What’s the Significance?
Big Picture Questions
What accounts for the different historical trajectories of the Byzantine and West European expressions of Christendom?
How did Byzantium and Western Europe interact with each other and with the larger world of the third-wave era?
In what respects was the civilization of the Latin West distinctive and unique, and in what ways was it broadly comparable to other third-wave civilizations?
Looking Back: How does the evolution of the Christian world in the third-wave era compare with that of Tang and Song dynasty China and of the Islamic world?
Next Steps: For Further Study
Bonnie S. Anderson and Judith P. Zinsser, A History of Their Own (2000). An overview of European women’s history by two prominent scholars.
Edward Grant, Science and Religion from Aristotle to Copernicus (2004). Demonstrates the impact of Greek philosophy and science in Europe, with comparisons to Byzantium and the Islamic world.
Barbara A. Hanawalt, The Middle Ages: An Illustrated History (1999). A brief and beautifully illustrated introduction to the Middle Ages in European history.
Rowena Loverance, Byzantium (2004). A lavishly illustrated history of the Byzantine Empire, drawing on the rich collection of artifacts in the British Museum.
Diarmaid MacCulloch, Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years (2010). A recent and much-praised overview of the history of Christendom.
Christopher Tyerman, Fighting for Christendom: Holy Wars and the Crusades (2005). A very well-written, up-to-date history of the Crusades designed for nonspecialists.
“Middle Ages,” http://www.learner.org/exhibits/middleages. An interactive Web site with text and images relating to life in Europe after the collapse of the Roman Empire.