The Byzantine Empire and the Crusades

Chapter 9.4

The Byzantine Empire and the Crusades

• During the 5th century, Germanic tribes moved into the western part of Roman Empire and established their states. In contrast, the Roman Empire in the East, centered on Constantinople, continued to exist, although pressured by powerful Islamic forces.

• When Justinian became emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire in 527, his main goal was to reestablish the Roman Empire in the entire Mediterranean world.

• By 552 he had seemed to achieve his goal. His empire stretched from Italy to Part of Spain, to North Africa, to Asia Minor, to Palestine, and to Syria.

• However, only three years after Justinian’s death in 565, the Lombardshad conquered much of Italy, and other areas were soon lost.

• Justininan’s most important contribution was his codification of Roman Law.

The Body of Civil Law

• The result was The Body of Civil Law. This codes of Roman laws was the basis of imperial law in the Eastern Roman Empire until its end in 1453. Furthermore, it was also used in the West and became the basis for much of the legal system of Europe.

Life in Constantinople

Life in Constantinople

Life in Constantinople

• Constantinople was the largest city in Europe during the Middle Ages.

• Until the twelfth century, Constantinople was medieval Europe’s greatest center of commerce. The city for the exchange of products between West and East.

• Silk from China, spices from Southeast Asia and India, jewelry and ivory from India (the latter used by Byzantine craftspeople for church items), wheat and furs from southern Russia, and flax and honey from the Balkans.

• Many of the gods arrived in Constantinople and were then shipped to the Mediterranean area and northern Europe.

Architecture in Constantinople

• Much of Constantinople’s appeared in the early Middle Ages was due to Jusinian’s program of rebuilding in the sixth century. The city was dominated by an immense palace complex, hundreds of churches, and a huge arena known as the Hippodrome, where both gladiator fights and chariot races took place.

• Justinian’s public works projects included roads, bridges, walls, public baths, law courts, schools, churches, and colossal underground reservoirs to hold the city’s water supply.

Hippodrome

The Crusades• From the eleventh to the thirteenth centuries, European Christians carried

out a series of military expeditions to regain the Holy land from the Muslims. These expeditions were known as the Crusades.

• The push for the crusades came when the Byzantine emperor Alexius I wanted to rally the warriors of Europe in liberation of Jerusalem and the Holy Land ( Palestine) from the infidels or unbelievers………The Muslims.

• At the Council of Clermont in southern France near the end of 1095, Urban II challenged Christians to take up their weapons and join in a holy war.

• The pope promised: “ All who die……whether by land or by sea, or in battle against the pagans, shall have immediate remission (forgiveness) of sins.”

• Warriors of western Europe particularly France, formed the first crusading army. They were motivated by religious fervor, but some sought adventure and welcomed the chance to pursue their favorite past time.

The Crusades

The Early Crusades• The First Crusade began with three organized bands of warriors, most of

them French, made their way East. The crusading army probably numbered several thousand cavalry and as many as ten thousand infantry. The army captured Antiaoch in 1098. The crusades proceeded down the Palestinian coast, avoiding the well-defended coastal cities, and reached Jerusalem in June 1099. The Holy City was taken amid a horrible massacre of the inhabitants.

• It was not easy for crusader kingdoms to maintain themselves in the East, however. By the 1140’s the Muslims began to strike back.

• The fall of one of the Latin Kingdoms led to calls for another crusade.• In 1187, the Holy City of Jerusalem fell to Muslim forces under Saladin.• Negotiations were made to allow Christian pilgrims free access to

Jerusalem.

The Later Crusades• In 1212 German youth inspired a Children’s crusade. Thousands of young

people joined Nicholas and made their way to Italy, where the pope told them to go home.

• At the same time about 20,000 french children headed to Marseille, where to ship owners agreed to take them to the Holy Land. Two of the ships sent perished in a storm. The other five sailed to North Africa, where the children were sold into slavery.

• Did the Crusades have much effect on European civilization?