Chapter 9 Sections 1 & 2

Front 1

400-800: Early Middle Ages - Dark Ages: Europe

Back 1

a. Ideas
i. Old ideas: with the invasion of Germanic tribes came a loss of some aspects of Greco/Roman culture
ii. New ideas: the Germanic tribes brought new ideas of their own
1. One of the new Germanic ideas was trial by ordeal which was very different from Roman law
iii. Blend of ideas: Western civilization- developed from the blend of Greco/Roman and Germanic ideas and Christianity

Front 2

Life: 400-600

Back 2

Almost constant warfare between competing Germanic tribes followed the collapse of Rome


Cities

Language

Kingdoms

Loyalties

Religion

Front 3

Almost constant warfare between competing Germanic tribes followed the collapse of Rome

Back 3

This made life very unsafe

Front 4

Cities

Back 4

1. Trade collapsed and cities disappeared
2. People moved to the countryside to survive
3. People lost contact from each other

Front 5

Language

Back 5

1. As a result of cities collapsing and people losing contact with one another Latin as a common language disappeared
a. New words were added and the Romance languages developed

Front 6

Kingdoms

Back 6

1. Many small kingdoms developed in the former Roman empire
2. The boundaries of the small kingdoms changed frequently as they fought each other often

Front 7

Loyalties

Back 7

1. Loyalties changed to tribal leaders and family
2. Stress was on personal ties since it was hard to maintain order in a larger area

Front 8

Religion

Back 8

1. The Catholic Church was the one unifying force during the Dark Ages was the Catholic church
2. Missionaries were sent to convert the Germanic tribes (ex. St. Patrick converted the Irish
3. Sometimes a king like Clovis would convert and then convince his followers.
4. Monasteries were islands of stability. Men and women retreated to monasteries and convents to lead religious lives. Abbots & abesses lead the monasteries & convents. Monks and nuns led orderly lives, they maintained libraries, schools, and helped the communities around them, helped poor and sick.
5. All monks, nuns, and priests took the vows of chastity, poverty and obedience.
6. St. Benedict developed some rules so monks & nuns could lead productive lives:
▪ Strict schedule of prayer and work
▪ Once you joined a monastery, a monk should stay there
▪ Eating & drinking in moderation
7. Popes became more powerful, especially under Gregory I.
8. Gregory involved himself in political affairs when he negotiated with the Lombards, a Germanic tribe that occupied much of Italy.
9. Gregory sent missionaries to increase the influence of Christianity. St. Augustine converted the Angles and Saxons who were invading England. The missionaries often were not welcomes initially. He developed the idea of Christendom, a kingdom of God that was more important than any earthly kingdom.
10. From Gregory on popes began to make claims to political leadership leading to an entanglement of church and state.

Front 9

Dark Ages 400-800

Back 9

– The Franks had the largest Kingdom in Europe
– Clovis was the first of the Merowingian Kings (Late 400's)
– Clovis was ruthless controlled much of Gaul (France)
– When a Merowingian King died, his sons divided the Kingdom and often fought each other, thereby weaking the power of the Kings.
– By 700 the Kings were just figureheads. The real power lay in the hands of their majordomos (estate managers).
– Charles Martel was such a majordomo.
– Extended Kingdom in all directions.
– Defeated the Muslims at the Battle of Tours thereby stopping the advance of Islam.
– Passed on his power to his son Pepin, Pepin the Short.
– Pepin wanted to be officially the King.
– The Pope needed help against the Lombards who were threatening Rome.
– Pepin helped the Pope defeat the Lombards.
– Pope crowned Pepin King by the grace of God. This is important because Kings now claim to have spiritual powers.

Front 10

Charlemagne

Back 10

– Ruled for a long time and was a good ruler.
– Very tall, great, sports man.
– Great physical strength and energy, sometimes that was considered important in a ruler.
– Great warrior- led many wars with help of his counts who brought their armies.
1. Defeated Lombard and got part of Italy
2. Defeated Auars and got parts of Eastern Europe.
3. Was not able to deafeat the Muslims in Spain, had to retreat. Many Franks were killed in this retreat.
4. It took Charlemagne 30 years to defeat the Saxon and convert them to Christianity.
– By 800 he ruled over 2/3 of Italy, all of France, Small part of Spain, parts of Germany
– Also was a great administrator:
1. Divided Francia into counties ruled by counts. Counts administered their county, provided armies and justice.
2. Missi dominici ( Charlemagne's agents) checked up on the counts. Charlemagne also traveled a lot from county to county.

Front 11

Charlemagne revived learning

Back 11

– could read, but was not very good at writing.
– Understood and spoke Latin and a little Greek.
– Invited scholars from all over Europe to his court, & literate Jews.
– Started palace school
– Required monasteries and cathedrals to have schools for future priests, nuns, & monks.
– Carolingian miniscule was developed, a form of writing that had lower case letters and spaces between words.
– Charlemagne was crowned emperor in 800.
– His empire included:
France, much of Germany, parts of Italy, Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, parts of Australia.
– Being crowned emperor added prestige to his rule. Size of empire rivaled the Byzantine empire.
– Bad result of his coronation:
Split between east and west became more pronounced, and the split between the Catholic and Orthodox churches.
– After Charlemagne died, Louis the Pious took over. Louis was religious but not a good ruler.
– His grandson divided the empire:
1) France
2) Parts of Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, parts of Italy.
3) More of Germany, Switzerland, Italy.
Middle part became battleground between France and Germany for centuries.