What if the Schism of 1054 had not happened?
Added 2025-05-15 00:07:33 +0000 UTCThe split between Rome and Constantinople is considered one of the most significant events in the history of Christianity, and it has defined the contours of the Christian communities in Eastern Europe and the Middle East ever since. What if it hadn't happened?
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I'm personally only aware of one occasion when military assistance was connected with church union -- the Union at Florence in 1439 followed by the Crusade of Varna in 1444. At that point the Byzantine Empire was basically just a city-state and the Ottoman conquest was virtually inevitable. Popes in the 14th and 15th centuries were generally eager for another crusade to happen. The big stumbling block was that the secular princes were typically preoccupied with concerns closer to home and didn't feel they could spare the sacrifice. After around the middle of the 13th century crusading to the Near East just wasn't feasible anymore. Its moment had passed. Going back to Florence, I did some digging but I wasn't able to find a source that said exactly what Pope Nicholas V had meant by making military aid conditional on union. Did that mean he would not have supported an expedition if the Greeks had refused? That seems strange under the circumstances. Some Latins at least -- the Italians and the Hungarians -- were definitely already worried about Ottoman expansion into the Balkans and had been for decades. If I ever find out more about this I might make a video about it. Hope that helps.
Premodernist
2025-08-04 01:55:32 +0000 UTCNot sure if I'm asking this too late. If the Eastern and Western Churches were not in schism, do you think it might have made Western Europe and in particular the Papacy more likely to help the Eastenr Roman empire militarily at various points in the 14th and 15th century, when it was quite weak and at the mercy of Ottoman Expansion? My understanding of the history is that union of the churches (on Roman terms) was almost always a precondition of such military aid, and often a Roman Basileus would agree to terms of union only to have the Orthodox Hierarcy and populance of the empire reject the terms in the process, torpedoing the help even under immediate existential threats. I suppose one could argue that it wasn't really in the Western European powers' interests to help the losing cause of the empire at that point, and that putting forward intractable demands for church union was a good way for them in good conscious to not help, but say that they made a good faith effort at doing so?
Andrew Burmester
2025-07-30 02:23:16 +0000 UTCI enjoy your historical fan fiction
Michele Moskaluk
2025-06-21 07:16:56 +0000 UTCI'm not annoyed that people pronounce it differently. I know most viewers would not have corrected me or even have thought anything of it. But I do get corrections under my YouTube videos about it so I wanted to get ahead of it this time, because a lot of people genuinely think /skizm/ is the only acceptable pronunciation even though it's only a few decades old.
Premodernist
2025-06-18 22:01:25 +0000 UTCIf I may, I understand you like your pronunciation of schism and that it can be considered technically "correct", but language evolves over time, and you shouldnt look down on/be annoyed by people using the language they grew up with. Its not a "youtube" thing, thats how I was taught that word is pronounced. And its absolutely fine to use a technically correct but outdated pronunciation, its even a bit endearing, but to be so defensive of it or to be confused as to why people are correcting you feels a little willfuly ignorant of how our language evolves. good video as usual btw, just that opening got caught in my craw and I wanted to share how it made me feel.
Majima Cookie
2025-06-18 17:36:00 +0000 UTCSimilar to the schism thing, I don’t get how decimate came to mean “total destruction”
SteveNaso
2025-06-15 12:48:21 +0000 UTCThanks!
Premodernist
2025-05-27 21:56:31 +0000 UTCHey brother: I can not find an email address or general comments section. But just came across your city/state flag video (which I don’t see on this app). You nailed it. And here’s what it’s all about. We should connect. https://thugadams.ysubstack.com/p/youll-freak-when-you-see-the-flag https://thugadams.substack.com/p/tim-walz-labeled-trojan-horse-for Mainstream media had this story in 2024.
Kerry J. Byrne
2025-05-27 20:16:10 +0000 UTCI'm starting to think I need to make a YouTube video about the history of the pronunciation of the word "schism."
Premodernist
2025-05-17 17:01:46 +0000 UTCSchimply wonderful
풀잎
2025-05-16 09:36:03 +0000 UTC
