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KINGDOMS

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KINGDOMS OF WESTERN EUROPE

GREGORY OF TOURS (538-594)

Considered himself a Roman

He ruled by right of birth and status

Spoke and wrote Latin

By the 7th century there came a break with the Roman past that was profound

200 years later—Charlemagne’s court sought to renew the empire of the Romans even though one could ride for 100 miles in any direction from Charlemagne’s castle and not find anyone who could read

INCREASED REGIONALIZATION

INSTABILITY

Temporary disruptions by Muslim raiders

Disruption of Roman systems of law, infrastructure and commerce

Movement away from urban centers to manorial lands in the countryside

Breakdown of coinage system

By 660 gold was too expensive to use as a medium of exchange

Trade, plunder, extortion

Rulers often lacked legitimacy and pattern of violent overthrow of one leader by the troops of another leader continued

VISIGOTH KINGDOM

CLOVIS I (481-511)

Converted to Roman Christianity (from Arianism) and obtained alliance with bishops in Gaul.

Defeated the Visigoths in 507.

Created a network of monasteries linked to the Merovingian Court.

Redistributed wealth from Southern Gaul to the Rhineland and northward to the North Sea through conquest.

CLOVIS FIGHTS THE VISIGOTHS

CLOVIS I (481-511)

Converted to Roman Christianity (from Arianism) and obtained alliance with bishops in Gaul.

Defeated the Visigoths in 507.

Created a network of monasteries linked to the Merovingian Court.

Redistributed wealth from Southern Gaul to the Rhineland and northward to the North Sea through conquest.

MONASTERIES & LOCAL RULERS

Innovation in agriculture –heavy wheeled plow

Prosperity & Christianity made local chieftains legitimate

Chieftains—soon called “Lords” gave monasteries more independence and privileges

Siding with monasteries against local Bishops Permitting them legal authority over their own lands

Powerful Families Law of primogeniture Marriage alliances Church/ monastic affiliation

Opportunities for women to wield political power Freed from the role of sinful temptress Control over minds and bodies

BEDE (673-735) CHURCH HISTORY IN BRITAIN

HISTORIA ECCLESIASTICA GENTIS ANGLORUM

Completed in 731

Scope: 33 B.C.E. campaign of Julius Caesar to 731—includes both primary and secondary sources, oral and documentary history

Themes: How Christianity united diverse peoples in Britain National origins myth: English people were dynamically guided by

Providence from heathendom to Christendom

BURIAL MOUND AT SUTTON HOO

FALL OF MEROVINGIAN KINGS

Pepin (635-714) made himself the King’s right hand man and exercised royal authority as the Loyal Servant

Charles Martel (688-741) aka Charles the Hammer, illegitimate son of Pepin

defeats the Moors at the battle of Tours (733 or 734) Creates alliance with St. Boniface of the English Benedictines to convert the

Netherlands and central Germany to Christianity Loose connection to the Papacy through Boniface

750 Pepin the Short (Charles Martel’s son) seized the throne for himself Turned to the Pope for support Pope Gregory realized that alliance with powerful Frankish leader could help

him with his own enemies 751, Boniface (on behalf of Pope Gregory) anoints Pepin as King of the Franks

Ritual based on Biblical imagery from Old Testament when Samuel anointed Kings

CHARLES MARTEL

Charles de Steuben,Bataille de PoitiersEn Octobre 782

SAINT BONIFACE

PEPIN THE SHORT

Encyclopædia Britannica Image Quest, "Tomb Of Pepin 'the Short' ", accessed 8 Oct 2012, http://quest.eb.com/images/108_304112

Encyclopædia Britannica Image Quest, "PEPIN THE SHORT (714-768). - King Of The Franks, 751-768. Detail From The Liber Aureus Of The Abbey Of Prm.", �accessed 8 Oct 2012, http://quest.eb.com/images/140_1660494

CHARLEMAGNE (742-814)R. 12/25/800-1/28/814

Encyclopædia Britannica Image Quest, "Charlemagne / Bust / Goldsmithery / C14", accessed 8 Oct 2012, http://quest.eb.com/images/109_101717

Militarized state

Conquests against Lombards

Counts appointed to supervise new lands

Coinage system

Ruler of Christendom Kingly government is a sacred office designed by God

to protect the church, defend Christians and promote salvation

No kingdom can prosper if lives of its subjects are displeasing to God

PLUNDER, BOOTY & LAND

• Controlled Bishops and Abbots

• Changed liturgy

• Prohibited pagan practices

• Imposed Holy Baptism on subjects

• Crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope on 12/25/800

CAROLINGIAN REFORMS

Encyclopædia Britannica Image Quest, "Coronation Of Charlemagne", accessed 8 Oct 2012, http://quest.eb.com/images/312_1013187

• Classical learning is foundation of Christian wisdom

• Collating, correcting and copying Latin texts, including the Bible

• New style of handwriting: Carolingian Miniscule

CAROLINGIAN RENAISSANCE

CAROLINGIAN MINISCULE

From 10th century manuscript of the Vulgate, Luke 1: 1-5

Charlemagne succeeded by Louis the Pious

Upon Louis’s death, kingdom divided into 3 Western France Eastern France Germany

Civil War between Eastern and Western France 856 Kingdom at limit of power Not enough booty and plunder and land for the counts Viking raids

COLLAPSE OF CAROLINGIAN EMPIRE AFTER 814

EUROPE AT THE DEATH OF CHARLEMAGNE

THE VIKINGS 900-1100

Mid-twelfth century paintingOf Danish Seamen Encyclopædia Britannica Image Quest, "Viking Ship In Museum",

accessed 8 Oct 2012, http://quest.eb.com/images/131_1388137

VIKING RAIDERS

Vikings means “robbers”

Raided Europe and British Isles for Silver from the middle of the 9th century

PlunderRansomTribute collectionslaving

• England, Scotland, Ireland and Northern France

• Normandy “land of the Northmen”

• 1066 Battle of Hastings

VIKING RAIDS 900-1000

Encyclopædia Britannica Image Quest, "Viking Chariot", accessed 8 Oct 2012, http://quest.eb.com/images/115_2844439

Encyclopædia Britannica Image Quest, "Viking Sword / Hedeby (Haithabu)", accessed 8 Oct 2012, http://quest.eb.com/images/109_107901

WHICH HEIR WAS ROME’S TRUE SUCCESSOR?

• Byzantium copied Rome’s fundamental legal and political institutions

• Muslim Caliphates combined the rich legacy of the Near East, Egypt and much of the Hellenistic world

Promoted commerce and cultural exchange

• Geographic and cultural Rome: most closely emulated by the Kingdoms of northwestern Europe

INTERCONNECTIONS

Byzantium, Muslim Caliphates and Kingdoms of northwestern Europe developed their defining characteristics during the 6th and 7th centuries

Fruitful if uneasy relationships Italian traders active in Constantinople Muslim traders common in Southern Italy Anglo-Saxon merchants traded within the

Mediterranean Jewish merchants in Rhineland traded with Muslim

communities in Egypt Viking traders from Novgorod in Russia to Dublin

WESTERN EUROPE

Began to share a new sense of common identityRoman Church as spiritual guidanceLook to fellow rulers for aid against invaders

Mobilized for war against Islamic Caliphates