What Would Life Be Like?

1. What Would Life Be Like? • Historical Situation… • Your Task: Today you will complete four tasks in order to help you create a new kingdom. As you finish each task, bring them to me to get your next task… • What do you think this activity simulated? • Why do you think my grammar became progressively worse? • Why do you think the emphasis was continually placed on safety & security?

2. The Early Middle Ages & The Rise of the Carolingian Empire

3. The Middle Ages • Constituted by the years between Classical Antiquity and the Modern Era • End of antiquity = collapse of Roman Empire • The Renaissance ushered in the Modern Era. • Roughly 500 until 1500 AD • Also known as the Medieval Times

4. Early Middle Ages • Also known as Dark Ages (500-1000AD) • Scholars named this as a time when the forces of darkness (barbarians) overwhelmed the forces of light (Romans) • After the fall of Rome, Western Europe was left with a • power vacuum • a condition that exists when someone has lost control of something and no one has replaced it

5. Life After Rome • Government- No single power of authority • Several Germanic tribes formed a patchwork of small kingdoms that are governed by kings • Difficult for the kings to maintain control • Rise in power of the Catholic Church • Economy- Breakdown in trade -- Led to bartering -- Cities no longer centers for markets -- Money is scarce

6. Life After Rome • Cultural Aspects- • Germanic societies dominated • Germanic customs followed • Illiterate society • Population Declines • Decline by about 20% • Increase in people moving from cities to rural areas • Reading, writing, and art begin to disappear • Latin changes • Local vernaculars with German elements develop

7. Here Come the Franks • The Franks came into Gaul fighting some of the other Barbarians • They pushed the other Barbarians out and divided into many tribes of Franks, each with their own king • Merovich was one of the leaders of the tribes of Franks and began his kingdom

9. Clovis • Clovis becomes the most important ruler of the Merovingian Dynasty • Considered to be the founder of the French state

10. Clovis • Ruthless ruler • Murdered any relative that might have claim to the throne • Converts to Christianity to help unify his kingdom • Clotilda, his wife, was a convert

11. Life After Clovis • Clovis died in 511 • Kingdom was divided among his four sons • Causes weakness • Not able to establish control • Clovis’ sons were mainly ineffective • All the kings after them too • The Merovingian kings became known as the Do- Nothing Kings

12. New Sheriff In Town • After a series of ineffective “do-nothing kings”, a new position takes charge • Mayors of the Palace • Been the power behind the throne for many years • Job was to keep the Merovingian king on the throne • This position was passed from father to son

13. Hammer Time • Charles Martel (a.k.a. Charles the Hammer)becomesMayor of the Palace in 714 C.E. • Consolidated military control over regions of the kingdom • Gave land acquired to the Church and established the close relationship between the church and the state that continued into the 20th century • Defeated the Muslim invasion force in 732 at the Battle of Tours

14. Battle of Tours • Battle of Tours • Significant victory for Christianity because it stopped Islamic invasion from spreading any further than Spain • Charles used this victory to help him establish his sons to be the first Carolingian king of the Franks

15. Pepin the Short • Was the son of Charles Martel • Sought pope’s approval to take the throne from the incompetent Merovingian king • Pope granted this • Pepin unites all of Gaul under one • When Pepin died, he divided his kingdom between his two sons • Carolus(Charlemagne) & Carolman The First King of the Carolingian Empire

16. Charlemagne • In 768, at age 26, Charlemagne (a.k.a. Charles the Great) and his brother Carloman inherited kingdom of the Franks • In 771 Carloman died, and Charlemagne became sole ruler of the kingdom • Franks falling back into barbarian ways, neglecting education & religion • North: Saxons were still pagans • South: Roman Catholic Church fighting to recover land confiscated by barbarian Lombard kingdom in central Italy • Europe was in turmoil!

17. Order to Europe • 772 he launched a 30-year military campaign to reunite Europe and bring order • Defeated Lombards (in present-day northern Italy) • The Avars (in modern-day Austria and Hungary) • Conquered Bavaria and the Slavs (Germany) • 782 (Massacre of Verden) Charlemagne slaughtered some 4,500 Saxons • Forced Saxons to convert to Christianity, declared that anyone who didn’t get baptized or follow other Christian traditions be put to death • HARSH!

18. Holy Roman Emperor • For his help defeating the Lombards and driving them out of papal lands, Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne “ Holy Roman Emperor on Christmas Day in 800 in Rome .

19. 800 Charlemagne undisputed ruler of Western Europe • Established central government over Western Europe, thereby restoring unity of the old Roman Empire and paving the way for the development of modern Europe Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne emperor of the Romans on December 25, 800, at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.

20. “It was at the time he received the title of emperor and Augustus, to which at first he was so averse that he remarked that had he known the intention of the pope, he would not have entered the church on that day.”—Einhard

21. He’s GRRREATT! Yes, I know I am GRRREAT! Look at this crown on my head!

22. Why “the Great”? • Changed Europe then and for hundreds of years after • Conquests • Relationship with the Church • Government • Cultural Developments (Carolingian Renaissance)

23. Conquests • Controlled more land than other Frankish king. • Realm encompassed France, Switzerland, Belgium, & Netherlands • Included half of present-day Italy and Germany, & parts of Austria, Spain. • The land he acquired affected European politics throughout the medieval years and into modern era • Gave him prestige

24. Relationship with the Church • When Pope Leo crowned Charlemagne, it sealed the deal that papacy approval was needed for kings for hundreds of years • Marks the arrival of a new inheritor of Rome and a competitor to the Byzantines • The inheritor would be the Holy Roman Empire • Marks the emergence of Western Christian society

25. Government • Created new offices or adapted old positions to maintain his kingdom. • Counts • Dukes • MissiDominici(servants of the lord) -like government spies • Created books of law that were published and enforced

26. Carolingian Renaissance • Recognized that learning in his day was in disrepair, and he deliberately gathered the leading intellectual lights of his age at his court • Many of the intellectuals came from monasteries • Kept learning alive by copying books • Almost 90% of the works of ancient Rome that we possess exist in their earliest form in a Carolingian manuscript, and almost nothing that survived up to 800 has subsequently been lost

28. After Charlemagne’s Death • Three grandsons proceed to fight and weaken the empire • Invading Vikings demolish the efforts of Charlemagne • Vikings: skilled sailors and tough warriors who came from Scandinavia More to come on them later