HISTORY OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION I
LECTURE OUTLINE FIVE
- SHAPING OF WESTERN CHRISTIAN THOUGHT
- St. Jerome and the Vulgate
- St. Ambrose
- St. Augustine and the concept of predestination
- EASTERN ROME (EMPEROR JUSTINIAN AND HIS ACCOMPLISHMENTS)
- Corpus Juris Civilis--the Code of Justinian+Novels+Digest+Insitutes
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- the attempt to reconquer the West
- EARLY MIDDLE AGES (ROME'S FIRST "HEIR"--BYZANTIUM
- How "Dark" were the Dark Ages?
- When did Byzantine history begin?
- What is the definition of "Byzantine"?
- Heraclius vs. the Persians
- Leo the Isaurian and his battles with the Muslims
- historical significance of the Byzantine victory over Islam in the seige of Constantinople in 717
- Byzantine growth and decline (an overview)
- REASONS FOR BYZANTINE STABILTY
- rulers' effectiveness
- the importance of an effective bureaucracy
- economic strength
- IMPORTANCE OF RELIGION IN BYZANTIUM
- the emperors' role in religion
- importance of the Iconoclastic Controversy
- the Iconoclastic controversy's impact upon the "about face" of the papacy
- Byzantium's role in the conversion of Russia
- OVERVIEW OF BYZANTIUM'S LEGACY TO HISTORY
- ROME'S SECOND "HEIR"--ISLAM
- Arabia before Islam
- the teachings of Mohammed and the doctrines of Islam
- the expansion and consolidation of Islam
- the beginning of the caliphate
- Abu-Bak'r and Umar
- divisions between Sunnites and Shiites
- Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates
- OVERVIEW OF ISLAMIC SOCIETY AND ITS IMPACT UPON HISTORY
- ROME'S THIRD "HEIR"--WESTERN CHRISTENDOM
- the slow development of a Western European Empire in alliance with the Western Christian Church
- the Merovingian period in the Kindom of the Franks and its degeneration
- the importance of Pope Gregory I
- Gregory's effort to create a more autonomous Western-oriented Church
- Gregory's assertion of papal primacy and his work with the Benedictines
- growth of an alliance between Frankish rulers and the Church
- Pepin of Heristal
- Charles Martel (The Hammer) and his work with the Benedictines
- Pepin the short seeks legitimacy from the papacy
- the famous "about face" of the papacy
- Pepin's son Charlemagne and his rule
- the significance of Charlemagne's coronation as Emperor in 800
- decline of the Carolingian Empire
- BEGINNINGS OF NATIONAL ENTITIES
- England
- France
- Germany and Otto the Great
- THE ECONOMY OF WESTERN EUROPE IN THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES