Robert W. Strayer
Ways of the World:
A Brief Global History
First Edition
CHAPTER 10
The Worlds of European Christendom: Connected
and Divided
500–1300
Copyright © 2009 by Bedford/St. Martin’s
Eastern Christendom:
Building on the Past
What respects did Byzantium continue the patterns of the classical Roman
Empire? In what ways did it diverge from those patterns?
Continued Patterns (Original: p. 271
and p. 276; With Sources: p. 427 and p.
432)
▪Continuance can be seen in
Byzantium’s roads, military structures,
centralized administration, imperial
court, laws, and Christian organization
▪It can also be seen in Byzantium’s
pursuit of the long-term struggle with
the Persian Empire.
Divergences (Original: pp. 272-273;
With Sources: pp. 428-429)
▪Byzantium diverged through the
development of a reformed
administrative system that gave
appointed generals civil authority in the
empire’s provinces and allowed them to
raise armies from the landowning
peasants of the region.
▪It also diverged through the new ideas
encompassed in caesaropapism that
defined the relationship between the
state and the Church.
The Byzantine State
The Byzantine Church and Christian
Divergence
Byzantium and the World
The Conversion of Russia
Western Christendom:
Constructing a Hybrid Civilization
In the Wake of Roman Collapse:
Political Life in Western Europe, 500–
1000
In the Wake of Roman Collapse:
Society and the Church, 500–1000
Accelerating Change in the West,
1000–1300
Europe Outward Bound: The Crusading
Tradition
The West in Comparative Perspective
Catching Up
Pluralism in Politics
Reason and Faith
Chapter 10
The Worlds of European Christendom: Connected and
Divided, 500–1300
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Map 10.1 The Byzantine Empire (p. 272)
Map 10.2 Western Europe in the Ninth Century (p. 280)
Map 10.3 Europe in the High Middle Ages (p. 283)
Map 10.4 The Crusades (p. 287)
Charlemagne (p. 268)
St. Mark’s Basilica (p. 274)
European Women at Work (p. 285)
Christians and Muslims (p. 288)
European Technology (p. 291)
European University Life in the Middle Ages (p. 294)
Chapter 10: The Worlds of European
Christendom: Connected and Divided, 500–
1300
iClicker
Questions
Comparison: Compared to Western Europe
in 1000 c.e., Byzantium
a. had developed a society where church and state were
clearly separated.
b. possessed no city that could rival the splendor of
Rome.
c. possessed a more centralized political system.
d. had little influence in Eastern Europe.
Change: Which of the following developments did
NOT underpin the emergence of Western Europe
as a dynamic civilization after 1000 c.e.?
a. Political authority was strengthened in the West when rulers
adopted the Byzantine political concept of
caesaropapism.
b. Long-distance trade was revived and expanded.
c. The Crusades expanded the influence of Western Europe.
d. Europeans borrowed and adapted a number of technologies
from other civilizations in Eurasia.
Connection: In the long term, the Crusades increased
contact between Western Europe and the rest of
Eurasia in all EXCEPT which of the following ways?
a. The Crusader notion of “God wills it” influenced later European
Empire building especially in the Americas.
b. The permanent occupation of the Holy Land created a Western
European base for trade along the Silk Roads.
c. The Crusades brought Europeans into more direct contact with
Muslim scholarship.
d. The Crusades stimulated demand for Asian luxury goods in
Europe.
Discussion Starter: Do you think that
Europe between 500 c.e. and 1300 c.e. is
best
a. studied as a single Christian civilization?
b. studied as two distinct but related civilizations?
c. studied as two rival civilizations?
d. studied in the context of a wider Christian world that
encompasses Christian communities in Europe,
Asia, and Africa?
Discussion Starter: For you, which is the most
distinctive element of the hybrid Western
European civilization that took shape after 1000
c.e.?
a. Multiple rival political states
b. The maintenance of a split between political and
religious authority
c. The intellectual tension between the claims of reason
and faith
d. Europe’s willingness to borrow technologies
Discussion Starter: Would you rather live in
Song China or in later medieval Europe?
a. Song China
b. Later medieval Europe
Answer Key for Chapter 10
1. Answer is C
2. Answer is A
3. Answer is B