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HY2253 Lecture 3

The document summarizes key topics relating to the development of Catholicism, Orthodoxy, and Islam including: 1) The first great split between the Catholic and Orthodox churches in 1054 due to theological and political differences between Rome and Constantinople. 2) The rise of Islam in the 7th-10th centuries through the teachings of Muhammad and subsequent military expansion and conquest of lands across North Africa and the Middle East. 3) The Crusades from the 11th-13th centuries where European Christians attempted to retake the Holy Land from Muslim rule, establishing feudal kingdoms but ultimately failing to maintain permanent control over the region.

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Edmund Siau
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87 views16 pages

HY2253 Lecture 3

The document summarizes key topics relating to the development of Catholicism, Orthodoxy, and Islam including: 1) The first great split between the Catholic and Orthodox churches in 1054 due to theological and political differences between Rome and Constantinople. 2) The rise of Islam in the 7th-10th centuries through the teachings of Muhammad and subsequent military expansion and conquest of lands across North Africa and the Middle East. 3) The Crusades from the 11th-13th centuries where European Christians attempted to retake the Holy Land from Muslim rule, establishing feudal kingdoms but ultimately failing to maintain permanent control over the region.

Uploaded by

Edmund Siau
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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LECTURE THREE: CATHOLICISM, ORTHODOXY,

ISLAM: CONTACTS AND CONFLICTS

• This Week:
– Catholic vs. Orthodox Churches: The First Great Split
– Rise of Islam
– Relations among Christians, Muslims, Jews
– Crusades: Causes and Consequences
• Next Week:
– The Spread of Christianity and its Cultural Impact
– Western vs. Eastern Christianity
– The Rise of the Papacy
– From the Middle Ages to the Renaissance
II. CHRISTIANITY: THE FIRST GREAT SPLIT
• Geopolitical side
– West (Rome) vs. East (Constantinople)

– Barbarian invasions  Evolution of Rome as separate center

– Legacy of old Roman Empire: Identity, pride

– Pope (Bishop of Rome) vs. Patriarch (Bishop of Constantinople)

– Pope Stephen II anoints Pippin, King of Franks (mid-8th c.)

– 800: Pope Leo III Crowns Charlemagne (Charles the Great) “Holy
Roman Emperor of the West”

– “Holy Roman Empire” (West) vs. “Roman (Byzantine) Empire”


(East)
II. CHRISTIANITY: THE FIRST GREAT SPLIT
• Religious side:
– Latin vs. Greek religious culture

– Authority of pope over eastern patriarchs

– Theological disputes

– Iconoclasm episode (early 8th to mid-9th c.): Eastern debate, but


implications for West

• 1054: Great Schism: Rome vs. Constantinople


– Papal legate vs. patriarch: mutual excommunication

– Event = culmination of process


II. CHRISTIANITY: THE FIRST GREAT SPLIT
• Long-term Split: Western (Catholic) vs. Eastern
(Orthodox)

• Eastern Churches:
– “Autocephalic” (patriarchs, no pope)
– Majority: Greece, Eastern Europe, Armenia
– Minority: Lebanon, Syria, India
III. RISE OF ISLAM
• Christianity among Arabs:
– Eastern, Southern shores of Mediterranean
– Strength of non-Latin, non-Greek churches (Syria, Egypt)
– Periphery of Byzantine Empire

• Arabian Peninsula
– Caught between 2 empires
– Outside ‘sphere’ of Christianity

• Birth of Muhammad (c. 570)

• Began to spread message ~ 622

• Political, religious impact


III. RISE OF ISLAM
• Shared monotheism with Judaism, Christianity as Peoples of the Book

• Shared ‘universalism’ with Christianity (not restricted to single ethnic


group)

• Rejection of Christian Trinity, sometimes seen as ‘polytheism’

• Shared cultural elements with Judaism

• Veneration of Jewish patriarchs, Jesus as Prophets


– Pristine monotheistic faith = Abraham
– Preached by subsequent prophets, but message mistranslated, distorted
by their followers

• God’s Word fully revealed in Holy Quran

• Expansion of Islam (7th-10th c.): conquest vs. conversion


IV. EUROPE BEFORE THE CRUSADES
• Widespread presence of Jewish communities in Christian, Muslim
worlds

• Muslim and Christian populations in ‘overlap’ areas

• Christian World: Byzantine East generally more tolerant than Latin


West

• Muslim World generally more tolerant than Latin Christian World

• Economic role of Jewish communities (moneylending)  dislike

• “Overlap areas” (Spain, Sicily): Greater tolerance, multi-cultural


environment
IV. EUROPE BEFORE THE CRUSADES

• Intellectual contacts:
– Mostly indirect (through translation)
– Respect for Islamic scholarship, considerable impact in Christian world
– Islamic scholars’ lack of enthusiasm for ‘barbarian’ civilization, but did
value translations of Greek texts

• Religious contacts:
– Greater understanding of Christianity in Muslim areas than vice versa
– Christendom generally more preoccupied with Jews inside than Muslims
outside
V. CRUSADES
• General Observations
– Religious AND political AND economic causes

– Targeting Muslim lands AND other enemies (Orthodox, Byzantine,


heretics)

– Reflect issues of the times, not permanent mentality

• Background Factors (Social & economic)


– Fragmentation, militarization of European society

– Surplus of noble sons, knights needing land & livelihood


V. CRUSADES

• Background factors (geopolitical)


– Rivalry between Christian and Muslim powers

– Authority of ‘papal monarchy’


• Over Christian rulers of Western Europe
• Over Eastern Christians

• Background Factors (Religious)


– Christians’ ‘obsession’ with Jerusalem, loss of Holy Land

– Medieval preoccupation with sin, need for penance


V. CRUSADES
• Pope Urban II and Council of Clermont (1095)
– Free Christians from Muslim rule

– Liberate Holy Sepulchre (Tomb of Jesus)

– Respond to appeal from Byzantine Emperor for help against Turks

• First Crusade 1096: Capture of Antioch, Jerusalem

• Founding of Crusader States (Outremer)


– Feudal kingdoms linked to European political families

– Rivalries, conflicts over power, land, money

– Christian toehold on edge of Muslim world


V. CRUSADES
• 1187 Jerusalem retaken by Saladin

• Fourth Crusade 1202-4


– Diverted by European politics
– Sacked Constantinople

• 1290s—Muslim reconquest of last Holy Land territories


V. CRUSADES

• Reconquista (Christian reconquest of Spain)


– Late 11th c. (religious vs. geopolitical concerns)

– Initially separate, then gradual incorporation into wider Crusades

– 1492 Final defeat of Granada (last Muslim kingdom)


VI. CRUSADES: LONG-TERM DEVELOPMENTS
• Assessment: What was accomplished?
– Temporary reconquest of Holy Land

– Heavy human, material losses

– Social, political disruption

– Further militarization of European society (orders of knights)

• Geopolitical:
– Consolidation of “fault-line” within Mediterranean world

– Strengthening of Muslim powers, rise of Ottomans (Turks)

– 1453: Fall of Constantinople to Ottomans = end of Byzantine Empire


VI. CRUSADES: LONG-TERM DEVELOPMENTS
• Religious:
– Hardening of religious identities (Catholic vs. Orthodox, Christian vs.
Muslim)

– Heightened sense of ‘Christendom’ vs. ‘Heathendom’, especially in


Catholic West

– Increase in anti-Muslim and anti-Jewish sentiment in Europe


• Forced conversions of Muslims, Jews in Spain
• Pogroms, economic measures against Jews

– Long-term memory of Crusades

• Global:
– Commercial rivalry: expanded Indian Ocean trade, Age of Exploration

– Religious rivalry: Catholic colonial powers in Muslim areas


CONCLUSION

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