This document provides an overview of the Byzantine Empire and Western Europe between 200-850 CE. It discusses how the Roman Empire split into three civilizations: the Byzantine Empire, Western Europe/Western Christendom, and the Islamic World. It then focuses on the Byzantine Empire, noting its strong military and legal systems, use of Greek language and culture, and role in preserving classical knowledge. Constantinople was highlighted as the wealthy capital. The document also discusses the development of Christianity and the Orthodox Church in the Byzantine Empire.

1. Continuity and Change in
Europe and Western Asia, 200–
850 CE
HI 101

2. Legacies of the Roman Empire
**Three Civilizations: Heirs to the Roman Empire
(6th-7th centuries): a new period in the history of
world civilization; clear that no one empire would
rule the Mediterranean world;
1. Byzantine Empire
2. Western Europe (Western Christendom)
3. Islamic World
**each developed with its own culture, its own
religion, and its own language; these three
civilizations quickly became rivals.

3. • This lecture covers:
– The Byzantine Empire
– & the Creation of Western Europe/Western
Christendom
(Islamic world is next week’s topic)

4. Byzantine & Sassanid Empires, 690

5. Byzantine Civilization
• 5th century-1453
• descended from the eastern half of the Roman
Empire
• capital was Constantinople
– a rich and sophisticated city of 1,000,000 people
• combined Roman imperial traditions of
government with intense pursuit of the
[Orthodox] Christian faith
• aspects of this culture spread into Eastern
Europe and Russia in the 9th
century

6. 1. Legal, administrative, and military systems were maintained
from the Roman Empire, which helped establish a strong and
secure state.
– Developed the Justinian Law Code: Jurists were appointed to a
committee by Emperor Justinian to organize and clarify the laws,
resulting in the Code.
– Justinian’s lawyers also produced the Digest and the Institutes, which,
along with the Code, are the backbone of the corpus juris civilis (the
“body of civil law”), which is the foundation for almost all modern
European law

7. Character and Achievements of
the Byzantine Empire:
2. Constantinople enjoyed a prime location for defensive
fortifications.
– Strong walls were constructed around the city that made attacks by
land or sea difficult. Cisterns of water and vegetable gardens within
Constantinople’s walls could sustain a besieged population (a
population under attack by invaders).

8. Constaninople

9. Character and Achievements of
the Byzantine Empire:
3. it developed separately from Western Europe
– the language was Greek
– culture was an ethnically diverse blend of the Roman, the
Hellenistic, the Persian, and the Semitic
4. Christian Church separated from the West;
– unwillingness to acknowledge the authority of the Roman
pope, recognizing instead the Patriarch of Constantinople;
5. church and secular state were linked
– emperor was both a secular and religious leader; matters
involving religion were also political

10. Character and Achievements of
the Byzantine Empire
6. Byzantine works of art and architecture
include mosaics
– like the portraits of Justinian and Theodora in San
Vitale (Ravenna)
– or the Hagia Sophia (=Holy Wisdom)
7. Byzantines also helped preserve Greek
learning, like the teachings of Aristotle

11. Justinian Portrait in San Vitale
(Ravenna)

12. Hagia Sophia

13. Hagia Sophia (interior)

14. Life in Constantinople:
• 1. The city was a major crossroads for overland trade routes because it connected
the Eastern and Western empires. The markets of Constantinople offered
merchandise from distant lands. Many products were produced in and shipped
from Constantinople, making the city a center of production and trade.
• 2. Merchants and craftsmen could achieve wealth in Constantinople’s vibrant
economy, but they could not achieve first-class status. Only landed aristocracy
could hold that position in Byzantine society.
• 3. Constantinople was home to numerous apartment complexes. The typical
Byzantine household included family members and servants, some of them slaves.
• 4. Upper-class women were segregated from the outside world in an effort to
maintain chastity and family honor. Marriage was intended for social
advancement.

15. Character and Achievements of the Byzantine
Empire:
The Evolution of Church Leadership and Orthodoxy
•1. The Roman Empire had been divided into units called dioceses for
administrative purposes. The early Christian community based the church’s
organization on that pattern. Each of the church’s dioceses, or geographical
districts, was placed under the authority of a bishop. The cathedral was the
bishop’s center of authority.
•2. Disputes within the Christian community created concerns for
Constantine.
– Arianism: questioned the exact nature of Jesus– asserted that the Son of God was
created by the Father, and separate from the Father, and subordinate to the Father
– At the Council of Nicaea, Constantine and church leaders developed the Nicene Creed,
which defined the church’s official position that Christ is of the same substance as God
the Father (formed concept of the Holy Trinity)
•3. Emperor Theodosius made Christianity the official religion of Rome and
banned the practice of the old Roman state religion. The church was then
allowed to construct its own canon law to settle its own disputes.

16. The Growth of the Christian Church
The Western Church and the Eastern Church
•1. The hierarchy of the Western Church was based on Jesus’s
statements that Peter was the rock on which the church would
be built, creating the concept of the Petrine Doctrine.
•2. Tradition has it that Peter lived in Rome and was the church’s
first bishop. As successors of Peter, the bishops of Rome, or
popes, claimed to be supreme over Christian society.
•3. In the East the emperor continued to have a level of control
over the Orthodox Church, which was led by the patriarch.
Eastern emperors saw religion as a branch of the state.
•4. Eastern bishops did not accept Rome’s claim to primacy, and
so the Eastern Christian Church, called the Orthodox Church, and
the Roman Church grew further and further apart.

17. II. The Growth of the Christian Church
C. The Iconoclastic Controversy
• 1. Images of God, Jesus Christ, and the saints were presented in sculptures, mosaics, or
paintings. The church allowed people to venerate these icons in the belief that they
fostered reverence.
• 2. Iconoclasts felt the faithful were worshiping the icons themselves rather than what they
represented, which was a violation of church law and the Ten Commandments. Emperor
Leo III ordered that the icons be destroyed. His son Constantine attacked the monasteries,
seizing property and executing some monks while forcing others into the military.
• 3. Leo’s and Constantine’s actions raised the issue of how involved the emperor should be
in church affairs. The controversy influenced the pope to seek an alliance with the Frankish
monarchy. The pope of Rome and the patriarch of Constantinople excommunicated each
other, creating the schism between the Roman Catholic and the Orthodox Churches.
D. Christian Monasticism
• 1. Individuals removed themselves from society and went into deserts or mountains to seek
God through devotional prayer. The church encouraged those who chose this path to live in
communities, creating a life known as monasticism.
• 2. The Rule of Saint Benedict, a guide for monastic life written by Benedict of Nursia,
influenced religious life within the Roman Church. The monastic life outlined by the guide
struck a balance between asceticism and activity, thus providing opportunities for men of
widely different abilities. The Benedictine form of monasticism became the basis of all
western monasteries.

18. III. Christian Ideas and Practices
A. Christian Beliefs and the Greco-Roman Tradition
• 1. Saint Jerome translated the Old and New Testaments
from Hebrew and Greek into vernacular Latin. He believed
that the study of classical writings was important in directing
one’s mind to God.
• 2. Jesus held women to be the equal of men. Women were
some of the first and most faithful Christian converts. Later
church leaders assigned women a lesser status and
portrayed them as a temptation and sometimes as evil. This
attitude eventually eroded women’s active role within the
church.

20. Notes on “Procession to A New Church”
• 1. Can you find any evidence in the carving of the fusion of Christian and Greco-
Roman culture that took place in the centuries after Jesus’ time?
• (Answer: The church under construction includes Greco-Roman columns (apparently
Corinthian) and an arch – both elements of Classical architecture. Several crosses –
the central symbol of Christianity – are visible. )
• 2. What does the carving suggest about the power of the Church in Europe in the
sixth century CE?
• (Answer: The church is quite large and three stories high. The procession is also
large, and seems to include dignitaries. The overall impression is of a large and
elaborate ritual. This suggests that the Church as a whole was a wealthy and
powerful institution by the 500s.
• 3. Does this carving suggest that the Church in the 500s was relatively egalitarian, or
more hierarchical?
• (Answer: The men riding the cart as well as the figure to the right who is apparently
welcoming them seem to be of higher rank than the other figures in the procession.
The figure of Jesus looks down on the whole scene from an arch on the top left. )

21. III. Christian Ideas and Practices
B. Saint Augustine
• 1. An influential figure in the Western Church, Saint
Augustine produced an autobiography, The Confessions, that
documents his moral struggle between spirituality and self-
indulgence.
• 2. According to Augustine, the basic force in any man or
woman is the will. Adam’s “original sin” corrupted and
weakened the will in all human beings. But Augustine
believed that the strength of the will could be restored
through God’s grace, as transmitted in the sacraments
maintained by the church.

22. III. Christian Ideas and Practices
C. Missionary Activity
• 1. Since leaders often determined the religion of their
people, missionaries concentrated on converting the leaders
and their family members. Barbarian kings accepted
Christianity because they believed the Christian God was
powerful and would deliver victory on the battlefield, or
because Christianity taught obedience to (royal) authority, or
because the priests’ charisma and knowledge could be
associated with kingly power.
– Saint Patrick, who had studied in Gaul and became a bishop,
converted the Irish tribes by baptizing the king.
– Byzantine missionaries Cyril and Methodius traveled to eastern
Europe and converted the Russians and other east European peoples
to the Orthodox Church.

24. III. Christian Ideas and Practices
D. Conversion and Assimilation
• 1. Missionaries eased acceptance of Christianity by
assimilating pagan traditions and practices. Aspects of
midwinter celebrations were incorporated into Christmas
celebrations, and pagan spring rituals were added to the
observance of Easter.
• 2. Confessing one’s sins was the only way to reconcile with
God. Sins were confessed to a priest, who then set a
penance through which the confessant could atone for those
sins.
• 3. Saints were spiritually heroic individuals who were able to
provide protection and help the faithful. Relics of the saints
served as links between the material and spiritual worlds.

25. The Barbarian Migrations & The Creation of
Western Christendom
A. Social and Economic Structures
• 1. The tribe was the basic social unit of barbarian peoples.
Tribe members believed they were descended from a
common ancestor. Barbarian groups often lived in small
villages with agricultural fields producing grain.
• 2. Within the barbarian household, the father maintained
authority over his wife, children, and slaves. Women had few
rights, but widows could sometimes gain the rights of their
late husbands.

27. The Barbarian Migrations & The Creation of
Western Christendom
B. Chiefs, Warriors, and Laws
• 1. Each tribe was led by a chieftain, who was elected from
among the male members of the strongest family. In some
tribes the chief was tied closely to the tribe’s warriors.
• 2. Law codes were compiled to reduce interpersonal
violence. Any crime that involved a personal injury was
assigned a certain amount of financial value, identified as the
wergeld. The wergeld varied according to the severity of the
crime.

28. The Barbarian Migrations & The Creation of
Western Christendom
C. Migrations and Political Change
• 1. Originally located in central Europe, the Celts spread out across the continent. Many
Celtic tribes assimilated to Roman ways after being defeated by Julius Caesar. Celtic-
speaking peoples in Britain clashed with Germanic-speaking invaders following the
withdrawal of Roman troops.
• 2. The Huns, moving west from the central Asian steppes, threatened eastern Roman
settlements along the Danube and Rhine Rivers. A plague and a lack of supplies forced the
Huns to retreat from eastern Europe.
• 3. Roman emperors depended on barbarian kings for military assistance. Odoacer, a
barbarian chieftain, deposed the last Roman emperor.
D. The Frankish Kingdom
• 1. The Franks were a Germanic group located in the region of Gaul. The Merovingian
Dynasty was founded by Clovis, who was converted to Christianity by his wife, Clotild.
Clovis’s kingdom was divided among his sons following his death.
• 2. During the Dark Ages that followed Clovis’s death, a new dynasty arose from a powerful
family identified as the Carolingians.
• 3. Charles Martel established the Carolingian Dynasty following his victory over Muslim
forces at the Battle of Poitiers. The defeat of the Muslims strengthened the relationship of
the Carolingians with the Roman Church.

29. The Barbarian Migrations & The Creation of
Western Christendom
E. Charlemagne
• 1. Charles the Great was the most powerful Carolingian leader. Known as
Charlemagne, he was crowned emperor by the pope. This crowning
sealed the schism between the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern
Orthodox Church.
• 2. Charlemagne’s greatest endeavor was to create a unified kingdom
consisting of the majority of continental Europe. Charlemagne divided
his kingdom into counties for administrative purposes.
• 3. Though barely literate himself, Charlemagne instigated the Carolingian
Renaissance, a renewal of interest in the study and preservation of
classical Greek and Roman ideas and achievements.
• 4. Charlemagne left his empire to his only surviving son, Louis the Pious.
After Louis’s death, the kingdom was divided into thirds, one section for
each of Louis’s three sons. This agreement, identified as the Treaty of
Verdun, laid the foundation for the development of modern Europe.

31. Notes on “Charlemagne and His Wife”
• 1. Based on this image, what seems to have been the
accepted “correct” roles for husband and wife to play
at this time in western Europe?
– (Answer: Charlemagne appears to be admonishing his
wife, who seems to show both some fear and close
attention to him. Here the husband acts as a teacher and
disciplinarian, the wife as a humble student. The husband
acts as an adult who must care for and instruct the
woman, who is analogous to a child. )