The Middle Ages and Feudalism WHI.9 The Middle Ages and Feudalism

The Middle Ages- The Basics The Roman Catholic Church (based in Rome) became more important as the Roman Empire declined in importance The church played the role of the government, taking care of their political, social and religious needs The Pope picked emperors to rule people Missionaries spread Christianity to Germanic tribes

Ends Are New Beginnings Middle Ages start with the fall of the Western Roman Empire 476 A.D. Rome falls to German invaders Western Roman Empire doesn’t exist but Roman Catholic Church still survives

German Invaders With the Western Roman Empire done, there was no one to defend people from invaders Invaders swept into towns and people fled to the countryside Time period a.k.a. “Dark Ages” because there was little learning or trade

Mini-Kingdoms These Germanic invaders took over lands and set up kingdoms run by kings Kingdom of Franks had a king, Clovis who took over what used to be Roman Gaul (France) Converted to Christianity and made friends with the Pope in Rome

Angles Saxons Germans Franks Magyars

Battle of Tours Christian vs. Muslim battle Charles Martel (Charles the Hammer) leads Christian Franks versus Muslims moving into France Martel and Christians win, Muslims go back to Spain Christians think it’s a sign that God is on their side

Charlemagne Charles Martel’s grandson, Charles I, eventually becomes King of the Franks Built empire through France, Italy and Germany In 799 Pope asks Charles for help dealing with a gang of Romans who were after him

Charlemagne Charles goes to Rome, exiles the gang after the Pope, puts the Pope back in charge Pope thankful to Charles, on Christmas Day, 800, crowns Charles “Emperor of the Romans” and he’s now called Charlemagne Important because now Rome is controlled by a Germanic king, protecting Christianity

Charlemagne’s Legacy Charlemagne sent missionaries through Europe to spread Christianity Those missionaries carried Christianity and the Latin alphabet to other Germanic tribes Kept fighting off invading Muslims Fought off Magyars- people from Hungry- invaders

Age of Charlemagne The Franks (Charlemagne’s people) became a major force in Europe, with most of Western Europe in the empire The power of the church began to seep into political life- the two were connected Churches, roads, and schools were built to unite this Christian empire Re-interpretation of Roman culture

Monastic Life Monks spent most of their day either working the land, praying or copying texts. They preserved Greco-Roman cultural achievements by copying the works of Greek and Roman historians and poets. In western Europe most of the classical texts were Roman. Greek texts were preserved by the Byzantine scholars.

Work of Monks Illuminated Texts or Illuminated Manuscripts Monks add some illustrations to their copying

Illuminated Manuscripts

Who’s the Boss? Pope: head of the Church, noble Cardinal: advisor of the pope, noble (selected from amongst bishops/archbishops) Archbishop: head of an archdiocese = very big dioceses (NYC, D.C., LA) Bishop: head of a smaller diocese (Pittsburgh, Richmond) Diocese/Archdiocese= geographic area with churches (parishes) Parish Priest: head of a parish (locality) How to Become Pope

Power of the Church Catholic church provides for social and religious needs of the people Priests do sacraments: marriage, last rites Provided education Care for the poor Kept money flowing

Feudalism: The Basics With the end of the Roman Empire, people in Western Europe had no defense against invasion In order to stay safe, people entered into feudal agreements with landowning lords The deal between the people and landowners was in exchange for work, the lord would provide protection

Feudalism With no Roman Empire to provide defense of citizens people were constantly getting invaded by Germanic tribes No government exists to stop them People created system called Feudalism to protect themselves from invaders

How Feudalism Works An incredibly rigid class structure: everyone has a place and a role and it doesn’t change or vary Lords= powerful men who are rich and own a lot of land Lords give out chunks of their land to lesser lords called Vassals Vassal= Someone who manages a chunk of land (fief) for a lord Fief= land given to a vassal from a lord In exchange for the fief and protection, vassals pledge their loyalty and military service to their lord Deal is called Feudal Contract

The Manor Manor was the basic unit of the feudal system Manor= the lord’s estate Usually one or more villages and the land around it Serfs are the backbone of The Manor Serfs= peasants who are tied to the land but not slaves Serfs are tied to the land, so if you get the land, you get the serfs The Manor is a self-sufficient structure- everything you need is there

Serfs Serfs work the land several days a week and do the manual labor around The Manor Serfs had to ask for permission to leave the estate or marry Serfs paid the lord several times a year In exchange for this work, they received protection from the lord

The Movement of People There’s a lot of movement of people around Europe at this time- migration from one area to another. Angles and Saxons move from Northern Europe into the British Isles (England) Magyars moved from Central Asia into Hungry Vikings migrated from Scandinavia All of this movement and invasion meant that manors were important for safety, and the source of resources because trade wasn’t safe

Angles and Saxons

Magyars Magyars settle in pink area after coming from central Asia

Vikings Vikings come from Scandinavia (Norway and Sweden)