CHRONOLOGY OF EASTERN EUROPE AND RUSSIA 300 – 1450 CE
330 CE
330 – 379 CE
380 CE
395 CE
5th century CE
6th century CE
527 – 565 CE
527 – 548 CE
529 CE
532 – 537 CE
Late 6th c. CE
650s CE
7th – 10th c. CE
7th – 10th c. CE
8th century CE
718 CE
730 – 781 CE
9th century CE
800 CE
843 – 1025 CE
855 CE
864 CE
870 CE
896 CE
10th century CE
911 CE
955 CE, 1000 CE
960 CE
960 – 1042 CE
969 CE
980 – 1015 CE
11th century CE
1015 – 1113 CE
1018 CE
1054 CE
1071 CE
1081 CE
1097 – 1176 CE
12th century CE
12th – 13th c. CE
1185 CE
12th c. – 1453 CE
1203 – 1204 CE
1237 – 1241 CE
Late 13th c. CE
1261 CE
1328
1346 CE
1350s
1380
1386
1389
15th c.
1410, 1466
1453 – 1469
Constantinople built as new capital of the Roman Empire: powerful defensive walls, well-positioned on trade routes, easy location to defend
Basil organizes Eastern monasticism: communities isolated in wilderness, centers of prayer, faith but not involved with local economy, society
Christianity declared the official religion of the empire: state strongly involved in religious process, begins shutting down “pagan” institutions
Eastern and Western Roman Empires permanently split along linguistic, cultural lines; Bible translated into Greek, Latin furthering divisions
Eastern Roman Empire avoids most Germanic invasions – main focus is on wars with Persia, internal religious divisions, heresies
Population of Constantinople around 1 million; city heavily dependent on organized supplies of grain; center of trade, industry; rise of
Byzantine statecraft style: elaborate bureaucracy established, trained in Greek classics, Christianity; men recruited from all classes, specialized
Duties; emperors appoint governors, spies helped preserve loyalty; emperor was head of the church (caeasaro-papism), appoints bishops
Reign of Justinian: conquest of North Africa, Italy, Southern Iberia: warfare weakens, bankrupts empire; Italy quickly lost to Lombards
Theodora, wife of Justinian shows influence of Byzantine empresses, women on society: could rule in own right, own property, influential in
Matters of state and church; during life was co-ruler with Justinian and instrumental in putting down Nike Rebellion of Blues, Green
Justinian’s Code promulgated blending Roman, Christian legal traditions; frequently the basis of Slavic, Orthodox legal codes
Hagia Sophia built, becomes model for Byzantine architectural style; rise of icons, religious paintings used in worship as an artform
Byzantine monks smuggle silk into empire, begin production of major luxury, trade good; silk becomes imperial monopoly
Slavic migrations into Eastern Europe begin pushing down into Peloponnesian, Balkan peninsulas: Byzantine control reduced to coastal areas
Tension between Byzantine emperors, popes: emperors resent papal attempts to loosen imperial authority: rise of different religious traditions
Include married clergy, use of vernacular, local religious autonomy in Eastern Churches; centralization, standardization in western Church
Khazar Empire dominates Northern Black Sea steppe: Turkish people convert to Judaism, powerful military in alliance with Byzantines
Constant warfare added economic burdens to empire; invasions, taxations weakens small farmers, sees rise of aristocracy of large landowners,
Rural population increasingly enserfed in some areas; Byzantines organize theme system: troops recruited locally, given land in return for
Military service; land could not be sold but could be inherited if sons continued military service; generals assume political, military, civil roles
Arab attack on Constantinople defeated through use of Greek fire (ancient flame throwers, napalm); land walls major defense for city
Iconoclasm controversy divides empire, Western, Eastern churches: emperor at center of controversy, opposed by clergy, most of people
Large peasant class bore bulk of taxation, food prices kept low to content urban classes; modest sized cities dwindle, resources to capital city
Far flung trading network developed from Asia, India, to Russia, Scandinavia, Middle East and North Africa; Byzantine gold coin (bezant)
major trade currency; trade was largely in luxury goods; merchants never gained influence due to bureaucracy, aristocratic influence
Kiev founded as trading portal by Vikings (Varangians) between Baltic, Black Seas: Scandinavian warrior elite rule Slavic peasants
Macedonian Dynasty rules empire; empire experiences military, territorial revival; Byzantine scholars record, preserve many of the remaining
Ancient Greek, Roman texts; Byzantines did not develop new intellectual forms but preserved old ones; art, architecture were exceptions
According to legend, Rurik becomes king of Kievan Rus state: Viking Rus sail rivers of Russia raiding, trading
Beginning of Christian missionary work of Cyril, Methodius in Slavic lands; development of Cyrillic alphabet, Bible translated into Slavonic
Establishment of first major Slavic state: Great Moravian Empire dominates Bohemia, Slovak, Austrian lands
Magyars (Asian Turkish invaders) pour into Danube valley, settle in modern Hungary, raiding into Germany, Italy, Balkans
Poland, Czechs, Magyars, Croats acknowledge Papal authority, adopt Latin traditions while Serbs, Bulgars, Rumanians, Russians, Ukrainians
Adopt Greek, Slavonic Orthodox traditions; strong states arise in Slavic areas dominated by landowning aristocrats
Kiev, Constantinople sign commercial treaty: Varangian Rus supply beeswax, honey, furs, slaves to markets in Empire, SW Asia
German emperor defeats Magyars, who accept Catholicism, create large, wealthy state in Danube; Bohemia joined to Holy Roman Empire
Emergence of Polish state: Piast dynasty unites Slavic peoples of area; converts to Catholicism, involved in German, Bohemian politics
Byzantine armies defeat Abbassids, Fatimids; recover Holy Land, Cyprus, Crete; expand borders into Armenia, Georgia, Caucasus area
Kiev conquers Khazar Empire; Khazar Jews begin migration to Hungary, Poland, Lithuania; movement of steppe nomads resumes
Conversion of Kievan Rus to Orthodox Christianity: conversion by prince was due trade contacts with Byzantines, state control of church issue
Development of written legal code, strong trade throughout Russia across Black Sea to Constantinople; Slavs acquire Greco-Slavonic tradition
Hereditary military leaders increasingly assumed regional control displacing aristocrats, bureaucrats in Byzantine Empire
Kiev fragments into 64 regional centers ruled by powerful princes who fought 83 civil wars; warfare, Crusades diminish East European trade
Bulgaria destroyed by Byzantines, annexed to empire; Danube is the new northern border of the empire
Schism between Eastern, Western Christianity largely political: pope resents imperial control, empire resents papal independence
Seljuk Turks defeat Byzantines at Manziket; pour into the empire, settling in Anatolia; empire control reduced to coastal cities
Komnenos Dynasty established in Constantinople, requests assistance from west in Crusades against Turks to regain lost lands, Holy Land
Byzantine, Crusader forces begin reconquest of Anatolia; Byzantines regain coasts of Asia Minor, Norman Crusader state becomes client state
In Byzantine Empire, economic prosperity generates new wealth; literature, arts reach new heights; In Russia, rise of Novgorod as prosperous
Aristocratic republic controlling trade routes between Baltic, Volga; government by town council, own archbishop, trades with German Hansa
Small Serbian states arose in Danube, Drava, Sava Basins, along Adriatic; while centered on coast, tended to be Catholic, inland Orthodox
Bulgaria breaks away from Byzantines, establishes 2 nd Bulgarian Empire, alternatively allied with, enemy of Byzantine Empire
Continual decline of Byzantine Empire: constant wars, territorial loses, increasing feudalism; trade increasingly controlled by Venice, Genoa
4th Crusade sacks Constantinople, divides territory in Balkans; weakened Byzantine Empire continues to exist at Nicaea in Anatolia
Mongols capture Russia: local princes pay tribute, expansion of serfdom to pay taxes, destroy trade, contacts with Western lands, culture
Mongol rule drives Russians out of steppe into forest regions – increasing influence of Russian landed elite (boyars), decline of cities
Poland annexes former Kievan Rus principalities in Galicia; rise of pagan Lithuania as powerful state, absorbs many Orthodox regions
Byzantines recover Constantinople, push into Macedonia, Greece; last 200 years of empire were a cultural silver age of art, religion, literature
Rise of Moscovy as tribute collector for Mongols; Moscow allowed to annex towns for failure to pay tribute; boyars gain power over peasants
Rise of strong centralized Serbian Empire under Stefan Dusan includes full conversion to Orthodoxy, publication of Serbian law code
Ottomans invade Balkans conquering Bulgaria, Macedonia, parts of Serbia; few Christian states, leaders have power to resist Turks
Russian forces defeat forces of the Golden Horde at Battle of Kulikova; defeat led to decline, later collapse of this Mongol khanate
Poland, Lithuania unite as commonwealth, retain separate institutions including separate monarchs, legislatures; Lithuania becomes Catholic
Battle of Kossovo: Turks defeat and subjugate Serbia, Albanians, Bosnians, Wallachians; Turkish sultan grants lands to Muslim subjects as
Non-hereditary feudal fiefs, heavy taxation of local subjects but no Turkish settlement; Ottomans permit religious tolerance; two heavy Greek
Migrations begin – from plains to mountains to avoid Turkish taxes, buy-tax (devshirme); intellectuals, wealthy migrate to Western lands
Steady rise of lesser nobility transformed Poland into republic of the gentry with an elected king
Polish-Lithuanian forces defeat Teutonic Knights; Prussia partitioned, Western lands annexed to Poland, decline of order
Ottoman Turks capture Constantinople, all Byzantine possessions in Greece, Greek empire of Trebezond, ending reign of last classical states