Chapter 7: Europe and Western Asia, ca. 350-850
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54 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 The Byzantine Empire | The Roman Empire in the east continued as the Byzantine Empire after the fall of the western portion of the Roman Empire. |
| Sources of Byzantine Strength | The Byzantine Empire retained the legal and administrative systems of the empire centered at Rome, including the senate and the army legions. The geographical position as well as military strength helped preserve the eastern portion as the western portion fell to invaders. |
| The Sasanid Kingdom of Persia and Byzantium | The Sasanid Kingdom was Byzantium's most regular foe. The Persians adopted Zoroastrianism as the official state religion. In the seventh century, the region was absorbed into the Islamic caliphate. |
| The Law Code of Justinian | The Byzantine Empire's greatest contribution to the West was Justinian's corpus juris civilis—the body of civil law, compiled as the Code, the Institutes, and the Digest. |
| Byzantine Intellectual Life | The Byzantine Empire preserved much Greco-Roman knowledge, a great deal of which was not rediscovered in the West until much later. The Byzantines also prized education and made advances in medical practice. |
| Constantinople | The Second The Byzantine Empire was important for European development. Its central city, Constantinople, was, in the tenth century, the greatest city in the Christian world—the center of international trade and a society that was dominated by a landed aristocracy. The Byzantine Empire was important for European development. Its central city, Constantinople, was, in the tenth century, the greatest city in the Christian world—the center of international trade and a society that was dominated by a landed aristocracy.central city, Constantinople, was, in the tenth century, the greatest city in the Christian world—the center of international trade and a society that was dominated by a landed aristocracy. |
| The Growth of the Christian Church | Surviving the downfall of the Roman Empire in the west, the Christian grew and became the most important institution in Europe. |
| The Church and its Leaders | With an organization that mirrored Diocletian's division of the empire, the church came to be the major political as well as spiritual power. By 380 Christianity was the official religion of the empire, and the church had been allowed to develop its own body of law, canon law. |
| The Western Church and the Eastern Church | In the eastern empire the emperor held supreme authority over the church. In Rome, however, the bishops formulated the theory of the church's ultimate power over the state. Unlike the Roman church, the Greek Orthodox church was subservient to the emperor, who treated religion as a matter of state policy. |
| The Iconoclastic Controversy | The Iconoclastic Controversy brought the question of church-state relations to a head. It also hastened the schism between the western and eastern churches. |
| Christian Monasticism | Monasticism had its beginning in Egypt, and then after about 529, the monastic orders in the west were unified under the Rule of Saint Benedict. Monasticism in the Byzantine world developed differently, with each group adopting its own set of rules. Unlike in the west, education was not a central feature. |
| Christian Ideas and Practices | Christians soon adapted classical influences to their beliefs. Missionaries spread Christianity, assimilating pagan peoples. |
| Adjustment to Classical Culture | Christianity encouraged adjustment to the ideas and institutions of the Roman world. The contemporary world had an impact on attitudes toward gender and sexuality as expressed by some of the early church fathers. Although Jesus considered women the equal of men, later Christian writers tended to regard them as inferior because they were seen as encouraging sexual activity—something regarded as a threat to spiritual freedom. Women were also viewed in church teaching as inferior to men. |
| Saint Augustine | Augustinian theology, with its synthesis of Christian and classical thought and emphasis on human sinfulness, laid the foundation of Christian thought through the Middle Ages and beyond. |
| Missionary Activity | Missionaries spread Christian teachings throughout the Roman world and beyond, moving into the countryside and assimilating pagan peoples. |
| Conversion and Assimilation | Missionaries and priests used preaching, assimilation, and the penitential system to help illiterate and pagan peoples understand Christian ideals and teachings. |
| Migrating Peoples | Migrating peoples had a lasting impact on the region. |
| Celts, Huns, and Germans | The Romans referred to these groups as barbarians. The Celts and Germans moved into the Roman Empire in the third and fourth centuries because of pressure from the Huns. |
| Barbarian Society | Barbarians had no notion of written law. They thought and operated in social, not political, terms. |
| Arianism | A theological belief, originating with Arius, a priest of Alexandria, that denied that Christ was divine and co-eternal with God the Father |
| barbarian | A name given by the Romans to all peoples living outside the frontiers of the Roman Empire (except the Persians). |
| canon law | The body of internal law that governs the Church. |
| Carolingian | A Frankish family which increased its power through selective marriage, political acumen, and military victory to the point that they were able to replace the Merovingians as the rulers of the Frankish kingdom during the seventh century. |
| coenobitic monasticism | Communal living in monasteries, encouraged by Saint Basil and the church because it provided an environment for training the aspirant in the virtues of charity, poverty, and freedom from self-deception. |
| corpus juris civilis | The "body of civil law"; it is composed of the Code, Digest, and Institutes. |
| diaspora | The dispersion of the Jews from Jerusalem between 132 and 135. |
| diocese | A geographic administrative district of the Church, under the authority of a bishop and centered around a cathedral. |
| eremitical | A form of monasticism that began in Egypt in the third century in which individuals and small groups withdrew from cities and organized society to see God through prayer. The people who lived in caves and sought shelter in the desert and mountains were called hermits, from the Greek word eremos. |
| Merovingian | A dynasty founded in 481 by the Frankish chieftain Clovis in what is now France. So called because Clovis claimed descent from the semi-legendary leader, Merovech. |
| penitentials | Manuals for the examination of conscience. |
| Petrine Doctrine | The statement used by popes, bishops of Rome, based on Jesus' words, to substantiate their claim of being the successors of Saint Peter and heirs to his authority as chief of the apostles. |
| regular clergy | Clergy who live under the rule (Latin regulus) of a monastic house, i. e. monks and nuns. |
| relics | Bones, articles of clothing, or other material object associated with the life of a saint, used as a expedient to worship or to invoke the blessing and protection of that particular saint. |
| sacraments | Certain rituals of the Church believed to act as a conduit of God's grace. The Eucharist and baptism were among the sacraments. |
| schism | A division, or split, in church leadership; during the period 1377-1418, there were two, then three, popes. |
| secular clergy | saeculum), i. e. priests and bishops. |
| Treaty of Verdun | A treaty, ratified in 843, which divided the territories of Charlemagne between his three surviving grand-sons and formed the precursor states of modern Germany, France, and Italy. |
| wergeld | "Manmoney" or "money to buy off the spear"; according to the code of the Salian Franks, this is the particular monetary value that every person had in the tribe. |
| At the Council of Nicaea in 325, it was decided that | God and Christ were of different substances. |
| Eastern monasticism differed from western in all of the following ways EXCEPT | each eastern monastic order developed its own typikon, while western monasteries generally adopted the Rule of Benedict. |
| Shortly after Justinian's death, Italy fell to this Germanic tribe | Lombards |
| On August 9, 378 C.E., the Goths defeated the Romans at | Adrianople |
| Jesus death/resurrection | founder - central event of Christianity |
| idea of Arianism developed/Arius | first idea that contradicted Jesus being the Son of God |
| Constantine - Edict of Milan | made center of Byzantine Empire - Constantinople |
| Council of Nicea | produced Nicean Creed |
| St Jerome | Made possible church-authorized translation of Bible into Latin |
| Life of Augustine of Hippo | life of most influential church father in the west. wrote "The Confessions" |
| Christianity became official religion of Roman empire/Theodosius made this happen | would shape the empire and Christianity and would spread throughout the world |
| St Patrick | apostle of Ireland, christian missionary, one of most successful in history |
| Fall of the Western Roman Empire / Romulus Augustus 476 ad | The greatest single empire the world had seen fell / last emperor, death brought end of Roman empire |
| The Rule of St Benedicts | guide to monastic life |
| Pope Gregory I | He sent St. Augustine to convert Anglo-Saxons in 597 |
| Cyril and Methodius | 2 Greek brothers who were missionary's for the Slavs in Moravia, they made a Slavic alphabet |
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