Western Civilization

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

# posted by Anne Good @ 7:51 PM 0 comments

Iberian Peninsula:

Visigoths

King Reccared (r. 586-601)

-Persecution of Jews

Muslim conquest of Spain 711 A.D.

Britain:

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

# posted by Anne Good @ 7:40 AM 0 comments

-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

# posted by Anne Good @ 7:46 PM 0 comments

Paul of Tarsus

-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).

# posted by Anne Good @ 6:40 AM 0 comments

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.)

-Trajan

--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.

# posted by Anne Good @ 6:45 AM 0 comments

-army as "wildcard"

Gaius Marius (157-86 BC)

-legions swear allegiance directly to commander

Crassus, Pompey, Caesar: Triumvirate (59/60 BC)

Julius Caesar

-military genius

-ruthless

-power hungry

-Crossing the Rubicon (49 BC)

-Perpetual Dictator (45 BC)

-assassinated (15 March 44 BC)

- Cassius and Brutus

- Marc Antony, Octavius, Lepidus (second Triumvirate)

-Antony and Cleopatra

-Battle of Actium (31 BC)

-Octavius becomes absolute master of the Roman world

-emperor, Augustus, Princeps, pater patriae

-State as extension of Roman household

Reforms:

-reduces number of senators

-reduces number of legions; professionalizes the army

-oath of loyalty from all Italians

-administrative class

-censuses for taxation

-moral laws: to curb adultery, encourage marriages and bearing of children

# posted by Anne Good @ 8:41 PM 0 comments