Four rulers:
two Augusti (Diocletian = Senior Augustus) & two Caesars (successors)
Four
Prefectures and their capitals:
GAUL
ITALY
ILLYRICUM ASIA
Capitals:
| | |
Trier
Milan
Sirmium Nicomedia
(near Belgrade) (on Bosphorus Straits
near Byzantium)
Rulers:
West
East
Senior
Caesar
Augustus
Augustus Caesar
Constantius Maximian
Diocletian Maximianus
|
| (abdicate in 305 AD)
Son Son
|
|
Constantine Maxentius
305 Abdication
of Diocletian and Maximian; their Caesars become Augusti
New Caesars chosen: Italy: Flavius Valerius Severus (under
Constantius)
Illyricum: Galerius Valerius Maximinus Daia
(under Maximianus)
306
- 312 battle for succesion among all of the above, except Diocletian;
plus addition of Licinus in 308
312 Constantine invades
Italy:
defeats
and kills Maxentius at Battle of Milvian Bridge
313 Licinius consolidates military hold on East by defeating Daia (who dies)
314 truce between Constantine & Licinius in East
323 Battle of Adrianople:
defeat of Licinius by Constantine
324 Constantine sole Emperor in East & West
325
Council of Nicea:
1st ecumenical (world-wide) council of Christian Church
called by Constantine acting as head of church
CAESAROPAPISM:
Caesar acts as Pope, fusion of Church and State
council condemns as heresy the explanation of
Trinity taught by the
ARIANS,
who hold that Christ as son is lesser being than Father;
orthodox definition of Trinity stated in Nicene Creed:
Son is of “same substance” with the Father
(homo-ousia)
INVASIONS OF 4TH - 5TH C. AND FALL OF ROMAN EMPIRE IN WEST
German
Tribal Structure: Tacitus Germania (lst C. AD)
Economics:
hunting, grazing, not settled agriculture
Politics: COMITATUS war band, followers of warlord king;
personal
loyalty to (elected) king as strongest bond
(vs Roman
"state")
Social: distinctions between nobles, freemen, slaves
Roman
Influence on Germans: military tactics & service;
political org: 4th C. first tribal
confederations:
e.g. Alemanni = "all men";
"Franks" = freemen
Pressure on
German tribal confederations allied with Rome:
Asiatic migrations: begin in 4th C, end l5th C; nomadic horsemen;
first = Huns; Bulgars, Mongols; last = Magyars
FIFTH C.
INVASIONS:
Visigoths, Alaric, Vandals, Huns
390 Christianity made official religion by Emperor Theodosius,
pagan sacrifice prohibited, including
in city of Rome
410 AD SACK OF ROME BY
ALARIC / VISIGOTHS
AUGUSTINE AND CHRISTIAN WORLD VIEW
Autobiography
= Confessions: mother Monica; Bishop Ambrose of Milan;
Carthage;conversion; theologian
& Bishop of Hippo; Church Father
Refutation
of 4-5th C. Heresies:
1. Manicheanism: dualism as explanation for evil; omnipotence of God
vs goodness of God; Aug:
theory of evil as absence of good
2. Pelagianism: salvation through effort, good works = morality
Augustine: original sin as totally
corrupting, need grace
CITY OF
GOD (vs City of man):
Christian theory of history;
Roman versus Christian explanation sack of Rome in 4l0 AD:
Roman: abandonment of worship of official Roman
gods;
Christian: political realm as punishment for
original sin
heavenly
city versus earthly city; divine Providence
OSTROGOTHIC
KINGDOM (493-535):
first of "barbarian" or successor kingdoms
THEODORIC (493-526) King of the Ostrogoths (=
Eastern Goths, Arians)
authorized by
Eastern Roman Emperor to march against Huns in Italy;
Theodoric
slays Odoacer; accepted by Senate & People of Rome (SPQR)
Arianism as major
weakness of Ostrogothic Kingdom:
Byzantine Emperor remains hostile to Arian
heresy
EMPEROR JUSTINIAN (527-565) Wars against Persia, Vandals, Goths
The
Reconquest of Italy
(Greek historian PROCOPIUS)
attacks Vandal Kingdom in Africa to regain Mediterranean;
then disastrous, 20 year long Italian campaign: 535-554
Gothic resistance led by Totila, enters Rome in 542;
Justinian's wars as beginning of "Dark Ages" in Italy,
Imperial reunification short lived, Italy invaded again
Codification
of Roman Law: most
important legacy of East
438 Theodosian Code: first attempt at codification
529 JUSTINIAN'S CODE (CORPUS IURIS CIVILIS) in 2 vols;
result is influence of Roman law on
barbarian legal
codes & canon (church) law in medieval
western Europe
Lombard Kingdom 568-774: military victory due to exhaustion
of Roman Italy, plague, famine, following J's wars
DOCTRINE OF PAPAL PRIMACY IN ROME
East:
CAESAROPAPISM --
"Caesar acts as Pope"
pattern set by Constantine; Church as department
of state
Emperor calls church councils, decides doctrinal
disputes
West: Roman church resists
Imperial control from the East
evolve doctrine of papal primacy within Church
Pope as primus inter pares (first among
equals
among Christian Bishops)
APOSTOLIC SUCCESSION
from Peter
(gatekeeper holds "keys of kingdom")
Scriptural foundation of Peter's authority: Matt l6:l8=
"Thou art Peter & upon this rock I will
build my church."
body in Vatican: relic, pilgrimage site;
pallium (symbol of Papal authority) placed on tomb
of St. Peter by each newly chosen pope
DONATION
OF CONSTANTINE:
letter of Constantine to Pope Silvester I, dated 3l5:
Imperial power in Rome & Western provinces of
Empire granted to Pope;
becomes "official" basis for claims of secular
power by Pope -
probably 8th C forgery (circa 750, modeled on actual
"Donation of Pepin")
POPE
GREGORY THE GREAT: "Father of Medieval Papacy" (540-604)
noble Roman family; lives through Justinian's
Gothic wars, Lombard invasion;
abandons job as prefect of City of Rome to enter monastery;
made ambassador to Imperial court in Constantinople;
reign 590-604: directs civil administration of
Rome: food supplies,
military defense, courts; church revenues for
hospitals, schools
missionary activities for northern Europe,
England: missionary
597 Augustine to Anglo-Saxons (not same as
Augustine of Hippo)
writings: Miracles
of Italian Fathers, saints' lives, eg St. Benedict, miracle stories;
MONASTICISM
AND THE RULE OF ST. BENEDICT as response to decline of Rome
East: St. Anthony (3rd C.
Egypt): model of withdrawal to desert cave to
seek holiness through poverty, chastity,
fasting, renunciation of world
ST.
BENEDICT OF NURSIA (480-547)
founder of western monasticism
529 founds Abbey of Monte Cassino (near Naples)