Copy of European Middle Ages

European Middle Ages

Charlemagne Unites the Germanic Kingdoms

As Rome fell, more and more people became illiterate. Knowledge of Greek became to disappear, leaving people unable to read Greek works in literature, science and philosophy.

As German-speaking people mixed with Romans, Latin began to change and differ from region to region. By the 800s, French, Spanish, and other Roman-based languages had evolved from Latin.

Learning Objectives

Middle Ages- medieval period in Europe that lasted from around 500 to 1500.

Repeated invasions and constant warfare sparked new changes in government, the economy and culture.

Disruption of trade caused businesses to collapse and destroyed European cities as centers of trade and money becomes scarce.

Cities would be abandoned as centers of administration.

Nobles retreated to the rural areas and city dwellers fled to rural areas to grow their own food.

As the Roman Empire fell, the Church was able to survive and provide order and security.

In Germanic society, family and personal loyalty meant more than citizenship in a public state. Germanic people lived in small communities, governed by unwritten rules and traditions.

Germanic chiefs would provide food, weapons, and treasure to warriors that pledged loyalty to him, and these warriors would willingly die in battle for their chief.

Franks- Germanic people that held power within the Roman province of Gaul.

Their leader Clovis would bring Christianity to the region.

Clovis would be urged to convert to Christianity by his wife but would not convert until 496, when he would battle against another Germanic army.

Fearing defeat, he would turn to the Christian God, and would win the battle.

The Church in Rome welcomed Clovis's conversion and supported his military campaigns against other Germanic peoples.

By 511, Clovis had united the Franks into one kingdom.

By 600, the Church had converted many of the Germanic peoples to the faith with the help of the Frankish rulers.

To adapt to rural conditions, the Church built religious communities called monasteries. Christian men called monks gave up all of their private possessions and became servants of God.

Monasteries would become Europe's best-educated communities, opening schools, maintaining libraries, and coping books.

590- Gregory I became pope and would increase the authority of the papacy- making the papacy a secular, or worldly, power involved in politics.

He began to use the Church to raise armies, repair roads, and help the poor. He would also negotiate peace treaties with invaders and claimed that all land from Italy to England and Spain to western Germany was under his control.

Christendom- spiritual kingdom that fanned out from Rome to the most distant churches. Ideal of a Christian kingdom that was to be ruled by a pope.

• Identify the significance of the crowning of Charlemagne as emperor.
• Discuss feudalism. In your discussion include its purpose, hierarchy, manor life, and impact.
• Discuss how the code of chivalry glorified combat and romantic love.
• Explain the role of the Catholic Church following the collapse of Rome.
• In your opinion, what value of the code of chivalry do you feel is the most important in modern times? Explain why, and if you think chivalry is dead.

Charlemagne would conquer more land and create the greatest kingdom since the Roman Empire, spreading Christianity through his conquests.

In 800, Charlemagne would put down a unruly mob that had attacked the pope. Pope Leo III would crown him the "Roman Emperor" signaling the joining of Germanic power, the Church, and the heritage of the Roman Empire.

Charlemagne would use royal agents to make sure the counts were governing their lands justly.

He would also encourage learning, surrounding himself with English, German, Italian, and Spanish scholars and would open a palace school for his children and other children in his court. He also ordered monasteries to open schools and expand their libraries.

A year before his death in 814, he would crown his son, Louis the Pious as emperor. After his death, his three sons (Lothair, Charles the Bald, and Louis the German) would fight one another for the Empire.

Major domo- mayor of the palace. Set policy and commanded armies.

By 719, Charles Martel was the major domo and held more power than the king. After defeating the Moors at the Battle of Tours in 732, halting the Muslim invasion, Martel was was seen as a Christian hero.

He would pass his power on to his son, Pepin the Short, and with help from the pope, become crowned "king by the grace of God."

This would begin the reign of the Frankish rulers called the Carolingian Dynasty.

He would leave his kingdom to his two sons, Carloman and Charlemagne. When Carloman dies in 771, Charlemagne quickly seized control of the entire kingdom.

Chivalry

Tournaments and Mock Battles

The Code

Tournaments were mock battles, used to prepare the knights for war.

Competitions of jousting, swordsmanship, archery and hand to hand combat also occurred.

Complex set of ideals, demanded that a knight fight bravely in defense of three masters- his feudal lord, heavenly Lord, and his chosen lady.

Defend the poor and weak, and be loyal, brave, and courteous.

Shifting Roles of Women

Peasant women had no power but noble women had more power within the kingdom. When lords were away at war, noble women would command the castles. Some women would have more power by convincing their husbands or sons to agree to certain policies.

Poetry and Love Songs

Warfare

Poetry could be used to glorify knights and armies or to proclaim love and heartbreak.

Troubadours were poet-musicians at the castles and courts of Europe.

Castles would house the Lords and his family. These would be the focus of many attacks by armies of knights.

Siege warfare would be used to cut off the castle from outside supplies, with weapons designed to break through walls, and to keep attacking enemies at bay.

Feudalism

The manor was the lord's estate.

The Kings and lords, as well as lords and peasants, had a set of rights and obligations.

King Lords Peasants

Vikings would begin to invade the Carolingian Empire from the North.

Muslims would invade the South.

Magyars would come from the East.

These invaders made it hard to control a large kingdom, forcing Europeans to stop looking to a central ruler for security but to their local rulers for protection- paving the way for feudalism to flourish in Medieval Europe.

The feudal system was based on mutual obligations.

Lords (landowner) in exchange for military protection and other services, would grant land known as a fief. The person receiving the land was known as a vassal. Knights would pledge to defend their lord's lands in exchange for fiefs.

"Those who fought, those who prayed, and those who worked."

Status was inherited.

The vast majority of people would be peasants and most peasants were serfs, or people who could not lawfully leave the place where they were born.

Church Leaders Obtain Power

Gelasius's Two Sword Theory

Holy Roman Empire- kingdom that arose from the ruins of Charlemagne's empire.

Otto I- most effective ruler of medieval Germany and formed a close alliance with the Church and invaded Italy on the Pope's behalf. He would be crowned emperor by the Pope in 962.

Future German emperors would hold much power over Italy and Italian nobles as well as the popes, would come to fear this political power.

Clergy- religious officials

Sacraments- important religious ceremonies

The Church would serve as a uniforming force in medieval Europe, bringing people together with a shared belief.

The Church provided a unifying set of spiritual beliefs and rituals, as well as creating a system of justice to guide people's conduct.

All medieval Christians, kings and peasants, were subject to canon law, or the law of the Church.

Emperor is the highest

authority in

political matters.

The Pope is the highest

authority in

religious matters.

Both sides continued to disagree on the boundaries of their respective realms.

Concordat of Worms- In 1122, representatives from the Church and emperor met in the German city of Worms to discuss lay investiture. They decided that the Church alone could grant a bishop his ring and staff, symbols of Church office. Yet the emperor had the veto power to prevent the appointment of a bishop.

Lay investiture- a ceremony in which kings and nobles appointed church officials

This is banned in 1075 by Pope Gregory VII.

Germany emperor, Henry IV, immediately resented this action taken by "not pope, but false monk," ordering Gregory to step down as pope.

Henry gets excommunicated and seeks the Pope's forgiveness.