Chapter12: The Early Middle Ages

Section 1: Early European Kingdoms

Lil Boo Boo World History

Period 1

A. The People And Land Of The Middle Ages In

Europe • Main Idea: The Weakened defense of the old

Roman borders cleared the path for Germanic speaking groups to invade Europe.

A. The People And Land Of The Middle Ages In Europe• The Geography of

Western Europe – Much of the land during the

early middle ages was covered with thick forest.

– Their was large swift rivers that made it easy for trading ships, to navigate.

– People had left the cities and moved to the country side where they could grow their own foods.

A. The People And Land Of The Middle Ages In Europe• The People Of The

Middle Ages In Europe – The People of northern

Europe did not share the culture or the Latin language of the Romans

– Therefore the people of Europe organized into small groups and spoke Germanic language and were called Germanic people.

– They moved from place to place to defend themselves from attack. They fought to gain lands that had better soil for farming and better grazing for their animals.

B. The Empire Of The Franks

• Main Idea: Charlemagne was crowned Roman emperor, ruler of a large empire in western Europe.

B. The Empire Of The Franks • Uniting The Franks

– Around 481, Clovis was able to unite several of the franks groups.

– Clovis led a combined force against the collapsing roman army into Gaul.

– Clovis conquered Gaul in 496 and converted into Christianity. As a Christian he gained support of the people of Gaul.

B. The Empire Of The Franks• The Rise Of Charlemagne

– Charlemagne lived to be 72 years old nearly twice the average life span at the time.

– He ruled as the kings of the franks for 46 years, from 768 to 814.

– Charlemagne conquered lots of people and , controlled the largest region since the fall of Rome. Also, he improved, culture, education, and law, within his kingdom.

B. The Empire Of The Franks• A Christian King

– As Charlemagne expanded his kingdom, he tried to force the conquered peoples to become Christian.

– He demanded strict punishment for anyone who practiced any other religion.

– From showing all his power, the pope crowned him because he felt that he had accomplished a lot of things.

C. The Age Of Charlemagne

• Main idea: Charlemagne’s rule encouraged culture and learning to develop in Western Europe.

C. The Age Of Charlemagne

• Schools And Learning– During the middle ages most people

could read but couldn’t write, including the successful leader Charlemagne.

– To help change the situation, Charlemagne brought in scholars from England, Germany, Spain, and Italy.

– One great thing was parents was charge no fee, or tuition, but they could contribute whatever they could afford.

C. The Age Of Charlemagne

• Culture– Charlemagne was so

interested in learning he had Nobles to travel around the kingdoms.

– In search of the conditions of the roads, and the state of the crops, and loyalty of local administrators.

– His leadership brought so much attention and improvement everyone wanted to be apart of Charlemagne’s kingdom.

C. The Age Of Charlemagne

• The Decline Of Charlemagne’s Empire– With Charlemagne death in 814,

the empire he had built went into slow decline.

– His three grandsons signed the Treaty Of Verdun. In which divided his empire into three kingdoms.

– At that, it aloud invaders to conquer large parts of the kingdom. The empire didn’t last long after his death but however his standards for learning and governing remained a model for many centuries.

Franks• The people of a Germanic federation

who lived in the area that is now France, the Low Countries and part of Germany.