Talk:European History/A Background of European History

Byzantium
It seems as someone is forgetting byzantine history... Isn'it it european??? Please do something about it!!

This needs a good once, or twice, or thrice over...but it's looking good and although I might want to flesh out a few paragraphs a bit more it's more or less done. Please do not add any new paragraphs without consulting my talk page, but if you want to expand on any of the shorter paragraphs, please go at it. --Alexbl 03:41, 30 May 2004 (UTC)

What's up with all the dead Wikipedia links? Wikibooks can't link back to Wikipedia, can it? - booyabazooka
 * Fixed. - SamE 22:43, 15 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Please, consider the following sentence: "Constantine chose to divide the empire among his sons, and because of attacks from barbarians and the fact that Rome was relatively run down chose a new capital at Byzantium (now Constantinople)." This is somewhat misleading. The name of the city is Istanbul. Smithbrenon 16:50, 3 June 2006 (UTC)

Please consider rephrasing the following sentence: "Kiev, which would fall under the power of the Mongols in the 13th century and would keep Russia out of European politics until Peter the Great was converted to Christianity in 988 by followers of Methodus and Cyrill..." At first read, it sounds like Peter the Great was converted to Christianity in 988! Maybe split the sentence up, change the word order, or punctuation. - James M. Boekbinder

Title
Shouldn't this be called "A Background to European History"? 195.92.40.49 10:31, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Constantine
"Most significant of Constantine's acts as Emperor was to make a death bed conversion to Christianity."

That statement doesn't corroborate with the information at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantine_I_and_Christianity#Conversion - specifically the following statement:

"Constantine was over 40 when he finally declared himself a Christian." among others. Constantine was baptized on his death bed as was common among Christians of that time, but clearly he identified himself as a Christian before his death. -Brian Beaudry

Seriously bad
You haven't done anywhere near enough research on Romanesque and Gothic architecture to attempt to write about it! A lot of what is said is just plain silly!

Also:
 * Manuscript illuminations were also a popular artistic outlet in Romanesque and Gothic art. 
 * This sounds like cake decoration or scrap-booking. No, don't use the magazine language "popular outlet".
 * Try "Manuscript illumination was a major art form of the Middle Ages.''


 * Poetry and music were perpetuated by a group of travelling musicians called Troubadours.
 * "A group of travelling musicians"........ Do you really mean a "Group of travelling musicians called Troubadours"? Think about this!  Were they a "group"?  You have to leave that word out entirely.

Here is a complete rewrite of the architecture section Some of what is written there now is total and absolute nonsense! Before you add this, you need to read it carefully and go over what is in the article, and think about the differences in the information it is really quite simple.
 * 1) you need dates, or else you plainly don't know your stuff
 * 2) Romanesque didn't imitate the style of Ancient Rome. It grew out of it, by way of the great Constantinian churches which were built by Romans (OK). Romanesque was not an imitation. It was a continuing tradition
 * 3) Total nonsense about not needing flying buttresses! They didn't use them because they hadn't been invented.  Walls had to be thick.
 * 4) Gothic needs a timeframe.
 * 5) Gothic developed from Romanesque. It needs to be said.
 * 6) Differences need to be properly understood, clearly expressed and listed in a logical order so they can be compared.


 * Romanesque architecture is the name given to the style that was found across Europe from the 10th to early 13th centuries and retained some elements of Ancient Roman architecture, in a structurally simplified form. Many churches remain from this period.  Many castles were also begun at this time and extended later.  The chief characteristics of Romanesque architecture are round-headed arches in windows, doors and arcades, rectangular piers, cylindrical columns, barrel vaults, groin vaults and paired windows.  Late Romanesque churches may have ribbed vaults. Walls are thick and buttresses are flat. Doorways are often surmounted by sculptured tympanum, particularly with sculpture of Christ in Majesty. Interior wall were often frescoed with scenes from the Bible.
 * Gothic architecture developed out of Romanesque architecture in France in the early 12th century and spread across Europe, being modified in different regions. It lasted in some parts of Europe into the 1500s. Gothic architecture, as seen in many of the great churches and cathedrals of Europe, is distinguished by the use of the pointed, ribbed vault.  Later ribbed vaulting became very complex and decorative, particularly in England, Spain and Eastern Europe. The development of projecting buttresses and flying buttresses allowed openings in the walls to be larger and vaults to be higher. Columns and piers often had a cluster of shafts supporting the ribs and mouldings above.  Doors and windows have pointed arches.  Doors were often set into richly carved portals and surrounded by figurative sculpture. Windows became increasingly large and were filled with stone tracery supporting the glazing.  Stained glass became a more important art form than fresco in most of Europe except Italy.

Amandajm (discuss • contribs) 10:37, 2 December 2011 (UTC)

Rearranging the content
I was thinking of rearranging the sections so that the introduction and the material from The Fall Of The Roman Empire are together. I would like to move the Geography section and Historical Investigation section to the top.. Historical Investigation followed by Geography. I think its important to outline some of the environmental factors that played a part in Europe's character using geographical descriptions. The topography of Greece should be described to allow readers to understand why Greece looked to the east for trade and more. Also that the islands that form the Aegean cyclades are extensions of the mountain ranges of Europe. A small section on flora and fauna maybe.

If no one objects then I'll rearrange the sections at a later date. Feel free to revert any edits you disagree with.

Sluffs (discuss • contribs) 01:33, 18 September 2012 (UTC)