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| The first half of chapter 7 describes the two medieval civilizations that lived in close proximity to Europe and influenced the west in many ways. The Byzantine Empire, Greek in language and Roman in its institutions, survived until 1453. The rise of Islam as a religion and as a civilization challenged both Byzantine and western Christendom and created a society that was for many centuries, wealthier and more sophisticated than either, The west, on the other hand, developed slowly as a fusion of Roman, Germanic, and Celtic cultures with a religious and intellectual tradition of its own. After describing the world of the early medieval west, the chapter ends with the establishment of a European empire by Charlemagne. That empire did not survive its founder, but its memory and the institutions it created had a powerful influence on the subsequent history of Europe. |
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