 Objectives:  Describe Western Europe after Rome’s collapse.  Describe how Germanic tribes carved Europe into small kingdoms.  Explain how Charlemagne briefly reunited much of Western Europe and what happened to his empire after his death.

 Post Roman Empire  Political, social, economic decline  Dark Ages  Middle Ages  500 AD to 1500 AD

 What were the Middle Ages and what were they dominated by?  Catholic Church rises in power  Feudalism/Move away from cities  Knights  Lack of education  Brought about by fall of Roman Empire and different tribes leading to divisions.

 486, Clovis conquers Gaul  Clovis converted to Christianity  Gained allegiance of Christian Church in Rome  Importance?

 “I take it very hard that these Arians hold part of Gaul. Let us go with God's help and conquer them and bring the land under our control.” Clovis  -Belmont Univ.

 Huge empire beginning to form through military and religious expansion.

 Muslim army crossed into France  Charles Martel rallied Frankish warriors  Christians triumphed  Sign of God? Or Christian Savior?

 King of Franks  Became known as Charlemagne  Reunites large parts of Roman empire  Further brings Church and state together --> Christendom  Missi Dominicis  Revival of Learning and Latin culture

 800 AD, Christmas Day  The Pope proclaimed Charlemagne “Emperor”. Why?  Revived “Christendom”  Future of political power struggles.

 Blended Germanic, Roman, and Christian traditions  Charlemagne’s three grandsons fought for power. Treaty of Verdun divided empire after civil war.  Lack of strong government led to what?

 Muslim forces  Created a stronghold in Sicily  Magyars  Vikings  Scandinavian raiders  1000 AD set up colony in North America

 The invasions of the Vikings, Muslims, and Magyars weakened emperor’s ability to maintain law and order  Result?  Feudalism ▪ Organized system of rule in which powerful local lords divided their landholdings among lesser lords ▪ Lesser lords (vassals), pledged service and loyalty to the greater lord

 Feudal contract Feudal contract  Lord granted his vassal a fief (estate / land) ▪ Peasants to work the land were included

 Lord promised to protect his vassal  Vassal pledged loyalty to his lord  40 days of military service pledged

 Monarch  Powerful Lords (Dukes and Counts) – Largest fiefs ▪ Vassals ▪ Vassals had vassals

 Knights – Mounted warriors Knights – Mounted warriors  Boy was slated to be a Knight early  Difficult training  Tournaments a part of life and training

 Brave, loyal, and true to their word  Code of conduct developed by the Church to calm the knights down.

 To guard the honour of fellow knights  To eschew unfairness, meanness and deceit  To keep faith  At all times to speak the truth  To persevere to the end in any enterprise begun  To respect the honour of women  Never to refuse a challenge from an equal  Never to turn the back upon a foe  To fear God and maintain His Church  To serve the liege lord in valour and faith  To protect the weak and defenceless  To give succour [assistance] to widows and orphans  To refrain from the wanton [deliberate, unprovoked] giving of offence  To live by honour and for glory  To despise pecuniary [monetary] reward  To fight for the welfare of all  To obey those placed in authority

 The lord’s estate  Peasants referred to as serfs  Work the land and manor  Pay taxes  Bound to the land  Guaranteed food, housing and land

 Feudalism=political/social breakdown  Manorialism=economic breakdown  Fought, Prayed, or Worked, all dependent upon birth  What does this system resemble in terms of other historical periods?  Why would serfs agree to this system?

 Social center  Largest public building  Took great pride in their church buildings  Tithe – Christians required to pay a tenth of their income

 Only contact people had with the church  Celebrated mass  Administered sacraments