The Rise of the Middle Ages The Rise of The Franks

Clovis and the Merovingians In 481 a ruler named Clovis became king of one of the Frankish tribes and conquered and absorbed other Frankish tribes Clovis and his successors were called Merovingians {Because Clovis and his Merovingians were Christians they had the support of the church}

Clovis and the Merovingians After Clovis died his successors were generally weak. Until eventually the chief of the royal kingdom aka “mayor of the palace” became the real ruler. One of these mayors was Pepin II who ruled from A.D.687 to 714. Pepin and his successors united the Frankish kingdoms

Charles Martel and Pepin the Short Pepin II died and his son Charles Martel aka Charles the Hammer became mayor Martel’s cavalry defeated the Spanish Moors when they tried to invade France When Martel died in 741, his son Pepin III called “the short” became joint ruler with his brother Carloman

Charles Martel and Pepin the Short Pepin overthrew the actual king, Childric III, and established the Carolingians, a new line of Frankish rulers. Having the Pope’s blessing, Pepin had no problems establishing the new Carolingian dynasty This paved the way for the rise of Pepin’s son, Charlemagne, the greatest of all Frankish kings

Coronation of Pepin the Short

Charlemagne’s Empire Charlemagne held the Frankish throne between A.D. 768 to A.D. 814 Charlemagne defeated the Lombards in Italy, the Saxons in Germany, the Avars in central Europe. He tried to conquer all Muslims of Spain but was only able to push them back across the Pyrenees

Charlemagne’s Empire On Christmas Day of the year 800 {Charlemagne was in Rome to pray at St. Peter’s Basilica when Pope Leo III declared him “Emperor of the Romans”} Although the Roman Empire was long gone this gesture indicated Charlemagne’s importance to Europe

Charlemagne

Government under Charlemagne Charlemagne’s empire was divided into separate regions. Each region was governed on behalf of the emperor by counts {He established his capital at the Frankish city of Aix-la- Chapelle} (today the German city of Aachen)

Government under Charlemagne Charlemagne put into effect a policy of checks and balances with officials called missi dominici they traveled through the empire listening to complaints, making sure the laws were effective and ensuring the counts were ruling in the empire’s best interest rather than their own

Education and Learning Charlemagne placed a great emphasis on education Scholars- usually monks- were brought in from all over Europe to teach at the schools {Schools established by Charlemagne were based on Roman schools} emphasizing grammar, rhetoric, logic, math, music and astronomy He also brought together scholars to make a readable version of the Bible, which was called Caroline Minuscule

The Decline of the Frankish Empire After Charlemagne’s death in 814 the empire started to decline {Charlemagne’s grandsons Lothair, Charles the Bald, Louis the German agreed to divide the empire amongst themselves. This agreement signed in 843 became known as the Treaty of Verdun}

The Decline of the Frankish Empire {the Treaty of Verdun contributed to the fall of Charlemagne’s empire} because the grandsons fought amongst themselves rather than uniting. The fall of the empire came with invasions by the Muslims from Africa, the Slavs from the east, the Magyars (nomads also from the east) and the most feared of the invaders the Vikings

The division of Charlemagne’s Empire

The Vikings The Vikings were Germanic people from the present day countries of Norway, Sweden and. The Vikings customs and myths were centered on pagan gods Their government, although ruled by kings and nobles, was quite democratic Vikings would sail down rivers and raid and loot cities and take the survivors back to Scandinavia to be used as slaves