H1: PRELUDE: THE ROMAN WORLD TRANSFORMED (C.300-C.600)
The Sources of God’s Grace.
In the Mass, the bread and wine on the altar became the body and blood of Christ, the Eucharist. The
other source of God’s grace were the saints. After Constatine the saints found ways to be virtual
martyrs even while alive. Many were inspired by the model of Saint Anthony who lived as a hermit
and eventually led a community of committed ascetics. When holy men and women died, their power
lived on in their relics. People wanted to access these special dead. Laypeople found private ways to
keep precious bits of the saints near to them, eclosed in rings, lockets, purses and belt buckles.
THE BARBARIANS
Barbarians were not nomads. They cultivated grains and raised cattle. Some were craftsmen. The elite
of these communities had access to Roman products but weren’t very powerful. Barbarians had long
been settles within the Roman Empire’s borders as army recruits. But in the 4 th century the numbers
were unprecedented. They mistreated the refugees and rebelled. They weakened the Roman army. In
410 they sacked Rome. In 406 other barbarian groups entered the Empire (other than the Huns,
Visigoths and Germanic). In 476 Rome was sacked again, the end of the Empire.
THE NEW ORDER
In the west: the decay of cities, the increased dominance of the rich and the quiet domestication of
Christianity. In the east: Roman Empire continues, dealing with Persia.
The Ruralisation of the West.
Where the barbarians settled, the Roman elites did not resist. Gredually the elite Romans and the
barbarians came to belong to the same community of free landowners. But before the great barrier
between the two had to be overcome. Many barbarians adopted Arian Christianity. The new rulers
adopted Roman institutions (issued law codes regulating rural life as in Roman provincial law codes).
These laws were written in Latin. The urban middle class disappeared largely due to the new taxes of
the 4th century, the tax burdens fell on the poorer people. Curial families could not pay it and escaped
to estates of the rich, giving up their free status in return for land and protection. The shift from urban
to rural settlements brought with it a new localism. Long-distance Mediterranean trade slowed down.
The Western Church in the New Order.
Bishops took advantage of this relatively abundant material culture. Great landlords, kings, queens,
warriors and courtiers controlled the rest of the wealth in the West. Monasteries were becoming
important landowners.
Retrenchment in the East.
The changes in the East were less obvious than the ones in the west. There was still an emperor, the
towns thrived, the best of the elite went to Constantinople. The eastern emperors were collecting state
revenues more efficiently than ever (the barbarians tried but failed). The Theodosian Code was issued,
a compendia of Roman Laws in 438. In 529 the Codex Justinianus was issued. From then on the laws
of Byzantium were largely fixed. The Justinian Plague hit the empire which weakened it. But still,
Justinian financed a major effort to recover North Africa and Italy and succeeded. This did lead to
much of Italy being destroyed and the economy of Byzantium crippling and his successors failed to
hold on to his reconquests. Justinian took the role of ‘king of kings’ and had an exalted role in the
Christian Church. He build a lot of things. When Italy was conquered Ravenna became the new
,capital. It became a centre of early Christendom, even after the Lombards took most of Italy. Yet
Byzantium had to focus on the Sassanid Empire which challenged its hegemony.
H2: THE EMERGENCE OF SIBLING CULTURES (C.600-C.750)
Rise of the Islam and persistence of Roman Empire (politically and culturally).
SAVING BYZANTIUM
Sources of Resiliency.
Byzantium survived the onslaughts of outsiders by preserving its capital city. The emperor and his
officials continued to collect the traditional Roman land taxed from the provinces, this allowed regular
salaries to soldiers, sailors and court officials. The armies were set up as large regional defensive units
called strategiai, led by strategoi. They managed to stave off Arab conquest.
Invasions and their consequences.
In the Sassanid Empire king Chosroes II dreamed of recreating past glories (the empires of Darius and
Xerxes). In 602 he invaded a chaotic Byzantium. By 612 he had Jerusalem, Alexandria and Egypt. But
Emperor Heraclius turned the tide, by 630 everything was back. But cities were depopulated and
ruined and both sides were exhausted. The Balkans were taken over by the Slavs, Avars and Bulgars.
Decline of Urban Centres and Retrenchment in the Countryside.
Invasions and the Plague of Justinian left urban centres abandoned. Constantinople didn’t though. The
population shrank and areas were abandoned or turned into farms but it boasted an extraordinarily
thriving upper class and retained trade and industry. Although Byzantium’s economic life became
increasingly rural, institutions vital to urban growth remained in Constantinople. Agriculture had
always been the backbone of Byzantium. Rural hinterlands were now controlled directly by the
imperial governor and local notables. The state adopted family values (no divorce, punishments for
infidelity, no abortions). Old community practices stayed but the church tried to suppress the ones
associated with paganism (cross dressing, masks).
Changes on the Ground: From Volubilis to Walila.
Volubilis, pre-Roman city. Annexed in the first century. The population grew and the city expanded. It
Romanised but mainly inhabited by locals, even the curiales. Yet in the 5 th/6th century the city was
abandoned and turned into a cemetery. In the 6th century new walls were build and new habitants
came. The name changed to Walila and when the Islamic armies arrived it lost its urban character.
Iconoclasm.
Tomb inscriptions were one way which popular Christian beliefs took material form, saintly relics
another. Around 680 images took on a new importance in Byzantium. A cult around images became as
important as the cult of saints. Because: the sacred could be best grasped by humans when made
visible and palpable. This was a response to the crises, plagues, earthquakes and wars in the 7 th
century. God would be angry at people for their sins. Emperor Leo III (717-741) agreed that the crises
were God’s punishment but thought that their chief sin was the cult of images. He denounced sacred
portraits publicly. He did like the cross though. This was the beginning of the iconoclastic period. In
730 he required the pope to subscribe a new policy: remove sacred images. By the end of his reign
most people agreed. In 754 religious images were banned. Iconoclastic churchmen were worried about
losing control over the sacred because images could be reproduced infinitely and without clerical
authorisation (relics could not). Ultimately tit was a failure. The ban lasted till 787 and was revived
between 815-843.
, THE RISE OF THE “BESTE COMMUNITY”: ISLAM
The shaping of Islam.
“One community” was a revolutionary notion for the disparate peoples of Arabia. The majority of its
population was sedentary, organised as tribes, communities whose members considered themselves
related through a common ancestor. By the time of Muhammad, Arabia had a well-developed literary
and oral culture. Mecca was a holy place, with its shrine the Ka’ba. This is where Muhammad was
born, he was part of the Quraysh tribe (the dominant tribe). He was a trader. In the mountains God
spoke to him, he had to recite. This became the Qur’an. Islam banned infanticide and allowed
polygyny but with a limit of four wives (all equal). It offered females inheritance rights. The nuclear
family became more important than the tribe. There are thee essential social facts: the individual, God
and the ummah (community). In Mecca was Muhammad’s message unwelcome, but in Medina people
liked it. In 622 Muhammad made the Hijra (flight from Mecca to Medina). He fought against the
Meccans and in 630 took over Mecca. He integrated warfare into the region, the jihad. Muhammad
united many of the tribes in Arabia, he died in 632.
Out of Arabia.
The Islamic armies invaded the Sassanid and Byzantine territories. By the beginning of the 8 th century
they held land from India to the Iberian Peninsula. They were good fighters and their enemies were
weak from other wars. And their population was not loyal. The Muslims didn’t try to convert people
but imposed a tax. Urban life was almost immediately fostered in conquered regions. The caliphs
fostered a well-ordered state, appointed regional governors who collected taxed, maintained law and
order.
The Culture of the Umayyads.
The caliphs after Muhammad were not chosen from the old tribal elites but from an inner circle of men
close to Muhammad. The first two caliphs: Abu-Bakr and Umar were fathers of two of Muhammads
wives. But the third caliph, Uthman, was the husband of two of Muhammads daughters and family of
the Quraysh leader Umayyah, he had resentment. They didn’t support Ali, the husband of Muhammads
daughter. Civil was broke out. Ali was killed and the caliphate was in Umayyad hands till 750. But the
Shi’ah did not forget their leader Ali.
THE MAKING OF WESTERN EUROPE
Western Europe remained impoverished. Fragmented politically and linguistically, its cities mere
shells, tis tools primitive and its infrastructure collapsing. Europe lacked identity and cohesion. The
fact that this eventually did develop is part thanks to the survival of some Roman traditions and
institutions and part to the incentive ways people adapted these institutions and created new ones.
Impoverishment and its Variations.
Francia, Spain (Visigoths, Muslims), Italy (Pope, Byzantium, Lombards), British Isles (tiny
kingdoms), some Celtic and some Germanic. There was a clear difference between the Romanised
south and the north. Old Roman cities were now mainly religious centres. Near the Mediterranean, by
contrast, the terrain still had an urban feel. The Roman cities dominated the landscape thought their
population had shrunk. In Italy many peasants were landowners, while in Francia aristocratic landlords
were more important. Long-distance Mediterranean commerce wasn’t happening anymore but money
was still there. At the same time North Sea sailors begun linking northern Francia, East coast England,
Scandinavia and the Baltic Sea.
The Sources of God’s Grace.
In the Mass, the bread and wine on the altar became the body and blood of Christ, the Eucharist. The
other source of God’s grace were the saints. After Constatine the saints found ways to be virtual
martyrs even while alive. Many were inspired by the model of Saint Anthony who lived as a hermit
and eventually led a community of committed ascetics. When holy men and women died, their power
lived on in their relics. People wanted to access these special dead. Laypeople found private ways to
keep precious bits of the saints near to them, eclosed in rings, lockets, purses and belt buckles.
THE BARBARIANS
Barbarians were not nomads. They cultivated grains and raised cattle. Some were craftsmen. The elite
of these communities had access to Roman products but weren’t very powerful. Barbarians had long
been settles within the Roman Empire’s borders as army recruits. But in the 4 th century the numbers
were unprecedented. They mistreated the refugees and rebelled. They weakened the Roman army. In
410 they sacked Rome. In 406 other barbarian groups entered the Empire (other than the Huns,
Visigoths and Germanic). In 476 Rome was sacked again, the end of the Empire.
THE NEW ORDER
In the west: the decay of cities, the increased dominance of the rich and the quiet domestication of
Christianity. In the east: Roman Empire continues, dealing with Persia.
The Ruralisation of the West.
Where the barbarians settled, the Roman elites did not resist. Gredually the elite Romans and the
barbarians came to belong to the same community of free landowners. But before the great barrier
between the two had to be overcome. Many barbarians adopted Arian Christianity. The new rulers
adopted Roman institutions (issued law codes regulating rural life as in Roman provincial law codes).
These laws were written in Latin. The urban middle class disappeared largely due to the new taxes of
the 4th century, the tax burdens fell on the poorer people. Curial families could not pay it and escaped
to estates of the rich, giving up their free status in return for land and protection. The shift from urban
to rural settlements brought with it a new localism. Long-distance Mediterranean trade slowed down.
The Western Church in the New Order.
Bishops took advantage of this relatively abundant material culture. Great landlords, kings, queens,
warriors and courtiers controlled the rest of the wealth in the West. Monasteries were becoming
important landowners.
Retrenchment in the East.
The changes in the East were less obvious than the ones in the west. There was still an emperor, the
towns thrived, the best of the elite went to Constantinople. The eastern emperors were collecting state
revenues more efficiently than ever (the barbarians tried but failed). The Theodosian Code was issued,
a compendia of Roman Laws in 438. In 529 the Codex Justinianus was issued. From then on the laws
of Byzantium were largely fixed. The Justinian Plague hit the empire which weakened it. But still,
Justinian financed a major effort to recover North Africa and Italy and succeeded. This did lead to
much of Italy being destroyed and the economy of Byzantium crippling and his successors failed to
hold on to his reconquests. Justinian took the role of ‘king of kings’ and had an exalted role in the
Christian Church. He build a lot of things. When Italy was conquered Ravenna became the new
,capital. It became a centre of early Christendom, even after the Lombards took most of Italy. Yet
Byzantium had to focus on the Sassanid Empire which challenged its hegemony.
H2: THE EMERGENCE OF SIBLING CULTURES (C.600-C.750)
Rise of the Islam and persistence of Roman Empire (politically and culturally).
SAVING BYZANTIUM
Sources of Resiliency.
Byzantium survived the onslaughts of outsiders by preserving its capital city. The emperor and his
officials continued to collect the traditional Roman land taxed from the provinces, this allowed regular
salaries to soldiers, sailors and court officials. The armies were set up as large regional defensive units
called strategiai, led by strategoi. They managed to stave off Arab conquest.
Invasions and their consequences.
In the Sassanid Empire king Chosroes II dreamed of recreating past glories (the empires of Darius and
Xerxes). In 602 he invaded a chaotic Byzantium. By 612 he had Jerusalem, Alexandria and Egypt. But
Emperor Heraclius turned the tide, by 630 everything was back. But cities were depopulated and
ruined and both sides were exhausted. The Balkans were taken over by the Slavs, Avars and Bulgars.
Decline of Urban Centres and Retrenchment in the Countryside.
Invasions and the Plague of Justinian left urban centres abandoned. Constantinople didn’t though. The
population shrank and areas were abandoned or turned into farms but it boasted an extraordinarily
thriving upper class and retained trade and industry. Although Byzantium’s economic life became
increasingly rural, institutions vital to urban growth remained in Constantinople. Agriculture had
always been the backbone of Byzantium. Rural hinterlands were now controlled directly by the
imperial governor and local notables. The state adopted family values (no divorce, punishments for
infidelity, no abortions). Old community practices stayed but the church tried to suppress the ones
associated with paganism (cross dressing, masks).
Changes on the Ground: From Volubilis to Walila.
Volubilis, pre-Roman city. Annexed in the first century. The population grew and the city expanded. It
Romanised but mainly inhabited by locals, even the curiales. Yet in the 5 th/6th century the city was
abandoned and turned into a cemetery. In the 6th century new walls were build and new habitants
came. The name changed to Walila and when the Islamic armies arrived it lost its urban character.
Iconoclasm.
Tomb inscriptions were one way which popular Christian beliefs took material form, saintly relics
another. Around 680 images took on a new importance in Byzantium. A cult around images became as
important as the cult of saints. Because: the sacred could be best grasped by humans when made
visible and palpable. This was a response to the crises, plagues, earthquakes and wars in the 7 th
century. God would be angry at people for their sins. Emperor Leo III (717-741) agreed that the crises
were God’s punishment but thought that their chief sin was the cult of images. He denounced sacred
portraits publicly. He did like the cross though. This was the beginning of the iconoclastic period. In
730 he required the pope to subscribe a new policy: remove sacred images. By the end of his reign
most people agreed. In 754 religious images were banned. Iconoclastic churchmen were worried about
losing control over the sacred because images could be reproduced infinitely and without clerical
authorisation (relics could not). Ultimately tit was a failure. The ban lasted till 787 and was revived
between 815-843.
, THE RISE OF THE “BESTE COMMUNITY”: ISLAM
The shaping of Islam.
“One community” was a revolutionary notion for the disparate peoples of Arabia. The majority of its
population was sedentary, organised as tribes, communities whose members considered themselves
related through a common ancestor. By the time of Muhammad, Arabia had a well-developed literary
and oral culture. Mecca was a holy place, with its shrine the Ka’ba. This is where Muhammad was
born, he was part of the Quraysh tribe (the dominant tribe). He was a trader. In the mountains God
spoke to him, he had to recite. This became the Qur’an. Islam banned infanticide and allowed
polygyny but with a limit of four wives (all equal). It offered females inheritance rights. The nuclear
family became more important than the tribe. There are thee essential social facts: the individual, God
and the ummah (community). In Mecca was Muhammad’s message unwelcome, but in Medina people
liked it. In 622 Muhammad made the Hijra (flight from Mecca to Medina). He fought against the
Meccans and in 630 took over Mecca. He integrated warfare into the region, the jihad. Muhammad
united many of the tribes in Arabia, he died in 632.
Out of Arabia.
The Islamic armies invaded the Sassanid and Byzantine territories. By the beginning of the 8 th century
they held land from India to the Iberian Peninsula. They were good fighters and their enemies were
weak from other wars. And their population was not loyal. The Muslims didn’t try to convert people
but imposed a tax. Urban life was almost immediately fostered in conquered regions. The caliphs
fostered a well-ordered state, appointed regional governors who collected taxed, maintained law and
order.
The Culture of the Umayyads.
The caliphs after Muhammad were not chosen from the old tribal elites but from an inner circle of men
close to Muhammad. The first two caliphs: Abu-Bakr and Umar were fathers of two of Muhammads
wives. But the third caliph, Uthman, was the husband of two of Muhammads daughters and family of
the Quraysh leader Umayyah, he had resentment. They didn’t support Ali, the husband of Muhammads
daughter. Civil was broke out. Ali was killed and the caliphate was in Umayyad hands till 750. But the
Shi’ah did not forget their leader Ali.
THE MAKING OF WESTERN EUROPE
Western Europe remained impoverished. Fragmented politically and linguistically, its cities mere
shells, tis tools primitive and its infrastructure collapsing. Europe lacked identity and cohesion. The
fact that this eventually did develop is part thanks to the survival of some Roman traditions and
institutions and part to the incentive ways people adapted these institutions and created new ones.
Impoverishment and its Variations.
Francia, Spain (Visigoths, Muslims), Italy (Pope, Byzantium, Lombards), British Isles (tiny
kingdoms), some Celtic and some Germanic. There was a clear difference between the Romanised
south and the north. Old Roman cities were now mainly religious centres. Near the Mediterranean, by
contrast, the terrain still had an urban feel. The Roman cities dominated the landscape thought their
population had shrunk. In Italy many peasants were landowners, while in Francia aristocratic landlords
were more important. Long-distance Mediterranean commerce wasn’t happening anymore but money
was still there. At the same time North Sea sailors begun linking northern Francia, East coast England,
Scandinavia and the Baltic Sea.
