Last Class

Today was our last class in West Civ with Mr. Schick. I had a lot of fun with this class this semester. I learned so much from Mesopotamia to Medieval Times. I liked learning about Greece the best. I didn't like learning about the Medieval Time Period. The last test that we took was definitely the hardest one that we took. I liked all of the people  in our class, and I had fun in it. Next year, I am going to be in honors western civilization. I think that we are just going to continue from where we left off last year. I wonder who my teacher is going to be. I had a lot of fun in West Civ class, and will miss it.

Notes for Test

These are the Notes for Tomorrows Quiz

• Germanic warriors' loyalty is to the lord of the manor 
• The new society has roots in customs of various Germanic tribes 
• Only priest and church officials could read and write
• French and Franks 
• Population shifts became rural areas
• By 511 the Franks are united into one kingdom, with Clovis and the Church working as partners
• In 520, Benedict writes rules for monks 
• Vows of poverty (live simply in monasteries)
• Chastity (no marital relations)
• Obedience (listen to church superiors)
• His sister Scholastica writes similar rules for nuns 
• Church revenues are used to help the poor
• Christendom: combination of Christianity and a kingdom 
• Most of the rest of Europe consists of smaller kingdoms (seven in England alone)
• Clovis' descendants include Charles Martel, known as Charles  the Hammer 
• Charles Martel's son is Pepin the Short
• Charlemagne - aka Charles the Great 

* Know "Charlemagne takes center stage & [cont'd] *

• Treaty of Verdun 

More Notes

Even so... Clovis rules the Franks 

• Clovis rules the Germanic people of Gaul known as the Franks
• In 496 he has a battlefield conversion - he and 3000 of his warriors become Christians 
• The Church in Rome likes this 
• By 511 the Franks are united into one kingdom, with Clovis and the Church working as partners 

Spread of Christianity

• Church + Frankish rulers = rise in Christianity
• In 520, Benedict writes rules for monks:
• vows of poverty (live simply in monasteries)
• chastity (no marital relations)
• obedience (listen to church superiors)
• His sister Scholastica writes similar rules for nuns
• They operate schools, maintain libraries, copy books

Notes from Yesterday

I was absent from school yesterday, so I copied Ellie's notes so I can use them to study. 

• Middle ages= medieval period
• 476-1453 AD
• (from the end of the roman empire to the conquest of Constantinople by the Turks)
• medieval Europe is fragmented 

This is a new society 

this new society has roots in:

• classical heritage of Rome
• beliefs of the roman catholic church
• customs of various Germanic tribes

5th century Germanic invaders

overrun the western half of the roman empire

causing:

• disruption of trade
• downfall of cities
• population shits to rural areas 

Effects of invasion

declining of learning 

• romance languages evolve (french, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian)

Germanic kingdoms emerge: AD 400-600

Germanic warriors' loyalty is to the lord of the manor 

he provides them w/ food, weapons, treasure 

result:

• no orderly government for large areas 
• small communities rule 

- pope Gregory I (Gregory the great) goes secular (worldly power)

- Church revenues are used to help to poor, build roads and raise armies

- this is a theocracy

- Gregory's spiritual kingdom (Christendom) extends from Italy to England,from Spain to Germany 

- hammer defeats a Muslim raiding party from Spain at the Battle of Tours in 732 (if he hadn't won, western Europe could have become part of the Muslim Empire

More Notes on Germanic Kingdoms

• A European Empire Evolves 
•  Franks control largest European kingdom
•  The Roman province formerly known as Gaul
•  Ruled by Clovis- the Merovingian Dynasty
• Major domo- mayor of the palace - ruled the kingdom
• Charles Martel - Charles the Hammer
•  a. extended the Franks' reign to the north, south, and east
•  Defeated a Muslim army from Spain at the Battle of Tours in 732- historoic Battle

• A European Empire Evolves [cont'd]
•  Charles the Hammer's son - Pepin the Short 
• Possibly named for his unusual short haircut
• Working for and with the Pope, Pepin fought the Lombards
• Pope Stephen II named Pepin "king by the grace of God" - beginning the Carolingian Dynasty 
• 751 - 987 AD

{So, a Pope can do that? Name someone "king"? Yup.}

•  Pepin the Short had two sons. Carolman and Charles 
• Carolman died... leaving Charles to take over 
• Charlemagne takes center state
• Charlemagne - aka Charles the Great 
• 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 in 800 AD after he defended him from an unruly Roman mob
• This signaled the joining of Germanic power, the Church,  and the heritage of the Roman Empire 
• Charlemagne take center stage [cont'd]
• Charlemagne's Government 
• He limited the authority of hte nobles
• He regularly visited every part of his kingdom
• Kept close watch on his huge estates
• Cultural revival
• Encouraged learning 
• Ordered monasteries to open schools 
• Opened a palace school
• But, his heirs were weenies,,,
• His son - Louis the Pious - was ineffective 
• Louis' three sons - 
• Lothair
• Charles the Bald
•  Louis the German
• Split up the kingdom at the Treaty of Verdun in 843 AD 

Germanic Kingdoms Unite Under Charlemagne

MAIN IDEA!

• Many Germanic kingdoms that succeed 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
• 500-15000 AD
• Medieval Europe is Fragmented

• Invasions trigger changes in Western Europe
• Invasions 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
• Invasions trigger changes in western Europe [cont'd]
• Decline of learning 
• Germanic invaders are illiterate, but they communicate through oral tradition 
• Only priest 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 religions 
• By the 800s, French, Spanish, other Roman-bases languages are evolving from Latin 

TEST QUESTION: what was the most common language? LATIN 

• Germanic kingdoms emerge 
• 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 leaders is Clovis 
• Germanic kingdoms emerge
• 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 

A simple mathematical equation: 

Clovis' military expertise

 +                                       

The Church's support and money

_____________________________________

A STRATEGIC ALLIANCE BETWEEN TWO POWERFUL FORCES 

• Germanic peoples adopt Christianity [cont'd] 
• [Pope] Gregory 1 expands papal power
• Papacy: pope's office
• Secular power: worldy power 
• So... under Gregory the Great

Papal Power [Power of the Pope] is Political Power, Presented from the Pope's Palace

• The church can use church money to 
• Raise armies
• Repair roads
• Help the poor
• Gregory the Great began to act as a mayor of Rome, and as head of an earthly kingdom [Christendom]
• Germanic peoples adopt Christianity 
• 511 AD - Clovis unites Franks into one kingdom
• 600 AD - Church + Frankish rulers convert many 
• Fear of Muslims in southern Europe spur many to become Christians 
• Monasteries and convents
• 520 AD - Benedict wrote the rules for monks and monasteries
• Poverty, chastity, obedience, study
• His sister Scholastica did the same for nuns in convents
• 731 AD - the Venerable Bede wrote a killer history of England 
• Monks opened schools, maintained libraries, and copied books [Bibles, Greek texts]

Go Over Notes

Today in Western Civ, we went over our notes. Since a couple of days ago we took notes, we talked about what notes we had in our blog. I copy my notes word for word because it helps me remember things better. I think that it helps me understand the point to what we are learning more clearly. I copy vocab words, quotes, and important texts from each paragraph We are supposed to put it in our own words, but I don't like doing that. Here are some additional notes that we took today:

• Christendom: a combination of Christianity and a kingdom 
• Tithe/tithing: give 10% of what you make in a year to the Church 
• Eastern Empire was called, "Byzantine Empire" 
• They were doing okay
• Became more Greek than Roman 
• Greek intellects  
• Socrates
• Plato
• Aristotle 
• Education was considered less important 
• Mostly only priests were reading
• Common people only learn trade, not education 
• Romans were no longer the center of everything 

POWERPOINT NOTES 

• Feudalism: a political, military and economic system based on land-holding and protective alliances 
• In other words: a system is based of personal loyalty to people who can help you 
• RICH DUDE (LORD): "I own land; I need people to help me work it and defend it"
• TOUGH DUDES (VASSALS): "There are a lot of us, we can help the rich dudes hold on to their land" 
• The Feudal Pyramid:
• KING
• The most powerful vassals 
• Nobles and Bishops 
• Knights: mounted warriors who recieved fiefs for defending their lord's land 
• Peasants: (mostly serfs) Landless, powerless, moneyless, rights-less. Just working the land for "the man" (their lord) 

Mind Your Manors

• Manor: the lord's estate
• The lord's manor house 
• A chuch 
• Some workshops
• 15-30 families
• All on a few square miles
• Good news: It's a self-sufficient community
• Bad news: It's harsh if you're a peasant 

How Harsh is it?

• Peasants are poor AND pay high taxes 
• Tax on grain
• Tax on marriage 
• Church tax (tithe= 10% of their income)
• The live in crowded cottages
• Live with animals and insects 
• Eat VERY simply 
• But don't worry - the Church says this is your lot in life
• God determines your place in society - so chill 

5/15/14

Today in west civ, we had time to do whatever we wanted to do. Since our class is ahead of the others, we were able to do homework or anything else we had to do. I am glad that we had this time because then we will have less homework. Tomorrow I think that we are going to start a new chapter. We just did an outline on Chapter 9, so now we will start it. I wonder if this is going to be the last chapter that we do before exams. We only have like 14 days of school left which isn't that much!

Chapter 9

Chapter 9: After Rome (500-700)

• "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 for how this renewal would later take place in western and eastern Europe." 
• The two centuries after the fall of Rome were a time of turmoil in Europe that would continue for five hundred years - a half 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 for how this renewal would later take place in western and eastern Europe. 
• In the Germanic kingdoms that has 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 that education and culture in the lives of the upper class 
• Meanwhile, the Roman Empire's surviving eastern half contributed to western Europe's chaos by efforts at reconquest, and then itself came under attack by newly powerful neighbors 

Chronology: 

• FIFTH 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 area adn much of western Europe
• 568: Lombards conquer most of northern Italy 
• 570-632: Life of Muhammad
• 595: Missionaries sent by the pope begin to convert the pagans of England
• 711: Muslim invasion of Spain
• 800: Slavs occupy almost all of eastern Europe 

Rome Fades Away

Rome Fades Away
What a difference a few centuries make 

• Diocletian 
• He rules from 284-303
• It is cool to persecute Christians 
• Rome needs a big army (400,000 strong)
• Rome needs a big government (20,000 officials) 
• His solution was to divide the Roman Empire in half (Diocletian and Divide)
• Constantine 
• Rules from 306-337
• It's cool to BE a Christian 
• Conversion to Christianity
• via a cross in the sky (conquer by this!)
• 313- his Edict of Milan proclaims freedom of worship 
• Built a new capital in the East 
• Byzantium, soon to be known as Constantinople

The Struggle of the Peasants 

life in the Fourth Century 

• Country dwellers are getting bankrupted by endless tax collection
• New farming system: peasants work for elite landlords on large farms
• Peasants can avoid paying taxes, but they are getting hit just as hard by the landlords
• Paying off debts and being "allowed" to live on the land, in exchange for endless back-breaking work (such a deal!)
• Landowners hold local power as counts and bishops, wielding more real power than the faraway empire
• Foreshadowing feudalism
• Rich people living on the land and having surfs who will work from them. Matters more who your lord is... 

The Western Empire Crumbles

• Rome's power is decreasing, while nomadic barbarians gain power
• Western Empire is too poor and begins to be neglected 
• Huns migrate from China to eastern Europe
• Visigoths take Spain, and actually capture and loot Rome itself in 410 
• Vandals control Carthage and the western Mediterranean 
• Other barbarian tribes:
• Ostrogoths in Italy 
• Franks in Gaul
• Angles and Saxons in Britain 

End of an Era 

• From the beginnings...
• 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 - 180 AD - 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 installed in 475 by his father 
• Barbarians deposed Romulus Augustulus without bothering to kill him 

Decline of the Roman Empire

Rise of Christianity 

• Jesus spends three years preaching, is killed by Roman Leaders
• Jesus' followers believe he is the Messiah and Savior who has risen from the dead
• Saul (the persecutor) becomes Paul (the evangelist), spreading Jesus' message (one true God, not Roman gods)
• Christianity evolve from cult status to established, official structure
• Priest, bishops, Pope (Bishop of Rome)
• Christian and Jews monotheistic 
• This conflicted with Roman beliefs 
• Persecution against both was common 
• Christianity appealed to the poor, and since there were many poor, their numbers grew
• As it grew, even some Roman leaders embraced Christianity 
• AD 313: Constantine has a battlefield conversion
• He saw a cross in the sky and heard, "In his name."
• He issues the Edict of Milan
• A law that said you couldn't persecute Christians
• Became official religion of Rome 
• Not only no persecution, but actual approval of Christianity, eventually making it the official religion of Rome
• The Roman Empire and Christianity are now linked in power and influence 

Decline of the Roman Empire 

• AD 180: Rome has problems
• Economic (trade became risky; taxes were too high; food supply was dropping)
• Military (frontiers were hard to patrol; Roman generals fought for control; soldiers' loyalty declined and mercenaries appeared) 
• Diocletian divided the empire into two
• Greek-speaking East (had more resources)
• Latin-speaking West (Rome, tradition) 
• AD 324- Constantine becomes emperor over both halves of the empire
• Moves the capital from Rome to Byzantium (renamed Constantinople), where Asia met Europe (now Turkey)
• After his death, empire is divided again 
• This time, "barbarian invaders" (Huns, Vandals, Visigoths, Angles, Saxons, Franks) overrun the empire's frontiers
• That's it for the Roman Empire (AD 476)

Chapter 8

Chapter 8: The Changing World of Rome: Emperors, Christians, and Invaders

• 200 B.C.- A.D. 600
• Instead of dying, the Mediterranean civilization of Greece and Rome began to spread among many still-barbarian northern peoples, until it became the Christian Europe of the Middle Ages."
• The greatest single change that began among the peoples of the empire during the era of the Roman Peace was the spread of a new form of monotheistic religion, Christianity. 
• "Christ Victorious": the mosaic in a chapel in the Italian city of Ravenna dates from about A.D. 500, when Rome was beset  by invaders and Christians were bitterly divided over beliefs 
• Meanwhile, the empire helped bring changes to peoples living outside as well as inside the borders 
• Germanic barbarians of northern Europe became wealthier, more highly organized, and military stronger as a result of living as Rome's neighbors during the era of the Roman Peace. 
• Barbarians grew stronger
• In addition, the empire was still strong enough to bring about the last and greatest of the changes in civilization that took place under its rule 
• As long as Rome had prospered, the emperor's had take little notice of Christianity's growth and spread 
• In the empire's time of troubles, they sometimes harshly persecuted it and sometimes deliberately tolerated it 
• Eventually, the burden of government and the army became too heavy to bear, the barbarian attacks grew too fierce to be resisted, and the empire began to collapse 

Rome Test

Today in West Civ, we took a test on the Romans. There were questions from the last quiz that we had. Mr. Schick said that those questions would make up half of the test. I studied those, so I think that I did very well on those. The hardest part about the test was probably where we had to match up the description to the persons name. I think that I knew most of them, but some of them were kind of tricky. I wasn't sure about the one that asked who was someone's grandchild, or something like that. Also, I don't know who was the one who was assassinated at age 28. I think that that was either Caesar or Caligula, but I am not positive. I am pretty confident that I did really good on this test!

Quiz Tomorrow

• Who was the first emperor?
• Caesar Augustus
• Caligula 
• He was Tiberius' adopted grandson and great-nephew 
• Putting him next in line for emperor 
• Started off well: 
• Bonuses to military
• No more treason
• Bad finish
• Fight with Senate
• Claimed to be a god
• Put statues of himself in Jewish temple 
• Slept with other men's wives, and bragged about it 
• Indulged in too much spending and sex
• Tried to make a horse a consul and a priest (not positively true)
• Killed him 
• Claudius 
• Ostracized by his family because of his disabilities 
• had either cerebral palsy or polio
• Rose to the occasion: conquered Britain, built roads, canals, and aqueduct; he renovated it 
• Had an awful marriage to Messalina 
• Unfaithful to him 
• Made a plot to have Claudius and her lover Silius the new emperor 
• Claudius had them killed 
• Religious troubles 
• Christianity and Judaism: monotheistic 
• Romans had many gods, plus emperor was viewed as a god
• A group of Jews, Zealots, tried to rebel 
• Roman troops put them down and burned their temple (except for one wall)
• Holiest of all Jewish shrines 
• Half a million Jews died in the rebellion 
• Persecution of Christians 
• Romans were harsh toward those who would not worship the emperor 
• Used for "entertainment" purposes 
• Despite oppression, Christianity grew quickly 

Assassination and Another Caesar

Assassination and another Caesar

• Romans at home and aboard applauded Caesar's deeds, but of senators who were disturbed by his successors 
• Caesar had become a Greek-style tyrant 
• And there was a traditional and honorable way of getting rid of tyrants 
• Caesar appeared in the Senate house, unarmed and unguarded, according to his custom, and crowd of senators struck him down with their daggers
• Caesar's murder did not restore the Republic; instead, his death produced yet another crop of warlords and yet more bouts of civil war
• Mark Antony and Octavian were rival loyalists of Caesar, and each managed to attract some of Caesar's legions, which they used to fight a brutal war against each other in Italy
• The partners then divided the Roman world, with Octavian based in Rome, Lepidus in North Africa, and Mark Antony in Alexandria 
• Finally, in 31 B.C., the rulers of the two halves of Rome's empire went to war 

Chapter 7: The Roman Peace

• 30 B.C.- 235 A.D. 
• "The era of the Roman Peace was one of massive social, religious, and cultural changes that would form a new pattern of western civilization."
• Augustus's new system of government kept many features of the Roman Republic, allowed subject peoples a good deal of self-rule, and brought Rome's destabilizing expansion to a halt. The result was two hundred years of stability that modern scholars call the Roman Peace 
• Within the empire, the Roman version of Greco-Roman civilization prevailed in the Western territories, and the Greek version was dominant in the East 
• In many ways, the dominant international civilization undermined the traditions of other peoples of the empire
• Hadrian's Wall: constructed at the order of the emperor Hadrian between A.D. 122 and 128

LO 1- The Rule of the Emperors

• Soon after Octavian's triumph at Actium, the Senate conferred on him a new title 
• At the time, Augustus did his best to make it seem as if no such historic change was under way
• Unlike Sulla and Caesar, Augustus refused the offer of a long-term dictatorship 
• Princeps: "first citizen," a traditional Roman name for prominent leaders who were considered indispensable to the Republic that came to be used by Augustus and other early emperors 
• By arrangement with the Senate in 27 B.C., Augustus was confirmed as commander in chief 
• The people's assemblies, on the other hand, lost what remained of their power to elect magistrates and make laws
• In spite of avoiding Caesar's ope exercise of supreme power, Augustus followed the dictator's even more arrogant-seeming example of accepting religious worship of himself 
• After Augustus won supreme power, Greek cities in Antolia began building shrines and sacrificing to "Rome and Augustus" 
• Augustus also acquired the tile of Father of the Fatherland and took seriously the father duty of supervising the behavior of his "household"- especially of the upper classes in Rome
• Of course, there was a good deal of make-believe in all this
• Still, the Romans already believed that there was something divine about every paterfamilias and every matron; add they regarded community life as a kind of large-scale family life and most other peoples of the empire had similar beliefs 
• Ensuring peace and stability involved not only changing the way the Roman city-state worked, but also reorganizing the whole of Rome's empire
• First, he brought the system of government appointments under his personal control
• Second, Augustus showed respect for local institutions and encouraged provincial leaders to fulfill their responsibilities 
• Third, Augustus reorganized the army to ensure the loyalty of the rank-and-file soldiers
• Then Augustus gradually brought about his single most drastic reform 
• In this way, Augustus and his successors broke with the Roman tradition of citizen-soldiers to crate the world's first professional standing army 
• Even after Augustus's troop cuts, his army was still far larger than the forces that Romes had usually maintained in the past 
• "Augustus and his successors broke with the Roman tradition of citizen-solider to create the world's first professional army."
• Augustus was convinced that if Rome's new peace and stability were to last, the changes he had made in its government system must continue after his death 
• Having no sons of his own, Augustus finally settled of Tiberius 
• At first, the emperors who succeeded Tiberius during the first century A.D. emerged usually after vicious family infighting 
• Near the end of the first century, the Flavian dynasty, too, came to an end following the assassination of another tyrannical emperor 
• Subsequent rulers for much of the second century happened to have no sons by blood who survived them, so they, too, adopted sons whom they also proclaimed as their successor 
• caesar: the imperial title given to the designated successor of a reigning emperor 
• augustus: the imperial title given to a reigning emperor
• Toward the end of the second century, however, the line of emperors by adoption and designation came to an end when Commodus, Marcus Aurelius's son by blood, outlived him, ruled irresponsibly, and was eventually murdered  
• In this way, Augustus's governing structure endured until the troubled times of the late third century 
• Roman Peace: a term used to refer to the relative stability and prosperity that Roman rule brought to the Mediterranean world and much of western Europe during the first and second centuries A.D. 

Nero 2

Today, we continued watching the video on Nero. I don't like this video or movie at all. It is really weird and Nero is a strange person. He acts like he has some sort of mental issue. I don't think that anyone knows what exactly was wrong with him, but there was definitely something. Since he is an emperor, no one can tell him what to do. Everyone must listen to him which is unfortunate because he is an awful ruler. I think that tomorrow we are watching the movie again.