Middle Ages Leaders 

• Charles Martel - Charles the Hammer
• Extended the Franks reign to the north, south, and east
• Defeated a Muslim army from Spain at the Battle of Tours in 732 
• If he had lost the battle, the Muslims would sweep most of Europe and many people would be Christians 
• Had a son named Pepin the Short
• Pepin the Short
• Charles Martel's son 
• Historians are unsure why he was called Pepin the Short
• Worked with the Pope
• The Pope named Pepin the king by the grace of God
• Had two sons- Carolman and Charles 
• Carolman died after becoming the king so Charles took over 
• Charlemagne - Charles the Great 
• Pepin the Shorts son
• Six foot four
• Built the greatest empire since Rome 
• Fought the Muslims in Spain 
• Fought Germanic tribes
• Spread Christianity
• Reunited Western Europe
• Became the most powerful king in western Europe
• Pope Leo III crowned him emperor
• Charlemagne's Government 
• He limited the authority of the nobles
• He regularly visited every part of his kingdom 
• Kept close watch on his huge estate
• Encouraged learning 
• Opened a palace school 
• His sons were not leaders
• Louis the Pious 
• He was quiet and very into prayer 
• Not an effective leader 
• Had three sons 
• Lothair, Charles the Bald, and Louis the German 
• They split up the kingdom at the Treaty of Verdun in 843   

Germanic Kingdoms unite under Charlemagne

• Charlemagne spread Christian civilization throughout northern Europe which is where many of us came from
• Middle Ages = medieval period
• 500-1500 AD
• Invasions trigger changes in western Europe
• Disruptions of trade
• Money is scarce
• Downfall of cities
• Population shifts
• Decline of learning
• Loss of common language
• People quit trading because the roman legion was not patrolling
• Most people didn't travel 25 miles from the place they were born
• Nobles left cities to the rural areas to live on an estate with workers
• Priest and Church officials were the only ones who knew how to read and write
• Knowledge of Greek literature, science, and philosophy is almost lost
• By the 800's, French, Spanish, and other Roman languages are evolving from Latin
• Germanic kingdoms emerge
• The concept of government changed
• Germanic society: loyal to family
• People didn't worship the king because he didn't do all the things that help you directly
• The Franks lived in Gaul
• Had a leader named Clovis
• Clovis was the Franks king
• Another battlefield conversion (just like Constantine)
• Clovis and 3000 if his warriors were baptized by the bishop
• Clovis and the Church begin to work together
• Germanic people adopt Christianity
• No separation between religion and government
• Clovis unites the Franks into one kingdom
• The franks convert a lot of people to Christianity
• Muslims drove Christians to convert to Christianity 
• Monks opened schools, maintained libraries, and copied books 

The Middle Ages 

• Christendom- a mixture of Christianity and a kingdom
• Tithe/Taxes- giving 10% to the church
• The Eastern Roman Empire was called the "Byzantine Empire"
• Became more Greek than Roman
• People who grew up in the middle ages didn't read much of anything
• People would learn to be an apprentice and follow a job after another
• The middle ages was also known as the "dark ages"
• Not much progression was made during the middle ages
• The Roman Empire faded into nothing
• Many diseases in the middle ages
• Feudalism- a political, military, and economic system based on land-holding and protective alliances
• The system is based on personal loyalty to people who can help
• Vassals- people who help out by working the land with military expertise. These people become knights.
• Serfs- people who aren't very skilled but can farm and make weapons
• The feudal pyramid
• King
• Vassals, Nobles, and Bishops
• Knights
• Peasants and Serfs
• Fiefs- a small part of land that knights own
• Peasants are landless, powerless, and moneyless who live off the land.
• Manor- the lord's estate
• On the estate
• The manor house
• A church
• Workshops
• 15-30 families
• There wasn't much trading in the middle ages
• That means not much learning of others cultures
• Made weapons like catapults
• Had many big impressive building but had no beauty to it
• Peasants are poor and pay high taxes
• Taxed on grain
• Taxed on marriage
• Taxed on Church
• Peasants lived in crowded cottages with a dirt floor, windows cut out of walls, and bring animals into the house during the winter for body warmth
• Peasants ate very simply, without spices and meats
• The church said that if you were born into the peasant life it was the life you were meant to live
• There were no uprisings or revolts against the upper class people 

Free Mod

Today in class we didn't do anything. We had a free mod. We got to get homework done because we are a day ahead of the other classes. 

Pg. 151

• the two centuries after the fall of Rome were a time of turmoil in Europe that would continue for 500 years

• half a millennium that counts as the "early" part of the Middle Ages. As with the upheaval of the early middle ages ended not in a collapse of civilization but in its renewal, and the first two early medieval centuries set the patterns from how this renewal would later take place in western and eastern Europe.

• In the Germanic kingdoms that had taken over the western half of the Roman Empire, Roman institutions gradually stopped working, cities ceased to be centers of trade and social life, and warfare became more important than education and culture in the lives of the upper-class

• By 700, the emperors in the eastern capital, Constantinople, ruled only Anatolia and a few patches of land in Europe, and their state had become more Greek than Roman, to mark the difference, the remaining empire is today usually called by its capital's original Greek name Byzantium

• Byzantium was still a powerful state and a center of Christianity and Greek culture

• Chronology

• 5th century- Angles and saxons invade Britain

• 486- Clovis leads Frankish confederacy against Romans and rival Germanic invaders in Gaul

• 527-565- Reign of Emperor Justinian in the Eastern empire

• 542- Plague hits Egypt, then spreads throughout the Mediterranean life and much of western Europe

• 568- Lombard's conquer most of northern Italy 

• 570-632- Life of Muhammad 

• 595- Missionaries sent by the people begin to convert the pagans of England

• 711- Muslim invasion of Spain

• 800- Slaves occupy almost all of eastern Europe 

Test Tomorrow 

Two Emperors

• Diocletian
• Ruled from 284 - 303
• Persecuted Christians
• Tried to scare people out of being Christian
• Made a bigger army and government
• Didn't have enough money for the bigger army and government
• His solution was to divide the Roman empire in half
• Western empire and Eastern empire 

• Constantine
• Ruled from 306 - 337
• Believed in Christianity
• 313 - Edict of Milan
• Freedom of worship
• Built a new capital in the East named Constantinople

The Struggle of the Peasants

• Country dwellers were getting bankrupted by taxed
• New farming system
• Peasants work for elite landlords on large farms
• Landowners can hold local power as counts and bishops

The Western Empire Crumbles

• Rome's power is decreasing, while nomadic barbarians gain power
• The Western Empire is too poor and begins to be neglected
• Huns migrate from China to eastern Europe
• Visigoths take over Spain
• Vandals control Carthage and the Western Mediterranean

End of an Era

• From the beginning 
• 500 BC - the monarchy is abolished
• 450 BC - the Twelve Tables are established
•  through the glory days
• 44 BC - end of the line for Julius Caesar
• 27 BC - the Roman Peace (Pax Romana)
• To the bitter end
• Constant fifth century invasions by barbarian tribes left the western Roman Empire shattered and crumbling
• The last emperor was a teenage boy in 475 by his father
• Barbarians deposed Romulus Augustulus without killing him 

Rome

Rise of Christianity

• Jesus spent 3 years teaching
• Jesus was killed by Roman leaders
• Jesus's followers believed he was the messiah
• Christianity evolved from a cult to a religion
• With priests, bishops, and a pope
• Christians are monotheistic
• Romans were polytheistic
• Christianity appealed to the poor
• Some Roman leaders became Christians
• 313 AD Constantine had a battlefield conversion
• Constantine had a vision of a cross in the sky
• Everyone painted a cross on their shields
• Constantine won the battle 2 lifted the prosecution law
• The Edict of Milan was the approval of the Empire

Decline of the Roman Empire

• Had problems in 180 AD
• Economic and military decline
• Risky to do trade
• Taxes were to high
• Food supply was dropping
• The empire was divided into two
• Greek - speaking East
• Latin - speaking West
• 324 AD : Constantine became emperor over both halves of the empire
• Named the capital Constantinople
• After he died the empire was divided again
• The Roman Empire ended in 476 AD