Christianity was born as early as the early Roman Empire, but it was more closely related to the Middle Ages than to the Roman Empire.
Diocletian packaged the imperial power with the mysterious power of religion. This system was inherited by the Byzantine Empire in the East and later spread to Russia. But throughout the Middle Ages, under the guidance of Christianity, the west began to part ways with the tradition of imperial power controlling religious power from the Roman Empire. In other words, Christianity in the west is not controlled by imperial power, and religious power and imperial power are independent of each other and even struggle with each other. This is the starting point and key point to understand the Middle Ages.
The Middle Ages did not mean darkness.
When it comes to Christianity ruling the Middle Ages, many people have the impression that the Middle Ages were dark. But this view is wrong. The Middle Ages were not dark, but colorful.
In fact, as long as the basic historical stages are sorted out clearly, we can see the true face of most of the Middle Ages and get rid of it. The Middle Ages were dark? This misunderstanding.
Historians have a basic dichotomy on the stages of the Middle Ages, that is, it is divided into two parts: the first 500 years and the last 500 years, which is roughly bounded by 1000. The basic basis of this division is that the basic social and political conditions of the two 500 years are very different: the first 500 years were chaotic and there were few achievements in civilization; The last 500 years have been relatively stable, and the achievements of civilization have almost exploded like a blowout.
Look at the first 500 years. After the failure of Justinian's expedition, the west declined rapidly from the glorious imperial era and entered a barbaric state with almost no civilization, but this was not the worst. Germans, the new masters of the west, have encountered new big troubles. Before the war between several big tribes within them is over, the speed of establishing a new kingdom can't keep up with the speed of the kingdom being destroyed, and it will encounter more fierce enemies. ? Worse? This is not enough to describe the cruelty of its situation, because the enemy is coming from the east, north and south like the tide.
They came to magyars from the east, and they had a lot to do with the Huns who were driven away by Wei Qing and Huo Qubing. Magyars is constantly being squeezed, all the way to the west and into Europe. Vikings came from the north, commonly known as vikings, and they invaded the hinterland of Europe from the south. As early as the late empire, the Romans had no room to deal with the vikings and gave up the British Isles. After the Germans occupied Europe, they still had to face the crazy plunder of the vikings.
Muslims in the Arab Empire came from the south. They entered North Africa from West Asia, crossed the Strait of Gibraltar into Spain, and then went deep into Gaul, which is today's France. The three enemies, the east, the north and the south, all have the opportunity to completely destroy western civilization, especially Muslims in the Arab Empire.
Generally speaking, in 500 AD, the western territory was very small, occupying only the western and central parts of France and Germany, and could not be compared with Byzantium and Arabia at all. Most of southern Spain and the southern and eastern coasts of the Mediterranean Sea were completely occupied by Arabs. Byzantium occupied the Balkans, the Greek Peninsula and present-day Turkey.
At that time, the west was simply? The house leaks when it rains all night? . Political order is gone, and there is no decent regime; The military is even worse, and robbers are everywhere; The economy, society and culture have also suffered a devastating blow.
If the first 500 years were dark, I basically agree. However, during this period, there are still a few precious rays of light in the west, among which three major events are worth noting.
The first great event was that a Frankish branch of the Germans established the MaiTam dynasty. In 732 AD, the Morovian army defeated the Muslims in Poitiers, which is 0/50 miles from Paris/Kloc-. Since then, Muslim attacks on Europe have gradually subsided. The battle was fought by the then court minister of Mei Tam Dynasty, Charlie? Saint Matthew
The second big thing is also related to Charlie? About matt. In 800 AD, Charlie? Matt's grandson, Charlemagne, was crowned emperor and established the Caroline Empire (also known as Charlemagne Empire). Since then, the German political order has reached the passing line.
The third great event happened in 955 AD, when Otto, the king of the Eastern Franks, defeated magyars, and the Western Front and the Eastern Front were stabilized.
After these three major events, the west finally settled down.
By the year of 1000, the settled west quickly came out of the trough and made considerable achievements in politics, economy and culture in the past 500 years. It is these achievements that laid the foundation of modern western civilization. In fact, there is no clear dividing line between the last 500 years of the Western Middle Ages and the modern 500 years, and they are closely linked on many fundamental issues.
Only by clarifying the historical stages can we make a truly reliable judgment on the whole picture of western civilization: there is a fault between Greece and Rome; There was a fault between Rome and the Middle Ages; Even in the first 500 years of the Middle Ages, it was a big fault as a whole. Around 1500, the west entered the modern era from the end of the Middle Ages, and there were no obvious faults here.
The true face of the Germans
The reason why most people think that the Middle Ages are dark is also related to a misunderstanding: the new owners of the West, the Germans, were too savage and uneducated, which led to the darkness of Western civilization. In this regard, we must carefully screen and analyze historical materials in order to get close to the historical truth.
The image of Germanic people can probably be divided into two versions, one is the Germanic people in the Roman population and the other is the Germanic people in the eyes of Germanic descendants.
According to Caesar and Tacitus, another historian, during the Roman Empire, the Germans were still in the tribal stage politically, retaining the atmosphere of primitive democracy, and the military leader was only a chief; Economically, he lives by hunting, and basically has not developed agriculture; Not to mention culture, they believe in monsters, religion and writing.
Later generations of Germanic historians will certainly defend their ancestors, saying that they are brave, enterprising, energetic and pure, and that corrupt Romans have polluted them.
Both of these views have some truth, but there are also false elements.
On the one hand, when the Romans observed the Germans, they must be arrogant subjectively, but objectively, they can only measure the Germans with what they know, and there will definitely be deviations.
Therefore, the real Germans should not be as bad as the Romans wrote. The Germans kept the social customs of the tribe, but after contacting with the Romans, they no longer practiced primitive tribal politics, and the organization became more organized, and the upper and lower levels began to appear. Accordingly, they have basically completed the transformation from fishing and hunting to farming, entered a state of settlement, and have already possessed the economic conditions for the dawn of civilization. Politically, Germans already have customary law and absorbed Roman law. Therefore, the Germanic people in the 1 th century were not primitive people, but people who had stepped into civilization.
On the other hand, Germanic descendants must have beautified their ancestors. Although the Germans were simpler, simpler and purer than the Romans, they quickly learned from the Romans and evolved to? An Shi rebellion? Country, ambitious, intelligent and strategic. Moreover, the Germans' worship of violence and fanaticism about bloodthirsty are important factors that have not been peaceful in the West. It took great efforts for the West in the Middle Ages to gradually overcome this barbaric habit of the Germans.
As mentioned above, ancient Rome took over the two baton of ancient Greek language and philosophy, but the Germans failed to continue the achievements of these two civilizations. However, there are two other batons between the Germans and the Romans.
The first baton is war and strategy. Germans have been dealing with Romans for 500 years. Whether they were enemies of Rome or later became partners, they would always learn some war skills and strategic wisdom. In other words, if the Greeks cultivated the Romans in a civilized way, then the Romans cultivated the Germans in a martial way.
The other baton is the Christian church. The Christian church is a good student of the Roman Empire. It accepts everything from political system, law, administration and judicial trial to philosophy and writing, as long as it is an outstanding civilization achievement. When the Christian church completely survived in the Middle Ages, it passed on these achievements of civilization to the Germans step by step.
With these two batons, ancient Greek and Roman civilizations staggered in the Middle Ages. These two batons ensured that the West did not perish after the major national changes (from Romans to Germans) and remained the same civilization.
The Relationship between Politics and Religion in the Middle Ages
It is not enough to dispel the misunderstanding that the Germans caused the darkness in the Middle Ages. There is also a major misunderstanding that the darkness in the Middle Ages was caused by Christianity, because the whole Middle Ages was a unity of politics and religion.
The absurdity of this view lies in: first, religion must be dark and ignorant; Second, the relationship between politics and religion in the Middle Ages was completely wrong.
First of all, religion is not dark and ignorant, but full of light and wisdom. This has nothing to do with whether you believe in religion or not. Even if you stand outside religion and observe it with reason and logic like a philosopher, you can still find that the main theme of religion is light and wisdom.
Secondly, the Middle Ages were not the unity of politics and religion, but a typical dual structure of politics and religion. Religious power and political power are independent and struggle with each other, which is the most important driving force for the evolution of the Middle Ages. Moreover, this is the most important difference between western civilization and other civilizations, even between the Middle Ages and ancient Greece and Rome.
These two questions about Christianity can be said to be two basic clues for us to understand the Middle Ages. Subsequently, it will show the process of independence and constant struggle between religious power and political power, so as to reveal how the West moved from the Middle Ages to the modern era.