Timeline

The West

Barbarian Successor States

c.700 Carolingian Age

768-814 Rule of Charlemagne
Charlemagne was the most successful of all Frankish kings. Through a policy of almost continuous warfare, he was able to expand the territory of the Franks.He was interested in more than just territory, however, and initiated a program to reestablish the Roman Empire in the West, with himself as emperor. He established a stable capital city, issued laws, and sponsored a major educational effort to create what is called the "Carolingian Renaissance."
Text: Einhard: The Life of Charlemagne
Image: Aachen:Palatine Chapel - Interior 9th Cent
Image: Charlemagne

843 Treaty of Verdun (Division of the Empire)
The division of the Carolingian Empire created coherent territories in Germany and France. A central strip -- stretching from modern Belgium to Italy and awarded to the Emperor Lothar -- never functioned as a coherent state, but gave birth to a series of border states that continued to be disputed until World War II.
Text: Agobard of Lyons: On the Division of the Empire (to Louis the Pious), trans. William North, c. 830
Image: The Division of the Carolingian Empire: Verdun 843 and Mersen, 870 (Col)

c 850 Viking, Muslim, and Magyar Invasions

Byzantium

527 -565 Justinian
Justinian was the last Latin-speaking emperor of the Roman Empire and initiated a policy of renewing the Roman Empire. As a result he engaged in wars designed to reconquer lost territory, established a massive building program, and,perhaps with the longest lasting results, commissioned a codification of Roman Law into the collection known as the Corpus Iuris Civil is.
Text: Procopius: On Justinian,from Secret History
Text: Procopius: Description of Hagia Sophia
Image: Justinian[Mosaic from St. Vitale in Ravenna]
Image: Theodora[Mosaic from St. Vitale in Ravenna]
Web link: Hagia Sophia: Photo and Video Gallery

c. 850 Macedonian Revival

988 Conversion of Vladimir of Kiev
From an initially small area of what is now Russia, Slavic-speaking peoples expanded into large parts of Eastern and Southeastern Europe. Efforts to Christianize them were sponsored by both Roman and Byzantine churches. Although Cyril and Methodius were Greeks, they were supported by the popes and are credited with initiating the conversion of the Slavs and the process of translating Christian documents into the Slavonic language.
Web link: Virtual Reality [At Greek Orthodox Archdiocese]
Virtual reality tours of some Byzantine style churches.

Islam

Pre-Islamic Arabia

c. 571-632 Life of Muhammad
Muhammad is the Prophet of Islam, and as such the historical founder of both a religion and a state. In his lifetime Islam remained restricted to Arabia, but soon after his death it began a very rapid expansion.
Text: Qu'ran: Surahs 1 and 47 [Surah 1: Audio| Surah 47: Audio]
Image: Qu'ran[Kufic Script]
Image: Qu'ran[Cursive Script]
Image: Muhammad's Armies in Battle
Image: Muhammad on a camel/ Jesus on Donkey - MS of Rashid-al-din Color
Web link: Islamic History Sourcebook

661 Umayyad Dynasty
'Ali was Muhammad's son-in-law and his party (or Shi'ia) claimed that because of this he alone had the right to succeed Muhammad as leader(caliph) of the Muslim community. His opponents claimed that the Islamic community had the right to decide. When `Ali became Caliph, a war broke out.Some Muslims decided that such a war was impious and tried to assassinate leaders of both parties, but only succeeded in killing `Ali. As a result the opposition Umayyad family was able to establish its rule (661-750), but those who supported `Ali's claims never accepted this and became the Shi'ite party within Islam.
Image: Muhammad appoints Ali-as Successor Safavid MS/BW
A Shi'ite image in which Muhammad and Ali's faces are obscured by flames.
Web link: Shia Islam

732 Battle of Tours-Poitiers
By the time Muslim armies moved into Gaul, they were probably overstretched.The Battle of Tours has been taken as a turning point because the Frankish leader Charles Martel defeated a Muslim army and put an end to Muslim advances in Western Europe.
Text: Arabs,Franks, and the Battle of Tours: Three Accounts 732 CE

750 Golden Age of Abbasid Dynasty