Review Chapter 1

a) characteristic of modern civilizations

i) Technological, military, political, scientific and economic apparatus
ii) Equality (of religion, class, race, sex, etc.)
b) Indo-European
i) The ancient migrants who came from lands like Iran and India to form the Greeks and
Romans and who merged with and imposed their language on the current inhabitants
ii) Their languages include Latin, Greek, Germanic, Slavic, Celtic, and Baltic languages
c) Caesaropapism
i) Caesar is a God and is the only sovereign ruler on earth
ii) One man is ruler and Pontiff
d) St. Augustine's book, City of God
i) Material world can perish; another world more enduring and important
ii) Two cities: city of man, and City of God
iii) Earthly city
(1) State and empire
(2) Political authority and obedience
(3) Good but not divine – emperor is human; state not absolute
iv) Heavenly City
(1) Heaven
(2) Higher Values
e) Donation of Constantine
i) Embraced Christianity in hopes of strengthening the imperial system
ii) Founded Constantinople to be a twin capital of Rome dividing the administration of the
Empire between the two
f) Greek thinkers
i) Socrates, Plato (Republic), and Aristotle (Politics) comment on politics and develop political
science
ii) Herodotus is the “father of history”
iii) Pythagoras helps develop mathematics
iv) To the Greek thinkers not all that is seen is reality; looked for rational explanation for the
chaos that they encountered
g) Roman contributions
i) Orbis Terrarum- lands surrounding Rome, the known world
ii) Unification of lands
iii) Armies systematically formed and maintained long term that operated efficiently over great
distances
iv) First self-governing and republican institutions
v) Universal “natural law”
h) Christianization of the Roman Empire
i) Constantine becomes Christian
ii) Christianity becomes official religion of Roman Empire; no others tolerated
iii) Christian values mix with Greek and Roman philosophy
i) Christianity as intellectual revolution
i) One God replaced the many greater and lesser gods and goddesses
j) Germanic invasions of the West
i) Germanic Barbarian Tribes, the Huns lead by Atilla (the Scourge of God), and Arabs
ii) What contributions and innovations
(1) Arabs: Algebra, Mapmaking, and Numerals
iii) Social organization
(1) Barbarians had no sense of state only local
(2) tribal kinship
 (3) Inflexible, rough and ready means of Justice
(4) eventually peasant villages taken over by a war lord who would protect them from other
attackers and in return lived off their produce
(a) creating the first real distinction between lord and servant, noble and commoner
k) Dark Ages and the
i) Church
(1) monasteries grew up
(a) not much use to surrounding area but prayed and were left alone by chaotic
neighbors
ii) Barbarian kingdoms
(1) Converted to Christianity
(a) Ulfilas converts Goths (340 AD)
(b) Clovis, king of the Franks converted in 496 AD
(c) Augustine of Canterbury converts king of Kent in 597 AD
(2) Settling down into more civilized way of living
iii) Pope
(1) as Rome was seen as a place of awe for the martyrdom of Peter, and the bishop of Rome
was in control of the Roman gov’t, he became known as the Pope and had primacy over
all Christians
(2) Peter was the first pope and all his successors had spiritual authority
l) Charelemagne
i) Frankish king crowned Emperor of the west by the pope in an attempt to gain back lands lost
to Muslims and to fend off or convert heathen barbarians; unify the lands
ii) Restorations
(1) revive forgotten ancient learning and spread education at least among clergy
iii) Success
(1) west was slightly united and somewhat more learned
iv) Methods
(1) brought scholars to his palace school
(2) manuscripts were copied
(3) created more reliable coinage based on silver
v) Limitations
(1) new barbarian attacks
(2) refusal of eastern Christians to recognize western primacy of pope
m) Feudalism
i) Serfdom – peasants “bound to the soil” of the manor of the lord
ii) Fiefs – parcels of land given to vassals by lords for service
iii) Oaths – vassals took oaths to serve and to advise him in his court
iv) Homage
v) fealty
n) Manoralism
i) Self-sufficiency – peasants do farming and simple crafts in return lord gives protection
ii) Integration with feudalism – two way street of support from lord to servant
o) guilds and towns
i) towns were made by their gaining of political rights through charters given out by a king
ii) guilds were associations of merchants and craftsmen
(1) men’s guilds were for masonry, smithing, etc
(2) women could also join guilds but mostly in the clothing industry
p) medieval economy and survival
i) survival in towns was set up by the towns folk: guards, walls, and any other defenses were
provided for the good of the town
ii) economically trade in towns was like the defense it was mainly to keep the town running; few
worked to make a profit and those that did were mistrusted
q) Early parliaments
i) Started when the king had “talks” with representatives of towns, the clergy and the lords
ii) Called cortes in Spain, diets in Germany, Estates General or provincial estates in France, and
parliaments in Britain
iii) Used by king to publicize and strengthen their rule; convenient to explain policies, request
money
iv) Had no right to dictate the king and his government
v) Parliaments allowed to state grievances
vi) Represented not the “nation” or the “people” but the “estates”: First – Clergy, Second –
landed nobles, Third – the burghers of chartered towns
r) Church reform
i) HRE formed in an attempt to preserve and extend Christian faith
ii) Cluniac monastery in France – Christian ideal to which all clergy and laity might look up;
recognized only authority of Rome
iii) Pope Nicholas II – future popes to elected by cardinals
iv) Hildebrand (Gregory VII) – no marriage in clergy, no noble could appoint a clergyman
v) ↑ Lay investiture – process by which the emperor (a layman) conferred on the bishop the
signs of his spiritual authority; prohibited by Gregory VII