BYZANTIUM, EASTERN EUROPE, AND RUSSIA, 3251500

1
CHAPTER 5

• BYZANTIUM, EASTERN EUROPE, AND RUSSIA, 325-1500

2
Consequences of Roman Collapse

• Tremendous consequences for Europe came from
• The decline and collapse of Roman authority in
  the West
• The relocation of the empires center of power to
  Byzantium in the East.

3
Christianity Emerges

• The Christian faith emerged as a dynamic agent of
  civilization.
• It preserved the rich legacy of classical
  antiquity.
• It fused Graeco-Roman institutions and Christian
  theology with Germanic and Slavic cultures.

4
Roman Catholic Independence

• In the West, the Roman Catholic Church asserted
  both religious and political independence from
  the Byzantine emperor.
• The papacy played a prominent role in shaping the
  new political order in western and parts of
  eastern Europe.

5
Orthodox Church

• The Orthodox Church had an equally profound
  impact on the culture of the peoples who migrated
  to regions within the sphere of Byzantiums
  influence.

6
Missionary Work

• Orthodox missionaries brought Christianity to
  much of eastern Europe and the Balkans.
• They promoted literacy in Slavic languages.
• They encouraged the development of new political
  and social structures.

7
Byzantine Power

• Unlike the Roman Catholic Church, however, the
  Orthodox Church remained subordinate to the
  authority of the Byzantine emperor, who claimed
  to be the thirteenth apostle.

8
Shield Against Islam

• From their prosperous metropolis, Constantinople,
  the Byzantines formed a shield for Christian
  Europe against the drive of Islam from the south.

9
National Identities

• Behind this shield Bulgarians, Serbs, and other
  peoples within the Byzantine sphere developed
  separate national identities.
• They lost their independence to the Ottoman Turks
  in the fifteenth century.

10
Slavic Ties

• In contrast, many Slavic peoples forged ties with
  the West.
• Poles
• Czechs
• several other Slavic peoples.

11
Slav Independence

• Although threatened by Mongols and Turks, these
  Slavs remained within the orbit of Western
  culture and the Roman Catholic Church and
  maintained their political independence.

12
Russia

• The Russians developed in yet another way.
• From an early eminence under Byzantine and
  Varangian tutelage, Russian power declined due to
  internal conflict and external pressure from
  Mongols and Tatars.

13
Russia Freed

• In the sixteenth century the Grand Dukes of
  Moscow freed Russia.
• Russia began the long, difficult task of building
  a modern nation-state.

14
YOU SHOULD UNDERSTAND

• The political and religious circumstances into
  which Jesus was born, the efforts and
  persecutions of his early converts, and their
  eventual success in shaping the early church.
• The role of Christian monasteries and
  missionaries in preserving and extending
  Greco-Roman civilization.

15
YOU SHOULD UNDERSTAND

• The theological disputes and political rivalries
  that culminated in a schism between the Roman and
  Orthodox Christian churches.
• The Byzantine Empire and the power of the
  Orthodox church.

16
YOU SHOULD UNDERSTAND

• The growth of Slavic nations in eastern Europe
  under Byzantine tutelage.
• The origins of Russia and its links with the
  Byzantine Empire.