Developments in EUROPE [AP World History Review—Unit 1 Topic 6]

Tour of Europe: 1200 to 1450

The Role of Christianity in Europe

• Christianity became the official state religion during the Roman Empire, largely due to Emperor Constantine's influence.

• After the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 CE, the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantine Empire) preserved Christianity and its political structures for another millennium.

• The Byzantine version of Christianity, known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, helped justify and consolidate power among Byzantine rulers.

• Despite fragmentation in Western Europe post-Rome, Roman Catholicism remained a unifying force across various decentralized states.

• The fall of Constantinople in 1453 marked the end of the Byzantine Empire but allowed Eastern Orthodoxy to be embraced by new groups like the Kievan Rus.

Political Fragmentation and Feudalism

• Following the Byzantine collapse, Western Europe was politically fragmented with no large empires existing at this time.

• Feudalism emerged as a dominant social-political-economic order characterized by allegiances between powerful lords and monarchs.

• Land exchanges were central to feudal loyalty; lesser lords pledged allegiance to greater lords or kings in return for land ownership.

• Serfs worked on manorial lands under conditions similar to slavery but were not owned outright; they were bound to their land instead.

• By 1200, monarchies began centralizing power through militarization and bureaucratic systems, shifting authority away from nobility.

Consequences of Centralization

The Rise of Powerful Monarchs and Wars of Conquest

Competition for Influence and Territory

• The emergence of powerful monarchs led to increased competition among them, as they sought to expand their influence and control over territories.

• This rivalry resulted in numerous Wars of Conquest, where monarchs aimed to assert dominance and determine who held the greatest power.

• The phrase "who indeed wore the biggest power pain" suggests a struggle for supremacy among these rulers, highlighting the intense nature of their conflicts.

• The context implies that these wars were not just about land but also about prestige and recognition among peers.