1. The Medieval World An Overview
Dr Alex Russell
Office Hours: Tuesdays 2-5 pm or by appointment

2. The ‘Middle Ages’
Europe c , from the fall of Rome to the Renaissance

3. The Roman Empire 6.5 million km2 at greatest extent (C2nd AD)
50-60 million living under pax romana
Mediterranean = mare nostrum
Capital at Rome

4. Scale model of ancient Rome in the time of Constantine

5. Constantine the Great, 272-327 AD
(bits of a colossal sculpture in the Capitoline Museum, Rome)

6. The Decline of Rome Decline of Roman Empire from C3rd
410 Rome sacked by Visigoths
waves of ‘barbarian’ invasions (or migrations?) - Huns, Lombards, Vandals, Ostrogoths, Franks
476 last western emperor stands down
BUT eastern (Byzantine) empire survives

8. Shrine of Charlemagne (C13th)
The Carolingians
C8th Carolingian dynasty established in Frankish realm
Charlemagne (r )
Shrine of Charlemagne (C13th)

9. Charlemagne crowned Holy Roman Emperor by the Pope, 800

10. Dark blue = Frankish realm in 714 CE
Carolingian Empire
Dark blue = Frankish realm in 714 CE
Light blue = Extent of empire in 814 CE

11. Instability of 10th Century

12. Monarchies in western Europe 1154 to 1314

13. Italy around 1200

14. Expansion of Christianity in Eastern Europe

15. The Christian conquest of Spain

16. Flux in Byzantine Empire
Brown line = Imperial frontier around 628 CE
Red line = Imperial frontier around 1025 CE
Green line = Imperial frontier around 1143 CE