Chapter 9

Civilization in Eastern Europe: Byzantium and Orthodox Europe

Map of Byzantine Empire under Justinian (527-565)

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

• 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.

• 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.

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)• Justinian’s 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

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.

Hagia Sophia

Arab Pressures and the Empire’s Defenses

• Successors of Justinian’s concentrated on the empire’s 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)

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

Institutions and Culture in Kievan Rus

• Borrowed much from Byzantine Empire• Orthodox Christian practices

– Devotion to God’s 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

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

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”

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

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