Transcript Clovis King of the Franks 485

Who Were the Barbarians?
• Originated around the area of the Baltic
Sea
• “Barbarian” is a Greek term for nonGreek speaking peoples
• Germanic Tribes:
– Angles
– Saxons
– Franks
– Goths (Visigoths & Ostrogoths)
– Vandals
European Tribes (ca. 400)
Political Organization
• Germanic people had no conception of a
territorial state, with physical boundaries
• Political organization based on kinship
network
• Tribe formed the basis of the political
community
• Recognized kings
The Middle Ages
476-1500 a.d.
Part I
The Dark Ages
The Fall of Rome to Charlemagne
After the fall of Rome
•
•
•
•
•
•
Trade became limited
Cities and trade centers were abandoned
Populations shifted to rural areas
People survived on subsistence agriculture
Focus of life became survival
Loss of a common language
Effects of Rome’s Fall
• In the East
• In the West
– Continuation of
– Growth of New
“Rome” as the
Kingdoms:
Byzantine
Franks &
Empire
Lombards
– Development of
– Increase of Papal
the Orthodox
authority, Leo the
Christian Church
Great
– Reign of
– Decentralization
Justinian (527of government
565)
Germanic Kingdoms occupy
Europe
• Some retained
Roman government
-Ostrogoths – Italy
-Visigoths – Spain
-Vandals – North Africa
-Angles/Saxons-England
Visigoth - first barbarian
to successfully capture
the city Rome in 410
C.E.
Europe, ca. 500
Europe, 400-568
German Migrations
©1997 Grolier Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Germanic Law
• Laws were based on oral customs
• Vendetta (blood feud)
• Wergeld
– Money in compensation for death or injury
• Thing (council of elders)
• Oathgivers & ordeal
– Guilt or innocence not based on facts but
on testimony or Divine favor
Germanic law and custom
• Roman law based on offenses against
society
• Germanic law more personal and could
lead to blood feuds (Hatfields and
McCoys)
• Wergeld (personal fines) began to replace
blood feuds
• Trial by ordeal or compurgation was
standard
Trial by Ordeal
• "the most righteous judge above the clouds"
• "Ordalia" determines innocence or guilt
• Trial by fire - This consisted of walking barefoot
over red hot iron. If you survived that, and the
resultant wound healed after three days you were
considered innocent.
• plunging of the arm into boiling water. If you had no
blisters, you were assumed to be innocent.
Clovis King of the Franks 485-511 CE
first ruler of the Merovingian Dynasty
(Merovaeus Merowig died 458)
• Clovis makes an alliance
of church and state
• 496 CE Clovis converts to
Christianity
• The Frankish Kingdom
spanned form the
Pyrenees to modern day
Germany
Clovis
Franks Battle Romans
Vengeance of Clovis. Clovis beheads
the Frankish warrior who after the
Battle of Soissons had broken the
famous vase that the king wished to
present to the bishop of Reims.