Lecture 19:
Charlemagne’s “Roman” Empire
Topics:
Eurasian empires (?) and Nomads
Period from 600-1100 CE
Intellectual life, government, and the economy
Questions:
What were the characteristics of early medieval European
society?
What was the nature of intellectual life?
How does it compare with Tang China or the ‘Abbasids?
What explains the difference?
Europe in the 6th & 7th centuries CE
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Population decline
De-urbanization
Rural
Subsistence-level agriculture
Low-level of commerce/trade
Not monetized
Germanic kingdoms
Germanic law
Illiterate
Christian
Mutual assimilation of
Germans & Romans
Lombard Gospel, ca. 600
Helmet plate of
Lombard King, ca. 600
Political
fragmentation
& instability
GERMANIC
SLAVS
AVARS
CELTS
Europe in 700 CE
Bishops and Monasteries
TOWN & COUNTRYSIDE
Preserved Roman-Christian
Inte"ectual Life
Books = luxury
Manuscripts = copied by hand
Parchment = sheepskin
Christian Clergy = Inte"ectuals
Codex Amiatinus (716 CE)
Made in Northern England as a gift for the Pope
Oldest surviving complete text of Latin Bible
Religious need
Institutional resources
Christianity in Ireland and England
Latin = foreign language
Book of Durrow (ca. 675 CE)
Lindisfarne Gospels (ca. 698 CE)
MISSIONARY EFFORTS
Religion of
the Book
Book of Kells (betw. 750 and 825 CE)
From No Rome
to New Rome
Carolingians
New dynasty as kings of Franks
SLAVS
732 CE Battle
of Poitiers
Charlemagne
Europe in 800 CE
Charlemagne (768-814 CE)
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Military expansion
Administrative reform
Standardization
Public building
Promotes learning and culture at court
Alliance with Pope in Rome
Crowned “Roman Emperor”
by Pope Leo III
on December 25, 800 CE
Royal chapel at Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle)
Handwriting Reform
Before
caroline minuscule
After
Political, religious, intellectual
practicality
ADMINISTRATION
The Carolingian “Renaissance”
Promote basic education
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Latin grammar
Christian doctrine
Copy books
Establish schools
Educate future church leaders &
government administrators
Palace at Aachen
Bishoprics and monasteries
Chief advisor: Alcuin of York
Very rudimentary!
No intellectual breakthroughs
(even in Christian theology)
9th- & 10th-century Europe: Nomads
Marauders!
One by land:
Magyars
Two by sea:
Muslims
Vikings
Scandinavians: Danes, Norwegians, Swedes
Nomads of the North Sea
Supplement limited agriculture with
frequent raiding (“viking”)
Hacksilver
Runes
Migration and Settlement
England
Normandy
Iceland
Russia
Long-Distance Traders
Establish towns as trading outposts
Raw materials & northern luxuries for silver & gold
Furs
Amber
Slaves
Europe in 1000 CE
CHRISTIANITY