Unit 9: Medieval Europe and Byzantium
How Rome's eastern half survived a thousand years longer than its western half, and how feudalism, the Church, and holy war organized life in the Latin west.
8 topics · 36 questions
Each topic is a path, not a menu: work down it in order and every question builds on the one above. Click any of them to watch the answer draw itself.
The Byzantine Empire and Justinian's Code
- How it worksShow me Constantinople's walls and its position on the Bosphorus making it nearly impossible to conquer for centuries.
- Worked exampleFind how many years the Byzantine Empire survives after Rome's western half falls in 476, lasting until Constantinople falls in 1453.
- Common mistakeWhy isn't the Byzantine Empire accurately described as a separate civilization from Rome rather than its continuation?
- Going furtherWhat happens to Byzantine territory once Justinian's reconquest of the western Mediterranean overextends the empire?
Your turn1 of 2
Rome's western half fell in 476 CE. The Byzantine Empire, the eastern half, survived until Constantinople fell in 1454 CE. How many years did the Byzantine Empire survive after Rome's western half fell?The Great Schism of 1054
- How it worksHow does a disagreement over the pope's authority and one disputed word in the creed produce a permanent split?
- Common mistakeWhy isn't the 1054 schism the single event that caused the split rather than the moment it became official?
- Going furtherWhat happens to relations between the Catholic west and Orthodox east once the Crusades pass through Byzantine territory?
Your turn1 of 2
In 1054, the Christian church split into what became the Catholic west and the Orthodox east, two branches that had shared the same faith for a thousand years. Why did the split happen after so long?Charlemagne and the Holy Roman Empire
- How it worksShow me Charlemagne's Frankish kingdom expanding to cover most of Western Europe by 800 CE.
- How it worksHow does Charlemagne use counts, traveling inspectors, and a revived Latin education system to govern an empire with no Roman bureaucracy left?
- Worked exampleFind how many years pass between Charlemagne's coronation in 800 and the Holy Roman Empire's final dissolution in 1806.
- Common mistakeWhy doesn't crowning Charlemagne emperor mean he actually restored the political unity of the old Roman Empire?
- Going furtherWhat happens to Charlemagne's empire once it's divided among his grandsons after his death?
Your turn1 of 2
In 800 CE, the pope crowned Charlemagne, a Frankish king, as Roman Emperor, more than 300 years after Rome's western half had already fallen. Why crown him with a title from an empire that no longer existed?Feudalism as an Obligation Pyramid
- How it worksShow me feudalism as a pyramid: king to lords to knights to peasants, with obligations flowing both up and down.
- How it worksHow does a vassal's oath of loyalty trade military service for land in a system with no salaries or standing bureaucracy?
- Common mistakeWhy isn't feudalism a single uniform system that looked the same in every medieval kingdom?
- Worked exampleFind how many days a year a typical medieval knight owed his lord in unpaid military service under a feudal land grant.
- Ties togetherHow does the same lord-and-obligation structure in feudalism reappear in the manor system binding peasants to their lord's land?
Your turn1 of 2
Medieval kings often granted huge pieces of their own land to powerful lords rather than keeping direct control over all of it themselves. Why give away land instead of ruling it directly?The Manor System and Medieval Agriculture
- How it worksShow me a manor's layout: the lord's fields, the peasants' strips, the common land, and the village around them.
- How it worksHow does the three-field crop rotation system let medieval farmers grow more food than a two-field system ever could?
- Common mistakeWhy isn't a medieval serf legally the same thing as an enslaved person?
- Worked exampleFind how much more farmland stays in production each year under a three-field rotation compared to an older two-field system.
- Ties togetherHow does the manor's web of labor obligations mirror the same lord-and-vassal structure feudalism builds at the kingdom's higher levels?
Your turn1 of 2
A medieval peasant working a lord's manor could not simply pack up and move to a different lord's land or a nearby town. Why couldn't a medieval peasant just leave?The Medieval Catholic Church and Its Power
- How it worksShow me the Church's authority stacking on top of feudal kings: excommunication, interdict, and the threat of eternal damnation.
- Worked exampleFind how many days King Henry IV stood barefoot in the snow at Canossa in 1077 begging the pope's forgiveness.
- Common mistakeWhy isn't the medieval Church's power over kings the same as directly ruling their kingdoms?
- Going furtherWhat happens to a kingdom placed under interdict, where the Church suspends nearly all religious services?
Your turn1 of 2
In 1077, Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV stood barefoot in the snow outside Pope Gregory VII's castle at Canossa for days, begging forgiveness after being excommunicated. Why could a medieval pope force a king to do that?The Crusades
- How it worksShow me the routes of the First Crusade from Western Europe to the capture of Jerusalem in 1099.
- How it worksHow does Pope Urban II's call to reclaim the Holy Land combine religious devotion with the promise of forgiven sins?
- Common mistakeWhy isn't every crusade after the first one accurately described as a success for the crusaders?
- Common mistakeWhy isn't it true that the Crusades were driven only by religious devotion with no political or economic motives involved?
- Going furtherWhat changes about trade between Europe and the Middle East as a long-term result of the Crusades?
Your turn1 of 2
The First Crusade captured Jerusalem in 1099 and held territory in the region for decades. Later Crusades largely did not repeat that success. Why isn't every crusade after the first one accurately described as a success for the crusaders?Viking Voyages and the Norse Atlantic
- How it worksShow me Viking longship routes reaching Britain, Russia, Iceland, Greenland, and briefly North America.
- How it worksHow does a Viking longship's shallow draft and flexible hull let it cross open ocean and also raid up shallow rivers?
- Common mistakeWhy isn't a Viking accurately pictured as only a raider, when most Norse activity was trade and settlement?
- Common mistakeWhy isn't it true that Viking warriors wore horned helmets into battle?
- Going furtherWhat happens to the short-lived Norse settlement in Vinland after its contact with Indigenous peoples turns hostile?
Your turn1 of 2
Popular imagination pictures Vikings mainly as raiders who terrorized coastal towns. Why isn't a Viking accurately pictured as only a raider?