Western Europe

Post Classical Period

Medieval World

European Political Chronology

Through Maps

Physical Geography

What features are significant?

Historical Geography

•After 600, focus of Western European World shifts North– Muslims control Mediterranean, North

Africa, Spain and parts of Southern Italy– Increasing important physical features

include…•Baltic Sea•Atlantic Ocean•River Systems (Seine, Thames, Rhine, Danube)

•Mountain ranges (Pyrenees, Alps)•Plains (France, Northern European)

The Dark Ages: Crisis of Late Antiquity

Hun advance pushes other nomadic Germanic groups into Roman territories

476 Odoacer (Visigoth) commander -German troops in Italy, deposes last Roman Emperor in the West

End of the western empire.

Into England…

St Augustine (354-430): The City of God: excerpts on the Two Cities

Book XIV Chap. 28Of The Nature Of The Two Cities, The Earthly And The Heavenly.

• Accordingly, two cities have been formed by two loves: the earthly by the love of self, even to the contempt of God; the heavenly by the love of God, even to the contempt of self. The former, in a word, glories in itself, the latter in the Lord. For the one seeks glory from men; but the greatest glory of the other is God, the witness of conscience. …..[the earthly city] were either leaders or followers of the people in adoring images, "and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever." But in the other city there is no human wisdom, but only godliness, which offers due worship to the true God, and looks for its reward in the society of the saints, of holy angels as well as holy men, "that God may be all in all."

How does this concept set the stage for a development very

different than the Muslim World or Eastern Europe?

Merovingian Period (500-751)

• Clovis I• Brought warring

Franks under control

• Converted to Christianity

Conclusions re: Merovingian Period

there were no significant changes to the…

– Structure of the empire– Culture of the empire– Economy of the empire

• Trade with the east– Intellectual Life– Arts– Religion

What the Germans destroyed was not the empire, but the imperial government.

According to Henri Pirenne….

So when does western Europe experience the

significant changes that set the stage for the

Medieval Age?

Why?

Carolingian Period• Not Merovingian line – but

frankish successors• Charles Martel

– Battle of Tours, 732Song of Roland

• 751 Charles son claimed throne – Pepin the Short

• Charlemagne (Charles the Great) r.768-814

Song of RolandThe king our Emperor Carlemaine,

Hath been for seven full years in Spain. From highland to sea hath he won the land;

City was none might his arm withstand; Keep and castle alike went down

Save Saragossa, the mountain town. The King Marsilius holds the place,

Who loveth not God, nor seeks His grace: He prays to Apollin, and serves Mahound;

But he saved him not from the fate he found.

Its patriotic zeal gives it a place as the earliest of the truly national poems of the

modern world.

Charlemagne • Enormous energy, personal accomplishment• Maintained diplomatic relations with Byzantine

& Abbasids• Campaigned during most of his reign to bring

new areas under control• Missi dominici “envoys of the Lord ruler”

• No bureaucracy or administrative apparatus

• Christmas 800, crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Leo– Charlemagne hastened the decline with the east and aligned

himself with the church– Caused conflict between pope and later emperors

800 Coronation

Capital at Aachen

Throne Room

Decline of Carolingians

• Death of Charlemagne power passed to Louis the Pious– Unable to subdue internal disunity

• Invasions of the 9th & 10th Century– Magyars (Hungarians) from the west– Vikings (Norse expansion) from the North– Muslims (Saracens) from the South

• Regional Authorities established new kingdoms (claimed legitimacy based on Charlemagne)

Charlemagne's LegacyCharlemagne's Legacy

“The Carolingian Empire, or rather, the empire of Charlemagne, was the scaffolding of the Middle Ages. -The state upon which it was founded was extremely weak and would crumble. -But the Empire would survive as the higher unity of Western Christendom”

Middle Ages (500-1500)

476: Fall of Rome

800: Charlemagne crowned Holy Roman Emperor

Germanic Invasions & Kingdoms Feudalism

High Middle Ages Crises of

the Late Middle Age

9th Century invasions

Medieval FeudalismMedieval FeudalismConnotations of Feudalism and/or Medieval?

As an Economic System: Manorialism As a Political System… Complexity, Reciprocity • Nobles (lords, vassal, knight)

– Allegiance to King– Service to persons who provide resources

• Land, ‘income’

• Cultivators (Peasants- Serfs)– Allegiance to lord– Productive capacity– Slaves and free peasants: Obligated to stay on land– Serfdom- protection in exchange for productive

resources

Economy of the Economy of the Medieval WorldMedieval World

Tied to political development & demography..

36 million people in 20026 million people in 600

36 million people in 1000• 500-1000

– Manor Economy: “Pockets of self-sufficiency’• Agricultural surplus, craft workers, mills, animal

breeding• Little trade (all local) & few urban areas• Lending discouraged - Usury• supported social structure/rigidity

Medieval FeudalismMedieval Feudalism

As a social system… Rigid – almost no mobility

Nobility or commoner? – No in between…No middle class merchants– Only greater or lesser nobles

Sense of obligation and deferenceBUT, Reciprocal in nature

Roots of Democracy?

Early Medieval Church

Survive & Adapt

Medieval ChurchSurvival & Adaptability • Conversion of Germanic People & Support Of

Charlemagne • Help & hope in times of trouble – in absence

of central government• Services- education, help for the poor,

medical care• Monastic Life – reached widespread

communities, economic & educational centers – Missionary Work

Question of political vs. religious control?Church: Pope Secular: KingVS.

Centralization of Power

• Widespread missionary activity (Charlemagne's legacy)

• Gregory I the Great (590-604) – medieval papacy began to assert its authority– established the temporal (earthly) power of the papacy

• Monasteries - Rule of St Benedict– Abbots– served as havens for those seeking a contemplative

(meditative) life

Common practices, rituals & rules

Local Level

• Tithe• Sacraments• Role of Parish

Priest

Rome

• Authority of Bishops

• Emphasis on Ceremony

• Canon Law – 11th Century– Excommunication– Interdict

Western Christendom

Political/ Secular Structure

• Feudal kingdoms– Royalty little direct power

• Lords/Vassals• Peasant serfs• No organized,

centralized governments

Spiritual Life

• Papal Authority• Church Hierarchy-bishops• Local Parish priests• Monasteries• Canon Law

Competition for power between secular and

religious world

Periodization Overview

Medieval World

Middle Ages (500-1500)

476: Fall of Rome

800: Charlemagne crowned Holy Roman Emperor

1095: Pope Urban II launches 1st Crusade

Germanic Invasions & Kingdoms

9th Century Invasions, Feudalism

High Middle Ages

Crises of the Late

Middle Age

1300-1450Black Death

Peasant Rebellions

Little Ice Age

1450: Renaissance