n the early Middle Ages the bishops of Rome would try to keep Rome as the leader of the Christian world, at least where religion was concerned, but this did not mean taking assistance from Byzantium, “In 722 Pope Hadrian I ceased to date official papal documents by the regnal year of the emperor of Byzantium, and minted coins in his own name…In 751, Pope Stephen set out to seek help, but not from Byzantium. No-one wanted to break with the eastern Empire, but near-barbarian allies could offer better protection for troubled times” (Roberts 108).
The Byzantine Empire would remain a world power and leading influence for more than seven centuries. While religious differences separated the Byzantine Empire from the Roman Empire, politically they both protected Europe, a role that would increasingly preoccupy the Byzantine Empire throughout most of the middle ages. Instead of a Republic or a line of Emperors who ruled through succession, the Byzantine Empire was run by an absolute monarch, a form of governing instituted by Constantine the Great that would also survive unchanged through most of the Byzantine Empire’s history. Of course, because of the highly Christian nature of the empire, the monarch was seen as being elected to rule by God. This gave the monarch divine authority over the Empire and its people. The Byzantine Empire would eventually fall prey to the Turks near the end of the middle ages. However, in the early middle ages the wars against the Muslims would begin to wrack the Byzantine Empire, wars that would continue until it was eventually conquered finally by the Turks, “Muslims attacked the very heart of the empire; the Muslims besieged Constantinople in 673, and again in 717. The city was saved by Leo the Isaurian, and survived with territories diminished but more compact” (Bowle 106).
The Islamic and Byzantine civilizations had much influence over one another. This came because of their proximit...