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The Early Middle Ages DO NOT EDIT--Changes must be made through “File info” CorrectionKey=NL-B Module 4 The Early Middle Ages Essential Question How did life change after the fall of Rome during the early Middle Ages? About the Painting: This miniature is called In this module you will follow the changing political, religious, and “Month of June.” It appeared in the Grimani cultural landscape of medieval Europe. Breviary, a Flemish illuminated manuscript. This scene shows what life was like in the European countryside during the Middle Ages. SS.912.W.2.1 Locate the extent of Byzantine territory at the height of the empire. SS.912.W.2.2 Describe the impact of Constantine the Great’s establishment of “New Rome” (Constantinople) Explore ONLINE! and his recognition of Christianity as a legal religion. SS.912.W.2.3 Analyze the extent to which the Byzantine Empire was a continuation of the old Roman Empire and in what ways it was a departure. VIDEOS, including... SS.912.W.2.4 Identify key figures associated with the Byzantine Empire. SS.912.W.2.5 Explain the contribu- • Castles and Dungeons tions of the Byzantine Empire. SS.912.W.2.6 Describe the causes and effects of the Iconoclast controversy of the 8th and 9th centuries and the 11th century Christian schism between the churches of Constantinople and • Hagia Sophia Rome. SS.912.W.2.7 Analyze causes (Justinian’s Plague, ongoing attacks from the “barbarians,” the Crusades, • Genghis Khan and internal political turmoil) of the decline of the Byzantine Empire. SS.912.W.2.9 Analyze the impact of the collapse of the Western Roman Empire on Europe. SS.912.W.2.10 Describe the orders of medieval social • Monasteries in Middle Ages hierarchy, the changing role of the Church, the emergence of feudalism, and the development of private prop- • Knights and Armor erty as a distinguishing feature of Western Civilization. SS.912.W.2.11 Describe the rise and achievements of • Medieval Armor significant rulers in medieval Europe. SS.912.W.2.12 Recognize the importance of Christian monasteries and convents as centers of education, charitable and missionary activity, economic productivity, and political power. SS.912.W.2.13 Explain how Western civilization arose from a synthesis of classical Greco-Roman civilization, Document Based Investigations Judeo-Christian influence, and the cultures of northern European peoples promoting a cultural unity in Europe. SS.912.W.2.17 Identify key figures, artistic, and intellectual achievements of the medieval period in Western Graphic Organizers Europe. SS.912.W.2.21 Compare Japanese feudalism with Western European feudalism during the Middle Ages. SS.912.W.4.5 Describe how ideas from the Middle Ages and Renaissance led to the Scientific Revolution. Interactive Games SS.912.G.1.2 Use spatial perspective and appropriate geographic terms and tools, including the Six Essential Elements, as organizational schema to describe any given place. SS.912.G.4.9 Use political maps to describe Carousel: Russian Religious Art and the change in boundaries and governments within continents over time. LAFS.910.RH.1.1 Cite specific textual Architecture evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources, attending to such features as the date and origin of the information. LAFS.910.RH.2.5 Analyze how a text uses structure to emphasize key points or advance an Image with Hotspots: A Viking Longboat explanation or analysis. 116 Module 4 DO NOT EDIT--Changes must be made through “File info” CorrectionKey=NL-A Timeline of Events 500–1200 Explore ONLINE! Central Asia and Europe World 500 511 Clovis unites Franks under Christian rule. 527 Justinian becomes ruler of the Byzantine Empire. 630 Muhammad returns to Mecca after making the Hijrah to Medina. 690 Empress Wu Zhao assumes throne in China. 732 Charles Martel stops Muslim invasion. 750 Abbasids in Persia take control of the Muslim Empire. 771 Charlemagne becomes ruler of Frankish Kingdom in Europe. 800 Pope Leo III crowns the Frankish king 800 Empire of Ghana Charlemagne emperor. thrives in West Africa. 843 Treaty of Verdun divides Charlemagne’s empire. 850s Byzantine culture spreads to Russia. 900s Outside invasions spur 900 Classic period of Mayan growth of feudalism. civilization in Central America ends. 960 Song Dynasty of China begins. 1100s Code of chivalry develops. 1185 Kamakura Shogunate rules Japan. 1200 The Early Middle Ages 117 DO NOT EDIT--Changes must be made through “File info” CorrectionKey=NL-A Lesson 1 The Byzantine Empire Setting the Stage The Big Idea As you learned, the Western Roman Empire crumbled in After Rome split, the Eastern the fifth century as it was overrun by invading Germanic Empire, known as Byzantium, tribes. By this time, however, the once great empire had flourished for a thousand years. already undergone significant changes. It had been Why It Matters Now divided into western and eastern empires, and its capital Byzantine culture deeply had moved east from Rome to the Greek city of influenced Orthodox Byzantium in what is now Turkey. The new capital stood Christianity, a major branch of on the Bosporus Strait, strategically located for trade and modern Christianity. defense purposes on a crossroads of the West and East. Key Terms and People The Bosporus Strait also linked the empire to the Black Justinian Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. The city would become Justinian Code known as Constantinople after the emperor Constan- Hagia Sophia tine, who made it the new capital in AD 330. (Byzantium patriarch would remain as the name of the entire Eastern Empire.) icon For nearly a thousand years after the collapse of the excommunication Western Empire, Byzantium and its flourishing capital Cyrillic alphabet would carry on the glory of Rome. A glittering cross from the 11th century, Byzantine Empire SS.912.W.2.1; SS.912.W.2.2; SS.912.W.2.3; SS.912.W.2.4; SS.912.W.2.5; SS.912.W.2.6; SS.912.W.2.7; LAFS.910.RH.2.5 118 Module 4 DO NOT EDIT--Changes must be made through “File info” CorrectionKey=NL-B A New Rome in a New Setting Roman leaders had divided the empire in 395, largely due to difficulties in communications between the eastern and the troubled western parts of the empire. Still, rulers in the East continued to see themselves as emper- ors for all of Rome. In 527, a high-ranking Byzantine nobleman named Justinian succeeded his uncle to the throne of the Eastern Empire. In an effort to regain Rome’s Emperor Justinian fading glory and recapture the west, Justinian in 533 sent his best general, Belisarius (behl•uh•SAIR•ee•uhs), to recover North Africa from the invading Germanic tribes. Belisarius and his forces quickly succeeded. Two years later, Belisarius attacked Rome and seized it from a group known as the Ostrogoths. But the city faced repeated attacks by other Germanic tribes. Over the next 16 years of political, economic, social, and religious transformations, Rome changed hands six times. After numerous campaigns, Justinian’s armies won nearly all of Italy and parts of Spain. Justinian now ruled almost all the territory that Rome had ever ruled. He could honestly call himself a new Caesar. Like the last of the old Caesars, the Byzantine emperors ruled with absolute power. They headed not just the state but the church as well. Reading Check They appointed and dismissed bishops at will. The political turmoil was Compare How brutal—and often deadly. Emperors lived under constant risk of assassina- were the Byzantine emperors like the last tion. Of the 88 Byzantine emperors, 29 died violently, and 13 abandoned of the old Caesars? the throne to live in monasteries. Life in the New Rome A separate government and difficult communications with the West gave the Byzantine Empire its own character, different from that of the Western Empire. The citizens thought of themselves as sharing in the Roman tradi- tion, but few spoke Latin anymore. Most Byzantines spoke Greek. Having unified the two empires, Justinian set up a panel of legal experts to regulate Byzantium’s increasingly complex society. The panel combed through 400 years of Roman law. It found a number of laws that were outdated and contradictory. The panel created a single, uniform code Vocabulary code known as the Justinian Code. After its completion, the code consisted of general system of four works. laws; stems from the Latin word codex, 1. The Code contained nearly 5,000 Roman laws that were still consid- meaning “book” ered useful for the Byzantine Empire. 2. The Digest quoted and summarized the opinions of Rome’s great- est legal thinkers about the laws. This massive work ran to a total of 50 volumes. 3. The Institutes was a textbook that told law students how to use the laws. 4. The Novellae (New Laws) presented legislation passed after 534. The Justinian Code decided legal questions that regulated whole areas of Byzantine life. Marriage, slavery, property, inheritance, women’s rights, and criminal justice were just some of those areas. Although Justinian himself died in 565, his code served the Byzantine Empire for 900 years. The Early Middle Ages 119 DO NOT EDIT--Changes must be made through “File info” CorrectionKey=NL-A The Hagia Sophia is an example of Byzantine Creating the Imperial Capital Constantinople was a center for law architecture. and religion. While his scholars were creating the legal code, Justinian launched the most ambitious public building program ever seen in the Roman world. He rebuilt the crumbling fortifications of Constantinople, as workers constructed a 14-mile stone wall along the city’s coastline and repaired the massive fortifications along its western land border.
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