Section 1 – Charlemagne Unites German Kingdoms
• Middle Ages – new European society with
roots in:
– Classical heritage of Rome
– Roman Catholic beliefs
– Germanic customs
Chapter 13
European Middle Ages,
500-1200
Medieval Europe
• Learning – decline in literacy
• Language – Latin broke into dialects
• Germanic kingdoms
– Held together by family ties and personal loyalty
– Lord and followers, mead halls, mutual helps
• Clovis – unifier of the Franks
– Converted to Christianity after appealing to God for
help during battle (and winning)
– 511 – Franks united into one kingdom
– Alliance between Frankish Kingdom and the Church
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See chart on p.174 and map on p.351!!!
Commerce – invasions destroy business/trade
Cities – abandoned
Population shifts – from urban to rural
Christianity
• Spread by politics and missionaries
• Monasteries – religious communities of monks
– No private possessions
– Life of religious devotion
– Females became nuns (convents)
• Benedict wrote his rule for monks ca. 520
• Scholastica adopted this rule for nuns
• Monasteries = places of education/knowledge
– Schools, libraries, scriptoria
Gregory I
Carolingians
• 590 – Gregory (the Great) became pope
• Broadened papacy to include secular power
• Church revenues = soldiers, public works, care
for the poor
• Gregorian chant
• Christendom – spiritual kingdom on earth,
ruled from Rome, spreading from Italy to
England and from Spain to Germany
• Major domo – “mayor of the palace”
• 719 – Charles Martel (the Hammer) became
major domo
• 732 – Battle of Tours
• Charles passed on power to his son Pepin (the
Short) = dynastic rule?
• Pepin fought the Lombards – named by the
pope “king by the grace of God”
• Carolingian Dynasty – Frankish rulers from
751-987
Charlemagne
• Ruled from 768-814
• Reunited western Europe through conquest
• 800 – Charles is crowned “Roman Emperor” by
the pope
• Carolingian Revival
– Limited noble authority
– Created schools and monasteries to promote learning
• Treaty of Verdun – Charlemagne’s empire divided
among his three sons: Louis the Pious, Charles
the Bald, and Louis the German
Section 2 – Feudalism in Europe
• Vikings – Scandinavian, seafaring raiders
– Renowned for quality of their ships
– Explored and settled all of Europe
– Gradually accepted Christianity
• Magyars – nomads from modern-day Hungary
– Swept through Europe on horseback
– Did not settle in places they raided
• Muslims – mostly from North Africa
– Early goal = conquer Europe
– Later goal = plunder
Feudalism = political system
• Normandy – granted by French king to Rollo
(Viking leader) in 911 in return for allegiance
• Causes? Invasions and land control
• Lord – landowner who grants fiefs
• Fief – grant of land from lord to vassal
• Vassal – servant who receives a fief
• Knights – mounted soldiers who received fiefs in
return for grants of land
• Serfs – could not legally leave the land where
they served
Manorialism = economic system
• Manor – lord’s estate
– Lords provided: housing, land, protection
– Serfs (in return) tended land/animals and
maintained the estate
• Peasants’ lives restricted to their manor
• Manor = manor house, church, workshops,
village, fields/pasture/woods/streams
• Self-sufficient save salt, iron, and oddities
Manor Life
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Taxes – grain, marriage, fields
Tithe – 1/10 to the church
Crowded (mostly one-room) cottages
Want warmth? Bring the pigs inside!
Beds = straw (infested with bugs)
Diet? Vegetables, bread, cheese, ale.
Daily life? Work, even for children.
Life expectancy? 35 years at most.
Why? Because God determined a person’s status.