ChAPTER 14 Civilization in Eastern Europe:

Two issues were raised by Vladimir's decision.

The 15th-century miniature shows Russia's King Vladimir being christened in Cherson in the year 988.

Vladimir had knowledge of islam, Judaism, Western Catholicism, and Byzantine, or Orthodox, Christianity.

According to legend, he rejected Judaism because it wasn't associated with a strong state.
He rejected Catholicism because he didn't want interference from the pope.

Russia's neigh bor was a leading trading partner of the Byzantine Empire.

According to a legend, the Byzantine emperor was reluctant to give his sister in marriage to a backward warrior, but Vladimir captured a major Byzantine city and refused to give it back until the emperor relented.
The relationship with Byzantium would include choosing Orthodox Christianity.

It was important that Vladimir made the decision.

Byzantine influences began to shape Russian culture.
The boundaries of Christianity and Islam were changed.
The Russian state gained new prestige and used religion to unify its population.
The kingdom was rated from Roman Catholic western Europe, which helped to create a cultural divide between eastern and western Europe.
Even as other parts of eastern and western Europe are united, the implications of this separation continue to affect world affairs.

Two major Christian civilizations took shape in Europe during the postclassical period.

One centered on the papacy in Rome, but the other was from Constantinople.

The post classical period saw the emergence of state forms that were char acteristic.

The Byzantine empire had high levels of political, economic, and cultural activity from 600 to 1450 c.e.

The Balkans, the northern Middle East, and the eastern Mediterranean were all controlled by it.
Its leaders saw themselves as Roman emperors, and their government was a continuation of the eastern part of the empire.

The significance of the Byzantine empire goes beyond its ability to keep Rome's memory alive.

Between Rome's collapse in the West and the final overthrow of the regime by Turkish invaders, the empire lasted for almost a thousand years.

The Orthodox Christian churches that became dominant throughout most of eastern Europe were one of the two major branches of Christianity.

The Byzantine empire spread its influence to parts of the world that hadn't previously been controlled by a major civili zation.

The Byzantines began to shape civilization in the Balkans and western Russia, just as Muslim influence helped shape civilization in parts of Africa south of the Sahara.

Interregional trade was served as a major agent by the empire.

There were active exchanges with the Arab world.
Silk production techniques from China were imported by the empire to reduce its dependence on foreign trade for this commodity.
Constantinople was a hub for goods from east central Europe and Russia to be exchanged for goods from the other side of the world.
As part of the formation of the transcon tinental network, the empire played a key role in extending the range of contacts.

There were many similarities between eastern and western Europe.

Polytheism gave way to monotheism, although important compromises were made.
Russia, Poland, Germany, and France struggled for political definition without being able to compete with the more advanced societies in Asia and north Africa.
New trading activities brought northern regions into contact with the major centers of world commerce, including Constantinople.
In both cases, newly civilized areas looked back to the Greco-Roman past, as well as to Christianity, for cultural inspiration, using some of the same political ideas and artistic styles.

The civilizations that expanded in the east and developed in the west were largely on their own tracks.

They produced different versions of Christianity that were hostile and culturally different.
The civilizations didn't have a lot of contact.
The commercial patterns in both cases were south to north until late in the period.
Major portions of eastern Europe were more advanced than western Europe in a number of areas.
Interregional trade was more important to Byzantium than it was to the West.

The two civilizations met as distant cousins, but not close relatives.

Constantinople was the capital of the empire.

The city quickly became the most vigorous center of the attacks and flourished for several fading imperial structure.
The new city built by Emperor Constantine was built on the foundations of a previously modest town asian and European trade.

Before the western portion of the empire fell to the Germanic invaders, separate eastern emperors ruled from the new metropolis.

They had a good tax base in the peasant agriculture of the eastern Mediterranean.

The Balkans, the northern Middle East, the Mediter ranean coast, and north Africa were all created by Constantinople.

After the 6th century, Greek became the official language of the eastern empire after Latin became the court language.
Latin was seen as an inferior means of communication by the easterners.
Knowledge of Greek made it possible for scholars of the eastern empire to read the ancient Athenian and Hellenistic writings.

The new empire was helped by the high levels of commerce in the eastern Mediter ranean.

As Egyptians and Syrians moved to Constantinople, new blood was drawn into administration and trade.
The pressure on the empire was less than that on the Germanic tribes in the West.
It recruited armies in the Middle East, not by relying on barbarian troops.
The empire's political style became defined by the complex administration around a remote emperor.

There was a recurrent threat of invasion in the early history of the Byzantine empire.

Eastern emperors relied on their local military base and able generalship by upper-class Greeks to beat off attacks by the Sassanian empire.
In 533 c.e., with the empire's borders reasonably secure, a new emperor, Justinian, tried to reconquer western territory in a last futile effort to restore an empire like that of Rome.
He was autocratic and prone to grandiose ideas.
He was described as a moron by a contemporary historian named Procopius.
Theodora, the courtesan connected with Constantinople's horse-racing world, was heavily influenced by the emperor.
Theodora pushed for expansion in response to popular unrest.

Justinian's positive contributions to the Byzantine empire included rebuilding Constantinople, which was damaged by riots against high taxes, and systematizing the Roman legal code.

It was an achievement in engineering and architecture for Constantinople to be able to build the supports needed for a dome of its size.

The state's bureaucracy was paralleled by unified law, which reduced confusion but also united and organized the new empire.

The code helped spread Roman legal principles in Europe.

Within 50 years after his death, the empire had lost all of its holdings outside the northeastern Mediterranean.

There were more ambiguous results from Justinian's military exploits.

The emperor wanted to take back the old Roman Empire.
Some of the most beautiful Christian mosaics known anywhere in the world were found in the temporary capital of the Justinian's forces.
The major Italian holdings were short-lived and the north African territory was soon besieged.

The empire's own sphere was weakened by Justinian's westward ambitions.

Persian forces attacked in the northern Middle East, while new Slavic groups moved into the Balkans.
Some Middle Eastern territory was lost as a result of the new line of defense created by Justinian.
The wars created new tax pressures on the government and caused several popular revolts that contributed to his death.

The early period of the eastern empire had amazing mosaics.

The population of the Byzantine empire was forcibly reconverted in the 7th century after some of the highest achievements were reversed by the Persians.
There is a mosaic depicting Christ to Christianity.
The empire was centered in the southern Balkans.

The commanded in north Africa and Italy by the mid-7th century.

Byzantine naval supremacy in the eastern Mediterranean was destroyed by a fleet built by Arabs.

The empire's remaining provinces were quickly swallowed up along the eastern seaboard of the Mediterranean and then cut into the northern Middle Eastern heartland.
Patterns of life in Constantinople were affected by Arab cultural and commercial influence.
The territory was cut back to less than half the size of the Roman empire.

The empire held on.

Arab ships were devastated by Byzantine weapon lime and sulfur mixture.
The Arab threat was never completely removed.

When exposed to water, invasions and that started when taxation weakened the position of small farmers and resulted in greater aristocratic estates plus new utilized to drive back the arab fleets power for generals.

During the early years of the empire, the free rural population served it.

One of the recurring rising peasants was a leader who posed as an aristocracy to defend the people against the state.

State revenues and military recruitment were weakened by these social changes.

The empire was supported by successful commercial activity.
More emphasis was given to organizing the army and navy.

The mosaic depicts the PaST Women and Power in byzantium, with Christ in the center.

Theodora would rule with her sister, despite their earlier struggle for power.

There were periods of vigor and then there were periods of decay.

The Arab pressure continued.

He defeated the army of Bulgaria in 1014, blinding them.

The death of the king of Bulgaria was brought on by this tragedy.
The leading Greek families merged with the aristocracy of Bulgaria, which became part of the empire.

Visitors from western Europe and elsewhere were awed by Basil II.

Both the Byzantine political system and the earlier patterns in China are examples of state building.

The emperor had to be dained by God, the head of the church as well as the state.
He passed secular and religious laws.
The power of the state over the church was a key feature of Orthodox Christianity.
Elaborate court rituals symbolized the ideals of a ruler who was all-powerful.

The ceremonial power of the office was held by women.

Byzantine politics and the fate of women rulers are illustrated by the experiences of Theodora.

Theodora was the daughter of an emperor and refused to marry the heir to the throne.

She was confined to a convent because of her fear of Theodora.

Theodora and ZOE were installed as empresses by a popular rebellion against the new emperor.

Theodora was criticized for her severe retaliation against personal enemies.

One of the most elaborate bureau cracies was the addition of the centralized imperial authority.

Trained in Greek classics, philosophy, and science in a secular school system that paralleled church education for the priesthood, Byzantine bureaucrats could be recruited from all social classes.

The elite of highly educated scholars in China were dominated by the aristocracy.

The officials close to the emperor were mostly eunuchs.
The provincial governors were charged with keeping an eye on military authorities.
An elaborate system of spies helped preserve loyalty.
Military organization came about as well.
Byzantine rulers gave troops grants of land in return for their service in the military.
The land could not be sold, but sons were given continued military responsibility.
Slavs and Christians were recruited for the army in this way.
More traditional and better educated people were displaced by hereditary military leaders.
Michael II was a product of this system and was notorious for his hatred of Greek education.

The military system had advantages in protecting a state under attack from many different types of people--Persians, Arabs, and later Turks--as well as nomadic invaders from central Asia.

The path to Europe was blocked until the 15th century by the Byzantine empire.

The empire depended on Constantinople's control over the coun tryside, with the bureaucracy regulating trade and controlling food prices.

Athens was a small city, usually of a religious figure.

Asia to the east and Russia to the north were part of the empire's trading network.

China produced goods of comparable quality.
While receiving simpler products from western Europe and Africa, the empire traded with India, the Arabs, and east Asia.
The large merchant class never gained significant political power because of the elaborate network of government controls.
Byzantium bled China and differed from the West where merchants were gaining greater voice.

The education of bureau crats and the evolving traditions of Eastern, or Orthodox, Christianity were important in the Byzantine cultural life.

The Byzantine strength lies in commenting on past forms more than in developing new ones.
A distinct Byz antine style developed fairly early.
This church was built to express the artistic impulse.

The blue-and-gold back grounds of the icons were meant to represent the unchanging brilliance of heaven.

Byzantine culture and politics, as well as the empire's economic orientation toward Asia and north, helped explain the growing break between its eastern version of Christianity and the western version headed by the pope in Rome.

There were many significant events in this rift.

Byzantine emperors resented papal attempts to loosen state control over the Eastern church to make it conform more fully to their own idea of church-state relations.

The Eastern and Western churches did not want to make a definitive break from Christianity.
The pope was acknowledged as the first among equals by the Eastern church, but state control was larger in the Byzantine church.
Religious art had different styles and beliefs.
The movements operated according to the rules.

The Schism Then, in 1054, an ambitious church patriarch in Constantinople raised a host of issues, including a quarrel over what kind of bread to use for the celebration of Christ's last supper in the church liturgy.

The bread quarrel was related to the ritual use of bread in Christ's day and whether it should be baked without yeast.

The Roman Catholic practice of celibacy for priests was attacked by the patriarch.
The disputes were discussed by the delegations of the two churches.

Christ's message has been understood by theologians and artists, but they have struggled to capture his image.

The first part of the 14th century saw the creation of the Church of Chora.
The Byzantine empire was stylized on divine majesty.

The holy women are at the sepulchre of Christ.

The Roman Catholics were excommunicated.

The split between the Roman Catholic church and Eastern Orthodoxy became formal and has continued to this day.
If I am subject to the Muslim, at least he will not force me to share my faith.

The split between the Eastern and Western churches was not complete.

A common Christianity with many shared or revived classical traditions and frequent commercial and cultural contacts continued to improve the relationship between the two European civilizations.
The different patterns of development of the two civilizations were reflected in the division.
Different ideas about the role of scholarship separated the two regions, with eastern Europe developing a less elaborate tradition in relation to religion.
The role of the state in religious affairs may have contributed to the differences between the two main European regions.

The Byzantine empire entered a long period of decline after the split between the Eastern and Western churches.

Turkish invaders who had converted to Islam in central Asia began to press on its eastern borders, having already gained influence in the Muslim caliphate.

The Byzantine emperor lost the battle of Manzikert in 1071), his larger army was destroyed, and the empire never recovered.

After four centuries, its doom was sealed as a significant power.
The empire's diminished power was demonstrated by the creation of new, independent Slavic kingdoms in the Balkans.

Eastern emperors asked for help against the Turks, but their requests were largely ignored.

The requests did not help the Byzantines.
Special trading privileges in Constantinople were a sign of the shift in power between the East and the West.
The Crusade was supposed to conquer the Holy Land from the Muslims, but turned against Byzantium.
The Crusade briefly deposed the Venetian emperor and weakened the whole imperial structure.

In the northern Middle East, Turkish settlements pressed ever closer to Constantinople, and finally, in 1433, a Turkish sultan brought a powerful army to destroy the city.

The fall of Constantinople ended the great eastern empire.

The map shows that the Byzantine empire went from a major to a minor power.

The impact of the fall of Byzantium will be dealt with in several later chapters.

It was important because the Byzantine empire was so important and important that it anchored a vital corner of the Mediterranean and an important segment of world trade.
The empire's ability to spread classical and Christian learning made it a vital unit throughout the post classical period.
The new Ottoman empire's legacy continued after its demise.

The problem of boundaries between civilizations and even aristocracies in Poland and Hungary has long attracted the attention of scholars.

These states were limited by the standards.

The territory of the two related civilizations with western Europe was defined.

A number of states Russian expansion later pulled parts of eastern Europe, sat, and still sit, on the borders of the two civilizations, sharing including Poland, although it never eliminated some characteristics of each.

Poland was conquered by Russia.

Russia proper is a civilization defined by its mainstream culture.

The divisions within eastern Europe intensified for two centuries after the end of the postclassical period.
Many eastern European countries have achieved of the Cyril ic and Greek or of the Latin alphabet.
They want to claim their ing, Poland, the Czech areas, and the Baltic states from Russia.
Not an easy border area to describe in not convert to Catholicism until the 14th century) are western, terms of a single civilization, east central Europe has also been and Hungary is largely so.
South Slavs are mostly a victim of many conquests and periods of Orthodoxy.
Russia and Ukraine are both Orthodox.

Russia has a less active relationship with western Europe than Poland and other Catholic regions.

The case is more political.

There are other civilization border areas in the postclassical style that are similar to the feudal monar period or later, but it's difficult to define because of their chies that were developing in western Europe.

The empire had been the source of a Europe before the Byzantine decline after the 11th century.

Most people in the Balkans were converted to Christianity by Orthodox missionaries who were sent from Constantinople.

Methodius, the missionary sent by failed, was more successful than the Roman Catholic missionaries.

The ability to speak the Europe and the Balkans aided the efforts of the Byzantine government.

The Slavic alphabet is based on Greek letters and was created by the two missionaries.
Orthodox Christianity is responsible for the creation of a written script for Slavic ity, well beyond the political borders of Byzantium.
The Byzantine missionaries were willing to use the name Cyrillic.

Cyril, a Byzantine missionary who was sent to eastern Europe and The East Central Borderlands the Balkans, converted southern Russia and Balkans to Orthodox Eastern missionaries.

Christianity and the Latin alphabet were responsible for creation in the Czech area as well as in Hungary and Poland.

The stretch of eastern Europe north of the Balkans was governed by a series of regional monarchies after the conversion to Christianity.

Most western kingdoms in territory were easily surpassed by the kingdoms of Poland, Bohemia, and Lithuania.
This was an active area for trade and industry.
Ironworking was more developed in the West before the 12th century.

Eastern Europe received an influx of Jews who were fleeing from the Middle East but also from western Europe.

Poland had the largest concentration of Jews.
Eastern Europe's Jews, who were largely barred from agriculture and resented by the Christian majority, gained strength in local commerce while maintaining their own religious and cultural traditions.
Although primarily for males, a strong emphasis on education and literacy is what distinguishes Jewish culture not only from the rest of eastern Europe but also from most other societies in the world at this time.

To participate in Christianity.

During the time of the Roman Empire, the Slavic peoples moved into the plains of Russia and eastern Europe.

Some earlier inhabitants and some additional invaders, such as the Bulgarias, were incorporated.
The rich soils of what is now Ukraine and western Russia were extended by the Slavs.
The gods for the sun, thunder, wind, and fire were maintained by the Slavs.
The early Russians had a rich tradition of folk music and oral legends.

The Slavs moved all the way from their lands around the Pripet River to what is now Ukraine and Belarus.

The migrations took them from the Baltic Sea to the Oder River.

The Slavs were prevented from unifying by the arrival of the Hungarians.
The arrival of the Hungarians in the 9th and 10th centuries complicated the Slavic holdings.
In eastern Europe, the various Salvic peoples dominated.

The Dnieper, established in the 9th century, became the focal point of the trade city in southern Russia, which was moving along the great rivers of western Russia.

The Russian point for kingdom of Russia is shown on the map as well as the route that led from Scandinavia to Byzantium.
The traders were able to reach the 12th century through this route.

The founder of the first other crude products were products from Byzantium and the Arab world.

There was a monarchy in 855 c.e.

The predecessor to organized through alliances flourished until the 12th century.

Many Russians visited Constantinople from the territory of Kiev, which became a prosperous trading center.

This was the countries of Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus.

The ruler of the Russian kingdom converted to Christianity on behalf of his people.

From 980 to 1015, Vladimir organized mass baptisms for his subjects, forcing them to convert to Christianity.

Russian form of Christianity was imported.

The descendants were able to avoid damaging battles over the Byzantine empire and combined cession to the throne.
Following the example of the Byzantines, they issued a formal law code that reduced with local religion, king characteristi the severity of traditional punishments, and replaced community vendettas with state-run courts.

The document from a monk's chronicle states that if any inhabitant, rich or poor, did not take himself to Vladimir's conversion policy, he would risk the Prince's displeasure.

When the people heard about the power of Russian princes, they cried and exclaimed, "If this were not good, the Prince the relationship between Christianity and earlier animism."
There was joy official claims are important, but they may not reflect the whole in heaven and on earth to see so many souls saved.
The devil groaned, "woe is me."
The need to understand a particular mindset is a classic case of the need to understand.

The Russes were ignorant pagans.

The prince devil was not aware that his ruin was and the people had offered their sacrifice when he was there.
He found himself approaching.
He was so eager to destroy the Christian people, churches, to assign priests throughout the cities and towns, and yet he was expelled by the true cross even from these very to bring people in for baptism from all towns and villages.
The children of the best families were going to be sent to faith by the Mohammedan.

He said drinking is the joy of the Russes.

Many of his followers were alsobaptized after this miracle.

Major princes were attracted to Byzantine ceremonials and luxury because of the idea that a central ruler should have wide powers.

Orthodox Christianity's characteristics penetrated Russian culture.

Worship was organized because of devotion to the power of God.

The churches had icons and the smell of incense.
The monastic movement stressed prayer and charity.
Polygamy gradually gave way to the Christian practice of monogamy.
Wealthy Russians felt a sense of obligation towards the poor.

The Russian literature that was written in the Cyrillic alphabet featured chronicles that described a mixture of religious and royal events, as well as praise for the saints and the power of God.

Disasters were seen as expressions of the just wrath of God against humans, and success in war followed from the aid of God and the saints in the name of Russia and the Orthodox faith.
This tone was common in western Christian writing, but not in the postclassical period.

Russian and Ukrainian art focused on the religious, with icon painting and illuminated religious manuscripts becoming a Kievan specialty.

Orthodox churches, built in the form of a cross surmounted by a dome, were similar to Byzantine models, although the building materials were wood rather than stone.
Byzantine themes were adapted to Russian conditions in domes.
The oral tradition combined popular entertainments with religious art and music.
The Russian church tried to suppress these forms.

Russian social and economic patterns were very different from western Europe's.

The Russian aristocracy had a landlord class.

Russia was aware of other parts of Europe.

He arranged over 30 marriages with central European royalty, including 11 with Germany, pressing six Russian princes to take German wives while inducing five German nobles to accept Russian brides.

Yaroslav used the Byzantine example as the basis for Russia's first law code and promoted Byzantine styles in the great cathedral of Kiev.

The city of Kievan Rus' was a key center for trade from the north to the Middle East.

The only competitor along this route was Novgorod.
The city was founded on the site of scattered Slavic settlements.
The capital of the first Russian state was adopted by the kings.
It was a good location and the main part of the city could be built on a hill.
A hilltop location helped.
At the base of the hill there was a river that would facilitate trade.

The city became a religious center.

In 988, the city's citizens were required to be mass-baptized in the local river.
The great cathedral of Saint Sophia, as well as a monastery complex in the caves of Lavra, were built during the following two centuries.
Most Christian cities in the postclassical period were dominated by religious architecture.
The city had 400 churches by 1200, or about one per 130 inhabitants.

An array of economic activities can be found in the city.

By comparison, London had 20,000 people at the same time as the city had 50,000.
The city was called a "charming gem" by travelers and one visitor compared it to Constantinople.
The comparison was misleading because the cities of Europe outside the Byzantine empire remained small by Asian standards.

The city hit hard times after 1200.

It was attacked by the Mongols after being raided many times by Russian princes.
Recovery would take a while.

The principality of Kievan began to fade in the 12th century.

Rival princes set up regional governments, and the royal family squabbled over succession to the throne.
There are invaders from Asia at Russian territory.
The decline of Byzantium reduced Russian trade and wealth, for the kingdom had always depended on the prosperity of its southern neighbor.
The final blow in the first chapter of Russian history came in 1237-1238 and 1240-1241, when two invasions from central Asia moved through Russia and into other parts of eastern Europe.
Adding the whole of Europe to their empire was the initial goal.
The major Russian cities were easily captured by the Mongols, but they did not penetrate much farther west because of political difficulties in their Asian homeland.
The invaders were quickly despised but also feared, as one chronicle put it, "the cities and largely destroyed Kievan accursed raw-eating Tatars."

Russian literature was kept under supervision.

The north-south commerce of the Kievan period never returned after trade stopped in western Russia.
Russian Christianity and a native Russian aristocratic class were not destroyed by loose Tatar supervision.
Russian affairs were left alone by the Tatar overlords as long as tribute was paid.
When Tatar control was finally overthrown in the second half of the 15th century, a Russian cultural and political tradition could come back to life, serving as a partial basis for the further development of Russian society.

Russian leaders remember the glories of Byzantium.

It was logical to claim that the mantle of east European leadership had fallen on Russia as it was beginning to assert its independence from the Tatars.
This sense of an eastern Christian mission, inspiring a Russian resurgence, was just one result of this complicated formative period in the emergence of a separate European civilization in the Slavic lands.

At the end of the postclassical era, eastern European civilization fell on hard times due to the siege of Byzantium and Russia.

The differences between western and eastern Europe were confirmed by these difficulties.
Despite some new problems, Western Europe remained free from outside control.
When eastern Europe came back, it was at a disadvantage to western Europe in terms of power and economic and cultural sophistication.

Byzantine collapse was profoundly disruptive.

The key features of the Kievan social structure were lost in Russia.
Continuity was not completely lost.

The pride in a lively artistic culture and assumptions about political rulers and church-state relations were some of the organizing threads when Russia and other Slavic societies turned to rebuilding.

State building was an obvious feature.

The Byzantine empire and eastern Europe were carefully organized because of military challenges.

The Byzantine trade was a central part of the transregional trading Byzantine example, but the kingdoms they created were more network, bringing links to Arab traders.

The Baltic to Constantinople helped to link northern Europe to the final centuries of the postclassical era because of the decline in the vitality of eastern Europe.

Along the weaknesses in the Byzantine Empire, there was a number of Arab coins.
The trade routes show the key links.

Russia became more isolated, raising questions about what kind of Eastern Europe served as a stage for major cultural change contacts when it began to regain and connection by the 15th century.

How do you identify key features of eastern 3?

Russian development is compared to other major 4.