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HIST 2200 September 24 2013
Chapter Three
Creating new Identities (c. 750 – c.900)
- After the outbreak of the Plague of Justinian, an upswing in population, land cultivation, and
general prosperity arose
- Byzantium : an empress took the throne
- Islamic World: Abbasids displaced the Umayyad’s
- Francia: Carolingians deposed the Merovingian’s
Byzantium: From Turning Within to Cautious Expansion
- 750- B was a state with its back to the world
- Its iconoclasm isolated it from other Christians
- Focused on military operations, internal defense,
- Abandoned classical learning
- 900- all changed – inconophile (icon-loving), aggressive and cultured
NEW ICONS, NEW ARMIES, NEW TERRITORIES
- In Byzantium, iconoclasm reigned true and hard, but still there were those who practiced it and
devoted to it even in the palace
- When Leo IV died, his wife who was an iconophile took away iconoclasm and restored past
iconoclast bishops
- Although still some bans were still in place
- The end of iconoclasm displeased the old guard in the army but then a new generation became
in charge
- Emperor Constantine (r. 741 – 775) created new regiments – tagmata – mobile troops,
composed of cavalry (elite of fighting men), infantry, muleteers
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- This was first deploted around Constantinople but under 9 and 10 c. rulers, its helped
Byzantium to expand
- Westward in Balkans: Emperor Nicephorus I (r. 802 – 811)- remodeled old thematic territories
and added new ones
o Led army against Slavs and took Serdica
o Balgarians attacked so he secured the area by sending thousands of families to from
Anatolia to settle in Balkans
o Wanted to recreate Byzantium
o Plundered the Bulgarian capital Pliska
o Was killed while passing through a narrow valley- his skull was lined with silver and used
as a drinking cup by Bulgarian ruler (khan) Krum
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- 9 century: Byzantines worked out warfare in Anatolia
o Arab raiding parties attacked Strategi evacuated population, burned crops, and harassed invaders
o 900: Emperor Leo VI (r.886-912) – sent the tagmata to Tarsus- successful
Princely family of Armenia allied with Arabs entered service of Byzantium
- Rise of the tagmata downgraded the themes- the soldiers got the grunt work and eventually
became inactive
EDUCATING WITHOUT AND WITHIN
- Byzantine empire converted Balkans to their principles
o Two competing were the Papacy and the Franks (preached roman catholic Christianity)
o Constantine (Cyril) and Methodius [two brothers]- set out in 863 as missionaries
Constantine created an alphabet using Greek letters to represent the sounds of
one Slavic dialect (Glagolitic)- eventually called Old Church Slavic
The church wanted it to only be in Latin therefore Moravia ended the catholic
camp
Byzantine Christianity prevailed though
- Creation of alphabet in mid-9 century
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- 8 century- number of bureaucrats dwindled- schools decaying, books written on papyrus
disintegrating
- Emperor Theophilus (r. 829-842) : opened public school in the palace headed byy Leo the
Mathematician
- With end of iconoclasm, monasteries garnered renewed prestige and new recruits
- Minuscule: new kind of script: made up of lower case letters written in cursive , the letters
strung together
- Words separated by spaces making it easier to read
- Manuscripts made up of parchment- animal skins scraped and treated
- Cultural revival underway
- Photius : gathered a circle of scholars ad wrote sermons, homilies and theological treatises
o Tutored Emperor Leo VI
- Macedonian renaissance : a number of new mosaics, manuscript illuminations, ivories and
enamels after 870
o New movement found it models in both abstract, transcendental style that was
important during pre-iconoclastic period
THE SHIFT TO THE EAST IN THE ISLAMIC WORLD
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- Islamic World of the 9 century centered on the caliph and his court
- Abbasids moved their center of power to Iraq- stepped into shows of Sasanid King of kings
THE ABBASID RECONFIGURATION - Islamic world was made up of wildly diverse regions in geography, language and political,
religious, and social traditions while Byzantium was homogenous
- Umayyad’s: power base in Syria
o Rewarded followers
o Took share of conquered land for themselves
o Asked for taxes from other regions
o Privileged the elite- no fair division of spoils to Arabs – same as non –Arabs who had
converted
- Two centers of resistance emerged: Khurasan(Iran) and Iraq
o Both were part of Persian empire
o Khurasan decided to support the Abbasid family who then organised an army marching
into Iraq where they picked up more support
o Defeated Umayyad governor at Kufa and al-Saffah was named first Abbasid caliph
- Abbasid : built capital cities in in Iraq – Baghdad became capital 762, Samarra in 830s
o Took title of imam
o Wore green colour of the Shi’ites
o Created their own elite
o Baghdad prospered, land prices arose
o Khurasani became the new exclusive jealous elite
o Al Mu’tasim (r.833-842) – Abbasid caliph – was able to control and direct provincial
revenues to his court in Iraq
o Lost Ifriqiya by 800 – never controlled the Berbers and eventually lost effective control
in their heartlands
o Didn’t need troops for battles but to collect taxes
o The armies were unreliable and hard to control therefore al-Ma’mun’s brother and
successor al-Mu’tasim created a private army in which he bought and trained his own
slaves – they were given governorships and military posts
o All of Iraq participated in the commercial buoyancy (trade)
o With revenues from commerce and taxes from agriculture, the caliphs could pay their
armies, salary their officials and preside over a cultural revival more impressive than in
Constantinople
NEW CULTURAL FORMS
- Harun al-Rashid and al-Ma’mun: literature, science, law and others flourished under their rule
o Launched scientific studies
o Philosophical, medical, math, and astrological treatises of Indian and Greek worlds
translated into Islamic culture
o Adab literature: education of gentlemen at court
o Astrological predictions, theological debates, understanding theories of bridge building,
irrigation and land surveying were only some of the motive behind the translations
o Support from caliphs, wives, courtiers, generals and ordinary people - How should one live to be pleasing God? – inspired treatises on law
- Under Caliph Ma’mun- Muslim scholars debated importance of Muhammad’s example
- Everything went under scrutiny, even the Qur’an – al-Ma’mun thought that taking it literally
undermined the caliphs religious auth
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