Introduction to Medieval Nations and the Spread of People

Byzantine Empire (fall of Rome – 1453)

• Land occupied included Greece, Balkan Peninsula, Asia Minor, Palestine and Egypt

• Capital of the empire was Constantinople, language was Greek, faith was Orthodox Christian.

• In 527, Justinian became emperor (ruled until 565) and tried to return to the power of the Roman Empire. This resulted in 30 years of wars which depleted the human and material resources of the empire. Also devastated and divided Italy.

• After a couple of centuries of fighting, the Byzantines lost most of their eastern and southern Mediterranean territories, which left them with Asia Minor, the Balkans, parts of Italy, Crete and Cyprus.

• Decline of the Empire took centuries, but was heavily weakened by multiple attacks from the Seljuk Turks and subsequently the Ottomans.

• During the Fourth Crusade (1204) Europeans invaded Constantinople and sacked the city.

• The Empire was able to recover, but was not unified and eventually fell to the Ottomans in 1453.

Emperor Justinian

Constantinople• Constantinople – population 1 000 000.• A highly defendable, rich and sophisticated city.• It was able to develop separately from Western Europe, the language was Greek

and the culture a mix of Roman, Greek, Persian and Semitic.• The religion was Orthodox Christian meaning it moved away from the authority of

the Roman Pope. The leader of the religion was instead the Patriarch of Constantinople (a Pope-like role, during the Roman Empire the patriarch was the Pope’s 2nd in command for Asia Minor) .

• The church and government were linked and the emperor was seen as leader of the government and religion. Religious issues were therefore seen as also being Political as seen with the Iconoclastic controversy. Therefore the Patriarch became fully separate from the Western Church in 1054.

• Mosaics are the most famous works of art produced during the Byzantine Empire – see Hagia Sophia.

• The Byzantines also helped to preserve aspects of Roman law and Greek culture. The Byzantines tried to continue the ideas of the Roman Empire through many of its legal practices but it also ensured the survival of much of Greek culture, for example the works of Aristotle.

Constantinople

Hagia Sophia

Mosaics Inside Hagia Sophia

Anglo-Saxons

Europe in the 5th Century (Latin Names)

Anglo-Saxons• Saxons were a combination of Germanic tribes from northern Germany.

The Angles were also a Germanic tribe who migrated to England from southern Jutland (Denmark).

• The Angles founded the kingdoms of Northumbria, East Anglia and Mercia.

• The Saxons were pagans and long held out converting to Christianity and becoming part of the Frankish kingdom. However, during the Saxon Wars of 772 – 804, the Saxons were defeated by Charlemagne, were brought under Frankish rule and were baptised and converted to Christianity.

• The Saxons invaded and eventually started migrating to the British Isles during the collapse of the Roman Empire. The Saxons were granted land in southern England and as more of their people arrived, the more land they were granted.

• With the spread of the Saxons, Angles and Jutes, four main kingdoms emerged, but eventually they were united, they unified the country and formed the Kingdom of England.

Frankish Empire

Frankish Empire• Early Period: Barbarian Germans tried to create monarchies. These monarchies

fought each other for dominance ending the peace and unity of the Roman Empire – became the basis for the modern European nations. Invasions and threats of invasions from the Byzantines, Slavs and Scandinavians. The Church tried to convert barbarians and states that the spiritual authority of the church is superior to political authority.

• The Carolingians (714-987): Began as a family of landowners. They eventually became the chief administrators of the Frankish Kingdom. They were key in stopping the advance of the Muslims at the Battle of Tours. Close ties formed between the Carolingians and the Church because they could help each other: The Pope and the Church needed a military protector and Pepin (the leader of the Frankish Kingdom) used Christianity to justify his claim to the throne and to unify the Franks.

• The age of Charlemagne: After Pepin died, his son Charles eventually became overall ruler. He was a natural leader and transformed the Frankish Kingdom into a great Empire. By 800CE he had created the largest state in Europe since the fall of the Roman Empire. His royal commands were usually given after consultation with nobles and the clergy. He believed that God made kings responsible for the church. He converted the Saxons (often by use of the sword), enhanced the role of the pope and on Christmas Day in 800, Pope Leo III crowned him Emperor.

Coronation of Charlemagne

Frankish Empire• Disintegration of the Carolingian Monarchy (814-987): The

empire did not survive long after Charlemagne’s death – the people were too diverse, the relationship to the church was not fully supported, church leaders wanted independence, threatened by enemies (Muslims, Slavs and Vikings) and the nobles separated themselves away from a central government.

• Charlemagne’s heirs were also indecisive and eventually split the empire into three parts. Charles the Bald ruled the West Franks (France), Louis the German ruled the East Franks (Germany) and Lothair ruled the central lands. The central kingdom eventually disappeared leaving the East and West Franks as the dominant groups.

Europe after Charlemagne’s Death

Vikings/Norsemen• The Vikings are greatly different from other Medieval nations as their people

came from many lands. They started as Pagans from Denmark, Norway and Sweden, eventually expanding into Ireland, Iceland, Greenland, Scotland and Canada. It is unclear what started this process of expansion but it could relate to Charlemagne’s wars against other pagan societies and his spread of Christianity.

• Viking life was based around agriculture and trade and this also led to their expansion. However, many of the Christian empires would refuse to trade with both Vikings and Muslims or they would increase their prices for these people. This is what led to the more notorious of the Viking qualities – raiding.

• The beginning of the Viking Age in the British Isles is considered to be 793 when they raided the important monastery on the island of Lindisfarne. They continued raiding until 1066 when they lost their final battle against the English army at Stamford Bridge.

• With the rise and spread of Christianity, the spread of the Viking Era needed to increase. While the Viking Age died in Norway, the Vikings still continued to spread east eventually forming the Kingdom of Kievan Rus.

Viking Ship

Normans• The Duchy of Normandy was created in 911 after a treaty

between the Western Frankish leader and a Viking leader.• During the 10th C, the Viking raiders who used the French

rivers to push further into Europe, started permanent settlements. The pagan culture of the Vikings was eventually destroyed and Christianity adopted and the social hierarchy of feudalism, found throughout the rest of France, was slowly adopted.

• Due to their locations and Viking origins of the Normans, close ties and links were formed between England and Normandy with many English royalty spending time in Normandy for education. This friendship was not to last and early tensions between the Saxons and Normans would arise in 1051. By 1066 everything would be different.

Normandy

Kievan Rus

Principalities of Kievan Rus

Kievan Rus (882 – 1240)

• The Eastern Slavs migrated to Russia and Ukraine in the 6th century and made contact with the Vikings who traded along the Russian rivers.

• Over time, the Princes came into contact with the Byzantines who introduced them to Orthodox Christianity in 980. Orthodoxy spread and became a unifying factor for the Russian people and helped to develop the Russian state, this also moved them further away from Western Europe.

• The highest point of Kievan Rus was during the rule of Yaroslav the Wise.• Kievan Rus declined due to succession problems and also through Mongol

invasions.• Between 1054 – 1500 a number of the key principalities competed for power

(Moscow, Novgorad and Vladamir-Suzdal).• Kievan Rus started to be invaded – first by Mongols and then Teutonic Knights from

Germany. • Ethnic tensions began to arise between Great Russians around Moscow, Ukraine

and White Russians.• Moscow rose in power because they supported the Mongol rulers, this allowed

Northern Russia to become unified under a single ruler, this allowed for the establishment of a strong central government, the Mongol rule ended and Ivan the Terrible became the first Russian Tsar.

Islamic Civilisation and the Islamic Empire (622 – 1453)

Expansion of the Islam

Islamic Civilisation and the Islamic Empire• Birth of Islam – Prophet Muhammad (b. ca. 570 in Mecca). Arabia was

originally polytheistic and Muhammad converted to Monotheism in 610 and started preaching a new religion which drew from and completed Christianity and Judaism. His beliefs angered local officials so he and his followers fled to Medina in 622. More people converted and in 630 they returned to Mecca and captured the city. He destroyed the polytheistic idols in the Ka’ba making it into a Muslim shrine. When Muhammad died in 632CE most of Arabia had accepted or been forced to accept Islam and had been united.

• The spread of Islam 632-661: Conquest of Persia and parts of India, the Middle East and North Africa as far as Tripoli.

• 662 – 750: Armenia, the rest of North Africa, Spain and the southern parts of France. In 732 Islam spread into Europe with the Battle of Tours, but they failed to take Constantinople. This did mean that Muslims controlled the Mediterranean Sea and the trade routes.

Islamic Civilisation and the Islamic Empire• Originally the Islamic Empire had a strong central government under

the Caliph who had complete civil, military and religious power. The 4th caliphate was Ali (656-661) and due to issues with succession resulted in no one caliph ruling the Islamic world. The most important caliphates were the Umayyads (660-750; Damascus) and the Abbasids (750-1258; Baghdad). After the Abbasids massacred the Umayyads in 750, one member escaped to Spain, where he established the Caliphate of Córdoba; it lasted until 1031. Additional caliphates were established in North Africa, including the Fatimids (968-1171) and the Ayyubids (1173-1250) in Egypt, the Alids (788-985) and the Almoravids (1056-1147) in Morocco, and the Almohades (1130-1269) in Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, and parts of Spain.

• Economy of the Islamic Empire was based on commerce (china to the Mediterranean) and on manufacturing (silk, cloth, tapestries, and carpets; jewellery, perfumes, and spices; precious metals and swords from Damascus and Toledo).

Islamic Civilisation and the Islamic Empire• Collapse of the Islamic Empire: After Spain, the empire extended

further East to India, but nothing held these diverse nations together other than religion and Arabic – there was no political unity. The arrival of the Seljuk Turks also did much to diminish the power of the Islamic Empire – they battled the Byzantines, they spread into Asia Minor, Syria and Mesopotamia. The power of the Seljuks then declined after losing to the Mongols. With the arrival of the Ottomans (who had converted to Islam in the 9th and 10th centuries) they regained Asia Minor and eventually Constantinople.

• The empire expanded to include Asia Minor, southern Europe and North Africa and resulted in again the spread of Islam. This spread of Islam and the control of Holy Sites and trade routes worried Christian Europe and they waged Crusades against the Muslims. Eventually the Christians retook most of Spain and Sicily but the Islamic Empire had spread far and wide.

Holy Roman Empire

Holy Roman Empire• King Otto eventually took over control of the Frankish kingdoms. In 951

he came to the aid of Adelaide, the widow of the King of Italy. He defeated her enemies, married her and subsequently took over control of Italy.

• In 962 Otto was crowned Emperor by the Pope and this marks the beginning of the Holy Roman Empire. From then on, the affairs of the German (Frankish) kingdom were joined with those of Italy and the papacy. With Otto becoming Emperor this made subsequent German Kings successor to the empire of Charlemagne which also made them successors to the Roman Empire.

• During the reign of Henry IV, the king had many conflicts with the Papacy about the appointment of Bishops – this was the duty of the Emperor but the Pope didn’t like this and wanted to take control. The battle was long and hard and resulted in Henry being excommunicated twice. What this conflict demonstrated was the limits of the emperor’s power especially in matters regarding the Church.

Holy Roman Empire• Henry was from the Hohenstauffen family and this family

ruled the Empire for a long time. This period was a great advancement for the empire and saw the development of a number of new cities due to a population explosion – these cities included Freiburg and Munich.

• In 1190, under Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, the Holy Roman Empire participated in the Third Crusade.

• Due to constant conflict with the Church, the Holy Roman Empire never achieved political unity like other medieval nations. This was mostly caused by the extent of land that the empire covered.

MAJOR ASSIGNMENT #1• Form into groups of 2-3 (NO MORE).• Try to fill in any gaps that you may have from the worksheet.

• Choose one of the Medieval Nations that has been discussed to base your research assignment on.

• Once you have chosen a nation, come and collect assignment sheets and wait for discussion.