CHAPTER 7Medieval Empires and Borderlands:

Byzantium and Islam

The WestEncounters and Transformations

Levack/Muir/Veldman/Maas

Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Longman, Copyright 2007

Chapter 7: Medieval Empires and Borderlands: Byzantium and Islam

Levack et al., The West: Encounters and Transformations Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Longman, Copyright 2007

I. Byzantium: the Survival of the Roman Empire

II. The New World of Islam

Chapter 7: Medieval Empires and Borderlands: Byzantium and Islam

Levack et al., The West: Encounters and Transformations Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Longman, Copyright 2007

I. Byzantium: the Survival of the Roman Empire

Justinian (527-565)

A. Challenges

invaders from Eurasian steppes

Avars

6th - 9th centuries

Slavs

subjected

Czechs, Samo

revolt

Slavs

c. 550, cross Danube

to Croatia, Serbia

626, Slavs and Avars attack Constantinople

repelled

Chapter 7: Medieval Empires and Borderlands: Byzantium and Islam

Levack et al., The West: Encounters and Transformations Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Longman, Copyright 2007

I. Byzantium: the Survival of the Roman Empire

A. Challenges

Bulgars

subject Balkans in 8th

Khan Krum (808-814)

defeats Byzantines, assassinates emperor

Khan Boris (852-889)

converts to Orthodoxy

Cyril (c.826-869) and Methodius (815-885)

new alphabet

translate Christian liturgy

by 1018, Bulgaria again part of Eastern Empire

Rus

Kiev

Vladimir the Great (980-1015)

Iaroslav the Wise (1019-1054)

unites Kiev and Novgorod

converts to Orthodoxy

Chapter 7: Medieval Empires and Borderlands: Byzantium and Islam

Levack et al., The West: Encounters and Transformations Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Longman, Copyright 2007

I. Byzantium: the Survival of the Roman Empire

B. Western Provinces

Exarchate of Carthage

Spain lost to Visigoths, 630's

North Africa, conquered by Arabs, 698

Exarchate of Ravenna

falls, 751

C. Eastern Adversaries

Persia

Chosroes II

602, new attack

614, takes Antioch

Heraclius (610-641)

defeats Chosroes, 628

Islam

Leo II (717-741)

victory at Akroinon, 740

Digenes Akritas

Chapter 7: Medieval Empires and Borderlands: Byzantium and Islam

Levack et al., The West: Encounters and Transformations Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Longman, Copyright 2007

I. Byzantium: the Survival of the Roman Empire

D. Byzantine Civilization

Administration

Emperor

state monopolies

Themes - 4

increasingly autonomous

later subdivided

Church

clerical hierarchy

Patriarch

bishops

Iconoclasm

Leo III (717-741)

> split with Rome

787, end of Iconoclasm

E. Macedonian Renaissance

Macedonian dynasty (867-1056)

Basil I (867-886)

names successor

Economy

Constantinople, .5 million

Art

end of iconoclasm

Photius (810-c.893)

Patriarch

historian

Library

Constantine VII Porphyrogenetus (912-959)

On the Administration of the Empire

Basil II

1025, dies without heir

Chapter 7: Medieval Empires and Borderlands: Byzantium and Islam

Levack et al., The West: Encounters and Transformations Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Longman, Copyright 2007

II. The New World of Islam

A. Arabs before Islam

Arabic

Commerce, herding

Petra

taken by 100 B.C.E.

Tribal organization

Religion

polytheism, monotheism

Chapter 7: Medieval Empires and Borderlands: Byzantium and Islam

Levack et al., The West: Encounters and Transformations Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Longman, Copyright 2007

II. The New World of Islam

B. The Rise of Islam

Muhammad (c.570-632)

Quraysh

Mecca

Kaaba

marries Khadija

Revelation

Qur'an

622, to Medina

Hijra

conflict with Jews

630, takes Mecca

Teachings

Islam = submission

5 Pillars

Accept God and Muhammad as his prophet

Prayer

Friday communal prayer

Ramadan

Pilgrimage

Jihad = struggle

Chapter 7: Medieval Empires and Borderlands: Byzantium and Islam

Levack et al., The West: Encounters and Transformations Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Longman, Copyright 2007

II. The New World of Islam

C. Succession

Abu Bakr (632-634)

father in law

Sunnism

Ali

husband of Fatima, daughter of Muhammad

Shi'ites

Wars of Apostasy

Umar (634-644)

second Rashidun

attacks Byzantine and Persian empires

takes Syria, 636

Ctesiphon, 637

Egypt and Persia

Civil War, 655-661

Umayyad Sunnis v. Ali

661, Ali assassinated

D. Umayyad Caliphate, 661-750

"House of Islam" v. "House of War"

Sweep west

632, Poitiersstopped by Charles Martel

661, treaty with Nubians

China

751, Battle of Talas

Government

Muawiya (661-680)

hereditary monarchy

Authority

no longer by consent

> civil war, 683-692

Administration

Arabic

New towns:

Fustat, Kairouan, Basra

Chapter 7: Medieval Empires and Borderlands: Byzantium and Islam

Levack et al., The West: Encounters and Transformations Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Longman, Copyright 2007

II. The New World of Islam

(D. Umayyad Caliphate, 661-750)

Conversion

People of the Book

Economy

trade

land tax

dirham, dinar

End of the Umayyad

750, last caliph dies

Abbasids

from Shah Abbas Muhammad's uncle

Abd al-Rahman I (756-788)to Spain

Umayyad Caliphate of Córdoba

E. Abbasid Caliphate, 750-945

Baghdad, 762-763

new orientation

Height, 754-861

Arabian Nights

Harun al-Rashid (786-809)

al-Mamun (813-833)

Baghdad observatory

al-Kindi (d. after 870)

Chapter 7: Medieval Empires and Borderlands: Byzantium and Islam

Levack et al., The West: Encounters and Transformations Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Longman, Copyright 2007

II. The New World of Islam

F. Europe

Sicily

immigration, 703-1060

Spain

Córdoba, largest city in Europe

Abd al-Rahman III (912-961)Madinat az-Zahra

Hasdai ibn Shaprut (915-970)

Samuel ibn Nagrela (993-1055)

Navarre

Sancho I (1000-1035)

conquests

1035, divided

Alfonso VI (1072-1109)

Castile

1085, Toledo

> Almoravids

Alfonso defeated, 1086