The Passing of the Roman World and

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Chapter 7 The Passing of the Roman World and the
Emergence of Medieval Civilization
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The Spread of Christianity, A.D. 400-750 1.
Peter carried the gospel to the towns of Judea
and Syria. Eventually, he made his way to Rome
where, until his martyrdom in 64, he played an
important role in establishing a Christian
community. James became the head of the
Christian church in Jerusalem until 62 when he
was put to death. Philip made converts in
Samaria and Caesarea while John went on to
Ephesus. 2. Christianity became more
widespread when Paul declared that the message of
Christ was for all humanity. He helped create
Christian communities in Antioch and Ephesus
before being taken to Rome on charges of
instigating a riot. Acquitted, he remained in
Rome to help strengthen the movement there. In
64, like Peter, Paul was martyred. By the third
century there were 100,000 Christians among the
1.1 million Romans in the city. 3. In
Alexandria, under the influence of the large
Greek community, Christianity blossomed but it
was wedded to Greek philosophy. 4. Christianity
was brought to Gaul by St. Martin of Tours
(bishop of Tours, 372-387) in the fourth century.
Later, in 486 Clovis (481-511), king of the
Franks, was converted. In the sixth century St.
Columbarus took the message to Gaul, Switzerland,
and northern Italy. At the end of the sixth
century the Lombards, Ostrogoths, and Visigoths
(including the rulers of Spain) were converted
from their fourth century Arianism. The pagan
Germans in Frisia, Bavaria, and Saxony were
Christianized in the late seventh and early
eighth centuries. In the British Isles St.
Patrick converted the pagan Irish in the fifth
century and St. Augustus of Canterbury converted
the Anglo-Saxons in 596 and 601. 5. St.
Benedict of Nursia established a monastery south
of Rome on the flat topped mountain of Monte
Casino which overlooked the valley which linked
Rome and Naples. 6. The power of the pope in
Rome increased as the empire began to
disintegrate. When unified, the West was
governed from Constantinople, but after the
empire was divided in the fourth century, the
West was ruled from various locations including
Milan. The pope had Rome to himself and thus
exercised both religious duties and political
powers (especially protection of Rome from
barbarians). 7. The First Ecumenical Council, a
meeting of all of the bishops of the church, was
held in 325 at Nicaea. Here the doctrines of
Arius were rejected and the Trinity
reaffirmed. Questions 1. How was Christianity
able of grow outside of Judea? 2. What were the
implications of the increasing political and
geographical power of the papacy?

• The Spread of Christianity, A.D. 400-750

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• Role and Development of the Christian Church
• Organization and Religious Disputes
• Bishops
• Bishop of Rome
• Heresies
• Donatism
• Arianism
• Council of Nicea, 325
• Power of the Pope
• Doctrine of Petrine Supremacy
• Damasus, bishop of Rome, 366-384
• Pope Leo I, 440-461

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• Roles of the Church and State
• Bishop Ambrose of Milan, c. 339-397
• Pope Gelasius I, 492-496
• New Patterns of Thought
• Christianity adopts Greek as language
• Neopalatonism
• Plotinus (205-270)
• Augustine (354-430)
• Confessions
• The City of God
• Jerome (345-420)
• Latin Vulgate

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• Monasticism
• Saint Anthony (c. 250-350)
• Saint Simeon the Stylite
• Saint Pachomius (c. 290-346)
• Communities of men and women
• Saint Basil (329-379)
• Saint Benedict of Nursia (c. 480-c. 543)
• Mone Cassino
• Benedictine rule
• Women

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Barbarian Migration and Invasion Routes 1.
Germanic tribes had resided along the Rhine and
Danube Rivers throughout the period of the Roman
Empire. Some, like the Visigoths and Ostrogoths
(eastern relatives of the Visigoths), had settled
down and were involved in trade and agriculture.
In the last quarter of the fourth century a
Mongolian people called the Huns burst out of the
steppes of Russia and crushed the Ostrogoths.
Fearful, the Visigoths petitioned to move south
into the Roman Empire. Permission was granted
with the idea that they would guard the Danube
frontier but in 376 the Visigoths rebelled and
pushed into the Balkans and Italy. In 410 they
sacked Rome. Later, the Visigoths pressed into
southern Gaul and Spain where they settled in the
early fifth century. 2. Also confronted by the
Huns were the Vandals who pushed into Gaul in 406
and continued on to the Pyrenees Mountains
crossing into Spain. Although the total number in
the Vandal hordes (including women and children)
was probably 80,000, the Visigoths drove them out
of Spain. The Vandals pushed across the Strait
of Gibraltar and conquered North Africa (429),
extending themselves to Carthage (439). In 455
the Vandals sacked Rome and pressed on to
Sardinia, Sicily, and North Africa east of
Carthage. A mixed band of Germans attacked Rome
in 476 and deposed the last western Roman
emperor. The leader, Odoacer, became the first
barbarian king of Italy (479-493). 3. The
Ostrogoths, after recovering from the Huns, moved
into northern Italy. Their king, Theodoric
(493-526), governed Italy and much of the Balkans
as regent for the emperor in Constantinople.
After his death, the armies of Byzantium drove
the Ostrogoths out of Italy into the region north
of the Alps where they disappeared. In the sixth
century the region fell under the control of the
Lombards. 4. When the Franks pushed into Gaul
from their lands between the North Sea and the
Rhine, it put them into conflict with the
Visigoths and Burgundians who were already there.
Both were defeated by the Franks under Clovis
(481-511) who ultimately controlled most of
modern France. 5. The Angles, Saxons and Jutes
were from northern Germany and Denmark. In the
middle of the fifth century they pushed west to
England driving the Celts to the far western
region of the island. 6. Militarily, the success
of the barbarians against the Roman Empire was in
part a consequence of the defensive force spread
thin by the length of the Rhine-Danube frontier.
The Roman army also suffered because the
declining population of the empire deprived the
army of needed manpower. Questions 1. Why and
how did various barbarian groups put pressure on
the Roman Empire? 2. What were the consequences
of the barbarian migrations and invasions?

• Barbarian Migration and Invasion Routes

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• The Germanic Peoples and Their Kingdoms
• Germans migrate south from northern Scandinavia,
  500 B.C.
• Pressures of the Huns, late fourth century
• Visigoths settle along the Danube River
• Sack Rome in 410
• Burgundians
• Vandals
• The New Kingdoms
• Ostrogothic Kingdom of Italy
• Theodoric (493-526)
• Visigothic Kingdom of Spain
• Warrior caste
• Catholic Christianity
• Problem of kingship

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The New Kingdoms of the Old Western Empire 1.
The Visigoths only weakly controlled Spain,
having generated no loyalty to the crown.
Consequently, when confronted by a Muslim
invasion in 711, the Visigoths were easily
defeated. A request for aid from Muslims in
North Africa by one of the disaffected groups in
Spain resulted in an invading force of only
12,000 men but once they came, the Muslims would
not leave. By 718 the Muslim victory was
complete. 2. Like the Visigoths in Spain, the
Ostrogothic Kingdom of Italy was weak, lasting
solely through the force of the personality of
Theodoric (493-526). Although he ruled as a
king, he was considered to be only a regent by
the rulers of Constantinople. Byzantine armies
of Justinian (527-565) conquered Italy between
535 and 554, driving the Ostrogoths from the
land. The Byzantine victory was short lived as
German Lombards from the north invaded Italy in
568 and conquered the northern and central
regions of the peninsula. The Byzantines,
however, were able to retain control of the area
around Ravenna that served as the capital of the
Italian lands still under Byzantine sovereignty.
3. The Visigoths and Ostrogoths had helped to
destroy the Western Roman Empire but their
ascendancy would not last long. On the other
hand, the Frankish Kingdom would grow stronger
over time. In part, this was accomplished due to
the conversion of Clovis (481-511) around 500 to
Christianity and the subsequent support of the
bishops of Gaul and the pope. Clovis also
extended his domain as far as the Pyrenees
Mountains and made Paris his headquarters. The
sons of Clovis conquered both the Burgundians in
eastern Gaul and the Ostrogoths north of the
Alps. 4. Charles Martel, the major of the palace
for Austrasia beginning in 714, defeated the
Muslims in 732 near Poitiers. By the time of
Martels death in 741 he was virtual ruler of the
Kingdom of the Franks. 5. Roman abandonment of
Britain in the fifth century opened the
opportunity for the Angles and Saxons, a Germanic
people from Denmark and northern Germany. They
met resistance from the Celts who managed to
retain control of the western Briton lands. The
Germans eventually carved out small kingdoms
throughout the island. Christian missionaries
ultimately would convert the German invaders. 6.
In 533-34 the forces of the Byzantine emperor
Justinian gained North Africa as the emperor
pursued an eventually unsuccessful attempt to
reunite the Roman Empire. Questions 1. Why were
the various barbarian powers unable to maintain
control over their conquered territories? 2. How
important was the relationship struck by Clovis
with Christianity?

• The New Kingdoms of the Old Western Empire

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• Frankish Kingdom
• Clovis (c. 482-511)
• Converted to Christianity, 500
• Expansion
• Create title of count
• Merovingian dynasty
• Major domus (mayor of the palace)
• Charles Martel, mayor of the palace of Austrasia
• Battle of Poitiers, 732
• Anglo-Saxon England
• Angles and Saxons from Denmark and northern
  Germany

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• Society of the Germanic Peoples in the New
  Kingdoms
• Influenced by Roman society
• Fusion of Roman and Germanic upper-classes
• Germanic law
• Wergeld
• Family and marriage
• Development of the Latin Christian Church
• Pope Gregory I, 590-604
• Papal states
• Extend papal authority
• The Book of Pastoral Care

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• Monks and their Missions
• Monasticism in Ireland
• Saint Patrick (390-461)
• Saint Columba (521-597)
• Saint Columbanus (c. 530-615)
• England
• Augustine
• Synod of Whitby, 664
• Archbishop of Canterbury
• English monks to Frisia, Bavaria, and Saxony
• Women

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• Christianity and Intellectual Life
• Boethius (c. 480-524)
• On the Consolation of Philosophy
• Cassidorus (c. 490-c. 585)
• Divine and Human Readings
• Seven Liberal Arts
• Trivium grammar, rhetoric, and dialectic
  (logic)
• Quadrivium math of arithmetic, geometry,
  astronomy, and music
• Venerable Bede (c. 672-735)
• Ecclesiastical History of the English People

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The Byzantine Empire in the Time of Justinian 1.
Ravenna was the capital of the western empire and
from which the Ostrogothic king Theodoric
(493-526) ruled as regent in Constantinople. 2.
After much of Constantinople was destroyed by
riots in 532, Emperor Justinian (527-565) rebuilt
the city. Among the new buildings was the Church
of the Holy Wisdom (Hagia Sophia in Greek). It
was here that the emperor was crowned and the
patriarch conducted religious services. 3. The
ease with which North Africa was gained in 533-34
led Justinian to push on to Sicily and then into
Italy where Naples, Rome, and Ravenna fell by
540. The campaigns continued another twelve
years with the result that the Ostrogoths were
driven north of the Alps and southern Spain was
conquered. 4. Pressure upon the Byzantine Empire
came from the north and east. Around 560 the
Avars, Bulgars (mounted Asiatic nomads), and the
Slavs (Indo-Europeans) pressed into the Balkans.
When the northern frontier crumbled, the Bulgars
succeeded in seizing control of the lower Danube
valley by 679. Meanwhile, in the East the
Persians forced the collapse of the frontier in
602. This was followed in 626 by the alliance of
the Avars and the Persians to assault
Constantinople. While the city was successful in
resisting the onslaught, the attack so exhausted
both sides that neither would be able to counter
Muslim expansion later in the century. Questions
1. How successful were Justinians efforts to
rebuild the Roman Empire? 2. What were the
consequences of expansion for the Byzantine
Empire?

• The Byzantine Empire in the Time of Justinian

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• The Byzantine Empire
• Reign of Justinian, 527-565
• Theodora
• Reestablish the Roman Empire
• Codification of Roman Law
• Corpus Iuris Civilis (Body of Civil Law), 529
• Digest and Institutes, 533
• Eventually used in the west
• Intellectual Life
• Procopius (c. 500-c. 562)
• Wars
• Secret History

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Constantinople 1. The colony of Byzantium, which
was to become the site of Constantinople, was
established by the Greek city of Megara in the
seventh century B.C. It was located on a
triangular peninsula on the European side of the
Sea of Marmara at the western end of the
seventeen mile Bosphorus Strait. Adjacent to
this, only a short boat ride away, was the Asian
continent. In addition to its natural
advantages, the site was located on the trade
routes of wheat from the Black Sea to Italy and
Greece in the west and to Syria and Egypt in the
south. 2. On the north side of the city was the
Golden Horn, a sheltered bay seven miles long and
deep enough to accommodate any ship. 3. The city
was laid out by Emperor Constantine (324-337)
with an eye toward a new Rome. Only the eastern
end of the peninsula was settled by the Greeks.
Here, at the center, they constructed an
acropolis upon which Constantine would later
build his Great Palace. Descending to the water
were a series of terraces upon which were the
palace buildings. At the front of the palace was
the Augustaeum, a great public square to serve
like the Forum in Rome. Southwest of this was
the center of entertainment, the Hippodrome which
could seat 60,000. The Wall of Constantine marked
the defensive perimeter of the city. 4. To
complete the city in six years and give it the
glory of a capital, Constantine raided the east
of its artistic treasures. This ensured that
Hellenistic culture would triumph in the Roman
Empire. 5. Mese (Middle) Street was the main
thoroughfare of the city and led away from the
Augustaeum. 6. Within a century the population
of the city had grown beyond the area planned by
Constantine. For purposes of expansion,
Theodosius II (408-450) established a new wall to
the west, a mile beyond the old one. 7.
Northwest of the Great Palace was the Church of
the Holy Wisdom (Hagia Sophia in Greek), which
was completed in 537 after five years of
construction. An architectural marvel, it
consisted of four enormous piers topped by a huge
dome which gave the appearance of floating in
space due to the forty-two windows around the
dome's base which let in streams of light. It was
here that the emperor was crowned and the
patriarch conducted religious services. Questions
1. Why was the location of Constantinople
important for its development? 2. How successful
was Constantine in making the new city another
Rome?

• Constinople

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• Life in Constantinople
• Rebuilt 532
• Commercial center
• Royal palace complex, Hagia Sophia, and the
  Hippodrome
• From Eastern Roman to Byzantine Empire
• Frontier insecurity
• Battle of Yarmuk, 636
• Bulgars
• Byzantine Empire in the Eighth Century
• Christianity and Iconoclastic Controversy, 730
• War economy and power of the emperor
• Eastern and western empire separated

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The Expansion of Islam 1. Arabia is a bleak
land about 1500 miles long and 1200 miles wide.
It features two large deserts, portions of which
have no rainfall. There are a few seasonal
streams but no real rivers. Although the people
are nomads, before 450 powerful states in Yemen
did exercise control. The decline of Yemen's
authority and the return to nomadism was
reinforced by Ethiopian and Persian invasions in
the sixth century. 2. There are numerous
theories as to the cause of the expansion of
Islam the harsh environmental conditions,
population pressure, religious zeal, the longing
of single men in the army for booty, or the
desire to export the religious reform of
Arabia. 3. Mecca was a major trading city and it
was here that Muhammad was born about 570. Mecca
was also the home of the Ka'ba where the sacred
stone (a shrine for the polydaemonists) was
located. Fearful of Muhammad's attacks on the
traditional gods, the people of Mecca expelled
him. He and his followers migrated in 622 to
trading rival Yathrib (later called Medina,
meaning "the city," i.e. the city of the prophet)
which had requested Muhammad's aid as a neutral
arbitrator among its five tribes (three were
Jewish). It was here that Muhammad had success.
Once he became both secular and spiritual
authority of the city, Muhammad initiated an
attack against Mecca that fell in 630 in part due
to a grain boycott on the agriculturally
dependent city. 3. Expansion west through
Byzantine Egypt was preceded by thrusts against
Syria and Mesopotamia. Despite stubborn
resistance from the Byzantines, by 640 Syria had
fallen and Damascus and Jerusalem were occupied.
Egypt was in Muslim hands six years later. The
struggle here was made easier by the people's
weariness over taxation and the theological and
factional struggles of Christianity. Muslim
promises of political and religious freedom were
enticing. From Egypt there was a slow drive
across North Africa leading eventually into Spain
in 711. In 732 Muslim raiders were in the
kingdom of the Franks and near Poitiers fought an
indecisive battle. Since this amounted to no
more than an adventure, the raiders returned to
Spain. 5. The Byzantine army was defeated by the
Muslims at Yarmuk in 636 and by 640 Syria was in
Arab hands. In the east, Muslim forces defeated
the Persians in 637 and by 650 all of the Persian
Empire had fallen. The Umayyad dynasty (661-750)
pushed their conquests to the Indus River. After
660 the Umayyad capital was moved to Damascus
since this was the center of power for Mu'awiya
(661-680), the first Umayyad ruler. 6. The Slavs
in the north and the Muslims in the east were
pressing the Byzantine Empire. With
Constantinople under siege, the Byzantines were
able to save eastern Christian Europe by the
defeat of a Muslim fleet in 718 in the Sea of
Marmora. Questions 1. What role did geography
have to play in the expansion of Islam? 2. Why
was Islam so successful in expanding into
Christian lands?

• The Expansion of Islam

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• The Rise of Islam
• Bedouins
• Allah (Arabic for God)
• Kaaba
• Trade through Mecca
• Muhammad (c. 570-632)
• Caravan manager
• Quran
• Hegira (Hijrah), 622
• Yathrib (Medina)
• Submission to Allah

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• Five Pillars of Faith
• Belief in Allah and Muhammad as his Prophet
• Prayer five time a day and public prayer on
  Friday at noon
• Observance of Ramadan, fasting from dawn to
  sunset
• Pilgrimage to Mecca (hajj)
• Giving alms to the poor
• Shariah (law code)

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• Expansion of Islam
• Abu Bakr succeeds Mohammed at his death
• Jihad
• Battle of Yarmuk, 636
• Persians defeated, 637
• Egypt falls, 642
• Muawiyah become caliph (successor), 661
• Umayyad dynasty
• Damascus

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• Shiites accepted only descendants of Ali,
  Muhammads son-in-law, as true rulers
• Sunnites claimed that the descendants of the
  Umayyads were the true caliphs
• Spain attacked, 710
• Battle of Tours, 732
• Constantinople attacked and Muslim fleet
  defeated, 717