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SPRING 2014 Department of History Ancient/Medieval History until 14th c. AD Instructor: Maria Antoniou, PhD The Roman Empire: history and cultural achievements PART A The Republic (509-27 B.C.) Model of the city of Rome during the early fourth century CE. Museo della Civiltà Romana. 1) Temple of Portunus,, 2) Circus Maximus. 3) Palatine Hill, 4) Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, 5) Pantheon, 6) Column of Trajan, 7) Forum of Trajan, 8) Markets of Trajan, 9) Forum of Julius Ceasar, 10) Forum of Augustus, 11) Forum Romanum, 12) Basilica Nova, 13) Arch of Titus, 14) Temple of Venus and Roma, 15) Arch of Constantine, 16) Colossus of Nero, 17) Colosseum.  Princeps - the democratic-evoking title adopted by Octavian, meaning “first citizen,” which somewhat mitigated the monarchial analogue of his position.  In 27 B.C.E., the Senate, at Octavian’s bequest, granted him imperium maius, the greatest proconsular power, and the tribunician power, which allowed him to conduct business in the Senate and veto Senate decisions. He also gained the semireligious title Augustus, implying veneration, holiness, and majesty.  Augustus brought prosperity to Rome by reforming its administration.  Augustus purged the Senate of undesirable members and set its limit at 600.  Augustus controlled the Senate elections to ensure that promising young men would join the Senate after a period of magistracy.  Installed the first Roman police department, fire department, controlled grain distribution, and monitored aquatics.  After a barbarian defeat in 9 B.C.E., Augustus abandoned defense of the northern frontier.  Augustus reformed the Army to include twenty year enlistments, good pay, occasional bonuses and a pension.  Over time, Romanized provinces became buffers against the barbarians outside the provinces. The Roman Empire, 14 C.E  Introduced laws curbing divorce, encouraging early marriage, and encouraging procreation.  Augustus built many temples, revived old cults, and banned the worship of new, foreign gods.  The high point of Roman culture came in the last century of the Republic, and during the Principate of Augustus.  The periods evidence both dominant Greek influence and uniquely Roman qualities.  Cicero was a famous orator who believed in a world governed by natural laws that humans could interpret. His writings were an important legacy in the Middle Ages and were reinterpreted in the Renaissance.  Much of the work of the great Roman historian Sallust is lost, but the military accounts of Julius Caesar survive.  The Roman legal code was developed by praetors and eventually adopted the view that law was natural.  The poetry of Lucretius aimed to save society from fear and superstition. The aristocratic Catullus wrote personal, sometimes autobiographical, poetry. Mosaic from Tunisia shows the poet Vergil reading from his Aeneid to the Muses of Epic and Tragedy  Vergil’s poetry glorified the civil greatness, peace, and prosperity that Augustus brought to Rome. Horace was a great lyric poet. Ovid wrote about the sexual licentiousness of the Roman aristocracy, which prompted his exile by Augustus.  Livy gathered a host of sources into an impressive narrative of Rome’s birth to the present.  Architecture in the Augustan period was influenced by the Greek classical style. Augustus beautified Rome with many new buildings, rebuilt the Roman forum, and built a forum of his own.  The successors of Augustus were known by the title imperator, or emperor.  Tiberius, Gaius, Claudius, and Nero succeeded Augustus and were descended from either him or Livia, his wife.  The Praetorian Guard assassinated the unruly Gaius, commonly remembered as Caligula, and established Claudius as imperator.  Nero’s unpopularity led to rebellion in 68 C.E. and military conflict ensued from which Vespasian emerged victorious.  After the death of Vespasian’s two sons, who succeeded him as emperor, the “five good Emperors” ruled, each was appointed by the Senate.  The death of Marcus Aurelius and the elevation of his son Commodus to emperor ended the reign of the “five good Emperors” and had unfortunate results. Marcus Aurelius, emperor of Rome from 161 to 180 C.E., was one of the five “good emperors” who brought a period of relative peace and prosperity to the empire. This is the only Roman bronze equestrian statue that has survived. Capitoline Museums, Rome, Italy/Canali PhotoBank, Milan/Superstock  Romans left towns in charge of councils of citizens who gained Roman citizenship by serving in the government.  Jews found their religion incompatible with Roman demands and were savagely repressed.  Trajan initiated alimenta, a welfare program for the children of the poor.  As cities prospered, the countryside suffered from lack of resources and attention.  Trajan captured Dacia (between the Danube and the Carpathian mountains), Hadrian fortified Roman holdings, and Marcus Aurelius spent much of his time fighting barbarians in the east and on the Danube.  Eventually coloni, lower class tenant farmers, replaced slaves as the source of Roman agricultural labor. Provinces of the Roman Empire to 117 CE.  Women conducted salons, took part in literary groups, and, sometimes, conducted free sexual lives.  Several women close to emperors had great influence on their policies, lives, and, sometimes, deaths.  Rome had at least 500,000 and perhaps as many as one million people.  Living space was cramped, so residents lived in five- or six-story apartments.  The wooden buildings were fire hazards and sanitary conditions were not pleasant.  The literary period between the death of Augustus and the time of Marcus Aurelius is known as the Silver Age; writers were known for their gloom, negativity, and pessimism.  The Romans designed two new buildings: the large public bath and the amphitheatre. During this time, the Pantheon was built.  Gladiator battles were a popular pastime as people increasingly turned away from public service and the Roman population declined. 39 40 41 42 Roman Wall Painting 43 44 45 Primaporta, Italy, ca. 30–20 bce. Fresco, 6′ 7″ high. Museo Nazionale Romano—Palazzo Massimo alle Terme, Rome. 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 Pax Romana and Augustus 53 54 Female personification (Tellus?), panel on the east facade of the Ara Pacis Augustae, Rome, Italy, 13–9 bce. Marble, 5′ 3″ high. 55 Procession of the imperial family, detail of the south frieze of the Ara Pacis Augustae, Rome, Italy, 13–9 bce. Marble, 5′ 3″ high. 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 Model of an insula, Ostia, Italy, second century ce. Museo della Civiltà Romana, Rome. 63 64 65 Late Roman Sculpture and Painting 66 67 68 69 70 71 Battle of Romans and barbarians (Ludovisi Battle Sarcophagus), from Rome, Italy, ca. 250–260 ce. Marble, 5′ high. Museo Nazionale Romano— Palazzo Altemps, Rome. 72 73 74 75 76 SPRING 2014 Department of History Ancient/Medieval History until 14th c. AD Instructor: Maria Antoniou, PhD Late Antiquity and The Emergence of the Medieval World PART 1  By the third century the Roman Empire was experiencing a number of problems and the growth of a new religion – Christianity  The emperors Diocletian and Constantine initiated reforms that created the “Late Empire”.  Constantine converted to Christianity.  In the west invasions of Germanic tribes. Therefore, in the mid-5th c. the old imperial structure collapsed and a series of Germanik kingdoms emerged.  Christian church played a role as it converted these Germanic tribes to its faith.  While the Germanic kingdoms were putting down roots in the west, the eastern part of the old Roman Empire, increasingly Greek in culture, continued as the Byzantine Empire.  At the same time a new culture centered on Islam emerged in the east. Late Antiquity and The Emergence of the Medieval World  Focus Question: What reforms did Diocletian and Constantine institute, and to what extent were the reforms successful?  At the end of the troubled third century, a new emperor—Diocletian (284–305)—began the process of restoring the strength of the Roman Empire.  Diocletian had risen through the ranks to become a prominent military leader, and after the murder of the emperor Numerian by his praetorian prefect, Diocletian executed the prefect and was then hailed as emperor by his soldiers.  Diocletian created a new administrative system for a restructured empire.  The number of provinces was increased to almost one hundred by creating smaller districts superintended by more officials.  The provinces were in turn grouped into twelve dioceses, each headed by an official called a vicar.  The twelve dioceses were grouped into four prefectures, and the entire Roman Empire was divided into two parts, east and west. Divisions of the late Roman Empire, c. 300.  Each part contained two prefectures and was ruled by an ‘‘Augustus.’’  Diocletian ruled the east and Maximian (mak-SIM-ee-un), a strong military commander, the west.  Each Augustus was assisted by a chief lieutenant or ‘‘vice-emperor’’ called a ‘‘Caesar,’’ who theoretically would eventually succeed to the position of Augustus.  This new system was called the tetrarchy (rule by four).  Diocletian had obviously come to believe that one man was not capable of ruling such an enormous empire, especially in view of the barbarian invasions of the third century.  Each of the four tetrarchs—two Augusti and two Caesars—resided in a different administrative capital. Diocletian, for example, established his base at Nicomedia in Bithynia.  Despite the appearance of four-man rule, however, it is important to note that Diocletian’s military seniority enabled him to claim a higher status and hold the ultimate authority. 10  Soon after Diocletian’s retirement in 305, a new struggle for power ensued.  Constantine continued and even expanded the autocratic policies of Diocletian. Under these two rulers, the Roman Empire was transformed into a system in which the emperor had far more personal power than Augustus, Trajan, or any of the other emperors had had during the Pax Romana.  The emperor, now clothed in jewel-bedecked robes of gold and blue, was seen as a divinely sanctioned monarch whose will was law. Government officials were humble servants required to kneel before the emperor and kiss his robe.  The Roman senate was stripped of any power and became merely the city council for Rome.  The army was enlarged to 400,000 men, including units filled with Germans.  By the end of Constantine’s reign, the army also had a new organization. Military forces were divided between:  A) garrison troops, which were located on the frontiers to serve as a first line of defense against invaders, and B) mobile units, which were based behind the frontier but could be quickly moved to support frontier troops when the borders were threatened.  This system gave the empire greater flexibility in responding to invasion.  The political and military reforms of Diocletian and Constantine greatly enlarged two institutions—the army and the civil service —that drained most of the public funds.  Although more revenues were needed to pay for the military and the bureaucracy, the population was not growing, so the tax base could not be expanded.  Diocletian and Constantine devised new economic and social policies to deal with these financial burdens. Like their political policies, these economic and social policies were all based on coercion and loss of individual freedom.  To fight inflation, in 301 Diocletian resorted to issuing an edict that established maximum wages and prices for the entire empire. It was applied mostly in the east, but despite severe penalties, like most wage and price controls, it was largely unenforceable.  The decline in the coins in circulation forced Diocletian to collect taxes and make government payments in produce. Constantine, however, managed to introduce a new gold coin, the solidus, and new silver coins that remained in circulation during his reign.  In the third century, the city councils, which had formed one of the most important administrative units of the empire, had begun to decline. Since the curiales (KUR-ee-all-ayss) (the city councillors) were forced to pay expenses out of their own pockets when the taxes they collected were insufficient, the wealthy no longer wanted to serve in these positions.  Diocletian and Constantine responded by issuing edicts that forced the rich to continue in their posts as curiales, making the positions virtually hereditary. Some curiales realized that their fortunes would be wiped out and fled the cities to escape the clutches of the imperial bureaucracy. If caught, however, they were returned to their cities like runaway slaves and forced to resume their duties.  Coercion also came to form the underlying basis for numerous occupations in the Late Roman Empire.  To maintain the tax base and keep the empire going despite the shortage of labor, the emperors issued edicts that forced people to remain in their designated vocations. Hence, basic jobs, such as bakers and shippers, became hereditary.  Free tenant farmers—the coloni— continued to decline and increasingly found themselves bound to the land as large landowners took advantage of the depressed agricultural conditions to enlarge their landed estates.  To guarantee their supply of labor, the landlords obtained the government’s co-operation in attaching the tenant farmers to the estates.  In addition to facing increased restrictions on their freedom, the lower classes were burdened with enormous taxes, since the wealthiest classes in the Late Roman Empire were either exempt from paying taxes or evaded them by bribing the tax collectors. These tax pressures undermined lowerclass support for the regime.  A fifth-century writer reported that the Roman peasants welcomed the Visigothic invaders of southern Gaul as liberators because the enemy was more lenient to them than the tax collectors.  Constantine engaged in extensive building programs despite the strain they placed on the budget. Many of them took place in the provinces, as Rome had become merely a symbolic capital. It was considered too far from the frontiers to serve as an imperial administrative center.  Between 324 and 330, Constantine carried out his biggest project, the construction of a new capital city in the east, on the site of the Greek city of Byzantium (bih-ZAN-tee-um), on the shores of the Bosporus.  Named the ‘‘city of Constantine,’’ or Constantinople (modern Istanbul), it was developed for defensive reasons; it had an excellent strategic location. Calling it his ‘‘New Rome,’’ Constantine endowed the city with a forum, large palaces, and a vast amphitheater. • It was officially dedicated on May 11, 330, ‘‘by the commandment of God,’’ and in the following years, many Christian churches were built there.  Constantine did not entirely forget Rome. Earlier he was responsible for building public baths and the triumphal Arch of Constantine, erected between 312 and 315.  Constantine was also the first emperor to build churches for the Christian faith in Rome, including the first basilica dedicated to Saint Peter, built on the supposed site of Saint Peter’s burial.  These acts by Constantine are a reminder of the new role Christianity was beginning to play in the Late Empire. • The Emperor Constantine. This marble head of Constantine, which is 8 feet 6 inches high, was part of an enormous 30 foot-taIl seated statue of the emperor in the New Basilica in Rome. • Constantine used these awe-inspiring statues throughout the empire to build support for imperial policies by reminding his subjects of his position as an absolute ruler with immense power. Being depicted with his eyes cast up toward heaven also emphasized Constantine’s special relationship with God.  Constantine’s support for Christianity supposedly began in 312, when his army was about to fight a crucial battle against the forces of Maxentius (mak-SENshuss) at the Milvian Bridge, which crossed the Tiber River just north of Rome.  According to the traditional story, before the battle, Constantine saw a vision of a Christian cross with the words, ‘‘In this sign you will conquer.’’ Having won the battle, the story goes, Constantine was convinced of the power of the Christian God.  Although he was probably not baptized until the end of his life, in 313 he issued the famous Edict of Milan, which officially tolerated the existence of Christianity.  After Constantine, all of the emperors were Christian with the exception of Julian (360–363), who tried briefly to restore the traditional GrecoRoman polytheistic religion. But he died in battle, and his reign was too short to make a difference.  Under Theodosius (thee-uh-DOH-shuss) I ‘‘the Great’’ (379–395) Christianity was made the official religion of the Roman Empire. Once in control, Christian leaders used their influence and power to outlaw pagan religious practices. Christianity had triumphed.  By the fourth century, the Christian church had developed a system of government based on a territorial plan borrowed from Roman administration. The Christian community in each city was headed by a bishop, whose area of jurisdiction was known as a bishopric or diocese.  The bishoprics of each Roman province were clustered together under the direction of an archbishop. The bishops of four great cities, Rome, Jerusalem, Alexandria, and Antioch, held positions of special power in church affairs because the churches in these cities all asserted that they had been founded by the original apostles sent out by Jesus.  One reason the church needed a more formal organization was the problem of heresy. As Christianity developed and spread, contradictory interpretations of important doctrines emerged. Heresy came to be viewed as a teaching different from the official ‘‘catholic’’ or universal beliefs of the church.  For people deeply concerned about salvation, the question of whether Jesus’s nature is divine or human took on great significance. These doctrinal differences also became political issues, creating political factions that actually warred with one another. It is unlikely that ordinary people understood the issues in these debates.  One of the major heresies of the fourth century was Arianism (AR-ee-uh- niz-um), which was a product of the followers of Arius (AR-ee-uss), a priest from Alexandria in Egypt.  Arius postulated that Jesus had been human and thus not truly God. Arius was opposed by Athanasius (ath-uh-NAY-shuss), a bishop of Alexandria, who argued that Jesus was human but also truly God.  Emperor Constantine, disturbed by the controversy, called the first ecumenical council of the church, a meeting representatives from the entire Christian community. composed of  The Council of Nicaea (ny-SEE-uh), held in 325, condemned Arianism and stated that Jesus was of ‘‘the same substance’’ as God: ‘‘We believe in one God the Father All-sovereign, maker of all things visible and invisible; And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten of the Father, only-begotten, that is, of the substance of the Father, God of God, Light of Light, true God of true God, begotten not made, of one substance with the Father.’  The Council of Nicaea did not end the controversy, however; not only did Arianism persist in some parts of the Roman Empire for many years, but even more important, many of the Germanic Goths who established states in the west converted to Arian Christianity.  As a result of these fourth-century religious controversies, the Roman emperor came to play an increasingly important role in church affairs, especially by taking responsibility for calling church councils.  After Constantine’s death, the empire began to divide into western and eastern parts as fighting erupted on a regular basis between elements of the Roman army backing the claims of rival emperors.  By 395, the western and eastern parts of the empire had become virtually two independent states.  In the course of the fifth century, while the empire in the east remained intact under the Roman emperor in Constantinople the administrative structure of the empire in the west collapsed and was replaced by an assortment of Germanic kingdoms.  The process was a gradual one, involving the movement of Germans into the empire, military failures, struggles for power on the part of both Roman and German military leaders, and the efforts of wealthy aristocrats to support whichever side seemed to offer them greater security.  During the first and second centuries C.E., the Romans had established the Rhine and Danube Rivers as the empire’s northern boundary. The Romans called all the peoples to the north of the rivers ‘‘Germans’’ and regarded them as uncivilized barbarians.  In fact, the Germans comprised several different groups with their own customs and identities, but these constantly changed as tribes broke up and came together in new configurations. At times they formed larger confederations under strong warrior leaders.  The Germans lived by herding and farming and also traded with people living along the northern frontiers of the Roman Empire. Their proximity to the Romans also led to some Romanization of the tribes.  They were familiar with the Roman use of coins rather than barter and also gained some knowledge of both the Latin language and Roman military matters.  Contacts between Romans and Germans were common across the boundaries established along the Rhine and Danube Rivers. In fact, for some time, the Romans had hired Germanic tribes to fight other Germanic tribes that threatened Rome and enlisted groups of Germans to fight for Rome.  Until the fourth century, the empire had proved capable of absorbing these people without harm to its political structure. As that century wore on, however, the situation began to change as the Germanic tribes came under new pressures from invaders.  In the late fourth century, the Huns, a fierce tribe of nomads from Asia began moving into the Black Sea region and forced the Germanic inhabitants westward.  In 376, one of the largest groups, which came to be known as the Visigoths (VlZ-uh-gahthz), asked the Roman emperor Valens (VAY-linz) (364–378) to allow them to cross the Danube and farm in the Balkans in return for providing troops for the Roman military. But the Roman military commanders mistreated them, as one ancient German historian recounted:  “ Soon famine and want came upon them. . .. Their leaders ….. begged the Roman commanders to open a market. But to what will not the ‘‘cursed lust for gold’’ compel men to assent? The generals, swayed by greed, sold them at a high price not only the flesh of sheep and oxen, but even the carcasses of dogs and unclean animals. . .. When their goods and chattels failed, the greedy traders demanded their sons in return for the necessities of life. And the parents consented even to this”.  Outraged at this treatment, the Visigoths revolted. In 378, Emperor Valens and an army of 40,000 soldiers confronted the Visigoths at Adrianople. The emperor was killed, and two-thirds of the Roman soldiers were left dead on the battlefield.  The loss was not fatal, although the new emperor, Theodosius I, resettled the Visigoths and incorporated many of their soldiers into the Roman army. Some of the Visigoths even became army leaders. By the second half of the fourth century, Roman policy allowed Roman army units to be composed entirely of Germanic tribes, known as federates, or allies of Rome. SPRING 2014 Department of History Ancient/Medieval History until 14th c. AD Instructor: Maria Antoniou, PhD Late Antiquity and The Emergence of the Medieval World PART 2  The existence of such military groups proved dangerous to the Late Empire. This was especially evident after Alaric (AL-uh-rik) became the leader of the Visigoths. Between 395 and 401, Alaric and his soldiers moved through the Balkans and then into Italy, seeking food and cash payments from Roman officials.  When the city of Rome refused his demands in 408, Alaric marched to the gates and besieged the city, causing the senate of Rome to agree to pay 5,000 pounds of gold and 30,000 pounds of silver for his withdrawal.  Two years later, frustrated in his demand that the Visigoths be given part of northern Italy, Alaric and his forces sacked Rome for three days. Alaric died soon after, and his Visigothic followers left Italy, crossed the Alps, and moved into Spain and southern Gaul as Roman allies.  By this time, other Germanic tribes were also entering the Roman Empire and settling down. As one contemporary observer noted, ‘‘the barbarians, detesting their swords, turned to their plows and now cherish the Romans as comrades and friends.’’  In the early fifth century, the Burgundians arrived in southern Gaul, while the Franks moved into northern Gaul. Another group, the Vandals, under their leader Gaiseric (GY-zuh-rik), moved through Gaul and Spain, crossed the Strait of Gibraltar into North Africa, and seized Carthage, the capital city, in 439.  As the Germanic tribes moved into the empire and settled down, Roman forces were often withdrawn from the provinces, effectively reducing the central authority of the emperors. In 410, for example, the emperor Honorius (hoh-NOR-ee-uss) recalled the last Roman legions from Britain.  As one ancient commentator remarked, ‘‘Honorius sent letters to the cities in Britain, urging them to fend for themselves.’’ With the withdrawal, the Saxons, who had arrived earlier as Roman allies, now expanded their control in Britain. Within another decade, both Spain and Gaul had also become free of imperial authority. German Migration Routes. In the fifth century, various groups of Germans migrated throughout the Western Roman Empire. Pressure from Huns in the east forced some tribes to move west into the empire, and many tribes already in the empire became involved in conflicts. Some fought the Roman forces, while others were induced to move to the empire’s far regions.  By the middle of the fifth century, the western provinces of the Roman Empire had been taken over by Germanic peoples who were in the process of creating independent kingdoms. At the same time, a semblance of imperial authority remained in Rome, although the real power behind the throne tended to rest in the hands of important military officials known as Masters of the Soldiers.  These military commanders controlled the government and dominated the imperial court. The three most prominent in the fifth century were Stilicho (STIL-i-koh), Aetius (ay-EE-shuss), and Ricimer (RISS-uhmur).  Stilicho and Ricimer were both Germans, whereas Aetius was a Roman. Although all three propped up emperors to maintain the fiction of imperial rule, they were also willing to cooperate with the Germans to maintain their power.  But even the Masters of the Soldiers were never safe in the bloody world of fifth-century Roman political life. Stilicho was executed by the guards of Emperor Honorius. Aetius was killed by Emperor Valentinian (val-enTIN-ee-un) III, who was in turn assassinated by two of Aetius’s German bodyguards, who sought to avenge their betrayed leader.  Ricimer died a natural death, an unusual event in fifth-century Rome. No doubt, the constant infighting at the center of the Western Empire added to the instability of imperial rule.  By the mid-fifth century, imperial authority in the west was still operating only in Italy and small parts of Gaul. Even Rome itself was not safe. In 455, after the Romans broke a treaty that they had made with Gaiseric, leader of the Vandals, Gaiseric sent a Vandal fleet to Italy and sacked the undefended city of Rome.  Twenty-one years later, in 476, Odoacer (oh-doh-AY-sur), a new Master of the Soldiers, himself of German origin, deposed the Roman emperor, the boy Romulus Augustulus (RAHM-yuh-luss ow-GOOS-chuh-luss).  To many historians, the deposition of Romulus signaled the end of the Roman Empire. Of course, this is only a symbolic date, since much of direct imperial rule had already been lost in the course of the fifth century. Even then the empire remained, as Odoacer presented himself as a German king obedient in theory to the Roman emperor Zeno (ZEE-noh) in Constantinople.  By the end of the fifth century, Roman imperial authority in the west had ceased. Nevertheless, the intellectual, governmental, and cultural traditions of the Late Roman Empire continued to live on in the new Germanic kingdoms. Stilicho, a German Master of the Soldiers. HalfVandal and half-Roman, Stilicho was the power behind the imperial throne from 395 to 408. Emperor Honorius ordered his execution in 408. These ivory panels show Stilicho at the right, in Vandal clothing, with his wife and son at the left.  FOCUS QUESTIONS: What changes did the Germanic peoples make to the political, economic, and social conditions of the Western Roman Empire? What were the main features of Germanic law and society, and how did they differ from those of the Romans?  By 500, the Western Roman Empire was being replaced politically by a series of kingdoms ruled by German kings. Although the Germans now ruled, they were greatly outnumbered by the Romans, who still controlled most of the economic resources.  Both were Christian, but many of the Germans were Arian Christians, considered heretics by Romans who belonged to the Christian church in Rome, which had become known as the Roman Catholic Church.  Gradually, the two groups merged into a common culture, although the pattern of settlement and the fusion of the Romans and Germans took different forms in the various Germanic kingdoms.  Zeno, the Roman emperor in Constantinople, was not pleased with Odoacer’s actions and plotted to unseat him. In his desire to act against the German leader, Zeno brought another German tribe, the Ostrogoths (AHSS-truhgahthss), into Italy.  The Ostrogoths had recovered from a defeat by the Huns in the fourth century and under their king Theodoric (thee-AHD-uh-rik) (493–526) had attacked Constantinople. To divert them, Emperor Zeno invited Theodoric to act as his deputy to defeat Odoacer and bring Italy back into the empire.  Theodoric accepted the challenge, marched into Italy, killed Odoacer, and then, contrary to Zeno’s wishes, established himself as ruler of Italy in 493.  More than any other Germanic state, the Ostrogothic kingdom of Italy managed to maintain the Roman tradition of government. The Ostrogothic king, Theodoric, had received a Roman education while a hostage in Constantinople.  After taking control of Italy, he was eager to create a synthesis of Ostrogothic and Roman practices. In addition to maintaining the entire structure of Roman imperial government, he established separate systems of rule for the Ostrogoths and Romans.  The Italian population lived under Roman law administered by Roman officials. The Ostrogoths were governed by their own customs and their own officials. Nevertheless, although the Roman administrative system was kept intact, it was the Ostrogoths alone who controlled the army.  Despite the apparent success of this ‘‘dual approach,’’ Theodoric’s system was unable to keep friction from developing between the Italian population and their Germanic overlords.  Religion proved to be a major source of trouble between Ostrogoths and Romans. The Ostrogoths had been converted earlier to Christianity, but to Arian Christianity, and consequently were viewed by western Christians and the Italians as heretics. Theodoric’s rule grew ever harsher as discontent with Ostrogothic rule deepened.  After Theodoric’s death in 526, it quickly became apparent that much of his success had been due to the force of his own personality. His successors soon found themselves facing opposition from the imperial forces of the Byzantine or Eastern Roman Empire.  Under Emperor Justinian (juh-STIN-ee-un) (527–565) , Eastern Roman armies reconquered Italy between 535 and 552, devastating much of the peninsula in the process and destroying Rome as one of the great urban centers of the Mediterranean world.  The Eastern Roman reconquest proved ephemeral, however. Another German tribe, the Lombards, invaded Italy in 568 and conquered much of northern and central Italy. Unlike the Ostrogoths, the Lombards were harsh rulers and cared little for Roman structures and traditions.  The Lombards’ fondness for fighting each other enabled the Eastern Romans to retain control of some parts of Italy, especially the area around Ravenna, which became the capital of imperial government in the west. The Germanic Kingdoms of the Old Western Empire. The Germanic tribes filled the power vacuum created by the demise of the Roman Empire, building states that blended elements of Germanic customs and laws with those of Roman culture, including largescale conversions to Christianity. The Franks established the most durable of these Germanic states.  The Visigothic kingdom in Spain demonstrated a number of parallels to the Ostrogothic kingdom of Italy. Both favored coexistence between the Roman and German populations, both featured a warrior caste dominating a larger native population, and both continued to maintain much of the Roman structure of government while largely excluding Romans from power.  There were also noticeable differences, however. Perceiving that their Arianism was a stumbling block to good relations, in the late sixth century the Visigothic rulers converted to Latin or Catholic Christianity and ended the tension caused by this heresy. Laws preventing intermarriage were dropped, and the Visigothic and Hispano-Roman peoples began to fuse together. A new body of law common to both peoples also developed.  The kingdom possessed one fatal weakness, however—the Visigoths fought constantly over the kingship. The Visigoths did not have a hereditary monarchy and lacked any established procedure for choosing new rulers.  Church officials tried to help develop a sense of order, as this canon from the Fourth Council of Toledo in 633 illustrates: ‘‘No one of us shall dare to seize the kingdom; no one shall arouse sedition among the citizenry; no one shall think of killing the king.’’  Church decrees failed to stop the feuds, however, and assassinations remained a way of life in Visigothic Spain.  In 711, Muslim invaders destroyed the Visigothic kingdom itself.  Only one of the German states on the European continent proved long- lasting—the kingdom of the Franks. The establishment of a Frankish kingdom was the work of Clovis (c. 482–511), the leader of one group of Franks who eventually became king of them all.  Around 500, Clovis became a Catholic Christian. He was not the first German king to convert to Christianity, but the others had joined the Arian sect of Christianity. The Roman Catholic Church regarded the Arians as heretics, people who believed in teachings that departed from the official church doctrine.  Clovis found that his conversion to Catholic Christianity gained him the support of the Roman Catholic Church, which was only too eager to obtain the friendship of a major Germanic ruler who was a Catholic Christian.  The conversion of the king also paved the way for the conversion of the Frankish peoples. Finally, Clovis could pose as a defender of the orthodox Catholic faith in order to justify his expansion at the beginning of the sixth century.  He defeated the Alemanni (al-uh-MAH-nee) in southwest Germany and the Visigoths in southern Gaul. By 510, Clovis had established a powerful new Frankish kingdom stretching from the Pyrenees in the west to German lands in the east (modern-day France and western Germany).  Clovis was thus responsible for establishing a Frankish kingdom under the Merovingian (meh-ruh-VIN-jee-un) dynasty, a name derived from Merovech, their semi-legendary ancestor. Clovis came to rely on his Frankish followers to rule in the old Roman city-states under the title of count.  Often these officials were forced to share power with the Gallo-Roman Catholic bishops, producing a gradual fusion of Latin and German cultures, with the church serving to preserve the Latin culture. Clovis spent the last years of his life ensuring the survival of his dynasty by killing off relatives who were leaders of other groups of Franks.  After the death of Clovis, his sons divided the newly created kingdom, as was the Frankish custom. During the sixth and seventh centuries, the once united Frankish kingdom came to be partitioned into three major areas: Neustria in northern Gaul; Austrasia, consisting of the ancient Frankish lands on both sides of the Rhine; and the former kingdom of Burgundy.  All three were ruled by members of the Merovingian dynasty. Within the three territories, members of the dynasty were assisted by powerful nobles. Frankish society possessed a ruling class that gradually intermarried with the old Gallo-Roman senatorial class to form a new nobility.  These noble families took advantage of their position to expand their own land and wealth at the expense of the monarchy. Within the royal household, the position of major domus, or mayor of the palace, the chief officer of the king’s household, began to overshadow the king. Essentially, both nobles and mayors of the palace were expanding their power at the expense of the kings.  At the beginning of the eighth century, the most important political development in the Frankish kingdom was the rise of Charles Martel, who served as mayor of the palace of Austrasia beginning in 714.  Charles Martel led troops that defeated the Muslims near Poitiers in 732 and by the time of his death in 741 had become virtual ruler of the three Merovingian kingdoms. Though he was not king, Charles Martel’s dynamic efforts put his family on the verge of creating a new dynasty that would establish an even more powerful Frankish state.  During the sixth and seventh centuries, the Frankish kingdom witnessed a process of fusion between Gallo-Roman and Frankish cultures and peoples, a process accompanied by a significant decline in Roman standards of civilization and commercial activity.  The Franks were warriors and did little to encourage either urban life or trade. Commerce declined in the interior, though seacoast towns maintained some activity. By 750, Frankish Gaul was basically an agricultural society in which the old Roman estates of the Late Empire continued unimpeded. Institutionally, however, Germanic concepts of kingship and customary law replaced the Roman governmental structure.  The barbarian pressures on the Western Roman Empire had forced the emperors to withdraw the Roman armies and abandon Britain by the beginning of the fifth century. This opened the door to the Angles and Saxons, Germanic tribes from Denmark and northern Germany.  Although these same peoples had made plundering raids for a century, the withdrawal of the Roman armies enabled them to make settlements instead. They met with resistance from the Celtic Britons, however, who still controlled the western regions of Cornwall, Wales, and Cumberland at the beginning of the seventh century.  The German invaders eventually succeeded in carving out small kingdoms throughout the island, such as Mercia, Northumberland, and Kent.  This wave of German invaders would eventually be converted to Christianity by new groups of Christian missionaries.  As the Germans infiltrated the Roman Empire, they were influenced by the Roman society they encountered. Consequently, the Germanic peoples of the fifth, sixth, and seventh centuries were probably quite different from the Germans that the forces of Augustus encountered in the first century C.E.  Moreover, there was a meaningful fusion of Roman and German upper classes in the new kingdoms. In Merovingian Frankish lands, upper-class Gallo-Romans intermarried with Frankish nobles to produce a new ruling class. Each influenced the other. Franks constructed Roman-style villas; Gallo-Romans adopted Frankish weapons.  The crucial social bond among the Germanic peoples was the family, especially the extended or patriarchal family of husbands, wives, children, brothers, sisters, cousins, and grandparents. In addition to working the land together and passing it down to succeeding generations, the extended family provided protection, which was sorely needed in the violent atmosphere of Merovingian times.  The German conception of family and kinship affected the way Germanic law treated the problem of crime and punishment. In the Roman system, as in our own, a crime such as murder was considered an offense against society or the state and was handled by a court that heard evidence and arrived at a decision. Germanic law tended to be personal.  An injury by one person against another could lead to a blood feud in which the family of the injured party took revenge on the kin of the wrongdoer. Feuds could result in savage acts of revenge—hands or feet might be hacked off, eyes gouged out, or ears and noses sliced off.  Since this system had a tendency to get out of control and allow mayhem  to multiply, an alternative system arose that made use of a fine called wergeld.  This was the amount paid by a wrongdoer to the family of the person who had been injured or killed. Wergeld, which means ‘‘money for a man,’’ was the value of a person in monetary terms. That value varied considerably according to social status. The law of the Salic Franks, which was first written down under Roman influence at the beginning of the sixth century, stated:  ‘‘If any one shall have killed a free Frank, or a barbarian living under the Salic law, and it have been proved on him, he shall be sentenced to 8,000 denars.... But if any one has slain a man who is in the service of the king, he shall be sentenced to 24,000 denars.’’ An offense against a noble obviously cost considerably more than one against a free person or a slave”.  Under German customary law, compurgation and the ordeal were the two most commonly used procedures for determining whether accused person was guilty and should have to pay wergeld. an  Compurgation was the swearing of an oath by the accused person, backed up by a group of ‘‘oathhelpers,’’ numbering twelve or twenty-five, who would also swear that the accused person should be believed.  The ordeal functioned in a variety of ways, all of which were based on the principle of divine intervention; divine forces (whether pagan or Christian) would not allow an innocent person to be harmed.  For the Franks, like other Germanic peoples of the Early Middle Ages, the extended family was at the center of social organization. The Frankish family structure was quite simple. Males were dominant and made all the important decisions.  A woman obeyed her father until she married and then fell under the legal domination of her husband.  A widow however, could hold property without a male guardian.  In Frankish law, the  wergeld of a wife of childbearing age—of value because she  could produce children—was considerably higher than that  of a man. The Salic law stated: ‘‘If any one killed a free  woman after she had begun bearing children, he shall be  sentenced to 24,000 denars.... After she can have no more  children, he who kills her shall be sentenced to 8,000  denars.’’  Since marriage affected the extended family group, fathers  or uncles could arrange marriages for the good of the family  without considering their children’s wishes. Most important  was the engagement ceremony in which a prospective son in-law made a payment symbolizing the purchase of paternal  authority over the bride. The essential feature of the marriage  itself involved placing the married couple in bed to achieve  their physical union. In first marriages, it was considered  important that the wife be a virgin so as to ensure that any  children would be the husband’s.  A virgin symbolized the  ability of the bloodline to continue. For this reason, adultery  was viewed as pollution of the woman and her offspring, poi soning the future. Adulterous wives were severely punished  (an adulterous woman could be strangled or even burned  alive); adulterous husbands were not. Divorce was relatively  simple and was initiated primarily by the husband. Divorced  wives simply returned to their families.  For most women in the new Germanic kingdoms, their legal status reflected the material conditions of their lives.  Archaeological evidence suggests that most women had life expectancies of only thirty or forty years and that about 10 to 15 percent of women died in their childbearing years, no doubt due to complications associated with childbirth.  For most women, life consisted of domestic labor: providing food and clothing for the household, caring for the children, and assisting with numerous farming chores.  This labor was crucial to the family economy. In addition to clothing and feeding their own families, women could sell or barter clothes and food for additional goods. Of all the duties of women, the most important was childbearing because it was crucial to the maintenance of the family and its Properties.  FOCUS QUESTIONS: How and why did the organization of the Christian church and its relations with the state change during the fourth and fifth centuries?  What were the chief characteristics of Benedictine monasticism, and what role did monks play in both the conversion of Europe to Christianity and the intellectual life of the Germanic kingdoms?  A number of intellectuals in the early church who wrote in Latin profoundly influenced the development of Christian thought in the west.  They came to be known as the Latin Fathers of the Catholic Church. They include Augustine, Jerome, Ambrose, and Gregory the Great.  Saint Augustine (354–430) was the most prominent of the Latin Fathers. His work provides one of the best examples of how Christian theologians used pagan culture in the service of Christianity.  Born in North Africa, Augustine was reared by his mother, an ardent Christian. He eventually became a professor of rhetoric at Milan in 384.  But two years later, after experiencing a profound and moving religious experience, Augustine gave up his teaching position and went back to North Africa, where he served as bishop of Hippo from 396 until his death in 430.  Augustine’s two most famous works are the Confessions and The City of God.  Written in 397, the Confessions was a self-portrait not of Augustine’s worldly activities but of the ‘‘history of a heart,’’ an account of his own personal and spiritual experiences, written to help others with their search. Augustine describes how he struggled throughout his early life to find God until in his thirty-second year he experienced a miraculous conversion.  The City of God, Augustine’s other major work, was a profound expression of a Christian philosophy of government and history. In it, Augustine theorized on the ideal relations between two kinds of societies existing throughout time—the City of God and the City of the World.  Those who loved God would be loyal to the City of God, whose ultimate location was the kingdom of heaven. Earthly society would always be insecure because of human beings’ imperfect nature and inclination to violate God’s commandments.  And yet the City of the World was still necessary, for it was the duty of rulers to curb the depraved instincts of sinful humans and maintain the peace necessary for Christians to live in the world.  Hence, Augustine posited that secular government and authority were necessary for the pursuit of the true Christian life on earth; in doing so, he provided a justification for secular political authority that would play an important role in medieval thought.  Augustine was also important in establishing the Christian church’s views on sexual desire. Many early Christians had seen celibacy, or complete abstinence from sexual activity, as the surest way to holiness.  Augustine, too, believed Christians should reject sex, but he maintained that many Christians were unable to do so. For them, marriage was a good alternative, but with the understanding that even in marriage, sex between a man and woman had to serve a purpose—the procreation of children. It was left to the clergy of the church to uphold the high ideal of celibacy.  Another Latin Father was Jerome (345–420), who pursued literary studies in Rome and became a master of Latin prose. Jerome had mixed feelings about his love for liberal studies, however, and like Augustine, he experienced a spiritual conversion, after which he tried to dedicate himself more fully to Jesus. He had a dream in which Jesus appeared as his judge:  “Asked who and what I was, I replied: ‘‘I am a Christian.’’ But He who presided said: ‘‘You lie, you are a follower of Cicero, not of Christ. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.’’ Instantly, I became dumb. .. . Accordingly I made oath and called upon His name, saying: ‘‘Lord, if ever again I possess worldly books [the classics], or if ever again I read such, I have denied You.’’  After this dream, Jerome determined to ‘‘read the books of God with a zeal greater than I had previously given to the books of men.’’ Ultimately, Jerome found a compromise by purifying the literature of the pagan world and then using it to further the Christian faith.  Jerome was the greatest scholar among the Latin Fathers, and his extensive knowledge of both Hebrew and Greek enabled him to translate the Old and New Testaments into Latin.  In the process, he created the so-called Latin Vulgate, or common text, of the Scriptures that became the standard edition for the Catholic Church in the Middle Ages.  In the early centuries of Christianity, the churches in the larger cities had great influence in the administration of the church. It was only natural, then, that the bishops of those cities would also exercise considerable power.  One of the far reaching developments in the history of the Christian church was the emergence of one bishop—that of Rome—as the recognized leader of the western Christian church.  The doctrine of Petrine supremacy, based on the belief that the bishops of Rome occupied a preeminent position in the church, was grounded in Scripture.  According to the Gospel of Matthew, when Jesus asked his disciples, ‘‘Who do you say I am?’’ Simon Peter answered:  “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus replied, Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah, for this was not revealed by man, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven”.  According to church tradition, Jesus had given the keys to the kingdom of heaven to Peter, who was considered the chief apostle and the first bishop of Rome.  Subsequent bishops of Rome were considered Peter’s successors and later the ‘‘vicars of Christ’’ on earth. Though this exalted view of the bishops of Rome was by no means accepted by all early Christians, Rome’s position as the traditional capital of the Roman Empire served to buttress this claim.  By the end of the fourth century, the bishops of Rome were using the title of “papa”, ‘‘father’’ (which became the English pope). Pope Leo I (440–461) was especially energetic in systematically expounding the doctrine of Petrine supremacy.  He portrayed himself as the heir of Peter, whom Jesus had chosen to be head of the Christian church. But state authorities were also claiming some power over the church. SPRING 2014 Department of History Ancient/Medieval History until 14th c. AD Instructor: Maria Antoniou, PhD Late Antiquity and The Emergence of the Medieval World PART 3  FOCUS QUESTIONS: How and why did the organization of the Christian church and its relations with the state change during the fourth and fifth centuries?  What were the chief characteristics of Benedictine monasticism, and what role did monks play in both the conversion of Europe to Christianity and the intellectual life of the Germanic kingdoms?  A number of intellectuals in the early church who wrote in Latin profoundly influenced the development of Christian thought in the west.  They came to be known as the Latin Fathers of the Catholic Church. They include Augustine, Jerome, Ambrose, and Gregory the Great.  Saint Augustine (354–430) was the most prominent of the Latin Fathers. His work provides one of the best examples of how Christian theologians used pagan culture in the service of Christianity.  Born in North Africa, Augustine was reared by his mother, an ardent Christian. He eventually became a professor of rhetoric at Milan in 384.  But two years later, after experiencing a profound and moving religious experience, Augustine gave up his teaching position and went back to North Africa, where he served as bishop of Hippo from 396 until his death in 430.  Augustine’s two most famous works are the Confessions and The City of God.  Written in 397, the Confessions was a self-portrait not of Augustine’s worldly activities but of the ‘‘history of a heart,’’ an account of his own personal and spiritual experiences, written to help others with their search. Augustine describes how he struggled throughout his early life to find God until in his thirtysecond year he experienced a miraculous conversion.  The City of God, Augustine’s other major work, was a profound expression of a Christian philosophy of government and history. In it, Augustine theorized on the ideal relations between two kinds of societies existing throughout time—the City of God and the City of the World.  Those who loved God would be loyal to the City of God, whose ultimate location was the kingdom of heaven. Earthly society would always be insecure because of human beings’ imperfect nature and inclination to violate God’s commandments.  And yet the City of the World was still necessary, for it was the duty of rulers to curb the depraved instincts of sinful humans and maintain the peace necessary for Christians to live in the world.  Hence, Augustine posited that secular government and authority were necessary for the pursuit of the true Christian life on earth; in doing so, he provided a justification for secular political authority that would play an important role in medieval thought.  Augustine was also important in establishing the Christian church’s views on sexual desire. Many early Christians had seen celibacy, or complete abstinence from sexual activity, as the surest way to holiness.  Augustine, too, believed Christians should reject sex, but he maintained that many Christians were unable to do so. For them, marriage was a good alternative, but with the understanding that even in marriage, sex between a man and woman had to serve a purpose— the procreation of children. It was left to the clergy of the church to uphold the high ideal of celibacy.  Another Latin Father was Jerome (345–420), who pursued literary studies in Rome and became a master of Latin prose. Jerome had mixed feelings about his love for liberal studies, however, and like Augustine, he experienced a spiritual conversion, after which he tried to dedicate himself more fully to Jesus. He had a dream in which Jesus appeared as his judge:  “Asked who and what I was, I replied: ‘‘I am a Christian.’’ But He who presided said: ‘‘You lie, you are a follower of Cicero, not of Christ. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.’’ Instantly, I became dumb. .. . Accordingly I made oath and called upon His name, saying: ‘‘Lord, if ever again I possess worldly books [the classics], or if ever again I read such, I have denied You.’’  After this dream, Jerome determined to ‘‘read the books of God with a zeal greater than I had previously given to the books of men.’’ Ultimately, Jerome found a compromise by purifying the literature of the pagan world and then using it to further the Christian faith.  Jerome was the greatest scholar among the Latin Fathers, and his extensive knowledge of both Hebrew and Greek enabled him to translate the Old and New Testaments into Latin.  In the process, he created the so-called Latin Vulgate, or common text, of the Scriptures that became the standard edition for the Catholic Church in the Middle Ages.  In the early centuries of Christianity, the churches in the larger cities had great influence in the administration of the church. It was only natural, then, that the bishops of those cities would also exercise considerable power.  One of the far reaching developments in the history of the Christian church was the emergence of one bishop—that of Rome—as the recognized leader of the western Christian church.  The doctrine of Petrine supremacy, based on the belief that the bishops of Rome occupied a preeminent position in the church, was grounded in Scripture.  According to the Gospel of Matthew, when Jesus asked his disciples, ‘‘Who do you say I am?’’ Simon Peter answered:  “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus replied, Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah, for this was not revealed by man, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven”.  According to church tradition, Jesus had given the keys to the kingdom of heaven to Peter, who was considered the chief apostle and the first bishop of Rome.  Subsequent bishops of Rome were considered Peter’s successors and later the ‘‘vicars of Christ’’ on earth. Though this exalted view of the bishops of Rome was by no means accepted by all early Christians, Rome’s position as the traditional capital of the Roman Empire served to buttress this claim.  By the end of the fourth century, the bishops of Rome were using the title of “papa”, ‘‘father’’ (which became the English pope). Pope Leo I (440–461) was especially energetic in systematically expounding the doctrine of Petrine supremacy.  He portrayed himself as the heir of Peter, whom Jesus had chosen to be head of the Christian church. But state authorities were also claiming some power over the church.  Once the Roman emperors became Christians, they came to play a significant role in the affairs of the church. Christian emperors viewed themselves as God’s representatives on earth. They not only built churches and influenced the structure of the church’s organization but also became involved in church government and doctrinal controversies.  While emperors were busying themselves in church affairs, the spiritual and political vacuum left by the disintegration of the Roman state allowed bishops to play a more active role in imperial government.  Increasingly, they served as advisers to Christian Roman emperors. Moreover, as imperial authority declined, bishops often played a noticeably independent political role.  Ambrose (c. 339–397) of Milan was an early example of a strong and independent bishop. Through his activities and writings, which brought him recognition as another of the four Latin Fathers of the Catholic Church.  Ambrose created an image of the ideal Christian bishop. Among other things, this ideal bishop would defend the independence of the church against the tendency of imperial officials to oversee church policy: ‘‘Exalt not yourself, but if you would reign the longer, be subject to God. It is written, God’s to God and Caesar’s to Caesar. The palace is the Emperor’s, the Churches are the Bishop’s.’’  When Emperor Theodosius I ordered the massacre of many citizens of Thessalonika for refusing to obey his commands, Ambrose denounced the massacre and refused to allow the emperor to take part in church ceremonies. Theodosius finally agreed to do public penance in the cathedral of Milan for his dastardly deed. Ambrose proved himself a formidable advocate of the position that spiritual authority should take precedence over temporal power, at least in spiritual matters.  The weakness of the political authorities on the Italian peninsula also contributed to the church’s independence in that area. In the Germanic kingdoms, the kings controlled both churches and bishops. But in Italy, a different tradition prevailed, fed by semi legendary accounts of papal deeds. Pope Leo I, for example, supposedly caused Attila the Hun to turn away from Rome in 452.  Although Attila’s withdrawal was probably due more to plague than to papal persuasion, the pope got the credit. Popes, then, played significant political roles in Italy, which only added to their claims of power vis-a`-vis the secular authorities. Pope Gelasius (juh-LAY-shuss) I (492–496) could write to the emperor at Constantinople:  “There are two powers, august Emperor, by which this world is ruled from the beginning: the consecrated authority of the bishops, and the royal power. In these matters the priests bear the heavier burden because they will render account, even for rulers of men, at the divine judgment.  Besides, most gracious son, you are aware that, although you in your office are the ruler of the human race nevertheless you devoutly bow your head before those who are leaders in things divine and look to them for the means of your salvation.”  Pope Pope Gregory I. Pope Gregory the Great became one of the most important popes of the Early Middle Ages. As a result of his numerous writings, he is considered the last of the Latin Fathers of the church. This ninth-century manuscript illustration shows Gregory working on a manuscript, assisted by a monk. Above Gregory’s head is a dove, symbol of the Holy Spirit, which is providing divine inspiration for what he is writing. • Although eventually western Christians came to accept the bishop of Rome as head of the church, there was no unanimity on the extent of the powers the pope possessed as a result of his position. • Nevertheless, the emergence in the sixth century of a strong pope, Gregory I, known as Gregory the Great, the last of the Latin Fathers, set the papacy and the Roman Catholic Church on an energetic path that enabled the church in the seventh and eighth centuries to play an increasingly prominent role in civilizing the Germans and aiding the emergence of a distinctly new European civilization.  As pope, Gregory I (590–604) assumed direction of Rome and its surrounding territories, which had suffered enormously from the Ostrogothic-Byzantine struggle and the Lombard invasion of the sixth century. Gregory described the conditions in a sermon to the people of Rome:  “What Rome herself, once deemed the Mistress of the World, has now become, we see—wasted away with afflictions grievous and many, with the loss of citizens, the assaults of enemies, the frequent fall of ruined buildings.... Where is the Senate? Where is the people? The bones are all dissolved, the flesh is consumed, all the pomp of the dignities of this world is gone”.  Gregory took charge and made Rome and its surrounding area into an administrative unit that eventually came to be known as the Papal States. Although historians disagree about Gregory’s motives in establishing papal temporal power, no doubt Gregory was probably only doing what he felt needed to be done: provide for the defense of Rome against the Lombards, establish a government for Rome, and feed the people.  Gregory remained loyal to the empire and continued to address the Byzantine emperor as the rightful ruler of Italy.  Gregory also pursued a policy of extending papal authority over the Christian church in the west, although few people in Europe at this time looked to the pope as the church’s ruler.  He intervened in ecclesiastical conflicts throughout Italy and corresponded with the Frankish rulers, urging them to reform the church in Gaul. He successfully initiated the efforts of missionaries to convert England to Christianity and was especially active in converting the pagan peoples of Germanic Europe.  His primary instrument was the monastic movement.  A monk (Latin monachus, meaning ‘‘someone who lives alone’’) was a man who sought to live a life divorced from the world, cut off from ordinary human society, in order to pursue an ideal of godliness or total dedication to the will of God.  Christian monasticism, which developed first in Egypt, was initially based on the model of the solitary hermit who forsakes all civilized society to pursue spirituality.  Saint Anthony (c. 250–350) was a prosperous Egyptian peasant who decided to follow Jesus’s injunction in the Gospel of Mark:  ‘‘Go your way, sell whatsoever you have, and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.’’  Anthony gave his 300 acres of land to the poor and went into the desert to pursue his ideal of holiness. Others did likewise, often to extremes.  Saint Simeon the Stylite lived for three decades in a basket atop a pillar more than 60 feet high. These spiritual gymnastics established a new ideal for Christianity.  Whereas the early Christian model had been the martyr who died for the faith and achieved eternal life in the process, the new ideal was the monk who died to the world and achieved spiritual life through denial, asceticism, and mystical experience of God.  These early monks, however, soon found themselves unable to live in solitude. Their feats of holiness attracted followers on a wide scale, and as the monastic ideal spread throughout the east, a new form of monasticism, based on the practice of communal life, soon became the dominant form.  Monastic communities soon came to be seen as the ideal Christian society that could provide a moral example to the wider society around them.  Saint Benedict of Nursia (c. 480–c. 543), who founded a monastic house and wrote a set of rules for it sometime between 520 and 530, established the fundamental form of monastic life in the western Christian church.  Benedict’s rules largely rejected the ascetic ideals of eastern monasticism, which had tended to emphasize such practices as fasting and self-inflicted torments (such as living atop pillars for thirty years), in favor of an ideal of moderation.  In Chapter 40 of the rules, on the amount of drink a monk should imbibe, this sense of moderation becomes apparent:  ‘‘Every man has his proper gift from God, one after this manner, another after that. And therefore it is with some misgiving that we determine the amount of food for someone else.  Still, having regard for the weakness of some brothers, we believe that a hemina [a quarter liter] of wine per day will suffice for all. Let those, however, to whom God gives the gift of abstinence, know that they shall have their proper reward.  But if either the circumstances of the place, the work, or the heat of summer necessitates more, let it lie in the discretion of the abbot to grant it. But let him take care in all things lest satiety or drunkenness supervene”.  At the same time, moderation did not preclude a hard and disciplined existence based on the ideals of stability (staying in the monastery for life), fidelity (accepting the routine of the monastery), and obedience (to the abbot as head of the monastery).  Benedict’s rules divided each day into a series of activities with primary emphasis on prayer and manual labor. Physical work of some kind was required of all monks for several hours a day because ‘‘idleness is the enemy of the soul.’’  At the very heart of community practice was prayer, the proper ‘‘work of God.’’ While this included private meditation and reading, all monks gathered together seven times during the day for common prayer and chanting of psalms. A Benedictine life was a communal one; monks ate, worked, slept, and worshiped together.  Each Benedictine monastery was strictly ruled by an abbot, or ‘‘father’’ of the monastery, who had complete authority over the monks, who bent unquestioningly to the will of the abbot.  Each Benedictine monastery owned lands that enabled it to be a self-sustaining community, isolated from and independent of the world surrounding it.  Within the monastery, however, monks were to fulfill an ideal of poverty: ‘‘Let all things be common to all, as it is written, lest anyone should say that anything is his own or arrogate it to himself.’’ By the eighth century, Benedictine monasticism had spread throughout the west.  Women, too, sought to withdraw from the world to dedicate themselves to God. Already in the third century, groups of women abandoned the cities to form communities in the deserts of Egypt and Syria.  The first monastic rules for western women were produced by Caesarius of Arles for his sister in the fifth century. They strongly emphasized a rigid cloistering of female religious, known as nuns, to preserve them from dangers.  Later in the west, in the seventh and eighth centuries, the growth of double monasteries allowed monks and nuns to reside close by and follow a common set of rules. Not all women pursued the celibate life in the desert, however. In a number of cities in the fourth century, women organized religious communities in their own homes.  Monasticism played an indispensable role in early medieval civilization. Monks became the new heroes of Christian civilization. Their dedication to God became the highest ideal of Christian life. Moreover, the monks played an increasingly significant role in spreading Christianity to all of Europe.  Ireland had remained a Celtic outpost beyond the reach of the Roman Empire and the Germanic invaders. The most famous of the Christian missionaries to Ireland in the fifth century was Saint Patrick (c. 390–461).  Son of a Romano-British Christian, Patrick was kidnapped as a young man by Irish raiders and kept as a slave in Ireland. After his escape to Gaul, he became a monk and chose to return to Ireland to convert the Irish to Christianity. Irish tradition ascribes to Patrick the title of ‘‘founder of Irish Christianity,’’ a testament to his apparent success.  Since Ireland had not been part of the Roman world and was fairly isolated from the European continent even after its conversion, Irish Christianity tended to develop along lines somewhat different from Roman Christianity.  Whereas Catholic ecclesiastical structure had followed Roman government models, the absence of these models in Ireland led to a different pattern of church organization. Rather than bishoprics, monasteries became the fundamental units of church organization, and abbots, the heads of the monasteries, exercised far more control over the Irish church than bishops did.  Since Ireland had not been part of the Roman world and was fairly isolated from the European continent even after its conversion, Irish Christianity tended to develop along lines somewhat different from Roman Christianity.  Whereas Catholic ecclesiastical structure had followed Roman government models, the absence of these models in Ireland led to a different pattern of church organization. Rather than bishoprics, monasteries became the fundamental units of church organization, and abbots, the heads of the monasteries, exercised far more control over the Irish church than bishops did.  By the sixth century, Irish monasticism was a flourishing institution with its own striking characteristics. It was strongly ascetic. Monks performed strenuous fasts, prayed and meditated frequently under extreme privations, and confessed their sins on a regular basis to their superiors.  In fact, Irish monasticism gave rise to the use of penitentials or manuals that provided a guide for examining one’s life to see what offenses against the will of God had been committed.  A great love of learning also characterized Irish monasticism. The Irish eagerly absorbed both Latin and Greek culture and fostered education as a major part of their monastic life.  Irish monks were preserving Classical Latin at the same time spoken Latin was being corrupted on the Continent into new dialects that eventually became the Romance languages, such as Italian, French, and Spanish.  Irish monasteries produced extraordinary illuminated manuscripts illustrated with abstract geometric patterns.  The emphasis on asceticism led many Irish monks to go into voluntary exile. This ‘‘exile for the love of God’’ was not into isolation, however, but into missionary activity.  Irish monks became fervid missionaries. Saint Columba (521–597) left Ireland in 565 as a ‘‘pilgrim for Christ’’ and founded a highly influential monastic community off the coast of Scotland on the island of Iona. From there Irish missionaries went to northern England to begin the process of converting the Angles and Saxons.  Aidan of lona, for example, founded the island monastery of Lindisfarne (LIN- dis-farn) in the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria. Lindisfarne in turn became a training center for monks who spread out to different parts of AngloSaxon England.  Meanwhile, other Irish monks traveled to the European mainland. New monasteries founded by the Irish became centers of learning wherever they were located.  At the same time the Irish monks were busy bringing their version of Christianity to the Anglo-Saxons of Britain, Pope Gregory the Great had set in motion his own effort to convert England to Roman Christianity.  His most important agent was Augustine, a monk from a monastery in Rome, who arrived in England in 597. England at that time had a number of Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. Augustine went first to Kent, where he converted King Ethelbert, whereupon most of the king’s subjects followed suit.  Pope Gregory’s conversion techniques emphasized persuasion rather than force, and as seen in this excerpt from one of his letters, he was willing to assimilate old pagan practices in order to coax the pagans into the new faith:  “We wish you [Abbot Mellitus] to inform him [Augustine] that we have been giving careful thought to the affairs of the English, and have come to the conclusion that the temples of the idols among that people should on no account be destroyed.  The idols are to be destroyed, but the temples themselves are to be sprinkled with holy water, altars set up in them, and relics deposited there. For if these temples are well-built, they must be purified from the worship of demons and dedicated to the service of the true God. In this way, we hope that the people, seeing that their temples are not destroyed, may abandon their error and flocking more readily to their accustomed resorts, may come to know and adore the true God”.  Freed of their pagan past, temples became churches, as one Christian commentator noted with joy: ‘‘The dwelling place of demons has become a house of God. The saving light has come to shine, where shadows covered all. Where sacrifices once took place and idols stood, angelic choirs now dance. Where God was angered once, now God is made content.’’  Likewise, old pagan feasts were given new names and incorporated into the Christian calendar. No doubt Gregory was aware that early Christians had done the same. The Christian feast of Christmas, for example, was held on December 25, the day of the pagan celebration of the winter solstice. The Book of Kells. Art historians use the term Hiberno-Saxon (Hibernia was the ancient name for Ireland) or Insular to refer to works produced primarily in the monasteries of the British Isles, especially Ireland. The best example of HibernoSaxon art is The Book of Kells, a richly decorated illuminated manuscript of the Christian gospels. Though owned by the monastery of Kells, the work was produced by the monks of lona, who combined Celtic and Anglo-Saxon abstract designs with elaborate portrayals of human figures and animals. A twelfth-century priest who viewed it observed: ‘‘Look ... keenly at it and you ... Will make out intricacies, so delicate and subtle, so exact and compact, so full of knots and links, with colors so fresh and vivid, that you might say that all this was the work of an angel, and not of a man.’’ This introductory page from the Gospel of Matthew shows Jesus with four angels.  As Roman Christianity spread northward in Britain, it encountered Irish Christianity moving southward. Soon arguments arose over the differences between Irish and Roman Christianity, especially over different calendar days for the feast of Easter and matters of discipline. At the Synod of Whitby, held in the kingdom of Northumbria in 664, the king of Northumbria accepted the arguments of the representatives of Roman Christianity and decided the issue in favor of Roman practices.  A gradual fusion of Irish and Roman Christianity now ensued. Despite its newfound unity and loyalty to Rome, the English church retained some Irish features. Most important was the concentration on monastic culture with special emphasis on learning and missionary work. By 700, the English clergy had become the best trained and most  learned in western Europe.  Following the Irish example, English monks journeyed to the European continent to carry on the work of conversion.  Most important was Boniface (c. 675–754), who undertook the conversion of pagan Germans in Frisia, Bavaria, and Saxony. By 740, Saint Boniface, the ‘‘Apostle of the Germans,’’ had become the most famous churchman in Europe. Fourteen years later, he was killed while trying to convert the pagan Frisians. Boniface was a brilliant example of the numerous Irish and English monks whose tireless efforts made Europe the bastion of the Roman Catholic faith.  Women, too, played an important role in the monastic missionary movement and the conversion of the Germanic kingdoms. Double monasteries, where monks and nuns lived in separate houses but attended church services together, were found in both the English and Frankish kingdoms. The monks and nuns followed common rules under a common head— frequently an abbess rather than an abbot.  Many of these abbesses belonged to royal houses, especially in Anglo-Saxon England. In the kingdom of Northumbria, for example, Saint Hilda founded the monastery of Whitby in 657. As abbess, she was responsible for giving learning an important role in the life of the monastery; five future bishops were educated under her tutelage . For female intellectuals, monasteries offered opportunities for learning not found elsewhere in the society of their day.  Nuns of the seventh and eighth centuries were not always as heavily cloistered as they once had been and were there- fore able to play an important role in the spread of Christianity.  The great English missionary Boniface relied on nuns in England for books and money. He also asked the abbess of Wimborne to send groups of nuns to establish convents in newly converted German lands. A nun named Leoba established the first convent in Germany at Bischofsheim.  The monastic movement enabled some women to pursue a new path to holiness. Cloisters for both men and women offered the ideal place to practice the new Christian ideal of celibacy. This newfound emphasis on abstaining from sexual relations, especially evident in the emphasis on virginity, created a new image of the human body in late antiquity.  To many Greeks and Romans, the human body had been a source of beauty, joy, and pleasure, an attitude evident in numerous works of art. Many Christians, however, viewed the body as a hindrance to a spiritual connection with God. The refusal to have sex was a victory over the desires of the flesh and thus an avenue to holiness.  In the fourth and fifth centuries, a cult of virginity also moved beyond the walls of monasteries and convents. Throughout the Mediterranean world, groups of women met together to study the importance and benefits of celibacy.  In Rome, a woman named Marcella supported a group of aristocratic women who studied the teachings abou celibacy and also aided Jerome, the church father, with his work in translating the Bible into Latin.  Beginning in the sixth century, monasteries and local churches became the beneficiaries of grants of land from kings, bishops, and aristocrats. These gifts reached a high point in the eight century.  In fact, one historian has estimated that by the end of the eighth century, one-third of the land of Italy and the kingdom of the Franks was owned by church establishments. Those who gave these gifts did so in large part for religious favors, such as prayers and assurances of salvation. As a result of the gifts, however, individual monasteries sometimes became as wealthy as landed aristocrats and thus also served as instruments of political power. The Spread of Christianity, 400–800. The Christian church had penetrated much of the Roman Empire by the end of the fifth century. After the fall of the empire, the church emerged as a major base of power and pushed its influence into new areas through the activities of missionaries.  Although the Christian church came to accept Classical culture, it was not easy to do so in the new Germanic kingdoms. Nevertheless, some Christian scholars managed to keep learning alive.  CASSIODORUS Most prominent was Cassiodorus (c. 490–585), who came from an aristocratic Roman family and served as an official of the Ostrogothic king Theodoric.  The conflicts that erupted after the death of Theodoric led Cassiodorus to withdraw from public life and retire to his landed estates in southern Italy, where he wrote his final work, Divine and Human Readings, a compendium of the literature of both Christian and pagan antiquity.  Cassiodorus accepted the advice of earlier Christian intellectuals to make use of Classical works while treasuring the Scriptures above all else.  Cassiodorus continued the tradition of late antiquity of classifying knowledge according to certain subjects. In assembling his compendium of authors, he followed the works of late ancient authors in placing all secular knowledge into the categories of the seven liberal arts, which were divided into two major groups:  the trivium, consisting of grammar, rhetoric, and dialectic or logic, and the quadrivium  consisting of arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music. The seven liberal arts would remain the cornerstone of Western education for nearly twelve hundred years.  BEDE:  The Venerable Bede (BEED) (c. 672–735) was a scholar and product of Christian Anglo-Saxon England. He entered a monastery at Jarrow as a small boy and remained there most of the rest of his life.  His Ecclesiastical History of the English People, completed in 731, was a product of the remarkable flowering of English ecclesiastical and monastic culture in the eighth century. His history of England begins with the coming of Christianity to Britain. Although Bede shared the credulity of his age in regard to stories of miracles, he had a remarkable sense of history. He used his sources so judiciously that they remain our chief source of information about early Anglo-Saxon England.  His work was a remarkable accomplishment for a monk from a small corner of England and reflects the high degree of intellectual achievement in England in the eighth century. Choose and answer five of the eight questions below; each answer should be approximately 10-15 lines. Each answer is worth 20 points. 1. What are the characteristics, achievements and main reforms of Octavian Augustus? 2. What political, military, economic and social problems did the Roman Empire face during the third century? 3. Describe briefly the most popular mystery religions of the Roman Empire. What advantages did they offer unavailable to Roman religion? 4. What were the most important divisions of the Jewish people? Describe briefly the characteristics of each group. 5. Describe the organization, structure and characteristics of the Early Christian communities. 6. Why was Christianity able to attract so many followers? 7. What were the main reforms of Diocletian and Constantine? 8. What was Arianism, when did it appear, what was its content and how did the church deal with it? 9. Describe the appearance and development of Monasticism in Medieval Europe. Organization, characteristics, importance. Refer to specific examples of such monastic organizations and their founders. 10.What do you know about the Germanic Law? What were its fundamental principles regarding punishment?
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History Exam Questions
Question 7: Main Reforms of Diocletian and Constantine
Politically, Diocletian came up with a new administrative system for a restructured empire. The new
empire consisted of an increased number of provinces to about one hundred and smaller districts
that were superintended by more officials. Diocletian grouped the provinces into twelve dioceses
and every diocese was headed by an official known as vicar. Diocletian further grouped the twelve
dioceses into four prefectures, making the whole empire divided into two major parts; east and west
with Diocletian ruling the east while Maximian ruled the west as a military commander. Diocletian
ensured that every part; east and west was divided into two prefectures and was ruled by an
Augustus who was assisted by a Caesar also known as a vice-emperor. Generally, the new system
created by Diocletian was known as tetrarchy (rule by four) since Diocletian believed that one man
was incapable of ruling the entire empire because of the earlier barbarian invasion; hence Diocletian
ruled alongside Augustus, Caesar, and the military seniority thus held ultimate authority.
Constantine expanded Diocletian’s autocratic policies, transforming the Roman Empire into a system
where an emperor held more personal powers, unlike Augustus or Trajan. In the new system created
by Constantine, the emperor was a divine sanctioned monarch whose will was law. Other than
political reforms, militarily, the army was enlarged to 400,000 men who included Germans. The army
assumed a new organization since military forces had been divided between mobi...


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