Transcript Document

The Disintegration of the
Carolingian Empire
Louis the Pious
• Continued policy of
monastic reform
– Benedict of Aniane
• Two marriages, four sons
– Rebellion
• Oath of Strasbourg
• Treaty of Verdun
• Fragmentation of trade
networks
Disunity and Partition
• What were some of the
reasons for the collapse
of the Carolingian
Empire?
• What were some of the
consequences of that
collapse?
Invasions
Vikings
• Why did the Northmen
begin to prey on their
neighbors at about this
time?
– Population pressure; political
reasons (Harald Finehair)
• How extensive was their
reach?
– Varangian Guard
• What made them so
frightening?
• Raids led to invasions
Responses to Vikings
• Alfred the Great
– Danelaw
• Rollo, first duke of
Normandy, 911
• Plate 4.1 The Jelling
Monument
Fragmentation and Disorder
• Magyars: horsemen from Hungary
– Battle of Lechfeld, Otto the Great
• Slavs and Avars
– Conversion: Slavic Orthodox Church
Byzantium under Justinian
Byzantine Empire:
th
10
century
Basil II’s conquests
Division and struggle
• Theme system: localized
military support (7th c
onward)
• Central imperial
government vs. local rulers
(“Dynatoi”), 10th century
– Struggle for control over
resources of countryside
– Cities, which had gone into
decline, had begun to
experience a resurgence
• Sourcebook 4.2 Romanus
Lecapenus Novel
• Iconoclasts vs. iconodules
– Shifted in support with
sympathies of emperors
(Irene an iconodule)
– Two outbreaks: 8th century
and early 9th century
The Rus
• Originated with
Scandinavian traders
– Centered at Novgorod,
then south at Kiev
• Bordered by Khazars
(converted to Judaism)
• Converted to Christianity
through Vladimir
– Marriage to Byzantine
princess, Basil II’s sister
• Conversions:
– Polish to Roman
Catholicicsm
– Hungary to Catholicism
– Khazars to Judaism
– Bulgars to Islam
– Rus to Eastern Orthodox
Christianity
• 4.11 The Russian Primary
Chronicle
The Islamic World
• Abbasid Dynasty (7501258)
– Displaced Umayyads
– Capital established at
Baghdad
– Arabian Nights (early 10th
century)
– Islamic Renaissance
• Dissatisfaction,
fragmentation
– Fatimids in Egypt, Shi’ites
• Attacks on Sicily,
southern Italy from
North Africa; also
southern France, Spain
• What were the results of
these attacks? (hint: not all
negative!)
• Shi’ites: imams, mahdi
• Toleration of Jews
The End of the World?
• Y1K: Apocalypse When
• Dhuoda’s manual to her
son
• Cluny 910
• Peace of God
• Characterize the mood
of apocalypticism as the
millenium approached.
How did the corruption
of the church contribute
to this mood?
– Takeover of church lands
by local nobles
– Simony
– Papal office
• John XII