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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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