Merovingian and Carolingian Kingdoms The Franks Merovingian and Carolingian Kingdoms

After the “Scourge of God” 451 Pope Leo the Great convinced Attila not to invade Rome 453 Attila died leaving room for the Ostrogoths to gain power Odoacer takes over the position of Emperor in 476 and he is succeeded by another Ostrogoth, Theodoric After his death Byzantine Emperor Justinian briefly unites the east and west After his death the Lombards set up a large kingdom in northern Italy and smaller ones in central and southern Italy The Burundians took over eastern Gaul and the Alamanni moved into present day France

The Merovingians In the 5th century Frankish tribes migrated from the banks of the Rhine to present day Belgium and France In 481 Clovis became king of the Salian Franks He was a descendent of Merovech who helped defeat Attila at Chaldons in 451 Clovis forced Syagrius, the last Roman commander in Gaul, to withdraw his troops Clovis strengthened his army in central Gaul

King Clovis Clovis gained control of the other Frankish tribes Married a Burgundian who was Christian who convinced him to fight in the name of Christ He then defeated the Alamanni and the Visigoths He and 3000 troops were baptized as Catholics Other Germanic tribes were Arians

Mayors of the Palace Clovis died in 511 and split the empire among his 4 sons They were weak and ineffective Local rulers gained control of land By the 7th and 8th centuries Merovingian kings relied on the Mayor of the Palace (like a prime minister) Mayor became the real power

Hammer Time Charles “the Hammer” Martel Charles was mayor of the palace 714-741 and acted as king Organized an effective cavalry Defeated the Moslems at Tours in a decisive battle Upon his death his son Pepin became King of the Franks

The Carolingian Empire Pepin asked the pope to support him in overthrowing Merovingian King Childeric III Pope agreed because he needed an ally against the Lombards 752 Pepin convinced the nobles to name him king Bishop Boniface anointed him as king and later Pope Stephen traveled to Paris to do the same. In exchange for the anointment Pepin defeated the Lombards in central Italy and donated the land to the pope The Donation of Pepin later became The Papal States which the pope would rule until the 19th century Pepin was succeeded by his son Charles he became known as Charles the Great

Charlemagne Ruled from 768-814 and conquered an empire that stretched from Spain to Central Europe He launched over 50 military campaigns in order to unite the Germanic tribes 774 the Lombards broke their treaty and attacked the papal territory Charles defeated them and made himself their king He went on to push the Moslems and Basques out of Spain, subdued and converted the Saxons, pushed away the Slavs and Avars and amassed a huge kingdom France, Belgium, the Netherlands, West Germany, Austria, Switzerland, northern Italy

A Christian Empire Christmas Day 800 AD Charlemagne is crowned Emperor of Rome by Pope Leo III and hailed as Augustus Gave pope ultimate authority in ruling the empire He ruled according to Germanic Tribal Laws influenced by Christianity Condemned pagan practices

Carolingian Renaissance Invited the world’s best scholar to his court at Aachen Alcuin of York set up the palace school Encouraged monasteries to establish schools for boys of all social classes Founded abbeys so monks could copy Greek and Roman texts

The king is dead Charlemagne’s son Louis the Pious took over the empire but was more interested in religion than government He lost support of the nobility and clergy who in turn took advantage of his weakness His sons bickered over who should succeed him and he decided upon his death to split his empire between the three of them

My Three Sons Lothair, the eldest, gets the middle kingdom and becomes emperor Louis the German gets the eastern section and Charles the Bald gets the west Louis and Charles agree to overthrow Lothair Written in two languages: a version of Latin in the west and a Germanic language in the east Beginning of the split between the French and Germans

An Empire Divided Lothair agrees to their terms and split the empire into 3 equal kingdoms The West became France and the East became Germany Central land was fought over between France and Germany for a thousand years In 1870s Lorraine was taken by Germany and 1919 it was taken back by France Last Carolingian in the east was 911 and 987 in the west

The Aftermath 987 French nobility elected Hugh Capet, count of Paris, as their king Capetians ruled France for 300 years New waves of invaders caused a new threat in Europe The Vikings raided much of northern Europe Moslems captured Sicily and raided other sections of Italy and Spain Magyars from central Asia terrorized eastern Europe