Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Seven major Crusades between 1095 and 1270
Pope Urban II issues first call to Crusade in 1095
Crusade: armed pilgrimage to free the Holy Land from the Muslims
Thousands of people joined up
-Shows power of papacy
-New Vitality of the kingdoms of Europe
-Affirmation of the values of the knightly class: just war
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First Crusade (1095-1099)
-Seljuk Turks
-Byzantium calls for help from the West
-incentive of penance
-Peter the Hermit
-large body of knights
-Captured Jerusalem in 1099
-Set up Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem
Second Crusade (1146-1148)
-Preached by Bernard of Clairvaux
-Disaster: why was God displeased?
1187 Jerusalem recaptured by Turks led by Saladin
Third Crusade (1189-1192)
-led by: Richard the Lion-Hearted (England), Philip Augustus (France), Frederick Barbarossa (Germany)
-Many problems; a few successes
-Richard negotiates a truce with Saladin
Fourth Crusade (1202-1204)
-Called by Innocent III
- entanglements with the Venetian state
- Crusaders sack the Christian city of Constantinople
Fifth Crusade (1217-1221)
-Directed at Egypt, the seat of Muslim power in the Middle East
-Also ends in disaster
-Both Led by Louis IX of France
-Sixth (1248) to Egypt
-Seventh (1270) to Tunisia
-Louis IX (St. Louis) died in Tunisia from plague
1291 Acre, final Christian city in Middle East, falls to Muslim forces
-End of Crusader states in the Holy Land
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Carolingians were Franks
-Most successful ruler was Charles the Great: Charlemagne
(r. 768-814)
--wars of conquest
--pious
--Carolingian Renaissance
Great Invasions of the 9th and 10th Centuries
Muslim incursions from the Middle East and North Africa
-plundered coastal cities of the Mediterranean
-Conquered islands; took slaves
-looted the church of St. Peter in Rome in 846 A.D.
Magyars from the Asiatic steppes
-Invaded German and Italian territories from
late 800s to 955 A.D.
-plundered towns and monasteries
-defeated at Battle of Lechfeld in 955 A.D. by Otto I of Germany
-converted to Christianity
-settled Hungary
Vikings from Scandinavia
-Northmen, had a home economy based on agriculture and cattle, but land was scarce
-raiding expeditions in search of land
-warrior culture with goals of : land, wealth and fame
-most fearsome warriors in Europe
-longboats
-plundered churches and monasteries
-finally settle down: Rolf marries Gisela, converts to Christianity and receives lordship over the area of Normandy
Monday, October 30, 2006
Italian Peninsula:
Ostrogoths -- Theoderic
-blending of culture
Lombards
Gregory the Great (Pope from 590-604)
Iberian Peninsula:
Visigoths
King Reccared (r. 586-601)
-Persecution of Jews
Muslim conquest of Spain 711 A.D.
Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Frisians
Missionaries:
St. Patrick
St. Columba
St. Augustine of Canterbury
-Synod of Whitby 664 A.D.
The Venerable Bede (673-735 A.D.)
The Continent (France)
-Kingdom of the Franks
-Merovingians: Clovis (r. 481-511)
-Charles Martel
--Battle of Poitiers 732 A.D.
-Carolingian Empire
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
-Split of the Roman Empire between East and West
-East becomes Byzantine Empire
-Why did the Roman Empire "Fall"?
-about 210 reasons
-dynamic problem
-"Barbarian" invasions were a major reason.
-In the 4th Century, the Huns attack the Visigoths
-Visigoths move into Roman territory
-Visigoths revolt and win Battle of Adrianople in 378 A.D.
-King Alaric sacks Rome in 410 A.D.
-Romans withdraw from Britain and other northern territories
-Alans, Burgundians, Sueves, Vandals, Ostrogoths
-Barbarian tribes start to found their own independent kingdoms
-Last Roman emperor in the West killed in 476 A.D.
Byzantine Empire
-City of Constantinople
-Roman governmental traditions; Greek culture
-Emperor had more power over the church
-Justinian (r. 527 - 565 A.D.)
-Wars of conquest
-Empress Theodora
-Hagia Sophia
-Legal Reform: Code Justinian and The Body of Civil Law (Corpus Juris Civilis)
-Procopius
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Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Jesus of Nazareth (ca. 6 B.C. - 30 A.D.)
-preacher and miracle worker
-within Jewish tradition
-"King of the Jews"
-Crucified
-Resurrection
-Messiah or Christ
![](http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6761/2159/400/christ-as-good-shepherd-ceiling-s-callisto-catacomb-3rdc-300.jpg)
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Peter and Paul
-Founders of the church
![](http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6761/2159/400/peter___paul.jpg)
-leader of a new sect in Judaism
-came to call themselves "Christians"
-baptism and ritual meal
-Roman citizen
-Christianity intended for the whole world
-missionary journeys; conversions and founding of churches
Reaction in the Roman world:
Roman government was tolerant of many religions.
-Appeal of Christianity:
--comforting afterlife; belief in God above all other gods; forgiveness
--first converts poor and oppressed; then all classes of society
-Negative reaction:
--aggressive, subversive cult which would not sacrifice to the Emperor.
Roman paganism
-polytheistic; very traditional
-connected to politics
-public: doing the right rituals at the right time.
-saw Christians as stupid, dangerous and unpatriotic
-major problems in the Empire as a whole also turned people against Christians
-Persecutions of Christians especially strong 249-313 A.D.
--Great Persecution (303-313 A.D.), begun under the Emperor Diocletian.
Empire was divided in half for administrative reasons
-An augustus and a caesar ruled in each half: the Tetrarchy (4 Men).
Monday, October 16, 2006
Emperors had four main responsibilities:
1. Protect and expand the territory of the empire
--First major setback in 9 A.D.: Arminius ambushes Varus in the Teutoburger Forest
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2. Administer justice and provide good government.
3. Supreme religious leader or High Priest of the empire.
4. Symbol of unity for the whole empire.
--"Cult of the Emperor"
Four major imperial dynasties:
1. Julio-Claudian
(Augustus, Tiberius, Claudius, Caligula, Nero)
--Tiberius and Claudius: sober and fairly successful
--Caligula and Nero: dangerous and probably insane
---Revolt of Boudicca and the Iceni in Britain (ca. 60 A.D.)
69 A.D. : Year of the Four Emperors
2. Flavian Dynasty founded by Titus Flavius Vespasianus (Vespasian, Titus, Domitian)
--Vespasian and his son Titus were responsible for putting down a major Jewish revolt in Judea between 66 - 70 A.D.
Army chooses Nerva as new emperor in 96 A.D.
3. Beginning of Antonine Age / Antonine Dynasty (lasts until 192 A.D.)
--Conquered territory between 113-117 A.D. that took the empire to its greatest extent.
-Hadrian (r. 117-138)
--Limes and Hadrian's wall in Britain
Marcus Aurelius (r. 161-180)
--philosopher king; Stoic; wrote The Meditations
-Commodus (r. 180-192 A.D.)
--cruel and eventually insane; strangled by a group of senators
4. Septimus Severus, senator from North Africa, founds the Severan Dynasty, lasting 25 years
-After the last of the Severan Dynasty, Rome is plunged into civil war;
-A time of economic and military crisis lasting nearly 50 years.