Historical Situation… Your Task: Today you will complete four tasks in order to help you create a new kingdom. As you finish each task, bring them to me to get your next task… What do you think this activity simulated? –Why do you think my grammar became progressively worse? –Why do you think the emphasis was continually placed on safety & security?

Constituted by the years between Classical Antiquity and the Modern Era –End of antiquity = collapse of Roman Empire –The Renaissance ushered in the Modern Era. –Roughly 500 until 1500 AD –Also known as the Medieval Times

Also known as Dark Ages ( AD) Scholars named this as a time when the forces of darkness (barbarians) overwhelmed the forces of light (Romans) After the fall of Rome, Western Europe was left with a power vacuum  a condition that exists when someone has lost control of something and no one has replaced it

Government- No single power of authority –Several Germanic tribes formed a patchwork of small kingdoms that are governed by kings –Difficult for the kings to maintain control –Rise in power of the Catholic Church Economy- Breakdown in trade -- Led to bartering -- Cities no longer centers for markets -- Money is scarce

Cultural Aspects- –Germanic societies dominated Germanic customs followed Illiterate society –Population Declines Decline by about 20% Increase in people moving from cities to rural areas –Reading, writing, and art begin to disappear Latin changes Local vernaculars with German elements develop

The Franks came into Gaul fighting some of the other Barbarians They pushed the other Barbarians out and divided into many tribes of Franks, each with their own king Merovich was one of the leaders of the tribes of Franks and began his kingdom

Clovis becomes the most important ruler of the Merovingian Dynasty Considered to be the founder of the French state

Ruthless ruler –Murdered any relative that might have claim to the throne Converts to Christianity to help unify his kingdom –Clotilda, his wife, was a convert

Clovis died in 511 Kingdom was divided among his four sons –Causes weakness –Not able to establish control Clovis’ sons were mainly ineffective –All the kings after them too The Merovingian kings became known as the Do- Nothing Kings

After a series of ineffective “do-nothing kings”, a new position takes charge Mayors of the Palace –Been the power behind the throne for many years –Job was to keep the Merovingian king on the throne –This position was passed from father to son

Charles Martel (a.k.a. Charles the Hammer) becomes Mayor of the Palace in 714 C.E. – Consolidated military control over regions of the kingdom –Gave land acquired to the Church and established the close relationship between the church and the state that continued into the 20 th century – Defeated the Muslim invasion force in 732 at the Battle of Tours

Battle of Tours –Significant victory for Christianity because it stopped Islamic invasion from spreading any further than Spain –Charles used this victory to help him establish his sons to be the first Carolingian king of the Franks

Was the son of Charles Martel Sought pope’s approval to take the throne from the incompetent Merovingian king –Pope granted this –Pepin unites all of Gaul under one When Pepin died, he divided his kingdom between his two sons –Carolus (Charlemagne) & Carolman

In 768, at age 26, Charlemagne (a.k.a. Charles the Great) and his brother Carloman inherited kingdom of the Franks In 771 Carloman died, and Charlemagne became sole ruler of the kingdom –Franks falling back into barbarian ways, neglecting education & religion –North: Saxons were still pagans –South: Roman Catholic Church fighting to recover land confiscated by barbarian Lombard kingdom in central Italy Europe was in turmoil!

772 he launched a 30-year military campaign to reunite Europe and bring order –Defeated Lombards (in present-day northern Italy) –The Avars (in modern-day Austria and Hungary) –Conquered Bavaria and the Slavs (Germany) –782 (Massacre of Verden) Charlemagne slaughtered some 4,500 Saxons Forced Saxons to convert to Christianity, declared that anyone who didn’t get baptized or follow other Christian traditions be put to death HARSH!

For his help defeating the Lombards and driving them out of papal lands, Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne “ Holy Roman Emperor on Christmas Day in 800 in Rome.

Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne emperor of the Romans on December 25, 800, at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. 800 Charlemagne undisputed ruler of Western Europe Established central government over Western Europe, thereby restoring unity of the old Roman Empire and paving the way for the development of modern Europe

“It was at the time he received the title of emperor and Augustus, to which at first he was so averse that he remarked that had he known the intention of the pope, he would not have entered the church on that day.” —Einhard

He’s GRRREATT! Yes, I know I am GRRREAT! Look at this crown on my head!

Changed Europe then and for hundreds of years after –Conquests –Relationship with the Church –Government –Cultural Developments (Carolingian Renaissance)

Controlled more land than other Frankish king. –Realm encompassed France, Switzerland, Belgium, & Netherlands –Included half of present-day Italy and Germany, & parts of Austria, Spain. The land he acquired affected European politics throughout the medieval years and into modern era Gave him prestige

When Pope Leo crowned Charlemagne, it sealed the deal that papacy approval was needed for kings for hundreds of years Marks the arrival of a new inheritor of Rome and a competitor to the Byzantines –The inheritor would be the Holy Roman Empire Marks the emergence of Western Christian society

Created new offices or adapted old positions to maintain his kingdom. –Counts –Dukes –Missi Dominici (servants of the lord) -like government spies Created books of law that were published and enforced

Recognized that learning in his day was in disrepair, and he deliberately gathered the leading intellectual lights of his age at his court –Many of the intellectuals came from monasteries –Kept learning alive by copying books –Almost 90% of the works of ancient Rome that we possess exist in their earliest form in a Carolingian manuscript, and almost nothing that survived up to 800 has subsequently been lost

Three grandsons proceed to fight and weaken the empire Invading Vikings demolish the efforts of Charlemagne –Vikings: skilled sailors and tough warriors who came from Scandinavia