Roman Empire was the great empire ruled by Romans . They actually ruled at more than half of the world .It was divided into two parts Eastern Roman Empire(Byzantine empire)and Western Roman Empire(West…Europe)by Diocletian due to administrative and military reasons but civil wars broke out between them . Constantine was an emperor who reunited them and shifted its capital from the Rome to Byzantine which later on called the Constantinople and dedicated it to the Virgin Mary. It is also called city of queens.First of all we discussed its western part at that time which was called the Holy Roman Empire and which is now called western civilization . There Visigoths controlled Spain, Ostrogoths controlled Italy, Vandals controlled North Africa , Angels and Saxons controlled Britain and Franks controlled Gaul. The role of Franks in medieval Europe is very important because Clovis 1 set the Merovingian dynasty and its capital was the Paris . It followed by another dynasty called the Carolingian dynasty named it due to the Carolingian family. The Charles Martel was famous leader of them who gave tough time to the Muslims who were conquering the states all over the world and that’s why Europe remained safe from the Muslims.
The Charlemagne was also their famous leader who ruled from 768 to 814 . He fought many battles and won number of territories. He defeated Moors in Spain and Lombards in Italy and called protector of Holy sea. The Abbasid Caliph Haroun Al Rashid sent him a gift of elephant. After the treaty with Byzantine he called an emperor of Western Europe . He unified Germans and Christians . After his death Holy Roman Empire divided into France , Italy ,Germany and England .
Byzantine Empire remained in the existence for thousand years. Justinian was an emperor who flourished it and fought to get back his lost territories. He payed tributes to Persian emperor Khosru 1 who gave him a threat . He developed a famous church of Saint Sophia in Constantinople . Justinian code was famous which was amended later on by Napoleon in 19th century.
Contributions of Byzantine includile theocratic state which helped in the unity of Christian, their encyclopedia of knowledge by different writers and their architecture . When Turks captured Constantinople in 1453 many scholars fled to Europe that’s why renaissance in Europe started. Turks destroyed this empire others wise it protected the legacy of Greece and Roman civilizations and gave a large spread to Christianity .
Ahmad Hayat
BZU Multan
Great
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