Early Middle Ages

TheEarly Middle Ages(orearly medieval period), sometimes controversially referred to as theDark Ages, is typically regarded by historians as lasting from the late 5th to the 10th century.They marked the start of theMiddle AgesofEuropean history, following thedeclineof theWestern Roman Empire, and preceding theHigh Middle Ages(c.11th to 14th centuries). The alternative termlate antiquity, for the early part of the period, emphasizes elements of continuity with theRoman Empire, whileEarly Middle Agesis used to emphasize developments characteristic of the earlier medieval period.
The period saw a continuation of trends evident since lateclassical antiquity, includingpopulation decline, especially in urban centres, a decline of trade,a small rise in average temperatures in the North Atlantic regionandincreased migration. In the 19th century the Early Middle Ages were often labelled theDark Ages, a characterization based on the relative scarcity of literary and cultural output from this time. The term is rarely used by academics today.The Eastern Roman Empire, orByzantine Empire, survived, though in the 7th century theRashidun Caliphateand theUmayyad Caliphateconquered the southern part of the Roman territory.
Many of the listed trends reversed later in the period. In 800, the title ofEmperorwas revived in Western Europe withCharlemagne, whoseCarolingian Empiregreatly affected later European social structure and history. Europe experienced a return to systematic agriculture in the form of thefeudal system, which adopted such innovations asthree-field plantingand the heavy plough.Barbarian migrationstabilized in much ofEurope, although theViking expansiongreatly affectedNorthern Europe.
Starting in the 2nd century, various indicators of Roman civilization began to decline, includingurbanization, seaborne commerce, and population.Archaeologistshave identified only 40 percent as manyMediterraneanshipwrecks from the 3rd century as from the first.Estimates of the population of theRoman Empireduring the period from 150 to 400 suggest a fall from 65 million to 50 million, a decline of more than 20 percent. Some scholars have connected this de-population to theDark Ages Cold Period(300–700), when a decrease in global temperatures impaired agricultural yields.
Early in the 3rd centuryGermanic peoplesmigrated south fromScandinaviaand reached theBlack Sea, creating formidable confederations which opposed the localSarmatians. InDacia(present-day Romania) and on the steppes north of the Black Sea theGoths, a Germanic people, established at least two kingdoms:ThervingandGreuthung.
The arrival of theHunsin 372–375 ended the history of these kingdoms. The Huns, a confederation of central Asian tribes, founded an empire. They had mastered the difficult art of shooting compositerecurvebowsfrom horseback. The Goths sought refuge in Roman territory (376), agreeing to enter the Empire as unarmed settlers. However many bribed the Danube border-guards into allowing them to bring their weapons.
The discipline and organization of aRoman legionmade it a superb fighting unit. The Romans preferred infantry to cavalry because infantry could be trained to retain the formation in combat, while cavalry tended to scatter when faced with opposition. While a barbarian army could be raised and inspired by the promise of plunder, the legions required a central government and taxation to pay for salaries, constant training, equipment, and food. The decline in agricultural and economic activity reduced the empire's taxable income and thus its ability to maintain a professional army to defend itself from external threats.
In theGothic War (376–382), the Goths revolted and confronted themain Roman armyin theBattle of Adrianople(378). By this time, the distinction in the Roman army between Roman regulars and barbarianauxiliarieshad broken down, and the Roman army was composed mainly of barbarians and soldiers recruited for a single campaign. The general decline in discipline also led to the use of smaller shields and lighter weaponry.Not wanting to share the glory, Eastern EmperorValensordered an attack on theThervinginfantry underFritigernwithout waiting for Western EmperorGratian, who was on the way with reinforcements. While the Romans were fully engaged, the Greuthung cavalry arrived. Only one-third of the Roman army managed to escape. This represented the most shattering defeat that the Romans had suffered since theBattle of Cannae(216 BC), according to the Roman military writerAmmianus Marcellinus.The core army of the Eastern Roman Empire was destroyed, Valens was killed, and the Goths were freed to lay waste to theBalkans, including the armories along the Danube. AsEdward Gibboncomments, "The Romans, who so coolly and so concisely mention the acts ofjusticewhich were exercised by the legions, reserve their compassion and their eloquence for their own sufferings, when the provinces were invaded and desolated by the arms of the successful Barbarians."
The empire lacked the resources, and perhaps the will, to reconstruct the professional mobile army destroyed at Adrianople, so it had to rely on barbarian armies to fight for it. TheEastern Roman Empiresucceeded in buying off the Goths with tribute. TheWestern Roman Empireproved less fortunate.Stilicho, the western empire's half-Vandal military commander, stripped theRhinefrontier of troops to fend off invasions of Italy by theVisigothsin 402–03 and by other Goths in 406–07.
Fleeing before the advance of theHuns, theVandals,Suebi, andAlanslaunched an attack across the frozen Rhine nearMainz; on 31 December 406, the frontier gave way and these tribes surged intoRoman Gaul. There soon followed theBurgundiansand bands of theAlamanni. In the fit of anti-barbarian hysteria which followed, the Western Roman EmperorHonoriushad Stilicho summarily beheaded (408). Stilicho submitted his neck, "with a firmness not unworthy of thelast of the Roman generals", wrote Gibbon. Honorius was left with only worthless courtiers to advise him. In 410, the Visigoths led byAlaric Icaptured the city of Romeand for three days fire and slaughter ensued as bodies filled the streets, palaces were stripped of their valuables, and the invaders interrogated and tortured those citizens thought to have hidden wealth. As newly converted Christians, the Goths respected church property, but those who found sanctuary in theVaticanand in other churches were the fortunate few.
The Goths and Vandals were only the first of many bands of peoples that floodedWestern Europein the absence of administrative governance. Somelived only for war and pillage and disdained Roman ways. Other peopleshad been in prolonged contact with the Roman civilization, and were, to a certain degree, romanized. "A poor Roman plays the Goth, a rich Goth the Roman," said KingTheodericof the Ostrogoths.The subjects of the Roman empire were a mixture ofRoman Christian,Arian Christian,Nestorian Christian, andpagan.The Germanic peoples knew little of cities, money, or writing, and were mostly pagan, though they were increasingly converting toArianism, anon-trinitarianform of Christianity that considers God the Son to have been created by, and thus inferior to, God the Father, rather than the two beingco-eternal, which is the position ofChalcedonian Christianity. Arianism found some favour in the Roman Empire before being eclipsed by the Chalcedonian position and then suppressed as heretical.
During the migrations, orVölkerwanderung(wandering of the peoples), the earlier settled populations were sometimes left intact though usually partially or entirely displaced.Roman culturenorth of thePo Riverwas almost entirely displaced by the migrations. Whereas the peoples of France, Italy, Spain and Portugal continued to speak the dialects ofVulgar Latinthat today constitute theRomance languages, the language of the smaller Roman-era population of what is now England disappeared with barely a trace in the territories settled by the Anglo-Saxons, although the Brittanic kingdoms of the west remainedBrythonicspeakers. The new peoples greatly altered established society, including law, culture, religion, and patterns of property ownership.
Thepax Romanahad provided safe conditions for trade and manufacture, and a unified cultural and educational milieu of far-ranging connections. As this was lost, it was replaced by the rule of local potentates, sometimes members of the established Romanized ruling elite, sometimes new lords of alien culture. InAquitania,Gallia Narbonensis, southern Italy and Sicily,Baeticaor southernSpain, and the Iberian Mediterranean coast, Roman culture lasted until the 6th or 7th centuries.
The gradual breakdown and transformation of economic and social linkages and infrastructure resulted in increasingly localized outlooks. This breakdown was often fast and dramatic as it became unsafe to travel or carry goods over any distance; there was a consequent collapse in trade and manufacture for export. Major industries that depended on trade, such as large-scale pottery manufacture, vanished almost overnight in places like Britain.TintagelinCornwall, as well as several other centres, managed to obtain supplies of Mediterranean luxury goods well into the 6th century, but then lost their trading links. Administrative, educational and military infrastructure quickly vanished, and the loss of the establishedcursus honorumled to the collapse of the schools and to a rise of illiteracy even among the leadership. The careers ofCassiodorus(diedc.585) at the beginning of this period and ofAlcuin of York(died 804) at its close were founded alike on their valued literacy. For the formerly Roman area, there was another 20 per cent decline in population between 400 and 600, or a one-third decline for 150–600.In the 8th century, the volume of trade reached its lowest level. The very small number ofshipwrecksfound that dated from the 8th century supports this (which represents less than 2 per cent of the number of shipwrecks dated from the 1st century). There was also reforestation and a retreat of agriculture centred around 500.
The Romans had practicedtwo-field agriculture, with a crop grown in one field and the other left fallow and ploughed under to eliminate weeds. Systematic agriculture largely disappeared and yields declined. It is estimated that thePlague of Justinianwhich began in 541 and recurred periodically for 150 years thereafter killed as many as 100 million people across the world.Some historians such as Josiah C. Russell (1958) have suggested a total European population loss of 50 to 60 per cent between 541 and 700.After the year 750, major epidemic diseases did not appear again in Europe until theBlack Deathof the 14th century. The diseasesmallpox, which was eradicated in the late 20th century, did not definitively enterWestern Europeuntil about 581 when BishopGregory of Toursprovided an eyewitness account that describes the characteristic findings of smallpox.Waves ofepidemicswiped out large rural populations.Most of the details about the epidemics are lost, probably due to the scarcity of surviving written records.
For almost a thousand years,Romewas the most politically important, richest and largest city in Europe.Around 100 AD, it had a population of about 450,000,and declined to a mere 20,000 during the Early Middle Ages, reducing the sprawling city to groups of inhabited buildings interspersed among large areas of ruins and vegetation.
The death ofTheodosius Iin 395 was followed by the division of the empire between his two sons. TheWestern Roman Empiredisintegrated into a mosaic of warring Germanic kingdoms in the 5th century, effectively making theEastern Roman Empirein Constantinople theGreek-speakingsuccessor to the classical Roman Empire. The inhabitants continued to regard themselves as Romans, orRomaioi, until thefall of Constantinopleto theOttoman Empirein 1453. Despite this, to distinguish it from its predominantlyLatin-speakingpredecessor, historians began referring to the empire as "Byzantine", after the original name of Constantinople,Byzantium.
The Eastern Roman or "Byzantine" Empire aimed to retain control of the trade routes between Europe and the Orient, which made the Empire the richest polity in Medieval Europe. Making use of their sophisticated warfare and superior diplomacy, the Byzantines managed to fend off assaults by the migrating barbarians. Their dreams of subduing the Western potentates briefly materialized during the reign ofJustinian Iin 527–565. Not only did Justinian restore some western territories to the Roman Empire, including Rome and the Italian peninsula itself, but he also codifiedRoman law(withhis codificationremaining in force in many areas of Europe until the 19th century) and commissioned the building of the largest and most architecturally advanced edifice of the Early Middle Ages, theHagia Sophia. However, his reign also saw the outbreak of abubonic plaguepandemic,now known retroactively as thePlague of Justinian. The Emperor himself was afflicted, and within the span of less than a year, an estimated 200,000 Constantinopolites—two out of every five city residents—had died of the disease.
Justinian's successorsMauriceandHeracliusconfronted invasions by theAvarandSlavictribes. After the devastations by the Slavs and the Avars, large areas of theBalkansbecame depopulated. In 626 Constantinople, by far the largest city of early medieval Europe,withstood a combined siegeby Avars and Persians. Within several decades, Heraclius completed a holy war against the Persians, taking their capital and having aSassanidmonarch assassinated. Yet Heraclius lived to see his spectacular success undone by theMuslim conquestsofSyria, threePalaestina provinces,Egypt, andNorth Africawhich was considerably facilitated by religious disunity and the proliferation of heretical movements (notablyMonophysitismandNestorianism) in the areas converted to Islam.
Although Heraclius's successors managed to salvageConstantinoplefrom twoArab sieges(in 674–77 and 717), the empire of the 8th and early 9th century was rocked by the greatIconoclastic Controversy, punctuated by dynastic struggles between various factions at court. TheBulgarandSlavictribes profited from these disorders and invadedIllyria,Thraceand evenGreece. After the decisive victory atOngalain 680 the armies of the Bulgars and Slavs advanced to the south of the Balkan mountains, defeating again the Byzantines who were then forced to sign a humiliating peace treaty which acknowledged the establishment of theFirst Bulgarian Empireon the borders of the Empire.
To counter these threats a new system of administration was introduced. The regional civil and military administration were combined in the hands of a general, or strategos. Atheme, which formerly denoted a subdivision of the Byzantine army, came to refer to a region governed by a strategos. The reform led to the emergence of great landed families which controlled the regional military and often pressed their claims to the throne (seeBardas PhocasandBardas Sklerusfor characteristic examples).
By the early 8th century, notwithstanding the shrinking territory of the empire, Constantinople remained the largest and the wealthiest city west ofChina, comparable only to SassanidCtesiphon, and laterAbbasidBaghdad. The population of the imperial capital fluctuated between 300,000 and 400,000 as the emperors undertook measures to restrain its growth. The only other large Christian cities were Rome (50,000) andThessalonica(30,000).Even before the 8th century was out, the Farmer's Law signalled the resurrection of agricultural technologies in the Roman Empire. As the 2006Encyclopædia Britannicanoted, "the technological base of Byzantine society was more advanced than that of contemporary western Europe: iron tools could be found in the villages; water mills dotted the landscape; and field-sown beans provided a diet rich in protein".
The ascension of theMacedonian dynastyin 867 marked the end of the period of political and religious turmoil and introduced a new golden age of the empire. While the talented generals such asNicephorus Phocasexpanded the frontiers, the Macedonian emperors (such asLeo the WiseandConstantine VII) presided over the cultural flowering in Constantinople, known as theMacedonian Renaissance. The enlightened Macedonian rulers scorned the rulers of Western Europe as illiterate barbarians and maintained a nominal claim to rule over the West. Although this fiction had been exploded with the coronation ofCharlemagnein Rome (800), the Byzantine rulers did not treat their Western counterparts as equals. Generally, they had little interest in political and economic developments in the barbarian (from their point of view) West.
Against this economic background the culture and the imperial traditions of the Eastern Roman Empire attracted its northern neighbours—Slavs, Bulgars, and Khazars—toConstantinople, in search of either pillage or enlightenment. The movement of the Germanic tribes to the south triggered the great migration of theSlavs, who occupied the vacated territories. In the 7th century, they moved westward to theElbe, southward to theDanubeand eastward to theDnieper. By the 9th century, the Slavs had expanded into sparsely inhabited territories to the south and east from these natural frontiers, peacefully assimilating the indigenousIllyrianandFinnicpopulations.
From the 7th century,Byzantine historywas greatly affected by the rise of Islam and theCaliphates.Muslim Arabsfirst invaded historically Roman territory underAbū Bakr, first Caliph of theRashidun Caliphate, who enteredRoman SyriaandRoman Mesopotamia. The Byzantines and neighbouring PersianSasanidshad been severely weakened by a long succession ofByzantine–Sasanian wars, especially the climacticByzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628. UnderUmar, the second Caliph, the Muslims decisively conqueredSyriaandMesopotamia, as well asRoman Palestine,Roman Egypt, parts ofAsia MinorandRoman North Africa, while they entirely toppled the Sasanids. In the mid 7th century, following theMuslim conquest of Persia, Islam penetrated into theCaucasusregion, of which partswould laterpermanently become part of Russia.This expansion of Islam continued under Umar's successors and then theUmayyad Caliphate, which conquered the rest of Mediterranean North Africa and most of theIberian Peninsula. Over the next centuries Muslim forces were able to take further European territory, includingCyprus,Malta,Septimania,Crete, andSicily and parts of southern Italy.
The Muslim conquest of Hispania began when theMoors(mostlyBerbersand someArabs) invaded theChristianVisigothic Kingdomin the year 711, under their Berber leaderTariq ibn Ziyad. They landed atGibraltaron 30 April and worked their way northward. Tariq's forces were joined the next year by those of his superior,Musa ibn Nusair. During the eight-year campaign most of theIberian Peninsulawas brought underMuslimrule—except for small areas in the north-northwest (Asturias) and largelyBasqueregions in thePyrenees. This territory, under the Arab nameAl-Andalus, became part of the expandingUmayyadempire.
The unsuccessfulsecond siege of Constantinople(717) weakened theUmayyad dynastyand reduced their prestige. After their success in overrunning Iberia, the conquerors moved northeast across the Pyrenees. They were defeated by theFrankishleaderCharles Martelat theBattle of Poitiersin 732. The Umayyads were overthrown in 750 by theAbbāsidsand most of the Umayyad clan were massacred.
A surviving Umayyad prince,Abd-ar-rahman I, escaped to Spain and founded a new Umayyad dynasty in theEmirate of Cordobain 756. Charles Martel's sonPippin the ShortretookNarbonne, and his grandson Charlemagne established theMarca Hispanicaacross the Pyrenees in part of what today isCatalonia, reconqueringGironain 785 andBarcelonain 801. The Umayyads in Hispania proclaimed themselves caliphs in 929.
Climatic conditions in Western Europe began to improve after 700.In that year, the two major powers in western Europe were theFranksinGauland theLombardsin Italy.The Lombards had been thoroughly Romanized, andtheir kingdomwas stable and well developed. The Franks, in contrast, were barely any different from their barbarian Germanic ancestors. TheKingdom of the Frankswas weak and divided.Impossible to guess at the time, but by the end of the century, the Lombardic kingdom would be extinct, while the Frankish kingdom would have nearly reassembled the Western Roman Empire.
Though much of Roman civilization north of thePo Riverhad been wiped out in the years after the end of the Western Roman Empire, between the 5th and 8th centuries, new political and social infrastructure began to develop. Much of this was initially Germanic and pagan.Arian Christianmissionaries had been spreading Arian Christianity throughout northern Europe, though by 700 the religion of northern Europeans was largely a mix ofGermanic paganism, Christianized paganism, and Arian Christianity.Chalcedonian Christianityhad barely started to spread in northern Europe by this time. Through the practice ofsimony, local princes typically auctioned off ecclesiastical offices, causing priests and bishops to function as though they were yet another noble under the patronage of the prince.In contrast, a network ofmonasterieshad sprung up as monks sought separation from the world. These monasteries remained independent from local princes, and as such constituted the "church" for most northern Europeans during this time. Being independent from local princes, they increasingly stood out as centres of learning, of scholarship, and as religious centres where individuals could receive spiritual or monetary assistance.
The interaction between the culture of the newcomers, their warband loyalties, the remnants of classical culture, and Christian influences, produced a new model for society, based in part onfeudal obligations. The centralized administrative systems of the Romans did not withstand the changes, and the institutional support forchattel slaverylargely disappeared. TheAnglo-Saxonsin England had also started to convert fromAnglo-Saxon polytheismafter thearrival of Christian missionaries in 597.
The Lombards, who first entered Italy in 568 underAlboin, carved out a state in the north, with its capital atPavia. At first, they were unable to conquer theExarchate of Ravenna, theDucatus Romanus, andCalabriaandApulia. The next two hundred years were occupied in trying to conquer these territories from the Byzantine Empire.
The Lombard state was relatively Romanized, at least when compared to the Germanic kingdoms in northern Europe. It was highly decentralized at first, with the territorial dukes having practical sovereignty in their duchies, especially in the southern duchies ofSpoletoandBenevento. For a decade following the death ofClephin 575, the Lombards did not even elect a king; this period is called theRule of the Dukes. The first written legal code was composed in poor Latin in 643: theEdictum Rothari. It was primarily the codification of the oral legal tradition of the people.
The Lombard state was well-organized and stabilized by the end of the long reign ofLiutprand(717–744), but its collapse was sudden. Unsupported by the dukes, KingDesideriuswas defeated and forced to surrender his kingdom to Charlemagne in 774. The Lombard kingdom ended and a period of Frankish rule was initiated. The Frankish kingPepin the Shorthad, by theDonation of Pepin, given the pope the "Papal States" and the territory north of that swath of papally-governed land was ruled primarily by Lombard and Frankish vassals of theHoly Roman Emperoruntil the rise of the city-states in the 11th and 12th centuries.
In the south, a period of chaos began. TheDuchy of Beneventomaintained its sovereignty in the face of the pretensions of both the Western and Eastern Empires. In the 9th century, theMuslims conquered Sicily. The cities on theTyrrhenian Seadeparted from Byzantine allegiance. Various states owing various nominal allegiances fought constantly over territory until events came to a head in the early 11th century with the coming of theNormans, who conquered the whole of the south by the end of the century.
Roman Britainwas in a state of political and economic collapse at the time of theRoman departurec. 400. Aseries of settlements(traditionally referred to as an invasion) byGermanic peoplesbegan in the early fifth century, and by the sixth century the island would consist of many small kingdoms engaged in ongoing warfare with each other. The Germanic kingdoms are now collectively referred to asAnglo-Saxons. Christianity began to take hold among the Anglo-Saxons in the sixth century, with 597 given as the traditional date for its large-scale adoption.
Western Britain (Wales), eastern andnorthern Scotland(Pictland) and theScottish highlandsandislescontinued their separate evolution. TheIrishdescended and Irish-influenced people of western Scotland were Christian from the fifth century onward, the Picts adopted Christianity in the sixth century under the influence ofColumba, and the Welsh had been Christian since the Roman era.
TheKingdom of Northumbriawas the pre-eminent power c. 600–700, absorbing several weaker Anglo-Saxon andBrythonickingdoms, whileMerciaheld a similar status c. 700–800.Wessexwould absorb all of the kingdoms in the south, both Anglo-Saxon and Briton. In Wales consolidation of power would not begin until the ninth century under the descendants ofMerfyn FrychofGwynedd, establishing a hierarchy that would last until theNorman invasion of Walesin 1081.
The firstVikingraids on Britain began before 800, increasing in scope and destructiveness over time. In 865 a large, well-organizedDanishViking army (called theGreat Heathen Army) attempted a conquest, breaking or diminishing Anglo-Saxon power everywhere but in Wessex. Under the leadership ofAlfred the Greatand his descendants, Wessex would at first survive, then coexist with, and eventually conquer the Danes. It would then establish theKingdom of Englandand rule until the establishment of an Anglo-Danish kingdom underCnut, and then again until theNorman Invasionof 1066.
Viking raids and invasion were no less dramatic for the north. Their defeat of the Picts in 839 led to a lastingNorseheritage in northernmost Scotland, and it led to the combination of the Picts andGaelsunder theHouse of Alpin, which became theKingdom of Alba, the predecessor of theKingdom of Scotland. The Vikings combined with the Gaels of theHebridesto become theGall-Gaideland establish theKingdom of the Isles.
TheMerovingiansestablished themselves in the power vacuum of the formerRoman provincesin Gaul, andClovis Iconverted to Christianityfollowing his victory over theAlemanniat theBattle of Tolbiac(496), laying the foundation of theFrankish Empire, the dominant state of early medieval WesternChristendom. The Frankish kingdom grew through a complex development of conquest, patronage, and alliance building. Due tosalic custom, inheritance rights were absolute, and all land wasdivided equallyamong the sons of a dead land holder.This meant that, when the king granted a prince land in reward for service, that prince and all of his descendants had an irrevocable right to that land that no future king could undo. Likewise, those princes (and their sons) could sublet their land to their own vassals, who could in turn sublet the land to lower sub-vassals.This all had the effect of weakening the power of the king as his kingdom grew, since the result was that the land became controlled not just by more princes and vassals, but by multiple layers of vassals. This also allowed his nobles to attempt to build their own power base, though given the strict salic tradition of hereditary kingship, few would ever consider overthrowing the king.
This increasingly fragmented arrangement was highlighted byCharles Martel, who asMayor of the Palacewas effectively the strongest prince in the kingdom.His accomplishments were highlighted, not just by his famous defeat of invading Muslims at theBattle of Tours, which is typically considered the battle that saved Europe from Muslim conquest, but by the fact that he greatly expanded Frankish influence. It was under his patronage thatBonifaceexpanded Frankish influence into Germany by rebuilding the German church, with the result that, within a century, the German church was the strongest church in western Europe.Yet despite this, Charles Martel refused to overthrow the Frankish king. His son, Pepin the Short, inherited his power, and used it to further expand Frankish influence. Unlike his father, however, Pepin decided to seize the Frankish kingship. Given how strongly Frankish culture held to its principle of inheritance, few would support him if he attempted to overthrow the king.Instead, he sought the assistance ofPope Zachary, who was himself newly vulnerable due to fallout with theByzantine Emperorover theIconoclastic Controversy. Pepin agreed to support the pope and to give him land (theDonation of Pepin, which created thePapal States) in exchange for being consecrated as the new Frankish king. Given that Pepin's claim to the kingship was now based on an authority higher than Frankish custom, no resistance was offered to Pepin.With this, the Merovingian line of kings ended, and theCarolingianline began.
Pepin's sonCharlemagnecontinued in the footsteps of his father and grandfather. He further expanded and consolidated the Frankish kingdom (now commonly called theCarolingian Empire). His reign also saw a cultural rebirth, commonly called theCarolingian Renaissance. Though the exact reasons are unclear, Charlemagne was crowned "Roman Emperor" byPope Leo IIIon Christmas Day, 800. Upon Charlemagne's death, his empire had united much of modern-day France, western Germany and northern Italy. The years after his death illustrated how Germanic his empire remained.Rather than an orderly succession, his empire was divided in accordance with Frankish inheritance custom, which resulted in instability that plagued his empire until the last king of a united empire,Charles the Fat, died in 887, which resulted in a permanent split of the empire intoWest FranciaandEast Francia. West Francia would be ruled by Carolingians until 987 and East Francia until 911, after which time the partition of the empire into France and Germany was complete.
Around 800 there was a return to systematic agriculture in the form of theopen field, or strip, system. Amanorwould have several fields, each subdivided into 1-acre (4,000 m) strips of land. An acre measured one "furlong" of 220 yards by one "chain" of 22 yards (that is, about 200 m by 20 m). A furlong (from "furrow long") was considered to be the distance an ox could plough before taking a rest; the strip shape of the acre field also reflected the difficulty in turning early heavy ploughs. In the idealized form of the system, each family got thirty such strips of land. The three-field system ofcrop rotationwas first developed in the 9th century: wheat or rye was planted in one field, the second field had a nitrogen-fixing crop, and the third was fallow.
Compared to the earlier two-field system, a three-field system allowed for significantly more land to be put under cultivation. Even more important, the system allowed for two harvests a year, reducing the risk that a single crop failure will lead to famine. Three-field agriculture created a surplus of oats that could be used to feed horses. This surplus allowed for the replacement of the ox by the horse after the introduction of the paddedhorse collarin the 12th century. Because the system required a major rearrangement of real estate and of the social order, it took until the 11th century before it came into general use. The heavy wheeled plough was introduced in the late 10th century. It required greater animal power and promoted the use of teams of oxen. Illuminated manuscripts depict two-wheeled ploughs with both a mouldboard, or curved metal ploughshare, and a coulter, a vertical blade in front of the ploughshare. The Romans had used light, wheel-less ploughs with flat iron shares that often proved unequal to the heavy soils of northern Europe.
The return to systemic agriculture coincided with the introduction of a new social system calledfeudalism. This system featured a hierarchy of reciprocal obligations. Each man was bound to serve his superior in return for the latter's protection. This made for confusion of territorial sovereignty since allegiances were subject to change over time and were sometimes mutually contradictory. Feudalism allowed the state to provide a degree of public safety despite the continued absence of bureaucracy and written records.
Manors became largely self-sufficient, and the volume of trade along long-distance routes and in market towns declined during this period, though never ceased entirely. Roman roads decayed and long-distance trade depended more heavily on water transport.
The Viking Age spans the period roughly between the late 8th and mid-11th centuries inScandinaviaandBritain, following theGermanic Iron Age(and theVendel Agein Sweden). During this period, theVikings, Scandinavian warriors and traders raided and explored most parts ofEurope,south-western Asia,northern Africa, andnorth-eastern North America.
With the means to travel (longships and open water), desire for goods led Scandinavian traders to explore and develop extensive trading partnerships in new territories. Some of the most important trading ports during the period include both existing and ancient cities such asAarhus,Ribe,Hedeby,Vineta,Truso,Kaupang,Birka,Bordeaux,York,Dublin, andAldeigjuborg.
Viking raiding expeditions were separate from, though coexisted with, regular trading expeditions. Apart from exploring Europe via its oceans and rivers, with the aid of their advanced navigational skills, they extended their trading routes across vast parts of the continent. They also engaged in warfare, looting and enslaving numerous Christian communities of Medieval Europe for centuries, contributing to the development of feudal systems in Europe.
The Early Middle Ages marked the beginning of the cultural distinctions between Western and Eastern Europe north of the Mediterranean. Influence from theByzantine Empireimpacted the Christianization and hence almost every aspect of the cultural and political development of the East from the preeminence ofCaesaropapismandEastern Christianityto the spread of theCyrillic alphabet. The turmoil of the so-calledBarbarian invasionsin the beginning of the period gradually gave way to more stabilized societies and states as the origins of contemporary Eastern Europe began to take shape during theHigh Middle Ages.
Turkic and Iranian invaders fromCentral Asiapressured the agricultural populations both in the ByzantineBalkansand in Central Europe creating a number of successor states in thePontic steppes. After the dissolution of theHunnic Empire, theWestern TurkicandAvar Khaganatesdominated territories fromPannoniato theCaspian Seabefore being replaced by the short livedOld Great Bulgariaand the more successfulKhazar Khaganatenorth of the Black Sea and theMagyarsin Central Europe.
TheKhazarswere a nomadic Turkic people who managed to develop a multiethnic commercial state which owed its success to the control of much of the waterway trade between Europe and Central Asia. The Khazars also exacted tribute from theAlani,Magyars, variousSlavictribes, theCrimean Goths, and the Greeks ofCrimea. Through a network of Jewish itinerant merchants, orRadhanites, they were in contact with the trade emporia of India and Spain.
Once they found themselves confronted byArab expansionism, the Khazars pragmatically allied themselves with Constantinople and clashed with theCaliphate. Despite initial setbacks, they managed to recoverDerbentand eventually penetrated as far south asCaucasian Iberia,Caucasian AlbaniaandArmenia. In doing so, they effectively blocked the northward expansion ofIslamintoEastern Europeeven beforekhan Tervelachieved the same at theSecond Arab Siege of Constantinopleand several decades before theBattle of Toursin Western Europe.  Islam eventually penetrated into Eastern Europe in the 920s whenVolga Bulgariaexploited the decline of Khazar power in the region to adopt Islam from theBaghdadmissionaries. The state religion of Khazaria,Judaism, disappeared as a political force with the fall of Khazaria, while Islam of Volga Bulgaria has survived in the region up to the present.
In the beginning of the period, theSlavic tribesstarted to expand aggressively into Byzantine possessions on the Balkans. The first attestedSlavicpolities wereSerbiaandGreat Moravia, the latter of which emerged under the aegis of the Frankish Empire in the early 9th century. Great Moravia was ultimately overrun by theMagyars, who invaded thePannonian Basinaround 896. The Slavic state became a stage for confrontation between the Christian missionaries from Constantinople and Rome. AlthoughWest Slavs,CroatsandSloveneseventually acknowledged Roman ecclesiastical authority, the clergy of Constantinople succeeded in converting to Eastern Christianity two of the largest states of early medieval Europe,Bulgariaaround 864, andKievan Rus'c. 990.
In 632 theBulgarsestablished the khanate ofOld Great Bulgariaunder the leadership ofKubrat. The Khazars managed to oust the Bulgars from Southern Ukraine into lands along middleVolga(Volga Bulgaria) and along lowerDanube(Danube Bulgaria).
In 681 the Bulgars founded a powerful and ethnically diverse state that played a defining role in the history of early medievalSoutheastern Europe. Bulgaria withstood the pressure fromPontic steppetribes like thePechenegs,Khazars, andCumans, and in 806 destroyed theAvarKhanate. The Danube Bulgars were quickly slavicized and, despite constant campaigning against Constantinople, accepted Christianity from the Byzantine Empire. Through the efforts of missionariesCyril and Methodius, mainly their disciples likeClement of OhridandNaum,the spread, initially of theGlagolitic, and later of theCyrillicalphabet, developed in the capital Preslav. The local vernacular dialect, now known asOld Bulgarianor Old Church Slavonic, was established as the language of books and liturgy amongOrthodox ChristianSlavs.
After the adoption ofChristianityin 864, Bulgaria became a cultural and spiritual hub of theEastern OrthodoxSlavic world. TheCyrillic scriptwas developed around 885–886, and was afterwards also introduced with books toSerbiaandKievan Rus'. Literature, art, and architecture were thriving with the establishment of thePreslavandOhrid Literary Schoolsalong with the distinct Preslav Ceramics School. In 927 theBulgarian Orthodox Churchwas the first European national Church to gain independence with its own Patriarch while conducting services in thevernacularOld Church Slavonic.
UnderSimeon I(893–927), the state was the largest and one of the most powerful political entities of Europe, and it consistently threatened the existence of the Byzantine empire. From the middle of the 10th century Bulgaria was in decline as it entered a social and spiritual turmoil. It was in part due to Simeon's devastating wars, but was also exacerbated
by a series of successful Byzantine military campaigns. Bulgaria was conquered after a long resistance in 1018.
Led by aVarangiandynasty, theKievan Rus'controlled theroutes connecting Northern Europe to Byzantiumand to the Orient (for example: theVolga trade route). The Kievan state began with the rule (882–912) ofPrince Oleg, who extended his control fromNovgorodsouthwards along theDnieperriver valley in order to protect trade fromKhazarincursions from the east and moved his capital to the more strategicKiev.Sviatoslav I(died 972) achieved the first major expansion of Kievan Rus' territorial control, fighting a war of conquest against theKhazar Empireand inflicting a serious blow onBulgaria. ARus' attack(967 or 968), instigated by the Byzantines, led to the collapse of the Bulgarian state and the occupation of the east of the country by the Rus'. An ensuingdirect military confrontation between the Rus' and Byzantium(970–971) ended with aByzantine victory(971). The Rus' withdrew and the Byzantine Empire incorporated eastern Bulgaria. Both before and after theirconversion to Christianity(conventionally dated 988 underVladimir I of Kiev—known as Vladimir the Great), the Rus' also embarked on predatory military campaigns against the Byzantine Empire, some of which resulted in trade treaties. The importance of Russo-Byzantine relations to Constantinople was highlighted by the fact that Vladimir I of Kiev, son ofSvyatoslav I, became the only foreigner to marry (989) aByzantine princessof theMacedonian dynasty(which ruled theEastern Roman Empirefrom 867 to 1056), a singular honour sought in vain by many other rulers.
With theFall of the Western Roman Empireand with urban centres in decline,literacyand learning decreased in the West.De-urbanizationreduced the scope of education, and by the6th centuryteaching and learning moved to monastic and cathedral schools, with the study of biblical texts at the centre of education.The education of thelaitycontinued with little interruption in Italy, Spain, and the southern part ofGaul, where Roman influences lasted longer. In the 7th century, however, learning expanded in Ireland and the Celtic lands, where Latin was a foreign language and Latin texts were eagerly studied and taught.TheCarolingian Renaissanceofclassical educationappeared in theCarolingian Empirein the8th century.
In theEastern Roman Empire(Byzantium), learning (in the sense of formal education involving literature) was maintained at a higher level than in the West. The classical education system, which would persist for hundreds of years, emphasizedgrammar,Latin,Greek, andrhetoric. Pupils read and reread classic works and wrote essays imitating their style. By the 4th century, this education system wasChristianized. InDe Doctrina Christiana(started 396, completed 426),Augustineexplained how classical education fits into the Christian worldview: Christianity is a religion of the book, so Christians must be literate.Tertullianwas more skeptical of the value of classical learning, asking "What indeed has Athens to do with Jerusalem?"
In the ancient world, Greek was the primary language of science. Advanced scientific research and teaching was mainly carried on in theHellenisticside of the Roman empire, and in Greek. Late Roman attempts to translate Greek writings into Latin had limited success.As the knowledge of Greek declined, the Latin West found itself cut off from some of its Greek philosophical and scientific roots. For a time, Latin-speakers who wanted to learn about science had access to only a couple of books byBoethius(c. 470–524) that summarized Greek handbooks byNicomachus of Gerasa.Isidore of Sevilleproduced a Latin encyclopedia in 630. Private libraries would have existed, and monasteries would also keep various kinds of texts.
The study of nature was pursued more for practical reasons than as an abstract inquiry: the need to care for the sick led to the study of medicine and of ancient texts on drugs;the need for monks to determine the proper time to pray led them to study the motion of the stars;and the need to compute thedate of Easterled them to study and teach mathematics and the motions of the Sun and Moon.
In the late 8th century, there was renewed interest inClassical Antiquityas part of the Carolingian Renaissance. Charlemagne carried out a reform ineducation. The English monkAlcuin of Yorkelaborated a project of scholarly development aimed at resuscitating classical knowledge by establishing programs of study based upon the sevenliberal arts: thetrivium, or literary education (grammar,rhetoric, anddialectic), and thequadrivium, or scientific education (arithmetic,geometry,astronomy, andmusic). From 787 on,decreesbegan to circulate recommending the restoration of old schools and the founding of new ones across the empire.
Institutionally, these new schools were either under the responsibility of amonastery(monastic schools), acathedral, or anoble court. The teaching ofdialectic(a discipline that corresponds to today'slogic) was responsible for the increase in the interest in speculative inquiry; from this interest would follow the rise of theScholastictradition ofChristian philosophy. In the 12th and 13th centuries, many of those schools founded under the auspices of Charlemagne, especiallycathedral schools, would becomeuniversities.
Byzantium's great intellectual achievement was theCorpus Juris Civilis("Body of Civil Law"), a massive compilation ofRoman lawmade underJustinian(r. 528–565). The work includes a section called theDigestawhich abstracts the principles of Roman law in such a way that they can be applied to any situation. The level of literacy was considerably higher in the Byzantine Empire than in the Latin West. Elementary education was much more widely available, sometimes even in the countryside. Secondary schools still taught theIliadand other classics.
As for higher education, theNeoplatonic AcademyinAthenswas closed in 526. There was also a school in Alexandria which remained open until the Arab conquest (640). TheUniversity of Constantinople, founded by EmperorTheodosius II(425), seems to have dissolved around this time. It was refounded by EmperorMichael IIIin 849. Higher education in this period focused on rhetoric, althoughAristotle's logic was covered in simple outline. Under theMacedonian dynasty(867–1056), Byzantium enjoyed a golden age and a revival of classical learning. There was little original research, but many lexicons, anthologies, encyclopedias, and commentaries.
In the course of the 11th century, Islam's scientific knowledge began to reach Western Europe, via Islamic Spain. The works ofEuclidandArchimedes, lost in the West, were translated from Arabic to Latin in Spain. The modernHindu–Arabic numeral system, including a notation for zero, were developed by Hindu mathematicians in the 5th and 6th centuries. Muslim mathematicians learned of it in the 7th century and added a notation for decimal fractions in the 9th and 10th centuries. Around 1000, Gerbert of Aurillac (laterPope Sylvester II) made anabacuswith counters engraved withArabic numerals. A treatise byAl-Khwārizmīon how to perform calculations with these numerals was translated into Latin in Spain in the 12th century.
Monasterieswere targeted in the eighth and ninth centuries byVikingswho invaded the coasts of northern Europe. They were targeted not only because they stored books but also precious objects that were looted by invaders. In the earliest monasteries, there were no special rooms set aside as a library, but from the sixth century onwards libraries became an essential aspect of monastic life in Western Europe. TheBenedictinesplaced books in the care of a librarian who supervised their use. In some monastic reading rooms, valuable books would be chained to shelves, but there were also lending sections as well. Copying was also another important aspect of monastic libraries, this was undertaken by resident or visiting monks and took place in thescriptorium. In the Byzantine world, religious houses rarely maintained their own copying centres. Instead they acquired donations from wealthy donors. In the tenth century, the largest collection in the Byzantine world was found in the monasteries ofMount Athos(modern-day Greece), which accumulated over 10,000 books. Scholars travelled from one monastery to another in search of the texts they wished to study. Travelling monks were often given funds to buy books, and certain monasteries which held a reputation for intellectual activities welcomed travelling monks who came to copy manuscripts for their own libraries. One of these was themonastery of Bobbioin Italy, which was founded by the Irish abbotColumbanusin 614, and by the ninth century boasted a catalogue of 666 manuscripts, including religious works, classical texts, histories and mathematical treatises.
From theearly Christians, early medieval Christians inherited a church united by major creeds, a stableBiblical canon, and a well-developed philosophical tradition. Thehistory of medieval Christianitytraces Christianity during the Middle Ages—the period after the fall of the Western Roman Empire until theProtestant Reformation. The institutional structure of Christianity in the west during this period is different from what it would become later in the Middle Ages. As opposed to the later church, the church of the Early Middle Ages consisted primarily of the monasteries.The practice ofsimonyhas caused the ecclesiastical offices to become the property of local princes, and as such the monasteries constituted the only church institution independent of the local princes. In addition, thepapacywas relatively weak, and its power was mostly confined to central Italy.Individualized religious practice was uncommon, as it typically required membership in a religious order, such as theOrder of Saint Benedict.Religious orders would not proliferate until the high Middle Ages. For the typical Christian at this time, religious participation was largely confined to occasionally receiving mass from wandering monks. Few would receive this as often as once a month.By the end of this period, individual practice of religion was becoming more common, as monasteries started to transform into something approximating modern churches, where some monks might even give occasional sermons.
During the Early Middle Ages, the divide between Eastern and Western Christianity widened, paving the way for theEast-West Schismin the 11th century. In the West, the power of theBishop of Romeexpanded. In 607,Boniface IIIbecame the first Bishop of Rome to use the titlePope.Pope Gregory Iused his office as a temporal power, expanded Rome's missionary efforts to the British Isles, and laid the foundations for the expansion of monastic orders. Roman church traditions and practices gradually replaced local variants, includingCeltic Christianityin theBritish Isles. Various barbarian tribes went from raiding and pillaging the island to invading and settling. They were entirely pagan, having never been part of the Empire, though they experienced Christian influence from the surrounding peoples, such as those who were converted by the mission ofAugustine of Canterbury, sent byPope Gregory I. In the East, the conquests of Islam reduced the power of the Greek-speakingpatriarchates.
TheRoman Church, the only centralized institution to survive thefall of the Western Roman Empireintact, was the sole unifying cultural influence in the West, preserving Latin learning, maintaining the art of writing, and preserving a centralized administration through its network ofbishopsordained in succession. The Early Middle Ages are characterized by the urban control of bishops and the territorial control exercised by dukes and counts. The rise ofurban communesmarked the beginning of theHigh Middle Ages.
TheChristianization of Germanic tribesbegan in the 4th century with the Goths and continued throughout the Early Middle Ages, led in the 6th to 7th centuries by theHiberno-Scottish missionand replaced in the 8th to 9th centuries by theAnglo-Saxon mission, with Anglo-Saxons likeAlcuinplaying an important role in theCarolingian Renaissance.Boniface, the Apostle of the Germans, propagated Christianity in the Frankish Empire during the 8th century. He helped shape Western Christianity, and many of the dioceses he proposed remain until today. After his martyrdom, he was quickly hailed as a saint. By 1000, evenIcelandhad become Christian, leaving only more remote parts of Europe (Scandinavia, theBaltic, andFinniclands) to be Christianized during the High Middle Ages.
Speculation that the world would end in the year 1000 was confined to a few uneasy French monks.Ordinary clerks usedregnal years, e.g. the 4th year of the reign of Robert II (the Pious) of France. The use of the modern "anno domini" system of dating was largely confined to chroniclers of universal history, such as theVenerable Bede.
Western Europe remained less developed compared to the Islamic world, with its vast network of caravan trade, or China, at this time the world's most populous empire under theSong Dynasty.Constantinoplehad a population of about 300,000, but Rome had a mere 35,000 and Paris 20,000.By contrast,Córdoba, in Islamic Spain, at this time the world's largest city contained 450,000 inhabitants. TheVikingshad a trade network in northern Europe, including aroute connecting the Baltic to Constantinoplethrough Russia, as did theRadhanites.
With nearly the entire nation freshly ravaged by the Vikings, England was in a desperate state. The long-suffering English later responded with a massacre of Danish settlers in 1002, leading to a round of reprisals and finally to Danish rule (1013), though England regained independence shortly after. Christianization made rapid progress and proved itself the long-term solution to the problem of barbarian raiding. The territories of Scandinavia were soon to be fully Christianized Kingdoms:Denmarkin the 10th century,Norwayin the 11th, andSweden, the country with the least raiding activity, in the 12th.Kievan Rus, recently converted to Orthodox Christianity, flourished as the largest state in Europe. Iceland,Greenland, andHungarywere all declared Christian about 1000.
In Europe, a formalized institution of marriage was established. The proscribed degree ofconsanguinityvaried, but the custom made marriages annullable by application to the Pope.North of Italy, where masonry construction was never extinguished, stone construction was replacing timber in important structures. Deforestation of the densely wooded continent was under way. The 10th century marked a return of urban life, with the Italian cities doubling in population.London, abandoned for many centuries, was again England's main economic centre by 1000. By 1000,BrugesandGhentheld regular trade fairs behind castle walls, a tentative return of economic life to western Europe.
In the culture of Europe, several features surfaced soon after 1000 that mark the end of the Early Middle Ages: the rise of themedieval communes, the reawakening of city life, and the appearance of theburgher class, the founding of the firstuniversities, the rediscovery ofRoman law, and the beginnings of vernacular literature.
In 1000, the papacy was firmly under the control of German EmperorOtto III, or "emperor of the world" as he styled himself. But later church reforms enhanced its independence and prestige: theCluniac movement, the building of the first great Transalpine stone cathedrals and the collation of the mass of accumulateddecretalsinto a formulatedcanon law. Meanwhile, a new Central European power was taking shape, and onChristmas Dayof 1000, Stephen I was crowned as the first king of Hungary, stabilising the country, which had been ruled by genera. Like theCivitas Schinesghe, which was also consolidating at the time, the country was seen as a promising political and trading partner, and afederati(ally) by the emperor.
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The rise of Islam begins around the timeMuhammadand his followers took flight, theHijra, fromMeccato the city ofMedina. Muhammad spent his last ten years in aseries of battles to conquer the Arabian region. From 622 to 632, Muhammad as the leader of a Muslim community in Medina was engaged in a state of war with the Meccans. In the proceeding decades, the area ofBasrawas conquered by the Muslims. During the reign ofUmar, theMuslim armyfound it a suitable place to construct a base. Later the area was settled and a mosque was erected.Madyanwas conquered and settled by Muslims, but the environment was considered harsh and the settlers moved toKufa. Umar defeated the rebellion of several Arab tribes in a successful campaign, unifying the entire Arabian peninsula and giving it stability. UnderUthman's leadership, the empire, through theMuslim conquest of Persia, expanded intoFarsin 650, some areas ofKhorasanin 651, and the conquest of Armenia was begun in the 640s. In this time, theRashidun Caliphateextended over the whole Sassanid Persian Empire and to more than two-thirds of the Eastern Roman Empire. TheFirst Fitna, or the First Islamic Civil War, lasted for the entirety ofAli ibn Abi Talib's reign. After the recorded peace treaty withHassan ibn Aliand the suppression of earlyKharijites' disturbances,Muawiyah Iacceded to the position of Caliph.
TheMuslim conquestsof theEastern Roman Empire and Arab warsoccurred between 634 and 750. Starting in 633, Muslimsconquered Iraq. TheMuslim conquest of Syriawould begin in 634 and would be complete by 638. TheMuslim conquest of Egyptstarted in 639. Before theMuslim invasion of Egyptbegan, the Eastern Roman Empire had already lost theLevantand its Arab ally, theGhassanid Kingdom, to the Muslims. The Muslims would bring Alexandria under control and the fall of Egypt would be complete by 642. Between 647 and 709,Muslims swept across North Africaand established their authority over that region.
The site of the Grand Mosque was originally a pagan temple, then a Visigothic Christian church, before the Umayyad Moors at first converted the building into a mosque and then built a new mosque on the site.
TheTransoxianaregion was conquered byQutayba ibn Muslimbetween 706 and 715 and loosely held by the Umayyads from 715 to 738. This conquest was consolidated byNasr ibn Sayyarbetween 738 and 740. It was under the Umayyads from 740 to 748 and under the Abbasids after 748.Sindh, attacked in 664, would be subjugated by 712. Sindh became the easternmost province of the Umayyad. The Umayyad conquest ofHispania(Visigothic Spain) would begin in 711 and end by 718. TheMoors, underAl-Samh ibn Malik, swept up the Iberian peninsula and by 719 overranSeptimania; the area would fall under their full control in 720. With theIslamic conquest of Persia, the Muslim subjugation of theCaucasuswould take place between 711 and 750. The end of the sudden Islamic Caliphate expansion ended around this time. The final Islamic dominion eroded the areas of the Iron Age Roman Empire in the Middle East and controlled strategic areas of the Mediterranean.
At the end of the 8th century, the former Western Roman Empire was decentralized and overwhelmingly rural. TheIslamic conquest and rule of Sicily and Maltawas a process which started in the 9th century. Islamic rule over Sicily was effective from 902, and the complete rule of the island lasted from 965 until 1061. The Islamic presence on the Italian Peninsula was ephemeral and limited mostly to semi-permanent soldier camps.
TheAbbasid Caliphate, ruled by theAbbasid dynastyof caliphs, was the third of the Islamic caliphates. Under the Abbasids, theIslamic Golden Agephilosophers, scientists, and engineers of the Islamic world contributed enormously to technology, both by preserving earlier traditions and by adding their own inventions and innovations. Scientific and intellectual achievements blossomed in the period.
The Abbasids built their capital in Baghdad after replacing the Umayyad caliphs from all but the Iberian peninsula. The influence held by Muslim merchants over African-Arabian and Arabian-Asian trade routes was tremendous. As a result, Islamic civilization grew and expanded on the basis of its merchant economy, in contrast to their Christian, Indian, and Chinese peers who built societies from an agricultural landholding nobility.
The Abbasids flourished for two centuries but slowly went into decline with the rise to power of the Turkish army they had created, theMamluks. Within 150 years of gaining control of Persia, the caliphs were forced to cede power to local dynastic emirs who only nominally acknowledged their authority. After the Abbasids lost their military dominance, theSamanids(or Samanid Empire) rose up in Central Asia. The Sunni Islam empire was a Tajik state and had a Zoroastrian theocratic nobility. It was the next native Persian dynasty after the collapse of the Sassanid Persian empire, caused by the Arab conquest.