Main Idea:
Many Germanic Kingdoms that succeeded the Roman Empire were reunited under Charlemagne's empire.
Why it matters now:
Charlemagne spread Christian civilization throughout northern Europe, which is where many of us came from.
Setting the Stage:
Middle Ages= medieval period
500-1500AD
medieval Europe is fragmented
Invasions trigger changes in western Europe:
- Invasion and constant warfare spark new trends.
- Disruption of trade:
- Europe's cities are no longer economic centers
- money is scarce
- Downfall of cities
- Cities are no longer centers of administration
- Population shifts
- Nobles retreat to the rural areas
- Cities don't have strong leadership
- Decline of Learning
- Germanic invaders are illiterate but they comunicate through oral traditions
- Only priests and church officials could read and write
- Knowledge of Greek (and literature, science, philosophy) is almost lost
- Loss of a common language
- dialects develop in different regions
- by the 800s, French, Spanish, other Roman-based languages are evolving from Latin.
- The concept of government changes
- Roman society: loyal to public gov't
- Germanic society: loyal to family
- Germanic chief led warriors
- During peace, he provided food, weapons, treasure, a place to live(the lord's hall)
- During wartime, warriors fought for the lord
- "The King? Who's that? You want to collect taxes from me? Who the heck are you?"
- Franks live in the Roman province of Gaul- their leader is Clovis
- The Franks under Clovis
- Another battlefield conversion (Just like Constantine)
- Clovis and 3000 of his warriors are baptized by the bishop
- The church in Rome approves of this "alliance"
- Clovis and the Church begin to work together
Germanic peoples adopt Christianity
- 511AD- Clovis ignites the Franks into one kingdom
- 600AD- Church + Frankish rulers convert many
- fear of Muslims in southern Europe spur many to become Christians
- Monasteries and convents
- 520AD- Benedict wrote the ruled for monks and monasteries
- poverty, chastity, obedience, study
- His sister Scholastica did the same for nuns in convents
- 731AD- the Venerable Bede wrote a killer history of England
- Monks opened school, maintained libraries, and copied books (Bibles, Greek texts)
- (Pope) Gregory I expands papal power
- Papacy=pope's office
- Secular Power= worldly power
- So... under Gregory the Great...
- The church can use church money to:
- raise armies
- repair roads
- help the poor
- Gregory the Great began to act as mayor of Rome and as head of an earthly kingdom(Christendom)
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