1.6 Developments in Europe

Which branches of Christianity dominated which half of Europe?

Eastern Orthodox in the Byzantine east, supporting a highly centralized structure. Roman Catholic in the fragmented west.

What was the Byzantine Empire?

The eastern half of the Roman Empire, which survived the fall of the west in 476 and kept Christianity's organizing power alive for another thousand years.

What happened in 1453?

The Ottoman Empire sacked Constantinople and renamed it Istanbul. That was the end of the Byzantine Empire.

Who carried Eastern Orthodoxy forward after 1453?

The Kievan Rus. They had adopted Orthodoxy well before the fall and borrowed Byzantine architecture, alphabet, and the use of church structures to organize the state.

What held fragmented western Europe together?

The hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church — popes, bishops, and cardinals — gave many separate states at least some common structure. It also organized the Crusades.

What were the Crusades, and how did they go?

Occasions when the Church roused European Christians to go fight Muslims in distant lands. With the exception of the first, Europeans were squarely beaten.

Which minority religions held important positions in Europe?

Islam — Muslims invaded the Iberian peninsula in the 8th century and ran it during this period. Judaism — Jewish communities were scattered across Europe and regularly facilitated trade.

What is antisemitism, and how did it shape Jewish life in Europe?

Jewish marginalization and persecution. Many European Christians were suspicious of Jews, and repeated waves of antisemitism kept Jewish communities living at the edges of European society.

What was distinctive about Europe's political situation c. 1200?

There were no large empires. While the Aztecs, Inca, Song China, and Islamic empires ruled vast territories, Europe was defined by decentralization and political fragmentation.

What was feudalism?

A system of allegiances among monarchs, powerful lords, and knights. Greater lords and kings gained loyalty from lesser ones, and land was exchanged to keep everyone loyal.

What was manorialism?

The system governing each independently owned patch of land. Manors were largely economically self-sufficient, which limited the need for trade or outside contact.

What were serfs, and how did they differ from enslaved people?

Peasants bound to the land, working it in exchange for the lord's protection. The crucial difference: serfs were not owned by the lord — they were tied to the land itself. Children of serfs became serfs.

What changed for European monarchs starting around 1200?

They began to centralize power by building large militaries and bureaucracies, pulling authority away from the nobility that had previously held it.

What was the consequence of monarchs centralizing power?

Increasingly powerful monarchs began competing with one another for influence and territory — producing wars of conquest to settle who was the biggest power.

Describe Europe's economy and labor system.

Largely agricultural, dependent on a mix of free and coerced labor, with serfdom at its center.