THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES Unit 1

1. The break-up of the Roman empire.

A. Rome and the “barbarians”.

THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES.

B. The invasions and the fall of Rome.

2. The germanic kingdoms.

A. The emergence of the Germanic kingdoms.
B. Post-Roman populations and society.

UNIT 1:
3. The Visigoths.
A. Who were the Visigoths?
B. The Visigoths in Hispania?
C. The organization of the kingdom.
D. Society and economy.

4. The Byzantine Empire.

A. The reign of Justinian.
B. Byzantium after Justinian.
C. Byzantine society.
D. Religion
E. Culture and art.
5. The origins of Islam.

THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES.

A. The origins of Islam.
B. The five pillars of Islam.

6. The spread of Islam.

A. The Orthodox Caliphate.
B. The Umayyad Caliphate.

UNIT 1:
C. The Abbasid Caliphate.
D. Political organisation.

7. Islamic society and culture.

A. Islamic society.
B. Islamic art.
1. THE BREAK-UP OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE.

A. Rome and the “barbarians”.

 Barbarians: Romans called the Germanic tribes “barbarians”, wich

meant “foreing” and “savage”. The Romans belived that they were
superior to the peoples who lived outside the Roman Empire.
 In the 3rd century AD the Roman Empire suffered a serious
economic and social crisis. This crisis, along with military
weakness, led to a series of migrations across the borders.
 The Huns continually attacked the Germanic peoples and forced
them to cross the frontier into the Roman Empire.
 Some Germanic tribes carried out violent attacks on Roman towns,
but others lived peacefully alongside the local population.
1. THE BREAK-UP OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE.

B. The invasions and the fall of Rome.

 In AD 395, the emperor Theodosius divided the Roman Empire into

two parts, each territory had its own emperor and institutions:

 The Western Roman Empire (Rome):

• The emperors were weak, and could not resist the attacks of the
Germanic tribes and the Huns.
• The violent invasions were intensified in the 5th century.:

 Attila, the Huns’ lider, was defeated in the Battle of the

Catalaunian Plains and his empire collapsed.
 The German peoples already controlled most of the territory of
the Wetern Roman Empire. Its ended in AD 476 whe the last
western emperor (Romulus Augustulus) was deposed.
1. THE BREAK-UP OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE.

B. The invasions and the fall of Rome.

 The Estern Roman Empire (Byzantine Empire):

• The emperor Constantine founded the capital city of

Constantinople on the site of the ancient Byzantium. It became
a great metropolis and controlled trade routes between Europe
and Asia.

• The Easter Roman Empire became known as the Byzantine

Empire, because of the city, and lasted for another 1,000
years.
 2. THE GERMANIC KINGDOMS.

A. The emergence of the Germanic kingdoms (5th-7th

centuries).

 The Western Empire broke up into a number of smaller

kingdoms.

 Government: each kingdom was ruled by a king, who had a

council to help him to govern. Military power was held by
dukes, and counts and bishops held great power in cities.

 The Germanic tribes followed unwritten laws.

2. THE GERMANIC KINGDOMS.
 2. THE GERMANIC KINGDOMS.

B. Post-Roman populations and society.

 The population:
 The Germanic peoples formed a minority.
 The Germanic and post-Roman populations kept their own
laws, costums and religion.
 They gradually began to form unified societies.

 The society:
 Cities: urban life became much less important than in Roman
times and trade declined, because of the división of the
territories.
 Rural life: most people were peasants who lived in villages.
 Monasteries appeared: monks lived here and followed a rule
(a set of religious obligations). Monasteries owned large
areas of land and servants.
 3. THE VISIGOTHS.

A. Who were the Visigoths?.

 They were a German tribe from the north of Europe.

 They raided Roman towns, but they also made alliances with the
Romans.
 In 415, they made an agreement with the Romans: the Visigoths
expelled another Germanic tribes (Vandals, Alans and Suevi) from
Hispania, and they received land in Gaul (France).
 There they founded a kingdom with capital in Toulouse.

B. The Visigoths in Hispania (6th century).

 The Franks expelled the Visigoths from Gaul
 The Visigoths returned to the Iberian Peninsula and founded a
kingdom with capital in Toledo.
3. THE VISIGOTHS.
 3. THE VISIGOTHS.

B. The Visigoths in Hispania (6th century).

 Main kings and developments:

• Leovigildo: acquired new territories.
• Recaredo: converted from Arrianism to Catholicism, which became the
religion of the whole kingdom.
• Recesvinto: the laws of the kingdom were unified.

 Late 7th century: conflicts between the kings and the nobility.
 Battle of Guadalete (711) the Muslims invaded the kingdom.
 3. THE VISIGOTHS.

C. The organisation of the kingdom.

 Elected monarchy. This caused conflicts between rivals from the
trone.
 Aula Regia: a council wich advised the king.
 Dukes and counts: governors of the provinces.
 Concilios: assemblies formed by the king, the Aula Regia and the
clergy. Religious and political decisions were taken at Concilios.
 3. THE VISIGOTHS.

D. Society and the economy.

 The Visigoths were only a small minority of the population, so its
kingdom was influenced by the language, culture and religion of
the Hispano-Roman majority

Roman population living in the

province of Hispania
(Iberian Peninsula)
 Nobles and clergymen: held the most important political positions
and owned much of the land.

 Peasants: the majority of the population. There were free peasants

(who had small plots of land) and slaves (who belonged to the nobles
or the Church, and worked their land)

 Economic activities: agriculture was the main economic activity.

3. THE VISIGOTHS.
 4. THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE.

 The Eastern Roman Empire survived the Germanic invasions

and became known as the Byzantine Empire.

 Its capital city, Constantinople, was built over the city of

Byzantium, from which the Byzantine Empire took its name.

 The Byzantine Empire was a well-organised state:

 The emperor, called basileus, was the administrative, military and
religious leader.
 The government business are conducted by state officials.
 Diplomats represented Byzantium in other territories.
 There was a powerful army.
 4. THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE.

A. The reign of Justinian (6th century):

 The emperor Justinian ruled alongside his wife Theodora.

 His armies receptured much of the Western Roman Empire (North

Africa, Italy and southern Hispania). It was tha last attempt to
reunite both halves of the empire.

 Trade expanded across the Mediterranean region and gold coins

became the main form of payment in Europe.

 The Hagia Sophia Church was built in Constantinople.

 The emperor ordered to compile the laws of the empire in the Code
of Justinian.
THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE UNDER JUSTINIAN’S REIGN.
 4. THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE.

B. Byzantium after Justinian:

Despite Justinian's efforts, the empire did not have the resources to
keep the conquered territories.
Lombards expelled the
Visigoths expelled Byzantines from the north
the Byzantines from and centre of Italian
Iberian Peninsula. Peninsula.

Turks captured
Constantinople in
1453 and the
Byzantine Empire
disappeared.

Muslims conquered
the Mediterranean
coast of Africa, Syria
and Palestine.
4. THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE.
 4. THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE.

D. Religion:

Roman Catholic Church Orthodox Church

 4. THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE.

E. Culture and art:

 5. THE ORIGINS OF ISLAM.

A. The origins of Islam:

• Islam is one of the world’s three great monotheistic religions, along

with Judaism and Christianity
• Before Islam, most Arabs were polytheistic.
• Muhammad began to preach a new religión: Islam (he believed
there was only one God, Allah).
• However, the merchants in Mecca diid not accept Muhammad’s
teachings. So. In 622 he escaped to Medina. This event is the
Hegira, and marks the beginning of the Muslim calendar.
• Muhammad built and army and conquered Mecca.
• At the time of Muhammad’s death, Islam has spread throughout
the west of the Arabian Peninsula.
 5. THE ORIGINS OF ISLAM.

B. The five pillars of Islam:

 Muhammad’s teachings were written in the Quran, the sacred

book of Islam.
 The Quran establishes five rules for all Muslims:
1) Faith: “there is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is his prophet”
2) Prayer: on Fridays, a religious figure called an iman leads their
collective prayers in a mosque.
3) Pilgrimage: they should travel to Mecca at least once in their lives.
4) Fasting: during the month of Ramadan, they must not eat or drink
during the day.
5) Charity: they must give to the poor.
 6. THE SPREAD OF ISLAM.

 The Muslims created a vast empire.

 The proccess began soon after Muhammad’s death, when
armies led by Arabs spread through jihad, or holy war.
 6. THE SPREAD OF ISLAM: STAGES OF THE
ISLAMIC EMPIRE.
A. The Or thodox Caliphate (7th centur y):

 Members of Muhammad’s family ruled from Medina.

 They chose the caliph (political and religious leader of all Muslims)
 The Muslims controlled the Arabian Peninsula, Persia and Egypt, and came into
conflict with the Byzantine Empire.
 The internal conflict broke out with the election of the fourth caliph, Ali. The
rival Umayyad family killed the caliph and took control of the caliphate.

A. The Umayyad Caliphate (7th and 8th centuries):

 The Umayyad family made the caliph a hereditary ruler.

 The new capital was Damascus.
 Islamic territory was divided into emirates (provinces).
 Islam expanded the most, from Persia to the Iberian Peninsula (they defeated
the Visigoth king, Rodrigo, at the battle of Guadalete in 711)
 The Battle of Poitiers (732), against the Franks, was the end of Islamic military
advance in Europe.
 750: Abu al-Abbas led a rebellion and destroyed the Umayyad family. Only
prince Abd al-Rahman survived and escaped to the Iberian Peninsula.
 6. THE SPREAD OF ISLAM: STAGES OF THE
ISLAMIC EMPIRE.
C. The Abbasid Caliphate (8th century to 13th century):

 The Abbasid family moved the capital to Baghdad, which became a

major trade centre.
 The empire began to disintegrate due to power disputes. The
Abbasids lost control over many territories (Al -Andalus on the
Iberian Peninsula)
 The Turks (Muslim people from the Asian Steppe), grew stronger
and challenged Abbasid rule.
 The Abbasid caliph was killed by the Mongols during the conquest
of Baghdad (1258).
6. THE SPREAD OF ISLAM: POLITICAL
ORGANISATION.
 7. ISLAMIC SOCIET Y AND CULTURE.

A. Islamic society:

 Society was divided into different classes:

 The ruling aristocracy. There were mainly Arabs and include large landowners
and families of rulers. They had the political and economical power.
 Other influential groups. Small landowners, merchants and artisans. Did
not participated in politics.
 The lower class. There were street vendors, servants, landless peasants.They
were the majority of the population, but lived in harsh conditions.

 The original Arab conquerors became a minority that ruled over a Berber
majority.
(Berber: ethnic group from north-west Africa).

 As the Islamic Empire expand, most groups converted to Islam. However,

Christians and Jews were allowed to practise their own religion.

 Women had to submit to the authority of their fathers and their

husbands. Only boys were educated.The Quran allowed each man to have
four wives, whom he should treat equally.
 7. ISLAMIC SOCIET Y AND CULTURE.

B. Islamic art:

Islamic ar t was influenced by the ar t of conquered cultures, but it

developed its own style. Islam did not to allow represent the human
body, but its ar t was exceptional in several fields:

 In architecture. Brick, wood and plaster were used. There were

columns, pillars and arches (horseshoe arch or lobed arch).

 Plaster, ceramics and paint were used to decorate building with

geometric patterns, floral motifs (arabesque) and inscriptions.

 Water was a fundamental part of decoration.

 Islamic artists worked with ceramics, glass, ivory, leather, bronze

and wood.