Study
Guide
Christianity begins
with Jesus
Gospel: good news
Jesus: Jewish
itinerant preacher in Judea (set himself apart from other Messiahs)
Message of love
Deemed a threat to Roman
rule and was crucified
Paul of Tarsus (after a
miraculous vision of Jesus on the road to Damascus/Syria)
Paul talked of “predestination” (God
chose who was to be saved and who be damned)
Paul helped found
churches and kept in touch with new Christians by letters (Epistles)
(Corinth, Thessalonia, Rome, Ephesus)
Both Jews and
Christians were monotheistic (refused to worship Roman gods)
Pax Romana (easy travel and spread idea-common
languages Greek and Latin)
Paul wasn’t the
only one
Poor Romans were receptive audience
Persecuted by
Roman authorities (monotheism contradicted Roman law)
Things began go
wrong for RE (scapegoats
needed)
Grow: 1) embraced all people 2)
gave hope to the
powerless 3) appealed to those who were disgusted by imperial Rome’s decadence 4) offered a personal relationship
with God 5) promised eternal
life after death
Conversion of
Constantine (AD 312)
Roman emperor Constantine
Sees image of
cross and words (in this sign, conquer) before a key battle
Put cross on
shields (win)
Edict of Milan (AD 313) recognized by
emperor, continue gain strength
By 380 became official
religion (Chi-Rho cross)
Rome weakens
(military, economy, social, political)
M: weak to defend huge area/ E: taxes high, gap between rich and poor, trade disrupted/ S: do
not care public affairs, disloyalty, population decrease/ P: division of empire
(Constantine moved capital to Byzantium)
Last emperor in
476 (14-Romulus Augustulus)
Christos: messiah
or savior
Diaspora: the
dispersal of Jews after rebellion
Germanic kingdoms
reunited under Charlemagne’s empire
Middle Ages = medieval
period (AD 476-AD 1453) Europe fragmented
From the end of RE
to the conquest of Constantinople by Turks
New society roots:
1) classical heritage of Rome 2) beliefs of the Roman Catholic Church 3)
customs of various Germanic tribes
Germanic invaders
overrun western half of the RE (5th)
Causing: 1)
disruption of trade 2) downfall of cities 3) population shifts to rural areas
Effects of
invasion: decline of learning
1)
Tribes cannot read Greek or
Latin (oral tradition) 2) Romance languages evolve 3) few were literate
Germanic Kingdom
(AD 400-600): warriors loyal to lord of the manor
Result: 1) no
orderly government for large areas 2) small communities rule
Clovis (rules
Franks/Gaul): battlefield conversion-became Christians (in 496)
Franks united into
one kingdom by 511, Clovis and Church working as partners
Benedict writes
rules for monks in 520, his sister Scholastica writes for nuns
1)
Vows of poverty 2) chastity 3)
obedience
They operate
schools, maintain libraries and copy books
Theocracy: Pope
Gregory I (Gregory the Great) goes secular
Church revenues
used to help poor, build roads and raise armies
Christendom extend
from Italy to England from Spain to Germany
Clovis rules until
dies in 511, rest Europe consists of small kingdoms
Charles
Martel/Charles the Hammer (descendant)
Defeats a Muslim
raiding party from Spain at the Battle of Tours in 732
Pepin the Short
(son) works w/ Church and named “king by the grace of God” by Pope
Charles the
Great/Charlemagne (son #2)
Age of Faith
Church has
considerable spiritual and political power
Over 500 Gothic
cathedrals were built (1170-1270)
Jerusalem
(controlled by Muslims in 11th)
Muslims, Jews and
Christians’ Holy City
Dome of the Rock
(Islam) Church of the Holy Sepulchre (Christian)
Western Wall
(Judaism)
In 1093 Emperor Alexius
Comnenus wrote a letter to Pope Urban II
Holy War:
recapture Jerusalem from Muslim Turks
Began 200 years of
religiously sanctioned military campaigns (1095-1291)
Crusade: taking of
the cross
Pope promised
immediate remission for their sins
Effects of
Crusades:
Decline: Byzantine
Empire, Pope and feudal nobles’ power
Grow: religious
intolerance, Muslim distrust Christians, trade between Europe and Middle East,
European technology, Italian cities expand trade
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