Transcript Charlemagne

Chapter 10
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Divided between Western and Eastern Europe
West dark ages/East flourished (Byzantine
Empire)
 Constantine
 Justinian
 The Schism of 1054
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Charlemagne
Feudalism
Crusades
Black Death
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500-1500 Middle Ages or Medieval Period
First 500 years= Early Middle Ages ro Dark
Ages
Why Dark?
 Lower levels of learning
 More political instability
 Less trading and more subsistence farming
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Vast empire as ungovernable
Split the Roman Empire in half
Created two equal emperors to rule under the
title of Augustus.
Created the Western Roman Empire and the
Eastern Roman Empire.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlnJRyZT
fEo&feature=related
Constantine becomes sole ruler of entire
Roman Empire
Rome in the west was in decay
Constantine created a new center in the east
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Constantine founded the Constantinople, the
cite of the old Greek city Byzantium
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Mediterranean and
Black seas
connected through
the Bosporus Strait
As the West
collapsed the East
prospered
The Byzantine
Empire was the
heir to the Roman
Empire
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Kingdoms developed were small/weak
With the end of the Western Roman Empire, no single
government had complete control in Europe.
The Roman Empire was replaced with a patchwork of
small kingdoms
Exception—Franks
Germanic people who settled in modern France
Christian
Charles Martel organized an army to fight he Moors
(Muslim people invading Spain)
Battle of Tours—defeated Moors
Stopped further Muslim penetration
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Charles the Great was king of the Franks.
(Gaul or current-day France.)
Martel’s grandson
Known as Charlemagne, he brought back
unity and order to many of the lands that had
been part of the former Western Roman
Empire.
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Charlemagne:
Great warrior
Respected learning and encouraged education
Known as a man of wisdom
Goal was to unite Germanic tribes into a single
Christian kingdom (Christendom)
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Charlemagne
– Defended the city of Rome and
the pope against the Lombards
– Christmas Day 800 A.D., Pope
Leo III crowned Charlemagne as
Augustus emperor of the
Romans
– Founded the Holy Roman
Empire formed from lands
previously part of the Western
Roman Empire
– By establishing a central
government over Western
Europe, Charlemagne restored
much of the unity of the old
Roman Empire \
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 The Holy Roman Empire was made up of modern
day:
 Germany
Austria
Switzerland
eastern France
Belgium
Netherlands
western Poland
the Czech Republic
Italy
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Holy
Roman
Empire
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Charlemagne (Charles the Great)
 Improved education (reading and writing)
 Issued money
 Increased trade
 Spread the Christian religion - Confess God or meet
God
 When Charlemagne defeated the Saxons, he
expected them to convert to Christianity. He
beheaded 4,000 in one day.
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• Charlemagne gave huge land grants to loyal nobles.
This was similar to the practice of creating Roman
provinces.
• The nobles agreed to provide military and political
services to him as emperor, as well as upkeep of
roads, bridges and forts on their land.
• This system of land grants was the basis of feudalism;
the political and military system of Europe that lasted
for about centuries.
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After Charlemagne’s death, his empire or the
Holy Roman Empire, was divided among his
three sons.
They fought one another, weakening the
empire.
Other groups attacked and weakened the
empire.
The fiercest attacks came from the Vikings.
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Charlemagne’s only son Louis inherited the empire.
Louis had three sons who, according to tribal inheritance law,
would each get an equal share.
Louis tried to prevent the disintegration of the empire by
selecting the oldest son, Lothair, to be the sole inheritor.
A family war ensued, ending in the Treaty of Verdun, which
divided the empire into three sections: the west for Charles the
Bald, the center for Lothair, and the east for Louis the German.
This was the beginning of modern Europe with essentially the
formation of France and Germany.
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When the family of Charles ceased to produce worthy heirs, the
pope gladly crowned whichever Italian magnate could best
protect him
Finally, in 962 a new Roman Emperor was crowned in Rome by
a grateful pope.
This emperor, Otto the Great, brought the title into the hands
of the kings of Germany for almost a millennium, for it was to
become the Holy Roman Empire, a true imperial successor to
Charles…
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The Roman Empire was Roman, then moved to
Constantinople. The Holy Roman Empire was
mostly Germanic, and ruled Central Europe
between Charlemagne and Napoléon.
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