13.1: Introduction

Figure 13.1 Harun al-Rashid Receiving a Delegation of Charlemagne. The nineteenth-century German artist Julius Köckert painted this imaginary scene in which representatives of the Frankish Christian ruler Charlemagne (on horseback) meet with the Islamic ruler Harun al-Rashid (seated at left). Both leaders helped shape the history of western Afro-Eurasia in the post-Roman world. (credit: modification of work “Harun al-Rashid receiving a delegation of Charlemagne in Baghdad” by Maximilianeum Foundation/Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain)

Chapter Outline

13.1 The Post-Roman West in the Early Middle Ages

13.2 The Seljuk Migration and the Call from the East

13.3 Patriarch and Papacy: The Church and the Call to Crusade

13.4 The Crusading Movement

Western Afro-Eurasia faced a number of challenges in the early Middle Ages, the period from about 500 to 1000 CE. With the collapse of Roman authority came a time of political instability and insecurity. Cities declined, and institutions of learning weakened. Western Europe became increasingly rural. Because there was no longer a strong centralized state to develop and police the roads, travel became more difficult and more dangerous, harming commerce. However, this is not the whole story. Trade and urban life flourished in the early Islamic kingdoms, which eventually extended from Spain to India. The Byzantine Greeks maintained some classical traditions, and their capital in Constantinople was a center of global trade for centuries. Germanic kings sought to form new alliances with Christian leaders and participate in world trade and diplomacy.

Perhaps no figure better exemplifies the merging of cultures in western Europe than Charlemagne, a Germanic ruler who reigned from 768 to 814. Charlemagne dreamed of reviving the Roman world in terms of territory, education, and art. Despite his belief in spreading Christianity through conquest, he sent embassies to Muslim leaders and even received the sumptuous gift of an elephant from the Abbasid ruler Harun al-Rashid in 802 (Figure 13.1). It might be tempting to see this period as one of just conflict, but as Charlemagne’s reign demonstrates, it was also a dynamic time of merging cultures and social transformation.

Figure 13.2 Timeline: The Post-Roman West and the Crusading Movement. (credit “552”: modification of work “Saint Radegonde” by Poitiers Municipal Library/Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain; credit “800”: modification of work “Emperor Charlemagne and Emperor Sigismund” by Germanisches Nationalmuseum/Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain; credit “910”: modification of work Consécration de Cluny III par Urbain II” by Bibliothèque Nationale de France/Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain; credit “1095”: modification of work “Peter the Hermit Preaching the First Crusade” by Cassell’s History of England, Vol. 1 (of 8)/Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain; credit “1200”: modification of work “Franz Wilhelm Schiertz Borgunds Kirke i Lærdal i Sogn” by Norge fremstillet i Tegninger fra Digitalarkivet/Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain)

Figure 13.3 Locator Map: The Post-Roman West and the Crusading Movement. (credit: modification of work “World map blank shorelines” by Maciej Jaros/Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain)