Page 228 - Western Civilization A Brief History, Volume I To 1715 9th - Jackson J. Spielvogel

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EASTERN SLAVS (RUSSIANS, BYELORUSSIANS, UKRAINIANS)
(UKRAINE)
(ROMANIA)
MAP 8.4 The Migrations of the Slavs. Originally from east-central Europe, the Slavic people broke into three groups. The western Slavs converted to Catholic Christianity, while the eastern Slavs and southern Slavs, under the influence of the Byzantine Empire, embraced the Eastern Orthodox faith.
Q What connections do these Slavic migrations have with what we today characterize as eastern Europe?
300 Kilometers 200 Miles
(GERMANY)
(MODERN STATE NAMES ARE IN PARENTHESES)
(POLAND)
(Approximate time of movement)
(RUSSIA)
Kiev
(CZECH REPUBLIC)
(AUSTRIA)
(SLOVENIA) (CROATIA)
(SLOVAKIA)
(HUNGARY)
(ITALY)
(BOSNIA
AND HERZEGOVINA)
(SERBIA)
The Slavic Peoples of Central and Eastern Europe
Beginning in the sixth century, through mass migra- tions and nomadic invasions, they gradually divided into three major groups: the western, southern, and eastern Slavs (see Map 8.4).
Western Slavs
In the region east of the eastern Frankish or German kingdom emerged the Polish and Bohemian kingdoms of the western Slavs. The Germans assumed responsi- bility for the conversion of these Slavic peoples, since some German emperors considered it their duty to spread Christianity to the barbarians. Of course, it also gave them the opportunity to extend their political authority. German missionaries had converted the Czechs in Bohemia by the end of the ninth century, and a bishopric eventually occupied by a Czech bishop was established at Prague in the tenth. The Slavs in Poland were not converted until the reign of Prince Mieszko (MYESH-koh) (ca. 960–992). In 1000, an inde- pendent Polish archbishopric was set up at Gniezno by the pope. The non-Slavic kingdom of Hungary, which emerged when the Magyars settled down after their
Q FOCUS QUESTION: What patterns of development occurred in central and eastern Europe as a result of the Slavic peoples?
North of Byzantium and east of the Carolingian Empire lay a spacious plain through which a number of Asiatic nomads, including the Huns, Bulgars, Avars, and Mag- yars, had pushed their way westward, terrorizing and plundering the settled peasant communities. Eastern Europe was ravaged by these successive waves of invaders, who found it relatively easy to create large empires that were in turn overthrown by the next invaders. Over a period of time, the invaders them- selves were largely assimilated with the native Slavic peoples of the area.
The Slavs were an Indo-European-speaking people who came to eastern Europe from the southeast. Origi- nally a single people, the Slavs in late antiquity popu- lated a large area in central and eastern Europe.
190 Chapter 8 European Civilization in the Early Middle Ages, 750–1000
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