CHAPTER 10 OUTLINE ? Christian Societies Emerge in Europe The Byzantine Empire, 300?1200 An Empire Beleaguered While the unity of political and religious power prevented the Byzantine Empire from breaking up, the Byzantines did face serious foreign threats. The Muslim Arabs took the wealthy provinces of Syria, Egypt, and Tunisia from the Byzantine Empire and converted their people to Islam. These losses permanently reduced the power of the Byzantine Empire. On the religious and political fronts, the Byzantine Empire experienced declining relations with the popes and princes of Western Europe and the formal schism between the Latin and Orthodox churches in 1054. B. Society and Urban Life