“The bodies of irrational animals are bent toward the ground, whereas man was made to walk upright with his eyes on heaven, as though to remind him to keep his thoughts on things above.”
"Dark Ages": Western Europe
Roman influence on German Culture
Fall of Rome?
- contact w/ Roman empire since late republic (Caesar subdued Gaul)
- adopted elements of Roman culture (written law codes, Christianity)
St. Augustine of Hippo
Roman Church
- City of God: division between superior 'spiritual' reality and chaotic material world
- The church filled the power vacuum and acted as a preserver of Roman culture
- As the state authority crumbled, Western Romans sought refuge in the Church
Pope gained authority as bishop of Rome
Pope Leo I & Attila the Hun
Dark Ages?
- decline in trade and commercial enterprise
Germanic Kingdoms
The Franks
Germanic Culture
- Kinship bonds & family ties
- Germanic tribe with lasting kingdom
- Conversion of King Clovis to Christianity (496 C.E)
- Salic Law: personal (rather than communal)
ordeal
wergild
- Eventually the Franks controlled all of Gaul and parts of Italy
Charlemagne
"Father of Europe"
King of Franks, Lombards, Saxons & Emperor of Rome
- expanded Frankish dominion
Methods of Control?
scriptorium: connected to monastaries, transcribed books (generally religious)
Vellum: thin animal skin used as paper
Carolingian Renaissance
- conversion of the Saxons; standardize Christian practices
Divisio Regnorum
- Frankish custom of dividing territory --> extreme decentralization)
- Divergence of "French" West and "German" East