Nora Berend

Between c.950 and c.1300 Europe emerged through the incorporation of new territories (a process that had started before 950), the consolidation of political systems in the newly integrated areas, and transformations in western Europe itself. By the fourteenth century, Europe became the synonym of Christendom and the geographical area of the two roughly coincided. This chapter focuses on Latin Christendom, as the scope of the book allows only fleeting references to the Balkans, Rus', and Byzantium. Expansion meant more than the simple addition of new territories and the enlargement of the previously existing western European political and religious system. It entailed the birth of a Latin Christendom characterized by new elements such as urbanization and the growth of commerce, claims of papal leadership, and the consolidation of several sovereign rulers. Latin Christendom, under the headship of the pope, developed its own sense of unity during this period. From the thirteenth century onwards, contemporary authors increasingly used Europa not simply as a geographical term, but as indicative of the community of (Latin) Christendom. Despite the rhetoric of unity, however, Latin Christendom was far from uniform. Christendom diversified as it expanded and came to incorporate a multiplicity of local religious practices and political systems.

This expansion took a number of different forms, including conquest and missions from the already Christianized areas as well as local initiatives from non-Christians. It led to the extension of already existing states and the creation of new ones. Rather than following

One ‘blueprint’, these processes differed in the various areas. Most significant in terms of long-term consequences was the adhesion of new areas contiguous to western Europe: Scandinavia, northern and east-central Europe, and Iberia. Even this integration was not a uniform process. The Christianization of Scandinavia and east-central Europe meant conversions ‘from above’, initiated by chieftains, linked to the creation of new Christian polities. In contrast, Baltic Europe was conquered and converted mainly by force, whereas in Iberia already existing Christian kingdoms grew and were transformed at the expense of Muslim rulers. Another spectacular form of expansion, crusading, especially to Palestine, was at the time seen by many Christians as the most important, as well as the most expressive of Christianity. Yet these enterprises, although contributing to the consolidation of Christianity within Europe, especially in the north, brought only temporary successes outside Europe, and by 1300 the age of extra-European crusading tied to conquest was for all practical purposes over. Finally, travels, missions, and early geographical exploration—though not always leading to the acquisition of territories—contributed to the expansion of the mental map of Christians.