1. The World of Christendom
World History
Chapter#10
The World of Christendom

2. Asian Christianity
Arabia about 100 years after Muhammad’s death Christianity in Arabia had been decimated
Only a few small groups were left
8th Century Muslims celebrated the end of Christianity by using pillars of a demolished church to build the Grand Mosque of Sana’a in southern Asia

3. Middle East – Islam took control of Jerusalem in 638 and constructed the Muslim shrine – Dome of the Rock
Built on a location sacred to Jews – contained the stone Abraham had offered to sacrifice his son
Site of the 1st 2 Jewish temples
For Christians Jesus had visited when young to talk with learned teachers and later drive out money changers
Umayyad caliph took for Islam what Christian and Jewish legacies - Announced to Jews and Christians “Islam was here to stay”

4. Syria and Persia
Most Christians and Jews here voluntarily conversion
Christians in Syria, Jerusalem, and Armenia were allowed to practice faith in private but pay special tax
Christians were subject to the moods of the local Muslim authority
Sometimes Churches destroyed, villages plundered, fields burned, and Christians forced to wear certain clothing setting them apart

5. Syria – Christians were administrators of churches, schools, translations services and even armies
Syria, Iraq, and Persia Muslims defended the Christian religion and people
Here the Church of the East lasted but was shrinking

6. China
635 Nestorian Church took hold in China with permission of Tang rulers
Art and literature gave Christian message using Buddhist and Daoist concepts
Religious text, Jesus Sutras referred to Christianity as “Religion of Light from the West” or “Luminous Religion”
Described God as “Cool Wind” and sin as “Bad Karma”
Church holds together and gains some growth later during Mongol conquest
Almost completely vanished by 1368

7. African Christianity
Christian churches in Africa were declining with the arrival of Islam
Widespread conversions led to the extinction
Egypt – Christianity was the religion of the majority when Islam arrived 640
For the next 500 years large numbers spoke Coptic and practiced their religion
Legally inferior (dhimmis) but protected and paying special tax

8. 13th Century – change as Crusading Christians and Muslims invaded Egypt
Muslims came to distrust Christians living here
14th century – Violence against Christians, churches destroyed and many forced off their lands
This forced many to convert
Small Christian communities continued to exist to present

9. Nubia 6th century Christianity took hold
Kings sometimes served as priests & Bible translated into Nubian
Nubian armies twice defeated the Muslims
Agreement that Egypt would protect this Christian community
Protection lasted 600 years, but as Muslims in Egypt became more hostile toward Christianity, attacked Christians, by 1500 Christianity had disappeared

10. Ethiopia – here rulers of Axum had adopted Christianity by 4th century
It became an island in a sea of Islam
Here they tell the story of an Ethiopian queen who was seduced by Solomon and had a child
Solomon was in the line of Jesus and this put Ethiopian rulers in this line

11. Byzantine Christianity
Part of the Roma Empire in the east
4th century Constantine made Constantinople the capital of Eastern half of Roman Empire
Split in ½ causing a lasting division in Christianity
Roman Empire in west collapsed 5th century but eastern half did not

12. Justinian 527-565 took the Byzantine Empire to its greatest size
Had 200 years of Roman Law rewritten – Justinian Code
Here the Emperor was head of church and state
After 1085 Byzantine Empire shrank – result of Crusades and Turic Muslim invaders

13. Byzantine Church and Christian Divergence
Orthodox vs Western=n Christian
Western Or Roman Catholic Church
Pope head of church and king or emperor head of kingdom, Icons used
Most sacred holy day is Christmas
Language is Latin
East or Orthodox Christianity
Ruler head of church and state but can appoint a patriarch
Easter most important holy day
Greek the language of the church
Icons (statues) not allowed

14. Crusades started in 1095 to help Catholic pope against Islam
Forces passing through Byzantine often caused injustices against locals
4th crusades forces looted and controlled Constantinople
Attacked Orthodox Christians
Byzantine viewed Roman Catholics as despoilers - gap in Christianity not able to be repaired

15. Byzantine and the World
Greek fire – helped defend Byzantine from Muslims
Byzantine became an economic link to Eurasia
Gold coins the bezant (wearing as a pendant was a status symbol)
Preserved ancient Greek knowledge and shared it with Islamic world

16. Conversion of Russia
Kievan Rus – named after most prominent city Kiev
Built along Dnieper River linking Scandinavia and Byzantine by trade
Land of slaves and freemen, polytheistic and small Jewish and Christian population

17. Prince Vladimir of Kiev adopted Eastern Orthodox as the state religion 10th century / rejecting Islam for its ban on alcohol
Married the sister o a Byzantine Emperor and acquired many Byzantine priests and advisors
Eastern Orthodox became the religion of the Russian people
Russia borrowed from Byzantine, architecture, science etc.
3rd Rome – Moscow / 1st Rome abandoned its true faith, 2nd Rome lost to Islam
Moscow the 3rd and final protector of Christianity

18. Western Christendom
476 German general Odoacer overthrew the last Roman Emperor
Western Europe fell into dark ages
Disease and warfare reduced population by 25%

19. Germanic tribes had invaded and set up kingdoms
Visigoths Spain, Franks in France, Lombard’s in Italy, and Angles and Saxons in England – replaced Roman authority
The leaders of these groups adopted laws and brought order and justice
Clovis King of the Franks Conquered most of Gaul
Became Christian (significance?)

20. Charlemagne 678-814 controlled France, Belgium, Netherlands and parts of Germany and Italy
Christmas day 800, Given the title by the pope and Emperor of everything that is Christian.
1st Holy Roman Emperor
Otto I of Saxony took most of Germany under his control also given title

21. Society and church
Feudalism developed – lords give protection to lessor lords for military service and promised fiefs, peasants given protection but farm the lords land - Local estates and manors
Roman Catholic Church, modeled after the Roman Empire took over some political, administrative and educational and warfare functions

22. Church became very wealthy and often competed with state authority for control
Wide spread conversions and most of the population quickly became Christian
Christianity became the thread that held most societies together

23. Accelerating Change in the West
Muslim invasions into western Europe stopped by 1000
Gave kingdoms stability and security
High middle Ages
Population grew from 35 million in 1000 to 80 million by 1340
Agriculture revolution compared to China’s at the same time

24. 1300 the forest covering Europe had been reduced to 20% of land area
Stimulated long distance trade & Italy (Florence, Genoa, and Venice) would be trading centers & Trading with Islam and Byzantine
Many cities population grew very rapidly
London 40,000, Paris 80,000, and Venice 150,000
In Contrast Constantinople 400,000, Cordoba in Muslim Spain 200,000

25. Gave rise to Lawyers, doctors, scholars merchants
Nation states emerged ruled by kings who would gain more and more power and eventually absolute authority
Women given opportunities, weaving, brewing retailing, laundering, spinning, prostitution and others

26. England – new weaving machines were worked by men
Women also offered a life in the church / nuns
Men and women in churches provided education and from this would rise universities
Beguines – laywomen who practiced celibacy and devoted themselves to weaving, caring for the sick and old

27. Europe Outward Bound
After 1000 western Europe was growing as the Byzantine was in decline
Crusade or Holy Wars to free the Holy Lands
Crusades by God’s command
Pope ordered them as God would remove any sin

28. Started in 1095 wave after wave of Christian soldiers attacked Muslim controlled territory
Jerusalem seized in 1099 accompanied by slaughter of Jews, Muslims and Christians
Little lasting impact religiously or politically
Crusades did impact the people of Europe who liked the spices, clothing and foods from these Muslim lands
This will stimulate European trade with Asia

29. Catching Up
Muslim empires were more advanced than the of the Europeans
13th and 14th centuries as trade routes opened with the east many Europeans would make the long trip
Marco Polo and Italian merchant went to China, served the Great Khan Kublai Khan
The contact and trade items led Europeans to seek new water routs to Asia

30. Agriculture
New wheeled plow, used horses to pull it
3 field system used – crop rotation
Windmills built all over Europe and by 13th and 14th century
Water driven Mills allowed a revolution in production methods
Thomas Aquinas 13th century, gave logic to Christian doctrine – a new emphasis on human rational will give rise to the Scientific Revolution

31. The End