6  The old Roman cities in southern Spain continued to flourish under their new Visigothic rulers, as Byzantine traders often ventured there, bishops built large churches and distributed food throughout the cities.  All of Spain had been brought under Visigothic control under king Leovigild (569-586), and his son, Reccared (596-601), converted his kingdom from Arian to Roman Christianity.  Spain, despite its Gothic rulers, maintained a Roman-style aristocracy and clergy, as well as a largely unchanged Roman judicial system and intellectual culture, which had largely faded throughout the rest of Europe. The Spanish kings compiled the most laws and the Spanish people seemed to have a bigger appreciation for classical literature than the rest of Europe.  The Visigothic kingdom was far less stable than its Merovingian counterpart. Continuous dynastic struggles the norm, as succession of kings almost always meant the extermination of the previous king’s family and followers. Although the kings had the support of the Spanish church because they gave them free reign to establish their own hierarchy, led by the Bishop of Toledo, and were supported with troops from the rural landowners, they lacked support of the nobility.  Attempts at centralization proved fatal for the Visigoths, as when their king was killed by a Berber raid in 711, it left the kingdom powerless. The kingdom was conquered entirely between 512 and 515. The Berbers settled the north, with Arabs settling the fertile south. o Spain continued to be a land of many cultures and beliefs.  Italy was not united like the Visigothic kingdom. It was controlled mostly by the Lombards, but the Exarchate of Ravenna and Duchy of Rome were in Byzantine hands, as was the very south and Sicily. Spoleto and Benevento were nominally Lombard duchies loyal to the Lombard king, but were de-facto independent.  Many Lombards were Catholics, but many were also Arians. The official Christian doctrine of the kingdom varied with its king. It took until the late seventh century for the Lombards to decisively accept Catholicism. o This slow conversion did not grant the Lombard kings the support of the church as the Visigoths or Franks had received.  The Lombard state was relatively strong, with a Roman-style centralized administration. The kings appointed dukes to rule from administrative centers, almost like governors, while the royal court remained at Pavia, the capital. o It was only the Byzantine controlled state that continued to trade extensively. The Lombards largely let trade die out, as well as letting many old Roman buildings crumble.  The Lombards wanted to strengthen their position in southern Italy by attempting to annex the independent duchies there. The pope feared being surrounded by a united Lombard kingdom and, lacking Byzantine support, called on the Fanks.  The bishop of Rome wielded real secular power within that city and his spiritual authority reached much farther. He was, however, always subjected to Byzantine authority. o Pope Gregory the Great (590-604) paved the way for Rome’s independent future. He maintained its army, organized its defense, heard court cases, made treaties and provided welfare services. He also sent missionary groups far afield, as well as making the rules put forward by the church fathers more accessible to the masses.  Byzantine-papal relations broke down almost completely in 691 when emperor Justinian II held the Quinisext council which instilled 102 rules limiting the independence of the church. When the pope refused to attend the council, Justinian II ordered him arrested, but the Byzantine about:blank 8/40 1/9/25, 7:32 AM A short history of the middle ages chapter 1-6 armies in Italy refused. The already diminishing power held by the eastern Emperor meant that the pope in effect became the leader of most of non-Lombard Italy. o The gap between Byzantium and papacy widened in the 8th century when Leo III raised taxes on papal properties to fund his wars. Dates 622 Hijra; Mohammad flees from Mecca to Medina 624 Battle of Badr; first victory of an Islamic army 632 Death of Mohammad 661-750 Umayyad dynasty 664 Synod of Whitby: British adoption of Roman Catholicism 711-715 Arab conquest of Spain 726-787, Iconoclasm in Byzantium 815-843 Creating New Identities (750-900) The Plague of Justinian finally disappeared from Europe in the second half of the 8 th century. What followed was a population boom, with the recultivation of land and increase in prosperity. Byzantium saw the ascension of an empress, the Umayyads are deposed in the Caliphate, and the Merovingians are usurped by the Carolingians. New Icons, New Armies, New Territories  After the death of Leo IV in 780, the empire was governed for five years (797-802) by his wife, Irene after the deposition of Constantine IV, their son. Irene had long been an iconophile and immediately dismissed iconoclast bishops. She convened a council in 787 in Nicaea in which iconoclasm was condemned, although did not stop a partial ban on the practice from 815-843.  The army had been reformed before Irene’s rule. The previous system had given too much power to too few strategoi. The empire was now divided into smaller units, limiting the power of each strategoi. The new strategoi would recruit troops from their respective themes, those troops being mostly farmer-soldiers, reflecting the deurbanized nature of the empire. o There were still professional troops, primally the tagmata, the heavy professional cavalry first exclusively positioned near Constantinople, later moved to the frontier regions.  The empire once again expanded into Greece, slowly bringing the Slavs there into the fold by forcing taxation upon them. Bulgarian expansion followed, too. This was sometimes successful, but the disastrous battle at Pliska in 811 saw the emperor Nicephorus killed by Krum (803-814), the Bulgarian tsar. There was also slight expansion eastward, as a raid by the tagmata against the Arabs was successful enough to convince an Armenian prince to cede his lands to Byzantium, forming the new theme of Mesopotamia.  The tagmata overtook their theme counterparts, being not only better paid and equipped but also saddled with more important tasks. The strategoi slowly became in effect provincial governors, rather than commanders of the theme armies. Christianity and the rise of East Central Europe  Eastern Europe was alive with many different Slavic and Turkic peoples, of which the Slavs were the largest. They lived as farmers and had a demilitarized social structure, which led to them often being subjugated by foreign powers, like the Avars, who dominated them until they were about:blank 9/40 1/9/25, 7:32 AM A short history of the middle ages chapter 1-6 destroyed by the francs in 796. The crumbling of the Avar state led to the creation of many new Christian kingdoms. Bulgaria was the first, Lithuania came last.  Christianization of the new states was advantageous to all parties in the European theatre. For one, it allowed Francia and Byzantium a certain degree of religious control over the new nations, bringing them into their spheres of influence. It was also good for the new states, as Christianity earned them recognition from Rome and institutions that supported the ruling classes, bringing stability. Bulgaria and Moravia were the first to accept Christianity. o Moravia, wanting to remain free of Frankish influence, called on Byzantium to supply missionaries. The Thessalonian brothers Cyril and Methodius set out in 863 in an effort to construct a written language for the Moravians with which Christianity could be spread more easily. The language used Greek letters to represent the sounds of one of the Slavic dialects, adding Greek words to represent things that were absent in the original dialect. This created the Glagolitic alphabet, or Old-Church Slavonic. o Unfortunately for Byzantium, the Moravians caved to papal insistence and accepted Roman Catholicism, all the while using their new alphabet outside of the now Latin church services.  Byzantium did get the religious upper hand in Bulgaria, Serbia and later, Russia. This is despite the very strained relations between Bulgaria and Byzantium. This is mostly due to the large number of Greek speakers living within Bulgaria that formed an influential part of the Bulgarian administration. It was Khan Boris (852-889) that officially converted to Byzantine Christianity. Even taking the name of the then presiding Byzantine emperor, Michael III (842-867), becoming Boris-Michael. Cultural flowering at Byzantium  The Glagolitic alphabet is just one example of 9 th century education in Byzantium. The Byzantine academic tradition had declined during the 8 th century, but now resurged as Byzantium grew more prosperous and wanted to compete with the Arab world, which had rapidly started translating Greek texts into Arabic.  The ending of iconoclasm was a good thing for the pro-icon monasteries of Byzantium. They gained many new recruits and much prestige. The increasing number of monks forced the hurried creation of manuscripts for the new monks to read. This meant that manuscripts had to be written quickly, prompting the creation of miniscule: a cursive, lower case script with the letters strung together. Words were discerned by gaps between them. o A lack of Egyptian papyrus forced the transition into Parchment, which was much more resistant to decay.  Byzantium experienced a cultural resurgence. Art and literature once again flourished. This period is identified as the ‘Macedonian Renaissance’. Pre-iconoclast art also made a return, as did monumental architecture as rich men constructed their own palaces, churches and monasteries. The shift to the east in the Islamic world  The Islamic world also had their own resurgence. The Abbasids, who ousted the Umayyad caliphs in 750, moved their capital to Iraq and styled themselves as the Persian kings of kings of old. The Abbasid Reconfiguration  The Caliphate, unlike the Byzantine world, was not at all culturally homogenized. Many different peoples lived within its borders. The Umayyads ruled from Syria, mostly rewarding their hardliners while expecting local leaders to cart off the taxes they had collected to Damascus. about:blank 10/40 1/9/25, 7:32 AM A short history of the middle ages chapter 1-6 This, combined with the fact that the Umayyads had no claims to the functions of an iman, meant that the followers of Ali would simply not support them. The Umayyads openly favored Arabs and even still taxed non-Arab Muslims.  Revolts broke out in two former Persian provinces: Khurasan and Iraq. Both groups supported the Abbasids. After a short civil war in which practically everyone abandoned the last Umayyad caliph, Marwan II, Al-Saffah was hailed as such, becoming the first Abbasid Caliph in 750.  The Abbasids used Iraq’s central location to their advantage, building their capital cities there. Baghdad was the first capital, becoming so in 762, with the court moving to Samarra in the 830’s.  The Abbasids took the title of imam and at one point wore the green of the Shi’ites to signal their heritage.  A new elite was created, largely comprised of members of the Abbasid family itself. Many of the original Khurasan supporters also joined this new elite, reaping many rewards in the process. The caliphs managed a heavy degree of centralization, with taxation in particular. However, the limited inclusivity of the elite would cost the Abbasids dearly, as they would soon start losing territories.  The Abbasid armies were largely intended to raid its neighbors and collect taxes in weakly controlled areas. The armies, previously recruited by the caliphs themselves, were now, in the 9 th century, usually paid and recruited by their generals themselves, meaning that the troops had limited loyalty to the caliphs. This meant that after a civil war from 811-819, the victorious al- Ma'mun (813-833) had no reliable army. This was solved by buying slaves, usually Turks with no connection to any of the established Islamic tribes, and using them for military service. The Turks were often appointed to governorships and eventually formed their own elite, which would eventually topple the Caliphate itself. New forms of literature  Abbasid hegemony brought great prosperity. The Caliphate started trading relatively extensively with China and India, with Baghdad becoming a very large and wealthy trade city. This was exponentially more beneficial to the elite who controlled the wealthy trade cities. The Abassids translated many Greek texts concerning medicine, philosophy, mathematics and astrology, as well as encouraged the writing of poetry of all sorts. Science and poetry were supported by the Abbasids themselves, politicians, generals, even regular people that were interested. Al-Andalus: A Society in the middle  Abd al-Rahman I, an Umayyad prince, had fled westward during the collapse of his dynasty. He had gathered an army and defeated the governor of Cordoba, declaring himself emir of Al- Andalus. His dynasty reigned there for over 250 years before declaring themselves caliphs as the Abbasid powerbase crumbled.  The new Umayyad state was hardly Muslim and barely Arabic. The armies relied on non-Arabic Turks, while the population was made up mostly of Christians and Jews. The emirs and later caliphs were able to tax these religious groups heavily, leading to a wealthy state. These populations got along fairly well, blurring the lines between the religious groups, leading to the Spanish Christians as being called Mozarabs: would-be-Arabs by other Christians. o There were still some small Christian principalities left over from the Visigothic kingdom. They considered themselves the rightful rulers of Spain and often welcomed Christians from Al-Andalus. An empire in spite of itself  The Frankish empire existed between the Byzantine and Islamic empires. It was much less centralized when compared to its neighbors, with its kings being unable to instill the extensive about:blank 11/40 1/9/25, 7:32 AM A short history of the middle ages chapter 1-6 tax systems of their imperial peers. There wasn’t even a system of pay for soldier or state functionaries. The state managed to not only maintain armies, encourage an academic system but also profiled themselves as the leaders of Christianity despite the decentralized nature of the state. The Carolingians were able to do this for three reasons: o The Carolingians were caught in the same economic upturn as the rest of the world, boosting prosperity and state wealth. o Old Roman institutions were used to a great degree. o The Frankish kings were willing to experiment with new ideas and institutions and use unexpected opportunities to their advantage. The making of the Carolingians  The Carolingian family had managed to install itself as the mayors of the palace of both the Neustrian and Austrasian kingdoms following a battle between the two in 687. They gradually took over power from the Merovingian kings during the first half of the 8 th century.  Charles Martel was mayor from 714-741. Martel played the varying Frankish noble factions against each other, rewarding allies and defeating enemies. He found support in the church, not just in Francia but in Rome and Britain too, as well as missionaries like Boniface who converted new peoples, giving those peoples a loyalty to the pope and Martel by extension. The influence gained by the Carolingians on Martel’s behalf led to the deposition of the last Merovingian king, to be replaced by Pippin III, the first Carolingian king (751-768).  Pippin was blessed by Pope Stephen II (752-757) and sent an army to Italy against the Lombards upon the Pope’s request, fully releasing the pope from Byzantine overlordship in 756, upon the return of several cities from the Lombards to the pope. The Donation of Constantine was forged shortly after, legitimizing to independent Papal rule. Charlemagne  The most famous Carolingian king, ruled between 768-814. The king expanded into Italy by defeating the Lombards and became the king of Italy in 774. He expanded eastwards by crushing the Avars. He also created a buffer state in Spain: The Spanish march, between the Muslim and Christian kingdoms.  Charlemagne’s armies were led by his fideles: loyal aristocrats, and were manned by free men: the clients, also known as vassals, of the fideles. The king had the right of bannum which allowed him to call his subjects to arms, command them in war, and prohibit, punish and fine when his calls were not obeyed. The Frankish armies were not permanent, and soldiers had to supply their own equipment.  Charlemagne’s empire had grown massively by 800, with a large buffer region on the eastern border. Charlemagne started imitating the Roman emperors of old by sponsoring building programs, standardizing weights and measures, and patronizing of intellectual and artistic pursuits. The emperor appointed counts to act as regional governors. These counts were paid in temporary grants of land instead of normal salaries due to the lacking of proper financial infrastructure. These counts, in turn, were supervised by missi dominici: those sent by the king, either abbots, bishops and counts (all aristocrats), to keep them in check.  Charlemagne was crowned Augustus in 800 by Pope Leo III (795-816) after the pope had been chased from Rome by rival factions in that city. Charlemagne had assisted Leo in returning to his office and was crowned emperor in return. He took the same title as the Byzantine office, now held by Irene, to the dismay of the Byzantines. Charlemagne’s heirs  Louis was the only sone of Charlemagne to still live upon the emperor’s death. He assumed the same office in 814, but quickly faced the revolts from his sons and external invasion. He also about:blank 12/40 1/9/25, 7:32 AM A short history of the middle ages chapter 1-6 struggled with counts and bishops that wanted more influence, but most important were the immense linguistic and cultural divides in his empire. o To cope, Louis used the church to unite his empire. He used the help of Benedict of Aniane and imposed Benedictine rule throughout his empire to unite the different peoples and clergy. He managed to put all Frankish bishops and monasteries under his control. The emperor’s religious machinations earned him the name ‘the pious’. o Louis expanded on the system of sub-kings of his father, instead ascending both his wife and firstborn son to the imperial office, with his other sons, Pippin and Louis, becoming sub-kings in the domain of their older brother. o When Louis’s wife died, he married Judith, who stemmed from a relatively unknown Bavarian-Saxon family (the Welfs), which later became incredibly powerful. The couple had a son, Charles (later “the bald”, in 823, to the dismay of many nobles, as this would put this unknown Saxon family into the line of inheritance and succession. o Civil war followed this family quarrel in 833, but it did not see Louis dethroned. The emperor died in 840, leaving his three remaining sons do fight over the empire between them. The subsequent treaty of Verdun (843) divided the empire into three parts, with Charles the Bald (843-877) taking the west, eventually becoming France. The east went to Louis the German (843-876), becoming modern Germany. The Middle Kingdom went to Lothar (as co-emperor 817-840, as emperor 840-855), with parts being absorbed by Germany and France, the rest becoming the modern Benelux and Switzerland. o These kingdoms would be divided between their ruler’s sons, and eventually, after the death of Charles the Fat in 888, splintered and ruled by many non-Carolingian kings. o Constant external attacks from the Vikings, Muslins and Magyars weakened the splintered empire further, as the empire was often unable to respond due to the lack of a standing army. Power went more and more to local leaders who took the defense of local areas in their own hands. That, combined with the impoverishment of the state due to tribute payments and the increased splintering due to linguistic and cultural divides, shattered imperial authority. The wealth of a local economy  Plunder, trade and agriculture formed the cornerstones of the Carolingian economy, with trade and land becoming the most important after the wars of Charlemagne. Many coastal towns were completely oriented to overseas trade, trading with the Abbasids and Scandinavia.  Land was the true backbone of the economy however. Detailed agricultural records, called polyptyques, documented the output of the villae or manors of the countryside. These were owned by kings, churches, monasteries and aristocrats, and operated with two- or three-field cultivation systems. The latter of which produced large surpluses and profits. o The lands were worked by free or unfree farmers, living on their own holdings, the colonia or mansus, which consisted of a house, small parts of several different fields and a small garden. The farmers paid dues every year to their lords. The Carolingian Renaissance  Some monasteries used the profits from their lands and invested them in books. This was an expensive and time intensive process, as books had to be hand written and made from papyrus. The Carolingians also used a form of miniscule, fittingly named Carolingian Miniscule, to quickly copy and write new books. Monks also started writing the earliest forms of written music to get chants from Roman churches to Francia. about:blank 13/40 1/9/25, 7:32 AM A short history of the middle ages chapter 1-6  The Carolingians themselves were partly responsible for the influx in book production, as the Carolingian court was eager to learn and be educated by knowledgeable men. It was even ordered that Frankish cathedrals and monasteries should teach all that could be taught how to read.  The Carolingians attempted to revive the Roman empire, not just in spirit, but by emulating art and architecture. Dates 750 Beginning of the Abbasid Caliphate 751 Pippin III becomes the first Carolingian king 762 Baghdad founded as Abbasid capital city 768-814 Rule of Charlemagne 800 Charlemagne crowned emperor 843 End of Byzantine iconoclasm 843 Treaty of Verdun; division of Carolingian empire 864 Conversion of Khan Boris-Michael to Christianity Political communities reordered (900-1050) Byzantium: the strengths and limits of centralization  Whilst the emperors carefully maintained the traditional importance of Constantinople, the wealthy landowners of the countryside took much power for themselves by dominating the peasantry, challenging the dominance of the center. The imperial court  The Great Palace of Constantinople served as the command post of the entire empire. The imperial family itself, slaves, courtiers, clergymen, all lived inside its walls. Intricate court ceremonies were common, and had the political use of indicating the emperors favor or disfavor towards supplicants or petitions. o Although mostly male dominated, the court did also feature women in powerful positions, with the empresses being an important example. There were also eunuchs; men castrated at an early age, serving as doctors, teachers or guardians of the court’s women. Although primarily foreigners at first, as the eunuchs gained importance, they were increasingly recruited from Byzantines and even members of the imperial family. o The emperors deliberately presented the court as a perfect, stable and eternal institution. A wide embrace and its tensions  Basil II became emperor in 976 and ruled until his death in 1025. His was the longest rule of any Byzantine or Roman emperor. Basil’s predecessors Nicephorus II Phocas (969-969) and John I Tzimisces (969-979) had expanded the empire and secured its borders, taking most of the Bulgarian empires below the Danube, Antioch, Crete and Cyprus. The empire was largely secure from external attack save the northern threat of the Rus’, which Basil largely solved by a diplomatic and religious alliance.  The emperor’s political situation was much less secure. He was challenged by the dynatoi, the provincial elite consisting of military officers, governors, bishops, abbot, and the like. The dynatoi had supplied the last two imperial candidates and were logically at odds with the new regime. They had important military men as their clients, making them a dangerous threat to Basil and his court. about:blank 14/40 1/9/25, 7:32 AM A short history of the middle ages chapter 1-6  Basil wanted to both limit power of the powerful dynatoi and expand his borders. He barely managed the first when two of the most important dynatoi families rebelled in 987, doing so with help from his newfound Rus allies. Using the best of the Norse soldiers, Basil created the Varangian Guard. o Basil threatened to destroy or seize the estates of any of the dynatoi that rose against him, and changed the tax code to ensure that most of the tax was paid by the dynatoi, decreasing their influence. He also allowed theme peasants to not undertake military service if they could pay to do so. He used this money to pay mercenaries, including his own Varangians.  The emperor also expanded his borders into Syria, Georgia and Armenia, while completely conquering the rest of Bulgaria. His swift and brutal campaign there earned him the title of “Bulgar Slayer”.  Basil had grown the empire to extents not seen for four centuries. It became large, multi-ethnic and multilingual. It included and embraced Arabs, Georgians and Armenians in the east and Bulgars, Slavs and Pechenegs (Turkic people) in the west. The southern boot of Italy held Lombards, Italians and Greeks to boot. There was even a mosque in Constantinople. o Despite this openness, basil expelled Jews from Constantinople and settled them on the other side of the Golden Horn. Many cities also expelled their Jewish populations. Jew’s were denied the rights of Roman citizens.  The dynatoi were also not vanquished, as the they rose to high positions in government after Basil’s death. The cultural and linguistic divides nurtured future unrest. The formation of Rus’  The Rus were Scandinavians settling around the Northern Black Sea, coming from the west in the 9th century. Originally dedicated to hunting and raiding, their demeanor changed when Basil II married his sister to the king of the Rus’: Vladimir (980-1015). In return for this marriage, Vladimir would accept Christianity and aid the emperor with the soldiers that would become the Varangian Guard. The people of the Rus’ soon followed suit and became Christians.  The Rus’ was surrounded by many different peoples, most important were the Khazars, a nomadic people that dominated the silk road with a Jewish elite. Division and development of the Islamic world  The Islamic world had decentralized massively, especially when compared to Byzantium. Caliphs could no longer collect taxes from Afghanistan to Libya, instead regional leaders broke away from the caliphate, founding new dynasties and fragmenting the Islamic world. The emergence of regional powers  As the original caliphs conquered, they left existing peoples and social structures intact, simply installing a governor to watch over them. With the weakening of central control in the 10 th and 11th centuries, the local people were no longer controlled by an overarching Caliphate. The Abbasids were not rich enough to sustain their empire. When local rulers stopped paying their taxes, the Abbasids had to rely on Iraqi farmland as their largest source of income. o A slave revolt by the sub-Saharan Zanj, in the 9 th century had completely decimated the Iraqi economy. When a group of Shi’ites from Arabia: The Qaramita or Carmathians attacked Iraq in the tenth century, taking it easily and stripping the Abbasids of their largest remaining source of income. o Abbasid troops hailing from the provinces went without pay and grabbed power for themselves, reducing the Abbasid caliphs to mere figureheads as other families carved their own empires out of the Abbasid beast. The Buyids dominated Iraq and most of about:blank 15/40 1/9/25, 7:32 AM A short history of the middle ages chapter 1-6 Iran, the Qaramita had the eastern Arabian coast and the Samanids had the east, consisting of modern Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and parts of Kazakhstan. o King amongst the new rulers were the Fatimids. Named after the wife of Ali: Fatimah. The Fatimids followed Isma’ilism, a particular form of Shi’ism. The Fatimid leader called himself imam and ‘madhi’, the “divinely guided” messiah, come to bring justice on earth. The Fatimids were proclaimed caliphs by their followers and allied themselves with the Berbers in North Africa. At the end of the 10 th century the Fatimids controlled the Entire North-African coast, as well as Egypt and Syria and the western Arabian coast. o With their capital at Cairo the Fatimids established trading contacts all over the known world. Using their trading wealth, they established palaces, libraries, stores, mosques and other important buildings.  The Fatimids reached their peak during the first half of the 11 th century, but was weakened during the rule of al-Mustansir (1036-1094) by infighting in the army, economic downturn and climate change, as well as a revolt of Turkish troops. By 1070 they had lost most of North-Africa.  Umayyad Iberia took a similar tumble when Abd al-Rahman III (912-961) gathered an army of Slavic slaves and united the entirety of Islamic Spain ruling it with a heavily centralized government. A civil war undid this unity between 1009 and 1031, leaving Iberia a crumbled mess of small emirates called taifas.  The new Islamic lords paid their armies by giving their commanders lands and towns: ‘iqta’, which the commander could use to pay his troops and earn his own money. These commanders became, in effect, governors to small provinces as they could collect taxes in their territories. This system differed from the western feudal model, however, as the troops commanded by these governors were usually slaves and not bound to a particular place or master. They could be taken over by other commanders. Cultural unity, religious polarization  The disappearance of the central governance of the Islamic world did not cause the disappearance of court culture, rather, it multiplied with the different new Islamic states. Each court would try to out-do its rivals in the sciences, art and literature. Cordoba in particular hosted 70 public libraries and the Great Mosque, which was a center for scholars from all over the Islamic world. There were also nearly thirty free schools throughout the city. o Cordoba is unusual in its treatment of women, as women were allowed to become doctors, teachers or intellectuals. Male scholars were still the vast majority in the Islamic world, however.  The Islamic world may have been politically divided, but it was culturally connected. A shared language and lack of true national barriers made trade and intellectual pursuits easy and common. o Islam was, however, a matter of division. The gap between Sunni and Shi’ite Islam grew as rulers used the two different interpretations of Islam to gain support from their people by, for example, turning the tombs of Ali and his family into objects of veneration and cursing the predecessor caliphs of Ali. The west: fragmentation and resilience  Just as the Islamic world fragmented, so did Europe. France, Germany and Italy, though still not states as in their modern form, all became independent geographical areas with many kingdoms within them. England, Scotland, Denmark, Norway, Poland, Bohemia and Hungary all formed their own states. The Ottonians, a powerful Saxon dynasty, ruled much of central Europe, from the North Sea to Rome. about:blank 16/40 1/9/25, 7:32 AM A short history of the middle ages chapter 1-6 The last invaders of the west  During the 9th and 10th centuries Europe was invaded by the Vikings, Muslims and Magyars (Hungarians). These groups were eventually absorbed into the European population and became part of a new prosperous European civilization. Vikings  Many Scandinavians ventured west due to the competition for power amongst chiefs and kings at home. The Vikings raided, extracted tribute from European leaders or worked as mercenaries. Jewelry and well-made weapons were at the top of the wish list for Viking raiders as booty or tribute.  The elite usually came to Europe for money, but the poorer Scandinavians that travelled west usually did so to establish new lives. Settling in Ireland, Scotland, England and northern France (soon dubbed Normandy), the Northmen started establishing their own principalities and counties to the already fragmented political landscape of the North Sea area. o Ireland was particularly fragmented, and the Irish and Norse stayed relatively separate as a result. Scotland managed to ally itself with the church and local leaders, establishing a dynasty of kings that ruled over both the Scots and settled Norse, leading to their eventual assimilation. o England was also extensively settled, with many Norsemen settling in Wessex, their lands becoming known as Danelaw. King Alfred (r. 971-899, later known as The Great) levied a tax amongst his people, the Danegeld, to pay tribute to the settling Norse to keep them at bay, but launched a campaign against them in 878. This inspired the cowed Anglo-Saxons to resist the Norse as well, leading to them eventually being expelled from Wessex. Alfred reorganized his army, constructed military strongpoints called burhs, and established his own navy to resist Viking raids. The Vikings did stay in eastern England, but Alfred and his heirs controlled most of the rest. o The Normans in northern France fared incomparably better. The Viking king Rollo converted to Christianity in 911, receiving Normandy as a duchy from the French king Charles the Simple. The Normans would eventually venture into the Mediterranean, establishing principalities that enabled them to conquer Sicily. Muslims  The Muslim conquest of Sicily was a boon to the Fatimids. However, it soon slipped from their control and was ruled by independent Islamic princes, with large amounts of Muslim immigrants. Muslims sometimes raided France and northern Italy, attacking churches, monasteries and looting surrounding lands, but these raids were short lived and hardly influential. The settling of Muslims in southern France was resisted. Magyars  The Magyars were competent cavalrymen and hired as mercenaries by the East-Frankish king and Byzantine emperor. They used their wealth and influence to conquer most of the Danube basin in 894. From here they raided Germany, Italy and even southern France, all the while serving as soldiers and allies for western rulers. Eventually the nomads settled, creating the Kingdom of Hungary. Public power and private relationships  The European rulers did not have mercenaries or salaried officials. They commanded by personal loyalty only. The Carolingians had relied on fideles, faithful men to keep their peace. This had about:blank 17/40 1/9/25, 7:32 AM A short history of the middle ages chapter 1-6 developed in the 10th century. The homines, men and vassali, vassals were crucial for the running of the European Kingdoms. o These men were often given estates in return for military service. These estates were known as fiefs or feodum, which the fideles could use to their own enrichment.  Feudalism fostered dependency. Traditionaly, society was divided into three distinct classes: the oratores, those who pray, the bellatores, those who fight, and the laboratores, those who work. Only the first two classes were free, and the top two classes often had fiefs and laboratores of their own, even whilst they were often vassals of other lords themselves. o Slight social movement for farmers developed in the 10 th century as the three-field system and stronger moldboard plows became available. The increased surplus this produced allowed some farmers to become independent entrepreneurs. Some lords also reduced owed payments temporarily and allowed their serfs and peasants to cultivate new land for them. o Peasant settlements grew into real villages in the 11th and 12th century, with a church at their center. Freedom of farmers varied. In Saxony most were free, while in France and England serfdom dominated. In Italy most peasants owned their own parcel of land and another which they leased from a lord. o Some lords became so powerful, particularly in regions lacking royal control, that they built their own castles, making them castellans and exercised the power of the “ban”: collecting taxes, dispensing justice, levy fines and muster soldiers. Warriors and bishops  The west became dominated by landlords with military command and local leadership. These lords were themselves vassals to another lords, who would call upon them to fight his enemies. This only happened around may, when the grass was long enough for horses to feed on. This was the war season of the year, lasting only around 40 days.  The family dynamic changed during the 10th and 11th centuries. Before, aristocratic families considered themselves large, relatively unorganized groups not tied to a single plot or estate, as they had many. The estates were divided, though not equally, between sons and daughters. The Carolingians started favoring their sons and by the 11th century, it was usually only the eldest son that inherited anything at all, receiving all of his father’s estates, leaving the rest of the children with nothing. These children often became knights or monks or bishops.  War was common in the Western European world. Constant battles called for constant peace agreements, in which the church was often involved. The church found the way many peace treaties were signed to be unfair, as they were often instigated by the losing party’s peers or were forced trials by combat would be required if one party did not sign. The church started calling for a “Peace of God” and gained much support in all ranks of the population. In the 1040’s the “Truce of God” was signed, banning all war from Lent to Easter, and from Thursdays to Sundays on all other parts of the year. Cities and merchants  The signing of the peace was in part a reaction to the growing importance of urban institutions and professions. Italy was chief in Europe when it came to city life. Italian aristocrats built their seats within cities, instead of castles like in France. The nobles dominated the contado from their halls: the rural area around the city.  A true mercantile class arose in the 11th century, particularly in the northern coastal regions of Europe. Here, merchants connected Southwestern France to the Baltic tribes. Spanish and Italian merchants also traded extensively. The Barcelonans traded with Cordoba in particular, imitating their coins and emulating their social structures. about:blank 18/40 1/9/25, 7:32 AM A short history of the middle ages chapter 1-6 Kingship in an age of fragmentation  Kings during the 11th century served as beacons of legitimacy and tradition on one hand and uniters of peoples and maintainers of order on the other. Northern Kingdoms  King Alfred the Great of England was one of the latter. His expulsion of the Vikings laid the foundation for a strong English kingship. Alfred reformed his armies and built a navy, but he also offered education for all free men, as he thought that the troubles England faced had been brought about because the English people had been punished by God for their ignorance. He brought scholars to his court and translated many religious works from Latin to Anglo-Saxon.  Alfred had become a symbol for the English people not governed by the Northmen. The king comprised the first English law code since 695 at the end of the ninth century. It was for all English kingdoms, instead of the individual codes all kingdoms had before. After Alfred’s death in 899, his successors expelled the remaining Northmen from England, save those that converted to Christianity.  England was comprised of ‘shires’ and ‘hundreds’. Each shire had a sheriff appointed by the king to oversee the administration there. Alfreds Grandson, Æthelstan (r.924-939), became the first king of all the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. He was crowned by the archbishop of Canterbury.  Æthelstan’s power differed from that of the Byzantine emperors in the fact that the king had no strong personal Varangian Guard or extensive civil service. He ruled by consensus. The landowners and strongmen supported the king because it was advantageous for them. When this was not the case, rebellions and civil war were common. This was used to the advantage of Vikings who increased their raids, even supplying their own English king, Cnut (r.1016-1035), yet he did not make many changes. By the time of Cnut Scandinavia was mostly Christian.  Denmark and Norway specifically, new kingdoms both developed around 1000, had taken the European religion as their own. This was because of European missionaries and the personal conversion of kings who decided that it was advantageous to use Christianity to increase their power. Germany  Germany assumed a royal model not dissimilar to the English one. A fragmented Germany chose the strongest of their dukes, Henry I (r.919-936), to resist foreign attacks, primarily from the east. He reorganized his army and decisively defeated the Hungarians in 933. He was succeeded by Otto I (r.936-973). Otto consolidated his power by defeating rebellious families and skillful political marriages. He invaded the Lombard kingdom in 951, taking their throne. He defeated the Hungarians at the battle of Lechfeld, earning him even more wealth and respect. He divided his wealth and lands amongst his nobles to keep them in line.  His successors, Otto II, Otto III and Henry II, expanded upon this by giving more land and titles, such as bishop or duke. The dukedom was hereditary, the bishopric wasn’t. Bishoprics were the most important source of support for the king, as he could always keep appointing loyal men when the previous bishop died or had to be replaced. France  The French kings struggled with invasions more than their German and English counterparts. Whereas military victory by German and English kings earned them prestige and support, most of the fighting was left to vassals in the French kingdom. The French also did not have the mines or Italian connections that other European kings did. The Carolingian kings saw their power reduced. The Carolingians altered the thrones with the Capetians, members of the powerful Capet family. This family meant the end of the Carolingian dynasty when Hugh Capet (987-996) was crowned, replacing the last Carolingian king. about:blank 19/40 1/9/25, 7:32 AM A short history of the middle ages chapter 1-6  The region surrounding Paris was the main powerbase of the Capetians. Many of the surrounding castellans eventually swore loyalty, if only formally, to the Capetians. They maintained a strong network of vassals unlike the other European kingdoms. Bohemia and Poland  Bohemia started as a German duchy in the tenth century, already Christianized and under German bishops. When the Bohemian duke, Bretislav I, invaded Poland, the German emperor, Henry III invaded and defeated him, but left him to rule his own affairs. This made Bohemia semi-independent.  Poland started coming into shape when its ruler Mieszko I (r.960-992) became Christian and put his realm under papal protection in 990 or 991. Mieszko managed to build many castles and expand his rule in all directions, as did his son, Boleslaw the Brave. Boleslaw appointed a Polish archbishop and styled himself as an ally of Christ. Hungary  Hungarians were polytheist and nomads when they entered Europe. They slowly became farmers. Peasants were led by the warrior class, who were in turn led by a warrior elite. Although first fighting amongst each other for influence, these elites soon recognized the authority of the prince of Géza. Géza’s son, Stephen I (r.997-1038) converted to Christianity and ordered his people to attend church on Sundays. He was crowned king in 1000 or 1001 and issued law codes that made his kingdom a true European one. Dates 910 Fatimid establish themselves as Caliphs in North-Africa 955 Otto I defeats the Hungarians at Lechfeld 980-1037 Ibn Sina (Avicenna) , scholar of medicine and philosophy 988 Vladimir, leader of Rus’, converts to Byzantine Christianity 989 Beginning of the “Peace of God” movement 1000/1001 Stephen I crowed king of Hungary 1025 Death of Basil II 1031 Al-Andalus splits into taifas Part II: Diverging Paths New Configurations: (1050-1150)  The second half of the 12th century saw the Seljuk Turks and the Europeans enter the Byzantine and Islamic empires, changing their configurations. Byzantium slipped, the Islamic world moved towards Sunnism. Europe itself saw a reinvigorated economy, shaping new forms of religious life, expanding territory and instilling new intellectual pursuits. The Seljuks and the Almoravids  The Seljuks arrived in the Islamic world in the 11th century and soon took over the eastern half and a large chunk of Byzantine territory. They would soon split apart, however, and caused the Islamic world to fragment again between hundreds of Rulers. All this while the Almoravids, a Berber tribe, formed their own empire in the western fringes of the Islamic world. From mercenaries to imperialists  The Seljuk Turks were a nomadic tribe hailing from modern Kazakhstan. They arrived in the Islamic world first as mercenaries for local Muslim rulers, but they started their own conquests in the 11th century. The Ghaznavid Turks resisted their Seljuk brethren under Sultan Mas’ud I (r.1030-1041), but were defeated decisively at the battle of Dandanqan in 1040. This opened the way for Seljuk expansion to the west, reaching all the way to Anatolia. about:blank 20/40 1/9/25, 7:32 AM A short history of the middle ages chapter 1-6  The Seljuk world was divided in two: the Great Seljuk Sultanate (1040-1194) in the east, spanning from Iran and Iraq to Uzbekistan, and the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum in former Byzantine Anatolia. The Anatolian territories were won at the battle of Manzikert in 1071, where the Byzantine emperor was decisively defeated. Rum also included Jerusalem after 1075, which led to the First Crusade.  The Seljuks were fiercely Sunni, and tried to revert all the Shi’ite policies of the Abbasids. To this end, many madrasas were founded throughout the Seljuk state. Young men received education in religion, law and literature.  Although Baghdad retained significant religious significance, it was sidelined by the Seljuks as a choice for their capital. They shifted the cultural and political centers to Iran and Anatolia. The splendor and wealth of both Seljuk states was clearly visible in their architecture. It included large domes and courtyards, open halls and large square rooms.  It is remarkable that former nomads were this invested in architecture. As a whole, the Seljuk elite was moving away from its roots. Nizam al-Mulk, for example, started giving lands to his armies in addition to money. Islamic rulers had for a long time used the iqta, the equivalent of a fief, to pay army leaders for their military service. The Seljuks expanded it to practically all state servants, military commanders and favored families. These iqtas were revocable in theory, but often ended up as hereditary. o The distribution of new iqtas gave the emirs: Sultan-appointed governors, more wealth and power than before. This led many emirs, particularly those of Iran and Iraq, to break away in the 12th century, causing the Seljuk empire to fall apart. Although the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum continued to exist.  The decline of Seljuk power did not end the Great Seljuk era, however. The Anatolian dynasty prospered from the region’s silver, copper, iron and lapis lazuli mines. This wealth allowed the Anatolian Seljuks to simply pay their rulers instead of giving them fiefs. Seljuk Anatolia was not as supportive of madras, the arts and literature as their eastern contemporaries, however. From Pastoralists to state-builders  The Sanhaja tribe of Berbers formed their own state in the western Islamic world. They were pastoralists, moving from one water source to another before being introduced to Islam. They started following a strict form of Sunni Islam in the 1030’s, strongly adhering to the laws stipulated in the Qur’an. They all wore a veil over their lower faces. These veils were introduced when the group first accepted Islam and the men had to disguise themselves as women to escape persecution.  The Sanhaja formed a federation known as the Murabitun (Almoravids) and began conquering the largely Shi’ite regions to their north. They conquered the Maghreb and founded their capital at Marrakesh around 1070, marking the end of their nomadic lifestyle. Their leader at the time, Yusuf ibn Tashfin, led his people farther north, taking Tangier in 1078 and Ceuta in the 1080’s.  The Almoravids primarily wanted to control the African salt and gold trade, meaning they were scarcely interested in Al-Andalus. They did sporadically fight the Christian kingdom of Alfonso VI, whom held León and Castille (1065-1109 and 1072-109 respectively), but only really became interested when Alfonso captured Toledo in 1085. This prompted Yusuf ibn Tashfin led an invasion of Spain, defeating Alfonso in 1086 and conquering the Islamic nations for themselves, completing this conquest in 1115. o The Almoravids were only laid low by the Almohads, a fellow Berber group, in 1147. o The Almoravids became staggeringly wealthy due to their large empire. Most of their exports consisted of fine silks and textiles, appreciated by Muslims and Christians alike. about:blank 21/40 1/9/25, 7:32 AM A short history of the middle ages chapter 1-6 Byzantium: bloodied but unbowed  The Seljuk invasion was not the only trouble the Byzantine empire had to contend with during the 11th century. The Normans, who had settled in southern Italy, expelled the Byzantines from that region in 1071 and finally from Sicily in 1093. The Normans under king Roger II (r.1130- 1154) created the Kingdom of Sicily from the former Byzantine possessions. It was a persistent thorn in the Byzantine side.  The Byzantine army was no longer effective. The themes were drained of citizen soldiers while the imperial armies consisted mostly of Turkish and Russian mercenaries, as well as increasing numbers of Francs and Normans. Luckily for the Byzantines, they were often able to keep the peace diplomatically by welcoming invading peoples instead of fighting them. Although this loosened Byzantine control of its territories, it allowed it to keep existing.  The Byzantine court changed during this period, too. It shifted from the model of the “public” emperors, ruling alone with the assistance of a large bureaucracy, to a more familial model in which the imperial family, expanded by diplomatic marriages with the dynatoi, ruled the empire. The emperor distributed lands, known as pronoia, to family members for them to govern temporarily. This meant that the Byzantines had also stopped paying salaries, instead moving to land grants. o The Byzantine emperors looked much like their European cousins in their possession of small amounts of territory, with most land being in the hands of vassals or family members. The quickening of the European economy  The Norman takeover in Sicily is just one of the signs of European expansion, another example is the emergence of new economic developments in Europe. New land was cultivated by draining