<P> The Islamic conquests reached their peak in the mid-eighth century . The defeat of Muslim forces at the Battle of Tours in 732 led to the reconquest of southern France by the Franks, but the main reason for the halt of Islamic growth in Europe was the overthrow of the Umayyad Caliphate and its replacement by the Abbasid Caliphate . The Abbasids moved their capital to Baghdad and were more concerned with the Middle East than Europe, losing control of sections of the Muslim lands . Umayyad descendants took over the Iberian Peninsula, the Aghlabids controlled North Africa, and the Tulunids became rulers of Egypt . By the middle of the 8th century, new trading patterns were emerging in the Mediterranean; trade between the Franks and the Arabs replaced the old Roman economy . Franks traded timber, furs, swords and slaves in return for silks and other fabrics, spices, and precious metals from the Arabs . </P> <P> The migrations and invasions of the 4th and 5th centuries disrupted trade networks around the Mediterranean . African goods stopped being imported into Europe, first disappearing from the interior and by the 7th century found only in a few cities such as Rome or Naples . By the end of the 7th century, under the impact of the Muslim conquests, African products were no longer found in Western Europe . The replacement of goods from long - range trade with local products was a trend throughout the old Roman lands that happened in the Early Middle Ages . This was especially marked in the lands that did not lie on the Mediterranean, such as northern Gaul or Britain . Non-local goods appearing in the archaeological record are usually luxury goods . In the northern parts of Europe, not only were the trade networks local, but the goods carried were simple, with little pottery or other complex products . Around the Mediterranean, pottery remained prevalent and appears to have been traded over medium - range networks, not just produced locally . </P> <P> The various Germanic states in the west all had coinages that imitated existing Roman and Byzantine forms . Gold continued to be minted until the end of the 7th century, when it was replaced by silver coins . The basic Frankish silver coin was the denarius or denier, while the Anglo - Saxon version was called a penny . From these areas, the denier or penny spread throughout Europe during the centuries from 700 to 1000 . Copper or bronze coins were not struck, nor were gold except in Southern Europe . No silver coins denominated in multiple units were minted . </P> <P> Christianity was a major unifying factor between Eastern and Western Europe before the Arab conquests, but the conquest of North Africa sundered maritime connections between those areas . Increasingly the Byzantine Church differed in language, practices, and liturgy from the Western Church . The Eastern Church used Greek instead of the Western Latin . Theological and political differences emerged, and by the early and middle 8th century issues such as iconoclasm, clerical marriage, and state control of the Church had widened to the extent that the cultural and religious differences were greater than the similarities . The formal break, known as the East--West Schism, came in 1054, when the papacy and the patriarchy of Constantinople clashed over papal supremacy and excommunicated each other, which led to the division of Christianity into two Churches--the Western branch became the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern branch the Eastern Orthodox Church . </P>

When did the late middle ages start and end