Chapter 9

AP World History

1

Students will be able to:

Understand the political and economic development of

Western Europe during the medieval period and undertake a

critical analysis of feudalism.

Explain the development and the significance of Roman

Catholic dogma, the hierarchical system of the Roman

church, and the monastic movement.

Compare medieval Western society, politics, culture, and

religion with those of the Byzantine Empire.

Understand the respective roles of the Varangians, Vladimir

I, and the Byzantine Empire in the rise of the Kievan state.

Discuss the possible causes of the European recovery of

1000-1200.

Explain the causes of the Crusades and discuss their

consequences in Europe and the Middle East.

Western Roman Empire Eastern Roman Empire

Official Religion: Christianity Official Religion: Christianity

Lost Roman Imperial rule:

transitioned to family based

traditions of Germanic peoples

Maintained Roman Imperial rule

Provincial forms of Roman law:

imperial legal framework

disappeared!

Inherited imperial law intact

Various kings, nobles, and

chieftains change the political

landscape.

Emperors became all powerful,

Christian monarchs

People lived in fear/insecurity Steadily shrinking empire

People became dependent on

strong rulers for protection

Deprived of long periods of

peace because of military

pressures: north and south!

3

What prevented the destruction of the Eastern Roman Empire?

Having a single ruler with supreme legal and religious power

Territorial losses:

Between 634 and 650, Arab armies had destroyed the Sasanid Empire

Arab armies captured Byzantine lands:

Egypt, Syria, and Tunisia

Greatest challenge to the Byzantine Empire:

Islam

Religious and political challenge

End of 12th century – 2/3 of the Christians from Egypt, Syria, and

Tunisia had adopted Muslim practices

Effects on the Empire

Loss of populations and provinces reduced power

Crusading armies will establish (briefly) Christian provinces in the

lost regions

Crusading armies were almost as hostile as the Islamic armies

Byzantium will fall to Muslim forces in 14534

Originally sheltered

Imperial authority and urban prosperity were found in the

eastern provinces

Byzantium was protected from economic problems

Byzantium was protected from population losses

Eastern and Western Roman provinces

Shared a common demographic crisis

The “plague of Justinian” – a 6th century epidemic of the

bubonic plague

Social transformation emerge (the east is impacted)

Further epidemics

The loss of Egypt and Syria to the Muslims

Eastern saints (originating as peasants) change the lives of

people in the east

Bartering replaced money transactions

City populations declined

Traditional class of urban notables disappeared

5

Effects of urban elite decline

Aristocrats are found at the imperial courts

Rural landowners increased

Power was organized by family

By the 11th century – family based military aristocracy forms

Alexius Comnenus (r. 1081-1118)

Byzantine emperor

Considered himself a lord (not a ruler

Changed the status of women

7th century status: confined to the home and possibly veiled

faces when in public

Socialization with males in family only

1028-1056, More freedom in public and women ruled

Byzantium along with their husbands

6

Maintaining Late Roman traditions:

Byzantine emperors continued to

set prices like the Late Roman emperors

Organize trade shipments to the capital

Monopolize trade of luxury goods (Tyrian purple cloth)

Effects of government intervention

May have slowed technological development

Farmers continued using oxcarts and scratch plows (behind

western European farming techniques)

May have slowed economic innovation

Other Byzantine cities suffered because of the focus on

Constantinople

Trade thrived

Merchants and pilgrims from various points continued to trade

in Constantinople

As long as trade thrived, the aristocracy thrived

7

8

Byzantine

Empire

under

Justinian

Collapsed Western

Roman Empire

The Greatest Achievement: Hagia Sophia

Cathedral of Sacred Wisdom

Dates to the reign of Justinian

Artists used creativity in design and ornamentation

Byzantine Religious Art

Featured stiff (but arresting) images of holy figures on gold

backgrounds

Strongly influenced painting in western Europe through the 13th

century

Byzantine Music

Affected the chants of medieval Latin churches

Establishment of the Orthodox Church

Cyril and Methodius took religious practices to the Slavs of

Moravia (modern Czech Republic)

Began the competition between Greek and Latin Church

doctrine

Adopt the Cyrillic alphabet for the Orthodox church9

10

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