Barbarian warlords & their families who assimilated into Roman culture became the "nobles" or aristocrats of medieval Europe
Germanic tribes who ruled former Roman lands sought to conquer & assimilate other barbarian peoples who lived beyond the frontiers & were still pagans
the Angles & Saxons invaded Britain & assimilated the native Britons
most of the Anglo-Saxons were converted to Christianity in the 7th century
the most powerful Germanic tribe was the Franks
but the real power lay with the "mayors of the palace" who were royal officials & nobles themselves
Meanwhile in the Roman Empire (from Eastern Europe to Byzantium)
the Eastern Roman Empire continued on while the wet was now divided by the barbarian tribes
when the emperor Justinian came to power in 527, he decided to reunite the entire Roman Empire by reconquering the western territories
Justinian succeeded for a time, but the land he re-took was soon conquered by new barbarians tribes & a massive plague depopulate much of the west
It's a Christian Empire Now
Greek Byzantine emperors saw themselves as Roman emperors & the heads of the Christian Church
Byzantine preserved Greco-Roman art, architecture, philosophy, & writing despite much of it being non-Christian
Justinian built the massive domed Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, considered to be the most glorious church on Earth at the time (still around today) (third version was built in 537)
No comments:
Post a Comment