*More Notes After Rome*

After Rome 500-700

The Germanic Barbarians

• They were the ones who became the 'nobles' and the aristocrats in Roman Culture.
• They decided to conquer and assimilate other barbarian peoples, and well as the former Roman land

• The Angles and Saxons invaded Britain and assimilated the native Britons (They were from Denmark and northwestern Germany)
• Most of the Anglo-Saxons converted to Christianity in the seventh century.
• The most powerful Germanic Tribe were the Franks.
• The officials and nobles were the ones with the power because they were the "Mayors of the Palace"

• Eastern Roman Empire still continued on while the Western Empire was invaded by the Germanic Tribes. Eastern Empire was referred to as "Byzantium"
• Justinian came into power in 527 AD, and decided to reunite the Western Empire with the East.
• His plan worked for a while, but more Germanic Tribes continued to invade, while a massive plaque spread though the west. It depopulated much of the western side immensely.

• Greek Byzantine emperors saw themselves as Roman emperors 
• The Byzantines wanted to preserve the art, architecture, philosophy, and writing as much as possible, even though it went against Christian beliefs. 
• Justinian built the Hagia Sophia ("Holy Wisdom") in Constantinople, which was the greatest church on earth at the time. 
• The Hagia Sophia was first a Christian cathedral, them a mosque, then a museum in the early 19 hundreds.