| The Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantine Empire) |
Empress Theodora |
|
Religion 402: Byzantium, Islam, and Charlemagne |
| The Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantine Empire) |
Empress Theodora |
Map of Justinian's Empire (527-565)
| Emperor Justinian (527-565) and Empress Theodora |
| Procopius, in his Secret Histories wrote a very unflattering account of Theodora's life before she married Justinian. Why wasProcopius so unsympathetic to her? |
| Centers of Byzantine Power | |
| Ravenna (West) | Constantinople (East) |
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The church of the Hagia Sophia built by Justinian; the four minarets were added later after the church was transformed into a mosque. View of Hagia Sopia from the harbor of Constantinople |
Fortifications of Constantinople in a sixteenth-century woodcut
Corpus iuris civilis (Code of Roman Law)
Return to Main Page of History 211
| Rise of Islam |
|
Mohammed (Muhammad)
(born 570, died 632)
Public ministry 610
Qur'an (Koran)
Mecca (Kaaba), Medina
The Dome of the Rock: Oldest Moslem religious building
Abu Bakr: Syria, Persia, Indus River, Northern Africa, Visigothic Spain
Constantinople beseiged: 669, 673-678, 716-718, 783-785
Battle of Tours (732)
Establishment of a New Latin Empire
A bronze, small statuette
that may or may not be Charlemagne.
| Charles | Bertrada | Desiderius (756-774) |
| Carloman (died 771) | Desiderata | Hildegard |
Time Line for Charlemagne's Reign
Koenigsberger: "It was lucky for the
reputation of Charles . . . that Carloman died after three years."
Einhard: "At the bidding of his mother, Charles married the daughter of Desiderius, the King of the Longobards [770 C.E.]. Nobody knows why, but he dismissed his wife after one year [771]." "for Carloman died, and his wife and sons . . . fled to Italy."
Saxony, Verden 782
Roncevalles, 778 Count Roland Song of Roland Basques
Einhard: "The uneveness of the ground completely hampered the Franks in their resistance to the Basques. In this battle died Eggihard, who was in charge of the King's Table, Anshelm, the Count of the Palace and Roland, Lord of the Breton Marches."
Einhard, Charlemagne, Carloman: The Evidence
Pope Leo III (795-816)
Charlemagne is crowned king of the Romans December 25, 800 by Pope Leo III
| Carolingian Culture | |
| Palace School | Alcuin |
| Roman Writing | |
| Carolingian minuscule |
During the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century, scholars thought that Carolingian manuscripts were so beautiful that they must have been examples of ancient Roman writing. These scholars imitated the Carolingian letter forms. Click here for an example of their work.
Charlemagne built a chapel for his palace at Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle); it was designed to resemble a Byzantine church in Ravenna, San Vitale.
