Blogs

Dec. 10- Dec. 14

Posted by 6Aimie on December 10, 2018 at 1:40pm

12/10- 

  • Roman Religion
    • Government and religion were linked 
    • Many of the gods came form some aspect of the Greek gods
    • Among the most important Roman gods and godesses were:
      • Jupiter, father of the gods(Zeus)
      • Juno, Jupiter's wife, who watched over women(Hera)
      • Minerva, goddess of wisdom and arts and crafts(Athena)
  • The Rise of Christianity
    • Roman gods were very impersonal and was practiced with very little emotion
    • Rome took over the Jewish land of Israel around 63 BCE which introduced Christianity to the Roman Empire
    • Christianity broke off from Judaism and was based on the life and teachings of Jesus as well as his death and resurrection
    • As Jesus traveled around preaching, many people started following him
  • Why was Christianity Attractive to People?
    • Embraced all people- men and women, enslaved persons, the poor, and nobles
    • Gave hope to the powerless
    • Appealed to those who were repelled by the extravagances of imperial Rome
    • Offered a personal relationship with a loving God
    • Promised eternal life after death
  • Paul
    • Paul, an apostle, stressed that Jesus was the son of God who died for people's sins
      • An apostle was a Christian teacher or missionary
    • He also declared that Christianity should welcome all converts, Jew or Gentile(non-jew)
  • Rome's Reaction
    • Rome persecuted Christians as they did not worship the Roman gods
      • Many were crucified, burned or killed by wild animals in arenas
    • Roman Emperor Constantine named Christianity one of the Roman Empire's religions in 313 AD after winning a battle where he believed the Christian God intervened
    • In 380 AD, Rome Emperor Theodosius made Christianity the empire's official religion
  • Early Christian Issues
    • As time went on, there were growing disagreements between Christians in regards to beliefs
    • The New Testament was added to the Hebrew Old Testament to make the Christian bible which helped unify Christians 
      • Included the four Gospels(Matthew, Mark, Luke, John) as well as the Epistles(letters) of Paul
  • The Nicene Creed
    • In 325 AD, Constantine further unified the teachings of Christianity
    • In Nicaea(in Turkey today), church leaders wrote the Nicene Creed, which defined the basic beliefs of the Church
  • The Fall of the Roman Empire
    • Historians generally agree that the end of the reign of the emperor Marcus Aurelius(161-180 AD) marked the end of two centuries of peace and presperity and the Roman Empire
  • Three Main Causes for the Fall of Rome
    1. Internal problems and conflicts
    2. Separation of the Roman Empire into East and West
    3. Outside invasions
      • Invasion by Germanic tribes and by Huns
  • Diocletian Splits the Empire- 285 AD
    • Diocletian was a strong ruler that brought law and order back to the Empire
    • He believed that the empire had grown too large and too complex for one ruler
    • He divided the empire into two
      • Greeek-speaking East (Greece, Anatolia, Syria, and Egypt)- Byzantine Empire
      • Latin-speaking West (Italy, Gaul, Britain, and Spain- Roman Empire
    • He took the easern half for himself and appointed a co-ruler for the west
  • Constantine
    • Constantine took control of the western part of the Roman Empire in 312 AD and also took control of the eastern part in 324 AD
    • United the empire during his reign and moved the capital from Rome to Byzantium(330 AD), changing the name of the city to Constantinople
    • Huge walls were built around Constantinople to protect it from barbarians
    • After his death, the empire was split in two again
    • Today the city is known as Istanbul
    • The Byzantine Empire would last until 1453 when the Ottoman Turks took the area over  

12/11-

  • Germanic Invasions
    • Germanic tribes moved into the Roman Empire due to the Huns moving into their territory around 370 AD
    • The Germanic tribes attacked and took over areas all throughout the empire and eventually sacked Rome itself in 410 AD                                      
  • The Huns
    • In 370 AD, the Huns moved into Europe from Central Asia and battled the Germanic tribes
    • In 444 AD, under Attila, the Huns invaded both parts of the Roman Empire
    • The Huns attacked over 70 citites
      • Couldn't get past the walls of Constantinople
      • Invaded Rome in 452 AD but failed
    • Attila the Hun died in 453 AD and so did the Hun's power
  • The Last Roman Emperor and the End
    • The last Western Roman emperor was Romulus Augustulus, a 14 year old
    • He was ousted by German forces in 476 AD and Rome fell
    • The Eastern Roman Empire(Byzantine) continued and flourished until the Ottoman Turks took them over in 1453
    • After Rome fell, Europe fell into the Dark Ages form around 500-1500 AD

12/12- Germanic Kingdoms Unite Under Charlemagne

  • Middle Ages--Medieval TImes--Dark Ages
    • What is the difference?
    • The Middle Ages lasted roughly 500 AD-1500 AD
    • The term medieval simply means "of or relating to the Middle Ages"
    • The Dark Ages was the period in Western Europe between 500(the fall of Rome) and 1000 AD
  • The Dark Ages
    • Why is the period known as the Dark Ages?
      • Magyars and Vikings raided western European church monasteries and destroyed many of these centers of learning
      • Due to this, Europe was thrown backwards in time where science, culture, and learning were not focused on as much as they had been with Ancient Rome and Greece
  • What happened to Europe after the fall of the Roman Empire?
    • In the East, the Byzantine Empire became a center for trade and Greco-Roman culture
    • When Germanic barbarian tribes conquered Rome, Europe was plagued by constant warfare
    • Warfare disrupted trade, destroyed Europe's cities, and forced people to rural areas
    • Learning declined; few people could read or write
    • Greco-Roman culture was forgotten
    • Europe lost a common language; Latin mixed with local languages to form Spanish, French, Italian
  • The Fall of Rome
    • The invasions and fall of the Roman Empire caused the follwing problems in Europe:
      1. The Disruption of Trade
        • Centralized Roman authority broke down and with it went the protection of trade
        • Without Roman power and protection, roads and trade routes were no longer safe
        • Without trade and commerce, the economy tanked
        • Money became scarce
      2. Downfall of Cities
        • With the disruption of trade, cities were no longer the vital economic centers they once were
        • With the breakdown of central Roman authority, cities were no longer needed as centers of government
        • People moved to the countryside
        • London, Paris, Rome, Florence, Milan, among others were still around
      3. Population Shifts
        • With the cities no longer the important places they once were, people started migrating to the country
        • Why?
          • They could grow their own food and felt safer there
      4. Decline of Learning
        • The Germanic "barbarians" could not read or write
        • The Germanic languages started becoming important, but they lacked a writing system
        • Important info was all in Latin or Greek
        • The Science and philosophy of ancients Greece/Rome got ingnored/lost as the Germanic people didn't have much use for it
        • Church leaders were the only people that remained educated
      5. Loss of a Common Language
        • As the Roman Empire was divided among the different Germanic tribes, the Latin language started evolving differently in the different regions
        • The changes came partly from the separation among the peoples as well as the influence of teh Germanic people living in the particular areas
      6. Decline of Infrastructure
        • All the great public works fell into disrepair: the aqueducts, the public baths, libraries, arenas, etc.
          • The Germanic leaders didn't really destroy them, they didn't see the need to maintain them or spend money to do so
          • It didn't help that these things were maily located in cities, which people were leaving
  • Germanic Tribes
    • Unlike the Roman Empire, the Germanic tribes focused on family ties and personal loyalty to unify society
    • Every Germanic chief led a band of warriors who had pledged their loyalty to him
    • In peacetime, these followers lived in their lord's hall and were provided food, weapons, and treasure by their chief
    • What did this lead to?
      • Extreme loalty
    • In battle, warriors fought to the death at their lord's side and considered it a disgrace to outlive him
    • Germanic warriors felt no obligation to obey a king they did not even know that lived far away
    • The Germanic stress on personal ties made it impossible to establish orderly government for large territories
  • The Church
    • The Roman Catholic Chruch was the one centralized institution that remained from the Roman Empire
    • It was also the only literate one
      • Since literacy was necessary for the practice of the religion, the clergy was able to read
    • Provided some stability in the chaos of the Dark ages

12/13-

  • The Spread of Christianity in Medieval Europe
    •  Clovis
      • He brought Christianity to the Germanic Franks in Gaul(modern day France)
      • His wife was Christian and during a battle which the Franks were losing, Clovis prayed to the Christian God and ended up winnning the battle
      • He and his warriors were then converted from paganism to Christianity
    • Pope Gregory I (The Great)
      • He expanded the Pope's role to not just spiritual but also secular(worldly, non-religious)
      • Became increasingly involved in government
      • He used church revenues to raise armies, repair roads, and help the poor
      • The idea of a churchly kingdom, ruled by a pope, would be a central theme of the Middle Ages
    • Charles Martel "The Hammer"
      • He was called the major domo and was not king 
      • Martel led armies, made policy and basically ran the kingdom
      • Martel extended Frankish territory in all directions
        • He made what is now France bigger
      • His main accomplishment was at the Battle of Tours where he defeated the Muslims
    • Pepin the Short
      • Charles Martel's son
      • He became the first king of the Carolingian Empire
      • Pepin thought he should be king so he asked the pope to decide who should be king: the guy with the title of king or the person with the power of king
    • Charlemagne(Charles the Great)
      • He proceeded to conquer the east  and south, taking on Germanic tribes in Europe and Muslim forces in Spain
        • Strengthened what is now France
      • In exchange for saving him, Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne emperor of the Holy Roman Empire
      • That Leo III crowned Charlemange is significant
        • it indicated that the pope had the power to dictate who would become king
    • Treaty of Verdun
      • It split the Carolingian Empire into 3 empires

12/14- 

  • Feudalism
    • The political, social and economic system of Europe
    • During the Middle Ages Feudalsim began in Europe as a way to offer protection to people
    • It is based on land and in return, loyalty
    • Land owning lords offer land (fief) to knights in exchange for their loyalty and promise to protect the lord's land
    • Landowners control their land by giving pieces to vassals. The vassals promise to defend the land
  • Parceling Out the Land
    • The king took 20% of the land
    • The church took 25% of the land
    • Nobles/lords/barons took 50% of the land
    • Knights took 5% of the land
    • The serfs worked the land 
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