Medieval Europe

Chapter 10- The World of European Christendom

Connected and Divided

500-1300

Europe in the Post Classical period lays the foundation for the Europe that will come to dominate world affairs. If you are picking a period where Europe (and specifically Western Europe) is the least important in World History, this may be it. Medieval Europe refers to the time between the fall of Rome and the reemergence of Europe during the Early Modern Period around the 15th Century. Although not as important as Muslims, Mongols, or the Chinese in the period, it remains foundational to understand them in the next few periods into the 21st Century.

Geography of Europe from the Fall of Rome until 1492...

Learning Objectives:

• Describe European society after the breakup of the Roman Empire
• Compare the diverse legacies of Rome in Western Europe and the Byzantine Empire
• Explore Medieval European expansion
• Evaluate the backwardness of medieval Europe relative to other civilizations, and...
• Analyze the steps by which Europe caught up to the East

Big Picture Questions:

1. How did the histories of the Byzantine Empire and Western Europe differ during the era of 3rd Wave Civilizations?
2. What accounts for the different historical trajectories of these 2 expressions of Christendom?
3. How did Byzantium and Western Europe interact with each other and with the larger world of the post-classical era?
4. Was the civilization of the Latin West distinctive and unique, or was it broadly comparable to other 3rd Wave civilizations?
5. How does the history of the Christian world in the postclassical era compare with that of Tang and Song dynasty China?

Key Terms:

• Aristotle (Classical Greek Learning)
• Byzantine Empire
• caesaropapism
• Charlemagne
• Eastern Orthodox Christianity
• Roman Catholic Christianity
• Constantinople
• Crusades
• Cyril and Methodius
• Cyrillic
• European cities
• Greek fire
• guild
• Holy Roman Empire
• "hybrid civilization"
• iconoclasm
• indulgence
• Justinian
• Kievan Rus
• natural philosophy
• Otto I
• system of competing states
• Vikings
• Vladimir, prince of Kiev

Islam

Chapter 11- The Worlds of Islam

Afro-Eurasian Connections

600-1500

Learning Objectives:

• Explain the causes behind the spread of Islam
• Assess the dynamism of the Islamic World as the most influential of the 3rd Wave civilizations
• Explain how religious divisions within Islam affected political development
• Analyze Islam as a source of cultural encounters with Christian, African and Hindu cultures
• Evaluate the accomplishments of the Islamic world

Big Picture Questions:

1. What distinguished the first centuries of Islamic history from the early history of Christianity and Buddhism?  What sim/dif characterized their religious outlooks?
2. How might you account for the immense religious and military/political success of Islam in its early centuries?
3. In what ways might Islamic civilization be described as cosmopolitan, international, or global?
4. "Islam was simultaneously both a single world of shared meaning and interaction and a series of separate and distinct communities, often in conflict with one another."  What evidence could you provide to support both sides of this argument?   
5. What changes did Islamic expansion generate in those societies that encouraged it, and how was Islam itself transformed by those encounters?

Key Terms:

• Abbasid Caliphate
• al-Andalus
• Anatolia
• Battle of Talas River
• Bedouins
• dhimmis
• al-Ghazali
• hadiths
• hajj
• hijra
• House of Wisdom
• Ibn Battuta
• Ibn Sina
• imams
• jihad
• jizya
• Kaaba
• madrassas
• Mecca
• Mozarabs
• Muhammad Ibn Abdullah
• Muslim
• Pillars of Islam
• Rightly Guided Caliphs
• Quran
• sharia
• shaykhs
• Sikhism
• Sufis
• Sultanate of Delhi
• Timbuktu
• ulama
• Umayyad caliphate
• umma

KEY CONCEPT 3.1-

I. Improved transportation technologies and commercial practices led to an increased volume of trade, and expanded the geographic range of existing and newly-active trade networks.

A. Existing trade routes flourished and promoted the growth of powerful new trading cities.

[Required examples of existing trade routes: The Silk Roads, The Mediterranean Sea, The Trans-Saharan, The Indian Ocean basins]

Intensification of the trade along the Silk Road

• The area west of the Taklamakan desert, east of the Caspian Sea and south of the Aral (what is now modern Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran) became a melting pot, blending the cultures of east and the west for centuries. After the rise of Islam (beginning in 632 CE), the unification of states and empires in the Middle East allowed for expansion of trade between the two formally isolated (for all intents and purposes) entities.

The was no single road; the term "Silk Road" refers to the network of roads which together composed the system. As can be implied by its name, one of the chief commodities which traveled The Silk Road was silk itself.

D. Commercial growth was also facilitated by state practices, trading organizations, and state-sponsored commercial infrastructures.

E. The expansion of empires facilitated Trans-Eurasian trade and communication as new peoples were drawn into their conquerors' economies and trade networks.

[Required examples of empires: China, The Byzantine Empire, The Caliphates, and The Mongols]

I. The movement of peoples caused environmental and linguistic effects.

- The increase of deforestation in this era led to flooding and wood shortages in many areas of the world
- Roman Italy experienced a serious food shortage that can be connected to soil erosion issues
- China experienced more floods of their main rivers which devastated many of their farmlands

A. The expansion and intensification of long-distance trade routes often depended on environmental knowledge and technological adaptations to it.

[Some illustrative examples of environmental knowledge and technological adaptations: The way Scandinavian Vikings used their longships to travel in coastal and open waters as well as in rivers and estuaries, The way the Arabs and Berbers adapted camels to travel across and around the Sahara, The way Central Asian pastoral groups used horses to travel in the steppes]

C. Some migrations and commercial contacts led to the diffusion of languages throughout a new region or the emergence of new languages.

[One illustrative example of the diffusion of languages, either from the list below or an example of your choice: The spread of Bantu languages including Swahili, The spread of Turkic and Arabic languages]

III. Cross-cultural exchanges were fostered by the intensification of existing or the creation of new networks of trade and communication.

A. Islam, based on the revelations of the prophet Muhammad, developed in the Arabian peninsula. The beliefs and practices of Islam reflected interactions among Jews, Christians, and Zoroastrians with the local Arabian peoples. Muslim rule expanded to many parts of Afro-Eurasia due to military expansion, and Islam subsequently expanded through the activities of merchants and missionaries.

KEY CONCEPT 3.2-

Continuity and Innovation of State Forms and Their Interactions (600-1450 CE)

I. Empires collapsed and were reconstituted; in some regions new state forms emerged.

B. In some places, new forms of governance emerged, including those developed in various Islamic states, the Mongol Khanates, city-states, and decentralized government (feudalism) in Europe and Japan.

Islamic Caliphate

1. The Islamic Caliphate was the leader of the Islamic Community who governed under the Shoria, or set of Islamic Rules. The Caliphs were supposed to be Imams, men chosen by God. All were supposed to be disciples of God as well. The Caliphs were the leaders of the community.

2. The first Caliph was Abu Bakr, and he was followed by three other Caliphs. Unfortunately, after the first four, rivals began to try to take the Caliphate which would lead to battles over whom had the Caliphate. The Caliphate would go through dynasties such as the Umayyads, Abbasids, and the Ottoman dynasties. At one point or another all of these Empires claimed that they had the Caliphate.

Click here for a Table of Caliphs, 632-861from course readings for Professor Kenneth Ward, Tulane University.

3. These Empires all collapsed because of corruption within the Caliphate. The third Caliph Uthman was thought to have ruled the most like a King, and controversy then occurred as to what the proper way to elect a Caliphate was. It was this controversy that would lead to the collapse of many different Empires within the Islamic community.

4. As the map to the right shows, the Islamic Caliphate expanded as Islam expanded. With more debate on who the Caliph should be, people from new territories attempted to claim it, meaning when one person got the Caliph, they now were in charge of the Islamic world.

5. The Islamic Caliphate was in charge of everything in Islamic Society. They determined the rights of minorities, the religious freedom people within the region, the treatment of Christians and Jews, as well as the economy. There is a great short lecture by Sheikh Anwar al-Awlaki who discusses what the Caliphate entailed, what it decided and how it shaped the Islamic World.

For background on Muslim rule on the Iberian Peninsula and its decline by 1492, see Massachusetts World History I.11

For background on the Golden Age of Islamic Empire, see Massachusetts World History I.5

II. Interregional contacts and conflicts between states and empires encouraged significant technological and cultural transfers.

[Examples of technological and cultural transfers: Between Tang China and the Abbasids, Across the Mongol empires, During the Crusades]


1. Al Andalus- From this region in the Islamic Empire came immigrants who were called Mozarb immigrants. They began migrating to Spain in which they translate Arabic works, and shared new technologies with each other.

2. The Mozarbs brought ideas of architecture and agriculture, which at first was viewed with skepticism by Europe. But after a series of defeats during the Crusades, Europe took Islamic technological advances more seriously, and began practicing them. For more information on these various inter-regional contacts visit Contact.

As Europe was considered to be technologically behind the Middle East during the Crusades, the positive effect made was only on Europe. To read more about the events and transferal effects from the Crusades, see The Crusades

For more information on the Crusades, see Massachusetts World History I.9.

KEY CONCEPT 3.3

Increased Productive Capacity and Its Consequences (600-1450 CE)

I. Innovations stimulated agricultural and industrial production in many regions.

At this time in World History the advancement in agricultural technologies across the globe allowed for people to better feed themselves and there was a surplus supply of agricultural goods. This surplus allowed for human populations to grow because there were now more resources available. Some examples of improvements include the horse collar in Europe, opening of the Ganges river delta in India, and improved terracing techniques in China. (1)

II. The fate of cities varied greatly, with periods of significant decline, and periods of increased urbanization buoyed by rising productivity and expanding trade networks.

Following the collapse of the Roman Empire a new Indian Ocean system rose to take its place. This system focused on the expanding trade coming from eastern Asian countries such as India with its textiles. Also there was a rise of Arab nations in northern Africa that traded many goods such as gold and ivory into this "southern" system. There were two main trade routes open at this time: a land route (the silk road) and a water route through the India Ocean. The blue route shown below follows the ocean path, where as the red path shows that overland silk road. (2)

A map of the Silk Road

As a result of these new trade networks, many cities grew in population size as they become more prosperous. The need for improved transportation lead to the development of camel saddles that allowed for longer distance travel. Ships technology improved greatly for navigation. Many cities rose along the ocean routes that facilitated trade and allowed for a diverse opportunity for new jobs, as well as the spread of religions and cultures from many different regions. (2)

III. Despite significant continuities in social structures and in methods of production, there were also some important changes in labor management and in the effects of religious conversion on gender relations and family life.

 In the following primary source, Ibn Battuta, an Arab explorer around 1300 CE, describes some of his extensive travels around the globe: Ibn Battuta. In this reading he describes the culture of the places that he visited and one can personally see the culture of many different places through his writings.

A. As in the previous period, there were many forms of labor organization.

[Required examples of forms of labor organization: Free peasant agriculture, Nomadic pastoralism, Craft production and guild organization, Various forms of coerced and unfree labor, Government-imposed labor taxes, and Military obligations]

B. As in the previous period, social structures were shaped largely by class and caste hierarchies. Patriarchy persisted; however, in some areas, women exercised more power and influence, most notably among the Mongols and in West Africa, Japan, and Southeast Asia.

D. The diffusion of Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, and Neoconfucianism often led to significant changes in gender relations and family structure.

VIDEO RESOURCES:

INSIDE THE KAABA

History of Islam in 3 minutes!