Eastern Europe (650-1450)

Empire

Byzantine Empire 330-1453 • capital of Constantinople• Emperors ruled the eastern Mediterranean

and northern Africa • Fought to secure borders from Muslim

Empire

Politics

Byzantine• Religion based• Delegation of responsibility

– Bureaucrats– Military leaders

• 6th century Justinian rule– codify Roman law– Tried to recreate Roman Empire

Economy

Byzantine empire• Lower Danube region was the breadbasket

of the empire• Global trade

– Merchants respected• Emperors controlled the economy

– Prevented wealthy from seizing peasant lands– Wealthy could buy exemptions from taxes

• Monopolized silk production

Global Trade

Byzantine empire• Most important western terminal of the Silk

RoadRussia• Hanseatic League: trade monopoly

established along Northern Europe

Social/Class/Gender

Byzantine• Serfdom began in Middle Age• Original sin devalues women Russia• Influx of Jews from W. Europe• Monogamy replaced polygamy• Fairly free farmers• Boyars-aristocrats-less political power

Science/Inventions

• Preserved Greek language, culture, philosophy

• Learned silk production from China• Coined Money useful for trade

Religion

Byzantine• Orthodox Christianity• Differed from Catholicism

– Secular leaders headed the church– Officially split in 1054

Russia• Vladimir I convert to Christianity

forced conversion

Art/Architecture

• Greek language• Cultural center• Mosaic art

Hagia Sophia

What was the nature of Byzantine political organization and culture and how they affected the development of Eastern

Europe?

The Byzantine political organization and culture and the affect on the development of Eastern Europe.

• based on a centralized monarchy supported by a trained bureaucracy educated in classical traditions.

• local administrators were appointed by the central administration.

• politics focused on the principle of a divinely authorized monarchy supported by elaborate court ritual.

The Byzantine political organization and culture and the affect on the development of Eastern

Europe.

• continued the use of Roman use of legal codes to organize society.

• The military were recruited from the imperial population in return for grants of heritable land leading eventually to regional control by military commanders.

The Byzantine political organization and culture and the affect on the development of Eastern

Europe.• close relationship between the Orthodox

Church and the state, with the emperor as head of church organization.

• culture expressed itself in religious artifacts (churches, icons, liturgical music).

• expansion of Byzantine culture northward was through the conversion of Kiev to Orthodox Christianity.

The Byzantine political organization and culture and the affect on the development of Eastern

Europe.

Kievan Rus• adopted divinely inspired monarchy with

close relations to a state-controlled church, but were unable to adopt the trained bureaucracy.

• Church related art forms came along with Orthodoxy.

• Political division and Mongol invasions halted Byzantine influence