western civilization

Patriarchs- The Hebrews

They claimed descent from a patriarch, Abraham, who lived in Mesopotamia and was instructed by Yahweh (God) to migrate to a promised land near the Mediterranean Sea. Abraham's migration is thought to have occurred between 2,000 and 1,500 BCE. Abraham's grandson, Jacob (Israel) had 12 sons. These sons were identifies by the Hebrews as the first leaders of the 12 tribes into which they were organized. During a hard time they entered Egypt and became slaves who were later liberated by Moses, around 1,275 BCE abd settled in the land where Abraham had dwelt.

Ostracism- Athens

To ensure that no politician amassed too much power, the Athenians adopted the practice of ostracism, whereby an individual would be sent into exile for ten years if a vote devided that he was a potential threat to democracy. The voting was done by writing the name of the individual on a piece of broken pottery (ostraka in Greek).

Sophists- Greek Culture

The term "philosopher" is believe to have been coined by Pythagoras, who when asked whether he was a wise man, denied it, saying he was merely a "lover of wisdom". Thus, the philosopher was one who strove to acquire wisdom without presuming that he had attained it. By the fifth century BCE, however, there appeared itinerary teachers, calling themselves "Sophists", or wise men, who for a price promised to make their pupils well-informed and skillful public speakers, and thereby successful politicians.

Council of Ephesus (431): Against Nestorianism- Christianity

The third general council focused on the person of Christ and condemned the teachings of the theologian Nestorius, who taught that the two natures of Jesus (human and divine) require that he should be regarded as two persons. The Council of Ephesus defined the orthodox position as follows: Jesus has two natures (human and divine) which are joined in a single person (the second person of the Terinity). Despite persecution, Nestorian Christians continued to exist in Syria.

Engineering -Mesopotamian

they would not have survived if they didn't build canals for irrigation and flood-control. their most important invention was the wheel around 3,400 to 3,000 BCE. They also created ziggurats, which were used for temples and were multi-terraced, pyramid like constrictions.

Medicine- Greek Culture

Hippocrates of Cos (c.460-377BCE), known as the "Father of Medicine," inspired the code of medical ethics known as the Hippocratic Oath. He stressed observation and experimentation, described diseases in reports which detailed symptoms, and emphasized the importance of hygiene, diet, and the environment to maintain good health.

The Germanic Kingdoms

During the age of Islam's rapid conquests and Byzanium's struggle for survival, the Germanic peoples established kingdoms in the west. Those in Gaul and Britain established the foundations for the modern European states of France and England.

The Hapsburgs -The Holy Roman Empire

The Great Interregnum was finally ended when the German nobles elected Rudolf I Hapsburg (1273 to 1291) of Austria. The medieval Hapsburg were usually elected emperors. They did not try to impose their authority over Germany or Italy, but were content with the imperial title and based their real power strictly on thier own dynastic possessions. Their attempts to make Swiss territories part of their hereditary lands precipitated a revolt in 1291, when a group of local governments, known as cantons, banded together in a lose confederation for defense. Over time neighboring states joined the Swiss Cantons, forming the core of Switzerland.

Norman Rule in England- England

William was both an outstanding warrior and administrator. He combined the English system of shires with the feudal system of government in Normandy to create a powerful, centrally organized realm. In 1086 he conducted a systematic inventory of all property in England known as the "Domeday Book" in order to determine taxes accurately.

The Age of Emploration - Early Modern Europe

During the Renaissance and Reformation, Europeans were embarking upon naval expeditions that looked beyond the confines of their world. The leaders in these voyages of discovery were the Portuguese and Spanish, who sometimes hired Italian captains.

The Bronze Age- Fertile Crescent

Humans began to work with metal. tools were made from copper and tin (bronze). Different parts of Europe discovered and worked with bronze at different times, so this time period starts roughly at 3000BCE

The Abbasids (750 to 1258) - Islam

The Luxury and worldliness of the Ummayads antagonized many devout Muslims. In 750 they were overthrown by Abul Abbas, who founded the Abbasid Dynasty. He moved the capital from Damascus to the newly-built city of Baghdad beside the Tigris River, which became an advanced center of learning as the Abbasids patronized scholars who translated the philosophy, science, and medicine of the ancient world into Arabic. Most of the Near East and North Africa converted to Islam during their reign.

The Gathering-In System -The Commercial Revolution

This early form of the factory system was used int he boom industries of shipbuilding, printing, and iron-founding (for the manufacture of cannons). Entrepreneurs would gather workers to a single place where specialized tools for production were located and supervise them, thereby decreasing the cost of transportation and controlling quality.

Diaspora - The Hebrews

When Cyrus the Great allowed the Jews to return home, many chose to remain in Babylon. They began the "Diaspora" or dispersion. Later they would thrive in the Egyptian city of Alexandria, and during the Roman period, in many cities of Anatolia and Europe.

Archaic or Early Dynastic Period-Egypt

governed from around 3100 to 2700BCE, during which they unified the Nile valley. The Nile river flooded regularly and gently, and the priests were able to predict when flooding would take place, and thusly would tell the peasants the best time for planting. Under a unified government, the economy was carefully planned and led to a very efficient practice of agriculture. This strengthened the political and religious aura of the pharaoh.

Mesopotamia- Fertile Crescent

the earliest cities arose about 3200BCE. Tigris-Euphrates (Mesopotamia or "land between the rivers").

Downfall- The Assyrians

their far-flung empire did not last long because they generated too much hatred among their subjects. When the new Babylonians raised a major revolt in Mesopotamia with help from the Medes, the Assyrians were unable to resist it. The capital at Nineveh on the Tigris River was conquered in 612 BCE by the Neo-Babylonians, or the Chaldeans.

Literature -Mesopotamian

"Gilgamesh" was written on 12 tablets around 2,000BCE. It describes the ill-fated quest of king Uruk in search of immortality. "Eunma Elish" is the story of creation and accounts a great flood possibly explains the connections between biblical and pre-biblical accounts.

Merchant Guilds- Trade and Towns

Although travel had become safer by the 11th century, there were still dangers. Merchants banded together in caravans for protection against highway robbery, and this cooperation was the origin of the merchant guilds (corporations), which tended to dominate the economic life of the towns. By joining forces through a guild, merchants were able to set prices, ensure quality control, and help one another in legal disputes, thus preventing unwanted competition from outsiders and presenting a united front against attempts to weaken their position. Entry into a guild had to be approved y the existing members.

Modernity

By the middle of the 17th century, Europe had undergone crucial changes in a wide range of fields that dramatically altered its character and accelerated the pace of change. After the rise of centralized monarchies, experiments in parliamentary democracy, new ways of organizing society and its wealth, new ways of thinking about the universe, and new technologies, Europeans were prepared to dominate the rest of the world. As the rival states of Europe vied with one another to establish empires, they spread features of Western civilization around the globe and ushered in the modern age.

Fertile Crescent location

Cemi-circular band from the Tigris-Euphrates valley (now Iraq) northwest into Syria, then south along the shore of the Mediterranean sea toward the Nile River Valley in Egypt. (later in the Indus river valley in India and the Yellow river valley in China).

Beginnings- The Byzantine Empire

Constantinople was founded in 330, when the Roman Empire was united under a single emperor, Constantine the Great (306 to 337). In 395, however, it was divided into two halves to ease administration. In 476 the last of the western emperors was deposed. Attempts by the eastern emperors to control the western provinces through barbarian allies were ineffective. A dramatic effort to reclaim the west was made by Justinian the Great (527 to 565), whose armies retook North Africa, part of Spain, and Italy. Most of these acquisitions were lost, however, within a few years of Justinian's death. The Byzantines were able to hold only southern Italy and a few northern coastal cities, most notably Ravenna. Although they claimed Rome, they were not able to exercise control over it.

Later Expansion- The Persians

Cyrus' successors extended the borders fo the PErsioan empire. Cambyses (530 to 522 BCE) conquered Egypt and Lubya. Darius (521 to 186 BCE) added the Indus valley in the east and Thrace in the west. By conquering Thrace, the Persians crossed into Europe and came upon the borders of Greece. They intended to annex the Balkan peninsula, but the attempt led by Darious' successor, Xerces (486 to465 BCE), ended in a stinging defeat that halted the westward expansion of the Persian empire. The empire lasted for two more centuries before it was conquered by a Hellenic army led by the Macedonian king, Alexander the Great (336 ti 323 BCE) The struggle between the PErsians and Greeks was a defining moment in the rise of Western civilization.

More- Christian Humanism

Erasmus traveled throughout Europe and corresponded with leading thinkers. One of these was Thomas More (1478 to 1535), and English statesman who criticized English society in his satirical essay, Utopia (1516), which describes an ideal society free from poverty and other social evils because the inhabitants have renounced money and private property.

Scholasticism-The Intellectual Tradition

Even through Abelard's teachings were condemned, his method of resolving contradictions in religious texts by the application of logic was retained and became a standard feature of "scholasticism". The scholastic method treated philosophy as the "handmaiden of theology.

Pax Romana-The Empire

For a period of about 200 years, from the reign of Augustus (27 to 14 BCE) to the death of Marcus Aurelius (161 to 180 CE), Rome enjoyed a period of stability and prosperity known as the Pax Romana, or "Roman Peace". Foreign wars of conquest continued on the borders, but Rome was free of civil wars (with the exception of the year 68 CE, when four rivals claimed the imperial throne upon Nero's death). Augustus managed to unite the Mediterranean, but his invasion of Germany failed in 9 CE. The Empire continued to expand elsewhere for over a hundered years, most notably into Britain (43CE) and Decia in the Balkan peninsula (106 CE). It was at its greatest extent in 117 CE, when Roman legions briefly occupied Mesopotamia.

Sculpture- Italian Politics

Italian sculpture, following the classical models, revived the use of the nude figure and equestrian statues, both of which were pioneered by Donatello, whose bronze statue of "David" (c. 1430 to 1435) marks the first nude, and whose bronze sculpture of the mercenary general "Gattamelata" (1447 to 1450) marks the first equestrian statue. Statuary of the later Renaissance was dominated by Michelangelo Buonarroti, whose "Pieta" (1497 to 1500) powerfully elicits emotions of tenderness in its depiction of the Mother of Christ holding her dead son in her arms, and whose "David" (1501 to 1504) presents a monumental 17 foot tall male nude with such realistic detail as the slight bulging of veins on the figure's hands. Michelangelo could not satisfy all the commissions that were requested of him. He sculpted his "David" for Florence, but most of his work was commissioned by the papacy. These masterpieces included the "Pieta" on display in the Vatican, the paintings on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel (1508 to 1512), and the tomb of Pope Julius II, for which Michelangelo sculptured a statue of Moses with "horns of light" on his head to symbolize the wisdom he received from God (1515).

Nationalism and Religion- Nation-States and Wars of Religion

Politics in early modern Europe was dominated by the increasing power of centralized monarchies, which led to nationalism, dynastic struggles, and conflict over religious differences. These forces interacted in complex ways, for although Catholics and Protestants often fought one another, national interest also inducted some of them to cooperate against a common political enemy and thus make alliances against co-religionists.

Conquistadors-The Age of Exploration

Soon Spain sent adventurers known as "conquistadors", or "conquerors", to explore the New World and claim it in the name of the Spanish monarchy. In Central and South America they came up against great empires and overthrew them by using the superior technology of firearms. The natives were also felled by diseases that Europeans brought with them, against which they and no immunity. Hernando Cortez conquered the Aztec Empire in Mexico (1519 to 15212), and Francisco Pizarro conquered the Inca Empire in Peru (1532 to 1533). The conquistadors seized the gold and silver of these empires and sent it back to Spain. Later (around 1550), silver was mined in Medizo and especially Bolivia (at Potosi).

Treaty of Tordesillas (1494)-The Age of Exploration

Soon after Columbus' first voyage, Spain and Portugal decided to prevent imperialistic rivalry by dividing the world between them. In the Treaty of Tordesillas (1494) they agreed upon a longitude of demarcation that ran from pole to pole at an arbitrary distance in the Atlantic Ocean; Portugal could claim any land east of this line, whereas Spain could have any land west of it. Because of the terms of this treaty, the Spanish Empire was based mainly in the New World and the Philippines, while the Portuguese Empire focused on Africa, India, Indonesia, and Brazil (which lay east of the Tordesillas line as it bisects South America).

Spartan Government- Sparta

Sparta was ruled by two kings who shared power with a Council of Elders and an Assembly that consisted of all male citizens over the age of 30, who voted by assimilation. The Council of Elders consisted of 28 men who were at least 60 years old. The elders were elected for life and served as judges: they also decided what proposals would be presented to the Assembly and wielded the greatest power of any branch of government. The Assembly had certain checks on the Council of Elders by electing the members of ephors- five men who conducted foreign policy and made sure that the kings and generals did not overstep their authority during military campaigns.

Homer- Greek Classical Culture

The Greeks attributed their greatest epic poems, the Iliad and Odyssey, to a blind poet named Homer, who is believed to have lived some time between about 850 and 700 BCE. The "Iliad" describes the Mycenaean siege of Troy, and the "Odyssey" describes the subsequent return home by one of the Mycenaean heroes, Odyseus, king of Ithaca. The values Homer emphasized can be summarized in the Greek word arete, which means virtue in the sense of manliness, the ideal behavior of warlike aristocrats who glorified bravery, physical strength, honorable reputation, and loyalty to family and friends.

Geography and the Polis- The Archaic Period

As Greek culture revived between about 800 to 750 BCE, the basic unit of social, economic, and political organization that emerged was the "polis", or city-state. The word politics came from the word "polis" because the Greeks began practicing any government- related actions in the city-state. The "polis" were forces of unity on local levers, and loyalty to the polis encouraged fierce regionalism that led to endemic warfare between neighboring poleis and prevented any unification of the Greeks as a whole. Greek disunity was also due in part to the geography of the Balkan peninsula, a mountainous region where the terrain hampers overland travel and communication. Travel by sea was more efficient so sea-faring became an important aspect of Greek life, and the Aegean Sea became the geographical center of Greek civilization.

Expansion-The Republic

As Roman population increased, the supply of land became insufficient, and the Romans began to look beyond their borders to settle colonists. They also adopted conquest as a defensive strategy after Rome was sacked in 390 BCE by the Gauls, a Celtic people living in the Po river valley to the north. Early Romans armies, like those of the Greeks, were organized into "phalanxes" of about 8,000 men, but the Romans later devised a more flexible form of organization, the "legion", which was made up of about 5,000 men organized into small units called "maniples" that could act independently and take on larger forces by outmaneuvering them. Using this innovation, the Romans steadily conquered their neighbors.

Classical Scholarship - The Italian Renaissance

In advocating a return tot he classical literary tradition, Petrarch inspired a movement to recover works of the ancient authors from neglect in the monasteries and study them intensively. Boccaccio (1313 to 1375) was among the scholars whom Petrarch inspired to collect ancient manuscripts. The intensive study of Latin texts established the modern discipline of philology (historical linguistics). On the basis of Latin style, the humanist Lorenzo Valla (1407 to 1457) was able to prove that the so-called Donation of Constantine was actually an 8th century forgery. Because of its hostility to university culture, humanism developed outside that tradition. Humanists were often supported financially by wealthy patrons who appreciated their talent and wished to enhance their own prestige through their association with cultivated men of letters. They studied Greek in addition to Latin, and thus revived the ancient Roman tradition of the upper classes (who were fluent in Greek). Humanists founded secondary schools that stressed the study of the classics, bringing about a revolution in education that was to last until the early 20th century.

Drama- Greek Classical Culture

Of the many cultural legacies of the Greeks, one of the most prominent is drama. which was essentially the performance of a narrative by a group of interlocutors rather than by a single bard. Beginning initially as a recital of verse by a chorus (group of singers) alternating with a single leader, the art from eventually developed into a dialogue between an increasing number of their gods. Indeed, it has its origins in religious festivals, specifically those of the Athenians in honor of the god Dionysos. Greek drama developed in two main categories- tragedy and comedy.

Papal Monarchy -The Church in the Late Middle Ages

While the Holy Roman Empire was weakened by the Investiture Controversy, the papacy benefited from it, and used the prestige it acquired by challenging the emperors to adopt the Gregorian reforms. The popes then put forth an ambitious program of reshaping Christian society that gave them a considerable measure of political power extending far beyond the boundaries of the Papal States, as exemplified by the series of invasions that they initiated known as the Crusades.

Middle Kingdom- Egypt

2,050 to 1,700 BCE, centralized government was restored and maintained in Egypt under the 11th and 12th dynasties. This ended when foreigners, Hyksos, invaded the Nile delta and overran the Egyptian army in their house-drawn chariots.

Monotheism - The Hebrews

Religion is a vital aspect of Hebrew history and identity. Abraham's special authority derived from his relationship to Yahweh (God). Abraham first identified Yahweh as the divinity whom he would worship exclusively, pledging his loyalty through a special relationship called the Covenant. This pledge reflects the language employed in the ancient Near East between two individuals entering into a formal agreement. They may have acquired their religious reforms from Akhenation from 1,375 to 1,358. The Hebrews did not enter into the Covenant with YAhwah until after Moses took them to Mount Sinai of their way to Canaan. It was here that they accepted the 10 commandments,. Both at Maount Sinai and afterwards, Hebrews foudn it difficult to abandon the worship of other gods completely.

Akkadians- Fertile Crescent

Semi-nomatic people who spoke a semitic language and left the deserts west of Mesopotamia and settled in the central region of the Tigris-Euphrates valley during the fourth millennium BCE. Led by king Sargon (c. 2371-2316) conquered various Sumerian states and established an empire that inifled Mesopotamia and reached beyond its boundaries into the Iranian plateau in the east and as far west as Lebanon. Sargon's dynasty ruled Akkad and Sumer for about 200 years.

Tragedy- Drama- Greek Classical Culture

The Athenians engaged in competitions for drama as they did in athletics. The first competition for tragedy was instituted by the tyrant Peisistratus in 534BCE. The three greatest tragedians were Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides.

The Dark Age- Ancient Greece

The Dorian Greeks were culturally less advanced than the people they displaced, many of whom fled across the Aegean Sea to Anatolia, where they established Greek culture along the coast in a region called Ionia. The art of writing was lost, as was the administrative skill that writing made possible. Little is known about Greece from 1,100 to 800 BCE, and because of the loss of writing this era is known as the "Dark Age".

Second Intermediate Period-Egypt

The Hyksos ruled Egypt from 1,700 to 1,550 BCE. They were strong in the Nile delta but could not control the upper reaches of the valley. they were expelled by a nobleman, Ahmose, who founded the 18th dynasty and inaugurated the era of the New Kingdom.

Aeschylus- Drama- Greek Classical Culture

The plays of Aeschylys (c. 525 to 456 BCE) are profoundly moral and religious, focusing on the vice of hubris, or overweening pride, by which headstrong individuals call down nemesis, or divide punishment, upon themselves. He portrayed this theme is "The Persians, Prometheus Bound, and Oresteia" trilogy.

Colonization - The Archaic Period

The revival of Greek culture after the Dark Age was accompanied by rapid population growth and economic change that destabilized society. Farmers could not feed everyone, so the economic crisis was partially solved by establishing colonies outside Greece, from about 750 to 500 BCE. Greeks transplanted the polis to the Black Sea and the further shores of the Mediterranean Sea, including Iberia, southern Gaul, Corsica, Sicily, southern Italy, Libya, and the Egyptian Delta. Italy was the most settled region, and it became known to the Romans as "Magna Graecia or "Great Greece". Like the Phoenician colonies, those of the Greeks tended to be independent of their mother city-states, although cultural ties were maintained.

Where did the word "Civilization" come from?- Fertile Crescent

came from the Latin word "civitas" which means city or community.

History and Prehistory- Fertile Crescent

history begins with writing, which was used to record details about a culture at a certain moment in time with a fairly high degree of accuracy. all events prior to writing can only be inferred on the basis of archaeological evidence and legends. the written record during the bronze age is neither complete nor unambiguous.

New Kingdom- Egypt

1,550 to 1,100 BCE, 18th to 20th dynasties, the Egyptian pharaohs reasserted their power and expanded beyond the traditional frontiers, reaching southward up the Nile River into Africa and sending armies northeast across the Sinai peninsula into Levant and Anatolia. They hoped to prevent future invasions of the Nile valley by dominating the eastern shoreline of the Mediterranean (Palestine and Syria) where the Hyksos had come. There they fought the Hittites, who claimed the same territory. This started a several centuries war. One fight was Megiddo (1,457 BCE)- a place where so many battles were fought over the centuries that is became immortalized in the Christian Bible as the apocalyptic battlefield of "Armageddon". After a great battle at Kadesh in 1,274 BCE, they negotiated a piece treaty.

First Intermediate Period - Egypt

2,200 to 2,050 BCE, the pharaohs failed to assert themselves, which the result that the nobles, "nomarchs", effectively controlled the government. This lead to civil wars and they vied for supremacy, lack of coordination in agriculture lead to widespread famine.

Ottoman Turkish Empire-The New Monarchies

A cataclysmic event that altered the character of the European political configuration by reviving a powerful Mulism presence in Europe was the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks in 1453. The Ottomans were a Turkish dynasty established around 1300 in western Anatolia. For a time the Ottomans served as mercenaries to the Byantines, but by aobut 1350 they established a base in the Balkans and set about expanding their domains. European crusades against them in the early 1400s were ineffective, and the capture of Constantinople by Mehmet (Muhammad) II the Conqueror (1451 to 1481) firmly established their control over the southeastern corner of Europe. The greatest of Ottoman rulers was Suleiman the Magnificent (1520 to 1566), whose forces captured Serbia and later Hungary (Battle of Mohacs, 1526). In 1529 the Ottomans lay siege to Vienna. Although they never took the city, they were a constant threat to central Europe well into modern times.

The Rise of Towns- Trade and Towns

A consequence of political stability and the population explosion of the 11th century was the revival of trade and the rise of towns. Since travel was now safer, trade began to revive and towns, which are focal points for the exchange of goods, began to appear at intersections along the paths of commerce.

Huns- The Germanic Invasions

A pagan group from central Asia known as the Huns had established an empire over several German tribes in Europe. Under their leader Attila (433 to 453), known as the "Scourge of God", they invaded Gaul in 451 but were stopped near Chalons by an alliance of Romans and Visigoths In 452 Attila threatened to sack Rome, but Pope Leo I (440 to 461) persuaded him to spare the city. The following year Attila died and his empire disintegrated.

Later Poets-Greek Classical Culture

After Homer, the most important of the Greek poets was Hesiod (c.700 BCE), who wrote "Work and Days", which described the hard life of the small farmer, and the "Theogony", which describes the birht of the gods and their legends. In addition to epics, the Greeks wrote lyrics (short poems on selected themes that focused on some aspect of the human experience. The most famous of the lyricists were Archilochus(7th c BCE) who poineered the new poetic form, Pindar (518 to 438BCE), who wrote odes of victory for athletic contests, and teh woman Sappho of Lesbos (7th c.BCE) who in her love poetry described her own feelings of attraction for other women.

France-The New Monarchies

After the Hundred Year's War, the rise of France was challenged by the Duchy of Burgundy, which extended along the eastern border of the French domains from Switzerland to Flanders and threatened to become a powerful centralized state in itself. This threat was finally eliminated in 1477, when Louis XI (1461 to 1483) hired Swiss mercenaries to defeat the Burgundian duke, Charles the Bold. With France secure and administered by an effective bureaucracy, the Valois kings set out on ambitious campaigns to dominate their Italian neighbors, beginning with Charles VIII, (1483 to 1498), who seized the Kingdom of Naples in 1495,and Louis XII (1498 to 1515), who seized Milan in 1499.

Burgundians- The Germanic Invasions

Around 440s, a group known as the Burgundians established themselves in southeastern Gaul, which was renamed Burgundy after them. Among their achievements was an early Germanic law code that extended to the Roman subjects within their newly-formed domain.

Luther's Theology- The Protestant Reformation

As a young man, Luther was obsessed with sin and guilt and feared for his own salvation. He joined the Augustinian friars and practiced good works, but was unable to acquire inner peace until his reading of the letters of St. Paul led him to conclude that salvation is achieved only by the gift of God's grace on those who make a sincere profession of faith. Thus, e rejected the efficacy of good works (as well as indulgences) and relied on justification by faith alone. Luther also rejected the exalted role of the priesthood and taught that the Church is a "priesthood of all believers". In rejecting the Mass (which could only be performed by a priest), Luther also rejected the doctrine of transubstantiation, which he replaced with "consubstantiation"- the doctrine that although the bread and wine do not become the actual substance of Christ's body and blood, he is present in them nonetheless. Rejecting celibacy as a morally superior way of life, Luther married a former nun, with whom he raised a family. Luther wrote numerous works, most notably "On Christian Liberty" (1519), and the "Small Catechism" (1529), which outlined the Lutheran creed. He also prepared the first German translation of the Bible (1534).

Church and State

At the time that trade and towns were beginning to revive, the Church also began a process of renewal. Reformers intended to establish a purer form of worship, and one that was free of control by laymen. Since the function of the Church were to an extent political, this reform movement was perceived by some rulers as a challenge to their authority and resulted in a conflict between church and state.

Religious Fervor - Christian Humanism

Beginning in the 14th century, a religious movement developed among the laity in northern Europe that sought to bring the experience of God into daily life. The movement was inspired by the preaching of the German mystic, Meister Eckhart (1260 to 1327) and became known as the Modern Devotion, preached by a Dutch layman, Gerard Groote (1349 to 1384), whose followers founded the Brethren of the Common Life. Their ideals are expressed in "The Imitation of Christ" by Thomas a Kempis (c. 1380 to 1471). Many of them were also inspired by the revival of classicism that spread from Italy; in their schools they taught Latin and Greek.

Zwingli- Diversification of Protestantism

By 1555, Lutherans were no longer the only Protestants. Luther's opposition to the sale of indulgences won the support of a Swiss reformer, Ulrich Zwingli (1484 to 1531). From the beginning, Swiss reformers wanted to promote religious change through political activism. Zwingli persuaded the town council of Zurich to reject the authority of the pope and to abolish many Catholic practices, such as fasting, monasticism,clerical celibacy, processions, the use of music in religious services, the adoration of saints through images, and the veneration of saintly relics. The Mass was simplified and the doctrine of transubstantiation was rejected. Zwingli disagreed with Luther over the Eucharist. Rejecting Luther's doctrine of "consubstantiation", he believed that the ritual of the Lord's Supper was merely commemorative or symbolic and did not imply the special presence of divinity. The two men met in 1529, but were unable to resolve their differences. Zwingli turned his efforts to conversion beyond Zurich and won over half the Swiss Cantons; the others (known as the "Forest Cantons") remained Catholic and went to war with Zwingli's followers. Serving as chaplain for the Protestant forces, Zwingli was killed in the Battle of Kappel (1531).

The Appeal of Christianity-Christianity

Christianity began as a religion of the oppressed and marginalized. The earliest converts were the poor and slaves. Women found the new faith attractive because it valued the salvation of their souls equally with that of men, unlike the mystery cult known as Mithraism, which was popular among Roman Empire. During most of this time, ti was an underground movement that suffered periodic persecutions.

Revolution- The Archaic Period

Colonization alone could not resolve the social dislocation caused by increasing population and a rising volume of trade. The amount of food, relationships between social classes, trade of farm food, and the gap between wealthy and poverty began to grow. In order to avoid an uprising, the poleis experimented with two basic measures: the extension of political power to the lower classes and the guidance of a dictator who mediated between the classes.

Social and Economic Policies- Reorganization of the Empire

Diocletian took drastic measures to deal with the shortage of manpower and revenue. He required that farmers remain tied to the land (thereby setting the foundation for serfdom in the Middle Ages) and that sons carry on their father's trade (which foreshadowed the guild system). He tried to stop inflation by fixing prices and wages, but this measure was impossible to enforce and was a complete failure. In order to enforce obedience to his imperial authority, which he structured on the model of oriental despotism, Diocletian severely punished dissent. Frustrated by the refusal of Christians to show their patriotism by worshiping the cult of the emperor, he tried to stamp out Christianity.

Architecture and Sculpture -Hellenistic Culture

During the Hellenistic period, colonists transplanted Greek architecture to the Near East and the Levant, and inspired the Romans, who were politically on the rise, into adopting their forms. Theaters in the round became a standard feature of urban centers throughout the Mediterranean and the colonized cities, and Corinitian capitals became the favored order of columns. The Greek predilection for naturalistic statues also spread throughout these regions. Artistic virtuosity reached a new level as sculptors depicted not only gods and famous men, but also non-idealized images of the lower classes in scenes of daily life. Figures tended to be depicted in very dynamic, theatrical poses, as demonstrated by a sculpture known as the Laocoon group, which portrays a Trojan priest and his sons attacked by sea-serpents. Other famous Hellenistic statues include the Benus de Milo and the Winged Victory of Smothrace.

The Liberal Arts in the Early Middle Ages -The Medieval Cultural Tradition

Each liberal art had a set of classical textbooks that were used to teach it. The most prominent of the liberal arts in the Middle Ages was logic, which relied on the writings of Aristotle. The Roman scholar Boethius (480 to 525), who devoted himself to the study of Plato and Aristotle and is most famous for his Neoplatonic text "The Consolation of Philosophy", prepared a translation of Aristotelian logical texts known as the "Organon" ("tool"). The liberal arts were also summarized in encyclopedias which preserved ancient learning in a simplified form. The most important preservers of ancient learning were Martianus Capella (c400), Cassiodorus (c. 490 to 585), and Isidore of Seville (c 560 to 636), who were commonly read int he medieval schools.

Justinian and Theodora- The Byzantine Empire

Early Byzantine history is dominated by a great leader, Justinian I. Much of Justinian's success was due to his wife, the Empress Theodora, who had been a dancing girl in her youth. Early in Justinian's reign (532) a fight between political factions erupted at the chariot races and became a protest against the government known as the Nika riots. Justinian considered fleeing, but Theodora urged him to stay and risk his life suppressing the rebellion. Her courageous intervention thus made possible all the later achievements of Justinian's reign.

Exploration by Other European Nations -The Age of Exploration

England, France, and the Netherlands followed Portugal and Spain in exploring the New World. They concentrated on North America, which had not yet been claimed and was not as wealthy as the more southerly regions. To extract wealth from the natural resources of North America, these counties put more emphasis on settlement.

Erasmus, More, and Reuchlin- Christian Humanism

Erasmus, More, and Reuchlin were joined by the French theologian Jacques Lefevre d Etaples (c. 1450 to 1536) in the hope of reforming Christian society through humanistic education. They remained faithful to the Roman Catholic Church throughout their lives. Their works, however, inspired radical reformers who were less willing to compromise.

Zoroastrianism -The Persians

Even though the Persian influence on Western Civilization was not that great, they left a great impact on religion. They respected religious diversity disseminated the ideas of their own religion, Zoroastrianism. They were initially polytheists, but one of their prophets, Zoroaster, initiated a monotheistic turn in Person theology around 600BCE. Zoroaster taught that the god Ahura Mazda, the god of forces of good and truth and light, was alone worthy of worship. Zoroastrianism also posited an ethical dualism by viewing the universe as the site of a cosmic struggle between good and evil. Opposed to Ahura Mazda was Ahriman, the principle of evil, darkness, and lies. Humans had to choose between the two. Good would triumph and there would be a last judgement following a final battle. Those who sided with good would be in heaven and those with bad would go to hell.

German Literature- The Vernacular Tradition

German courtly love poets were also inspired by the Arthurian cycle, as seen in "Parzifal" by Wolfram von Eschenbach. Another legend of Celtic inspiration was the tragic love-story of "Tristan and Islot" by Gottfried con Strassburg. The Germans also recorded their own pre-Christian heritage in the "Nibelungenlied" (Songs of the Nubelungs), which drew upon materials in the Scandinavian saga of the Volsungs.

The Second Crusade -The Church in the Late Middle Ages

In 1144 the Muslims staged a counter attack and overthrew the Country of Edessa. A new crusade was proclaimed to win back Edessa, preached by the Cistecian monk Bernard of Clairvaux (1090 to 1153). Although led by the Holy Roman Emperor Conrad III (1138 to 1152) and the French King Louis VII (1137 to 1180), the Second Crusade was a failure.

Vandals- The Germanic Invasions f

In 406 a number of tribes, including the Suevi, Vandals, and Alans (a non-Germanic group), crossed the Rhine into Gaul, beginning migrations that brought some of them into North Africa. The movement was led by the Vandals, who passed through Visigoth-occupied Spain and reached North Africa in 429 under their king, Gaiseric (428 to 477). In 455 they mounted a raid into Italy across the Mediterranean and sacked Rome; the modern term "vandalism" is derived from them. The Vandals, like the Visigoths, were Arian Christians and were therefore despised as heretics. They in turn persecuted Orthodox (Catholic) Christians.

Canons Regular-Church and State

In order to institute clerical celibacy, the reformers promoted the foundation of the canons regular, a semi-monastic order following the "Rule" of St. Augustine, which recommended that diocesan priests live together in a community rather than in private homes, were they were more susceptible to temptations.

Architecture- Art and Arcitecture

Italian architects revived the use of the dome, which had been neglected in the Middle Ages (although Muslim architects did make frequent use of this Roman design in their mosques). The earliest Renaissance dome was built for the cathedral of Florence between 1420 and 1436 according to the design by the Florentine architect Brunelleschi. In Rome, St. Peter's Basilica received a magnificent dome designed by Michelangelo and begun in 1546. Renaissance architects also showed a renewed sensitivity to the use of classical columns.

Return - The Hebrews

Jews were not in exile for long, they returned and rebuilt the temple in Jerusalem when Cyrus the Great overthrew the Neo-babylons in 539 BCE. During their exile, they experienced a new phase of religious awareness, and not began to see themselves as chosen by God for the sake of making known the doctrine of monotheism to all the world. While they did not engage in missionary activity they hoped to make the pagan world aware that Yahwah was the one true God by maintaining their distinctive way of life. They would inspire the Christians to preach monotheism to all the world and energetically seek to convert the pagans.

Architecture and the Arts- The Byzantine Empire

Justinian and Theodora embarked on a lavish building program of public works. Their greatest monument in Constantinople was the cathedral of Holy Wisdom, known by its Greek name, "Hagia Sophia". This structure boasts a massive dome atop a rectangular base, and its interior is decorated by colorful mosaics which use an iconic, otherworldly style to emphasize the power and majesty of the empire in its role as defender of the Christian faith.

Old Kingdom-Egypt

Lasted from 2,700 to 2,200BCE, during the Third to Sixth dynasties, when the power of the pharohs was supreme. They were seen as gods themselves and the government was a theocracy. The entire country was the pharaoh's personal possession and its economy completely under his control. The greatest pyramids were constructed at this time, particularly during the Fourth Dynasty (at Giza), and were enormous tombs for the pharaohs and their families. Later pharaohs did not enjoy as much power in relation to the Egyptian nobles and priests and they did during the Old Kingdom. Only pharaohs and their household were thought to be immortal. The belief in an afterlife led to the practice of embalming (mummification), for it was believed that the departed soul would need its body in its next life.

Renaissance Men- Italian Politics

Leonardo da Vinci (1452 to 1519) mastered not only painting, sculpture, and architecture, but was also renowned as an engineer, scientist, inventor, and musician. His most famous paintings are the "Last Supper" (c. 1495 to 1497) and the "Mona Lisa" (1503 to 1506), but he also designed cannons and canal-locks and he had the imagination to theorize about flying machines centuries before the technology existed to make flight possible. Like Leonardo, Michelangelo (1475 to 1564) mastered painting, sculpture, and architecture; he also wrote poetry of a high quality. Perhaps his most significant contribution to Western civilization was the sheer force of his personality, whereby he defined the artist as a tormented genius whose inspiration leads him to test his powers to the limits. Da Vinci and Michelangelo are the most remarkable examples of "Renaissance men"- geniuses who master a broad range of talents in a display of individualistic virtuosity that defined Renaissance Humanism.

Sophocles- Drama- Greek Classical Culture

Like Aeschylus, Sophocles (496-456BCE)was motivated by religious and moral concerns, expressing deep sorrow at the plight of human beings, who are born into a world of suffering and ignorance. He wrote two plays describing the misfortunes of Oedipus, king of Thebes, and one about his daughter, Antigone, among other surviving works.

Spartan Society- Sparta

Located in the Peloponnesus, Sparta came ot dominate the peninsula after fighting two wars against its neighbor, Messenia (c. 735 to 715 BCE and 650 to 620 BCE), who inhabitants it enslaved. These conflicts nearly destroyed Sparta, and the Spartan response was to put its entire society on a permanent war-footing, becoming highly regimented in order to improve its ability to win wars. Thus all male citizens became part of a standing army, and there was no freedom for the citizens. This meant they abandoned the arts. Lycurgus became the new lawmaker. Under him, all males 7 to 30 lived in barracks and received military training. Women received physical education and were hardened to a lifestyle without comforts in order to promote a militaristic mind-set. The citizens were known as Spartiates, while the subject people they ruled were known as helots. Spartiates were not allwed to conduct business, the services of merchants were provided by a third, marginalized class known as periolikoi, who were not citizens and had no political authority.

The Medieval Cultural Tradition

Medieval thought depended largely on the study of the ancient classics of Greece and Rome but used these pagan texts in novel ways for the benefit of Christian society. At the heart of medieval education was the tradition of the liberal arts, which was used in combination with the Bible and the writings of the Church Fathers in the study of theology.

Engineering- Art, Architecture, and Engineering

Municipal bathhouses would not have been possible without the extensive use of aqueducts, which supplied fresh water and made sewers possible; Roman sanitation was unequaled until the 19th century. One of the most impressive Roman aqueducts is the Pont du Gard, near Nimes in southern France, which was built around 1CE. At one location along its 31 mile course, the aqueduct crosses the Gard River on a bridge some 160 feet high supported by massive rounded arches. The Romans connected their cities with straight roads designed to expedite the movement of armies.

Origins- The Persian Wars

Not long after the democratic reforms in Athens, the very existence of the various Greek city-states was threatened when the Persian Empire embarked upon the conquest of the Balkan peninsula. Persians had been neighbors to the Greeks since 546 BCE when Cyrus the Great conquered King Croesus of Lydia in Anatolia and made the Ionian Greeks living there his subjects. In 499 BCE , the Ionians rebelled against Persian rule and sought military aid from the Greek mainland. Athens sent ships and raided the Persian-controlled city of Sardis. Satisfied that they had done their part, the Athenians returned home. By 494 BCE the Persians regained control of Ionia and decided to invade Greece in retaliation.

Military Religious Orders-The Church in the Late Middle Ages

One curious development of the Crusades was the rise of Military religious orders. These were made up of men who took the monastic vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, but who also provided military service. The three main orders arose in the Holy Land: the Templars, the Hospitallers, and the Teutonic Knights. The Templars devised an innovative methods of banking to fund their military activities and became very wealthy and powerful, with chapters all over Europe. Their immense wealth aroused the envy of the French king Philip IV who exploited rumors that the Templars were engaged in immortal behavior and devil worship to have the order suppressed in 1312; he then confiscated their money. The Teutonic Knights, and noted earlier, transferred their operations to the Baltic region of Europe, where they waged crusades against pagans. The Hospitallers got their name from the fact that they initially provided charitable services for pilgrims and only later acquired military functions, such as providing escort.

Law- The Byzantine Empire

Perhaps Justinian's greatest achievement was the codification of Roman Law, which he entrusted to a team of legal experts led by the jurist Tribonian in the 530s. Justinian's Code, a collection of volumes written in Latin and known by the title "Corpus Juris Civilis" (Body of Civil Law), put many centuries of Roman legal precepts and judicial decisions into an orderly system. It served as the law code for the Byzantine Empire until the ninth century, when a condensed version known as the Basilica was issued in Greek. Later, Justinian's Code served as a textbook during the revival of legal studies in western Europe.

Council of Clermont-The Church in the Late Middle Ages

Pope Urban II (1088 to 1099) began the crusading movement at the council of Clermont in France (1095), when he urged Christian warriors to stop fighting one another and devote their energy to a worthier task, namely, recapturing Jerusalem for the Slejuk Turks, a group of Muslims who hindered Christian polgrims from visiting the Holy Land. The Turks, a group from central Asia, had accepted Islam in the 10th century and invaded the eastern Mediterranean region in the 11th century. Desperate for help, the Byzantine emperor Alexius I Comnenus (1081 to 1118) asked the pope to organize military support (despite the unresolved schism between the LAtin and Greek churches). The First Crusade was the result of this request.

Commodities -The Commercial Revolution

Spices were the most common import during the earlier phase of colonialism. By 1650, however, the European market was glutted with spices, decreasing the profits. Traders responded by diversifying imports to include more cotton fabrics, silk, coffee, and tea. Slaves were also imported from Africa, beginning around 1450. The slave trade to Europe was relatively modest. Although Portugal and Spain imported African slaves for agricultural labor, most European nations had little need of such help. Entrepreneurs, did, however, purchase slaves for use in the colonies of the New World.

Religion -Mesopotamian

Sumerians and their successors worshiped anthropomorphic pantheon of gods, who were thought to behave like humans. They were powerful and could wield the forces of nature and had to be appeased or they would destroy the world (like floods). The priesthood flourished through appeasing the gods and predicting the next disaster. They were only concerned with this life and the afterlife was uncertain and gloomy, the dead wonder aimlessly in a shadowy netherworld.

Religion- Egypt

The Egyptias were polytheists, yet their gods were less anthropomorphic: some combined human and animal features. They saw their pharaoh as a god. Some Mesopotamian rulers achieved this level of veneration, but generally they were considered merely representatives of the gods. Egyptians also practiced suncretism, where over time two different gods became one god. Mesopotamians had a grim view of death, while Egyptians were optimistic that the soul could attain a happy immortality. They believed that embalming, or mummification, could provide the soul with a body for its existence after death. Drying the Old Kingdom, only the pharaoh and his family were mummified. Later immortality was extended to everyone. it was also important to furnish the deceased with texts of incantations that would protect the soul from demons on its journey to the hall of judgement. The "Book of the Dead" described the afterlife.

Persia and Media- The Persians

The Persian empire was founded by Cyrus the Great (559 to 530 BCE) by is often called the Achaemenid empire after the name of the dynasty to which he belonged. When Cyrus came to power, his small kingdom on the northern shores of the persian Gulf was under the domination of the Median empire. He led the Persians in an uprising against the Medes and conquered them in 550 BCE. Cyrus proved to be an exceptional figure, he was a military genius but also an enlightened ruler with an appreciation for the diversity of the cultures in the Fertile Crescent. Medes were closely related to the Persians, and Cyrus made them partners in his empire, establishing Media as his first satrapy (province)

The Sea People

The Near Eastern diplomatic settlement achieved by the Egyptians and Hittities lasted only a short while. The balance of power was interrupted by a series of incursions from peoples living in the less civilized lands beyond their borders. The origin of these raiders is unknown and thusly they are called the "Sea Peoples". They may have been motivated by famine to raid the agricultural abundance that civilization had amassed. They overthrew the empires of the eastern Mediterranean between 1,250 and 1,150 BCE.

Polytheism and Syncretism- Religion

The Romans were polytheists and worshiped many of the same gods as the Greeks, though they often gave them alternate names. The Romans were also very eclectic and practiced syncretism, like the Egyptians. Their techniques of deviation reflect Etruscan influence.

Russia- Eastern Europe

The Vikings who founded colonies in eastern Europe during the 9th century were known as Varangians or Rus, and the lands where they lived became known as Russia ("Lands of the Rus"). In 862 one of the Russian Chieftains, a legendary figure named Rurik, became ruler of Novgorod, and in 882 this northern city-state became part of the state of Keiv, which had been taken over by Varangians in 860. The combined state is known as Kievan Rus. IT reached its zenith in the 11th century under Jaroslav the Wise, but after his death in 1054 it became fragmented into about a dozen rival principalities that were often at war with one another. Novgorod became dominant by the 13th century, especially under the rule of Alexander Nevsky (1236 to 1263), who halted the eastward expansion of the Teutonic Knights and the Battle of Lake Peipus in 1242.

Savonarola- Florence

The first exile of the Medici occurred in 1494 when the French invaded Italy and seized Florentine territory, prompting the people to depose the Medici despots and restore the republic. Florence then came under the influence of a Dominican preacher, Girolamo Savonarola (1452 to 1498), who railed against the luxury and corruption of the Medici age. He convinced the Florentines to destroy works of art in repentance (the "bonfire of the vanities"), but he lost popular support and was burned at the stake after Pope Alexander VI (1492 to 1503) excommunicated him as a dangerous fanatic.

Economic and Social Consequences. - The Blank Death

The high mortality of the plague caused business and backing institutions to collapse. The long-term effects were actually beneficial to laborers but hurt the employers. Before the plague there was high unemployment in Europe, but afterwards labor was in high demand and low supply, which resulted in greatly increased wages. In contrast, the price of food decreased as the supply was suddenly able to meet the decreased demand. Yet employers and governments initially resisted granting concessions to laborers, which prompted a series of peasant rebellions (aggravated in England and France by the Hundered Years' War), such as the Jacquerie in France (1358 and the Peasants' Revolt led by Wat Tyler in England (1381). There was also a revolt of the wool-workers in Florence in 1378.

Social Opportunities - Population Growth

The lot of the peasants generally improved. In exchange for clearing forests, they might receive a reduction of manorial obligations. They might also win their freedom by escaping to one of the new towns that were rising all over Europe; if they stayed there for a certain length of time, they became burghers (citizens of the town) and could engage in any of the specialized trades that were plied there. The situation was summed up in a medieval proverb: "town air makes one free".

Naming the New World -The Age of Exploration

The new continents were named by the German cartographer Martin Waldseemuller, who in 1516 published a map that labeled the new land masses "America"- a Latin adaptation of the first name of Amerigo Vespucci (1454 to 1512), a Florentine explorer who recognized that new continents had been discovered.

St. Thomas Aquinas-The Intellectual Tradition

The preeminent example of scholastic philosophy is the "Summa Theologiae" (Summary of Theology) by the Dominican friar St. Thomas Aquinas (1225 to 1274). This text, which proposed to reconcile faith and reason, because the favored theological work of the Catholic Church. It used the Aristotelian concepts of "substance" and "accident" to give a philosophical explanation of the doctrine of "transubstantiation". Aquinas reasoned that the bread and wine used during the Mass become the actual "substance" of the body and blood of Jesus Christ even though they do not change hteir appearance, which is an "accidental" quality. Thus, Aquinas demonstrated how ancient Greek philosophy could be used to discuss the mysteries of religion.

Peter Abelard-The Intellectual Tradition

The rise of Paris as a center for the study of theology is associated with the career of Peter Abelard (1079 to 1142), a charismatic teacher who promoted the use of logic in his "Sic et Non" ("Yes and No"). While Anselm of Canterbury (c 1033 to 1109) had recently demonstrated how logic could be used to prove the existence of God, Abelard demonstrated how logic could be used to resolve seeming contradictions in Scripture and the Church Fathers. Abelard made many enemies among conservative thinkers who resisted the use of logic in theology, and they condemned his doctrines without a fair trial. Abelard also became notorious for his seduction of a young woman named Heloise, whom he was hired to tutor. They married secretly, but when Heloise's family learned of their liaison, they had Abelard castrated. In disgrace, Abelard became a monk and Heloise a nun.

Coloniation- The Phoenicans

They settled the island of Cyprus and then ventured out into the western Mediterranean, where they established an extensive array of colonies, beginning in the 9th century BCE along the shores of North Africa, Malta, Sicily, Sardinia, The Baleraric Islands, and Iberia) Their trading ventures also took them to beyond the Mediterranean into Britain to acquire tin to make bronze. They navigated Africa in their explorations. Their most important colonies was Carthage, founded in 750 BCE by Tyre. Then they were overrun by the Assyrians, many colonies became independent while others accepted the authority of Carthage which became a powerful empire that threatened Rome during the 3rd Century BCE.

Tyrants - The Archaic Period

When social tensions could not be resolved by mutual agreement, a polis might resort to the mediation of a tyrant. Tyrant did not originally carry a negative connotation- an individual who received absolute power to restore order to a polis. They were usually nobles who sought to enhance their standing by posing friends and family and guardians of the common people. Although commoners generally appreciated the help of tyrants, they were suspicious of their motives. Tyranny was inherently unstable and served as a temporary measure until a more stable form of government could be achieved. It was a common phase in the city-states between 700 to 500 BCE.

The Last Roman Emperor in the West- The Germanic Invasions

When the Visigoths approached Italy early in the fifth century, the western emperor withdrew to the more defensible city of Ravenna on the Adriatic coast. In 476, however, a Gothic general in the roman army named Odoacer (Odovacar) staged a coupd'etat with his Germain troops, seized Ravenna, and deposed the youthful emperor, Romulus Augustulus (475 to 476). This emperor was not replaced by a successor. Instead, Odoaer made himself king of Italy with the acquiescence of the Eastern Roman emperor, Zeco (474 to 491), who was momentarily powerless to affect events in the west. Thus ended the western line of Roman emperors.

Imitation and Preservation of the Classics

While churchmen explored uncharted intellectual territory and laid down principles for a new society, the educational institutions of the empire disintegrated. Apart from theology, little that was written was new. Most literary productions either imitated earlier models or summarized previous learning, and the emphasis was on preservation rather than creation. Yet there were certain innovations. For example, in preserving ancient texts, there was a transition from the use of the papyrus scroll to the codex- a book with pages- which is still in use today.

Fertile Crescent people

fertile crescent allowed for favorable agriculture which allowed the people to devote some time to other activities. This allowed them to make cities, and thus civilization was created.

Treaty of Lodi- Italian Politics

A measure of order was achieved in 1454 by the Treaty of Lodi when three of the five major Italian powers-the northern city-states of Florence, Millan, and Vanice-organized an alliance against the other two: the centrally located Papal States and the Kingdom of Naples in the south. The Papal States had nearly vanished during the Avignon papacy, when local rulers seized much of the territory. After returning to Italy, the popes fought their neighbors to recover these domains. The Kingdom of Naples, which included Sicily (and was sometimes called the Kingdom of Two Sicilies) had changed hands many times during the Middle Ages- Byzantines, Muslims, or another. In the 15th century it was ruled by the Spanish house of Aragon.

Early Preaching-Christianity

After their leader's death, the followers of Jesus began to proclaim that he and risen from the dead and would soon return. They now believed that the Messiah, or Christ, was not a king who would free the Jews from political oppression but one who would free all people from the oppression of sin and death. Thus they began to preach the Gospel and convert not only Jews, but also Gentiles (non-Jews), having made the crucial decision to remove the requirement of adherence to Mosaic Law. Gentiles who converted to Christianity had to accept only a few simple practices, including baptism and the Eucharist (thanksgiving- the ritual meal in memory of Jesus), and to live up to the Christian moral code. The most instrumental missionary was Saul of Tarsus, better known as St. Paul, who regularly traveled the eastern Mediterranean as far as Rome preaching, converting, and guiding the fledgling Christian communities through his letters of advice and reprimand.

Inquisition and Index - The Catholic Reformation

Another measure taken by Paul III to revive Catholicism was the Roman Inquisistion (also known as the Holy Office), founded in 1542. This organization was not directly related to the medieval Inquisition, and it was also distinct from the Spanish Inquisition, which was established in 1478. The Roman Inquisition was concerned primarily with monitoring newly published books for evidence of heretical theology, and thus focused its attention on the intellectual elite, which included men like Martin Luther and John Calvin. IT was responsible for publishing an "Index of Prohibited Books", of which the first appeared in 1559. The purpose of the index was to identify books that were considered dangerous to the Roman Catholic faith. As a form of censorship, it threatened to excommunicate any Catholic who read or distributed books on the index without special dispensation.

Prose- Drama-Greek Classical Culture

Athenian drama was written in verse. Prose literature appeared in the 5 century BCE as a new form of writing that an author could employ when primarily interested in scientific analysis of a subject rather than artistic presentation. Prose was used mostly in the study of history and philosophy.

The Witch Craze- A Revolution in World View

Belief in magic was common during Greco-Roman antiquity and persisted throughout the Middle Ages, but large-scale persecutions of witches were uncommon until the late 15th century, following the publication of a manual for which-hunting known as the "Hammer of Witches" (1486), written by two Dominican Inquisitors. During the heightened tensions of the religious wars, Catholics and Protestants alike used this book as a guide for the detection, trial, and execution of witches, mostly targeting elderly women who lived alone. The persecutions did not end until about the year 1700, when the Scientific Revolution inspired an era of skepticism known as the Age of Enlightenment.

Conquest of Italy -The Republic

By 265 BCE, the Romans united the entire Italian peninsula as far as the Po River. They demonstrated their determination in the 270s BCE when they kept fighting against the defender of the Greeks in southern Italy, King Pyrrhus of Epirus (307 to 272 BCE), even after suffering several defeats. Dismayed by Roman tenacity, Pyrrhus is said to have remarked, "If we win another battle against the Romans, we shall be utterly ruined", thereby originating the concept of the Pyrrhic victory (a victory so costly that the victor cannot afford to go on fighting).

Jesus of Nazareth-Christianity

Christianity began as a reform movement within Judaism led by Jesus of Nazareth, who was born around 4BCE and died around 30 CE (The modern reckoning of years began to be used in the 6th century CE, but was based on a miscalculation of the year of Jesus' birth.) Jesus was alive during a time when the Jews eagerly awaited the appearance of a leader specially chosen by God to liberate them from oppression. This individual was called the "anointed one" ("Messiah" in Hebrew, "Christos"in Greek). The followers of Jesus believed he was the Messiah, though his teaching lacked overt political content and instead focused on an enlightened moral code summed up in two commands: fist, love God; and secondly, love thy neighbor. Jesus promised that his followers would receive salvation and immortality when he returned at the end of the world to judge all human beings, and he chose twelve disciples called Apostles to spread the Gospel ("Good News") of salvation. He also instructed his disciples to remember him by shaping a special meal of bread and wine which he said were his body and blood, the sign of anew Covenant. Jesus was critical of the Pharisees for failing to live up the the ancient prophets' ideals of social justice. He became seen as a dangerous radical, and around 30 CE, during the reign of Tiberius (24 to 37 CE), Jesus was arrested, brought before the Roman governor Pontius Pilate, and crucified.

Architecture- The Late Empire

Ecclesiastical culture showed vitality in the realm of architecture. For the first three hundred years, when Christianity was an underground religion, it was practiced either in catacombs or private houses. When it became legalized, there was an explosion of church-building. The characteristic design of Latin churches was established at this time on the model of the Roman court of law (basilica). Apart from ecclesiastical structures, however, the Late Empire had relatively little to offer by way of monumental architecture. The best example is the Arch of Constantine, but this structure demonstrates that craftsmanship had declined since the era of the Pax Romana.

Pottery- Art and Architecture- Greek culture

Greek art form the Archaic age survives mainly in the form of paintings on pottery vases (which were used in the transportation of agricultural produce) and other vessels. The style evolved from the geometric pattern of the Mycenaeans to representational art using black figures on red backgrounds and visa versa. The subject matter ranged from famous mythological events to scenes of daily life.

Invasions- Italian Politics

In 1494 the French king Charles VIII (1483 to 1498) lay claim to the throne of Naples and invaded Italy. Although he seized the kingdom from its Spanish ruler, he was unable to hold it against the alliance of Italian states that banded together to drive him out. In 1499 Charles' successor, Louis XII (1498 to 1515), invaded Italy to claim Milan. Again the French king was driven out by a temporary alliance. These invasions continued under Francis I (1515 to 1547) and were aggravated by counter-invasions led by Spanish king and Holy Roman Emperor, Charles of the Hapsburg dynasty. With each invasion, Italy was progressively devastated, and in 1527 the Hapsburg forces sacked Rome out of frustration after their pay had been long delayed.

Ostrogoths- The Germanic Invasions

In 488 Zeno sent his ally Theodoric, king of the Ostrogoths (474 to 526), to overthrow Odoacer in Ravenna. Theodoric thus became king of Italy in 493. Although the Ostrogoths ("East Goths") initially ruled with the approval of the emperors in Constantinople, Justinian the Great (527 to 565) launched a war against them and reclaimed Italy in a long and terrible struggle lasting from 535 to 555).

Fourth Lateran Council-The Church in the Late Middle Ages

Innocent III's most significant achievement was the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215. This church council was the largest in the Middle Ages, consisting of some 400 bishops and 800 monastic leaders, as well as secular rulers or their representatives. It was attended by the Latin patriarchs of Constantinople and Jerusalem. As a canon lawyer, Innocent sought to define in detail the requirements of membership in the Roman Catholic Church. The Fourth Lateran Council required that all adult Catholics receive the sacraments of confession and communion (the Eucharist) at least once a year and accept the doctrine of transubstantiation (that the bread and water used in the Mass actually become the body and blood of Jesus Christ). The council formally condemned the Cathars and Waldensians as heretics and forbade the foundations of new monastic orders in an effort to regulate religious fervor.

Amorites (Old Babylonian Dynasty)- Fertile Crescent

Mesopotamia was once again unidentified, this time by the Amorites. They are known as the Old Babylonian, because their capital was at Babylonian, on the Euphrates. They ruled for around 300 years (1900 to 1600BCE). Their greatest king was Hammurabi (c. 1792- 1750BCE) who was famous for his law code. Hammurabi's Code was a collection of old and new legal judgements, resulting in the most comprehensive body of law from ancient Mesopotamia. The law has harsh punishments for violators, according to the principle "Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth". Hammurabi claimed to be a representative of the gods, from whom he gained his authority. His law was created to provide stability with a hierarchical society with the king at the top of the social pyramid, then warrior, then priesthood, then freemen (peasants and merchants). Slaves were taken from Mesopotamian citizens who could not pay off their debts. Slavery was often temporary, and freemen were allowed to own their own land. The law dealt principally with legislation regarding the family, ownership of land, and commercial transactions.

The Amarna Period-Egypt

Most of the pharaohs of the New Kingdom were warrior-kings that focused on foreign affairs, in the 18th dynasty one pharaoh focused on a revolutionary religious phase known as "The Amarna Period". Named after the modern city, Anarna were historical evidence of the event was found. Amenhotep IV, adopted the name Akhenaton (c. 1,375 to 1,358 BCE) singled out Aton, the disk sun god, as the only god he would worship. He suppressed the worship of all other gods and moved the capital from Thebes to Akhetation. He drew religious authority away from the priests who advocated the worship of an entire pantheon fo gods, and especially the most influential and powerful cult led by the priest. of Amon. After Akhenaton's death priests abolished the new religion. During this time there was a dramatic change of artistic style, which altered the depiction of the human body from the traditional, stiffly formal types and gave it a more dynamic, relaxed, and naturalistic quality. After, the art retired to earlier forms.

Council of Chalcedon (451): Against Monophysitism- Christianity

The 4th general council also focused on the person of Christ. It condemned the teaching, known as Monophysitism, which holds that Jesus has only one nature (mono-one; physis, nature). Monophysites claimed that Jesus is divine, but not human. Orthodox thinkers condemned this teaching because it opposed the position defined at Ephesus and seemed to deny the possibility of salvation (which was thought to depend on Christ's role as mediator between divinity and humanity). Although persecuted, Monophysitism persisted in Egypt and in Syria (where it was known as the Jacobite Church).

Iron Age War Machine- The Assyrians

The entire Near East was conquered from the 8th and 7th centuries BCE by the Assyrians, who erupted from their homeland in northern Mesopotamia with an inexorable war machine. They were outfitted with iron weapons, which were more durable than bronze. The Hittites had first begun smelting Iron, but the Assyrians more effectively ushered in the Iron Age by putting the new metal to extensive use. They developed engineering units to conduct siege warfare, so that no enemy could hold out for long against their armies, which conquered all of Mesopotamia down to Egypt in the 660 BCE. They became the first power to control both the Nile and the Tigris-Euphrates valleys.

Changes on the Manor- Population Growth

The increased quantities of produce could now be processed more efficiently through another widespread technological innovation: mills. Both water mills and windmills were in use by the 12th century. These, along with communal ovens for baking bread, were owned by the lord of the manor, who charged a fee for their use. As coinage came into increased circulation, lords increasingly preferred payment of manorial dues from their peasants in the form of a fixed money rent rather than service or a share of produce.

Icelandic Literature- The Vernacular Tradition

The oral traditions of the Vikings were not recorded until after the conversion of the Scandinavians. The tales were preserved in Old Norse by Snorri Sturlusion (1179 to 1241), whose "Younger Edda" is a prose work composed as a complement to the "Elder Edda", a collection of poems. This Eddie literature preserves the pre-Christian mythology of the Northmen.

Social Justice - The Hebrews

The prophets were instrumental in advocating social justice as an essential feature of monotheism8tg century BCE many were leaving the pastoral ways of their ancestors and settling in growing towns, their society underwent a major economic transformation. Cities generate wealth, but the wealth wasn't distributed evenly, so some were wealthy while some were poor. When Amos the profit saw this happening around 750 BCE, he preached against the exploitation as a sit that would bring ruin to the Hebrew People.

The Phoenicans

after the demise of the great empires, small kingdoms flourished. These small kingdoms lasted until the Assyrian conquest of the Near East durign the 8th and 7th centuries BCE. One influential group was the Phoenicians, who were divided among a number of independent and often warring city-states centered on the coast of what is now Lebanon. They ventured out upon the Mediterranean in the wake of the Sea People's raids and dominated maritime commerce for several centuries, broadcasting their cultural achievements by this means. Their influence was felt mainly in their dissemination of the alphabet, commerce, and colonization.

Mesopotamian Cuneiform

blended both phonetic symbols and pictographs. the phonetic symbols represented entire syllables, and thus they did not use an alphabet but a syllabary (components are syllables). It required memorizing over 600 symbols, which made it difficult to learn. This was used by the Sumerians, adopted by the Akkadians. later it served for religious and literature.

Sumer- Fertile Crescent

located in the southern region of Mesopotamia, named after the culture of its inhabitants, these cities became small states that governed areas about 10 miles in diameter and fought among themselves over the control of water. as larger cities take over smaller cities, larger political units were established and fights on a large scale ensued. Unification of the entire river valley would lead to efficient use of the river systems.

Neoplatonism- Religion

Although Neoplatonism was founded by Plotinus (205 to 270 CE) as a school of philosophy, it included a mystical dimension. Later Neoplatonists, such as Porphyry (233 to 305 CE), Iamblichus (250 to 300CE), and Proclus, (410 to 485), added magical rituals. There were important parallels between later Neoplatonism and Christianity, and the two influenced one another considerably, even though they generally condemned one another's teachings. Although the Roman Empire finally accepted Christianity in the 4th century, its attitude toward the Judeo-Christian tradition until then was one of hostility.

The Mongols- Eastern Europe

At that time Europe was struck by the last wave of invasions from the east. The Mongols, a nomadic people led by Genghis Khan (1167 to 1227), formed an immense empire across Asia in the 13th century that reached east into China and west into Europe. A group of Mongols seized Russia in 1237 and founded a state known as the Golden Horde (which included Tatars). Alexander Nevsky cooperated with them, and they appointed him their lieutenant in Kiev. The key to survival and success at this time was a willingness to collaborate with the Mongols by paying tribute. The rulers of Muscovy (Moscow) did so and were thus able to maneuver into a dominate position among the other subjugated Russian states. When Ivan III the Great (1462 to 1505) finally overthrew the Golden Horde in the 15th century, the Muscovites were poised to assume control of the other Russian principalities.

Spain-The New Monarchies

By the 15th century, most of the Iberian peninsula had been won back from the Muslims. Long divided even among its Christian rulers, Spain began to coalesce into a strong centralized monarchy with the marriage of Ferdinand of Aragon (d. 1516) and Isabella of Castile (d. 1504) in 1469. They were able to dominate the "cortes" (parliamentary assemblies), reduce the power of the nobles, and streamline the bureaucracy. As both were devout Catholics, they received papal approval for the Spanish Inquisition in 1478, controlling it as an arm of the state in order to establish religious unity and to control dissidents. The first grand inquisitor was a Dominican friar, the dreaded Tomas de Torquemada (1420 to 1498). The Spanish Inquisition concentrated its attention at first on the Marranos (Jews who had converted to Christianity but were suspected of continuing to practice Judaism secretly) and later the Moriscos (Muslim converts). It later prevented Protestantism from establishing itself in Spain. Among its positive effects was the reform of the Catholic Church in Spain, a task that was guided by Cardinal Ximenes. In 1492, Ferdinand and Isabella expelled the Jews from Spain and completed the "Reconquista" with the invasion of Granada.

Silver Age (14 to 138 CE)- Literature

During the first century of the Roman empire, writers found that they could not afford to offend emperors who ruled with absolute power. This limit on freedom of expression coincided with a general decline in Roman virtues, which led to a pervading sense of pessimism in literature from the reign of Tiberius (14 to 37 CE) to Hadrain (117 to 138 CE). In the "Germania", the historian Tacitus (55 to 117 CE) deplores the decline of Roman character while ironically praising the heroic simplicity of teh barbiarians. The Stoic philosopher Seneca (4 to 65 CE) wrote tragedies and was executed by Nero, as was his nephew, Lucan (39 to 65 CE), who wrote the epic "Pharsalia"which depicts the civil war between Caesar and Pompey. Satirists vented their frustration at the general decline in morals, most notably Persius (34 to 62 CE), Petronius (66CE), and Juvenal (c 65 to 128 CE).

Donation of Constantine- The Medieval Church

Gregory's successors established an alliance with the Carolingians against the Lombards and in 755 received a temporal state, carved from Lombard lands, through the Donation of Pepin. Hoping to justify this new temporal power, the papal chancery forged a document later in the 8th century that purported to be a grant of sovereignty to the papacy from Constantine the Great (306 to 337). This so-called Donation of Constantine was proven to be a forgery by the Reniassance humanist Lorenzy Valla (1407 to 1457), but until the 15th century it was used to justify papal claims to temporal power.

Third Dynasty of Ur- Fertile Crescent

Many Sumerians resentred the Akkadian attempt to dominate them, so around 2100BCE the Sumerian city of Ur attained control of Mesopotamiat, after the Akkadian empire had been weakened. This Dynasty fuled about 100 years, and it lead to a period of chaos during which no single dynasty controlled the entire region (2000-1900BCE). by the time unity was restored, the Sumerians had lost their identity as a distinct group.

Parliamnet- England

Relations between the English kings and their barons were often troubled. In 1263 to 1267, Simon de Montfort led the barons in a revolt against Henry III (1216 to 1272), who refused to recognize some amendments to the Magna Carta known as the Provisions of Oxford (1258). In 1264 the barons took Henry III prisoner, and in 1265 Montfort summoned an assembly with representatives from the towns- the first Parliament. This assembly did not meet regularly but was called on special occasions when the king wished to institute some innovations (such as a new tax); it did not at first pass legislation, but served as a body of council, as well as a court of justice. As Parliament was called into session with increasing frequency, it evolved to acquire a broader range of powers. In the 14th century it was divided into two parts- the House of Commons and the House of Lords- and was empowered to assume responsibilities concerning laws, taxation, and impeachment.

France

The Carolingians continued to rule the western Frankish kingdom until 987, whne the title of king was seized by one of the powerful nobles, Hugh Capet (987 to 996), Count of Paris. His Capetian dynasty held the royal title until 1328, during which time West Francia was transformed into France, and the Franks became the French. The transformation of the realm from a feudal state to a national monarchy was very gradual, since the nobles of the realm were unwilling to give up their power and privileges. As late as the 12th century, the kings had direct control over only a small region in the northeast centered on Paris and Orleans, known as teh Ile de France ("Isle of France").

Council of Trent- The Catholic Reformation

The Catholic Church was slow to respond to the Protestant challenge because it did not have an effective leader until Pope Paul III (1534 to 1549), but the experience ultimately revived the papacy as an effective institution for spiritual leadership. Paul Ill's most important action was to initiate the Council of Trent, which met three times between 1545 and 1563, establishing a through reform of the Roman Catholic Church and defining its dogmatic theological position in response to the issues raised by the Protestants. Although the Catholic Reformation is also known as the Counter Reformation, it was not merely a response to Protestantism; it also channeled energetic initiatives that were born of genuine faith and piety among the Catholic faithful.

The Netherlands -The Age of Exploration

The Dutch were the last to sponsor voyages of exploration. Their most famous explorer was an Englishman named Henry Hudson, after whom the Hudson River is named in commemoration of his voyage there in 1609. Dutch colonists founded New Amsterdam in 1624 (which was organized by the Dutch West India Company, a joint-stock company that reflected the new forms of financial organization that arose in the aftermath of the age of discovery.

England-The New Monarchies

The English emerged from the Hundred Years' War badly shaken, and England descended into a period of civil strife known as the Wars of the Roses (1455 to 1485) as two noble houses- Landcaster and York- fought over control of the kingdom. In the end it was neither of these dynasties, but the House of Tudor, that emerged triumphant. Established on the throne by his victory at Bosworth Field that emerged triumphant. Established on the throne by his victory at Bosworth Field against Richard III of York (1483 to 1485), Henry VII (1485 to 1509) established England as a new monarchy. Henry continued to work with Parliament, streamlined the administration, and acquired lucrative commercial contracts for English merchants in Italy. He enhanced royal power by establishing the Court of the Star Chamber, which was designed to weaken the power of troublesome nobles by trying them without the benefit of a jury and allowing torture to exact confessions.

The Late Merovingians- The Germanic Kingdoms

The Frankish practice of divining up to the kingdoms among all the surviving sons when a monarch died led to periodic phases of civil war as brothers fought one another to re-establish a strong monarchy. In such endemic warfare, the nobles on whom the kings relied tended to become strong. In time, the nobles were able to manipulate the Merovinginas, who became mere figureheads known as the "do-nothing" kings.

Sale of Indulgences- The Protestant Reformation

The extravagant spending of the Renaissance popes on military forces, patronage of the arts, and grandiose building programs led them to seek money and dubious means. A measure to which Leo X resorted was the sale of indulgences. Indulgences were pardons for sin, granted by the papacy, which were believed to shorten the time a person had to spend in Purgatory. Hoping to raise money for the building of St. Peter's Basilica, Leo X authorized a Dominican preacher, Johann Tetzel, to sell indulgences on a tour in Germany. When a theologian at the University of Wittenberg named Martin Luther (1483 to 1546) learned of Tetzel's mission, he responded by publishing in 1517a collection of propositions opposing the sale of indulgences known as the "Ninety- Five Theses."

Pascal -A Revolution in World View

The new arguments over the relative merits of induction and deduction were criticized by Descartes' countryman, Blaise Pascal (1623 to 1662), Despite making important contributions to mathematics (especially probability theory and conic sections in geometry) and science (such as observations of atmospheric pressure), Pascal found the relative absence of God in the new world view a troubling development. He turned for spiritual renewal to the Catholic reform movement known as Jansenism, which emphasize faith over reason and insisted on the human need for God's grace.

Heretical Movements-The Church in the Late Middle Ages

The popular religious ferment of the twelfth century did not always produce results that were favorable to the Church. Heretical movements arouse as devout Christians who were scandalized by the luxurious lifestyle of some Catholic bishops openly denounced the clerical hierarchy. Although many of these radical reformers worked in isolation, some banded together and became highly organized, such as the Cathars and the Waldensians. The Cathars ("pure ones") were a duelist sect akin to the ancient Manichees and believed that the material world was created by an evil god who opposed the creator of the spiritual world. They rejected the Old Testament and organized themselves into a rival church in southern France centered at the town of Albi; hey were, therefore, sometimes called Albigensains. The Waldensians took their name from Waldo of Lyons, a rich merchant whose reading of the New Testament inspired him to give away his property to the poor and embrace a life of poverty. His followers traveled throughout Europe preaching against the luxurious lifestyles of many Catholic bishops and winning converts on the strength of their own simple, impoverished lifestyle and their strict interpretation of the social message of the Gospel.

Monasticism- Christianity

The transformation of Christianity from as oppressed faith to the official religion of the empire ensured its survival but also changed its quality. Many people became Christians in order to ingratiate themselves with the imperial family or to take advantage of the wealth that now belonged to the Church Some devout Christians reacted by fleeing to the wilderness and living lives of prayer in seclusion. These became the first Christian monks, known as the "Desert Fathers". Although many of them were hermits who practiced a harsh ascetic regimen, such as St. Anthony of Egypt (250 to 350), or St. Simon Stylites (390 to 459) who lived on top of a pillar in Syria, others began to live in communities, such as the one organized by St. Pachomius (290 to 346). All three of these prominent Desert Fathers lived in the Near East; from there monasticism was spread to western Europe by men like John Cassian (360 to 433).

The Umayyads (661 to 750) - Islam

The two civil wars established Muawiyah's dynasty, the Umayyads, and enabled the Muslims to continue their conquests. The Umayyads transferred the capital from Mecca to Damascus in order to direct the conquests more effectively. There they received the help of skilled Christian administrators and adopted many Byzantine techniques of government. Since non-Muslims could be taxed heavily, the Umayyads did not encourage mass conversions to Islam.

Colleges-The Intellectual Tradition

The universities began to acquire a permanent physical identity when wealthy benefactors founded colleges in the 13th century, such as the one built by Rober de Sorbon in 1257. The colleges were originally residence halls fo rthe support of students who could not afford to pay living expenses. Since these buildings were a convenient place to conduct classes, they eventually became associated with instruction.

The Putting-Out System -The Commercial Revolution

The use of unskilled labor, controlled by entrepreneurs, had already appeared toward the end of the Middle Ages in the textile industry. Entrepreneurs would buy wool and hire peasants to specialize in various stages of its manufacture into cloth: spinning the wool into thread, weaving the thread into cloth, and finally dyeing the cloth; the entrepreneur would then transport the thread to the weaver and the cloth to the dyers before selling the finished product on the market.

Conquest of the Mediterranean-The Republic

Without a rival to oppose them, the Romans methodically conquered all the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. After fighting four wars with Macedon, in which the Romans demonstrated the superiority of the legion over the phalanx (especially at he Battle of Cynocephale in 197 BCE), they subjugated Greece and moved through Anatolia into the Near East. The Romans did not have to fight for all their acquisitions. The heiress king of Pergamum in western Anatolia willed his kingdom to the Romans in 133 BCE, and the kingdom of Bithynia (in northern Anatolia) was granted to Rome by a similar arrangement in 74 BCE. The last major state to resist the Romans was Egypt, which fell in 30 BCE.

The Mycenaean Bronze Age- Ancient Greece

(c. 2,300 to 1,100 BCE) The ancient Greeks were the earliest representatives of Western civilizations. They first migrated into the Balkans around 2,300 BCE. Through trade with Mediterraneans, and raiding expeditions, they amassed enough wealth to undertake ambitious building projects by 1,700 BCE. The most impressive of the early sites is at Mycenae, and the kings of this city seem to have exercised some influence over the Greek towns, the early Greeks are called Mycenaeans. Other centered included Tiryns, Pylos, and Athens. Mycenae is renowned for its royal tombs whose interiors are shaped like beehives, its massive "Cyclopean" walls (named from the mythical one eyed giants). and its sculpted entryway known as the Lion's Gate. The Mycenaeans owed much of the cultural advancement to the Minoans who lived on the isle of Crete and dominated the eastern Mediterranean, learning from them the art of writing and the method of administration that centered on the royal palace. The Mycenaeans were at the height of their power from about 1,400 to 1,200 BCE, when they conquered the Minoans of Crete and sacked the city of Troy in Anatolia. Around 1,100 BCE the maritime empire of the Mycenaeans was destroyed during the raids of the Sea People, and the mainland centers were overrun by the Dorians, a people who spoke a dialect of Greek that differed from the one spoken by the Mycenaeans.

Nominalism -The Intellectual Tradition

A long-lasting debate that generated interest in the 12th century concerned the relationship between words and reality. One school of thought, influenced by the Platonic doctrine of Forms and known as "realism", maintained that universal concepts substantially exist in an intelligible world. The contrary school of thought, known as "nominalism", objected that universals are merely worlds (nomina) that are used to describe abstractions and therefore do not correspond to any substantial reality. In the 14th century a prominent nominalist named William of Ockham (c. 1285 to 1349) formulated a principle of logical economy which would later be used in the scientific method. This principle, known as "Ockham's Razor), requires a logical explanation for the existence of any presumed entity and thus reduces any given system to the smallest possible number of elements. Ockham did not use this "razor" against central Christian doctrines, but against elaborate scholastic systems of theology. His teaching was condemned for its rejection of Thomism (the philosophy of Thomas Aquinas, which became the standard teaching of the Catholic Church).

Visigothic Spain- The Germanic Kingdoms

After sacking Rome in 410, the Visigoths settled in Spain and southern Gaul, but were driven from the latter by the Franks in 507. Confined to Spain, the Visigoths lost some territory to the Byzantine Empire during Justinian's wars. The kingdom was finally overthrown by Muslims from North Africa in 711.

Roman Art-Art, Architecture, and Engineering

In addition to naturalistic sculpture, carved reliefs, and frescoes, the Romans excelled in mosaics-colored tiles arranged to represent images, commonly of human figures or scenes of marine animals. Romans also sculpted equestrian statues, most famously one representing Marcus Aurelius (175CE)

Spanish Literature- The Vernacular Tradition

The Christians in Spain hosted a tradition of troubadours and courtly love poets, who wrote about the "Reconquista". The legends of El Cid are a prominent example of their work.

Dutch Independence

The Dutch revolt that began in 1566, and was led by William the Silent between 1572 and 1584, continued for about 80 years before the independence of the Netherlands was recognized. In 1579 the northern Dutch provinces formed the Union of Utrecht, which formally declared independence in 1581 and became the core of the Dutch Republic of the United Provinces. Spanish troops were expelled by 1600, and a truce halted fighting between 1609 and 1621. After a revival of the conflict, Spain finally recognized Dutch sovereignty in 1648 through the Treaty of Westphalia. In the meantime, the Dutch had become a world power and commanded a fleet greater than the fleets of all the other European nations. They took advantage of Phillip II's conquest of Portugal (1580) to seize Portuguese colonies in the Far East and take over the spice trade, on which they exercised a near monopoly. This eastern commerce was controlled by the Dutch East India Company, a joint-stock company formed in 1602 and run by the United Provinces. It was later joined by the Dutch West India Company, which was active in North America, where in 1624 it founded New Amsterdam at the mouth of the Hudson (later Newark City).

Literature

The classic statement of the confidence in human reason and ability that epitomized Renaissance Humanism was the "Oration on the Dignity of Man" (1486) by Pico della Mirandola (1463 to 1494). Pico was a student of Marsilio Ficino and later set out on an ambitious program to develop a universal theory of human knowledge which was to include a Jewish form of mysticism known as the Cabbala as well as magic, but he fell under the influence of Savonarola and abandoned this grand design. Historical literature began to be written in the vernacular. In addition to Machiavelli's "Prince" and "Discourses", there were the works of Francesco Guiccardini (1483 to 1540), whose "History of Italy" was based on a critical use of sources, and Giorgio Vasari (1511 to 1574), whose "Lives of the Artists" (1550) is an early history of art. "The book of the Courtier" by Baldassare Castiglione (1478 to 1529) outlines the education and rules of etiquette which the well-rounded stateman should embody, and thus epitomizes the refined cultural ideals of Renaissance Humanism.

Craft Guilds- Trade and Towns

The craftsmen who bought raw materials from traveling merchants also began to organize themselves into guilds, and by the end of the 12th century were able to challenge the merchants for domination of economic life in the towns. These craft guilds were organized around specific trades (shoemakers weavers, butchers); members of the same guild would all live in the same quarter of town. A craft guild dominated all aspects of a given trade, from quality control to setting limits on production and prices. The guilds strove to curb competition, so that no one who had met the requirements for membership would be driven out of business. Candidates for membership were carefully trained. They began as apprentices who learned a trade by assisting a master and were eventually promoted to the rank of journeyman, at which point they received a fixed wage. Finally they might be inducted into the guild as masters when they met the requirements imposed on them. The craft guilds were eventually overshadowed by the rise of capitalism during the early modern age.

Religion -Hellenistic Culture

The decline of the polis brought on a crisis of faith in traditional religion, to which many responded by joining mystery cults that Hellenistic armies brought home from the Near East. Much of their popularity was due to their promise of life after death. The most prominent of these was the Persian cult known as Mithraism, which involved the ritual sacrifice of a bull in honor of the god of light.

Aftermath of Justinian's Reign- The Byzantine Empire

The deeds of Justinian and Theodora were described by the Byzantine historian Procopis, Whose official texts praised them, but whose "Secret History" depicted them as bloodthirsty tyrants and demon-worshipers. Justinian's achievements came at a high price. His successors had to deal with the bankruptcy incurred by his spending, as well as rebellion in the far-flung corners of the empire. They gave up the well as rebellion in the far-flung corners of the empire. They gave up the west for lost and turned their attention eastward, were they had to fight seemingly endless wars against the aggressive Sassanians. Heraclius (610 to 641) finally achieved victory in 628, but his empire was so weakened by war and internal dissension that the southeastern provinces soon afterwards fell to a new eastern power- the armies of Islam that erupted from the Arabian peninsula in 634.

The Golden Bush-The Holy Roman Empire

To streamline the often difficult process of imperial succession, the Emperor Charles IV of Luxemburg (1347 to 1378), which fixed an electoral college at seven members; the archbishops of Cologne, Mainz, and Trier; and the secular rulers of Bohemia, Brandenburg, Saxony, and the Rhineleand- Palatinate. A majority of these electors was needed to choose an emperor. By formalizing the electoral college, Charles IV hoped to prevent popes from meddling in imperial elections.

The Hohenstaufens -The Holy Roman Empire

Vigorous efforts were put forth by the Hohenstaufen dynasty to control the lands south of the Alps, but an alliance of northern Italian cities known as the Lombard League defeated Frederick I Barbarossa (1152 to 1190) at Legnano in 1176 and forced him to abandon his political ambitions there. Fredrick II (1215 to 1250) was more successful in subduing his Italian subjects, but when he died the nobles would not accept his infant son as emperor. As rivals fought for the title, nobles strengthened the hold over their own territories.

Outbreak- The Peloponnesian War

(431BCE to 404BCE) The aggressive imperialistic stance taken by the Athenians destabilized the Greek world. Greece was organized into two armies, the land-based Peloponnesian League led by Sparta, and the sea-based Delian League led by the Athens. Fearing attack, Sparta launched a per-emptive invasion of Attica in 431 BCE on the back of a dispute between colonies in western Greece. They hoped to break the power of the Athenians by defeating them in a decisive battle. The Athenians adopted a defensive policy advocated by Pericles, who recognized that the Spartans were superior to the Athenians on land, but could not challenge them on the sea, the vital link of the empire. Thus, the Athenians retreated behind their walls and used their fleet to import food while the frustrated Spartans destroyed the farms outside. Pericles hoped the Spartans would abandon their siege before too long, but the standoff continued for several years, and the cramped conditions inside the city led to an epidemic that killed at least one-fourth of the population, including Pericles.

Expansion- The Persians

20 years after his beginning, Cyrus expanded his dominion until it dwarfed every Near Eastern empire that had gone before. In 547BCE he annexed Anatolia by defeating Croesus of Lydia, then turned east and established a defensible border against threats from central Asia. In 539 BCE he conquered the Neo-Babylonean and established his control over their empire, which included Syria and Palestine. He died while campaigning on the eastern borders.

Egyptian Dynasties

31 royal families, dynasties, ruled Egypt over the course of its first 3,000 years of history. This is split over different periods: Archaic (Early Dynastic), Old Kingdom, First Intermediate Period, Middle Kingdom, Second Intermediate Period, and New Kingdom. This ended with Cleopatra in 30 BCE, which Romans incorporated Egypt into their empire. Kings of Egypt were called "Pharaoh" which meant "Great House" indicating the royal palace in which they ruled.

The New Stone Age- Fertile Crescent

8000BCE after most of the glaciers retreated from Europe and North America, there occurred a cultural revolution that inaugurated the Neoithic Age. -stone tools refined, animals were domesticated, agriculture was developed. humans no longer were nomadic but stayed in one area. Only a small percent could live in cities because it look a lot to make very little food.

Benedictine Monasticism - The Medieval Church

A Benedictine monastery was governed by an abbot ("father") who was chosen by the monks of the community. The abbot had absolute power over the community and appointed the lower offices, of which the most important was the prior. Nevertheless, he was sworn to uphold the Benedictine "Rule" and he conferred with his monks when important decisions had to be made. St. Benedict's monasteries were designed to be independent of the outside world, producing their own food, tools, and books. To produce the books they needed for prayer and study, monasteries had a special room called the "scriptorium", where monks copied texts onto parchment made from animal skins (paper was unknown). While most of the books in the monasteries served religious purposes, the monks also preserved much classical pagan literature because these works offered models of good Latin, which the monks tried to imitate in their own writing. Monasteries were islands of literacy in a sea of ignorance.

Reuchlin- Christian Humanism

A German humanist, Johannes Reuchlin (1455 to 1522), advocated the study of languages for a better understanding of Scripture. Like Erasmus, he mastered Greek in order to read the New Testament. He then went on to master Hebrew as well in order to read the Old Testament. In 1506 he published a Hebrew grammar and in 1509 convinced the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I (1493 to 1519) to reject the Inquisition's cal to burn the Talmud.

Prince Henry the Navigator-The Age of Exploration

A Portuguese prince known as Henry the Navigator (1394 to 1460) gave the first major impetus to exploration by funding voyages of discovery and establishing a school for navigation at Sagres, which included an observatory. He also made improvements in shipbuilding, and the caravel was adopted as the favored vessel for exploration. Henry's motives reflected military, religious, and economics concerns. His patronage of exploration began after he participated in the 1415 capture of Ceuta, a Muslim stronghold in North Africa across from the Strait of Gibraltar. He hoped that a more precise knowledge of African geography would help Christian forces to outflank the Muslims and thus gain a strategic advantage over them. He also hoped to make contact with a legendary figure named Prester John, who was rumored to rule a Christian kingdom in distant lands (possibly Ethiopia). More realistically, Henry thought to discover and convert pagans who lived on the edge of Muslim territories, therby combining religious with military motives. Finally, Henry hoped to find deposits of gold and to generate wealth for Portugal by establishing a trade route to the Indies that could bypass the Mediterranean, which was dominated by the Italians and Turks.

Ancestor Worship and State Religion-Religion

A central feature of Roman religion was the worship of deceased ancestors and "household spirits" (minor gods who guarded the home), which were commonly represented by idols. The goddess Vesta protected the hearth and was served by 12 Vestal Virgins, whose primary task was to keep her sacred fire burning. The Romans linked religion with politics; priesthoods were, in fact, public offices. The office of the chief priest, or "Pontifex Maximus", was held at one time by Julius Caesar and was later adopted by the emperors. The cult of the emperor arouse as an expression of patriotism.

Public Office-The Republic

Advancements in public office required military service and began with low-ranking positions, such as the "quaestor", who kept financial accounts, and the "aedile", who organized public works. Higher positions included "praetor", who presided at legal trials, and "censor", whose principal task was to maintain census records (in order to determine who was eligible for military conscription and public office), but who also enforced morals. Censors were highly respected, for they were drawn from a select pool of officials who had once served as "consuls", or chief magistrates. Two consuls were elected each year by the assembly and had a range of administrative, judicial, and military functions; since they enjoyed king-like powers (known as "imperium"), each consul had the right to veto the other in order to prevent abuses. In times of crisis, the Senate could appoint a dictator who for 6 months held supreme consuls wore a special garment called the toga candidata, or "whitened toga"; the English word candidate is derived from this Latin expression.

The Angevin Empire- England

After a period of chaos (1135 to 1154), England became the centerpiece of an empire with holdings in France. This occurred during the reign of Henry II, a member of the Angevin (or Plantagenet) dynasty. Henry II (1154 to 1189) inherited the County of Anjou and the Duchy of Normandy from his father. HE acquired territories in southwestern France through marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine, and he claimed the Kingdom of England through his mother Matilda (Maud). Henry later invaded Ireland, and he forced Wales and Scotland to recognize his authority. Unlike the empire of Canute, Henry's survived for centuries. Its rise illustrates how marriage and dynastic ties could be used in medieval Europe to forge a large state rapidly. It also demonstrates how the feudal system tended toward the decentralization of power, for although Henery II was king of England (and therefore the supreme lord within that realm), he was a vassal of the king of France in his capacity as Count of Anjou and Duke of Normandy and Aquitaine. Nevertheless he controlled far more of France than the French monarch did.

Augustus Caesar-The Republic

After almost a century of strife, the war-weary Romans looked to Octavian to restore order. A cunning politician, Octavian assured the Romans that his only intention was to restore the Republic, and he maintained the outward forms of traditional government even as he worked behind the scenes to replace it with a political system that served his will alone. In 27 BCE, the Senate bestowed on Octavian the title "Augustus" (revered one"), but he said he preferred the title "princeps", the traditional republican term which meant "first citizen" He also used the title "Imperator" (indicating one who held the power of "imperium"), from which the term emperor is derived. For all his deception and cunning, Augustus did institute much-needed reform, for the government of the Republic had been intended for a small agricultural community and was unable to administer an immense empire. Many of his measures were also better for the Roman people then the policies of the Senate had been. He established a civil service that was open to men of talent rather than birth, gave Rome its first police and fire departments, improved the roads, and sponsored a civic building program. In his published memoirs, Augustus boasted, "I found Rome a city of brick and left it a city of marble.: Although Augustus tried to reform Roman moral through laws that were intended to revive the sanctity of marriage and the centrality of the family, this effor was not successful.

Agricultural Inprovments - Population Growth

After centuries of decline, European population experienced and explosion that was aided by improvements in agricultural technique and technology. A three-field system replaced the old two-field system of agriculture, allowing one-third of the land to lie fallow (unused) every three years while crops were rotated in the other two fields. In this way nutrients in the soil were replenished and crop yields were boosted. The development of the horse-collar replaced oxen with horses as draft animals and allowed the use of a heavier plow, which was fitted with a moldboard that could turn over the dense soils of northern Europe more efficiently. Climate also favored agriculture at this time, for a long spell of warmer weather extended the growing season.

The Treaty of Westphalia- The 30 Year's War

After several years of negotiation, the belligerents ended the war through the Treaty of Westphalia (1648). Furthermore, the treaty granted Alsace to France and certain Baltic regions to Sweden. It recognized the Swiss Confederacy and the Dutch Republic of the United Provinces as sovereign nations independent of Hapsburg control. It also recognized the sovereign nations independent of Hapsburg control. It also recognized the sovereign nations independent of Hapsburg control. IT also recognized the sovereignty of the approximately 300 constituent states of the Holy Roman Empire, which effectively eliminated the Empire as a meaningful political entity. Among the German states was the new duchy of Prussia, which was formed from the lands of the Teutonic Knights when its last grand master, Alrecht von Hohenzollern, converted to Lutheranism in 1525. With regard to religion, the Treaty of Westphalia accepted the status quo. Although it reaffirmed the principle that the ruler of each state should determine its faith, it also stipulated that any prince who should change his faith in the future would forfeit his rule (thereby halting the spread of Protestantism). IT improved on the Peace of Augsburg (1555) by extending recognition to Calvinism as well as to Lutheranism. Thus, the Treaty of Westphalia redefined the religious and political map of Europe. The division between Protestants and Catholics was recognized as a permanent schism, and France became the most powerful state on the Continent.

Early Spanish Emploration -The Age of Exploration

After the early successes of Portugal, the Spanish realized the potential for wealth that exploration could generate and became anxious to prevent their Iberian rival from dominating this trade. In 1492, Ferdinand and Isabella decided to found a voyage by the Genoese mariner Christopher Columbus (1451 to 1504), who claimed that he could find a direct western route to the Far East without having to sail around Africa. Columbus had miscalculated the circumference of the earth and had no idea that massive continents barred the way, so that's when he discovered the Caribbean islands (West Indies) and Central America, he thought that he had reached Asia. Columbus established contact with the natives in four voyages, the last ending in 1504.

Calvin- Diversification of Protestantism

After the generation of Luther and Zwingli, the Protestant movement was dominated by the French theologian John Calvin (1509 to 1564), who established a theocracy in Geneva, Switzerland. Like other reformers, Calvin was intolerant of those who opposed his position. He supported the execution of Michael Serverus (1511 to 1553) for denying the existence of the Trinity. Calvin established the Reformed tradition of Protestantism. His systematic theology, "Institutes of the Christian Religion" (1536 to 1559), stressed the sovereignty of God and the utter dependence of human beings on God's mercy. To emphasize that neither good works nor faith but only the power of God alone can guarantee salvation, Calvin taught the doctrine of double predestination- that God has determined in advance not only that some will be saved, but also that others will be damned. Calvinism was centered primarily in Switzerland, but there were Calvinist minorities throughout Europe. Those in France were called Huguenots. The Scottish reformer, John Knox (1513 to 1572), established Calvinism in Scotland, founding its Presbyterian Church. Calvin's Genevan Academy, which was designed to train preachers, was instrumental in the spread of his reform movement.

Crisis of the Third Century- Reorganization of the Empire

After the reign of Marcus Aurelius (161 to 180), the Roman Empire faced a series of threats that nearly destroyed it. The barbarians breached the borders in the north while a new Persian dynasty, the Sassanians, launched aggressive campaigns in the east. Military expenditures increased while a period of economic decline set in. Man power shortages hampered both defense and economics, and they were aggravated by waves of disease that swept through the Empire. To make matters worse, as the military became more prominent, power fell into the hands of the generals, who recklessly fought one another for control of the empire, ruling through puppet emperors who were frequently murdered in coups d'etat.

End of the Conciliar Movement-The Church in the Late Middle Ages

After the successful Council of Constance, there was momentum for regular meetings of councils in cooperation with the pope for the governance of the Church. Yet this momentum soon dissipated. Pope Martin V called the Council of Basel in 1431 to continue a general reform of the Church, but this council later ran afoul of Martin's successor, Eugene IV (1431 to 1447), whom it tried to depose in 1437 by electing a new pope. Eugene IV reasserted papal superiority over church councils by convening the Council of Ferrara- Florence (1438 to 1445), which coincided with the Council of Basel (1431 to 1449). The Council that met in Ferrara and Florence tried to end the schism between the tines in 1439 was rejected by the Eastern Church in 1472. It had ceased to be effective, however,, in 1453, when the Ottoman Turks conquered Constantinople and forbade the Eastern Christians from maintaining relations with the Western church.

The Hellenistic Kingdoms- The Hellenistic Age

Alexander's sudden death left a power vacuum that resulted in a struggle among his generals. After some 40 years of warfare, the territory of Alexander's short-lived empire was divided between three kingdoms, each named after the general who founded a new dynasty: the Antigonid Kingdom (in the Macedonian homeland and Greece), the Seleucid kingdom (from Anatolia and Syria in the west to Mesopotamia and Persia in the east), and the Ptolemaic kingdom (in Egypt and Palestine). Many of the Greek city-states were able to reassert their independence, banding together in either of two alliances: the Aeolian League in the north and the Achaean League int he south. The borders between states shifted constantly as a series of wars kept Greece and the Near East politically fragmented. This situation persisted until the Romans established their empire and forced unity upon the divided peoples of the Mediterranean. Many Greeks and Macedonians migrated to the Near East, colonizing the new cities founded by Alexander and his generals. Urban culture flourished as new trade routes linking Europe and Asia stimulated the accumulation of wealth, mostly by a minority of Greeks and Macedonians who formed the upper class. The city of Alexandria in Egypt boasted one million inhabitants, as well as two harbors, a huge lighthouse, a museum, and a world-famous library taht served the leading thinkers of the day.

Socrates-Greek Culture

Although Socrates (469 to 399 BCE) was mistaken for a Sophiest, he differed from them in several ways. Most importantly, he did not charge tuition and he considered himself less a teacher than one who merely helped others learn the truth for themselves. He also called himself a "gadfly" because he found that few of his interlocutors cared to be questioned in the rigorous method that he devised (later known as the Socratic method). He focused on ethics because he thought his polis needed moral citizens more than anything else. Socrates served with distinction in the Athenian military, yet he felt he could nest serve the interests of Athens by persuading his feelow citizens to care for their souls rather than military and economic success. He did not write books, so we are dependent primarily on the Dialogs of his student, Plato (c. 428 to 347 BCE), for details of his philosophical doctrines. During the chaos in Athens after the Peloponnesian WAr, Socrates was accused of corrupting the morals of the youth with his subversive questioning. He was found guilty and executed by drinking hemlock. Plato wrote the Dialogues to refute the charges that had been leveled against his beloved teacher.

Painting -Architecture and Art

Although frescoes (watercolor paintings on plaster) were used in the walls of medieval churches, most paintings appeared in books, where they were called "illuminations: (illustrations) or "miniatures" (not because they were small but because they used lead oxide, called "minimum", as a pigment). The early Celtic style consisted of very intricate, abstract design. The much later Gothic style was a lively departure from the flat Byzantine models that dominated Romanesque art. Gothic manuscript art tended to adorn the margins with fantastic creatures (dragons, birds with human heads, etc.) known as "grotesques" or "drolleries". A favorite device was the "historiated initial"- figures painted within an oversized letter of the first word of a chapter to provide a visual accompaniment that symbolically summarizes the text.

Astronomy- A Revolution in World View

Although the Hellenistic astronomer Aristrchus (c. 310 to 250 BCE) had first maintained that the earth orbits the sun, this heliocentric theory was largely ignored until the 16th century, when the geocentric, or earth-centered, theory advocated by Ptolemy was finally challenged by the Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus (1473 to 1543). His book "On the Revolutions of the Celestial Orbs" (1543) applied the principle of logical economy ("Ockham's Razor") to simplify the cosmic model: Copernicus concluded that the heliocentric theory better explained the observed motions of the planets than did the geocentric model, which required a complicated system of imaginary epicycles. Yet Copernicus' theory of circular orbits was not correct either, and problems with the heliocentric model were not resolved until Johannes Kepler (1571 to 1630) discovered, on the basis of the precise observations collected by Tycho Brahe (1546 to 1601), that planetary orbits are not circular but elliptical. This refined heliocentric theory was then popularized by Galileo Galilei (1564 to 1601), that planetary orbits are not circular but elliptical. This refined heliocentric theory was then popularized by Galileo Galilei (1564 to 1642). By writing in Italian rather than Latin, Falileo transferred the discussion from the tiny circle of a few specialists to a gernal audience. He was put under house arrest for his headstrong popularization of this controversial theory, which undermined confidence in ancient authority.

Science and Technology-Hellenistic Culture

Although the literary works of the Hellenistic period pale in comparison to the texts of the Classical Age, the study of the physical world reached new heights. Hellenistic natural philosophy is characterized by the development of rigorous methodologies based upon experimentation. This nascent experimental method also stimulated the development of technology and resulted in increasing specialization and professionalism as individuals concentrated on understanding one area thoroughly rather than trying to develop comprehensive systems of knowledge. Greek thinkers of the Classical period had already accepted the idea that the earth is round. Now Eratosthenes (c 276 to 196 BCE) accurately calculated the circumference of the earth. Aristarches (c 310 to 250 BCE) postulated a heliocentric theory, arguing that the earth revolves around the sun and causes the succession of day and night by its rotation, but his theory was rejected in favor of the geocentric, or earth-centered, theory preferred by Aristotle. Hipparhus (c 190 to 120 BCE) developed the astrolabe, a device for making accurate observations of celestial bodies. In mathematics, Euclid (c 300 BCE) established a collection of geometrical theorems in a book called the "Elements", while Archimeds of Syracuse (287 to 212 BCE) calculated the value of "pi". Archimedes also made major advances in the study of mechanics, developing a hand-cranked pump known as "Archimedes' screw", as well as more efficient configurations of pulleys and levels (which were used in catapult technology). He is famed for having said, "Give me a lever long enough and a place to stand, and I will move the world".

Romanesque-Architecture and Art

Although there is considerable variety in examples of Romanesque ("Roman-like") architecture, common characteristics include the use of the rounded arch, the barrel vault, and the introduction of the tower as a prominent feature. In order to support the high ceilings, the walls had to be very think and windows had to be small resulting in a rather dark interior. Sculpture was also used to adorn the building. Romanesque sculptures have an elongated, unreal quality to them and depict religious themes, often involving demonic figures and scenes of the Last Judgement. Representations of beasts and floral patterns are also typical.

French Literature- The Vernacular Tradition

Among the earliest works in Old French is "The Song of Roland", written around 1100, which describes the heroic defense of Charlemagne's rearguard during his campaign against the Muslims in Spain. The French developed a tradition of courtly literature, which described the ideals of chivalry (the culture of mounted knights) in ballads known as "chansons degeste" (songs of deeds). A key element of chivalry was a complex form of romantic live, inspired by the troubadors of southern France, which drew parallels between feudal law and the feelings between the sexes. A favorite theme of the chivalric poets was the cycle of Arthurian legends, based on the exploits of a legendary leader of the Britons who fought the invading Anglo-Saxons, which inspired the 12th century poets Chretien de Troyes and Marie de France. The most popular of French literary works was a long allegorical poem called "The Romance of the Rose", a 13th century epic begun by Guillaume de Lorris and later expanded by Jean de Meun, whose characters are abstract personifications that depict the virtues and vices of the time.

The Character of Cyrus the Great- The Persians

An important factor for Cyrus' success was his moderation toward the vanquished and his toleration of the subject peoples, as well as his understanding of their psychology and his willingness to grant them vital concessions. When Cyrus approached Babylon in battle array, instead of fighting he identified himself as a friend of the traditional god Marduk, and the Babylons opened their gate and allowed him in, more interested in religious freedom than staying with their current rulers. Cyrus reversed the Neo-Babylon (and Assyrian) policy of destroying the identity of subject peoples through deportation. The Jews then returned home to Jerusalem. Cyrus also adopted a policy of non-interference in local religious practice, allowed a limited form of local autonomy, and did not tax heavily.

Extension of Roman Citizenship-The Republic

Another constitutional challenge arising from tensions imposed by the empire occurred in the Social War (90 to 88BCE), named after Rome's allies ("socii" in Latin) who seceded because the Senate refused to grant their demands for status as full citizens. The Senate finally conceded when threatened by a massive uprising in the eastern provinces led by Mithridates, King of Pontus in Anatolia.

Heresy and Orthodoxy- Christianity

Another effect of Christianity's rise to dominance in the Roman Empire was the politicization of its theological disputes. Differences of opinion over doctrine, always a matter of controversy, now became an occasion for persecution by one Christian group against the other. Doctrines that were sanctioned by the imperial government were labeled "orthodoxy" (right teaching), whereas doctrines without such support were called "heresy" (sectarianism). Heresy was regarded not merely as religious non-conformism, but a crime against the state. Orthodoxy generally corresponded to the majority view, as determined by bishops in council, but often emperors pushed their own views against the judgement of bishops, or entire provinces might oppose the official teaching, as a political statement of regionalism. These disagreements sometimes erupted into riots and undermined the unity of the empire. Since Constantine had intended Christianity to be a unifying force within the empire he was the first to take measures to resolve the theological disputes. The principal mechanism for establishing correct teaching was the general, or "ecumencal", church council. These conferences of bishops were initially convened by emperors. The early controversies focused on the Trinity, that is the three persons of God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), and generated three main heresies.

Engraving- The Northern Renaissance

Another innovation of northern Europeans was the woodcut, which allowed the mass-production of identical images by impressing them onto paper (typically onto pages in books). Since woodcuts deteriorated with use, they were replaced in time by metal plates, which also allowed finer lines and thus more intricate engravings. A prominent northern artist who became skilled in this medium was Albrecht Durer (1471 to 1528), who studied art in Italy and brought its styles back to Germany. By developing engravings which were reproduced in books, Durer quickly disseminated the principles of Italian art north of the Alps.

Succession: Division between Sunnites and Shittes- Islam

Arab expansion was then momentarily checked by the outbreak of a civil war over the question of succession. When Muhammad died, he had no male heir and had not designated a successor. The Muslim community, or "Umma", elected an early convert to Islam named Abu Bakr to serve as Muhammad's "successor" or "caliph". This theocratic office combined religious and political power. The brief caliphate of Abu Bakr (632 to 634) was spent putting down revolts in order to maintain the unity of the Muslims. The net caliph, Umar (634 to 644), initiated the conquests. His successor, Uthman (644 to 656) , alienated many Muslims by his practice of giving important positions to members of the old Meccan elite. Uthman was assassinated and the Muslims became divided over the next successor. The Shiites (sectarians) believed the caliph should be a descendant of Muhammad and chose his son-in-law Ali; the Sunnites (traditionalists) sided with Muawiyah, who was a kinsman of Uthman and demanded vengeance for his death. The civil war ended in 661 with Ali's son, Hussein. The split between Sunnites and Shiites generated long-lasting animosity and instability within the Muslim world.

Muhammad- Islam

Arabia during Muhammad's youth was a polytheistic society that was acquainted with monotheism through Jewish and Christian contacts. Muhammad's revelations began in 610. His early attempts to convert fellow Arabs in the holy city of Mecca, which contained the shrine known as the Ka'ba, met with little success. In 622 Muhammad was invited to Medina as a peacemaker and became the leader of the city. This event is known as the "Hegira" or "migration", and marks the first year of the Muslim calendar (which is lunar rather than solar). After fighting several battles with the Meccans, Muhammad became the first ruler to unite all of Arabia.

Painting- The Northern Renaissance

Architecture and sculpture north of the Alps remained closely tied to the Gothic culture of the Middle Ages and lacked the revival of classicism that characterized the Italian Renaissance. The most innovative form of art was painting, and Flemish painters were leaders in the field. Their religious subject matter and style were developed from Gothic book illuminations, but now images were more commonly painted on wooden panels, often as part of altar-pieces for the decoration of churches. Early Flemish masters, such as Jan van Eyck (c. 1390 to 1441) and Rogier can der Weyden (c. 1400 to 1464), shared with their Italian contemporaries a keen interest in naturalism, often expressed in minute detail (as seen in the folds of drapery, textures of surfaces, and background landscapes), but they lacked a fully developed linear perspective. They relied instead on aerial perspective that is, the atmospheric effects of light and haze between foreground and background to express the illustration of distance. Northern art had extremely vibrant colors, largely due to the Flemish invention of oil-based paints, which allowed a wider range of technical possibilities. (Oil paints did not come into use in Italy until the time of Leonardo da Vinvi, who was among the first to use the new medium). Later northern artists were influenced by Italian art and excelled in realism, as seen int he portraits painted by two Germans- Albrecht Durer (1471 to 1528) and Hans Holbein the hunger (1497 to 1543). Two prominent Dutch painters were Hieronymus Bosch (1450 to 1516), who is famous for his allegorical works depicting fantastic scenes of devils tormenting people, and Pieter Brugel the Elder (1525 to 1569), who was exceptional for his lively and intricate scenes of peasant life.

Arabic and Jewish Influences on European Philosophy-The Intellectual Tradition

Aristotle was often read in conjunction with a commentary on his works by the Muslim Arab scholar Averroes (1126 to 1198). Other Arab philosophers who influenced medieval scholarship were Alfarabi (c. 870 to 950) and Avicenna (980 to 1037). The most influential Jewish thinker was Maimonides (1135 to 1204), who is best known for his attempt to harmonize reason and revelation in his "Guide for the Perplexed".

Stability- Population Growth

Around the year 1000, the invasions that had plagued Europe for centuries finally stopped. The Vikings and Magyars converted to Christianity and became part of European society. Although Europe remained politically fragmented, a period of relative stability ensued.

Printing - The Northern Renaissance

Around the year 1450, the printing press with movable metal type was invented. The invention is generally attributed to Johannes Gutenberg (c. 1400 to 1486) of Mainz in Germany. Guttenberg's books were not only intended to reduce the labor involved in producing literature, but were meant to be attractive as well. The printing press spread quickly, reaching Venice by 1469 and England by 1476. A prominent Venetian printer was Aldus Munuties (1450 to 1515), who replaced the Gothic Style black-leather casts of Gutenberg with more elegant letter-forms known as italics. The Italian humanist printers turned away from Gothic letters and revived Carolingian minuscule, thereby giving the modern world the typography it still uses.

Vikings- The Germanic Kingdoms

Around the year 800, England, Ireland, and the northern coasts of the Continent began to suffer raids from Schandinavian pagans known as the Vikings. These Northmen used their longships to conduct hit-and-runs tactics along the coasts and up rivers. Since the Vikings initially avoided pitched battles and struck isolated targets of opportunity, they were very difficult to deal with.

Inflation -The Commercial Revolution

As gold and silver poured into Europe via Portugal and Spain, the vast increase in quantities of precious metals caused runaway inflation, quadrupling prices between 1500 and 1600. Since wages did not rise equally, poverty became widespread and many people became vagrants. Nobles also suffered since their income was based on fixed rents, which lost value as prices rose.

Clientage-The Republic

As order broke down, power shifted from the machinery of government to the client system, whereby a patrician would use his personal wealth to support poor men, who would in return support him politically. As wealthy patricians accumulated private armies, they used their power to oppose the Senate, and the Republic descended into a series of civil wars. The Senate itself became divided between two groups: the "optimates", who represented the entrenched interests, and the "populares", who demanded reform.

Bread and Circuses- The Empire

As the Empire expanded, citizenship was gradually extended to the subject peoples until 212 CE, when the emperor Caracalla declared all inhabitants of the empire full citizens. The population of the city of Rome expanded to about a million as uprooted farmers drifted to the capital in search of work. Poverty and unemployment consequently rose. Despite the measures instituted by Augustus, the Empire failed to solve these severe problems. The best it could do was to address the symptoms of social dysfunction by providing free grain and entertainment (in the form of gladiatorial games and chariot races according to a social welfare policy known as "bread and circuses."

Later Spanish Exploration-The Age of Exploration

As the New World began to be economically exploited by Spain, exploration continued. Balboa crossed the Isthmus of Panama in 1513 and discovered the Pacific Ocean. A voyage commanded by Ferdinand Magellan (a Portuguese mariner employed by Spain) circumnavigated by Ferdinand Magellan (a Portuguese mariner employed by Spain) circumnavigated the world by rounding South America (1520 to 1522). Magellan himself did not complete the voyage, but was killed in a fight with natives in the Philippines (1521). Hernando De Soto explored Florida and the coast for the Gulf of Mexico, where he died in 1542.

Greek Victories- The Persian Wars

As the Persian army entered Greece in 490 BCE at the command of emperor Dariou I, the vastly outnumbered Athenians managed to defeat it at Marathon in Attica, some 26 miles from Athens. (This distance was run by a herald and became the "marathon"). Then years later the next Persian emperor, Xerxes, invaded with a much larger army and a massive accompanying fleet. Most of the Greek city-states were cowed and decided to remain neutral, but the Athenians managed to assemble a few allies, most notable the Spartans, who brought with them the armies of the Pelonnesian League. Unfortunately, a detachment of Spartans, making a daring stand at the strategic pass of Thermopylae in central Greece, were killed by a man, and the Athenians had to abandon their city, evacuating their population by ship to nearby islands for safety. After the Persians sacked Athens, they located and attacked the Greek fleet. While attacking they were lured into a narrow strait near the isle of Salamis where they could not bring their numerical superiority to bear. Thus the smaller Greek fleet, lead by the Athenians, crushed the Persian fleet. Without ships for supply, the Persian army was isolated, and the Spartans led the Greek armies to victory on land at Plataea in 479BCE. With the Persians humbled, the Ionian cities were able to reassert their independence.

The Opening Phase- The Hundred Years' War (1337 to 1453)

At the time the war began, England had lost most of its French possessions. The most important region still under English control was Gascony in the southwest. The Angevins hoped ot revive their once- proud empire by claiming the French throne according to the rules of succession. Their opportunity arouse in 1328 when the last Capetian king died without a male heir. The Angevin claim was based on the fact that the English king, Edward III (1327 to 1377), was the son of the French princess Isabella, daughter of Philip IV; Edward believed this entitled him to receive the French crown. The French, however, refused to recognize the English claim and cited early Frankish law which forbade women from inheriting the crown or transmitting it to their sons. They chose a new dynasty, the Valois, to receive the crown. Fighting commenced in Flanders, which favored the English because of the close commercial ties between the two regions due to the wool trade. The opening phase, which lasted until 1360, was a resounding English success. At the Battle of Crecy (1346), English longbowmen repeatedly halted charges by mounted French knights, providing the superiority of ranged weapons against cavalry and sounding the beginning of the end of chivalry warfare. AT the Battle of Poitiers (1356), Edward the Black Prince (son of Edward III) captured the French king of the new Valois dynasty, John II (1350 to 1364), and took him to England as his prisoner. Although Edward III's claim to the French throne was still not recognized, the French gave him the province of Aquitaine (about a third of the country) in the PEace of Bretigny (1360).

Golden Age (43BCE to 14 CE) - Literature

Augustus Caesar patronized three poets whose celebrated works represent the golden age of Roman literature. The most famous of them was Virgil (70 to 19 BCE), whose "Aeneid"(modeled on Homer's epics) describes the legendary foundation of the Roman state by the fugitive Trojan prince, Aeneas. It was written at the request of Augustus, and in a "prophecy" celebrates his glorious reign. Virgil's contemporaries were Horace (65 to 8 BCE), who wrote lyrics on various themes, and Ovid (43 BCE to 17 CE), who wrote the "Metamorphoses", which portrays myths of transformation in Greco-Roman mythology, and a long poem "On the Art of Love", a manual for seduction. Ovid was later exiled by Augustus for his connection to a scandal involving a member of the imperial family. The greatest prose author of the golden age was the historian Livy (59 BCE to 17 AD).

Bacon- A Revolution in World View

Bacon's empirical method was challenged by thinkers known as rationalists, who held that accurate knowledge about the world could be attained by the faculty of human reason alone. The leading proponent of this method was the French philosopher Rene Descartes (1596 to 1650), who proved the validity of his position by making contributions to mathematics that remain in use to this day. Cartesian coordinates (the graphic depiction of algebraic equations as geometric lines on a two-dimensional grid) are named after him. Descartes was not wholly opposed to induction, and made contributions to science, but he is most famous for his achievements in philosophy which employ deductive reasoning, particularly his use of the axiom, "I think, therefore I am" ( in Latin "Cogito, ergo sum), to serve as the foundation of his skeptical system of philosophy. Descartes used this proof of his own existence to construct arguments for the existence of God that were not based on authority or experimentation but on reason alone.

The Rise of Centralized Monarchies

Beginning in the late 11th century, a movement began toward the centralization of power in the hands of monarchs. Theoretically, the king was supreme in his realm, but in reality, due to the fragmentation caused by the invasions and the feudal system of government, his nobles were often stronger than he was. The centralization of power was best achieved in England and France. Spain did not become a strong centralized state until the 15th century. Germany and Italy remained politically divided will into the 19th century

Angles, Saxons, and Jutes- The Germanic Invasions

By 410 the Romans had pulled all their legions from Britain in order to defend the provinces on the Continent. For protection against the Picts (ancient inhabitants of Scotland), the Britons asked for help from Germanic tribes, who then turned against he Britons, forcing them into Wales and occupying most of the island. The three principal tribes, who then turned against the Britons, forcing them into Wales and occupying most of the island. The three principal tribes were the Angle, Saxons, and Jutes, who over time became one people. The region of Britain occupied by the invaders was named England after the Angles, who predominated. Unlike the Visigoths and Vandals, the Germanic invaders of Britain were pagan, not Christian.

Script-Architecture and Art

By the 12th century medieval handwriting also changed from the simplicity of Carolingian minuscule (on which modern typography is based) to the more elaborate and ornate Gothic minuscule, which inspired black-letter typography. The original letter-forms used by Johannes Gutnberg (c. 1400 to 1468) were based on Gothic script, but they were replaced later by Italian humanists who preferred the clearer Carolingian script, which they erroneously believed had been the letter-forms use by the ancient Romans. "Gothic" art and script received this name as a pejorative by humanists of the Renaissance., who thought the styles were inspired by the barbarian hwo had invaded the classical world.

The Second Triumvirate-The Republic

Caesar's supporters were led by three men who formed a second triumbirate to dominate affairs in Rome: Marc Antony, Lepidus, and Octavian, who was Julius Caesar's grandnephew. Eventually, Marc Antony and Octavian squeezed Lepidus out, then fought one another for supremacy. Octavian, a shrewd propagandist, undercut support for Marc Antony by drawing attention to his love affair with Cleopatra, the Ptolemaic queen of Egypt, and raising fears that Marc Antony would try to rule Rome as an oriental despot. In 31 BCE he defeated Marc Antony and Cleopatra in a naval battle at Actium, off the western coast of Greece. With Cleopatra gone, the last of the Hellenistic kingdoms came to an end and the Romans added Egypt to their territorial possessions.

The Later Carolingian Kings - The Germanic Kingdoms

Charlemagne was able to hold his empire together through personal energy and charisma, but toward the end of his life it began to disintegrate. His son, Louis the Pious (814 to 840), was unable to keep it intact. The sons of Louis fought over their shares of the realm but eventually came to an agreement known as the Treaty of Verdun (843), which divided the realm into three parts: the western part went to Charles the Bald, the central part (along with the imperial title) went to Lothair, and the eastern part went to Louis the German. By 870, the northern parts of the middle kingdom had been swallowed up by its neighbors, and the new boundaries were then formalized in the Treaty of Mersen. These divisions were to have long-lasting effects inasmuch as they roughly established the borders of the modern European states of France and Germany. Disagreements over the division of the middle kingdom-particularly the regions of Alsace and Lorraine (which is named after Lothair)- were a cause of friction between France and Germany as late as the 20th century.

The Carolingian Renaissance - The Germanic Kingdoms

Charlemange's achievements were not limited to conquest. In administration, Charlemagne regularly met with his counts and bishops, and he sent special agents, called "missi dominici", throughout his realm to check up on them. He also took great care to ensure the spiritual and intellectual well-being of his realm. He founded schools to train the clergy, regulated monastic practice by promoting the use of the Benedictine Rule, and gathered together the finest scholars from all over western Europe to his court at Aachen, which became an international center of learning. Charlemagne was concerned to make available accurate copies of the Vulgate Bible and encouraged the development of a more legible script to keep errors from creeping into the text. The script, which is known as Carolingian minuscule, was developed at the monastery of Tours under the guidance of Alcuin of York. Charlemagne favored the use of Latin as the common language so that men from various parts of his diverse empire could easily communicate with one another; to facilitate its study he encountered the preservation of the Latin classics by careful copying of manuscripts.

The First Carolingian King: Pepin the Short- The Germanic Kingdoms

Charles Martel's son, Pepin (or Pippin) the Short (c 714 to 768), was not satisfied to rule the Franks as Mayor of the Palace. In 751 he deposed the last Merovingian king and asked the pope to legitimize his seizure of power. Pope Stephen II (752 to 757) needed help against the Lombards, so in 754 he crowned Pepin king of the Franks. In gratitude, Pepin defeated the Lombards and in 755 gave part of their territory to the pope. This land grant, known as the Donation of Pepin, founded the Papal States. The alliance of the Carolingian's and the papacy enhanced the authority of each: while the Carolingians became the legitimate kings of the Franks, the popes received a sizable state in central Italy and became recognized as kingmakers.

Elizabeth I- England

Charles V entrusted the crown of Spain to his son, Philip II (1556 to 1598) to forcibly restore Catholicism, England became more fully Protestant. In 1559, Parliament passed the Act of Uniformity, which established the ceremonies of the Anglican Church and the Book of Common Prayer. In 1563, it passed the 39 Articles, which outlined the nation's theological stance. Elizabeth I (1558 to 1603) tried to establish a moderate religious position, but faced severe challenges to her religious reforms. In 1569 she repressed a Catholic uprising, and in 1587 executed her cousin Mary, the exiled Queen of Scots, for her involvement in the Catholic plot. Yet Elizabeth also opposed the Puritans, religious extremists who wanted to eliminate all vestiges of Catholicism. Her moderate position is summed up in her refusal "to make windows into men's souls", by which she meant that she respected private dissent as long as it did not express itself in open opposition.

Philip II- Spain

Charles V entrusted the crown of Spain to his son, Philip II (1556 to 1598), who had already received from him control of Milan (1540), the Kingdom of Naples and Sicily (1554), and the Netherlands (1555). Unlike his father, who had neglected the affairs of Spain, Philip II used his other lands for the good of his Spanish kingdom. Deeply opposed to Protestantism, Philip introduced the Inquisition into the Netherlands, which prompted a revolt that began in 1566. Although Philip send the Duke of Alba to suppress the rebellion, his brutal tyranny only intensified opposition, which in 1572 rallied around William the Silent, Prince of Orange. The movement for independence was to last about 80 years. In the meantime Philip's suppression of religious dissidents extended to the former Muslim population of Spain, known as Moriscos (Muslim converts to Christianity who were suspected of secretly practicing Islam); nearly all of them were exiled in 1571. In the same year Philip sent a fleet commanded by his brother, John of Austria, to lead the Holy League (which included Spain, Venice, and the Papacy) against the Turks at Lepanto off the coast of Greece, John's victory did not result in any territorial gains against the Muslims, but it did free thousands of Christian galley slaves and proved that the Turks were not invincible. Philip annexed Portugal in 1580, but his attempted conquest of England ended in failure in 1588. Philip's last years were spent aiding the forces of the French Catholics in their war against Henry of Navarre.

Council of Nicaea (325): Against Arianism- Christianity

Constantine convened the Council of Nicaea in 325 in order to settle the dispute over the nature of the relationship between Jesus Christ and the Father. This council established the Nicene Creed, a series of dogmatic statements which assert that Jesus, as the Son of God, is equal to the Father (these two persons are "consubstantial" and "coeternal"). The Council of Nicaea therefore condemned Arianism, the teaching of the theologian Arius that the Son is subordinate. The next council, at Constantinope (381), reaffirmed the Council of Nicaea and added that the Holy Spirit is also equal to the Father and the Son.

Marius-The Republic

Constitutional shortcoming which indicated that the Roman Republic was ill-equipped to run an empire became evident when Numidia, a client state in North Africa led by Jugurtha, rebelled and German barbarians (the Teutones and Cimbri) threatened Italy from the north. Both of these threats were overcome by the brilliant general Marius, who won the Jugurthine War in 111 to 106 BCE and defeated the Germans in southern Gaul in 102 to 101 BCE. However, the extended fighting required him to be elected consul for several years consecutively, which was a major breach of precedent. Marius also found it necessary to reform the Roman army. Since recruits were drawn from among the owners of small farms, the decline of these farms led to a serious shortage of manpower. To deal with this problem, Marius waived the property requirement, paid his troops wages, and provided them with land when they retired. This policy set a dangerous precedent, for soldiers now became loyal to their general, who provided the necessities of life, rather than to the state, which had failed to help them in their need.

Erasmus- Christian Humanism

Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam (c. 1466 to 1536) used his classical education to acquire a deeper understanding of early Christianity. He prepared a greek edition of the New Testament and provided a commentary and a Latin translation that corrected errors in St. Jerome's Vulgate. Erasmus wanted to ring Christianity back to a simpler formed based on a careful reading of the Bible, which he believed should be studied by all Christians, not just priests and theologians. He wrote his satirical "Praise of Folly" (1509) to demonstrate how far the religion of Christ had strayed from its roots. He was not, however, willing to oppose the papacy, but hoped to reform the church from within.

Constantine the Great- Reorganization of the Empire

Diocletian's administrative reforms were successful, but his solution for the imperial succession was not. As long as he governed as the senior Augustus, the other three emperors did as he intended. After he retired in 305, however, the emperors came into conflict. By 312, two remained standing: Constantine in the west and Licinius in the east. They ruled their halves of the empire until 324, when Constantine defeated his rival and became the sole emperor.

Spread of the Plague along Trade Routes- The Blank Death

During the Hundred Years' War, most of Europe was struck with bubonic plague (or perhaps a collection of epidemics) which became known as the "Black Death". After the initial wave (1247 to 1351), the plague recurred at intervals in parts of Europe until the 18th century. The disease was spread by fleas liking in the fur of rats. It was introduced into Europe from Asia by Italian merchant ships that plied the Black Sea. The course which the plague took reveals that it followed the trade routes, and the speed with which it spread reflects the fact that commerce by the 14th century was vigorous and connected Europe with China (where the plague may have originated). The Italian merchant and explorer, Marco Polo (1254 to 1324), had pioneered these overland routes through central Asia known as the "Silk Road", as he describes in his "Travels". The plague first struck Constantinople, then Italy (a center of commerce), after which it spread through France to Spain, England, and Germany. Poland and other parts of east central Europe were minimally affected, due to the low volume of trade there.

Leadership of the Church- Christianity

During the late Roman Empire, there was tension over the question of ecclesiastical leadership. By the 2nd century, Rome had become the center of Christianity. The bishops of Rome claimed to be the successors of St. Peter, the Apostle designated by Jesus as leader of the Church, who according to tradition was the first bishop of Rome, martyred during the persecutions of Nero in 64 CE. This concept of "apostolic succession" served as the basis of the claim by the bishops of Rome to spiritual authority over the whole Church. They adopted the title of "pope" (papa in Latin, which means "father") to designate their special status. However, Christians did not agree on the supremacy of Rome. When the capital of the empire was moved to Constantinople, the bishops (patriarchs) of that city claimed leadership in the east. The patriarchs of other ancient Christian centers- Jerusalem, Antioch, and Alexandria- also claimed a certain status or regional leadership. The situation was complicated by the emperors, who often intervened in religious affairs (their claim to church leadership is called "Caesaropapism"). The various conflicting claims to leadership were never resolved but became the cause of later divisions within the Church.

Louis IX - England

During the long reign of Louis IX (1226 to 1270), the monarch's authority in the lands of his vassals was strengthened and the royal bureaucracy was built up. Louis was a very active king, committed to regularizing the system of justice in his realm, and he participated in the Crusades. Because of his deep personal piety, which motivated his service to the French people, he was recognized as a saint after his death.

The Hittites

During the time they invaded the Old Babylonian empire (1,600BCE), they had lived in Anatolia for several centuries. They spoke an Indo-European language and seemed to have migrated into the area from the north. After establishing their empire in Anatolia, they raided the wealthy regions of the south, bringing the Amorite dynasty of the Old Babylonian empire to ruin about 1,600 BCE. Later they came into conflict with the Egyptians in Syria and Palestine, waging a series of war which left both sides so weakened that they agreed to share power in the region as a border-territory and signed the first international peace treaty in history to formalize their agreement. By 13th century BCE, the rival centers of civilization that had expanded to the point of coming into uneasy contact with one another had established an international system of coexistent.

Poetry and Literacy- Greek Classical Culture

Early Greek poetry was oral rather than written, for it originated during the illiterate period of the Dark Age. Such poetry was preserved by bards who memorized thousands of lines of verse. When the Greeks reacquired literacy through trading contacts with the Phoenicians, this early poetry was recorded in writing to give it a fixed form. While Greek writing after the Dark Age was based on the Phoenician alphabet, the letter-forms were simplified and the phonetic values of several letters were changed to represent vowels as well as the distincitve sounds of the Greek language.

Conversion to Christianity- Eastern Europe

Eastern Europe did not enter recorded history until its conversion to Christianity, when missionaries brought literacy to the pagan peoples. The effort was begun by the Byzantine Church in the 9th century, when the monks Cyril and Methodius converted the Czechs and Slovaks to Greek Orthodoxy and gave them the Cyrillic alphabet (which is based on Greek). The Slaves of Ukraine, centered at Kiev under their Varangian (Viking) rulers, adopted Greek Christianity late in the 10th century. By that time, however, the Czechs and Slovaks had transferred their allegiance to Roman Catholicism as Latin missionaries converted their Polish neighbors. Poland remained the easternmost Catholic region until the 14th century, when the pagan Lithuanians- faced by Latin Christians in the west and Greek Christians in the east- decided to accepted Catholicism. Their ruler, the grand duke Jagiello, was motivated to do so by the proposed union of his people with the Poles, on condition of accepting Catholicism. The two peoples were untied by the marriage of Jagiello (1386 to 1434) with the Polish queen Jadwiga. (An earlier Lithuanian ruler, Mindaugas, had actually converted to Catholicism in 1251, but when he was assassinated in 1263, the Lithuanians remained pagan.)

Philosophy -Hellenistic Culture

Educated people tended to seek guidance from new schools of philosophy, most prominently Epicureanism and Stoicism, both of which were founded in Athens. These philosophies turned away from the traditional emphasis on public life to a new emphasis on the inner perfection of the individual. Epicurus (c 341 to 270 BCE) taught that the good life consists in the pursuit of pleasure, although he recommended the pleasures of the mind and friendship over the pleasures of the body. Stoicism was founded by Zeno of Citium (c. 335 to 263 BCE), who urged the complete suppression of desire, so that a state of enlightened apathy would blunt the psychological impact of misfortunes. His school of thought, which was named after the building (Sota) where he taught, took inspiration from the idea that the cosmos is governed by divine providence. It urged people to respect one another as members of a universal brotherhood and recommended a world-state characterized by tolerance. A third philosophical school that became prominent in Hellenistic culture was Skepticism, which questioned the very possibility of philosophical certainty; but since it had little to offer by way of psychological comfort, it did not become a dominant movement. Stoicism was perhaps the most successful of the Hellenistic schools of philosophy. It became dominate in the Roman Empire and exerted an influence on Christianity.

Egypt and The Nile

Egyptians unified the Nile valley before Sargon of Akkad imposed unity on Mesopotamia. Egyptian unity was more stable and enduring, in large because the geography of the region. The valley of the Bile was bounded by vast deserts witch armies could not cross and thus the Egyptians did not have numerous invasions from many directions. They had to defend the north were the Nile joins the Mediterranean Sea, and the south in the upper reaches of the river.

The Stuarts- England

Elizabeth I strengthened the English monarchy by cooperating with Parliament and tactfully establishing their respective spheres of power. However, she never married, and her failure to produce an heir ended the Tudor dynasty. The rules of succession gave the crown of England to the Stuart dynasty of Scotland, whose tactless treatment of Parliament led to the English Civil War (1642 to 1649). Both James I (1603 to 1625) and his son, Charles I (1625 to 1649) maintained the doctrine of the divine right of kings, by which they claimed their power came directly from God rather than from the people. James used his supreme authority in matters of religion to persecute Catholics (provoking Guy Fawkes's failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605) and to authorize the translation of the Bible known as the King James Version (1611). Charles, on the other hand, was suspected of Catholic sympathies, having married the Catholic princess of France, Henrietta Maria, as part of an alliance against Spain. Both James and Charles suffered from budgetary difficulties, for Parliament expressed its opposition to their reigns by approving less money than they required to meet expenses. In response, they both tried to raise funds without parliamentary approval. Although Parliament challenged James' right to raise customs duties, the courts upheld his authority to do so and thus cleared the way for Charles to raise money by various means, including income from royal property, the sale of monopolies, the levying of ship money, and forced loans. In 1628 Parliament protested the forced loans through the Petition of Right, to which Charles responded by dismissing Parliament and ruling without them for 11 years (1629 to 1640). His measures to raise money were sufficient to meet expenses as long as there was no war, but when Scotland invaded northern England to protest the use of the Anglican Book of Common Prayer, Charles called Parliament to approve funds for the defense of the realm.

Science and Technology-The Intellectual Tradition

Europeans owed a debt to the Muslims for much of their scientific knowledge. Gerbert of Aurillac (Pope Sylvester II) opened the way by visiting Spain and introducing Arabic numerals into Christian Europe. His example inspired later generations of Latin scholars to visit Spain and introducing Arabic numerals into Christian Europe. His example inspired later generations of Latin scholars to visit Spain or Sicily in order to translate ancient scientific texts into Latin. Although by the year 1100 Westerners thus acquired treatises on astrology of dubious value, they also received devices for measuring the position of celestial bodies known as astrolabes, which were useful for legitimate astronomy. Magnetic compasses for navigation came into use around 1100 or after. The scientific thinker Roger Bacon (c. 1214 to 1294) knew the formula for gunpowder, which had been discovered by the Chinese and was later used during the Hundred Years' War. Roger Bacon and another English thinker, Robert Grosseteste (c. 1175 to 1253), began to develop a theory of experimental science. A tradition of making careful observations of nature began to take root, as demonstrated by Albert the Great (c1200 to 1280). Significant advances were made in the study of optics: natural philosophy, however, was conducted by "thought-experiments", which led two French thinkers, Jean Buridan (c 1297 to 1358) and Nicole Oresme (c. 1330 to 1382) to challenge Aristotle's theory of motion with a theory of "impetus", which came fairly close to the correct theory of momentum. There were improvements in mechanical devices. Gernert of Aurillac was created with the invention of the pendulum clock in the 10th century; by the 14th century, fairly sophisticated mechanical clicks were being constructed. Paper also came into use during the 14th century, acquired from the Muslims (who had acquired it from the Chinese). Paper was relatively inexpensive to manufacture compared to parchment and would become the standard writing surface when the printing press was invented in the 15th century (c. 1450)

Invasions of the 9th and 10th Centuries: Vikings, Saracens, and Magyars. - The Germanic Kingdoms

Eventually the Vikings began to settle in Ireland, Normandy (which was named after these "Northmen" or Normans), and England (in the region known as the Danelaw, named after Vikings from Denmark). As the Vikings struck in the north, two other groups assailed Europe from the south and east. In the south, the Muslims (whom medieval Christians generally called "Saracens") gained control of the Mediterranean, established several bases outside Spain, and conducted piratical raids along the southern coasts of Europe. In 843 they even attacked Rome. In the east, a nomadic group known as the Magyars entered Europe around the year 900 and raided the crumbling remnants of the Carolingian empire. However, the victory of the German ruler Otto the Great over the Magyars at the Battle of Lechfeld in 955 ended their depredations, and the defeated people settled in Hungary. By the year 1000, the devastating raids finally ended and Europe was poised for a period of peace and prosperity that was to transform medieval civilization.

Humanism- The Italian Renaissance

Francesco Petrarch (1304 to 1374) is known as the Father of Renaissance Humanism. He advocated both imitating the Latin style of the ancients (above all Cicero) and the attitudes that the ancient authors expressed. Thus, Petrarch opposed the scholastic theologians and cannon lawyers, and the intellectual culture of the universities in general, because he thought they marginalized the human experience by analyzing it in cold, abstract terms and without sensitivity to rhetorical sophistication. He rebelled against medieval culture in general, calling it a "dark age" of barbarism, and thus introduced the historiographical tradition that divides Western civilization into ancient, medieval, and modern phases. Petrarch was not opposed to Christianity, but wanted a more emotional, phychologically nuanced approach to religion. In his introspective work, "The Secret", he converses with St. Augustine of Hippo, author of the soul-searching autobiography, "The Confessions". Although Petrarch's most popular works were his vernacular sonnets of unrequited love for a woman named Laura, he hoped to acquire literary immortality for his Latin epic, the "Africa", which depicts the Punic Wars. Petrarch was elected poet laurate by the Roman Senate in 1341.

Religion- Greek Classical Culture.

Greek religion was polytheistic. IT lacked a large professional priesthood that could dominate religious observance. Ordinary citizens preformed the sacred reties in their own households, and holders of public office fulfilled the role of priest in the civic rituals of the polis. A concept of separation of religion and politics did not exist. Each city-state had a special patron: the Athenians worshiped Athena above all other deities; the Spartans looked primarily to Zeus; the city of Delphi had a special shrine to Apollo; yet all other members of the pantheon were respected in all the city-states. Various social events could also be offered to the gods. For examples athletic contests, such as the Olympics, which were the first held in 776 BCE at Olympia, honored the gods of Mt. Olympus. Other events included drama, recitations of poetry, dances, and singing. The ancient Greeks did not have a fully developed theology that answered the central questions of life and death. For insights into these matters they looked to their poets, whom they considered divinely inspired, In time, philosophers sought more precise answers by applying logic in their speculations.

Temples- Art and Architecture- Greek culture

Greek temples were simple yet elegant, epitomizing the classical ideals of harmony and proportion. They were typically rectangular, with angled

The Republic

Having expelled the Etruscan kings, the Romans rejected the institution of kingship, since they believed government belongs to the people, not an individual. They called their new government the "public thing" (res publica), or Republic, which functioned by electing magistrates to old public office. However, the right to hold office was initially limited to the wealthy, landowning families of nobles, known as "patricians", who comprised about 10% of the population. They controlled policy mainly through the Senate, which was made up of approximately 300 members. In theory the patricians represented the rest of the citizens, known as "Plebeians" (or "plebes"), but in practice the two classes were usually at odds. Over the course of centuries, the plebeians managed to expand their political rights, partly by threatening to withhold military service unless they received concessions. Among the earliest concession was a written code of laws known as the 12 Tables, published about 450 BCE. They were also granted a People's Tribune (a magistrate who could veto the Senate) and the right to hold an assembly, which in 287 BCE no longer needed the approval of the Senate to pass legislation. The plebeians were eventually allowed to hold public office and work their way up the political ranks as the patricians did. Between the patricians and plebeians were the equestrians , a knightly class who initially served as cavalry, but later on assumed financial roles as tax collectors and contractors for the government.

Henry II's Reign

Henry II built on the foundations of his predecessors to strengthen the centralized monarchy of England. His most important achievement was the promotion of common law through his system of justice, which was available to all freemen, made use of juries, and was administered by judges who traveled around the country on a regular basis. Henry's courts thus applied a common body of legal rules throughout his realm, which took business away from the courts. His attempt to try churchmen accused of wrongdoing in the royal courts rather than in the church courts was opposed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas A Becket. After years of bitter conflict, the quarrel ended in 1170 when Backet was murdered by four of Henry's knights. Henry professed ignorance of the plot, but since Becket was widely regarded as a martyr and soon declared a saint, he had to accept the continued existence of the ecclesiastical courts. Henry's last years were saddened also by the rebellion of his sons, who were incited by his wife Eleanor.

The First Crusade-The Church in the Late Middle Ages

In 1096, several groups led by lesser Frankish nobles or demagogues set out for Jerusalem. They captured it in 1099 and massacred the inhabitants. Four feudal states, known collectively as Outremer ("Beyond the Sea"), were carved out by their conquests: the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, the Principality of Antioch, the County of Tripoli, and the County of Edessa. The first three of these were located on the coast; the last was inland, on the upper reaches of the Euphradtes River. The First Crusade succeeded partly because the Muslims were divided against one another.

The Third Crusade -The Church in the Late Middle Ages

In 1187 the Muslim warrior Saladin, Prince of Egypt, dealt a crushing blow to the crusading armies at the Battle of Hattin and captured Jerusalem. The crusade to win back Jerusalem attracted three kings: Richard I the Lion-Hearted of England (1189 to 1199), Phillip II Augustus of France (1180 to 1223), and Frederick I Barbarossa of the Holy Roman Empire (1152 to 1190). This crusade, like the one before it, was a failure. Frederick died on the way to the Holy Land, while Philip found it impossible to cooperate with his rival, Richard, and soon returned to France. Richard stayed on to fight Saladin, but was unable to do more than win back a few coastal cities, most notably Acre, where he slew over 2,000 Muslim prisoners of war. Jerusalem remained under Muslim control when Richard finally returned to England.

England -The Age of Exploration

In 1497, Henry VIII hired an Italian mariner, John Cabot, to seek a direct route to Asia in the Northern Hemisphere, However, no English expedition circumnavigated the globe until 1577 to 1580, when Sir Francis Drake landed on the west coast of North America and claimed it for Queen Elizabeth. Drake brought back a cargo of spices and treasure he had raided from Spanish shipping; upon his return he was knighted aboard his flagship, the "Golden Hind". He later served as governor of English colonies in North America and as a member of Parliament. Sir Walter Raleigh launched two failed attempts at colonization at Roanoke Island, North Carolina (1585, 1587). The first permanent English settlement was Jamestown in Virginia (1607). Plymouth Colony was established in 1620, after which colonization gained momentum.

Charles I-The New Monarchies

In 1516, the kingdoms of Castile and Aragon passed to Ferdinand's grandson, who is known as Charles I (1516 to 1556) of Spain; later elected Holy Roman Emperor, he is also known as Charles V (1519 to 1558). In these two roles Charles inherited a collection of far-flung lands whose total expanse surpassed that of Charlemange. It included the Netherlands, Sicily, and southern Italy. Although Charles was the first king of a unified Spain, he spent little time there. His early rule set off a revolt, but it was brought under control in 1521 and there-after Charles made compromises that maintained peace in the realm. Charles relied on Spanish soldiers for his wars against the French, the Ottomans, the Protestants, and the Italians. At last weary of the endless wars, Charles divided his empire, giving Spain and the Netherlands to his son, Phillip II (1556 to 1598), and arranging for his brother, Ferdinand I (1558 to 1564), to receive the imperial title. Charles then retired to a monastery in Spain, where he soon died.

The Peasants' Revolt and the Jews- The Protestant Reformation

In 1525 the German peasants staged an uprising to better their economic situation and cited Luther's works in support of their cause. Luther thought they misunderstood his message (he was interested in religious, not economic, reform), but he sympathized with their plight and tried to reach a compromise between them and their lords. When the peasants resorted to violence, however, he sided firmly with the lords and urged forceful suppression of the revolt. A similar pattern is seen in Luther's treatment of the Jews. At first he was tolerant, hoping that they would convert to his reformed version of Christianity; but by 1537, when it was clear that the Jews were not interested in becoming Lutherans, he wrote bitter polemics against them.

Religious Fighting- The Protestant Reformation

In 1526 the princes of the Empire met at the Diet of Speyer and established a compromise which allowed Lutheran princes freedom to worship as they chose. When a second Diet of Speyer in 1529 repealed this agreement, the Lutheran princes rose in protest and thus became known as the "Protestants". In 1530 a Lutheran creed known as the Augsburg Confession was drawn up by the reformer Melanchthon as a conciliatory gesture, and in 1531 the Lutheran princes organized themselves into a defensive alliance known as the Schmalkaldic League. It was not until 1546 that the Emperor Charles V became free of international wars, and then struck the Schmalkaldic League. Although he was initially victorious, he could not achieve complete victory and the war ended in a draw. The Peace of Augsburg (1555) allowed each ruler of the approximately 300 states within the Holy Roman Empire to choose whether his state would be Catholic or Lutheran. About half the population of Germany thus became Lutheran, mostly in the north (as did their Scandinavian neighbors). A shortcoming of the Peace of Augsburg is that it made no provision for groups of Protestants other than the Lutherans.

New Rome- Reorganization of the Empire

In 330, Constantine (306 to 337) abandoned Rome, which had become a strategic and financial backwater, and founded a new capital called Constantinople at a defensible position in the northeast of the Empire, upon the site of the ancient city of Byzantium at the entrance to the Black Sea. He chose this location because it would facilitate the defense of the unstable northern and eastern borders and set the capital in the more prosperous eastern provinces, where revenue could be raised more effectively. The transfer of the capital was nothing new- Diocletian had made the nearby city of Nicomedia in Anatolia his capital for similar reasons, and emperors before them had transferred the capital to Milan in northern Italy. What was new was the decision to transfer the capital permanently to the east. Although this measure was intended to strengthen the empire, it foreshadowed the decline of the city of Rome and the western empire in the following century.

Rebellions- The Jews in the Roman Empire

In 66 CE Judea erupted in a revolt that was bloodily suppressed after years of fighting; the last isolated Jewish fortress, Masada, was taken in 73CE. The Romans destroyed the Temple of Jerusalem in 70 CE and deported many. Later, the emperor Hadrian's attempt to Romanize Judea- particularly his decision to build a pagan temple in the holy city- triggered a revolt under the Messianic leader Bar- Kochba (132 to 135 CE). Many died in the ruthless suppression of the rebellion, and survivors had to flee the devastated area.

Guelfs and Ghibellines -The Holy Roman Empire

In Italy, politics were polarized over the question of whether to oppose the emperor and acknowledge the pope's political leadership, or vice versa. Those who supported the pope against the emperor were called Guelfs, and their opponents were called Ghibellines. The names of both these political parties, which dominated events from the 12th to 14th centuries, were Italian adaptations of German family names- Welf and Waiblingers (better known as Hohenstaufen)- who had contended for the imperial throne. In Italy, however, the labels became separated from their original context, so that after the emperors gave up their Italian ambitions, the labels were used to indicate support of or opposition to the claims of temporal power made by the popes.

Literature - A Revolution in World View

In literature as well, authors began to criticize the old world view. French literature was represented by the satires of Francois Rabelais (c. 1494 to 1553), who ridiculed European society in his often bawdy tales about two giants named Garganrua and Pantagruel, and by Michel de Montaigne (1533 to 1592), who established the essay as a literary form and used it in his skeptical enterprise of questioning dogmatic options that lack rational foundation. The finest Spanish response to the crisis presented by the clash of world views was the satirical novel "Don Quixote" by Miguel de Cervantes (1547 to 1616), which depicts an idealistic nobleman who finds that chivalry is useless in the modern world. Cervantes' own life in some ways mirrored that of his protagonist. Motivated by idealistic impulses, he fought at the naval Battle of Lepanto (1571) but found that crusading was no longer truly appreciated in his society, which had become mercilessly pragmatic. The finest English spokesman for the new attitudes was William Shakespeare (1564 to 1616), whose collection of plays and sonnets constitutes a kind of secular Bible for the early modern humanistic attitude.

Plato- Greek Culture

In order to preserve Socrates' legacy, Plato not only wrote the Dialogues by also founded a school in Athens called the Academy. The core of Plato's philosophy was his Theory of Ideas (or Forms). Plato argued there is a spiritual world that exists beyond the material world of sense-perception and gives it its existence. The Ideas are abstract principles that exist in the spiritual world in a perfect, unchanging state, while particular physical objects in the material world are merely imperfect copies of these Ideas. Example, a wheel with its circular form is an imperfect copy of the Idea of a circle, which exists in a perfect, unchanging state on a plane of reality that can only be perceived by the mind. While Plato used geometrical examples to illustrate his theory hi believed the most important of the Ideas was the Good, which he compared to an intellectual sun since the mind that could perceive the Good could use it as a source of illumination for making accurate moral judgements. Thus, Plato believed that Socrates was put to death by the Athenians because they did not truly know the Idea of Good; instead, their mistaken opinions about good and evil led them into the error of thinking that executing Socrates was for the good of Athens. Politically, Plato was not a believer in democracy, largely because Athenian democracy wrongfully put Socrates to death. The most famous of Plato's Dialogues is the Republic, which describes an ideal city made up of three classes arranged in a hierarchy: workers at the bottom, guardians (warriors and police) in the middle, and enlightened pholosopherto's most important dialogue was the Timaeus, because it describes the creation of the universe and the place of human beings in the cosmos.

The Conciliar Movement-The Church in the Late Middle Ages

In order to resolve the deadlock, John XXIII was persuaded to call a general council. This measure envisioned a new theory of the Church, which reasoned that ultimate authority does not reside in the papacy but in the body of all believers, so that a representative assembly consisting of church leaders could make decisions in emergencies. The result was the Council of Constance (1414 to 1418), which deposed the other popes and elected Martin V (1417 to 1431) as the true pope. This time the Christian community was in agreement, and the confusion of the great Schism (1378 to 1417) was finally over. The papacy emerged from the Schism a much humbled office. It could no longer exert significant political influence outside Italy.

Conquests- England

In the 11th century, the Anglo-Saxons lost control of England to two separate groups who were descended from the Vikings: the Danes and the Normans, both of whom were now members of the Christian community. King Canute (1016 to 1035) made England part of his North Sea empire, Canute's death, and an Anglo-Saxon king, Edward the Confessor (1042 to 1066), once again ruled England. When Edward died without an heir in 1066, three men struggled for control of the kingdom: Harold Godwinson, Early of Wessex; Harald Hardrada, King of Norway; and William, Duke of Normandy. Although Harold Godwinson defeated Harald Hardrada at Stamford Bridge in September, he was defeated in Octover at Hastings by William, who was thereafter known as the Conqueror (1066 to 1087).

The Great Migrations- The Germanic Invasions

In the 3rd century Germanic groups seized the Roman province of Dacia and invaded the Balkans, plundering Greece and Anatolia. German pirates even raided Mediterranean shipping for a time, but eventually the invaders were expelled and the borders stabilized. In the fourth and fifth centuries, however, the northern borders effectively disintegrated. German tribes entered the empire at will, and Roman emperors could not force them back. Most of the barbarians were into intent on destruction. They were impressed by Roman civilization and attracted by its wealth, which they hoped to control. The invasions beginning in the fourth century are often described as "migrations" because they involved the movement of entire tribes, including women and children, who wandered throguh the empire like nomads. They typically would settle in one place for years until supplies were exhausted, them move on to another loction. Violence against the Roman population was not continuous, although it did flare up at times. While the number of barbarians wandering through the empire was always a small fraction of the imperial population, their presence strained the economy and weakened imperial administration, even in the absence of violence.

Conduct of the War- The 30 Years' War

In the Bohemian phase (1618 to 1625), Catholic forces succeeded in suppressing the rebellion within the Empire. The period of foreign intervention that followed is known as the Danish phase (1625 to 1629), when Christian IV of Denmark alone fought the Catholics, who were led by the ambitious mercenary Count Wallenstein. Denmark was defeated in 1629 and the Holy Roman Emperor, Ferdinand II (1619 to 1636), issued the Edict of Restitution, which transferred lands that the Protestants had seized from the Catholic Church. The Hapsburg victory prompted another round of foreign intervention- by Protestants who wished to reverse the Edict of Restitution and by Catholic France, which was encircled by the Hapsburgs and alarmed by their increased strength. Hoping to restore the balance of power, Cardinal Rechelieu (d. 1642) of France agreed to provide financial support to the Protestants if they agreed to respect the religious freedom of Catholic int he territories they conquered. A Swedish phase (1630 to 1635) began when the Lutheran king of Sweden, Gustavus Adolphus (1611 to 1632), liberated northern Germany from Hapsburg occupation and seized Catholic lands in southern Germany. Gustavus Adolphus died in 1632, and the protestant cause was carried on by his chancellor, Oxenstierna. However, Ferdinand II managed to roll back their victories (without Wallenstein, who was assassinated in 1634). In 1635 the Swedes and the Hapsburgs came to an agreement known as the Peace of of Prague, which ended the religious aspects of the war by modifying the Edict of Restitution and settling territorial issues between Catholics and Lutherans. At his point Cardinal Richelieu intervened openly, initiating the French phase (1635 to 1648) by declaring war on Hapsburg Spain and sending French troops into the Holy Roman Empire. Thus, the last phase was a purely dynastic struggle in which the Catholic Bourbons of France were allied with Protestant (mostly Swedish) forces. As the fighting dragged on, Germany was devastated; it lost about a third of its population to war, famaine, and plague.

Monasticism- The Medieval Church

In the age of the late empire and during its disintegration, many devout Christians became monks in order to leave the corrupting influence of the world and to focus on the spiritual life. Inspired by their example, Christian society often turned to the monks for guidance. Thus, the isolation of the monasteries was tempered by the service that monks performed, much of which consisted in converting pagans. Monasticism was a self-regulating institution- it was not imposed by the papacy or church hierarchy, but arose independent of the diocesan structure as a king of grassroots movement. In the 5th and 6th centuries, there were many independednt groups of monks following different vision of what the monastic life should entail, as reflected in written guides called "rules". An Italian monk, St. Benedict of Nursia (c 480 to 547), revised one of these rules and added important innovation that made his monastic order superior to others. The Benedictine order, which began at Monte Cassino in Italy, became the dominant form of monasticism in western Europe until the 12th century.

Demographic Effects- The Blank Death

In the space of just a few years, the plague reduced the population of Europe by about 1/3- some regions suffered the loss of about half their population. The plague was all the more terrible because of ignorance about its communicable nature. The inability of doctors to explain the disease, coupled with its terrifying effects, created mass hysteria. There was a widespread belief that the plague was a punishment sent by God, which prompted processions of flagellants- people who beat themselves publicly with whips in a show of repentance.

A new Religion- Islam

Islam was founded by Muhammad (570 to 632), who is considered the final Prophet by the Muslims. The Arabic word "islam" means "submission" to the will of God (Allah) as set forth by the Prophet Muhammd, and "muslim" means "one who submits." The religion is a monotheistic faith withint he Judeo-Christian tradition whose basic tenets, or practices, are summed up in five "Pillars": the profession of faith (there is no God but God and Muhammad is his Prophet), daily prayers at specific times, almsgiving, fasting during the month of Ramadan, and a pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca known as the "hajj". The Islamic holy book is the Quran, which means "recitation", and refers to the oral revelation that Muhammad gave to his followers. The Quran urges believers to spread the faith by any means, including military, although it requires that respect to be shown to Jews and Christians ("People of the Book"), who could not be forcibly converted but were required to pay a special tax if they refuse to become Muslim.

Lombards- The Germanic Invasions

Justinian's reconquest of Italy did not endure. In 568, the pagan Lombards invaded Italy and by 572 established a kingdom in the Po valley, which became Lombardy. Constantinople was able to retain only southern Italy and a few coastal cities in the north, including Ravenna. Rome was claimed by the eastern emperors but not effectively defended by them. The Lombards finally converted to Christianity, but they often threatened the popes, who eventually turned to the Franks for protection. The Lombard kingdom lasted until 774, when it was overthrown by the Frankish king, Charlemagne.

Mercantilism -The Commercial Revolution

Kings recognized that the strength of their state depended on the strength of their economy, so they often intervened in the activity of the entrepreneurs. State intervention in economics is known as mercantilism. Its central principle was the belief that the wealth of a nation is defined by the quantity of precious metals located within its borders. To keep as much gold and silver as possible within the nation, kings sought to maintain a favorable balance of trade (more exports than imports of commodities). Therefore they raised tariffs to discourage the purchase of foreign goods. They also sought to reduce internal trade barriers, such as tolls, in order to encourage trade within the nation's borders. An important feature of mercantilism was the exploitation of overseas empires through colonies, which served as sources of cheap raw materials and favorable markers for exported products.

The Reconquista- Spain

Like Germany and Italy, Spain was too divided to foster a centralized monarchy, but the foundations for one were laid during the "Reconquista", or "reconquest" of the Iberian peninsula from the Muslims. Although most of Spain had been quickly overrun by the Muslims in the invasion that began in 711, the Visigothic Christians were able to hold out in a small northern region known as the Kingdom of Asturias. Over the course of 8 centuries, the successors of these Christian warriors gradually pushed the Muslims back. The reconquest was not a continuous or unified effort. There were long periods of peace when Muslims and Christians, who were both highly fragmented politically, cooperated and shared in a beneficial cultural exchange. While many of the early fighters were adventurers like El Cid (Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar, 1043 to 1099), the reconquest eventually took on strong religious overtones, and was eventually declared part of the crusading movement. Several Christian kingdoms emerged, most notably Navarre, Castile, Leon, and Aragon. While some of these political units combined, they also often fragmented. Most notably, Portugal declared its independence from the combined kingdom of Castile-Leon in 1139 and was recognized by the pope in 1179.

Comedy-Drama-Greek Classical Culture

Like tragedy, comedy was performed at the festival of Dionysos. Comedies were intended as light-hearted, often slapstick, performances following the tragedies, but might also use humor to make serious, satirical critiques, The pre-eminent writer of comedies was Aristophanes (c450 to 385 BCE), who used the medium to ridicule his fellow Athenians. Living during the Peloponnesian War, he wrote several plays (Such as The Acharnians and Lysistrata) to demonstrate the stupidity of the fighting. Sparing no one, Aristophanes piked fun at the tragedian Euipides in "The Frogs" and he depicted the philosopher Socrates as an absent-minded crackpot in "The Clouds".

Origins and Early Evolution- Athens

Located in the region of Greece known as Attica, Athens was the only Mycenaean center to survive the Dorian migration, receiving refugees from other parts of the mainland. By the end of the Dark Age, its people were divided into four major tribes and subdivided into clans and brotherhoods called phratries, which were controlled by wealthy aristocrats who belonged to a council known as the Areopagus, or "Hill of Ares" from the god of war. The Areopagus annually elected 9 archons, or magistrates, who guided the administration of the Athenian polis, becoming members of the Areopagus when their term was over.

The Great Schism-The Church in the Late Middle Ages

Many Christians were scandalized by the self-imposed exile of the papacy and demanded it return to Rome. The last pope at Avignon, Gregory XI (1370 to 1378), finally yielded to pressure. When he died, the College of Cardinals elected an Italian successor, Urban VI (1378 to 1389). Not long afterwards, however, when Urban VI refused to make compromises with the cardinals, they protested that they had voted under duress- in fact, a Roman mob had demanded they elect an Italian. The disgruntled cardinals therefore declared the election invalid and chose an antipope, Clement VII (1378 to 1394), who established himself in Avignon. Urban VI, however, refused to abdicate and created his own College of Cardinals. Europeans were unsure who was the true pope, and became divided along political lines: France, the Spanish kingdoms, the Kingdom of Napels, and Scotland supported Clement VII in Avignon while the Italian city-states, England, Ireland, Scandinavia, Hungary, and Poland-Lithuania supported Urban VI in Rome. The Holy Roman Empire was divided. The Schism continued beyond the deaths of Urban VI and Clement VII when the two rival groups of cardinals elected rival successors. The situation became even more complicated in 1409 when the two colleges finally tried to end the Schism. They cooperated to elect a new antipope, John XXIII, but the other two popes refused to resign, resulting the three men claiming the papal office.

College of Cardinals-Church and State

Many churchmen, including the Cluniacs, in principle disapproved of imperial interference in the affairs of the Church, even when it was beneficial. In 1059 the reformers established the College or Cardinals, whose purpose was to elect the pope. Only the highest-ranking members of the church hierarchy, known as cardinals, belonged to this electoral college, which thus excluded emperors.

Martin Luther- The Protestant Reformation

Many shared Luther's objections, and soon a movement began that transformed an invitation for theological debate into a schism that altered the character of Western Christianity. Luther was excommunicated for his continuing opposition in 1521. He refused to recant at the Diet of Worms, responding, "Here I stand. I cannot do otherwise." Citing Scripture and individual conscience as the only sources of religious authority, he denied the right of the papacy or councils to govern the church. Luther might have been burned at Worms as a heretic, but was instead protected by a sympathetic secular prince, Frederick, the Elector of Saxony. Soon other German princes in the northern part of the Empire sided with Luther as he appealed to their nationalistic pride against sending money to Italy to fund the artistic projects of corrupt popes. Since the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, was preoccupied with wars against the French and the Turks, he was unable to intervene militarily. Luther and the German reformers used the new technology of the printing press to disseminate their message quickly.

The Fall of Rome

Much has been argued about he reasons for the "fall of Rome", which was actually a gradual process of disintegration. Essentially, the empire in the west disintegrated because the resources needed to defend the entire empire could no longer be raised, and the emperors in the new eastern capital sacrificed it a s the less defensible region. It is important to distinguish between the fate of the city of Rome and the fate of the Roman Empire, for the fall of the city did not result in the immediate disintegration of the Empire. Most importantly, the emperors in Constantinople persisted until he end of the Middle Ages, and justifiably called themselves "Romans", since the Empire they governed was really a continuation of the evolving institution founded by Augustus Caesar. Furthermore, even in the west, the Roman Empire did not come to an end in any clearly identifiable year, the end of the western imperial line in 476CE merely recognized the fact that the office of the western emperor had become a meaningless position some time before it was finally abandoned. The cultural tradition of the Germanic barbarians, resulting in the creation of a distinct, medieval culture.

Music- The Northern Renaissance

Northern Europeans also developed polyphony, or music consisting of several voices singing in harmony, from the 12th century to the early 15th century. Until then music was predominantly monophonic, like Gregorian chant.

The Hebrews

One of many small nations of the ancient Near East caught in the clash between empires, the Hebrews would hardly merit attention of it were not for the example of their tenacious survival in the face of daunting odds and the fact that their spiritual legacy of strict monotheism became a defining feature of Western Civilization.

Teutonic Knights- Eastern Europe

One of several military religious order founded during the Crusades, the Teutonic Knights transferred operations from the Holy Land to Europe and in 1226 received Prussia on the Baltic Sea as a fief from the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II (1215 to 1250), who charged them with the task of converting the pagans who lived there. In 1234 Pope Gregory IX (1227 to 1241) gave the Teutonic Knights permission to expand their state through additional conquests of pagans. By 1300 the Knights became the most powerful state in the Baltic Region, invited German settlers to colonize the lands which they conquered, and made an alliance with the Hanseatic League. When the Lithuanians, the last European pagans, converted to Christianity in 1386, the Teutonic Knights faced a crisis of purpose. In the end they fought with Poland-Lithunia, and were defeated in 1410 at the Battle of Tennenberg. In 1525 the grand master of the order, Albrecht of Hohenzollern, converted to Lutheranism and established a Prussian duchy on the basis of the lands aht the Teutonic Knights held. His Hohenzollern dynasty would unify Germany in the 19th century.

Division of the Muslim World -Islam

One of the Umayyads escaped the purge and set up a rival caliphate in Spain, with Cordoba as its capital. Under the Umayyads, Cordoba became a magnificent cultural center, boasting libraries and a mosque that combined Roman architectural features, such as rounded arches and domes, with geometric designed characteristic of Arbic art (which shunned the use of representational images in public places). Over the centuries, both the Abbasid and Umayyad caliphates became politically fragmented a third caliphate, that of the Fatimids, established itself in North Africa during the 10th century and challenged the Abbasids, who eventually became puppets of their Turkish soldiers. They were finally overthrown by the Mongols in 1258.

New Religious Orders- The Catholic Reformation

One of the most important features of the Catholic Reformation was the foundation of new religious orders, of which the most prominent was the Society of Jesus, or the Jesuits, founded in 1534 by St. Ignatius of Loyla (1491 to 1556) and approved by Paul III in 1540. Ignatius had been a soldier who turned to the religious life during hospitalization for a battlefield injury in 1521. He wrote a manual for mediation known as the "Spiritual Exercises" and soon attracted followers. The Jesuits specialized in education, founding schools of high quality for the education of Catholics and dedicating themselves to the conversion of Protestants through well-informed preaching. Missionary activity throughout the world was a major part of their works. In the 1540s, the Jesuit St. Francis Xavier (1506 to 1552) preached in the Far East, including India, Southeast Asia, and Japan. (He died on his way to China). The Jesuits acquired a reputation for fanatical devotion tot he papacy. Other new religious order was rejuvenated by the mystic St. Teresa of Avila (1515 to 1582) and her disciple St. John of the Cross (1542 to 1591).

The Cluniacs-Church and State

Over time, monasteries tended to become wealthy from endowments given by secular rulers who wanted the monks to pray for their souls. The lords often used their generosity as an excuse for interfering with the operations of the monasteries, and the monasteries often strayed from a strict interpretation of the Benedictine "Rule". An attempt to free monasticism from lay control and to revive a strict use of the Benedictine "Rule" began at the monastery of Cluny (eastern France), founded in 910. By the year 1200, about 1,500 monasteries had joined the movement and formed an international association that spanned western Europe. The Cluniacs used their influence to reform the Church in general, including the papacy, which had sunk to a low point during the 10th century.

Charlemange- The Germanic Kingdoms

Pepin's son, Charlemange (768 to 814)- whose name means "Charles the Great" ("Carolus Magnus" in Latin)- inherited the largest territory in the west since the days of the Roman Empire and greatly expanded it during his long reign. He took norther Italy from the last Lombard king (774), seized a strip of territory from the Muslims in Spain (778), subjugated the Avars on the Danube (795 to 796), and forcible converted the pagan Saxons to Christianity after campaigns spanning 32 years (772 to 804). In upholding his alliance with the papacy, Charlemagne suppressed an uprising in Italy, and on Christmas Day of the year 800 Pope Leo III (795 to 816) crowned him Roman Emperor. According to Charlemagne's biographer, Einhard, the Frankish King was surprised and not pleased by the event, which implied that the emperor's authority came from the pope. Nevertheless, Charlemagne refused neither the title nor the coronation. The events certainly displeased the Byzantines, who governed southern Italy, but eventually they recognized Charlemagne as the legitimate ruler in the north.

Law- Literature

Perhaps the most important contribution of the Romans was their sophisticated body of written law. They constantly added to the original code of the Twelve Tables (450 BCE) as need arose, on the basis of decrees by the Senate, assemblies, judges, and emperors. The later development of Roman law was motivated by the need of the emperors to govern diverse peoples according to a universal code, and it received inspiration from the Stoic concept of natural law. By the second century CE, the emperors were the only source of law and, beginning with Hadrian, ordered compilations that conveniently formulated existing decisions. Trained legal scholars became vital in this endeavor from the second to the early third century, and produced authoritiative textbooks. These formed the basis for the final "codification ordered" by teh Emperor Justinian (527 to 565 CE) known as the "Corpus Juris Civilis", or Body of Civil Law. In the interim, the Emperor Theodosius II (408 to 450 CE) codified imperial legislation in a collection known as the "Codex Theodosianus", or Theodosian Code (438)

Alexander the Great- Hellenistic Age

Philip's great ambition was to lead the Greeks in a war of revenge against the Persian Empire, but he was assassinated in 336 BCE and the undertaking was left to his son, Alexander the Great. He overthrew the Persians, unified the eastern Mediterranean and the Near East, and created the largest empire the world had yet seen before he reached the age of 33. Starting with only 35,000 men in 334 BCE, Alexander outwitted and defeated ofrces of superior numbers in three great battles (Granicus River, Issus, and Gaugamela) until finally he assumed the title of king of Persia in 328 BCE. He pressed on and added to his empire Asian territories that Persia had not controlled, until his war-weary men mutinied on the borders of India. Returning to Persia, Alexander adopted many Near Eastern customs and ruled like a Near Eastern despot. He died suddenly, of uncertain causes in 323BCE.

Aristotle- Greek Culture

Plato's most gifted pupil was Aristotle (384-322BCE), who founded his own school in Athens, called the Lyceum. Aristotle taught every subject including biology, astronomy, and literary criticism, as well as metaphysics, politics, and ethics, all of which he organized into a comprehensive system of knowledge. Most importantly, he formulated rules of logic that could be applied to any subject of study. Aristotle's metaphysical approach was very different from Plato's. Emphasizing the primary of individual objects rather than abstract principles, he rejected the Platonic theory of Ideas and postulated that all objects are made of matter and form, existing in a single universe set in motion by a Prime Mover. In ethics, Aristotle taught that the good life can be achieved by following the doctrine of the Golden mean, whereby moderation in all things is preferable to extreme behavior of any sort. Aristotle's political theory was influenced by his ethics, for he believed that the good life could only be attained by people living in a polis, which educates its citizens by providing laws to guide their behavior. He divided governments into three types: rule by one man, which he called "monarchy" which the ruler was just and "tyranny" when one ruler was unjust; rule by a few men, which he called "aristocracy" when the rulers were just and "oligarchy" when the rulers were unjust; and rule by the majority, which he called "policy" (that is, the ideal government of the polis) when the majority ruled for the good of all, but "democracy" which he equated with mob rule, when the majority oppressed innocent minorities or individuals. Thus, Aristotle agreed with Plato that democracy was a bad form of government.

Inquisiton-The Church in the Late Middle Ages

Pope Gregory IX (1227 to 1241) established the Inquisition in 1231 to ferret out Cathars who had escaped the Albigensian Crusade and gone into hiding. The effort was entrusted to a new monastic order, the Dominicans. The Inquistion also persecuted the Waldensians and all who opposed the authority of the Catholic Church.

Decline of the Papacy-The Church in the Late Middle Ages

Popes after Innocent III were not as successful in controlling the rulers of Europe. As kings consolidated their power, they became unwilling to obey the will of the pope. Even the threat of excommunication ceased to have much of an effect. A low point came during the pontificate of Boniface VIII (1294 to 1303), whose attempt to reassert papal supremacy over kings and emperors, as formulated in the papal bull known as "Unam Sanctam" (1302), was met with hostility. He was at that time in the midst of a dispute with Philip IV of France over the king's rights to tax the clergy. During the controversy, a band of French soldiers raided the papal residence and took Boniface prisoner. He escaped, but was so weakened by the ordeal that he soon died.

Border Wars- The Germanic Invasions

Relations between Romans and Germans consisted largely of peaceful trade, but toward the end of the second century CE Germanic tribes began to raid the provinces, forcing Marcus Aurelius (161 to 180) to spend long years campaigning to protect the northern boarders. Faced with shortages of manpower, he established a dangerous precedent by conducting alliances with some of the German tribes, known as "foederati" (federates), who were allowed to settle within the borders of the empire in exchange for defending it against an increasing percentage of Roman legions were manned by German recruits, eventually with German generals commanding them. Entrusting the empire's defense to allied barbarians was effective int he short term, but ultimately contributed to the decline of the empire.

Roman Rule- The Jews in the Roman Empire

Relations between Romans and Jews began on a positive note. Led by the Hasmonean dynasty (the Maccabees), the Jews of Palestine rebelled against teh Hellenistic rule of the Seleucids in 175 to 164 BCE and allied themselves with the Rome in 161 and 134 BCE. After winning their independence, they began to fight among themselves. When Pompey the Great visited the region in 63 BCE, he found two brothers struggling for the throne and intervened to stop the civil war by imposing Roman rule. At first the Romans tried to rule Judea indirectly, through local kings such as Herod (37 to 4 BCE), but when this approach proved ineffective, they transformed the region from a client state to a province ruled directly by a Roman governor. Jewish society under Roman occupation was deeply divided. There were four major groups. The "Zealots" were violently opposed to the occupation. The "Sadducees" collaborated with the Roman occupation. The "Pharisees" resisted assimilation into Greco-Roman culture by adhering carefully to Mosaic Law. The "Essense" fled to the wilderness and lived a kind of isolated monastic lifestyle. To maintain peace with the Jews, the Romans granted them certain concessions, such as exemption from honoring the cult of the emperor or performing military service. Yet even such favored treatment was not enough to conciliate the occupied people.

The Fourth Crusade-The Church in the Late Middle Ages

Relations between the Byzantines and the Crusaders, who mistrusted each other, had been strained from the very start, but during the Fourth Crusade they reached an irreconcilable low. The crusaders found themselves unable to pay the Venetians for passage to the Holy Land and were persuaded by them in 1203 to acquire the money first by raiding the Christain city of Zara (a rival of the Venetians) on the Adriatic Sea, and then to sack Constantinople itself, which they did in 1204. The Byzantine imperial dynasty set up a government in exile, and the crusaders set up a Latin Empire in the Balkans in which the Venetians had special trading privileges. Diverted by the wealth of Byzantium, the crusaders never reached Muslim lands. Pope Innocent III was initially displeased by this turn of events, but he eventually accepted it, since the new Latin patriarch of Constantinople was cooperative, unlike the old Greek patriarchs. The Latin Empire lasted until 1261, when the Byzantines were able to regain control of Constantinople.

Painting- Italian Politics

Renaissance painting developed out of Giotto's late medieval frescoes , which were marked by their naturalism, their humanistic focus, and the use of light and shadow ("chiaroscuro") to indicate a sense of depth. Masaccio (1401 to 1428) improved upon Giotto's efforts by applying linear perspective for an accurate illusion of three-dimensionality, whose rules were scientifically studied by Brunelleschi, and letter formulated by Leon Battista Alberti in his highly influential treatise "On Painting" (1436). Preeminent among the later masters were Michelangelo, Raphael, and Leonardo da Vinci. Renaissance painters often used their talents at naturalistic representation to include images of their patrons in a corner of their artwork, and portrait became common.

Megna Carta- England

Richard I (1189 to 1199), known as "the Lion-Hearted", was an adventurer who spent nearly his entire reign outside England. His younger brother, John (1199 to 1216), was an inept ruler whose attempt to raise new taxes for a war against France without first consulting his barons (as he was required by feudal law) sparked a rebellion. In the end John had to make a concession known as the Magna Carta (1215). This "Great Charter" guaranteed the protection of the feudal privileges traditionally held by the English barons against royal attempts to expand the powers of the monarchy.

Geography -Ancient Rome

Rome was founded in the 8th century BCE (traditionally 753 BCE) near the mouth of the Tiber River by speakers of the Latin language, who lived in a region called Latium. The location of Rome about halfway down the west side of the Italian peninsula favored its rise to power. Far from the powerful centers of advanced civilization int he Near East, Italy was protected from land invasions by the waters surrounding it on three sides and by the Alps, which provided a barrier that was infrequently crossed by invaders. The Italian peninsula itself is not very mountainous: the range of the Apennines running down the center does not greatly inhibit overland travel. Thus a single state could conquer and control the various peoples of Italy. Rome's central location within Italy gave it an advantage, since its armies did not have to travel far to get to any point on the peninsula, and its situation on seven hills helped them defend the city from attackers. Once the Romans unified Italy, they found that their position int he center of the Mediterranean gave them an advantage in controlling the entire sea. The Romans were also helped by the mild climate of Italy and its good farmland, which spared them the economic troubles that afflicted Greece.

The Medici -Florence

Salutati and Bruni both served the city-state of Florence, which was the preeminent center of culture in Renaissance Italy. Florentine politics in the 15th century was dominated by the wealthy Medici family, who arose in the 13th century as merchants and bankers. They were the effective rulers of Florence during the leadership of Cosimo (1389 to 1464) and Lorenzo the Magnificent (1449 to 1492). In time their influence extended far beyond Florence. Three members of the family became popes (Leo X, Clement VII, Leo XI) and two became queens of France (Catherine and Marie). The Medici were great patrons of the arts, funding the projects of artists like Botticelli and Michelangelo. They also patronized humanists, such as Marsilio Ficino (1433 and 1499), who translated the complete works of Plato from Greek into Latin for the first time. Ficino also translated the works of Neoplatonists such as Plotinus and wrote his own works of philosophy and theology. Although the Medici suffered exile twice after Lorenzo died, they were able to return to power each time with help from Spain.

The Peloponnesian League- Sparta

Since the helots outnumbered the Spartiates about 10 to 1, the ruling class had to spend almost all its energy in vigilance against revolt. To defend from outside threats, they spearheaded a system of alliances known as the Peloponnesian League. Almost all of the city-stages joined together for mutual defense under the leadership of Sparta, and in this way achieved a rudimentary level of unity that overcame to some extent the Greek tendency toward political fragmentation.

Constitutional Reforms- Athens

Solon's greatest legacy was the constitution he imposed on Athens, as achievement which he described in poetry. He made a Council of 400 members (the boule), a general Assembly (the ekklesia), and the public courts of law. These new organs of government assumed most of the traditional powers of the Areopagus, which now assumed the status of a supreme court. Participation in the various branches of government, as well as military service, depended on wealth. Solon divided Athenian citizens into four classes based on how many units of agricultural produce their land yielded annually. Only the wealthiest class (500 or more units) could be elected as archons and belong to the Areopagus. The top 3 classes could be elected to the Council of 400. The lowest class, the thetes (who owned little or no land), could not serve in public office, but they had the right to participate in the general Assembly and serve in the lower courts. While the upper classes provided cavalry and the middle class provided infantry, the thetes, who could not afford arms or armor, served as rowers in the navy.

The Tyranny of Peisistratus- Athens

Solon's reforms checked the crisis but were too moderate to satisfy the radicals on either side of the warring factions. Peisistratus, a nobleman, seized power to impose order in the chaos that Athens could not rid. He ruled from 546 to 527 BCE. He strove to win popular support by funding public works and instituting new religious celeberations, most notably the festival dedicated to Dionysos, the god of wine and reproduction. He enlarged the agora (marketplace) where the Council of 400 met. Peisistratus left Solon's constitutional reforms intact, but staffed public offices with his supporters while exiling his enemies. His sons ruled after his death until Athenian aristocrates assassinated one of them in 514 BCE and deposed the other, with the help of the Spartans, in 510 BCE.

Trade Organizations- Trade and Towns

Sometimes merchants from neighboring towns joined forces. The most notable example of such as association was the Hanseatic League, or Hansa, which began among German towns such as Lubeck, Hamburgm and Bremen, for protection against piracy. It dominated trade between the North Sea and the Baltic Sea. The Hansa arose in the 12th century, was at its height in the 14th, and was rendered obsolete by the commercial ventures of nation-states during the 16th century.

Conquest- Islam

Soon after the death of Muhammad in 632, the Arabs began a dramatic series of conquests that established an Islamic Arab empire stretching from India in the east to Spain in the west, which they achieved within the span of mere hundred years. The new faith inspired zeal for action and urged spreading the faith through conquest. The Arabs also struck at an opportune moment: the long wars between Byzantines and Sasstruck at an opportune moment: the long wars between the Byzantines and Sassanian had weakened both of these empires and prevented them from mounting effective resistance. The Byzantines were also divided by religious controversies: the Monophysites of Syria and Egypt had suffered persecution from the emperors in Constantinople and preferred Arab masters who granted them religious freedom to Christian masters who did not. The Arab migrations also relieved population pressure in their desert homeland, which could not support an expanding population and depended on imports of food. By 656 the Arabs had conquered Persia, Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine, and Egypt.

Colonization -The Age of Exploration

Spanish colonists soon began to settle the Caribbean islands in small numbers in order to establish plantations (mostly sugar cane) for the sake of making profits. They forced the native populations to work for them on estates granted by the Spanish king known as "encomiendas". The encomenda system, which translated the model of the medieval manor into the New World, was so brutal that one of the colonizers, Bartolome de Las Casas (1474 to 1566), campaigned against the harsh treatment of natives. He wrote numerous pamphlets and a history of Spanish colonization in the New World.

Philip of Macedon- the Hellenistic Age

Sparta won the Peloponnesian War at great cost and was too exhausted to win the peace. The Athenians overthrew the Thirty Tyrants in 403 BCE and restored their democracy, which lasted a century and a half (before the Roman Empire finally suppressed it). Sparta soon found it was not strong enough to dominate all of Greece. It could not prevent Athens from challenging its authority, not other city-states, such as Thebes, which took advantage of the power vacuum left by the Pelopnnesian War to make its own bid for supremacy. The dis-unified Greek city-states continued their squabbling until Philip II of Macedon, king of a semi-Greek state int he northern part of the Balkan peninsula, invaded Greece in 338 BCE and established unity after winning the battle of Chaeronea. He organized the city-states into an alliance known as the League of Corinth, whose members nominally enjoyed self-rule but had to follow Macedon's lead in foreign affairs.

The Benedictine Rule- The Medieval Church

St. Benedict's "Rule" rose to preeminence partly because its inherent qualities made it successful and popular, and partly because it was promoted by popes like Gregory the great and by the Carolingians. The Benedictine "Rule" differed from other monastic rules not so much in requiring its adherents to renounce private property, sex, and free will (the standard vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience), but because it struck an ideal balance between three important requirements of monasticism: work (which was needed to make the monastery economically self-sufficient), study (which was needed to ensure the community's orthodoxy), and prayer(which was the central goal of the whole enterprise). Benedict's "Rule" also differed from other monastic rules in focusing on the life of the community. Its aim was to put the spiritual life within the reach of any devoted soul, not just the advanced individual. While many other rules demanded difficult and painful acts of austerity, Benedict wanted his monks to receive enough food and sleep so that they could concentrate on prayer, and he did not encourage physical pain (such as flagellation) as a form of devotion. Benedict did, however, allow corporal punishment, but only for the purpose of disciplining unruly monks who would not respond to more lenient forms of correction.

Philip IV the Fair- England

St. Louis' grandson, Philip IV (1285 to 1314), known as the Fair, also strengthened the French monarchy, but he was very different in temperament. He used his enhanced royal power to crush his enemies, including Pope Boniface VIII (1294 to 1303), who died soon after some of Philip's henchmen manhandled him during a dispute over the taxation of the clergy. Philip's reign was preoccupied with measures to raise money, which he needed for his wars against England and Flanders. He destroyed the Knights Templar, a military monastic order founded during the Crusades, in order to seize their assets. He likewise expelled the Jews from France and seized their property. (The Jews in England had been expelled in 1290.) He also debased the currency. Philip's more legitimate means of raising revenue was to use his bureaucracy of lawyers to negotiate tax agreements with the provinces by reinterpreting and manipulating feudal law. Despite all this, Philip was a popular king. During his quarrel with the pope, he called the first meeting of the Estates- General , which was composed of the three orders (clergy, nobles, and burghers), and received their support.

Mystery Cults- Religion

State religion, with it's emphasis on the here and now, eventually ceased to offer meaningful spiritual satisfaction. While many Romans of the imperial period looked to philosophy (especially Stoicism) for their spiritual needs, others turned to mystery cults, which offered the promise of eternal life. At first the Romans adopted the Greek cults of Dionysos (Bacchus) and Cybele (a mother goddess from Anatolia). Later they accepted the Egyptian cult of Isis and Osiris (popular among women) and the Persian cult of Mithras (popular among soldiers).

The Filioque Controversy- The Medieval Church

Tensions flared again when the popes added a clause to the Nicene Creed in order to clarify the Church's teaching on the Trinity. This "filioque" clause asserted that the Holy Spirit proceeds not only from the Father but also "from the Son", thereby giving the Son a greater role than the original Nicene Creed stated. This theological differene, coupled with centuries of antagonism over the question of papal supremacy, resulted in a schism during the 9th century between the Greek church led by the Patrarch Photius and the Latin church led by Pope Nicholas I (858 to 867). This temporary schism became permanent in 1054 when Pope Leo IX (1048 to 1054) attempted to extend papal jurisdiction over the Byzantine churches in southern Italy and was rebuffed by the Patriarch of Constantinople, Michael Caerularius. The two churches declared one another heretical, using the "filioque" clause to justify their action.

The Anglo-Saxon Kingdom- England

The 7 kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxons in England were unified in the 10th century by Wessex, whose most illustrious ruler was Alfred the Great (871 to 899). Alfred lead the resistance against the Danish Vikings who settled the region of England that became known as the Danelaw, which was later conquered by his successors. This English kingdom was the most advanced state in Europe, boasting a remarkably efficient system of taxation and balanced government at the local and national level. The kingdom was divided into shires, each of which was governed by an officer of the king known as "shire-reeve", or sheriff, who linked local government with the centralized monarchy of the entire nation.

English Literature- The Vernacular Tradition

The Anglo-Saxons translated the Bible into their own language, known as Old English, soon after their conversion and developed religious poetry of high quality. There major epic, "Beowulf", was not written down until about the year 1,000, but was based on an earlier tradition. The story describes a hero's quest to vanquish terrible monsters. After the Norman Conquest of 1066, the language was transformed through the absorption of many French words and became Middle English. The most famous Middle English author was Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1343 to 1400), whose most popular work, "The Canterbury Tales", is a collection of short stories in verse told by pilgrims on their way to visit the shrine of St. Thomas A Becket. These tales offer a corss-section of English society.

Limitations of Athenian Democracy- Periclean Athens

The Athenian government was the most direct under the leadership of Pericles. All men, regardless of rank or wealth, regularly served in the government. However, the money that made it possible for poor citizens to serve their tun in public office was drawn from the imperial tribute that Athens forced out of the city-states that it dominated. Thus democracy and aggressive imperialism were linked in Athenian practice. Furthermore, those who enjoyed political privileges were still a minority of the population. Female citizens could not participate in government. Resident aliens, called metics, who were required to pay taxes and perform military service, were also excluded from government, and they could not become citizens through a process of naturalization, since the requirement for citizenship was that both parents to be Athenian citizens. Finally, slavery was widespread, and thus much of the Athenian labor force was excluded from the decision-making process. Only about a quarter of the inhabitants of Athens actually participated in the democracy.

Draco-Athens

The Athenian nobles were often at odds among themselves and were ill-suited to deal with the socio-economic turmoil of the7th century BCE. In 632 BCE, a noble named Cylon tried to create order by establishing himself tyrant of Athens, but was defeated by his aristocratic rivals. In 621, as the crisis continued, the nobles set aside their differences and temporarily granted tyrant-like status to a certain Draco for the purpose of establishing a law code. Until Draco there was no written law. The punishments he created were harsh, but this crudity was the first step toward curbing the power of the nobility, since it bound all Athenians to its prescriptions, regardless of social class.

Philip II Augustus- England

The Capetians focused on consolidating their power around Paris until the reign of Philip II Augustus (1180 to 1223). Philip, finally, was able to challenge his most powerful and menacing vassals, the Angevins (Plantagenets), who possessed many French lands and also ruled England. He seized many territories from King John, including Normandy. After his victory at the Flemish town of Bouvines in 1214, Philip threatened to invade England itself until he was forbidden by Pope Innocent III. Yet Philip succeeded in his objective of making the Capetians the dominant family in France.

Diocesan Structure - The Medieval Church

The Christian religion was the major civilizing influence in Europe during the Middle Ages. The Church was modeled after the structure of imperial Roman administration, which was organized into regional units known as "Dioceses". When Roman government completely broke down, the parallel ecclesiastical structure remained intact, and amid the chaos of political fragmentation it continued to provide a framework for unity at least on the spiritual level. In many cases the bishops who ran the ecclesiastical dioceses performed. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the case of the papacy.

The Hellenistic Age

The Classical Age of Greece drew to a close with the rise of the Macedonian empire established by Philip II (359 to 336BCE) and his son, Alexander the Great (336 to 323 BCE), who extended that empire to the Near East. The culture that resulted from the blending of eastern and western civilization is called Hellenistic, or "Greek-like", to distinguish it from the Hellenic, or simply "Greek" culture. It should be noted that the Greeks actually called themselves "Hellenes", and they called Greece "Hellas", after the legendary hero, Hellen, from whom they claimed descent. The "Greeks" were actually just one of the Hellenic tribes (like the Dorians and Ionians). However, since they colonized southern Italy and thus were the first to come into contact with the Romans, the Romans misnamed all the Hellenes "Greeks" and handed down this form to later history. Hellenistic culture lasted from Alexander's death in 323 BCE to Rome's conquest of Egpt, the last of the Hellenistic kingdoms, in 30 BCE.

The Gregorian Reforms-Church and State

The College of Cardinals immediately began to elect popes from among the reformers. The most extreme was an Italian named Hildebrand, who took the papal name Gregory VII (1073 to 1085). The reform movement was named after him. The main goals of the Gregorian reform were to enforce the ideal of clerical celibacy (priests often had wives or concubines until this time), to end the scale of church offices (known as simony), and to end lay interference in ecclesiastical appointments.

Wycliffe and Huss-The Church in the Late Middle Ages

The Council of Constance also took measures to curb heresy, which had not been controlled during the Schism. They consequently condemned a Bohemian (Czech) reformer, John Wycliffe (c. 1330 to 1384). Wycliffe was an English reformer whose theology had been condemned because he was critical of the church hierarchy and emphasized the primacy of the Bible over the teachings of councils. Wycliffe rejected the doctrine of transubstantiation and translated the Vulgate (Latin Bible) into English, which was used by his followers (called Lollards) to interpret Scripture as they saw fit. Huss attended the Council of Constance in the hope of defending his beliefs, but was instead seized and burned at the stake. His death touched off a patriotic conflict in Bohemia known as the Hussite Wars (1419 to 1436), which ended in a compromise between the Hussites (followers of Huss) and the Catholic Church.

The Athenian Empire- Periclean Athens

The Delian League became increasingly vital to Athens, for the Athenians became dependent on the income it provided not only to maintain their fleet, but also to pay their public servants and fund their artistic endeavors and building programs. After a successful raid against the Persians was staged in 467 BCE, some members thought the Delian League had served its purpose and should be disbanded, so they no longer had to pay for it. When the polis of Thasos decided to leave the Delian League in 465BCE the Athenians overthrew its government and prevented its secession. Other cities that attempted to secede met eh same fate. Thus, the Delian League was transformed into the Athenian Empire. In 454 BCE this transformation became plain for all to see when the treasury was moved from Delos to Athens.

Solon- Athens

The Draconian law code did not adequately address the agrarian crisis at he root of Athenian instability. As small farmers struggled to raise crops from overworked land, they often had to borrow from the wealthy nobles who charged high rates of interest. In time deters could no longer pay the interest and either lost their farms or were sold into slavery. Those who were dispossessed or at risk began to threaten violence and demand that the debts be canceled and the land redistributed. In 594 BCE, Solon as elected archon and given extraordinary powers to deal with the crisis. He instituted laws which canceled debts and restored freedom to citizens who had been forced into slavery, but he stopped short of redistributing the land.

The Mycenaeans.

The Earliest villages on the Greek mainland appeared around 6,500 BCE. The Cyclades islands in the Aegean sea were soon also settled, and by about 3,000 BCE the people living there were producing bronze implements and marble sculptures. They were not Greek, as the earliest Greeks migrated into the region around 2,300BCE and lived in small communities until about 1,700BCE when increasing prosperity led to ambitious building projects. Mycenae was the greatest Greek city and it has impressive royal burial sites filled with treasures. They were called the Mycenaeans because of the king of Mycenae appears to have exerted some measure of authority over the other Greek communities. They traded with their neighbors in the eastern Mediterranean and sometimes raiding them as well. They eventually challenged the Minoans for supremacy in the Aegean sea, and invaded and occupied Crete around 1,550 BCE. They were at the top of their prosperity from 1,400 to 1,200 BCE. After conquesting Crete, they adopted the Minoan form of writing and their system of economic management, which was based on the palace as an administrative center. They were not united as well as others, but they shared a common language and culture. They were divided among small kingdom that banded together from time to time under the leadership of king Myceane. The "Iliad" was an epic poem that described events such as Troy and may be based on other true event occurring around 1,250 BCE. If this is true, then the battle of Trojan war was one of the last major undertakings of the Mycenaeans. They fell pray to the Sea People around 1,250 to 1,150 BCE.

Etruscan Art- Art, Architecture, and Engineering

The Etruscans painted frescoes and made sculptures in terra-cotta, most notably to adorn their sarcophagi (tombs), when commonly depicted a reclining husband and wife in a cheerful attitude. The style is reminiscent of of Greek art from the Archaic period (7th c BCE), particularly with regard to the stiffness of the figures, their formal smiles, and their almond-shaped eyes.

Francis I-The New Monarchies

The French campaigns in Italy were ultimately disastrous. Their claims entangled them with the Hapsburgs, and Francis I (1515 to 1547) fought four wars against Charles V known as the Valois- Hapsburg Wars. Francis was captured in 1525 and had to surrender his claims to Burgundy and Italy. Although Francis and Charles signed the Treaty of Cambrai (1529) to end hostilities, the wars soon resumed and Charles invaded southern France (1530 to 1538). In a desperate bid to save the country, Francis made an alliance with the Ottoman sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, who relieved the pressure on France by striking at The Holy Roman Empire from the east and forcing Charles V to turn his attention to the defense of his own domains. The alliance between Catholic France and Muslim Turkey was scandalous from a religious point of view, but reflected the secular pragmatism of the new style of European statecraft, which conformed to the Machiavellian model outlined in "The Prince". The French reaped considerable commercial benefits from their alliance with the Ottomans and were given control of the sacred sites in the Holy Land. The struggle between the Valois and the Hapsburgs for control of Italy was ended in 1559 by the Treaty of Cateau-Cambresis, which required France to admit defeat.

Anglo-Saxon England- The Germanic Kingdoms

The Germanic invaders of Britain established 7 kingdoms (known as the Heptarchy). They fought among themselves until the 10th century, when the Kingdom of Wessex united all the others. An important source for the early history of the Anglo-Saxons in Britain was written by the Northumbrian monk the Venerable Bede (673 to 735), whose "History of the English Church and People" testifies to the high quality of education in the English monasteries. Charlemagne drew upon this talent when he invited Alcuin of York (735 to 804) to head the educational reforms of his own realm.

Statues- Art and Architecture- Greek culture

The Greeks excelled in three- dimensional representations of the human form, sculpted especially from marble or bronze, and occasionally from gold or ivory. Early Greek statues were influenced by Egyptian models and had a stiff, formal appearance, often presenting a bland smile. Sculpture evolved to a refined level of realism around 480BCE, which marks the beginning of the Classical Age. While the Greeks produced life-like imitations of famous individuals such as Pericles and Socrates, their statues often served religious purposes. Statues of patron deities were places within temples, which were themselves a form of art.

Greek Classical Culture

The Greeks made major contributions to virtually every aspect of culture. Not only did they lay the foundations of Western civilizations, but also served as models for later western to imitate or emulate in various fields of endeavor. The culture established by the Greeks in the fifth and fourth centuries BCE is called "Classical", for later generations regarded it as the standard by which they measured their own achievements. Thus, the Romans were entranced by Greek art and architecture, and they admired their poetry and rhetoric so much that Roman aristocrats adopted Greek as a second language. Medieval churchmen looked to Greek philosophy for inspiration in their formulation of theological problems. The Renaissance celebrated classical civilization and rediscovered Greek culture. Finally, in the modern age, Enlightenment thinkers drew much inspiration from the rationalism of the Greeks and their political innovations. The ancient Greeks themselves were so complacent about the superiority of their civilization that they considered all non-Greeks to be barbarians, regardless of their cultural achievements.

Germany and Italy-The Holy Roman Empire

The Investiture Controversy weakened the Holy Roman Empire by aggravating the divisions within the realm. The emperor, in fact, constitutionally owed his position to the nobles who elected him. Although nobles generally respected dynastic continuity, they insisted on strong privileges within their own domains, thereby preventing emperors from imposing centralized power on the vast territories of the Empire. Even after the Concordat of Worms, antagonism between emperors and popes continued, mainly because of imperial claims to Italy. While the Holy Roman Empire was essentially a German state, it theoretically included Rome and the northern half of Italy. The Italian city-states, however, like the German nobles, were fiercely independent, and they often rallied around the pope to oppose imperial attempts to control their lands.

Wars between the City-States- Italian Politics

The Italian city-states arose from the medieval communes (towns holding charters from a feudal lord) and became self-governing after their successful resistance against the Holy Roman Emperors. Although many of the city-states were republics, they were often ruled by despots (either behind-the-scenes or overtly). Italian politics was chaotic and tumultuous as the city-statesvied for supremacy within the peninsula while trying, at the same time, to maintain stability within their own domains, which were usually riven by factionalism. Such an environment was ideal for condottieri (mercenary generals) like the successful Gattamelata and Cartolommeo Colleoni, both of whom were commemorated in equestrian statues modeled on the ancient effigy of Marcus Aurelius. The most successful "condottiere", however, was Francesco Sforza (1401 to 1466), who seized Milan in 1450 and established a dynasty there.

Civil War (1642 to 1649).- England

The Long Parliament (1640 to 1653) immediately instituted a series of reforms that weakened the monarchy. It passed an act requiring the king to summon Parliament at least every three years, outlawed all forms of taxation without parliamentary approval, and abolished special courts, such as the Court of the Star Chamber. Soon the Puritans tried to push through their radical agenda of church reform, published the Great Remonstrance detailing grievances against Charles, and demanded control of the army. Charles became impatient and entered the House of Commons with an armed escort in order to arrest five men for treason. Later he refused the radical measures demanded in Parliament's 19 Propositions (`642). The country drifted into civil war, with Roundheads supporting Parliament and Cavaliers supporting the king. After initial royal victories, the parliamentarians under Oliver Cromwell captured the king and abolished the monarchy. Charles was beheaded.

The Neo-Babylonians (Chaldeans)

The Neo-Babylon empire arose in the 7th century BCE and was like the Assyrians in extent, thought they did not conquer Egypt. They were less brutal than the Assyrians but continued the policy of deporting. Most notable was the deportation of Hebrew people living in the kingdom of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar II (605 to 562) who brought them to Babylon as captives after he conquered Jerusalem. This was known as the Babylonian Captivity. Like the Assyrian empire, the Neo-Babylonian was short-lived. It was overthrown, falling in 539 BCE to the Persian king, Cyrus the Great. Cultural development was very important to the Neo-Babylonians and they expressed their commitment to the arts and sciences by rebuilding Babylon of a lavish scale and by advancing the study of astronomy. While it is true that the Babylonian astronomers were also astrologers, and that divination was a central motive in their study of the heavens, nevertheless their observation of the stars and planets made an important contribution to the history of science. The restored city was better and more grand than the original. King Nebuchadnezzar II built a magnificent temple as a gift for his Median wife- a ziggurat whose terraces were adorned with an assortment of trees and plants, irrigated by the Euphrates. The Hanging Gardens was an ancient wonder of the world. It didnt survive but an example of the building projects of Nebuchadnezzar IIcan be appreciated in the restoration of teh Ishtar Gate. This massive rounded archway was decorated with a facade of colorful glazed bricks depicting dragons and bulls in alternating sequence, and it impressively suggests the grandeur of Nebuchadnezzar II's Babylon.

Hitties, Kassites, and Hurrians- Fertile Crescent

The Old Babylonian empire disintegrated around 1600 BCE after it was attacked by two different groups: the Hittites from Anatolia (Asia Minor) in the north and Kassites from the east (now Iran). The Hittites plundered the Old Babylonian empire and return home with the spoils of war, the Kassites established themselves as rulers for 300 years. The Hurrians, established the kingdom of Mitanni in the upper Tigris-Euphrates valley around 1500BCE; it lasted until about 1400BCE, when the Hittites conquered the Hurrians.

Renaissance and Reformation

The Renaissance, or "rebirth", was a general revival of European society marking the transition from the medieval to the modern age. In its most specific sense it was the revival of classical culture advocated by Petrarch, especially with regard to literary production. This classical revival soon spread to architecture and sculpture; classicism also influenced painting in terms of subject matter, but in terms of technique, Renaissance painting was a new departure rather than a return to an earlier model. In its broadest sense, the Renaissance was a time of recovery from the effects of the Black Death that led to new developments in arious aspects of culture. Although humanists expressed a new confidence in the ability of human beings to endure the face of adversity and establish a flouishing culture.

The Emperors- The Empire

The Republic's death and the Empire's birth were never openly proclaimed. One can argue that the conquest of the Mediterranean had killed the Republic about a hundred years before the age of Auguestus, since their rise to supremacy brought the Romans more power than their political machinery could handle; in that sense, the Republic was a victim of its own success. The Senate continued to exert some influence and consuls were still elected, but power now resided int he hands of one man. In order to legitimate the idea of a single prominent man. In order to legitimate the idea of a single prominent man governing the empire, the Romans instituted the cult of the emperor, who was worshiped as a god. As a god, he was above the law; his power to create law thus legitimated his authority. The early emperors were defined only after their death and were worshiped retrospectively, but later emperors were worshiped during their lifetimes. It is a testament to the viability of the new system that it survived even when the holder of power was unstable, like Nero (54 to 68BCE), or even insane, like Caligula (37to 41 BCE). For the most part, however, the early Roman emperors were effective rulers, and the sprawling region under the control of Rome benefited from the ability of a single ruler to make decisions for the entire empire.

Civil War-The Republic

The Romans became divided over which general to send against Mithridates: Sulla, favored by the "optimates", or Marius, favored by the "populares". When sulla finally left for the front, Marius used his private army to march on Rome and kill his opponents. Marius died in 86 BCE, and when Sulla returned to Italy, he executed Marius' supporters and broke Roman precedent by serving as "dictator" for more than the maximum of 6 months. Although he relinquished power in 80 BCE, rival generals continued to jockey for position.

Art, Architecture, and Engineering

The Romans combined elements of Etruscan, Classical, and Hellenistic art. Their art and architecture was often designed to make a political statement especially in monumental structures that reflected the power of the emperors. Roman engineering was an essential ingredient for maintaining the vast empire.

Early Contact- The Germanic Invasions

The Romans first encountered Germanic tribes when the Teutones and Cimbri tried to invade Italy but were defeated by Marius in 102 to 101 BCE. Around 50 BCE Julius Caesar challenged the Germans across the Rhine during his conquest of Celtic Gaul. Augusts Caesar later sent three legions to subdue the Germans and add their territory to the growing empire, but the Roman forces were annihilated in the 9th CE by the German general Arminius (Hermann) in the Teutoburger Forest, ending Roman attempts to subjugate Germany.

Roman Architecture-Art, Architecture, and Engineering

The Romans made extensive use of concrete (a mixture of cement and stone fragments). From the Etruscans they took the arch and the barrel vault (a curved ceiling made up of a series of arches). By arranging arches in a circle, they constructed domes- an architectural feature that the Greeks did not use. The most impressive example of a domed building is the Pantheon, a temple to all the gods (built in Rome between 118 and 128 CE). Roman public buildings were arranged around a forum, or square. Their law courts were housed inside large buildings known as "basilicas", which later became the model for Christian churches. They also constructed massive edifices to celebrate their victories, such as the Arch of Titus, constructed by the emperor Domitian (81 to 96CE) to commemorate his brother's conquest of Judea, or the Arch of Constantine (built 312 to 315). Similarly, a pillar carved with figures in relief, known as Trajan's Column, was erected around 106 to 113 CE to commemorate the conquest of Dacia. The Romans used columns as supporting elements in their structures, but, unlike the Greeks, frequently embedded the columns within the walls, as in the Colosseum, an amphitheater built between 72 to 80 CE for gladiatorial games. No Roman city was complete without bathhouses.

The Franks under the Early Merovingians- The Germanic Kingdoms

The Romans province of Gaul came under the control of the Franks in the 5th century, and a dynasty founded by Merovech (448 to 458)united the two main groups, Salian and Ripuarian, from the lower and upper reaches of the Rhine River. The most important of the Merovingain kings was Clovis (481 to 511). Unlike the Visigoths and Vandals, who entered the Empire as heretical Arian Christians, the Franks arrived as pagans and were converted to Roman Catholic Christianity during the reign of Clovis, around the year 500. With the blessings of Catholic churchmen, Clovis attacked his Arian neighbors and established a large and powerful kingdom. The events of this age are described by Bishop Gregory of Tours (538 to 594), whose flawed writing style indicates the low quality of literacy among the Franks at this time.

The Punic Wars-The Republic

The Romans soon became embroiled with the Carthaginians over Sicily as the two growing empires collided. Carthage, founded as a Phoenician colony in North Africa (modern Tunisia) around 800 BCE, had expanded into an empire that dominated maritime trade. The rivals engaged in three terrible conflicts known as the Punic Wars ("Punicus" in Latin means "Phoenician") to decide who would control the Mediterranean. The First Punic war (264 to 241 BCE), which consisted principally of naval engagements, gave Sicily to Rome. The Second Punic War (218 to 201 BCE) began in Spain and spread to Italy as the Carthaginian general, Hannibal, daringly crossed the Alps with his war elephants. Although Hannibal raided Italy for 15 years, he was unable to conquer the Romans, who changed tactics after the disastrous Battle of Cannae (216 BCE). Their general Fabian refused to fight Hannibal in a pitched battle, but harassed his supply lines These "Fabian Tactics" prevented Hannibal's occupation from breaking the Roman state. The Second Punic War ended when the Romans opened a new front by invading North Africa under the leadership of Scipio the Elder and defeated the Carthaginians at the Battle of Zama (202BCE). Over half a century of uneasy peace followed until the conclusive Third Punic War (149 to 146 BCE), which was instigated by the Roman statesman, Cato the Elder, who ended all his speeches with the phrase, "Carthage must be destroyed". Carthage was soon reduced to ruins by Scipio the Younger.

Classical Feudalim - Feudalism and Manorialism

The abstract concept of "classical" feudalism designates a form of political and military organization. At its heart was the "fief", a land grant made by a "lord" to a lower member of the nobility called a vassal. Lord and vassal entered into a personal relationship that involved contractual obligations on both sides. In addition to the land grant, which provided an income, the lord promised to protect his vassal from enemies. In exchange, the vassal swore oaths of "homage" (respect) and "fealty" (loyalty); he thereby agreed to use the wealth produced by the fief to arm himself and his retainers in order to provide military service for his lord (in addition to fulfilling his other duties, such as serving in his lord's court of law). Fiefs were hereditary as long as the vassal's heir paid an inheritance tax and swore homage and fealty to the lord of the lord's heir. If the lord granted a large enough fief, the vassal could parcel it out to yet lower members of the nobility, in which case the vassal became a lord to his own vassals. This process is known as "subinfeudation", whereby a social pyramid of nobles was erected with knights at the bottom and the king at the top. Although in theory the king was supreme and owned all the land, feudalism was characterized by weak central authority, for in an age of poor long-distance communication, the fief rather than the nation was the effective foundation of political power.

The Threefold Model of Medieval Society- Trade and Towns

The agricultural society of the early Middle Ages conceived of itself as three classes, or orders, characterized by the function each performed: "those who fight, those who pray, those who work." The three classes depended on one another. The warriors protected men of prayer and laborers; the man of prayer cared for the needs of the soul; and the laborers provided food. When trade and towns arose, so did a new social class, that of the merchants. The merchants lived in towns rather than on the manor and were therefore called burghers, or bourgeois, after the medieval words for "town" (burg, bourg). Since they did not fit into the three traditional orders but defied convention by seeking to acquire wealth and privilege, they were at first frowned upon. The Church in particular distrusted their interest in making money, which was denounced as the sin of avarice, and tried to regulate their activity by forbidding profits from the charging of interest (which was called usury) and by recommending the "just price", which urged the earning of a modest profit rather than charging as high a price as the market would bear. Eventually, however, the merchant came to be accepted as a vital member of medieval society. Kings allied themselves with merchants in order to increase their own power and came to rely on them for loans.

The Liberal Arts in Antiquity-The Medieval Cultural Tradition

The ancients distinguished between practical and liberal arts. The former were used in technical vocations while the latter were disciplines wirthy of "free" men ("liberalis" in Latin means "free"). They identified seven liberal arts organized into two groups; the three disciplines of the "Trivium" were linguistic (grammar, rhetoric, and logic or "dialectic") and the four mathematical disciplines of the "quadrivium" (arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music). The word "trivial" comes from "trivium", since the linguistic disciplines were considered basic prerequisites for the more advanced mathematical studies.

The Investiture Controversy -Church and State

The appointment of bishops was a major problem in the German church. The Holy Roman Emperors, who could not depend on their rebellious nobles, relied on churchmen to perform political functions for them, and they regularly appointed bishops to key offices. Gregory VII's demand that they stop this practice faced the Emperor Henry IV (1056 to 1106) with a crisis. He responded in 1076 by convening a council at Worms to dispose Gregory VII, who answered with excommunication. Henry IV's nobles required him to seek absolution or abdicate, which led the humiliated emperor in 1077 to go to the pope's winter retreat at Canossa, where he stood outside int he snow for three days before Gregory VII absolved him. In 1084, however, when Henry's position in Germany was more secure, he challenged Gregory VII once more and captured Rome with an army, driving the pope into exile. The controversy over the appointment of bishops raged until 1122, when a compromise solution was finally reached with the Concordat of Worms. This agreement allowed churchmen to elect bishops and invest them with the symbols of spiritual authority, but required the approval of the emperor, who invested the bishops of the Empire with their political authority. Nevertheless, the tension on this issue remained throughout the later Middle Ages .

Economic Innovations

The artistic and scholarly endeavors of the Italian Renaissance would not have been possible without the wealth generated by new financial practices during the recovery from the Black Death. These practices included double-entry bookkeeping to record transactions accurately, bills of exchange (a prototype of the modern check), maritime insurance known as "sea loans" to minimize the effects of the loss of cargo, and the use of branch offices to establish international financial empires. Although the church still forbade usury, it allowed the exploitation of loopholes by which wealthy merchants could lend money in order to make profits from the charging of interest. The Medici were in fact bankers for the papacy. The Italians formed short-term partnerships now as "commenda" by which an investor would contribute capital while the recipient would conduct the actual commercial activity; this system allowed investors to diversify their commercial ventures to take advantage of changing circumstances in the market.

Mendicant Orders-The Church in the Late Middle Ages

The ban on new religious rules followed Innocent III's approval of two new "mendicant" orders of friars, which he wanted to promote. The friars (from Latin "frater", or "brother") differed from traditional monks in that they did not take vows of residence at a specific monastery, but lived in the secular world as itinerant preachers. Their mission was to bring the Gospel to the people. Since the friars owned no property, they could not support themselves escept by donation from the faithful who appreciated their service. For this reason the are called "mendicants", derived from a Latin word which means "beggers". The friars where so greatly appreciated that they quickly became quite wealthy, despite their vows of poverty, and soon constructed churches as well as friaries where they slept after the day's preaching. Unlike monasteries, which raised their own food and manufactured their own goods, friaries were not economically self-sufficient; they were essentially just dormitories. St. Francis of Assisi (1181 to 1226) founded the first mendicant order, known as Franciscans. St. Cominic Guzman (c. 1170 to 1221) later founded the Cominicans.

Origins of Feudalism - Feudalism and Manorialism

The barbarian kings who took control of the crumbling Roman Empire tended to treat the territories of the western provinces as their personal possessions. They rewards their retainers with grants of land which supplied wealth, mainly in the form of agricultural produce. These land grants were not initially hereditary. The Carolingians grated estates called "Benefices" to support troops as long as the troops remained in their service. It was not until about the year 1000 that the grants of land became hereditary and began to be called "fiefs". The fief gave rise to a new form of political organization called "feudalism".

Organization of the Manor- Feudalism and Manorialism

The best portion of the manor was reserved for the lord as his "demesne". The serfs were required to work the "demesne" in addition to the strips assigned to them for their own support. Strips assigned to the serfs were scattered in several fields in order to ensure that all had a share of the best and worst land. Much of the manor was not cultivated, but was left wild as the lord's hunting preserve. When more cultivated fields were needed, however, some of the woodland would be cleared; these newly-cleared regions were called "assarts". The manor was essentially a self-sufficient economic unit, as it needed to be in an age of poor transportation when there was little trade.

Rise of the Papacy- The Medieval Church

The bishops of Rome used the title "pope" (in Latin, papa, "father") to assert their claim to spiritual leadership of the Church. They based this claim on the concept of apostolic succession- the idea that they were successors to an Apostle- and the belief that St. Peter, whom Jesus chose as leader of the Spostles, was also the first bishop of Rome. As the Empire disintegrated, the papacy began to assume an important political dimension. For example, when the western emperor was hiding from Attila the Hun at Revenna, Pope Leo I (440 to 461) spoke with the barbarian warlord and persuaded him not to sack Rome. The weakness of the western emperors, and later their complete absence, was a major reason for the rise of the papacy to a position of leadership. By contrast, the patriarchs of Constantinople did not achieve a similar eminence because they were overshadowed by the eastern emperors, who often interfered in the governance of the Greek Church. But although the papacy enjoyed spiritual freedom, it also had to endure political instability.

The Gracchi-The Republic

The brothers Tiberius and Gaius, reformminded members of the aristocracy who opposed the self-interest and conservatism of the senators, championed the dispossessed plebeians as People's Tribunes. However, their drastic attempts at reform led to their assassination in riots (in 133 and 121 BCE). They tried to redistribute the land, extend Roman citizenship to the Italian allies, and curb the power of the senators over the courts by transferring judicial duties to the equestrian class. Their only lasting measure was to ease the plight of the impoverished by means of a state subsidy for the purchase of bread.

Anabaptists- Diversification of Protestantism

The call to individual conscience inspired many small sects which did not align themselves with either Luther or Zwingli but pursued their own interpretation of Scripture. Many of these groups required their converts to receive baptism a second time, and thus were called Anabaptists ("ana" means "again" in Greek). The Anabaptists were despised by Catholics, Lutherans, and Zwinglians alike. While many of the Anabaptists were peaceful, some of them had participated in the Peasant Revolt of 1525, and one group, led by John of Leiden, later seized the town of Munster, where in 1534 they established a theocracy ("New Zion") which practiced polygamy (after the model of the Old Testament) and communal ownership of property (after the model of the New Testament, as found in the Acts of the Apostles). The city was soon recaptured and John of Leiden was executed in 1536.

Peace Movements- The Medieval Church

The central message of Christianity was at odds with the tenor of early medieval society, which was dominated by violence- not only from invaders, but also between neighboring lords, who frequently fought one another. In order to minimize the disruptive impact of war among Christian lords, the Church promoted two movements, known as the Peace of God and Truce of God. The Peace of God began in northwestern Europe during the tenth century as an effort to protect non-combatants, such as priests and peasants. The move was at first resisted by the nobles, but by the 11th century to limit the number of days on which combat could take place. It tried to keep Sundays and major holidays such as Easter and Christmas free of fighting, and punished violators which excommunication (denial of the sacraments and exclusion from the Christian community).

Cannons- Nation-States and Wars of Religion

The centralization of pwer was aided by new technologies, such as the cannon, which greatly shortened the length of sieges and led to major changes in military strategies and tactics. The Ottoman Turks were able to beat down the walls of Constantinople for the first time using cannons in 1453, and European monarchs used cannons against rebellious nobles, who could no longer hide within their castles. Cannons were also a vital ingredient of naval power, which made possible the rise and defense of vast overseas empires.

The New Monarchies

The centralizing tendencies of the late Middle Ages became more pronounced during the Renaissance and Reformation in England and France. Spain quickly joined them as one of the most powerful nations in Europe. The weakness of Italy and the Holy Roman Empire stood in stark contrast to the rise of the New Monarchies.

Machiavelli- Italian Politics

The chaos into which Italy was plunged by waves of invasion led some statesmen to urge its political unification. The most vocal of these was Niccolo Machiavelli (1469 to 1527), who wrote "The Prince" (1513) as an appeal to the Medici to provide a leader that all Italians could rally around. Machiavelli's "Prince" depicts the ideal ruler as an unscrupulous despot who uses any means to attain his ends. It presents historical examples to support the contention that human being are unreliable and that successful rulers must be flexible and ignore the teachings of Christianity that would limit their range of strategy. Machievelli blamed the papacy for preventing the unification of Italy, and he blamed the use of mercenaries for its endemic chaos; he recommended and organized militias of citizen-soldiers, reasoning that the most reliable troops were those who were defending their homes and families rather than serving for pay. "The Prince" can be seen as a desperate appeal for drastic action to correct an intolerable situation, for Machiavelli's historical study of ancient Rome, "The Discourses" (1531), identifies representative government as the ideal rather than despotism. Machievelli wrote both works in exile, after having served Florence as a diplomat, and he drew upon his experiences in politics as well as humanistic study of history for his arguments.

The Parthenon- Art and Architecture- Greek culture

The characteristics of the Greek temple are illustrated in the architecture and art on the Acropolis of Athens. The Parthenon, or temple to Athena, was built during the 440s to 430 BCE as the apex of Pericles' building program during the golden age of Athens, and still stands today, even after it was badly damaged in the 17th century. The sculptures that once adorned the pediments with depictions of battle-scenes, known as the Eligin Marbles, were removed in the 19th century to the British Museum. The immense statue of Athena that once stood inside the temple (long since destroyed) was designed by the sculpture Phidias (c. 490 to 430 BCE), who was hired by Pericles. Phidias was famous for excelling in a stately naturalism and for fashioning an immense statue of Zeus. A smaller temple on the Acropolis, the Erechtheum, was adorned with caryatids, or columns sculpted in the form of draped maidens holding up the roof with their heads.

Later Crusades-The Church in the Late Middle Ages

The crusading movement never regained its initial momentum. The emperor Frederick II (1215 to 1250) took an army to the Holy Lands in 1228, but this 5th Crusade relied on diplomacy rather than fighting; Frederick negotiated a treaty by which the Egyptians, who controlled the Holy Land, gave Christians access to Jerusalem. In 1249 Saint Louis IX of France (1226 to 1270) organized the 6th Crusades which struck Egypt and took the coastal city of Damietta, but he was forced to surrender the following year and pay a huge ransom. He organized the last major effort, the 7th Crusade, in 1270. This crusade tried to conquer Tunisia, but it was called off when Louis died during the campaign. In 1291 the last outpost int he Holy Land, the city of Acre, fell to the Muslims, ending the crusader states. Although there was talk of reviving the Crusades for several centuries, no significant action against the Holy Land was taken. The Military action that did continue under the name of the Crusades shifted to other theaters: the reconquest of Spain, the suppression of a heretical movement in southern France (known as the Albigensian Crusade), and the conquest of the pagans in the Baltic region.

Deportation - The Hebrews

The divine wrath was soon recognized in the appearance of the Assyrian armies. In 721 BCE the Assyrians deported people from the kingdom of Israel, but allowed Judah to continue its existence as a vassal state. This seemed to prove that Judah followed Yahweh and thusly was allowed to live. Monotheism was not just a religious statement, but also a way to preserve their national identity. Since the deported Israelites were willing to worship many gods they were assimilated into the polytheistic society of Assyria and ceased to exist as an identifiable national group. Later when the Beo-Babylons forced those in Judah out in 586 BCE, exiles were careful to maintain their religious integrity adn thereby preserved their distinct national identity even in exile. These people were later known as "Jews"

Byzantium to 1,000 CE

The division of the Muslims saved the Byzantine Empire, which and been nearly destroyed by the Arab invaders. Constantinople itself was attacked several times beginning in 672, and most seriously in 717 to 718, but it survived thanks to its strong defenses, including a secret weapon known as "Greek fire", which burned even on water and could devastate enemy forces that came near the walls. The Byzantines were attacked by amny groups in addition to the Muslim Arabs. Their provinces in the Balkans were harassed by Avars (a Turkic group from central Asia), as well as Slavic groups such as the Bulgarians, and even by Vikings (known as Varangians). All these groups at one time or another assailed Constantinople itself. The Byzantines remained on the defensive until the 9th century, but in the 10th century were able to reconquer Anatolia from the Muslims and much of the Balkans from the Slavs. By the year 1,000, their empire had expanded once again to include much of the Balkans, Anatolia, southern Italy (whihc they held since the wars of Justinian), and the islands of Crete and Cyprus.

Gothic-Architecture and Art

The earliest Gothic church was built at the Abbey Church of St. Denis outside Paris by the Abbot Suger in the 1140s. The great cathedrals were mostly built in the 13th century, predominantly in northern Europe. Gothic architecture is more homogeneous than Romanesque and its features include the pointed arch (possibly inspired by Muslim architecture), the use of larger window adn stained glass to create a luminous interior effect, and flying buttresses to support the walls so that large window could be used. A favorite device was the rose or wheel window. In comparison to the heavy quality of Romanesque architecture, the Gothic style has a "skeletal" quality, Church-towers became more ornate, with angular design motifs, like the "fleur-de-lis". Sculptures included fantastic creatures, such as gargoyles.

Early Poetry and Drama-Literature

The earliest Roman poet was Ennius (239 to 169BCE), who presented the history of Rome in an epic called the "Annales", Exceptional poets of the late Republic included Catullus (85 to 54BCE), who wrote passionate love lyrics about his unfaithful mistress, and Lucretius (96 to 55 BCE), who described the Epicurean world view in his philosophical poem:"On the Nature of Things". The early Romans were generally not deep thinkers; they had little interest in tragedy, but greatly enjoyed comedy, which was mastered by Plautus (254 to 184 BCE) and Terence (190 to 159 BCE). Their works influenced generations of later playwrights, including Shakespeare.

Persecutions-Christianity

The earliest communities of the nascent religion blended Jewish and Christian practices. They were persecuted by some Jewish leaders who opposed their religious reforms. Saul of Tarsus initially hunted Christians before he himself became one after a dramatic conversion experience. He then endured the torments that other Christians suffered; according to tradition, he died in Rome in 64CE, a victim of the emperor Nero, who blamed a disastrous fire in Rome on the young sect. Nero's persecution was the first official action by a Roman emperor against Christians. Although angry mobs sometimes perpetrated act of violence against them, it was not until the third century that energetic attempts were made to eradicate their religion. The empire suffered a series of crises at this time, and Christians were seen a s a threat to political order because they refused to worship the emperor- an act that was as much a statement of patriotism as a form of religious observance. Furthermore Christian rituals were misunderstood (the Eucharist was viewed as cannibalism), and Christians were resented for their non-conformism: for example, they opposed violent entertainment such as gladiatorial combats. The most serious official persecution was organized by Diocletian (284 to 305). Earlier attempts were also made by Marcus Aurelius (161 to 180) and Decius (249 to 251), among others. Christians who died in the persecutions were revered as martyrs, or "witnesses", of the faith and were accorded the status of saints ("holy ones").

Prose- Literature

The earliest known prose work is Cato the Elder's manual "On Agriculture", which gives advice on running a country estate (160 BCE). The most accomplished writer of Latin prose was Marcus Tullius Cicero (106 to 43 BCE), a senator and lawyer whose massive output included speeches given in the Senate and the courts, letters to friends, and philosophical works, which he wrote during his enforced retirement by Julius Caesar (who was also an accomplished writer, publishing his memoirs on the conquest of Gaul). Cicero popularized Greek philosophy and espoused Stoicism. As a defender of the Republic, he wrote diatribes against Marc Antony known as the "Philippics", but he was executed for his outspoken opposition.

Philosophy- Greek Culture

The earliest philosophers, who were primarily interested in physics, are known as "Pr-Socratics" because they came before Socrates, who gave philosophy a new orientation by focusing on ethics. Socrates' successors as leading Athenian philosophers were Plato and Aristotle.

The Etruscans-Ancient Rome

The early Romans were governed by a neighboring group called the Etruscan, who lived to the north in Etruria. Etruscan kings governed Rome until the Romans rebelled and drove them out in 509 BCE. Nevertheless, the Romans were indebted to the Etruscans for many things, including engineering techniques (draining marshes and constructing sewers), the use of the arch in architecture, the alphabet (which the Etruscans had acquired from the Greeks), and many religious rituals, especially techniques of divination by observing omens such as the entrails of sacrificial animals and the flight of birds.

Characteristics- The Byzantine Empire

The eastern half of the Roman empire which survived the Germanic migrations is known to modern historians as the "Byzantine Empire", since the new capital was built on the site of the ancient city of Byzantium at the entrance to the Black Sea. The "Byzantines" continued to call themselves "Romans", but Greek replaced Latin as the common language. The Byzantine Empire, based in the wealthy commercial cities of the east, was better able to afford armies for its defense than the rural west, and thus remained intact.

Albigensian Crusade-The Church in the Late Middle Ages

The ecclesiastical hierarchy responded to the challenges of the Cathars and Waldensians by declaring them heretics, but excommunication did not deter their growth. Alarmed at the Cathars' highly organized challenge to the Church's authority, which included the slaying of a papal envoy, Pope Innocent III declared a crusade against the Cathars which was known as the Albigensian Crusade (1208 to 1229). The northern French nobility eagerly participated in the campaign out of worldly motives, for they hoped thereby to seize the lands of the heretics. The fighting was brutal and indiscriminate. Entire towns were razed if they were suspected of harboring heretics, without regard for killing innocent Catholics. A Cistercian abbot named Arnaud Amaury, who served as papal legate, is said to have recommended killing all 20,000 citizens of Beziers so that some 200 heretics who were thought to be hiding there would not escape, exclaiming, "Kill them all- God will know his own!".

Manorialism- Feudalism and Manorialism

The economic form of organization associated with feudalism is known as manorialism. While feudalism describes the relationship between a lord and his vassal, manorialism describes the relationship between the owner of a fief and his laborers. The manor (which was the same as the fief, but from an economic point of view) was derived from the large agricultural estates of the Roman Empire. In the tumultuous third century, the emperors decreed that agricultural laborers (whether slave or tenant) could not leave the land. Likewise they in the Middle Ages these laborers, called serfs, were unfree. Nevertheless, they had certain rights: since they could not be separated from the land which they worked, they could not be sold as slaves.

Toleration and Official Status- Christianity

The emperor Constantine (306 to 337), who succeeded Diocletian, reversed the policy of persecution by issuing the Edict of Milan (313), which granted toleration to Christians. Although Constantine's motivations are debatable, he is reported to have had a vision on the eve of the Battle of the Milvian Bridge in 312 (near Rome) which promised him victory against a rival emperor if he accepted the Christian religion. After the Edict of Milan, the Church received legal rights and soon became wealthy from donations. It was not until later however, the paganism was forbidden, making tried to revive paganism (using Neoplatonism as its theology), but otherwise all Roman emperors beginning with Constantine were Christians.

The Commercial Revolution

The exploitation of the New World accelerated the evolution of economic life in Europe, resulting in dramatic changes that culminated int he rise of capitalism. Around 1500 the principal financial centers were Venice, Lisbon, and Madrid; Venice had long been the leader of commerce, whereas Lisbon and Madrid rose to prominence suddenly on the strength of their overseas imperialism. By the year 1600, however, the centers of finance had shifted to London, Paris, and Amsterdam as England, France, and the Netherlands developed new methods of economic organization to exploit the trade stimulated by overseas discoveries.

Athenian Defeat- The Peloponnesian War

The fighting continued in fits and starts for almost 30 years. Without Pericles to guide the Athenians, they vacillated between one strategy and another, depending on the ability of rival politicians to sway the people's vote. The most notorious of the Athenian leaders was Alcibiades (c. 450 -404 BCE), Pericles' nephew, who in 415 BCE convinced the Athenians to invade Syracuse (in Sicily), an ally of the Spartans. The Invasion failed, in part because Alcibiades ended up colluding with the Spartans in order to escape a plot hatched by his political rivals. Athens never recovered from its defeat at Syracuse in 413BCE. When the subject city-states that made up the Athenian empire learned of the disaster, many of them rebelled. A short-lived oligarchy took control of Athens in 411 BCE during the upheaval. Although democracy was soon restored, the humbled Athenian fleet could no longer effectively prosecute the war, for the Spartans now had an effective fleet of their own, paid for by the Persians, who took advantage of the war in Greece to play their former enemies against one another. Finally in 404BCE, the Athenians surrendered. The terms of peace required them to tear down their city's defensive walls and forbade them from building a fleet or attempting to revive their empire. An oilgarchy known as the Thirty Tyrants, friendly to Sparta, took control of the city. With the defeat of Athens, the Classical culture of the Greeks declined.

Reversal- England

The fighting was revived in 1369 by the next French king, Charles V (1364 to 1380), who was able to reverse the losses and push the English back to the coastlands. His sudden death, however, resulted in a truce that took effect in 1389. Since both France and England then experienced a period of instability as each country fell into internal conflict, the fighting did not resume until 1415. IT was revived by Henry V of England (1413 to 1422), who invaded northern France and quickly won the Battle of Agincourt (1415). With help from Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, the English were able to seize Normandy and parts of northwest France. The French struck back in 1429 under the leadership of the charismatic peasant girl, Joan of Arc, who convinced her king, Charles VII (1422 to 1461), to go on the offensive. Although Joan was captured by the Burgundians in 1430 and executed the following year when she was handed over to the English, the French rallied. In 1435 Philip the Good ended his feud with France and abandoned the English, who were now overextended. After some desperate fighting, the English capitulated and retained only the coastal city of Calais. The last few battles were divided by the use of a new weapon, artillery.

The New Testament-Christianity

The first Christians expected Jesus' imminent return within their own lifetime. Yet as it became clear this would not happen, they began to write down Jesus' oral teaching. Thus the four Gospels, named after the disciples Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, were composed around 70 to 100 CE. The Gospels became the core of the New Testament, which was regarded as a fulfillment of the prophecies of the Hebrew Bible (renamed the Old Testament). The New Testament also includes letters, known as Epistles, written by early Christian leaders such as St. Paul, who is regarded as the first Christian theologian. The new Scriptures were written in "koine", a form of Greek that represented everyday speech rather than the literary models of the Classical period.

Later Works - Literature

The first Latin novel, "The Golden Ass", was written by Apuleius (c 125 to 200CE), a philosopher who had to defend himself in court against an accusation of sorcery. The Emperor Marcus Aurelius (161 to 180 CE) wrote an influential work of Stoic philosophy known as the "Meditations". Two highly influential scientific authorities appeared during the 2nd century: Galen (129-199 CE) provided a systematic theory of medicine, and Ptolemy (100 to 170CE) wrote a book of astronomy known as the "Almagest", which offered mathematical proofs to support the geocentric theory. In the later period, however, creativity began to wane, and many authors devoted themselves to preserving the literary and intellectual heritage in encyclopedic works. Two influential encyclopedic writers were Macrobius (4thc) and Martianus Capella (5th c)

Changing Markets The Commercial Revolution

The flexibility of the entrepreneurs was a key ingredient of their success. They were able to discern where money could be made and invested heavily in an industry for which there was high demand. In addition to overseas imports, these included shipbuilding, printing, mining, and metallurgy (to satisfy the demand for cannons). Once profit was made in one of these industries, it could be invested in another industry as capital for a diversified financial empire. The entrepreneurial spirit of taking advantage of supply and demand in order to maximize profits also affected agriculture accelerating the specialization of production (a development that had already begun in the Middle Ages). In 16th century England, lands that were once shared by peasants for common use were bought up by rich men and converted into pastures, a process known as the "enclosure movement", since the pastures were fenced off, or "enclosed", to prevent their use by peasants and promote specialization.

Baroque Art and Architecture -A Revolution in World View

The form of art and architecture of the early 17th century is known as Baroque, which is generally characterized by its dramatic, often flamboyant, qualities. Baroque architecture emphasizes grandoise designs with rich ornamentation, and its sculpture has a passionate, even histrionic, quality, ad demonstrated in the "Ecstasy of St. Teresa" by Bernini (1598 to 1680). The parth to Baroque painting, as represented by Velazquez (1599 to 1660), was blazed by the school known as Mannerism, whose dramatic qualities are demonstrated by El Greco (1541 to 1614). The Dutch masters of Baroque painting were Rubens (1577 yo 1640) and Rembrandt (1606 to 1669); their works have a sensuous quality that exploits light and shadow for rich, emotional effects. The theatricality of Baroque art was represented in music by the new form known as opera.

Unrest -The Republic

The influx of wealth from the conquered territories, as well as the devastation suffered in Italy during the Second Punic War, altered the character of the Republic. The wealthy profited from new overseas markets that had been opened by conquest, whereas small farmers were ruined. Their farms were bought up by large landowners to from immense estates called "latifundia". These estates were devoted to raising cattle and were worked by prisoners of war whom the wealthy owners imported as slaves. Harsh treatment of these slaves led to sporadic revolts on a massive scale, most famously the one led by the gladiator Spartacus in 73 to 71 BCE. Yet the greater threat for the Republic came from the dislocation of citizens as class struggle escalated.

The Pre-Socratics- Greek Culture

The inquisitive nature of the ancient Greeks is demonstrated in their thinking about the physical world. Like modern scientists, they attempted to explin natural phenomena without reference to religion, yet they did not establish a distinctive scientific method. The earliest of the Pre-Socratics, who originated in Ionia, was Thales of Miletus (c. 600 BCE) He established a long-running debate in physics by trying to identify the most basic substance that constituted all physical objects. Heraclitus (c 500 BCE) believed the prime substance to be fire; he was preoccupied with the problem of change and permanence and is best remembered for his famous statement that one cannot step into the same river twice. Eventually a theory of four elements was put forward by Empedocles (c 450 BCE) which remained the basic orthodoxy of western science until modern times. Some Greeks, such as Democritus (c400 BCE) theorized that physical objects were made up of atoms (atoma means indivisible). The philosopher Pythagoras (c530 BCE) believed that all reality could be described in terms of mathematical relationships. Thus, the ancient Greeks established the foundations of Western science by developing basic theories of elements and atoms and by using mathematics to describe relationships between physical objects.

Origins- The 30s Years' War

The last of the religious wars occurred int he birthplace of Protestantism. The Peace of Augsburg (1555) had resolved the initial religious war by allowing the ruler of each state within the Holy Roman Empire to determine its religion, but his caused problems because antagonism persisted between neighbors of the rival faiths and because it did not take into account the religious inclination of the majority of citizens in each state. The Empire became divided into two rival camps: the Evangelical Union (1608) and the Catholic League (1609). This powderkeg was then set off when the people of Bohemia, who were mostly Protestant, revolted in 1618 against their Catholic Hapsburg ruler and threw two imperial ministers out of a window in an act known as the Defenestration of Prague. The conflict that ensued came to be known as the 30s year War (1618 to 1648), which occurred in four major phases.

France -The Age of Exploration

The leading French explorer was Jacques Carrier (1491 to 1557), who, like John Cabot, sought a northwest passage to the Far East. He explored the St. Lawrence River valley, which France later colonized. Samuel de Champlain founded a trading post in 1608 which later became Quebec City. Colonization in New France did not gain momentum until about 1650.

Universities -The Intellectual Tradition

The medical universities arose in the towns of the 12th and 13th centuries. Teachers and students organized themselves as guilds in order to set the curriculum, set fair prices for instruction, and negotiate with townsmen, on whom they depended for food and accommodation. In fact, the Latin word "universitas", from which "university" is derived, originally meant simply "guild" or "corporation", and could be applied to describe any formal association of individuals, such as the guilds of merchants or craftsmen. Since the early university were associations of scholars who banded together for economic and legal protection, they did not have a permanent location; classes were held in rented halls or perhaps a teacher's house. This situation was useful in early instances of "town and gown" fights, for when a group of scholars wished to protest high costs of room and board, they could leave town as a group and thereby weaken the local economy until the townsfolk relented. Kings often became patrons of universities, relying on them for skilled men to staff their growing bureaucracies. The earliest universities grew out of the schools in Bologna and Paris; Oxford was soon founded by scholars who had studied in Paris. The universities began the practice of granting degrees in order to provide evidence that a student had passed all the rigorous requirements for becoming a master in the guild of scholars and was qualified to teach others.

Israel and Judah -The Hebrews

The migration of the Hebrews to the land once occupied by Abraham's comparatively small household was not a simple homecoming, for the region was occupied by Canaanites who had dwelt in the region even before the time of Abraham. Their migration occurred about the same time as the invasions of the Sea People. One group, the Philistines, settled along the coast in the region that is now the Gaza Strip. The Hebrews fought both groups for space to live and unified under a single monarch, Saul (c 1,020 to 1,004 BCE). Saul's successor, David (965 to 928 BCE) secured the borders of the kingdom of Israel, establishing a capital at Jerusalem. David's son, Solomon (964 to 928 BCE), built a magnificent temple to Yahweh in Jerusalem, but his extravagant rule aroused the animosity of his subjects. After his death the Hebrews divided into the northern kingdom of Israel, and David's dynasty in Jerusalem continued to rule in the south and was known as the kingdom of Judah.

Visigoths- The Germanic Invasions

The migrations began with the Visigoths ("West Goths"), who received permission from the Emperor Valens to enter the Balkans in 376 in order to escape the Huns, an Asiatic group of marauding nomads. Abused by Roman administrators, however, the Visigoths revolted and Valens was killed in 378 at the Battle of Adrianople (in the Balkans). The Visigoths then made peace with the Romans and remained in the northern Balkans until 395, when a new leader, Alaric, guided them into the wealthier provinces of Grece and Italy. They plundered Rome in 410- the first time the city was seized by outsiders in 800 years (since the Gauls in 390 BCE). However, the Visigoths did not conduct a general massacre of the inhabitants. They had already been converted to Christianity by Ulfilas (311 to 382), an Arian who translated the Bible into Gothic, so they did not destroy churches of harm anyone who sought sanctuary in them. Soon Alaric died, and the Visigoths were led by Alaric's successor into southern Gaul and Spain, where they settled.

The First Triumvirate- The Republic

The most ambitious men at this time, whose power rested in their private armies, were Pompey, Crassus, and Julius Caesar. Although they were rivals, they established a three-way alliance known as a triumvirate in order to oppose the Senate, which thwarted their designs for personal aggrandizement. This delicate balance was upset in 53 BCE when Crassus died and the two remaining triumvirs could not agree on redrawing their spheres of influence, in part because of Caesar;s stunning conquest of the Celts in Gaul (modern France) during the 50th BCE. The situation exploded into civil war (49 to 45 BCE) when Caesar, returning from Gaul, crossed the Rubicon River on the border of Italy without disbanding his army, as demanded by Pompey and the Senate. Pompey was defeated by Caesar at Pharsalus in Greece (48 BCE) and died a fugitive in Egypt. Athough Caesar showed magnanimity to his vanquished opponents, alarmed senators led by conservatives Brutus and Cassius feared he would try to proclaim himself king. In the hope of saving the Republic, they organized a conspiracy that assassinated Caesar on the Ides of March (March 15), 44 BCE. Caesar's supporters were outraged and Rome suffered another Civil War (44 to 42 BCE), which ended int he defeat of the assassins. Among Caesar's achievements, his most far-reaching was the reform of the calenday by adding leap years. This Julian calendar, with minor adjustments, is still in use.

Italian Literature- The Vernacular Tradition

The most impressive example of vernacular literature was the "Divine Comedy" of Dante Alighieri (1265 to 1321), who wrote in the Tuscan dialect of his native city, Florence. Dante also wrote love poems idealizing a young woman named Beatrice. He was involved in Italian politics and eventually suffered exile, at which time he wrote the "Divine Comedy". This epic is written in three parts- "Interno, Purgatorio, Paradiso"- and depicts a mystical journey through hell, purgatory (the region where the saved are purified from their sins), and heaven. Dant's work summarizes the history of Western Civilization while it explores the nature of virtue and vice. The "Divine Comedy" reveals the influence of the classical tradition in a way that the other vernacular traditions do not and thus points to the Renaissance, which was essentially a revival of classical culture. Two other prominent Italian poets who ushered in the Renaissance were the Florentine authors Giovanni Boccaccio (1313 to 1375) and especially Francesco Petrarch (1304 to 1374). Petrarch championed the revival of a pure form of Latin (which had become corrupted, from his point of view, during the Middle Ages), but his most popular works were vernacular love poems (sonnets) which idealized his love for a woman named Laura. Boccaccio's most famous work is the "Decaneron", a collection of bawdy stories told by a group of men and women staying in the countryside in order to escape the effects of the Black Death.

The Carolingians- The Germanic Kingdoms

The most powerful of the Frankish nobles were the members of the Carolingian dynasty, named after its founder, Charles Martel (whose name in Latin is "Carolus"). This dynasty held the office of Mayor of the Palace and used it to control the Merovingian kingdom. In 732 Charles Martel (c. 668 to 741) led the Frankish defense against Muslim raiders and defeated them at the Battle of Tours. This event prevented Islam from establishing itself beyond Spain.

Franks- The Germanic Invasions

The most successful of the barbarian groups were the Franks, from whom France gets its name. They were pagan when they entered Gaul, but converted to Catholicism rather than Arian Christianity around 500 under their king Clovis (481 to 511), thereby winning the goodwill and support of the clergy, The Frankish kingdom was ruled by two dynasties- the Merovingian and Carolingian- whose policies shaped the early Middle Ages in western Europe.

Medicine -A Revolution in World View

The new confidence in human reason, which turned away from old authorities to study the world anew, transformed nearly all disciplines, including medicine. The Belgian physician Andreas Vesalius (1514 to 1564) conducted dissections of animals and human cadavers in order to dispute the ancient authority Galen (c.129 to 199). He shared his discoveries in his book "On the Structure of the Human Body" (1543). An important contribution toward the study of the pulmonary circulatory system was made by the Spanish physician Michael Servetus (who was executed for heresy by the Calvinists in 1553). Later, the English physician William Harvey (1578 to 1657) published his discovery of the role of the heart int he circulatory system in his book "On the Motion of the Heart" (1628). The alchemist Paracelsus (c. 1493 to 1541) made an important contribution to medicine by arguing that diseases arise from the presence of foreign bodies; he recommended the use of minerals to neutralize these foreign bodies.

New Religious Orders-The Church in the Late Middle Ages

The new military religious orders were part of a larger movement of Church reform, which saw the rise of several new monastic orders. Although the Clunaic movement had arisen as a reform in the 10th century, in time the Cluniacs themselves had become too worldly, and new reformers set about founding orders to live a simpler Christian life. Foremost among them were the Cistercians, who were founded at Citeaux (France) by Robert of Molesmes in 1098 with the intention of following an even stricter interpretation of the Benedictine "Rule". The new order's most prominent spokesman was Bernard of Clairvaux (1090 to 1153). Others orders (all orginating in the 12th century) included: the Carmelites, founded at Mt. Carmel (Palestine); the Carthusians, founded in the Chartreuse valley (France); and the Premonstratensians, or Norbertines, founded at Premontre (France).

Cathedral Schools and the Renaissance of the 12th century -The Intellectual Tradition

The new translations of Greek philosophy were studied primarily in the cathedral schools that arose during the cultural flowering known as the "12th century Renaissance". Like the Carolingian Renaissance before it and the Italian Renaissance after it, the 12th century Renaissance focused on reviving the study of the ancient classics. The cathedral schools were a counterpart to the monastic schools; they were attached to the church of a bishop for the education of the secular clergy. ("Secular" clergy were churchmen who did not follow a monastic rule but served as diocesan priests; "regular" clergy were churchmen who belonged to a monastic order and therefore followed a rule.)The most famous cathedral schools of northern France were Paris, Chartres, Prleans, and Lason.

Avignon Papacy-The Church in the Late Middle Ages

The next pope, Clement V (1305 to 1314), was a Frenchman who was persuaded by Philip IV and the French cardinals to move the papal residence from Rome to Avignon on the Rhone River, where the papacy came under the influence of the French monarchy. The papal residence remained in Avignon from 1309 to 1377, a period which is known as the "Babylonian Captivity." All the popes elected during this time were French.

The Renaissance Papacy- The Protestant Reformation

The papacy during the Italian Renaissance became a worldly power and its character reverted back to the days of John XII (955 to 964) when the highest office in the Latin church became a trophy fought over by noble Italian families. Once in office, the popes behaved as secular despots and misused the papal treasury for their own luxuries. For example, when a member of the Medici family was elected Pope Leo X (1513 to 1521), he is reputed to have said, "God has given us the papacy- now let us enjoy it." The corruption of the papacy prevented it from dealing effectively with the crisis that suddenly faced it in 1517.

Augustine of Hippo- The Late Empire

The period of the Germanic migrations corresponded with a decline in secular learning, but there was a flowering of literature and theology among the Christians, who were enjoying a period of favor after three cneturies of oppression. The sack of Rome in 410, prompted pagans to blame Christianity for the disaster, but their criticism were refuted by the North African bishop, St. Augustine of Hippo (354 to 430). His response was a theological interpretation of time and a sense of history guided by providence Augustine argued that disasters like the fall of governments were unimportant compared to the rise of Christianity, for the former were concerned only with the fate of the body, whereas the latter was alos concerned with the fate of the soul. This thesis led Augustine to posit two cities- the city of God, consisting of faithful believers, and the city of Satan, consisting of those who do works of evil (these included hypocritical Christians as well as pagans). Augustine did not condemn all secular philosophy; he urged instead that Christians "Despoil the Egyptians"- that is, take what is useful from pagan philosophy and put it at the service of the Christian theology. He himself was well versed in Neoplatonism (having also dallied with Manichaeism) and wrestled with all manner of philosophical problems. He revealed the inner struggle that preceded his conversion in his audobiography, "The Confessions".

The Height of Papal Monarchy: Innocent III-The Church in the Late Middle Ages

The persecution of Cathars and Waldensians was an expression of the new temporal powers that the papacy had acquired over the course of the 12th century. The most prominent representative of this politically forceful "papal monarchy" was Innocent III (1198 to 1216). It was Innocent who decpared the Albigensian Crusade. In looking after the interests of the Church, Innocent frequently intervened in the affairs of kings. He refused to allow Philip II Augustus to divorce his wife and forbade him from invading England. He also put England under interdict (a suspension of celebrating the sacraments) when he excommunicated King John for resisting his choice for the office of Archbishop of Canterbury. To end the controversy, King John was forced to submit the kingdom of England as a papal fief.

Famine- The Blank Death

The plague was not the first instance of declining population. Earlier in the 14th century there were a series of crop failures (reflecting a shift in climate as the weather became colder and wetter and the growing season became shorter), which resulted in widespread famines. The most serious occurred between 1315 and 1317; tax records indicate that the number of household in some places decreased at that time, reflecting at least a regional decline in population. Thus, after 3 centuries of rapid growth beginning around the year 1000, Europe had reached the limits of population that its agriculture could sustain. The malnutrition that Europeans suffered as a result of food shortages weakened people's immune systems and made them more susceptible to the plague.

Euripides- Drama- Greek Classical Culture

The plays of Euripides (c480-460BCE) depart from the moral and religious certainties of Aeschylus and Sophocles while demonstrating greater psychological sophistication int he portrayal of characters. Euripides' play "Medea", named after a sorceress who murdered her children in a fit of rage upon learning of her husbands' adultery, unconventionally ends with the escape of the sorceress rather than her punishment at the hands of the gods. Euripides won fewer awards than Aeschylys and Sophocles, in part because Athenian audiences seldom appreciated unconventional treatments of traditional themes.

Cardinal Richelieu- France

The political terms of the Edict of Nantes were revoked in 1628 by the chief minister of Louis XIII (1610 to 1643), Cardinal Richelieu (d. 1642), who subdued the Huguenot bastion of La Rochelle in order to eliminate their independent military and political power. However, he allowed them religious freedom as long as they agreed to serve the French monarchy. Richelieu was devoted to the cause of royal absolutism in France, and by 1630 was its virtual ruler. To make the monarchy more powerful, Richelieu curbed the power of the nobility and increased military spending. He was willing to make alliances with Protestant rulers in order to weaken the Hapsburg's, the chief rivals of the French kings.

Gregory the Great- The Medieval Church

The pontificate of St. Gregory I (590 to 604), known as the Great, demonstrates how the papacy was threatened by the chaos of the age and responded by assuming a political role. Rome was threatened at the time by the Lombards. To counter the threat, Gregory negotiated with the barbarians and paid them tribute, which he raised from the papal estates. He also used this source of wealth to feed the poor of Rome and to maintain public works- functions that had once been performed by the imperial civil service. All this activity was in addition to the role of spiritual leadership that Gregory brilliantly promoted. He maintained papal primacy over the patriarch of Constantinople in his regular communication with the eastern empire and wrote voluminous theological works for the education of the Christian people, earning the title "Doctor of the Church". His works include a massive commentary on the Book of Job known as the "Moralia", and his "Dialogues" recount the life of St. Benedict of Nursia, who founded the dominant monastic order in the Latin west. Gregory himself was a monk, and his promotion of Benedictine monasticism contributed to its preeminence in medieval Europe.

Iconoclasm - The Medieval Church

The popes intervened in the Iconoclastic Controversy that shook the Greek Church in the 8th and 9th centuries. The controversy arose in 726 when the Byzantine Emperor Leo III (717 to 741) forbade the veneration of icons (paintings and saints), which he condemned as idolatry. The papacy supported the use of icons in devotions and condemned the imperial decrees, which were finally reversed in 843 by the Byzantine Empress Theodora II.

Conflicts with the Greeks- The Medieval Church

The popes used their new political prestige to reassert the claim to primacy in matters of doctrine and ecclesiastical administration. They assumed the power to convene church councils (which once belonged to the emperors)- a move which caused tension with the eastern empire and the church.

Giotto-Architecture and Art

The preeminent fresco painter of the medieval period was Giotto (c.1267 to 1337), who transformed the two-dimensional quality of Gothic painting by adding the illusion of depth, introducing a move toward naturalism, and emphasizing the human rather than divine. His innovations inspired the art of the Italian Renaissance.

Cults-Religion-Greek Classical Culture

The principal Greek gods were the 12 Olympians (Zeus,Hera,Apollo,Artemis,Poseidon,Ares,Aphrodite,Hephaestus,etc). The Greeks also worshiped fertility cults, especially those of Dionysos, the god of wine, and Demeter the god of harvest. There were also mystery cults which required special rites of initiation, which as the Eleusinian Mysteries, associated with the worship of Demeter at Eleusis, whose members performed secretive rituals through which they apparently hoped to acquire immortality.

Political Theory-The Intellectual Tradition

The principal political thinkers of the Middle Ages were John of Salisbury (c. 115 to 1180), who described medieval society as an organic unity in the form of a human body whose head is the king, and Marsilius of Padua (c. 1275 to 1343), whose "Defender of the Peace" (1324) argued that all political authority is derived from the people. Marsilius opposed papal claims to political power, and he argued that popes could not even justify their claim to the spiritual leadership of the Church; he favored councils organized by laymen to govern the Church.

Architecture, Hieroglyphics, and the Calendar- Egypt

The pyramids, were tombs befitting divine royalty, are only the most conspicuous of such monuments. Later, magnificent subterranean tombs were built in cliff-faces, which as the Valley of the Kings at Thebes or within temple complexes wuch as the mortuary temple of Hatshepsut at Der-el-Barhri. Massive temples to honor the gods were constructed at Karnak and Luzor. They were adorned with sculptures (sphinxes), paintings, and especially hieroglyphics or "sacred writings". They were used for religious architecture, but also for official and archival purposes. They were carved into papyrus, which was formed from reeds growing along the Nile. It was reveled that they used a 12 month solar calendar consisting of 30 month days, followed by 5 days added after the 12th month, to total a nearly-accurate span fo 365 days per year. Hieroglyphics may have predated cuneiform. both forms of writing were being used by 3,000BCE.

Henry VIII-The New Monarchies

The reign of Henry VIII (1509 to 1547) is marked primarily by his break with Rome, but he strengthened his monarchy in many other ways. He used the lands he seized from the church to build up a new class of loyal nobles who were dependent oh his dynasty for their position, and he boosted national sentiment by working closely with Parliament to give his subject a sense that the government was a partnership between the monarchy and the people. Henry was assisted by able administrators like Cardinal Wolsey and Thomas Cromwell. He built up the English fleet and fought limited wars on the Continent to maintain the balance of power.

A Revolution in World View

The religious and political transformations of the 16th and 17th centuries coincided with perhaps even more momentous changes in its thought and culture. The most far-reaching development is known as the Scientific Revolution, but even as this statement of supreme confidence in the powers of human reason got under way, Europeans gave old superstitions new legitimacy in the charged atmosphere of the religious conflicts.

Architecture and Art

The revival of European economic life and culture around the year 1000 inspired a phase of church-building that evolved through architectural styles known as Romanesque and Gothic. While the Romanesque structures of the 11th and 12th centuries were mostly established by monastic houses, the Gothic structures that arouse between the 12th and 15th centuries were often funded by the rising merchants class.

Political Theory -A Revolution in World View

The rise of the centralized monarchies and the wars they waged inspired political thinkers to explore new theories of power. Although many defended absolute monarchy with the doctrine of the divine right of kings, non-religious arguments for absolutism were put forward by the French philosopher Jean Bodin (1530 to 1596 and the English philosopher Thomas Hobbes (1588 to 1679). Bodin argued in his "Republic" (1576) that the king of each nation should have to answer to no one- whether the Holy Roman Emperor, the Pope, or his own people- and that he should not be bound by laws, although he should govern in accordance with natural law. Hobbes argued in the "Levianthan" (1651) that human life in the "state of nature" is "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short", and that the only hope for establishing order is to obey an absolute monarch, who serves as the head of the body politic. Hobbes' attitude reflects the chaos that arose during the English Civil War. Another philosopher who wrote in response to the chaos of his age was Hugo Grotius (1583 to 1645), who used natural law to outline principles for international relations (including a theory of the just war) in his book "On the Law of War and Peace" (1625).

Diaspora - The Jews in the Roman Empire

The suppression of Bar-Kochba's rebellion marked the end of Jerusalem as the effective focal point of Jewish life. Synagogues replaced the Temple as the center of worship, and Jewish culture endured in he Diaspora. Its theological development continued in the rabbinic schools, which established a comprehensive body of Jewish civil and religious law, known as the Mishnah, around 200 CE. Over the following centuries until about 600 CE, the Mishnah received commentary known as the Gemara, of which there are two versions: one compiled in Palestine, the other in Babylonia. The Babylonian version became authoritative. Together the Mishnah and Gemara are known as the Talmud. This transformation of Judaism after the destruction of the Temple was also partly a reaction to an attempt to reform Judaism by a sect known as the Christians.

Reform of the Papacy-Church and State

The temporal power that came to the bishops of Rome from their alliance with the Carolingians solved some problems, but also created new ones. The Roman nobles, hoping to expand their own power against rivals, began to treat the papacy as a secular office that could be used to dominate local policies, so they fought one another in the attempt to get their sons to elected pope. The situation deteriorated severely in the 10th century. with a series of worldly popes, most notoriously John XII (955 to 964), who became pontiff at the age of 18 and was infamous for his sinful behavior. John XII called upon the German ruler, Otto I, for aid against his enemies in Italy, and in gratitude for the help revived the imperial title, crowning Otto the Holy Roman Emperor in 962. However, Otto I (962 to 973) later replaced the profligate John XII with a worthier pope (Leo VIII), and German emperors thereafter regularly intervened in papal elections. This was often to good effect. For example, Otto III (996 to 1002) appointed his former tutor and the foremost scholar in western Europe, Gerber of Aurillac, and Pope Sylvester II (999 to 1003), who was committed to reform. However, since he was the first Frenchman to receive the office, he was viewed with enmity by some as an outsider, and his intellectual abilities led to malicious gossip that he was a magician in league with the devil.

Limitations of the Terminology- Feudalism and Manorialism

The term "feudalism" is derived from the word "fief" (feudum in Latin), not from "feuds" or dynastic struggles. One should be aware that the entire concept of feudalism had been criticized by some historians, who object that it was not actually a well-defined system and did not exist in all parts of Europe throughout the Middle Ages. Indeed, what historians call feudalism did not appear until the 11th century, and mainly in the region of northern France, the Low Countries, and England, where it was most fully developed during the 12th and 13th centuries. Yet even within this limited time and place, there was considerable variation from one adventurous group conquered southern Italy, Sicily, and the Holy Land, feudal practices were exported to these regions as well.

Pericles - Periclean Athens

The transformation from the Delian League into the Athenian Empire occurred under the leadership of the Athenian general Perciles, whose imperialistic ambitions were matched by his commitment to democracy. Democratic reforms did not end with the age of Cleisthenes, but continued according to the implied rule that those who provide indispensable service in war time should acquire a share of political power. Since the Athenian fleet was victorious at the crucial Battle of Salamiz (480BCE) thanks to the efforts of the thetes- the poorest Athenian citizens, who served as rowers in the triremes (warships with three banks of oars)- they agitated for more political rights and found their champion in a young stateman names Pericles (c 495- 429 BCE). In 461 BCE he helped initatiate new reforms that further reduced the powers of the Areopagus by transferring some of its judicial functions to the people's courts. The most important innovation of Pericles, however, came int he 450s, when office- holders began to be paid for their service. This measure made it possible for poor citizens to participate in government- a privilege that had been their more in theory than practice when it lacked payment. Although Pericles himself was an aristocrat, his actions made Athens a full-fledged democracy and won such favor from the people that they frequently elected him general (an annual office) and heeded his proposals. During the leadership of Pericles, Athens was rebuilt on a grand scale and enjoyed a golden age. Among the programs initiated by Pericles was the construction of the Parthenon (a temple to Athena) set on the hill known as the Acropolis, which has defined the image of the city for millennia.

Decline of the Guilds -The Commercial Revolution

The transformation of economics, with the new emphasis on the private ownership of the means of production, sounded a death knell for the guilds. Craftsmen using traditional techniques of production could not supply the volume of good that were demanded by the 16th century economy. Entrepreneurs worked around the guilds using two methods, known as the "putting-out system" and the "gathering-in system". Although these changes in the means of production made entrepreneurs extremely wealthy and met demands for certain products, they had negative consequences in the dislocation of workers and disintegration of social norms.

Diocletian's Reforms- Reorganization of the Empire

The turmoil was finally checked by the rise fo Diocletian (284 to 305), who initiated a comprehensive series of reforms that saved the Empire. To prevent future civil wars over imperial succession, and to deal more effectively with invasions on the far-flung borders, Diocletian instituted the Tetrarchy, or rule by four emperors, consisting of two seniors named Augusi and two juniors named Caesars. Each of them was in charge of a quarter of the empire known as a prefecture. Furthermore, to prevent provincial governors from amassing too much power, Diocletian reorganized imperial administration. He broke large provinces up into small ones, thereby limiting the resources that an overly-ambitious governor could use to stage a coupd'etat. The many provinces were organized into 12 units called dioceses (three in each prefecture), and each diocese was managed by a vicar who answered to a Caesar or an Augustus. The new imperial administration improved the centralization of power by streamlining the chain of command. A larger bureaucracy, which was needed to collect increased taxes, likewise diluted the power of individual governors.

History-Greek Classical Culture

The two greatest historians were Herodotus and Thucydides. Herodotus (c 484 to 425BCE), an Ionian Greek who is known as the "Father of History" wrote an account of the Persian Wars. He was the first to divide civilization between East and West, and to indentify the Greeks as representatives of a distinctive Western civilization. Thucydides (c. 460 to 400 BCE) was the most prominent historian of the following generation and wrote an account of the Peloponnesian War. An Athenian general who lost his command early in the conflict after failing to fulfill a mission, Thucydides spent the rest of his life interviewing participants of either side. He established a remarkable impartial accounts of events (up to 411BCE) that methodically resolved contradictions in eyewitness reports. He reconstructed the speeches given by the leaders in order to summarize their political positions. The most famous of these speeches is the funeral oration of Pericles, given in 430BCE to honor the Athenian soldiers who had died in the first season of campaigning.

The Democratic Reforms of Cleisthenes- Athans

The tyranny was followed by a revolution, from which progressive democratic forces led by the nobleman Cleisthenes emerged triumphant. In 508 BCE, Cleisthenes went far beyond Solon's limited reforms by alternating the very units of civic identity. Thus, replaced the phratries (brotherhoods), which were dominated by aristocratic families, with the demes (townships of the people), an altogether new political district that had no long-standing traditional loyalties. He also transformed the four traditional tribes of Athens, which had ties to aristocratic families, into ten new tribes that were made up of the demes. He replaced the Council of 400 which had been made up of 100 members from each of the 4 tribes, with a Council of 500, which was made up of 50 elected officials chosen by lot from each of the ten new tribes. This new Council received additional powers to deal with financial and foreign affairs. Cleisthenes gave ultimate political authority to the Assembly itself, made up of all adult male citizens, who discussed and decided policy by vote.

Curriculum and Specialized Studies-The Intellectual Tradition

The universities recognized four faculties: liberal arts, law, medicine, and theology. The last three were advanced studies, and university initially specialized in only one or two of them. There were two kinds of law: civil law (Roman law) and canon law (church law). Instruction in each of the faculties was based on the intensive study of established textbooks, which the teacher would read publicly and explain by way of commentary. Eventually the comments (known as "glosses") of important teachers would be written into the margins of a text as a special edition for study. The textbook for Roman law was Justinian's "Corpus Juris Civilis", whereas canon law, which was based mainly on the decrees of church councils and papa; decrees, was studied with the help of the "Decretum" of Gratian (c. 1140). Medicine was largely based on the works of the ancient physician Galen (c. 129 to 199. Theology used the "sentences" of Peter Lombard (c. 1100- 1160), a 12th century theologian who provided a through outline of topics that every theologian should cover. Although theology was the most prestigious and regarded as the "queen of the faculties", it was actually the least studied. Most advanced degrees were granted in law or medicine, which were financially more lucrative fields than theology.

The Delian League- Periclean Athens

The victories against the Persians preserved the autonomy of the Greek city-states, but the Greeks expected the Persians would strike again. Themistocles, the Athenian leader, persuaded his fellow citizens to build walls around the city and its port, the Piraeus, for defense against future invasions. They also saw wisdom in forging an alliance system, like Sparta's Peloponnesian League, and organized the Delian League. This was a naval alliance, founded in 478 BCE on the isle of Delos, where the league's treasury was established. At its height it included well over a hundred poleis located all along the shores of the Aegean Sea, including all but the southern most of the Aegean islands, and parts of the northern Peloponnesus. Athenians provided most of the ships while the smaller members mainly provided funds to maintain the fleet, which patrolled the Aegean Sea and raided Persian cities in Anatolia.

Doctors of the Church- The Late Empire

The vital service rendered by these men in the foundation of the Church was acknowledged during the Middle Ages by identifying them as "Doctors" (teachers) of the Church, of which there are four Latin and four Greek. The Latin doctors include Augustine, Ambrose, Jerome, and Pope Gregory the Great (590 to 604). The Greek doctors iclude Athanasius (293 to 373), Basil the Great (329 to 379), John Chrysostom (354 to 407), and Gregory of Nazianzus (329 to 389).

Religion- The Byzantine Empire

Theodora's influence was particularly important in religion. She sympathized with the heretical Monophysites and was able to secure toleration for them, thereby improving the obedience of the southeastern provinces, where the sect predominated.

Gnosticism and Manichaesim- Religion

There were also religions that combined philosophy with elements of the mystery cults, such as Gnosticism and Manichaeism, both of which competed with Christianity for followers. The Gnostics, who were influential during the second and third centuries CE, claimed that they possessed a secret form of revealed knowledge ("gnosis"). Their elaborate mythological theology and writing known as Genostic Gospels reflected a dualistic world-view in which spirit was regarded as good while matter was despised as evil. The Manichaeans, followers of a Persian mystic names Mani (216 to 275 CE), were also dualists and believed that world was caught in a struggle between the forces of light and darkness (which were associated with spirit and matter, respectively). In the third century CE there was also a very influential revival of Platonic philosophy known as Neoplatonism.

Alphabet- The Phoenicans

They were Canaanites, who spoke a Semitic language. While they did not invent the alphabet, (first appeared in 1,400BCE by nearby Ugarit in Syria) they adapted it into a more usable form. The Ugarit alphabet had each symbol represent a single sound and the whole system had 30 symbols and could be easily learned. The phoenicans reduced it to 22 symbols and made the letters easier to write. This became the base for late writings such as Greek, Roman, and Hebrew.

Hoplites and the Phlanx- The Archaic Period

To extend lower class political power, military power was needed. Soldiers were responsible for their own equipment. During the Dark Age, the military was dominated by relatively small units of wealthy nobles who could afford to fight on horseback. With the population growth around 800 BCE, the military grew to a massed infantry. Citizens who could afford spear and armor were known as "hoplites" and were organized into massive units called "phalanxes", which could defy cavalry changes. As the phalanx became the decisive factor in winning battles, holites demanded more political rights from the nobles who dominated the polis. By granting concessions, the nobles prevented anarchy and extended political power to a broader base.

Joint-Stock Companies -The Commercial Revolution

To finance the risky ventures of long-distance commerce, investors began to organize in associations known as "joint-stock companies". These evolved from "regulated companies", which were associations of professional traders. Both regulated companies and joint-stock companies were supported by governments, which granted monopolies in specific areas of commerce. Unlike regulated companies, joint-stock companies were associations of investors who bought shares in a business but entrusted the business itself to professionals. By pooling their financial resources, investors protected themselves against losses that could easily ruin them if they operated independently, and they were guaranteed a share of any profits. Although at first joint-stock companies focused on trade, they were later also used in industry. An early join-stock company, known as the Russia Company, was sponsored by England in 1553 . Other English joint-stock companies included the East India Company and Bank of England. The Netherlands sponsored the highly lucrative Dutch East India Company and Bank of England. The Netherlands sponsored the highly lucrative Dutch East India Company (1602) for trade in Asia and the Dutch West India Company (1621) for trade in the New World and Africa.

Translations from Spain and Sicily-The Intellectual Tradition

Toward the year 1000, medieval scholars became acutely aware that they and lost much of the ancient tradition. They also discovered that the Muslims in Span and Sicily had preserved most of this tradition in Arabic translations of the Greek classics. Christian scholars, such as Gerbert of Aurillac, who later became Pope Sylvester II (999 to 1003), traveled to Spain and met with Aarab and Jewish scholars in order to acquire this learning; the Jews, who traveled between the Muslims and Christians as merchants, were often trilingual and made excellent interpreters. Throughout the 12th century, Christian scholar traveled to Spain and Sicily where they translated the works of Aristotle from Arabic into Latin. These imperfect translations greatly increased interest in Aristotle, so that later, in the 13th century, a new effort was made to translate Aristotle directly from Greek into Latin, using texts acquired from the Byzantines.

Fairs- Trade and Towns

Trade benefited the regions were it occurred. In order to draw merchants into a given region, rulers or towns would organize fairs, which facilitated trade by bringing merchants and their goods from distant parts into close contact. The most famous of the medieval fairs were those of Champagne in France.

Jerome and Ambrose- The Late Empire

Two other leading Christian scholars were St. Jerome (347 to 420), who translated the Bible from Hebrew and Greek into Latin (called the Vulgate), and St. Ambrose of Milan (c 339 to 397) who served as an imperial administrator before he became a bishop. Ambrose challenged the penance under pain of excommunication (denial of church services) when he had executed a number of citizens for participating in a riot. Thus Ambrose demonstrated the psychological power of the Church and at the same time established that Christian statesmen are not free to ignore the moral injunctions of Christianity for the sake of political expediency.

Religious War - France

Under Francis I (1515 to 1547), the French monarchy acquired control over the Gallican (French) church through the Concordat of 1516, whereby the papacy allowed French kings to appoint their own bishops. The spread of Calvinism in France, whose adherents were known as Juguenots, was seen as a threat to this national church. Persecution became systematic during the reign of Henry II (1547 to 1559), by which time a sizable minority of French nobles become Huguenots. After Henry II's death, his widow, Catherine de' Medici (de Medicis), dominated her three sons who inherited the throne. Intermittent civil war over religion began in 1562, and in 1572 Catherine was involved in a purge of several thousand Huguenots known as the St. Bartholemew's day Massacre. The wars continued until Henry of Navarre, the Huguenot leader, inherited the throne by right of succession and thus established the Bourbons as a royal dynasty. As Henry IV (1589 to 1610), he converted to Catholicism in order to placate his Catholic subjects (remarking "Paris is worth a Mass"), but he protected his Calvinist subjects through the Edict of Nantes (1598), which granted them freedom of worship.

Civic Humanism- The Italian Renaissance

Unlike Dante, Petrarch was not a political figure. Averse to the idea of a legal career (which his father wanted him to pursue), he shunned politics and sought the solitude that was conductive to a career as a writer. Petrarch thus advocated the contemplative life over the active life. Many of the humanists he inspired, however, did not share this attitude. Men like Coluccio Salutati (1331 to 1406) and Leonardo Bruni (1369 to 1444) advocated "civic humanism", which maintained that the most virtuous kind of life was one that used humanistic study for public service.

The Reformation in England- Diversification of Protestantism

Unlike the movements on the Continent, the Reformation in England resulted not from theological differences with Rome, but from a conflict between the English monarchy and the papacy. Henery VIII (1491 to 1547) requested an annulment of his marriage to Cathrine of Aragon because she did not produce a male heir, but Pope Clement VII (1523 to 1534) denied it. Clement was a virtual prisoner of the Emperor Charles V, the nephew of Catherine, and thus could not have granted Henry's request even if he was so inclined. Henry played up popular discontent with the extremely wealthy Catholic Church and in 1532 received support for his break with Rome from Parliament, which passed laws that shifted authority over the Church of England from the pope to the king. In addition to divorcing Catherine and marrying Anne Boleyn (Henry married six times in all), he took possession of church property, closed monasteries, and required his subjects to take an oath of supremacy recognizing his religious authority. Prominent individuals who refused were executed, including the former chancellor, the humanist Thomas More (1478 to 1535). Yet Henry VIII was conservative about religious doctrine, as his Six Articles (1539) outlining the theology of the Anglican Church demonstrate. Religious doctrine did not significantly change until the reigns of Henry's successors, his son Edward VI (1547 to 1553) and his daughter Elizabeth I (1558 to 1603).

Plato and Aristotle in the Middle Ages-The Intellectual Tradition

Until the 12th century, the most respected ancient philosopher was Plato, whose description of the creation of the world in the "Timaeus" was avidly read and compared to the biblical account in Genesis. The "Timaeus" was in fact the only work of Plato's to be translated into Latin during the period of the late empire and therefore available in the west. In the 12th century, only two more Platonic dialogues were translated into Latin (Meno and Phaedo). Plato lost favor because he wrote dialogues on a few select topics rather than systematic treatises, and Aristotle gained favor because he had taught every subject in a comprehensive system of knowledge. Thus, even when medieval scholars disagreed with Aristotle's conclusions (for example, they rejected his doctrine of the eternity of the world), they appreciated the framework he provided. By the 13th century he was so greatly favored that he was called simply "the Philosopher".

The Entrepreneurial Class -The Commercial Revolution

Wealth from the new commercial ventures tended to be concentrated in the hands of a relatively small group of people, the entrepreneurs- individuals who risked capital in order to turn a profit. The most successful entrepreneurs diversified their investments once they established themselves and commanded financial empires with branch offices in major cities throughout Europe. They often founded dynasties that established themselves as part of a new aristocracy of wealth. The Medici, for example, married into the French royal family and were made grand dukes of Tuscany in the 16th century. A French merchant and banker named Jacques Coeur (c. 1395 to 1456) was ennobled by King Charles VI and received a position of great influence int he government of Charles VII; he was prevented from founding a dynasty, however, when envious courtiers plotted his downfall. The most successful of the entrepreneurial families were the Fuggers of Augsburg, who began as cloth merchants and came to dominate mining in central Europe. They served as bankers for the Hapsburgs and thus wielded great political influence.

The Minoans

Were located on the isle of Crete in the eastern Mediterranean. Their history is mysterious but has been rebuilt through archaeology, and mythology. It is called Minoan from Greek myth King Minos of Crete, who it was said constructed a labyrinth to imprecision is wife's monstrous son, the Minotaur. One writing, Linear B, may say that early Greeks invaded and occupied Crete toward the end of Minoan history. They flourished on Crete by 2,000BCE and relied on a powerful navy that sunk enemy ships. They forged a maritime empire by dominating the peoples living on the shores of the Aegean Sea. Their empire was created from dominating the peoples leaving on the shores of the Aegean Sea. Because of the sea and their navy, they did not create defensive walls. They traded with the Aegean, the Hittites, and Egyptians and generated great wealth, which build grand palaces decorated with frescoes depicting joyous and lively scenes. At their height they suffered from earthquakes and violent volcanic eruptions, and title waves. While they recovered from the earthquake in 1,800 BCE, the later disasters would lead to their end. A violent Volcanic eruption around 1,627 BCE on the island of Thera spawned a tidal wave that slammed into Crete 70 miles away, destroying coastal settlements. Throughout 1,550 and 1,375 BCE, Cretan palaces were destroyed, probably by the peole from the Balkan peninsula known as the Mycenaeans. Minoan civilizations appear to have lingered on the isolated pockets until about 1,200BCE.

The Spanish Armada -England

When Elizabeth came to power in 1558, she was forced to abandon the city of Calais, last of England's holdings on the Continent, following Mary I's disastrous war against France. Elizabeth's foreign policy was dominated by her efforts to aid Protestants against their Catholic monarchs, including Scotland, France, and the Netherlands. Her aid for the Dutch rebellion against Spain (1585 to 1587) provoked Philip II to send the Spanish Armada against England in 1588, but his grand fleet was destroyed by a storm (called the "Protestant wind") and the formidable English fleet, whose vessels were smaller but more maneuverable and could fire cannonballs faster tan the larger but slower Spanish galleons. The victory over the Spanish Armada boosted English nationalism and made possible the rise of the British empire.

Military Policy- The Byzantine Empire

While Justinian committed his armed forces to the reconquest of the west, he secured the eastern borders against attacks by the Sassanian dynasty of Persia through a combination of way, diplomacy, and the payment of tribute.

Maritime Trade- Trade and Towns

While fairs were good for stimulating trade inland, it flourished most of all along the coasts, since ships could move goods more quickly and efficiently than wagons and carts. By the 12th century, the Muslims had lost control of the Mediterranean and trade became dominated by Italian cities, most notably Venice and Genoa, who fought one another in naval battles as an extension of their commercial rivalry. Trade was also robust along the shores of the Baltic and North Seas, where the cities of the Netherlands and the coastal German cities dominated commerce.

The Conversion of Britain- The Germanic Kingdoms

While the Franks were busy on the Continent, important changes were taking place in the former Roman province of Britain. In the 5th century, the Celts at the northern end of Britain and the Germanic invaders who occupied the southern and central parts of the island were pagan. In the 6th century, both groups were converted to Catholicism by monastic missionaries, one group from Ireland (which St. Patrick converted around 430), the other from Rome. Irish monks led by St. Columba began converting the Picts (in Scotland) in 563, and Roman monks sent by Pope Gregory the Great and led by Augustine of Canterbury began to convert the Anglo-Saxons in 597. The Irish monks made vital contributions to the preservation of ancient texts and produced lavishly illuminated manuscripts of religious texts. Their art influenced the Anglo-Saxons. By the mid-seventh century the foundations of Christianity in Britain were laid, but the two groups of missionaries- Celtic and Roman- came into conflict over discrepancies in religious practice, such as the calculation of the date of Easter and questions of ritual. The conflict was resolved at the Synod of Whitby in 664 when the Celtic church accepted Latin practices.

Portuguese Exploration-The Age of Exploration

With the support of Prince Henry, Portuguese explorers discovered the Azores, Canary, and Cape Verde Islands in the Atlantic Ocean and followed the African coast as far as Sierra Leone near the equator. They established a lucrative trade in gold, ivory, and slaves. In 1488 Bartholomew Diaz crossed the equator, sailed to the southern tip of Africa, and rounded the Cape of Good Hope. In 1497 to 1499 Vasco da Grama sailed to India and back, opening a trade route for spices and other luxury goods. In 1509 to 1515 Alfonso de Albuquerque established Portuguese trading posts along the west coast of Inia, the islands of Indonesia, and at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, thereby laying the foundation of the Portuguese Empire in the Ease, which was linked back to the capital of Lisbon through trading posts that dotted the African coast. In 1500, Pedro Cabral claimed Brazil- the only Portuguese territory in the New World.

The Spread of Civilization

around 2,000 BCE, civilization (urban culture) began to spread beyond the river-valleys into the surrounding regions where social and political organization had not progressed beyond the level of the village. This expansion was due in part to trade between adjacent centers of civilization, and it part to imperialistic expansion.

Cuneiform-Mesopotamian

around 8,000 BCE coins were used to keep track of goods. Around 3000BCE tablets pressed with a tool replaced coins. This tool was wedge shaped and the strokes it made was called "Cuneiform" (Latin cuneus, or wedge). First they used pictographs (symbols), then turned into writing.

Writing- Fertile Crescent

cities were places that facilitated the exchange of goods, and were primarily an economic development. to keep track of business transactions people began to keep track of business transactions. Writing also was used by rulers to keep records so cities became centers of political administration as well as economic focal points.

Irrigation- Fertile Crescent

discovery of irrigation gave people living in the Fertile Crest an advantage over people in the highland. Without irrigation, drought could lead to famine. irrigation allowed a protection against drought and allowed a higher yield of crops.

Terror and Deportation- The Assyrians

in order to hold their empire, the Assyrians applied a systematic policy of terror to discourage rebellion, becoming notorious for cruelty and brutal suppression of opposition. They boasted of their cruelty through art by depicting warlike scenes. Rebellious populations were deported and replaced by Assyrian colonists. Deportation was to assimilate unruly subjects into Assyrian society and thereby make them lose any sense of national identity and desire for independence. The most famous is the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, who vanished after their deportation.

Mathematics-Mesopotamian

numbers were calculated on a sexagesimal, base 6o, system (like time). The year was divided into 12 months to keep up with the moon. an extra month was added to keep the calendar in line with the moon.

Prophets - The Hebrews

the Bible recounts the unfaithfulness of the Hebrews and their resistance to special religious leaders, known as prophets, who exhorted the people to renounce polytheism once and for all. They were individuals from any walk of life who felt inspired to remind the people of the central importance of the Covenant. The welfare of the Hebrews revolved around the question of their faithfulness to Yahweh: foreign invasions and other misfortunes were considered punishments for breaking the Covenant by either worshiping other gods or breaking the 10 commandments. Hebrew kings sometimes joined with profits in their quest to make Hebrew a pure monotheism, but sometimes prosecuted them. They were often able to speak with such conviction that they could convince most people. When the profit Elijah denounced Ahab, king of Israel (871 to 852 BCE), for executing one of his subjects on false charges to seize property, Ahab repented. When medieval popes opposed kings and emperors, they did so with the example of the ancient Hebrew prophets in mind.

The Old Stone Age- Fertile Crescent

the earliest phase of technological progress. humans lived as nomads in small communities, hunting and gathering, using fire and crude implements fashioned from stone and wood. the most advanced tool was the bow and arrow (was used by 25,000 BCE).

Why do cities not produce their own food?- Fertile Crescent

they are engaged in specialized trades, and they trade the specialized items for food in the neighboring areas. Cities only existed where there are especially favorable conditions for raising food.

Commercial Contacts - The Phoenicans

they made a strong impression of the Greeks through their trading contacts. The word "Phoenician" is derived from the Greek word "Phoinike" which meant purple for the deep color the phoenicans created. The Greek word for Book came from the name Byblos, the phoenician center for the production of writing materials in the ancient world. The English word Bible comes from the Geek loanword.