Transcript Charlemagne Unites Germanic Kingdoms

CHARLEMAGNE UNITES
GERMANIC KINGDOMS
Many Germanic kingdoms that succeeded the Roman Empire were reunited under Charlemagne’s empire.
Middle Ages
 Medieval period
 A.D. 500-1500
 New society rooted in:
 Classical heritage of Rome
 Beliefs of the Roman Catholic Church
 Customs of various Germanic tribes
Invasions of Western Europe
 What was the immediate cause of the fall of the
Western Roman Empire again?
 Right! Germanic invasions!!!
 Repeated warfare and invasions altered the
economy, government, and culture of the people in
the Western Roman Empire
 Economy: Disruption of trade led to the collapse of
businesses, breakdown of European cities as economic
centers, and scarcity of money.
 Government: cities were abandoned as centers of
administration
 Culture: nobles (wealthy landowners) retreated to the
rural areas when cities collapsed; cities no longer had
strong leadership; people moved to the rural areas and
began farming; population became rural
SURVIVAL MODE
 What do people need for survival?
 Food & water
 Shelter
 What do you NOT care about when trying to
survive?
 Language
 Culture
 Etc…
Decline of Learning
 Germanic invaders were illiterate
 Romans who moved into rural areas became less
concerned about education
 Priests and other church officials were literate
 Knowledge of Greek became lost (but we still have
that knowledge today…SO…bonus point: WHO
PRESERVED IT???)
 Germanic tribes had a rich oral tradition of songs
and legends but no writing
Loss of a Common Language
 Mixing of Germanic-speaking peoples with
Romans  change in Latin
 Different dialects emerged
 800s: French, Spanish, and other Roman-based
languages evolved from Latin
 Various languages = continued breakup of a once
unified empire
Germanic Kingdoms emerge
 400s-600s: small Germanic kingdoms replaced
Roman provinces
 Let’s think about this…
 Which of the five traits of a civilization is necessary
to maintain a civilization? In other words, if this trait
disappeared, so could a civilization…
INSTITUTIONS!
So…which institution remained in the
Western Roman Empire?
A. Political institutions
B. Economic institutions
C. Educational institutions
D. Religious institutions
The Church
 The Church was the sole surviving institution of
the Roman Empire.
 During this time of political chaos, the Church
provided order and security.
Concept of Government Changes
Rome:
 Loyalty to public
government and
written laws
 Citizenship in a public
state
Germanic Kingdoms:
 Family ties and
personal loyalty
 Small communities
governed by unwritten
rules and tradition
Germanic Society
 Band of warriors pledged their loyalty to a Germanic
chief
 Followers lived in lord’s hall
 He gave them food, weapons and treasure.
 Warriors fought to the death at lord’s side
 Outliving him was a disgrace
 Germanic warriors did not feel obligated to obey a
king they did not know nor did they feel obligated to
obey an official sent to collect taxes or administer
justice in the name of an emperor they’d never met.
 Stress on personal ties made it difficult to establish
orderly government for large territories
Clovis & the Franks
 Gaul (present-day France & Switzerland)
 Franks held power
 Clovis was the leader; brought Christianity to the region
 496: Clovis prayed to the Christian God for help in battle;
they won; they converted
 Church in Rome welcomed his conversion and supported
his campaigns against other Germanic tribes
 511: Clovis united the Franks into one kingdom
 Why do we care?
 Clovis + Roman Church = the beginning of a marriage of
political and religious institutions
Religion in the Middle Ages
 Monasteries were established to adjust to rural ways of
living and became best-educated communities
 Monks/nuns and their illuminated manuscripts helped to
preserve part of Rome’s intellectual heritage.
 Gregory I
 Became Pope and broadened the authority of the papacy (pope’s
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office) beyond its spiritual role
Made the Church a secular power
Pope’s palace became center of Roman government
Used church revenue to raise armies, repair roads, and help the
poor
Negotiated treaties with invaders
Region from Italy to England and Spain to Germany fell under
his responsibility
Carolingian Dynasty
 Ruled from 751-987
 Started by Pepin the Short
 Son, Charles, ruled the kingdom after him
 Charles became known as Charlemagne (Charles
the Great)
Charlemagne
 Built an empire larger than any since Rome
 Conquered lots of land
 Spread Christianity through his conquests
 First to reunite Western Europe since the Roman
Empire
 800: empire larger than Byzantine Empire
 Most powerful king in Western Europe
 Crushed an unruly mob who had attacked Pope
Leo III
 Pope crowned him emperor
 Why do we care?
 This was the FIRST time a pope had claimed the
political right to confer the title “Roman Emperor”
on a European king.
 This event signaled the joining of Germanic
power, the Church, and the heritage of the Roman
Empire.
Charlemagne leads a revival….
 In education!
 He actually was illiterate but dedicated himself to
learning how to read and write.
 Surrounded himself with English, German, Italian,
and Spanish scholars.
 Opened a palace school for his children
 Ordered monasteries to open schools to train
future monks and priests
Charlemagne’s heirs
 Son Louis the Pious
succeeded him
 Devoutly religious but
politically ineffective
 Charlemagne’s three
grandsons fought each other
for control and essentially
divided it with the signing of
the Treaty of Verdun in 843.
 Carolingian kings lost power,
and central authority broke
down
 Lack of strong rulers led to
new system of governing and
landholding: feudalism