- 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]
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