Muhammad (571-632) is the main prophet and the founder of the Islamic faith. Around 605, he had a mystical experience, which inspired him to start preaching monotheism to Arab tribes in Arabia. In his home city of Mecca, Mohammad found few willing to convert, so he traveled to neighboring Medina, where he found great success, and was welcomed as a political and religious leader. In 630, Muhammad led Medina into battle with Mecca, conquered the city, and forced the population to convert. 

After Muhammad’s death in 632, Arabia united as a unified Islamic kingdom for the first in history and was ruled by a king called a caliph. Over the next 100 years, Islamic conquests spread their empire from India to Spain. Thousands of people were forcibly converted and Christians were martyred for refusal to deny their faith. The growth of Islam was slowed after the Muslims lost the Battle of Tours to the Kingdom of the Franks in 732. 

“The Koran” is a book that Muhammad claimed was directed to him by the Angel Gabriel. The Islamic faith has five pillars: There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is his prophet; pray five times a day; fast during the month of Ramadan; give 2.5% percent of your wealth to the poor; and make a pilgrimage to Mecca once in your lifetime. 

After Muhammad’s death, there was a division among Muslims about who should lead the Islamic forces and Abu Bakr, a Sunni Muslim, was chosen to lead the empire. The Muslims set up many hospitals and made major advancements in medical knowledge. A large portion of Europe was occupied by the Muslims at some point; Greece for 500 years, Portugal for 600, Spain for 800, Sicily for 300, Serbia for 400, Romania for 400, Bulgaria for 500, and Hungary for 150. 

Justinian (527-565) was one of the most influential Byzantine emperors, establishing law codes in 533 and 534. Previously, in 532, there was a significant uprising called the Nika Revolt in which John of Cappadocia started riots over food shortages. There were two groups of revolutionaries: the Greens and the Blues, and they both combined to fight against Justinian. These rebels persuaded a Senator named Hypatius to seize power causing Justinian to consider fleeing, but he decided to stay and eventually put down the rebellion. 

Justinian wanted to unite the old Roman Empire under an Orthodox Christian emperor. Consequently, Byzantine General Belisarius took 10,000 infantry and 5,000 calvary to North Africa in 533, and defeated the Vandals. The Byzantines would control North Africa until the Mulsims conquered it in the late 7th century. Justinian then invaded Ostrogoth-controlled Italy in 534. After 20 years of fighting, the Byzantines finally controlled Italy. 

The Lombards took advantage of the weakened Byzantines and invaded Italy in 554, taking most of Northern Italy in the process, but the Byzantines still controlled Rome. The Persians then attacked the Byzantine city of Antioch and sieged Thrace, while the first Bubonic Plague began to spread. In 601, the Byzantine Empire signed a 50 year peace deal with Persia. 

In order to turn the empire to one single Orthodox faith, Justinian also started trying to convert the Monophysites, the Nestorians, and the Arians. Before his reign, the Monophysites and the Nestorians were condemned as heretics at the Council of Chalcedon in 451. Three Nestorian writers penned a book called the “Three Chapters.” Although it did not contain any heretical doctrine, it was written by heretics, so the Byzantines condemned the work. However, since it was found free of heresy at the Council of Chalcedon, the Byzantines had to call their own council to condemn the authors, but not anathematize them. Moreover, Justinian tried to get the Monophysites to repent after this scandal, but they still refused.

In the East, the Church used many more icons than the west, which caused the power-seeking Byzantines emperors to claim that images should be outlawed, since they saw the images as competition. This belief is known as Iconoclasm, and it started when the Byzantine Emperor Leo III  turned against the use of Icons in the early 8th century. By 731, Pope Gregory III excommunicated anyone who condemned the veneration of icons. In response, Leo III sent men to arrest the Pope and the Byzantines invaded the Papal States. By 753, there was widespread persecution of the faithful in the East. Not only was praying to the Saints outlawed, but all images were removed from churches. The emperors even forced monks to leave monasteries and stopped all monasteries from receiving new monks. 

In 843, Byzantine Empress Theodora finally removed all Iconoclast bishops and restored the empire to Orthodoxy. This is celebrated as a feast called “The Triumph of Orthodoxy.” Thankfully, Iconoclasm was officially condemned as a heresy at the Council of Constantinople in 843. 

Charlemagne outlived all but one of his sons, King Louis the Pious, who became emperor, established many churches and monasteries, gave money to the poor, but lacked his father’s commanding personality. Louis the Pious eventually divided the Holy Roman Empire between his sons Pepin, Lothair, and Louis the German in 817. When Louis the Pious’s other son, Charles the Bald, tried to split the empire again, the other sons rebelled against him. 

Louis the German humiliated his father in 830 by making him do penance in a monastery. Louis the Pious left the monastery and took power again, but after his death in 840 his sons continued fighting over the throne. In 843, the Holy Roman Empire was broken into three kingdoms: France, Germany, and Lotharingia. The title of Holy Roman Emperor was given to the King of Lotharingia, even though it was the weakest kingdom. In France, the coasts were devastated by Viking raids and in Germany the borders were invaded by Magyar tribes. 

In Germany, the Carolingian line died out in 987 and the Ottonian kings took power. Unable to defend against Vikings, the French Kingdom fell, and the rest of the empire was divided into five duchies: Bavaria, Franconia, Lorraine, Saxony, and Swabia. Saxony became the strongest of the duchies, and by 919 the Duke of Saxony acted as ruler, but had trouble asserting dominance over Swabia and Bavaria. 

In 936, Otto I, Duke of Saxony, was announced as the official ruler of the empire. In 951 he invaded Lombard-controlled Italy. After defeating the Maygars in the East, his troops proclaimed him emperor. As a reward for helping the Pope defeat the Lombards, Otto I was crowned as Holy Roman Emperor in 962, the first real emperor since Charlemagne.