Western Europe was under the rule of the Roman Empire until the empire collapsed in 500 CE. During the recovery time of 500 CE to 900 CE, Western Europe was developed by the impact and spread of Christianity. As Christianity spread throughout the world from 200 CE to 1300 CE, the impact of the religion changed the gender relations, economic structure and political institution of Western Europe.
During the Roman Empire reign over Western Europe, the women in the upper class families had great influence and power within a household although men still had control (Stearns 87).
Many women were active in business and controlled a small portion of all urban property as well as vital economic functions particularly in farming and artisan families (Stearns 87).
After the Roman Empire collapsed, during the Middle Ages in Western Europe, the women’s work remained vital in house hold but they were granted more respect when Christianity spread in. “The veneration of Mary and other female religious figures gave women real cultural prestige,” even during the continued male-dominated society of Western Europe (Stearns 232).
In Western Europe the women were said to have “had higher status than their sisters under Islam,” for they were less confined to the household then during the time of the Roman Empire (Stearns 232).
The Term Paper on Western Empire Tribes Problems Political
Most historians agree that Romulus Augustus was the last leader of the Western Roman Empire. His reign ended in 476 and we can therefore state that the Western Roman Empire fell at the same time, although other historians may argue for a slightly longer lifespan. These technicalities are in some ways irrelevant. The Eastern Empire survived the fifth century, whilst the Western Empire crumbled. ...
Due to the monastic way of Christianity, women were also give an alternative to marriage from the time of the Roman Empire to the Middle Ages. Upper class women were also granted to have “important roles in local commerce and even operated some craft guilds,” in Western Europe during the Middle Ages (Stearns 232).
However in some ways during the Middle Ages in Western Europe, there were new limitations on the role of women as they became “assistants and comforters to men, listing supplemental household tasks and docile virtues as women’s distinctive sphere” (Stearns 232).
Christianity “emphasis on the equality of all souls,” the faith did not reject any class or gender (Stearns 231).
Christianity created a new mark for women while continuing their role even during the changes to the economy.
During the fall of Rome and the 10th century, Western Europe’s economics was focused on manorialism due to the “decline of trade and the lack of larger political structures” (Stearns 215).
However the economy changed during the 10th through 13th when the population grew. The “population growth encouraged further economic innovation,” that created new markets and trade (Stearns 219).
The new economics “created a less rigid social structure and more commercial, market-oriented economic motives began to coexist with earlier military and Christian ideals” (Stearns 219).
A new commercial activity was banking that “facilitate the long-distance exchange of money and goods” (Stearns 229).
This new activity as well as the Crusades leads to trading with other parts of the world which were against Christian morals which “preferred the more direct, personal ways of traditional society” (Stearns 229).
These were subjects of capitalism which were “not yet typical of the Western economy, even aside from the moral qualms fostered by the Christian tradition” (Stearns 230).
Another thing that was influenced by the Christian moral was the political institution.
After the Roman Empire collapsed, “the Catholic Church was the only extensive example of solid organization” (Stearns 215).
The church had a hierarchy of the pope along with the bishops controlling the regional churches. As Christianity was being spread throughout the region by missionaries, many leaders such as the Germanic Kings converted to Christianity which “was a sign of the political as well as spiritual power of the church” (Stearns 215).
The Essay on Christianity Christians Became The First
Christianity, the most widely distributed of the world religions, having substantial representation in all the populated continents of the globe. Its total membership may exceed 1. 7 billion people. The central element of Christianity is the person of Jesus Christ. Although Christians do not all agree on a definition of what makes Christ distinctive or unique, they agree that his life and example ...
More and more rulers and successors were Christians such as Charles Martel who had preserved Europe for Christianity after defeating the Muslims in the battle of Tours (Stearns 216).
In the 10th century, the emperors of the split empire of Charlemagne called themselves “Holy Roman emperors” that merge “Christian and classical claims” (Stearns 218).
Western Europe was “politically divided and diverse” with “regional states run by feudal lords and city-states.” (Stearns 220).
The church had limit political claims however the church was soon represented during the 13th century by the creation of parliaments. Parliaments were “bodies representing not individual voters but privileged groups such as nobles and the church,” as well as the “key three states: church, nobles, and urban leaders” (Stearns 220).
Christianity was represented through politics of the expanding and diverse Western Europe.
“From about 550c.e. until about 9000, western Europe suffered from a number of problems” (Stearns 214).
After the fall of the Roman Empire, Western Europe struggled to develop due to the diverse nature. Now Western Europe is one of most visited and culturally diverse region in the world that still has ties to the Christian faith with their stunning cathedrals and art. The Vatican still remains in Rome as the center of Catholicism with the pope still as the top authority. Missionaries are still being sent around the world converting people into the beloved faith just as it was during the Medieval Ages in Western Europe. Christianity helped fuse Western Europe with its impact on their social structure, economics, and political institutions and still is doing so today.
