Civilization in Eastern Europe: Byzantium and Orthodox Europe

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Chapter 9

• Civilization in Eastern Europe Byzantium and
  Orthodox Europe

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Map of Byzantine Empire under Justinian (527-565)
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The Byzantine Empire

• After 476 C.E. Rome was under the control of
  foreigners who themselves claimed to be
  continuing the empire
• The Byzantine empire continued as before,
  believing themselves to be the Roman Empire.
• Their empire was centered in Constantinople
• In the 4th century, Emperor Constantine
  established the capital here.
• It was able to hold off barbarian invaders

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• Had a predominately Greek character
• Byzantines through the course of the first
  millennium AD had to deal with cultural
  influences and political threats from European
  cultures, Asian cultures and, primarily, Islam
  after the seventh century.

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• The Byzantine Empire, with territory in the
  Balkans, the Middle East, and the eastern
  Mediterranean, maintained very high levels of
  political, economic, and cultural life between
  500-1450 C.E.
• The empire continued many of the traditions of
  the western empire and spread its Orthodox
  Christianity to most of Eastern Europe, Belarus,
  Ukraine and Russia.

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Justinian 527-565

• Attempted to reconquer Western territory but
  without lasting success
• Attacks from Slavs and Persian weakened frontiers
• Serious financial pressures
• Rebuilt Constantinople
• (Hagia Sophia)
• Justinians Code of Law(Corpus Iuris
• Civilis)
• - it was also the first systematic attempt to
• synthesize Roman law
• and jurisprudence with Christianity
• - became the foundation of all European
• law and legal practice (except for England).
• the persecution of heretical
• Christians

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Empress Theodora

• Byzantine empress and
• consort of Justinian I
• According to Procopius, already been an actress,
  dancer and courtesan when she won the heart of
  the ambitious Justinian
• She eventually became his mistress, wife and the
  sharer of his throne (527)
• During the Nike Riots of 532, it was Theodora who
  saved the throne or herself and her husband by
  her courage. She lavished goods upon the poor,
  especially the unfortunate of her own sex. Her
  character remained exemplary until the appearance
  of The Secret History (Historia Arcana) of
  Procopius (1623), whose chief aim was to defame
  both Justinian and Theodora.

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Hagia Sophia
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Arab Pressures and the Empires Defenses

• Successors of Justinians concentrated on the
  empires defense
• Revived empire withstood invasions of Arab
  Muslims (however some important regions were
  lost-Eastern Med./M.E. heartland
• Free rural population was weakened (those who
  paid taxes and served in the military)

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Bulgaria

• Strong rival
• Basil II, the Byzantine emperor, conquered this
  kingdom in 1014
• At the close of the tenth century the Byzantine
  emperor may have been the strongest contemporary
  ruler.

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Byzantine Society/Culture

• Relied on Constantinople's control of countryside
• While classical studies, science, and philosophy
  largely dissipated in the Latin West, Byzantine
  education and philosophy still zealously pursued
  these intellectual traditions
• Cultural life centered on Hellenistic secular
  traditions and Orthodox Christianity
• Art and architecture was elaborate- domed
  buildings, colored mosaics, and painted icons
  expressed an art linked to religion.

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Byzantine Politics

• Resembled earlier Chinese system
• (emperor (patriarch) ordained by God and
  surrounded by an elaborate court ritual)
• The patriarch ruled both church and state
• Women occasionally held the throne
• Elaborate bureaucracy
• Careful military organization
• Troops recruited locally and given land in return
  for service
• Empire socially and economically relied on
  Constantinople's control of the countryside

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East/West Split

• Throughout the middle ages various differences in
  political organization, culture and economic
  organization and the various versions of
  Christianity help illustrate the rift between
  east and west.
• Charlemagne in 800 was crowned Holy Roman Emperor
  causing hostility
• 1054- final straw- Empire split due to the
  disagreement over what bread to use in the mass
  and the celibacy of priests caused the schism
• Although the two remained separate, there was
  still a common classical heritage shared

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Decline of Empire

• 11th century a long period of decline began
• Muslim Turkish invaders
• Manzikert 1071
• Independent Slavic states in Balkans
• 1204- Crusaders- Venetian merchants sack
  Constantinople
• 1453- Ottoman Turks conquer Constantinople

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The Spread of Christianity

• Byzantine influence spread to the people of the
  Balkans and Southern Russia through conquest,
  commerce, and Christianity
• Cyril and Methodius- missionaries who devised a
  written script (Cyrillic) for the Slavic language
  providing a base for literacy in Europe.

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Borderlands

• What is a borderland?
• Competition between eastern and western
  missionaries in the eastern Europe
• Roman Catholics succeed in Czechoslovakia,
  Hungary and Poland.
• Poland, Bohemia and Lithuania developed regional
  monarchies and ruled with a powerful landholding
  aristocracy.
• Also, Eastern Europe received an influx of Jews
  from the Middle East and Western Europe
• They were often barred from agriculture but
  participated in local commerce

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Kievan Rus

• Slavic Peoples migrated to Russia (during time of
  Roman Empire)
• Mixed with and incorporated local population
• Possessed iron and extended agriculture in
  Ukraine and western Russia
• Animistic religion with rich tradition in music
  and oral legend

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Rurik and Vladimir I

• Danish merchant
• 885- established a monarchy
• Loosely organized they flourished until the 12th
  century when Kiev became a prosperous commercial
  center.
• Contacts with the Byzantines led to the
  Conversion of Vladimir I (980-1015) to Orthodox
  Christianity
• Vladimir controlled church appointments and
  issued a formal law code

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Institutions and Culture in Kievan Rus

• Borrowed much from Byzantine Empire
• Orthodox Christian practices
• Devotion to Gods power and the saints
• Ornate churches
• Icons
• monasticism
• Cultural, social and economic patterns developed
  differently from the western European experience
• Polygamy yielded to Christian monogamy
• Almsgiving was emphasized
• Art and literature were heavily influenced by the
  Orthodox religion
• Architecture was adapted from the Byzantines to
  fit local conditions
• Peasants wer free farmers, and aristocratic
  landlords (Boyars) had less political power than
  the similar Westerners

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Kievan Decline

• 12th century
• Rival princes established competing governments
  while the royal family quarreled over the
  succession
• Mongol invasions of the 13th century incorporated
  Russian lands into their territories
• Mongol (Tatar) dominance spread even to the
  western dominated areas of eastern Europe
• Mongols were tolerant in regards to religion and
  did not interfere with local religion as long as
  tribute was paid

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End of Mongol control

• When Mongol control ended in the 15th century, a
  Russian cultural and political tradition
  incorporation the Byzantine inheritance
  reemerged.
• The Russians claimed to be the successors of the
  Roman Empire and Byzantine states and declared
  Moscow as Third Rome

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The End of an Era in Eastern Europe

• Difficult period for Eastern Europe
• Mongol invasions
• Russia decline
• Collapse of Byzantium
• Border territories (i.e. Poland) fell under
  Western influence while the Balkans fell under
  the Influence of the Islamic world of the Turks
  (Ottoman Empire)
• Western and eastern Europe evolved separately,
  with the former pushing ahead in power and
  cross-cultural sophistication

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Global Connections

• Byzantines- active in interregional trade
• Constantinople was one of the worlds greatest
  trading centers (geographical location)
• When Byzantium declined and the Mongols conquered
  Russia a period of isolation began
• By the 15th century, Russia began to regain
  independence and faced decisions about how to
  re-engage with the West