Note
Studied by 8 people
Byzantine empire
Outline 1
p. 352-355, 358-363
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Pages 352-353
Main idea: the byzantine empire was well located for trade but open to attack
Connecting East and West
Crossroads : place where two roads meet
-byzantine empire had a crossroad of europe and asia
-this was the place where the trade routes from each continent met
-as a result of the empire’s geography, many influences came together to create the Byzantine civilization
-Byzantine empire is often referred to as Byzantium
AD 330
-the emperor Costantine had transformed Byzantium into a grand “New Rome”
-he named the city Constantinople or city of Constantine
-today it is called Istanbul
-Byzantine empire survived Barbarian attacks
-a series of strong emperors fought off Byzantium’s enemies and strengthened the empire
-Byzantine empire continued the traditions of Roman civilization for another thousands years after the collapse of the Western empire
-the people (Byzantines) called themselves Romans
At the heart of the empire was the small but important land link between asia and europe that permitted trade between the east and west
-the empire reached both continents
-its heartland was in what are now Greece and Turkey
Bosporus: a strait that links the Black sea with the mediterranean
-the city was a major trade center
-Constantinople was also located on the Bosporus
-constantinople and byzantine empire grew rich
Diversity: range of different things; a variety
-immigrants came from their homelands and wounded up living in the bustling city
-they came to trade and Constantinople was famous for that
Expanding the empire
-Constantinople was protected, but the rest of the empire wasn’t
-to the north and west were many barbarian kingdoms
-to the east was an age-old enemy, the powerful and hostile Persian empire
-the rich resources and great wealth of Byzantine empire made it tempting target for raids and invasions
-with no strong geographic barriers to prevent invasion by enemies, the empire was dangerously exposed
-its long borders were constantly under attack by invading neighbors
-the empire needed strong leadership to hold it together in the face of so many threats
-the greatest ruler was one of its earliest Justininan, the emperor
Justinian: emperor who ruled from 527 AD to 565 AD
-he recaptured lost Byzantine lads but also conquered large areas of the old Western roman empire
-for a small time, he reunited the western and eastern empires
-he built up the strength of the byzantine empire, even when rome was being overrun by invaders
-his legacy of leadership remained influential throughout the time of the BYzantine empire and beyond
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Pages 354-355
Justinian and Theodroa
Main idea: Justinian and Theodroa ruled over a golden age for Byzantium
A powerful ruler
-his uncle appointed him as successor
-born in 482/483 CE
-became emperor in 527 CE
-improved government construction and law
-got rid of corruption and improved efficiency
-ordered building of Hagia Sophia
Hagia Sophia: a church in constantinople that today is considered a masterpiece of byzantine architecture
-dedicated Christian, punished those who were guilt of heresy
Heresy: beliefs contrary to church teachings - including jews
-prohibited jews from buildings synagogues and reading bible in hebrew
-justinian worked hard to settle opinions that divided the church
-he reorganized roman laws and wrote the Justinian laws
Divine: having the nature of a god
-groups within the church had different beliefs about whether Jesus was divine and should be worshipped as an equal to god
Justinian code
-he reorganized and standardized confusing roman laws
-had the surviving laws written down clearly and logically in a single work
-used throughout the empire
-had formed the basis of European law until modern times
Courageous empress
Theodora: lower class, an actress when she was young
-Justinian changed the law so he could marry Theodora, who was a lower class woman
-most likely behind the woman child and and christian minority protection laws
-saved the crown in 532 CE, rivals start a rebellion in which Theodora convinced Justinian to fight and order was restored
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358-259
Life in Constantinople
Main idea: constantinople was a lively capital city modeled on ancient rome
-constantinople relied on outside resources for survival
-ate frain from Egypt and had water piped from over 70m, away
-the city was surrounded by water on 3 sides
-many residents relied on government provided bread
-it had very bad conditions
-had a senate house, public baths for health, triumphal arches, columns and statues
-Hippodrome (arena), 1500 ft to watch chariot races, emperor watches from imperial box
Roman cultural influence
-byzantine people considered themselves more roman than romans
-cultural diversity because of trade
-greece was strong influence, people spoke Greek
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Pages 360-361
The church divides
Main idea: christianity in the east and west developed differently, causing argument and finally a split
East vs West
Patriarch: leader of the Eastern Orthodox church
-first patriarchs of (were bishops under the government of the pope)
-pope became too powerful, he claimed authority over the East christianity
-this led to a struggle between the emperors in the east and west
Creed: a statement of belief
-the western church adopted a creed
-disagreements about holy trinity; (father, son, holy spirit)
Icons: an image of Jesus or a saint
-many christians had icons and some began to pray to them
-they had a major clash over them
West church: god ,father, jesus, son → holy spirit
East church: father + holy spirit
Icons banned in the eastern church
Western church, pope condemned the destruction
The east-west Schism
-growing disagreements created suspicion and hostility between eastern and western christians
Excommunicated: to officially exclude a member of a church from its rituals and membership
-byzantine patriarch said bye
-pope’s representatives in constantinople announced that the byzantine patriarch was excommunicated
-1024 CE, church splits
Schism: a separation
-eastern and western sides split
-Roman catholic church in the west, eastern orthodox in east (byzantine)
-both beliefs based on jesus christ and bible
-worshipped in churches, and those were led by priests and bishops
In the Roman catholic church (west), pope had all power over clergy and kings
-priests can’t marry and services conducted in Latin
-Eastern orthodox was the opposite with services conducted in greek
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Slides: 1. Unit 6 Slides: 3/6 + 3/7
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Creation of the Byzantine Empire
Emperor Diocletian split the Roman Empire into two sections: contributed to the collapse of the western Roman Empire.
Emperor Constantine would later move the capital of Rome to the city of Byzantium and change the city name to Constantinople, after himself.
Constantinople would become the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire.
This half of the Empire would be referred to as the Byzantine Empire after the original Byzantium Greek city-state that used to be there.
Still Roman, continuing the practices and culture of the Romans.
New Capital = Constantinople
Survived because it was far away from the Germanic tribe invasions and had been fortified.
Crossroads for Trade:
Dardanelles and Bosporus Straits Linking Black Sea to Mediterranean Sea.
Preserved Greco-Roman Culture.
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Justinian and Theodora
Emperor Justinian and Empress Theodora were married rulers of the Byzantine Empire who co-governed the Empire.
Justinian had the majority of the power, due to the Byzantine Empire being patriarchal, but Theodora had a significant amount of influence and sway in the political scene.
Therodora’s goals:
Theodora was very powerful since she had influence over Emperor Justinian. She fought heavily for the rights of women within the Byzantine Empire.
Laws were passed for the rights of women seeking divorce or property, helped women seek guardianship of their children, forbade the killing of a wife who committed adultery, etc.
She died during the Plague of Justinian (541-549 CE), the first recorded instance of a plague.
Emperor justinian:
Justinian was one of the earliest Byzantine Emperors and the most famous.
He served as emperor from 527-565 CE (his death).
His overall goal was to restore and reconquer Rome and Roman territories that were lost to Germanic invasions in the west.
He also had to deal with conflict from the Persian Empire in the east.
Justinian accomplishments:
Justinian ordered his general Belisarius to reconquer much of the land that was lost to Germanic invasions.
Created a new law code that was used as the basis for many European countries later on.
Ordered a large public works campaign to institute various constructions of new buildings and repair old ones.
He expanded trade to even further out of his territory.
He preserved education and learning. Students were taught in Latin and Greek.
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Byzantine empire map
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Justinian’s Code
Justinian set up a panel of legal experts to look through roughly 400 years of Roman law.
He did this due to the sheer size and age of many of the laws.
Some were outdated.
Some were duplicated.
Some had been altered.
He wanted to create a single, uniform legal code. Would become the Justinian Code (Corpus Juris Civilis) and would be used for roughly 900 years after his death.
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Justinian Expanded Trade
The main street that ran through the middle of Constantinople was called the Mese, which means “Middle Way.”
Went from Imperial Palace in the city center to the Outer Walls.
Made domestic trade very easy: connected the entire city together, and also connected directly to other major commercial centers.
He also opened a giant open-air market where shoppers could buy various goods from other parts of the world.
Tin from England
Wine from France
Silk and Jade from China
Ivory and Gold from Africa
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Preservation of Learning
Since the Byzantine Empire is a continuation of the Roman Empire, they valued many of the same things, including education.
Families valued education for their children, often sending them to monastic or public schools.
Learn Greek and Latin grammar, philosophy, rhetoric.
They also preserved Greek and Roman works of literature in their schools.
Sustained Greco-Roman history and culture.
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Justinian’s Building Program
Justinian poured a ton of money into repairing and improving the infrastructure of Constantinople, beginning one of the most ambitious public works programs in history.
For defenses, he had the entire city surrounded by a deep moat, and three walls that were 25-feet thick with a 14-mile stone wall along the coast.
He funded the construction of new hospitals, aqueducts, bridges, roads, baths, parks, schools, amphitheatres, and more.
He ordered the construction of a number of cathedrals for religious purposes, including the famous Hagia Sophia.
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The Hagia Sophia
The Hagia Sophia was the single most expensive project of Justinian’s public works campaign.
It was a cathedral built originally for the use of Christians within the city, but would later become a mosque, then a museum, then a mosque again, then back to a museum.
It contains many art pieces from the time period and has the signature Roman dome at the top, indicative of many of Justinian’s religious and public buildings.
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Slides: 2. Unit 6 Slides: 3/10 +3/11
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Justinian’s Rule
Launched the most ambitious public building program the world had ever seen: Sofia Hagia.
City protected by a deep moat, and three walls that were 25-feet thick.
Increased trade with other countries.
Regained lands lost during fall of Western Rome.
Preserved education system and Greco-Roman culture. Famous Byzantine mosaics.
Created a set of laws to consolidate all the Roman laws from the many emperors: Justinian’s Laws.
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Causes of the Decline of the Byzantine Empire
“Justinian’s Plague” – A version of the bubonic plague that visited the Byzantines c. 550-700, killing over 100,000.
Attacks by the Sassanid Persians and Arabs (Islamic invasions).
Christian crusaders pillage Constantinople in 1204 on their way to fight the Muslims during the Crusades (holy wars).
Ottoman Turks finally conquered the remnants of the empire in 1453, ending Byzantine rule.
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The Great Schism
Schism: a split or a division, in this case between two religious groups forming two distinct religious denominations.
There were rising tensions between two branches of the church: the western (Rome) and the eastern (Byzantine) branches.
Many of these problems stemmed from differences in cultural practices, language, political influence, and more.
The Great Schism of 1054 was the first split of the Christian Church into two seperate religious entities:
Roman Catholic Church (west) and the Eastern Orthodox Church (east), two of the major denominations of Christianity today.
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Iconoclasm
Lack of communication between the Eastern and Western halves of the Empire eventually caused religion to be practiced differently.
In the West, the Pope was the ultimate authority; in the East, the Patriarch (ultimate authority) still bowed to the Emperor.
The iconoclastic movement, started by Emperor Leo III in 730 CE, sought to ban the use of icons in the Church.
Icons: Sacred images representing important religious figures or events.
They were allowed again before the time of the Great Schism, but it is a major movement that demonstrates early tension between the two sides.
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Conflicts of the Christian Church
Religious Conflicts
Disagreements on the wording of the Nicene Creed.*
Statement of beliefs within Christianity said in worship.
Disagreements on the practices of clerics.
Disagreements on certain religious practices, such as communion.
Iconoclasm.
Political Conflicts
Western practices were influenced by Roman law, while Eastern practices were influenced by Greek philosophy.
Disagreements in languages used in services.
Disagreements on who should hold religious power: the west thought the Pope should have control over the eastern patriarch (religious leader in the east).
Comparison:
In 1054, the Pope (Bishop of Rome) and Patriarch (Bishop of Constantinople) excommunicated (banned from membership) each other from the Church, creating the Great Schism of the Western and Eastern churches.
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Outline 2
Pages 530-533
The Mongol conquest
-mongols were a loose collection of nomadic tribes
Steppes: a vast, grassy plain
-mongols were form steppes
-spent their time roaming, raiding, and herding
-fought across the landscape
-Temujin was born on this landscape
-son of defeated mongol chieftain
-his childhood was harsh
-he was clever, charismatic, and a great warrior
-he became a tribal leader
1206 AD
-mongol people gave him the title “Henghis Khan”
Genhis Khan: “universal ruler”
-despite conflicts among tribes, Khan organized the diverse bands into a powerful military machine that would sweep mercilessly across Asia
1212
-Genghis Khan and Mongols invaded northern China, destroying more than 90 cities nad killing their inhabitants
-to the west he destroyed an empire in what is now Iran\
-he then invaded southern Russia
1215
-he destroyed China’s capital
1126
-Genghis Khan died
-he had conquered much of central Asia
Khanate: A region of the mongol empire
-four of his sons shared his vast empire, divided into four khanates
-expanded their rule into Europe and southern China
Kublai Khan
-china’s next great leader was Genhis Khan’s grandson
Kublai Khan: become leader of the mongol empire in 1264, after Genghis Khan
-he was determined to add to his empire by conquering all of southern China
1271
-he succeeded, giving the mongols control over most of china
-that year he declared himself emperor
Yuan: the dynastic name for Kublai Khan
-he prepared to help his army meet new challenges
Pages 532-533
Life in Yuan China
Main idea: the mongols set up strict rules to control china
Kublai Khan was less destructive with governing
-trying to win over the Chineses people and preserve conquered towns instead of destroying them
-even so any resistance was brutally punished
During 1270s
-song loyalists continued to fight the mongols in southern china
-mongols defeated the song uprising of 200,000 troops
-then killed the entire population of Hangzhou
-to avoid further suffering
1279
-song dynasty surrendered
Kublai Khan was now ruler of all China
-the first to unite all china since the end of the Tang dynasty (ended 907)
-its first foreign ruler ever
-he would rule for 15 years
Death in 1294
-Yuan dynasty led China for a century but it was not an easy time for the chinese
-mongols were used to fighting instead of governing
-under the yuan dynasty, the government continued much more with a strong central state
-built around bureaucracy with Confucian rituals and ceremonies
-big different: mongols excluded chinese people from higher positions to stop them from having too much power
-mongols and foreigners (especially muslims), received the top jobs
Marco Polo: famous italian merchant that migrated to china
-he served as a tax collector and special envoy to the emperor
-chinese scholars still had a strong unofficial influence
-Kublai Khan relied on chinese advisors
Social classes
-most chinese hated living under the mongols
-they treated them as 2nd class
-society was divided into 4 classes
Top
Mongols
Non chinese foreigners
Northern chinese, who lived longest under Yuan rule
Southern chinese, who made up 80% of population
Bottom
Many peasant farmers in the bottom bracket of society were forced off their land
-they could not even pay their taxes
-unable to feed their families, many sold themselves into slavery far from home
-government forced peasants to work on extravagant imperial projects
-the yuan dynasty rebuilt Beijing as a wealthy city filled with magnificent palaces
-all this luxury came at a cost for the chinese
-mongols feared rebellion because of the pressures they placed on the chinese
-agents worked for the government to keep a close eye on neighborhoods
-forced every ten chinese families to share a single knife
-government banned meetings and fairs
-prevented them from going out at night or playing sports
-they thought it was too much like military exercise
-the yuan dynasty did make significant contributions
-trade and agriculture expanded
-built roads and extended Grand Canal
-mongol postal service improved communication
-government introduced an accurate calendar of 365.2 days
-more scholars out of work, they had more time to write and chinese literature flourished
-chinese still remained hostile to mongol rule and formed secret societies to plot rebellion
-after Kublai Khan’s death the Yuan dynasty gradually declined
-there were 7 emperors in 40 years none of them as gifted as Kublai Khan
-rebellions started to break out an
by 1368
- china was poised for another change in dynasties
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Slides:3. Unit 6 Slides: 3/14 + 3/17
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Rise of Russia
The Slavs settled the region North of the Black Sea and traded with the Byzantine Empire.
Term Slav comes from an ethnic group who all share a common root language.
Vikings (the “Rus”) settled among the Slavs and expanded trade along major rivers – the Dnieper, Don, and Volga.
They also traded some of the Slavs as slaves.
Byzantine missionaries (Cyril and Methodius) visited the Slavs and Cyril developed an alphabet – the Cyrillic Alphabet – so that the Slavs could read the Bible in their own languages.
The city of Kiev (in modern Ukraine) would become an important trade center and capital of the first major Russian state by 900 CE.
Became known as the Kievan Rus.
They would go on to settle much of modern Western Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine, founding the city of Novgorod.
Vladimir of Kiev converted to Orthodox Christianity c. 980 CE and Kievan Russia became a Christian nation.
Declined by the 1200s.
Conquered by the Mongols in 1240 CE.
More Information
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Cyrillic Alphabet
The Cyrillic Alphabet, named after Saint Cyril, was a result of his missionary work for the Eastern (Russian) Orthodox Church.
It was created for the purpose of allowing all Slavs to read and understand the Bible.
It contained 43-45 letters. The oldest recorded translation is of the Holy Bible.
Modern languages based on this include Russian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian, and Serbian.
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Rise of Russian Czars
Moscow’s Prince Ivan I (“Moneybags”) rose to power in the 1300s with Mongol support – he collected taxes and moved the seat of the Patriarch from Kiev to Moscow.
Ivan III reigned as the grand prince of Moscow from 1462-1505 and declared Moscow the “Third Rome” – he refused to pay tribute and broke away from Mongol rule in 1480. Considered the founder of Russia.
Ivan IV (“Ivan the Terrible”) declared himself first czar of Russia and ruled from 1547-1584.
Czars would rule in Russia until 1917. (The Bolshevik Revolution will convert Russia into a Communist state called the Soviet Union, USSR.)
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The Mongols
The Mongols were a tribal, pastoral nomadic people, originating in the Asia Steppe (large area of flat grasslands). They are considered Pastoral Nomads.
They were ruthless – the Mongols were a formidable fighting force. Historians often say that Mongols were “raised in the saddle.” They were extremely skilled at fighting while on horseback, specifically with a bow.
If the Mongols arrived at your city, they would tell you to surrender.
If you surrendered: They would remove everyone from the city, often enslaving the men, women, and children. Artisans, governmental officials, and other skilled people would be allowed to stay, or sent back to the Mongol homeland.
If you did not surrender: Your city would be burned to the ground, most people would be killed.
Once conquered, the Mongols would usually allow a people to continue with their religion and often many elements of their governmental policies.
The mongol empire:
The Mongol Empire of the 13th and 14th centuries CE was the largest contiguous land empire in world history.
Second largest empire in history, behind the future British Empire.
Stretched from Central and Eastern Europe to Japan, South to India, and North to the Arctic.
The Mongol Empire emerged after the unification of several nomadic tribes under the leadership of Genghis Khan.
Once the empire was established, the Pax Mongolica began – a period that allowed for the exchange of trade, technology, commodities, and ideologies across Eurasia. They often converted to the religion of the people they conquered.
Division of the mongol empire:
After the death of Genghis Khan, the Mongols disagreed over the original leader, Ogedei. As a result, the Mongol Empire is divided into four parts.
The Golden Horde – Russia
Ilkhanate – Middle East
Chagatai Khanate – North of India
Yuan Dynasty – China
Kubulai Khan is in charge of the Yuan dynasty initially. He is the grandson of Genghis Khan.
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Rise of the Golden Horde
After the rule of Yaroslav the Wise (1019-1054), Kievan Rus declined until the Mongols destroyed Kiev in 1240.
The Mongol Khanate of the Golden Horde ruled Russia for over 200 years, demanding obedience and tribute but allowing Russians to practice Eastern Orthodox Christianity.
It will decline and fall in 1395. Timeline.
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