HIST 20: World History, I

The European Middle Ages, I:

Fragmentation, Centralization, and the Church

(Notes)

I.  Background: “Two Births”

·  Here’s a re-cap of the events surrounding the collapse of the Western Roman Empire:

o  In an attempt to stop the decline of the empire and address the crises of the third century, Diocletian (284-305) divided the Roman Empire into two sections, east and west, each headed by a “partner” under the rule of the emperor. Constantine then shifted the center of the empire to the east, to the new city of Constantinople, which he declared the “new Rome” in 330. With the shift in capital came a shift in the wealth, administrative order, and the overall cohesion of the western part of the empire.

o  At the same time, the borders of the empire (particularly in the west) were under “attack” by “barbarian” tribes, most of which wanted to enjoy the benefits of the empire, and who coexisted (almost) peacefully with Rome. Nevertheless, the empire could not meet demands of the “barbarians”, especially when significant numbers of tribes were pushed further west by the Huns. In view of the empire’s seeming unwillingness to accommodate/protect them, the Visigoths revolted, ultimately defeating the Roman army in the Battle of Adrianople (378) and sacking Rome in 410. The sack was made possible, then, by the empire’s overextension: its defenses were physically weakened, the people were overtaxed, famine and pestilence overran the empire, and political chaos reigned.

o  In the late 4th and early 5th centuries, there were further invasions in the west, and in 455 Rome was sacked again, this time by the Vandals. The western half of the empire was unable to recuperate from this second sack, and in 467, when Romulus Augustus is deposed by Odovacar, the west “falls”.

o  Although later emperors attempted to reunite the empire, particularly Justinian in 527-565, the west had devolved into a series of independent pockets of power, unified solely by the universality and organization of Christianity, as we shall see. Justinian’s failed attempts to reunification mark the final break between east and west, and the rise of the Eastern Roman Empire as the Byzantine Empire.

o  You must keep in mind that the military triumph of the Germanic tribes was not necessarily the end of the empire in cultural terms. Although much changed with the introduction of Germanic law and political organization, the bases for European realities remained Latin, Roman law, ancient philosophy and, most importantly, Christianity as it was first defined within the empire.

·  Justinian’s efforts to re-unite the empire ultimately failed in the 600s. A major cause of the failure of Byzantium (as the Eastern Roman Empire, which survived until 1453, came to be known) came from the rise of a new religion, Islam, whose rapid spread overtaxed the Empire’s resources. The Muslim advance was only stopped in 732 by the forces of Frankish king Charles Martel (more on him below).

·  There is an additional development that I should introduce here, the process of deurbanization (the moving out of cities) in the west. This was a process that began already under the Empire, in the 400s. Roman elites began to move to the countryside and formed large landed estates for a variety of reasons, one the most important being economic: the fiscal burden of the Roman state rose greatly during the period of the late Empire and, during that time of increasing chaos, the possession of land emerged as one of the most secure investments. The process of deurbanization would continue over the next several centuries. It had several major results:

1.  cities in what had been the Western Empire shrunk in size

2.  the elite of the region became transformed from an urban into a rural elite.

·  In brief, by the 600s, the west, which had always been always less urbanized than the east, became predominately rural. Indeed, for centuries afterwards, on average, around 90% of the population would live in the country, and only 9% in cities.

·  The decline of cities, which had been central to the functioning of the Roman Empire, also meant that central administration largely disappeared.

·  Because of these various processes, then, by the mid-700s, the people of what had been the Western Roman Empire, were politically and socially different from the east. More importantly, as their use of the term “Saracen” (Easterner) to refer to Muslims indicates, they mentally saw themselves as distinct and disconnected from the lands and peoples of the eastern Mediterranean. This was a huge development. This cultural conception of difference marks the destruction of what had been, under the Romans, a united whole. The West, with that capital “w,” and the idea of the European continent as a place and people unlike Africa, Asia, or the East, had been born.

·  We have, as well, a second “birth” – that of a new historical period. We have finally left the ancient world, and have entered the medieval era, or the Middle Ages, a thousand year period, lasting from approximately 500 through around 1500. The Middle Ages were heavily influenced by three inherited cultural traditions: those of ancient Greece and Rome, the barbarians, and Christianity.

·  It is important to note that for a long time the term “Middle Ages” was used in a pejorative (negative) sense, as a period of darkness and barbarity between the world of Rome and the time of the Renaissance, a time we will talk about Tuesday. This prejudice obscures the continuities from the Roman period and the real advancements medieval people made. However, people of the time also saw themselves as living in the Middle Ages, but they meant the term in a Christian sense, as the period between Jesus Christ’s ascension into heaven forty days after the resurrection, and the Apocalypse, when Christ would return to judge the living and the dead, and the world would be destroyed.

II.  The Church and Medieval Christianity

·  As we saw, during the 400s, the Church in the west began developing in ways different from the Church in the east:

  1. The Church in the west after it became legitimate began to evolve along secular, Roman, lines (Bishops as leaders of dioceses, etc.)
  2. Remember, because there was only one Patriarch in the west, the Church there was much more unified than in the east
  3. Also, recall that in the 450s, it was the Patriarch, not the Emperor, who prevented the Huns from sacking Rome. The Church gained an important secular as well as spiritual role.
  4. After the collapse of imperial authority in 476, the Church began to fill the resulting administrative vacuum. Since the Church had been structured to mirror the imperial bureaucracy, and many of its members were originally Roman bureaucrats, the Church became a main center of order in the west. For example, Church courts became the main source of secular as well as spiritual justice for centuries.
  5. For the next thousand years, the main bond joining together the peoples of the west was the Christian religion. In a sign of this identification, the people of the west began to call their region “Christendom.”

A.  The Rise of the Papacy

·  One crucial development, which us brings us back to the sense of east versus west, is that, during the early Middle Ages, the united Christian Church also divided along these geographical lines. In short, during this period, the Papacy in Rome emerged as the supreme spiritual authority (versus merely being merely the seat of one of five patriarchs). This was a long-term development:

  1. To repeat, following the collapse of the western Empire, the Church in the west was in a position of greater independence.
  2. As we saw, early on, the Church engaged in a political alliance which gave secular power behind its spiritual authority. This was the conversion of Clovis, King of the Franks, in c. 496. This alliance would bear great fruit two and a half centuries later.
  3. One implication of the rise of Islam (632-732) was the regained independence of the Patriarch of Rome from the direct control of the Emperors in Constantinople.
  4. A major moment in the rise of the Papacy came in the 750s. In 754 Patriarch Stephen became the first Roman patriarch to leave the Italian peninsula, to meet with Peppin, King of the Franks, grandson of Charles Martel, the King who had defeated the Muslims in 732. Peppin was seeking Church sanction to his recent takeover of the Frankish throne. Stephen needed protection against a violent tribe, the Lombards, who had recently invaded Italy. Stephen reconsecrated Peppin, anointed him with holy oil, gave Peppin his blessing to rule in perpetuity and granted the King the title of “patrician of the Romans. What was a major change was the fact that the Patriarch, not the Emperor, was granting an imperial title.
  5. In 756, Peppin came into northern Italy and destroyed the Lombards. Once more, a huge event with deep implications, occurred. One territory the Lombards had taken over was a region of north-eastern Italy known as the Excharate of Ravenna. Under the Byzantine reconquest, this was the administrative capital of the peninsula. After Peppin had taken over Ravenna, one would have expected him to return it to its official ruler, the Emperor. However, the Frankish king granted it instead to Stephen. The Patriarch gladly accepted the donation. This had two important implications: 1) the Patriarchs became secular rulers in Italy (they ruled a swath of land across Italy known as the Papal States); 2) Stephen’s actions were a clear defiance of the supreme authority of the Emperors in Constantinople. It was after this that the Patriarchs began to call themselves Popes, and claimed equal, and implied greater, spiritual authority with the Emperor.
  6. Three hundred years later, in 1054, the split between eastern and western Christianity became official in what is known as the “Great Schism.” This split endures to this day.

B.  The Nature of Medieval Christianity

·  Let us step back from the narrative for a second, and discuss medieval Christianity in a more thematic manner.

·  Medieval Christianity can be called an institutionalized belief system, in than religious practices and beliefs were intrinsically bound to the institution which administered them.

·  Remember, the institution emerged from the early movement conducted by Jesus’s followers—it derived its spiritual authority from this connection to Jesus

·  The institution of the Church was an integral part of Christian belief—this structure, over 1500 years old, was seen as necessary for salvation—

·  The Church claimed to be the “living word” of God—in that the Bible is not the only source of knowledge about faith—God continues to reveal himself to man through the Church which, guided by the Holy Spirit, acts as the interpreter between God and man—hence the Church came to be at the top of the social hierarchy (as we shall discuss in the PowerPoint lecture).

·  Three Aspects of the Church c. (around) 1500:

1.  Social Role:

• The Church played a huge role in European society c. 1500—remember the Church was a supra-national institution, in that it bound Europe into a common culture— think “Christendom.”
• By 1500 the institution of the Church was enmeshed in almost every aspect of daily life, down to the most mundane level

• Some Examples:

a.  In the Middle Ages, TIME organized around Christian beliefs—the idea was that no time stood apart from God: The week was geared towards Sunday—a day dedicated to God and rest; the year revolved around the life of Jesus—the holiest part of the year being the period right before Christmas in the winter (Jesus’s birth) to right after Easter in the Spring (Jesus’s resurrection)

b.  The Medieval Church was in charge of social welfare—for example, feeding the poor, sheltering the homeless, caring for the sick—these things NOT done by secular governments

c.  These actions aided by Church teachings on Good Works (see below)

2.  Beliefs and Practices:

Beliefs:

·  The Church argued that in order to achieve salvation, Christians had to practice an “active faith”—you could not get to heaven just by faith alone—Satan understood faith—this was called “dead faith”—instead one had to play an active part in one’s own salvation—express faith through concrete actions

·  2 major actions called for:

1. Participation in Holy Rituals mediated by the Church:
a. The most important and most common—weekly Mass on Sunday— ritual reenactment of Jesus’s sacrifice—most important part of Mass = communion, Eucharist—when God, through the priest changes bread and wine into the actual body and blood of Jesus—transubstantiation

b. The Seven Sacraments—baptism, penance, communion (Eucharist), matrimony, holy orders, anointing of the sick—ritually mark major moments of life—all are mediated through the priesthood—the 2 most important and the only ones repeated = penance and communion

2. Performance of “Good Works”:
Included giving money to the Church—giving alms to the poor (Social Welfare); visiting the sick—In Brief = doing good deeds for others was “active faith”—ensuring own salvation
Practices:
• Marked by great diversity— the Church’s message was adaptable; it made itself fit the needs of different groups in society
• Greatest Example: The Cult of The Saints— saints are dead Christians who are in heaven and, therefore, close to God— it was believed that the dead were still part of the Christian community and therefore one could communicate with them through prayer— different saints became the “patrons” of different bodies within society—saint Nicolas, for example, was the patron saint of thieves