Byzantines, Russians, and Turks

Byzantines, Russians, and Turks

Learning Objectives

• How did Constantinople become known as the new Rome?
• How did a weakening of the empire lead to a split in Christianity?
• How did the area now known as Russia develop as a result of Kiev and the Mongols?
• How did the Turks obtain power and create an empire?

Empire Confronts Its Enemies

Building the New Rome

A disease similar to the Bubonic Plague would enter Constantinople through ships from India that were infested with rats.

It is estimated that 10,000 people would die a day from this disease in 542, and that it occurred every 8 to 12 years until around 700.

Justinian would see his empire shrink as armies attacked in the west and east. The city would endure attacks until it eventually would fall to the Ottoman Turks in 1453.

Constantinople Becomes the New Rome

Most Byzantines thought of themselves as Roman, but few spoke Latin, opting for Greek and belong to the eastern branch of the Christian church.

Justinian would set up a panel of ten legal experts to establish a single, uniform code for the empire. They would create the "Justinian Code," containing 5,000 Roman laws, quotes and summaries of opinions of Rome's greatest legal thinkers about the law, a textbook that taught students how to use the laws, and presented a process for legislation passed after the code was created.

Justinian would launch an incredible public building program. He would restore walls and fortifications to the city, expand the palace, and build magnificent churches, the most famous of these was Hagia Sophia (Holy Wisdom).

Weakening Empire Leads to Split

Byzantium Preserves Learning

The Church Divides

A New Rome in a New Setting

Eastern Christianity built its heritage on the works of early church fathers such as St. Basil, Saint John Chrysostom and St. John (who was a patriarch, or leading bishop of the East). Even these men followed the Emperor's rule.

In 730, Emperor Leo III banned the use of icons (religious images used by eastern Christians to aid their devotions.) Iconoclasts (icon-breakers) would break into churches and destroy these icons. People and clergy would rebel, and the Pope would support the use of icons.

One pope would order the excommunication (declared an outcast from the church, not belonging) of a Byzantine emperor.

1054- A schism, or split, would occur in Christianity to divide the religion into Roman Catholic in the West and Orthodox in the East.

Families valued learning and would send their children to monastic or public schools, or hire private tutors to learn Greek and Latin grammar, philosophy, rhetoric, geometry, medicine and history.

This is a large reason to how many of the great Greek and Roman works survived to modern day.

Converting the Slavs

In 527, Justinian succeeded his uncle to the throne of the eastern Roman empire, considering himself Emperor of Rome.

He would set out on conquests to retake Roman lands, including North Africa and Rome. Afterward, a period of 16 years, Rome would change hands 6 times as Germanic tribes continued to attack the city. His campaigns to retake Roman lands would be successful and would control almost all lands that Rome had once held.

Byzantine emperors ruled by absolute power like the Caesars of the Roman empire, but also headed the church. Emperors could appoint and dismiss bishops at will.

Emperors would also have to fear assassination- out of 88 Byzantine emperors, 29 would die violently.

The Orthodox Church would spread its influence into the north to the Slavs.

Two of the most successful missionaries into Slavic territory were Saint Methodius and Saint Cyril. These two would create a alphabet for the Slavic languages, allowing them to read the Bible in their own tongues.

This alphabet would become the written language for many Slavic languages including Russian and be known as the Cyrillic alphabet.

The Roman Empire splits in two and the Byzantine Empire develops in the East. Through trade, Byzantine ideas influence the culture and religion of Russia. Turks adopt Islam and set up an empire in Persia and the eastern flank of Byzantium. Christians and Muslims battle during the Crusades. Mongol invaders bring down the Turks.

Mongols would attack and demolish Kiev in 1240, leaving the Mongols in control of southern Russia for 200 years.

Under Mongol rule, Russians were able to follow their native customs and religion as long as they followed two rules set by the Mongols- Slavic obedience and massive amounts of tribute.

Russian nobles were responsible for collecting the tributes. Alexander Nevsky, Novgorod's prince and military hero, encouraged other princes to cooperate with the Mongols.

The Mongols would push westward from China and destroy whole cities. In 1258, the Mongols would capture Baghdad and destroy the caliph's palace.

Mongol Invasions Favor Moscow

Mongols

First Crusade was called for by Pope Urban II, where Christians drove the Turks out of Jerusalem in 1099.

A fragment of the former Seljuk Empire would gather enough strength to retake Jerusalem in 1187, concluding with Saladin (Kurdish captain) and King Richard I of England making a peace treaty.

The popes would call for other crusades but each following crusade would be weaker and weaker.

Slavs- the people from the forests north of the Black Sea.

Russian legends say that the Slavs invited the Viking chief

Rurik to be their king and in 862, he founded Novgorod.

Around 880 a nobleman from Novgorod named Oleg moved south to Kiev. From there, Vikings could sail by river and sea to Constantinople.

Kiev would grow into a principality, a small state ruled by a prince. Vikings would begin to assimilate to the Slavic culture but society would remain strictly divided between the peasant masses and the nobles, also known as the boyars.

Princess Olga would convert to Christianity in 957, but would not see the entire population convert until her grandson Vladimir became the ruler of Kiev in 980.

Oh My! Crusaders and Mongols

The Seljuk rulers would gain the support of their new Persian subjects, using the Persian city of Isfahan as the new capital, and appointing Persian supporters as government officials.

Nizam al-Mulk would be one of these Persian supporters who would become the vizier (prime minister) to one of the most famous Seljuk sultans, Malik Shah.

The Seljuks would also look to their new subjects for culture and religious guidance, preserving many Persian works, and beautified Isfahan with many splendid mosques.

Crusaders

Slavic and Greek

Moscow was founded in the 1100s, located by three rivers- Volga, Dnieper, and Don.

In the 1320s, Prince Ivan I would be appointed the tax collector of all Slavic lands conquered by the Mongols, making him the most powerful of the Russian princes.

Ivan would convince the Patriarch of Kiev to move to Moscow, increasing the prestige of the city and giving the princes an ally in the Church.

In 1472, Ivan III (Ivan I's grandson) would marry the niece of the last Byzantine emperor and began calling himself czar (Russian version of Caesar), openly claiming to make Russia the "Third Rome."

Ivan III would break away from the Mongols in 1480, refusing to pay their tributes and would face the Mongols in battle. Upon reaching the battlefield, neither army wanted to fight and, after a time, would turn around and march home. This bloodless standoff is considered Russia's liberation from Mongol control.

Persian Support

Moscow Rises

Russia Develops

Turks Create an Empire

In the 10th century, the Turks, who had previously only been known to the Islamic world as traders and raiders, began to convert to Islam and migrating into the Abbasid Empire.

Turkish slaves were bought by the Abbasids for their skill and loyalty. These slaves would be known as mamelukes, and would become a powerful force in the Abbasid Empire. Soon becoming stronger than the Abbasid caliphs in Baghdad.

The Abbasid empire began to slowly fall apart, ending when the Persian armies conquered Baghdad. Following this, large numbers of Turks would migrate into this area in 970.

Seljuks- one of the first migrating groups to come into the area, that would adopt the Sunni branch of Islam, wage war on other Muslims, and overthrow the Persians in Baghdad.

The Seljuk sultans would march on the Byzantine Empire 20 years later, and within 10 years the Seljuks occupied all of Anatolia, the eastern flank of Byzantium.

Vladimir would spread Kiev's power into Poland and almost to the Baltic Sea.

Vladimir's son, Yaroslav the Wise, would come to the throne and led Kiev to create more trading partners by marrying his sisters and daughters off to kings of western Europe.

Kiev's decline would begin with Yaroslav's death, as he left his lands to his sons. These sons would fight one another for the best lands.

The March

Expansion and Decline