The Story of Civilization IV: The Age of Faith

1248 Pages·1950·46.58 MB·English

by  Will Durant

BY WILL DURANT
The Story of Philosophy
Transition
The Pleasures of Philosophy
Adventures in Genius
THE STORY OF CIVILIZATION
BY WILL AND ARIEL DURANT
I. Our Oriental Heritage
II. The Life of Greece
III. Caesar and Christ
IV. Tbe Age of Faith
V. Tbe Renaissance
VI. The Reformation
VII. Tbe Age of Reason Begins
VIII. The Age of Louis XIV
IX. The Age of Voltaire
X. Rousseau and Revolution
THE STORY OF CIVILIZATION
THE
AGE OF FAITH
A History of MedietJal Civilization - Christian,
Islamic, and Judaic-from Constantine
to Dante: A.D. 325 -1300
By Will Durant
.~
SIMON AND SCHUSTER
NEW YORK: 1950
SIXTEENTH PRINTING
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 35-10016
MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
BY THE HADDON CRAFTSMEN, INC., SCRANTON, PA.
TO ETHEL, GORDON, AND JIM
To the Reader
T
HIS book aims to give as full and fair an account of medieval civilization,
from A.D. 32 5 to 1300, as space and prejudice will permit. Its method
is integral history-the presentation of all phases of a culture or an age in one
total picture and narrative. The obligation to cover the economic, political,
legal, military, moral, social, religious, educational, scientific, medical, philo
sophic, literary, and artistic aspects of four distinct civilizations-Byzantine,
Islamic, Judaic, and West European-has made urufication and brevity dif
ficult. The meeting and conllict of the four cultures in the Crusades provides
a measure of unity; and the tired reader, appalled by the length of the book,
may find some consolation in learning that the original manuscript was half
again longer than the present text.- Nothing has been retained except what
seemed necessary to the proper understanding of the period, or to the life
and color of the tale. Nevertheless certain recondite passages, indicated by
reduced type, may be omitted by the general reader without mortal injury.
These two volumes constitute Part IV of a history of civilization. Part I,
Our Oriental Heritage (1935), reviewed the history of Egypt and the Near
East to their conquest by Alexander about 330 B.C., and of India, China, and
Japan to the present century. Part II, The Life of Greece (1939), recorded
the career and culture of Hellas and the Near East to the Roman Conquest
of Greece in 146 B.C. Part III, Caesar and Christ (1944), surveyed the history
of Rome and Christianity from their beginnings, and of the Near East from
146 B.C., to the Council of Nicaea in A.D. 315. This-book continues the study
of the white man's life to the death of Dante in 1311. PartV, The Renaissance
and the Reformation, covering the period from 1311 to 1648, should appear
in 1955; and Part VI, The Age of Reason, carrying the story to our own
time, should be ready by 1960. This will bring the author so close to senility
that he must forgo the privilege of applying the integral method to the two
Americas.
Each of these volumes is designed as an independent unit, but readers
familiar with Caesar and Christ will find it easier to pick up the threads of
the present narrative. Chronology compels us to begin with those facets of
the quadripartite medieval civilization which are most remote from our
normal interest-the Byzantine and the Islamic. The Christian reader will be
surprised by the space given to the Moslem culture, and the Moslem scholar
will mourn the brevity with which the brilliant civilization of medieval
• An occasional hiatus in the numbering of the notes is due to last-minute omissions.
Vll
TO THE READER
Islam has here been summarized. A persistent effort has been made to be im
partial, to see each faith and culture from its own point of view. But preju
dice has survived, if only in the selection of material and the allotment of
space. The mind, like the body, is imprisoned in its skin.
The manuscript has been written three times, and each rewriting has
discovered errors. Many must still remain; the improvement of the part is
sacrificed to the completion of the whole. The correction of errors will be
welcomed.
Grateful acknowledgment is due to Dr. Ilse Lichtenstadter, of the Asia
Institute of New York, for reading the pages on Islamic civilization; to Dr.
Bernard Mandelbaum, of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, for
reviewing the pages on medieval Jewry; to Professor Lynn Thorndike, of
Columbia University, for the use of his translation of a passage from Alex
ander Neckham; to the Cambridge University Press for permission to quote
translations from Edward G. Browne's A Literary Hist01-Y of Persia; to the
Public Library of Los Angeles, and specifically to its Hollywood Branch,
and to the Library of Congress, for the loan of books; to Miss Rose Mary
DeWitte for typing 50,000 notes; to Dr. James L. Whitehead, Dr. C. Edward
Hopkin, and Mrs. Will Durant for their learned aid in classifying the ma
terial; to Misses Mary and Flora Kaufman for varied assistance; and to Mrs.
Edith Digate for her high competence in typing the manuscript.
This book, like all its predecessors, should have been dedicated to my wife,
who for thirty-seven years has given me a patient toleration, protection,
guidance, and inspiration that not all these volumes could repay. It is at her
prompting that these two volumes are dedicated to our daughter, son-in-law,
and grandson.
WILL DURANT
November 22, 1949
V1l1
Table of Contents
BOOK I: THE BYZANTINE ZENITH: A.D. 32S-S6S
Chronological Table ............................. .............................................. 2
Chapter I. JULIAN THE ApOSTATE: 332-63 ...................................... 3
I. The Legacy of Constantine.. 3
II. Christians and Pagans .......... 7 IV. The Pagan Emperor .............. 13
III. The New Caesar .................. 10 v. journey's End ........................ 19
Chapter II. THE TRIUMPH OF THE BARBARIANS: 32S-476 ............... zz
I. The Threatened Frontier .... 11
II. The Savior Emperors .......... 15 IV. The Barbarian Flood .............. 35
III. Italian Background .............. 18 v. The Fall of Rome .................. 41
Chapter III. THE PROGRESS OF CHRISTIANITY: 364-451 .................. 44
I. The Organization of the I. The Monks of the East ...... 58
Church ......................... 44 1. The Eastern Bishops .......... 61
II. The Heretics ........................ 46 v. St. Augustine .......................... 64
III. The Christian West ............ 50 I. The Sinner .......................... 64
I. Rome .................................. 50 1. The Theologian .................. 67
1. St. Jerome .......................... 51 3. The Philosopher ................ 71
3· Christian Soldiers ............ 55 4· The Patriarch ...................... 73
IV. The Christian East ................ 58 VI. The Church and the World. . 75
Chapter IV. EUROPE TAKES FORM: 3Z 5-519 .. ............ .................... 80
I. Britain Becomes England ...... 80
II. Ireland .................................... 81 3. The Merovingians .............. 91
Ill. Prelude to France ................ 85 IV. Visigothic Spain .................... 95
The Last Days of Classic v. Ostrogothic Italy .................... 97
I.
Gaul ................................ 85 I. Theodori~ .............. .............. 97
1. The Franks. ........ ........ ....... 88 1. Boethius .. .......... .................. 99
Chapter V. JUSTINIAN: 527-65 ........................................................ 103
I. The Emperor ........................ 103
II. Theodora .............................. 106 IV. The Code of Justinian .......... 111
III. Belisarius ................................ 107 v. The Imperial Theologian ...... 115
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TABLE OF CONTEN'I S
Chapter VI. BYZANTINE CIVILIZATION: 337-565 ............................ 118
I. Work and. Wealth ................ 118
II. Science and Philosophy ...... HI 2. The Byzantine Artist .......... 128
III. Literarure .............................. 124 3. St. Sophia '" ......................... 129
IV. Byzantine Art ...................... 126 4. From Constantinople to
I. The Passage from Ravenna .......................... I 3 1
Paganism ........................ 126 5. The Byzantine Arts ............ 133
Chapter VII. THE PERSIANS: 224-641 .............................................. 136
I. Sasanian Society .................. 1 36 III. Sasanian Art ............................ 148
II. Sasanian Royalty .................. 142 IV. The Arab Conquest ................ 151
.
BOOK II: ISLAMIC CIVILIZATION: A.D. 569-1258
Chronological Table .......................................................................... 5 3
I
Chapter VIII. MOHAMMED: 569-632 .............................................. 155
I. Arabia .................................... 155 III. Mohammed in Medina .......... 166
II. Mohammed in Mecca .......... 162 IV. Mohammed Victorious ........ 171
Chapter IX. THE KORAN .................................................................. 175
I. Form ...................................... 175
II. Creed ...................................... I 76 IV. Religion and the State ............ 182
III. Ethics .................................... 179 v. Sources of the Koran ............ 184
Chapter X. THE SWORD OF ISLAM: 632-1058 .................................. 187
I. The Successors ...................... 187 I. Haron aI-Rashid ................ 196
II. The Umayyad Caliphate .... 192 2. Decline of the Abbasids .... zoo
III. The Abbasid Caliphate ........ 196 IV. Armenia .................................. 204
Chapter XI. THE ISLAMIC SCENE: 632-1058 .................................... 206
I. The Economy ...................... 206
II. The Faith .............................. 2 10 IV. The Government .................... 2 2 5
III. The People ............................ 219 v. The Cities ................................ 227
Chapter XII. THOUGHT AND ART IN EASTERN ISLAM: 632-1058 .... 235
I. Scholarship ............................ 235 v. Mysticism and Heresy .......... 257
II. Science .................................. 239 VI. Literature ................................ 262
Ill. Medicine ................................ 245 Vll. Art ............................................ 270
IV. Philosophy ............................ 249 VIII. Music ........................................ 278
Chapter XIII. W;ESTERN ISLAM: 641-1086 ........................................ 282
I. The Conquest of Africa ...... 282 IV. Spanish Islam .......................... 2'91
II. Islamic Civilization in I. Caliphs and Emirs .............. 291
Africa ............................ 286 2. Civilization in Moorish
lll. Islam in the Mediterranean .. 289 Spain ................................ 297
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter XIV. THE GRANDEUR AND DECLINE OF ISLAM:
1058-1258 ...................................................... ··································3°8
T. The Islamic East .................. 308 VI. Moslem Science ...................... 328
H. The Islamic West ................. -3 12 VII. AI-Ghazali .............................. 33 I
III. Glimpses of Islamic Art ....... 315 VIII. A verroes .................................. 333
IV. The Age of Omar IX. The Coming of the
Khayyam ...................... 319 Mongols .......................... 338
v. The Age of Sa'di .................. 324 x. Islam and Christendom .......... 341
BOOK III: JUDAIC CIVILIZATION: A.D. 135-1300
Chronological Table .......................................................................... 346
Chapter XV. THE TALMUD: 135-500 .............................................. 347
I. The Exiles .............................. 347
II. The Makers of the Talmud. 350 %. Ritual .................................. 356
III. The Law ................................ 35 3 3. Ethics of the Talmud ........ 359
1. Theology .......................... 353 IV. Life and the Law .................... 364
Chapter' XVI. THE MEDIEVAL JEWS: 500-1300 .............................. 366
I. The Oriental Communities 366
II. The European Commu- %. Economy .......................... ,.375
nities .............................. 369 3. Morals .................................. 378
III. Jewish Life ............................ 374 4. Religion .............................. 38%
1. Government ...................... 374 IV. Anti-Semitism ........................ 385
Chapter XVII. THE MIND AND HEART OF THE JEW: 500-1300 ...... 395
I. Letters .................................... 395
ll. The Adventures of the
Talmud ........................ AOO v. Maimonides ............................ 408
III. Science Among the Jews. ... AO% VI. The Maimonidean War ....... 414
IV. The Rise of Jewish VII. The Cabala ............................ AI6
Philosophy .................... 405 VIII. Release .................................... 4 I 8
BOOK IV: THE DARK AGES: A.D. 566-1095
Chronological Table ........................................................................... 42 1
Chapter XVIII. THE BYZANTINE WORLD: 566-1095 .................. :. ... 423
I. Heraclius .............................. 4% 3
II. The Iconoclasts ................... ·4% 5 v. The Byzantine Renaissance .... 437
III. Imperial Kaleidoscope ........ 4% 7 VI. The Balkans ............................ 44 3
IV. Byzantine Life ...................... 43 I VII. The Birth of Russia ................ 446
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