Part Nine IX › Division II II › Section 921 921

Western Europe, the Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Empire, and Eastern Europe from ad 395

Subject Outline

AThe study of medieval and Byzantine history: the historical sources, historiographic problems, chronological outline
BThe eclipse of the Roman Empire in the West and the development and Christianization of Germanic successor states (ad 395-c. 750)
- 1The end of the Western Roman Empire and the Germanic Volkerwanderung (ad 395-c. 500)
  - aThe general decline of government, economy, society, and culture
  - bEstablishment of the Germanic hegemony: the invasions of Vandals; the invasions of Angles, Saxons, and Jutes (Britain); the Visigothic invasions in the 5th century and settlement in Provence and Spain; the Frankish conquest of Gaul (c. 481/482-51 1) and the Burgundian flight to the south; the Huns; abolition of the Western Empire and Ostrogothic rule in Italy (493-553); other Germanic tribes -- the issue of Arianism versus Catholic Christianity; Germanic law and society
- 2The Germanic successor states and the remnants of the Roman Empire in the West from c. 500 to 750; the origins of early feudalism
  - aByzantine conquests and later diminution of Byzantium's western possessions (540-751), the Exarchate of Ravenna, Lombard conquests in Italy, beginning of the political role of the Roman papacy
  - bEarly development of the Germanic kingdoms
    - iThe Visigothic kingdom to 711
    - iiThe Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in England and the Celtic kingdoms in Ireland
    - iiiThe Franks under the Merovingians and early Carolingians: the successors of Clovis, rise and establishment of the Carolingians under Charles Martel and Pepin III the Short (714-768), Carolingian relations with the papacy and entry into Italian affairs; origins of the Papal States
  - cEffects of the rise of Islam on western Europe
- 3Religion, the arts, and society in the early Middle Ages: the amalgamation of late Classical and Germanic cultures and Christianity
  - aConversion of the Celts, the Piets, and the Germans to Catholic Christianity: religious and cultural functions of monasticism and the Western Church
  - bThe arts, intellectual life, and education in the early Middle Ages
  - cSocial and economic life in the early Middle Ages
CThe early Byzantine Empire (ad 395-717)
- 1Origins of Byzantium in the late Roman Empire: the reforms of Diocletian and Constantine
- 2Persistence of Greco-Roman society in the East in the 5th century: the empire from the death of Theodosius I to the accession of Heraclius (610)
  - aEconomic and social policies: agriculture, coinage, relations with the barbarians (e.g., Huns, Goths, Isaurians, Avars, Slavs)
  - bEcclesiastical controversies, Syrian and Egyptian disaffection, and the beginning of conflict with the Western Church
  - cThe empire at the end of the 5th century: internal tensions, political and economic policies under Anastasius I
  - dThe reigns of Justin I (518-527) and Justinian I (527-565): realignment with the Roman Church, Code of Justinian, military campaigns in the West, effects of the plague, later campaigns
  - eEarly Byzantine culture: Christianity, the arts, and intellectual life
  - fJustinian's successors (565-610): relations with the barbarians and with the Persians, revolt of the army
- 3Rehabilitation of the empire under the dynasty of Heraclius (610-711)
  - aHeraclius' reorganization of the empire along military lines: wars with Persia; the loss of Syria, Palestine, Armenia, and Egypt to the Arabs and continued Arab pressures; recognition of Byzantine overlordship in the Balkans
  - bDecline of the dynasty (685-711): renewed wars with the Slavs; settlement with the Arabs; fiscal, agricultural, and defensive policies; military anarchy (711-717)
DWestern Christendom and Scandinavia from the Carolingian era to the general European revival (c. 750 -c. 1050)
- 1The Carolingian Empire and its later dissolution (c. 750-887), France in the 10th century
  - aThe reign of Charlemagne (king, 768-814; emperor from 800): further military expansion of the Frankish kingdom; legislation, administration, and defense; ecclesiastical policies; patronage of arts and learning
  - bDecline and dissolution of the Carolingian Empire under the successors of Charlemagne: the society, government, and culture of the Frankish world
    - iLouis the Pious; partitioning of the empire by the Treaty of Verdun (843) between Louis's sons (Lothair, Charles the Bald, and Louis the German); Muslim, Norman, and Magyar invasions and the debilitation of central authority
    - iiThe Frankish world: society, institutions, economic life, the church (triumph and reform of Benedictine monasticism, birth of the Cluniac order), literature (Carolingian renaissance) and the arts
  - cThe East Frankish kingdom (Germany): the last Carolingians (to 911), the emergence of the four stem duchies (Saxony, Franconia, Swabia, and Bavaria)
  - dThe West Frankish kingdom (France): dynastic rivalry between Carolingians and Robertians (to 987) and the ascendancy of the feudal magnates
  - eThe Middle Frankish kingdom (Lotharingia): Burgundy, Provence, and Italy
- 2The British Isles and Scandinavia (c. 800-1066)
  - aEngland: the decline of Mercia and the rise of Wessex; the 9th-century Danish invasions; King Alfred's legal, administrative, and ecclesiastical policies and patronage of the arts; Anglo-Saxon political unification and monastic revival in the 10th century; the conquest of the Danes and their rule over the Anglo-Danish state; the reign of Edward the Confessor and the Norman Conquest
  - bDevelopment of the Kingdom of Scotland, the Welsh, Ireland during the Norse invasions
    - iRoman penetration in Scotland: Christianity, Norse influence
    - iiEarly Christianity in Wales: relations with the Anglo-Saxons, Welsh society
    - iiiIreland: conversion to Christianity, monasticism, the Norse invasions
  - cThe Viking Age in Scandinavia: the Vikings and Varangians, widespread raids and conquests (c. 800-c. 1050), social and political organization, arts, paganism and conversion to Christianity from c. 850
- 3Germany, Burgundy, and Italy: development of the Holy Roman (German) Empire (91 1-1056)
  - aRevival of central authority in Germany and intervention in Italy by the Saxon dynasty: Conrad (91 1-918), rise of the nobility, early opposition from Arnulf of Bavaria, drive against Magyars and Slavs, Germanic kingship
  - bPromotion of the German church under Otto I (936-973): his conquest of Italy and establishment of the Holy Roman Empire (962), early Salian kings (1024-56)
  - cDevelopment of medieval Italy: political, economic, and social developments on the peninsula and in Sicily
    - iGrowth in power of the papacy; early years of the commercial cities of Venice in the north and Gaeta, Naples, Sorrento, and Amalfi in Campania; the Arabs in Sicily
    - iiCities and countryside: persistence of an urban tradition despite the exodus to rural areas, the role of bishops in urban life, economy and society
- 4The Kingdom of France under the early Capetians (987-1180): the relative weakness of the monarchy vis-a-vis the great feudatories, establishment of an Anglo-French domination in western France under the Plantagenets (Normandy, Anjou, Aquitaine), Capetian attempts to expand the royal domain
- 5Growth of the Christian states in northern Spain (Asturias- Leon-Castile, Navarre, Aragon- Catalonia): their relations with one another and with the Muslims in Spain, the first phase of the Reconquista to the fall of Toledo (1085)
- 6The sociopolitical and economic structure of early medieval Europe: origins, development, and spread of feudalism; its elements and structure; the manorial economy and mainly localized commerce to c. 1050
EPeoples and states of eastern Europe to c. 1050: early empires and later development of Christianized states
- 1The Slavic peoples: origins, early society and culture, movement into Pannonia and south Russia, plundering expeditions and eventual settlement in the Balkans
- 2The eastern European states and peoples within the Byzantine orbit
  - aThe Bulgarian domains to 1018: origins, migration into the Balkans (c. ad 650) and mixture with the local Slavic populations, early contacts and wars with Byzantium, adoption of Christianity (870), the First Bulgarian Empire (893-1014) and subsequent conquest by Byzantium
  - bThe Balkans: the migration of the Croats and Serbs into the Balkans and their subsequent relations with the Bulgars and Byzantium to c. 1050
  - cExploration and the rise of the Rus raids on Constantinople, development of trade routes, Khazar state north of the Black Sea
  - dThe princes of Novgorod (end of the 9th century)
  - eThe state of Kievan Rus (c. 980-1054): Slavic- Varangian (Scandinavian) origins, economic decline, social and political institutions
- 3Eastern European states within the orbit of Western Christendom
  - aDevelopments in Moravia and Bohemia to 1055: the Celtic and Germanic tribes supplanted by Slavic peoples in the 6th century, Czech dominance in the 8th century, unification under the Premysl rulers
    - iUnification of Greater Moravia under Mojmir (814): religious conflicts with Frankish clergy and temporary adherence to the Eastern rite, political expansion
    - iiThe early Premysl rulers of Bohemia: capital at Prague, ties with Bavaria and the Saxon dynasty, Boleslav I (929-967), Boleslav II (967-999), annexation of Moravia under Bretislav (1034-55)
  - bThe Avar Empire and the early Magyar (Hungarian) kingdom to c. 1050: alliance with the Carolingian ruler Arnulf, establishment of the Arpad dynasty, settlement of the central plain, conversion to Christianity, reign of Stephen I (997-1038)
  - cDevelopment of the Kingdom of Poland in the 10th century and Polish conversion to Western Christianity under the dynasty of the Piasts, civil strife and later restoration under Casimir I ( 1039--58)
FThe zenith and incipient decline of the Byzantine Empire (717-1081), the growth of Venice
- 1The age of Iconoclasm (717-867): the reforms of Leo III the Isaurian, repulse of the Arabs, Bulgar incursions and continued religious dissension under Leo's successors
- 2The Macedonian era (867-1025): territorial expansion, foreign relations, continued strength and prosperity under its rulers until 1025
  - aMilitary revival, relations with Slavs and Bulgars, estrangement from the West
  - bCulture and administration: legal reforms under Basil I and Leo VI
  - cSocial and economic change: reforms of Basil II
- 3Byzantine decline and subjection to Western influences: 1 lth-century weakness, arrival of new enemies, the schism with Rome (1054)