The Byzantine Empire, Islam, Charlemagne, and the Holy Roman Empire - Essay Example

The Empire had a reputation for corruption, stagnation, and great luxury. Contrary to that, for its age, the Empire was quite modern with an efficient administration and tax system that saw the empire last for ages. During the Justinian reign, a plan to reunite the Roman Empire succeeded. As a way of celebrating success, they constructed Hagia Sophia, the church of Holy Wisdom. There were other successes, but after Justinian rule had come to an end, the empire suffered several losses (Halsall).

Islam and Comparison with Other Religions

Islam is a monotheistic religion that came to be during the 7th century CE in the Middle East. Religion literally means submission or surrender. Its basis is on the readings of Prophet Muhammad according to the words of Allah. Allah is their creator; he brought them to earth and is the sustainer of the world and life. The holy book (scripture) of Islam is the Quran and carries all the teachings of the prophet as revealed to him by Allah. There are two divisions within the Islam tradition; the Shia and Sunni. The two hold differing views on the maintenance of religious authority. A unifying factor among Muslims is the concept of the Five Pillars. The Five Pillars are the practices of Islam: the hajj, zakat, ritual prayer, profession of faith, and fasting (Baksh, 1-10).

In similarities, the three religions are monotheistic as they believe in one God. They take God as a source of everything that exists. They take God as caring and merciful. Religions take humans as the superior creatures on Earth. They are hopeful of future happenings and believe suffering evil cannot prevail.  In differences, the religions have different scriptures. Christians use the Bible, Jews use Torah and Talmud, and Muslims use Quran. Christians and Muslims believe there will be a judgment day followed by Hell or Heaven. Jews believe in no immediate eternal life.

Charlemagne and the Holy Roman Empire

Charlemagne, Charles the Great, lived between 747 and 814. He received training on leadership matters by participating in military, social and political activities organized by his father who was a mayor of the palace serving the Merovingian king. His father, Pippin, seized Frankish leadership from Childeric III. After his death, Charlemagne assumed leadership. Military campaigns characterized his first three decades of leadership.  He became the leader of the Franks at a time when Western Europe was collapsing (Halsall).

People had forgotten about the arts and education except in the monasteries. Charlemagne made his court a learning center. At his court in Aachen, he recruited some of the leading scholars of those days. He recruited expert teachers in various subjects from places such as Spain, Ney York, and Italy. He later began a palace school and increased libraries in monasteries. His era also witnessed an increase in buildings using Romanesque architecture (Halsall).

The Canterbury Tales Discussion

The Canterbury Tales is a collection of several stories written by Geoffrey Chaucer. It narrates about a group of thirty people traveling as pilgrims to Canterbury. The thirty pilgrims come from different levels of society and tell the stories as a way of killing time as they look forward to arriving in Canterbury, England. As narrated in the General Prologue, his intentions were for each pilgrim to tell two stories to and fro. It was, however, unfortunate that he never finished the project, and the tales he had completed were yet to be revised (Wetherbee, 1-10).

Scholars remain uncertain of the order in which the tales were to take since there was no printing press when he wrote his works. The tales have been handed over generations in form of handwritten manuscripts. Miller’s tale is the second and is narrated by drunken Miller Robyn. The author described Robin as an evil man fond of fighting.