Western Civ: Chapter 7

abbot

Head of a monastery

Who made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire?

Theodisius I

nuns

Women who withdraws from the world to avoid the temptations in order to live a Christian life.

Arianism

a Christian heresy that taught that Jesus was inferior to God. Though condemned by the Council of Nicaea in 325, Arianism was adopted by many of the Germanic peoples who entered the Roman Empire over the next centuries

curiales

city councillors in Roman cities who played an important role in governing the vast Roman Empire

celibacy

complete abstinence from sexual activity. Many early Christians viewed celibacy as the surest way to holiness

tetrarchy

rule by four; the system of government established by Diocletian (284-305) in which the Roman Empire was divided into 2 parts, each ruled by an "Augustus" assisted by a "Caesar"

major domus

the chief officer of the king's household in the Frankish kingdom, "mayor of the palace"

Petrine supremacy

the doctrine that the bishop of Rome (the pope), as the successor of Saint Peter (traditionally considered the first bishop of Rome), should hold a preeminent position in the church.

wergeld

"money for a man". In early Germanic law, a person's value in monetary terms, paid by a wrongdoer to the family of the person who had been injured or killed

bishop

A church official who leads a large group of Christians in a particular region

Which Germanic ruler converted to Catholic Christianity, gaining support of the Roman Catholic Church?

Clovis

What reforms did Diocletian and Constantine institute, and to what extent were the reforms successful?

Diocletian created a new administrative system called the tetrarchy (rule by 4) and increased the # of provinces. He also instituted a policy that Romans had to worship the emperor and state gods and established minimum wage. Constantine stripped power from Roman senate and created extreme power for the emperor. He enlarged the army and created a new system with garrison troops and mobile units. He also built the city of Constantinople and some churches in Rome. Also, during this time people were forced to remain in their jobs and they became hereditary Reforms were generally unsuccessful. Diocletian's policy of worship led to the persecution of thousands of Christians. Public funds were drained despite their efforts (although temporarily successful. Empire divided into east and west and began fighting, Germans take over West

federates

German troops enlisted in groups to fight as allies for the Romans

What was the result of the council of Nicaea

Jesus was confirmed to be of the same substance as God ...but controversy pesisted

What new army organization came at the end of Constantine's rule?

Military forces were divided between garrison groups, which were located on the frontiers to serve as a first line of defense against invaders, and mobile units, which were based behind the frontier troops when the borders were threatened. This system gave the empire greater flexibility in responding to invasion.

What changes did the Germanic peoples make to the political, economic, and social conditions of the Western Roman empire? What were the main features of Germanic law and society, and how did they differ from those of the Romans?

Political - Government structure remained intact but Ostrogoths and Romans were under separate rule. Ostrogoths had control of military Economic - urban life and trade decreased Social - fusion of cultures - patriarchal - under Clovis' sons, a new nobility formed with the Frankish society and the old Gallo-Roman sensorial class. Germanic and Roman law were similar in that they were both patriarchal and society was centered on the family. A difference is that Germanic law was more personal than Roman law.

monk

a man who chooses to live a communal life divorced from the world in order to dedicate himself totally to the will of God.

Monoasticism

a movement that began in early Christianity whose purpose was to create communities of men and women who practiced a communal life dedicated to God as a moral example to the world around them

inflation

a sustained rise in the price level

heresy

the holding of religious doctrines different from the official teachings of the church