Early Middle Ages ca. 750 1000

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Early Middle Ages ca. 750 - 1000
2
Rise of the Christian West

• Dark Ages
• Germanic invasions
• Christian kingdoms replace Roman Empire
• Separation from Eastern Empire Byzantium
• Rise in importance of the papacy and monasticism
• Threat of Islam
• Development of Feudalism

3
Cultural Synthesis of Western Europes Middle
Ages

• A. Judaeo-Christian Tradition
• B. Greco-Roman (CLASSICAL) Culture
• C. Germanic Culture
• Merging of customs, laws, literature, art,
  lifestyles

4
Transition in Western EuropeRoman Empire to
Early Middle Ages

• A. Decline of urban life depopulation roads
  in disrepair
• B. From money-trade economy to
  barter-subsistence
• C. From centralized empire to political
  fragmentation and feudalism
• D. From villa/estate (producing cash crops for
  urban markets) to manor (for self-sufficient
  manor and village)
• From large scale slave labor of estates to labor
  of serfs and peasants on manor
• Literacy almost wiped out
• Science and technology at a standstill
• Catholic Church becomes dominant institution
• Extreme violence and insecurity

5
Germanic Tribes

• Know through Roman historians, archaelogical
  records later accounts
• Peoples sharing common material culture, language
  and mythology
• Homeland - Northern Germany and southern
  Scandinavia
• Indo-European language
• Non-literate no written records
• Small, independent settlements, with
  economy strongly based on the keeping of
  livestock.
• Southward movement begun 600 to 300
  BC
• Romans called all tribes by common name of
  Germani
• War, trade relations, military alliances, and
  cultural exchanges with Rome

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Germanic Tribes

• East Germanic tribes settled east of the Elbe
  River
• Ostrogoths East Goths, Vandals and Burgundians
• Western Germanic tribes
• Visigoths West Goths, Saxons, Franks and
  Lombards
• Clans basis for social organization
• families joined in kinship groups
• Led by a chieftan served as priest, main
  judge and war leader
• Warfare palyed a central role in the society
  - based on heroic ideals
• Most clans lived primarily agricultural lifestyle
• Women
• Could own property and received a share
  of husbands wealth upon marriage
• Responsible for pottery and textile production
  and household
• Brewed the alcoholic beverages
• Cared for the sick and injured through knowledge
  of herb lore
• Men allowed to take more than one wife

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Germanic Invasions

• The Germanic invasions of the 4th and 5th
  centuries opened the European phase of western
  history

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Germanic Invasions

• Settled in France, Italy, Spain, British Isles
• Reasons for Germanic migration/invasion of Roman
  Empire
• Pressure from invading Asian peoples
• Population growth
• Climate change
• Invited to defend Roman territory
• Foederati
• Wandering tribes began staking out permanent
  settlements
• Powerful leaders sought to expand outwards
• Germanic peoples were often quick to assimilate
  into foreign cultures
• Desired to become Roman
• Merged with other cultures

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Germanic Invasions

• Ostrogoths pushed to the west by the invasion of
  the Huns - Attila
• 378 Visigoths defeated a Roman army in the
  Battle of Adrianople
• 401 Alaric led Visigoths across the Alps and into
  Italy
• Looted Rome
• Vandals occupied Spain in 409 and crossed Straits
  of Gibralter and conquered North Africa 429
• 455 Vandals sacked Rome
• Odoacer king of the Ostrogoths moved his people
  westward
• 476 - Deposed last Roman emperor - boy Emperor
  Romulus Augustulus
• Theodoric the Ostrogoth King of Italy
• Thoroughly Romanized ruler in 6th century
• An able Goth wants to be like a Roman. Only a
  poor Roman would want to be like a Goth.

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Germanic Kingdoms
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Christian Conversion

• Processs of assimilation, conversion by
  missionaries and forced conversions
• Conversion of leader meant conversion of tribe
• Arianism - outside of mainstream Christianity
• The Ostrogoths, Visigoths, and Vandals were
  Christianized while still outside of the Empire
• Converted to Arianism
• The Franks converted directly from paganism to
  Catholicism
• Missionary journeys
• Anglo-Saxon and Frankish missionaries and
  warriors undertook the conversion of their Saxon
  neighbours

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Monasticism

• Originated in the Near East
• Monks desired to live simple lives devoted to
  worship of God
• Places to concentrate on spiritual growth
• Monasticisms appeal
• Increasing worldliness of Church
• Purist way to salvation
• Abbots and abbesses monastic leaders
• Benedict of Nursia (480-547)
• Established basis for Western monasticism
• Benedictine "Rule" 529
• Guide monks nuns in their communal lives
• All monks vowed to follow abbots authority
• Carefully defined cycleof daily prayers, lessons
  and communal worship
• Required to work

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Monasticism

• Monasteries used to spread Christianity
• Located in Gaul, Italy Spain in 4th cen
• Patrick Ireland (d. 461)
• Romanized Britain
• Sent as slave to Ireland age 16
• Founded monastries throughout Ireland
• Irish monks spread faith to England Europe
• Augustine Sent to Britain by Gregory In 597
• Monasteries kept learning alive
• Kept Classical texts during Dark Ages
• Creation of illuminated manuscripts
• Monastic movement gained power wealth

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Power of the Popes

• Church fills authority void
• Develops complex hierarchy
• Archbishops rule large urban centers
• Pope Latin for father
• Bishops of Rome began to claim earthly and
  spiritual authority
• Popes involved in politics since 4th century
• 375 Pope Damasus I claimed that the pope held
  supreme teaching authority in Christendom based
  on Petrine Doctrine
• Petrine Doctrine of Papal Supremacy
• Used Biblical writings to justify leadership
• Peter First Bishop of Rome
• Christ gave keys of heaven to Peter and described
  as the rock on which the church would be built
• Pope Leo I "the Great" (440-461)
• the Roman bishops ("popes") became predominant

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Pope Gregory I ("the Great")

• Pope, 590-604
• Greatly increased the power of the papacy
• First member of a monastic order to rise to the
  papacy
• Supported the Benedictine order to
  institutionalize the Church
• Centralized churchs administration
• First pope to rule as the secular head of
  lands surrrounding Rome
• Took over administration of Rome
• Reorganized papal estates
• Outmaneuvered the Lombard dukes who threatened to
  overun Roman territories
• Settled disputes inside and outside of Italy
• Sent out missionaries - Britain
• Introduced concepts of penance and purgatory
• Diolgues
• Liturgical reforms

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Bringing Order with Laws

• The Rule of Law
• Traditionally, laws had constituted the customs
  of the past
• Not written down put preserved orally
• Administered by assemblies of people
• Determining the truth
• Compurgation attest to the character of the
  accused
• Ordeal appeal to supernatural forces
• Legal Codes
• Laws began to be codified in the 5th century
• Incorporate principles of Roman law with Germanic
  traditions
• Wergeld
• Tried to regulate vengeance
• Intricate system of compensation
• Fines for everything

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Anglo-Saxon England

• Angles and Saxons
• Germanic peoples - settled in 4th 5th cens.
• Merged with that of the indigenous Celtic
  speaking Britons
• Historic King Arthur defeats Anglo-Saxons
• Last Roman legions leave 407
• Converted to Christianity in the 7th cen.
• The first Archbishop of Canterbury, Augustine,
  took office in 597
• Ethelbert of Kentfirst Anglo-Saxon king baptised
  in 601
• Moasteries flourished across England
• Several powerful competing Kingdoms by 8th Cen.
• Northumbria, Mercia, Wessex
• 793 first Viking attack at Lindisfarne
  monastery

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Anglo-Saxon England Forwarding Learning

• The Venerable Bede (672?-735)
• English monastic scholar
• Interpreted the classics for contemporary culture
• Wrote in Latin
• Nature of Things geography and astronomy
• Ecclesiastical History of the English People
• History of Anglo-Saxon England to 731
• Wrote history of whole people and helped
  establish unity
• Careful to be factual
• Adopted BC/AD dating system of Dionysius Exiguus

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Anglo-Saxon England

• Governing the Kingdoms
• Anglo-Saxon kingdoms developed law codes that
  combined wergeld with Roman law
• Common law preserves the customs of the people
• Witan circle of wise men
• Powerful court of the king who gave advice and
  approval
• Could be very influential
• Royal Offices
• Kingdom divided into shires
• Representatives of the king appointed to govern
• Aristocratic earls wielded great power

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Alfred the Great King

• King of Wessex from 871 to 899
• Defended against the Danish Vikings
• Reorganized military to defend against invaders
• Createed first English navy
• Treaty of 886 divides England between Anglo-Saxon
  and Danish King Guthrum
• Danelaw
• First to declare hinmslef King of the
  Anglo-Saxons
• Created unified kingdom

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Alfred the Great Scholar

• Promoted literature and the arts
• Studied Latin, collected books and invited
  scholars to his court
• Encourage study of Anglo-Saxon history
• Translations
• Helped to spread learning to many by translating
  works in Old English
• Boethius Consolation of Philosophy
• Dialogues of Gregory
• Bedes Ecclesiastical History of the English
  People
• The Proverbs of Alfred sayings attributed to
  Alfred

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Kingdom of the Franks

• Most important of the Germanic states during the
  early Middle Ages
• 4th and 5th centuries gradually pushed the Romans
  out of Gaul
• Clovis (481-511)
• 486 Defeated last remnants of the Roman forces
• Made himself king of the Franks
• Married a Christian woman named Clothile
• Converted to Christianity after defeating rival
• Developed close relationship with Pope
• Established the Merovingian Dynasty
• Do-Nothing kings - successors of Clovis
• Mayor of the Palace - Real power
• Passed from father to son
• Governed the Franks beginning of the 8th cen.
• Led to Carolingian Dynasty
• Charles Martel (714-741) Battle of Tours
• Pipin the Short (741-768)

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Charlemagne and the Carolingians A New
European Empire

• Charlemagne - King of the Franks, 768814
• First ruler of a united Western Europe since the
  fall of the Roman Empire
• Today regarded as the founding father of both
  France and Germany
• Foreign conquests and internal reforms,
  Charlemagne helped define Western Europe
• Carolingian Renaissance - a revival of the arts
  and education in the West
• Strengthened the power of the papacy and
  became its protector
• Einhard The Life of Charlemagne
• Son of Frankish King Pippin the Short
• Realm already covered most of western central
  Europe
• Co-ruled with his brother Carloman until the
  latter's death in 771

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Charlemagnes Empire

• Engaged in almost constant battle throughout his
  reign
• Defeated the Saxons to the East, Brittany in the
  West, the Lombards in Italy, and the Sarcens in
  Spain
• Spanish Mark Frontier between Muslim
  Christian Europe
• Forcibly converted each area to Christianity
• Negotiated with Byzantium and Islam
• Irene Byzantine empress
• Harun al-Rashid Abbasid caliph in Baghdad

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Charlemagne Papacy

• Close relationship with popes
• In 772, assisted Pope Hadrian I when threatened
  by invaders
• The pope granted him the title patrician
• 799, Pope Leo III had been mistreated by the
  Romans
• Charlemagne intervened
• 800 - Charlemagnes Coronation
• Crowned by Leo III

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Carolingian Renaissance

• Era of Intellectual Rebirth
• Promotion of learning scholarship
• Gathered scholars from across Europe at Aachen
  Alcuin from England
• Created a liberal arts curriculum
• Charlemagne greatly valued education
• Could read speak Latin understand Greek
• Could not master writing
• Correcting Texts
• Created standardized versions of text
• Adoption of a standard written Latin script
• Carolingian Script or Miniscule
• Establishing Schools
• 789 Decreed that every monastery must maintain
  a school to teach reading writing

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Competing for the Realm Charlemagnes Descendents

• Succeeded by Son, Louis the Pious (814 840)
• Civil war at Louis death between three sons
• Oath of Strasbourg
• Treaty of Verdun
• Divides Europe into three states
• Modern day France Germany

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Expansion of Monasteries

• Monasteries become very popular by late 7th
  century throughout Europe and Anglo-Saxon England
• Opportunity for social mobility
• Women leadership roles as abbess
• Sole areas of scholarly activity
• Copying and preserving texts and learning
• Monks often only educated people in society
• Libraries for ancient manuscripts
• Cluniac Reform Movement
• 910 - Insisted on independence from local
  political control
• Subordinate only to abbot of Cluny and Pope
• Increased papal authority
• Movement established more than 200 monasteries

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Illuminated Manuscript

• Main outlet for artistic energies during Middle
  Ages
• Beautifully illustrated Bibles and prayer books
  with painstakingly created images on pages
• Book of Hours
• Monks laboriously copy sacred texts - scriptorium
  
• Illuminated manuscript - Latin
• Illuminare" meaning to lighten or brighten
  up
• Manus meaning hand, "scriptus" meaning
  writing
• Books were written and decorated on parchment
• Processed animal skins prepared cut
  to size for pages

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Illuminated Manuscript

• Scribe would write with a reed or feather quill
  pen
• Main body to the text was usually written in
  black or brown ink
• Rubrics in red served as instructional guides to
  reader
• Illuminator worked separately from the scribe
• Repertoire of visual motifs to illustrate stories
• Scenes of daily life from the Middle Ages
• Decorated letters embellished with geometric,
  foliate and zoomorphic designs
• Margins of page often adorned with decorated
  borders
• Complete books known as codexes

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Illuminated Manuscript
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Pilgrimages

• Journeys to visit holy shrines
• View religious relic owned by the abbey or tomb
  of saintly person
• Saint's bone, blood of Christ, fragment of the
  cross, or other religious artifact
• Regarded as a sacred obligation trial of one's
  faith
• Travel was dangerous, expensive time-consuming
• A returning pilgrim was called a palmer
• Prime source of revenue for monasteries
• Buy an insignia which proved they had visited a
  particular shrine
• Pilgrimage centers built hotels to lodge pilgrims
• Popular destinations for pilgrimage
• Canterbury Cathedral Glastonbury Abbey in
  England, sites in Holy Land and Rome
• Chaucers Canterbury Tales

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Europe Faces New Invaders

• Magyars
• Raided from East
• Settled in Hungary
• Islamic armies
• Moors in Spain
• Sicily other
• islands
• Vikings
• Scandanavea
• Norway, Denmark,
• Sweden, Finland
• Raided, traded and
• settled (7931066 )

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The VikingsTravels, Settlements Conquests

• Viking Age 7931066
• Norsemen - originated in Scandinavia
• Viking Ships
• Longship - warfare and exploration
• Knarr - merchant vessel with great cargo
  capacity
• Raided the coasts of the British Isles, France
  and other parts of Europe
• Monastery at Lindisfarne, England 793
• Colonized the coasts and rivers of Europe
• England, Ireland, Scotland, Normandy,Russia,
  Spain, Iceland, Greenland,
• Newfoundland first in New World
• Danelaw England
• York Dublin founded by Vikings
• Vast trading network
• Spain and the Mediterranean to the south,
  Kiev and Baghdad to the East
• Ended with the Battle of Stamford Bridge in 1066

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Viking Life and Values

• Germanic people who sought glory in heroic deeds
• Violent people with a passion for revenge
• Berserkers - literally "bear shirts," were the
  most feared of the Vikings.
• Worked themselves into a frenzy before battle and
  fought on, regardless of pain.
• Women
• Older women and widows could hold positions of
  considerable prestige in society
• Women also held religious power, both as symbols
  in myth and as priestesses.

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Norse Mythology

• Norse sagas and Old Norse literature tell us
  about their religion through tales of
  mythological heroes
• Large number of gods and goddesses, giants and
  dwarves, Valkyries, elves and a variety of
  spirits who were believed to play a role in
  nearly every aspect of life and death
• In Valhalla, great hall of Odin in the
  afterworld, fallen warriors were rewarded with
  all the meat and drink they wanted they could
  do eternal battle for ever
• To assure their comfort in the afterlife, the
  dead were buried with the possessions that they
  had used in life
• Odin, Thor and Freya - lent names to Wednesday,
  Thursday and Friday.

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Manors and Feudal Ties Order Emerging from Chaos

• Everyone in society expected to live within a
  hierarchy that ordered nature, the church and
  society
• Feudalism - System of mutual contractual
  obligations
• As early as 8th century nobles began to develop
  mutual contracts
• Peasants turned to the landowners, often called
  lords, to protect them from invaders
• System based on loyalty to superior
• The country was not governed by the king but by
  individual lords, or barons
• administered their own estates
• dispensed their own justice
• minted their own money
• levied taxes and tolls
• demanded military service from vassals

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Noble Warriors Feudal Obligations among the
Elite

• Lord - a noble who owned land
• Vassal - a person who was granted land by the
  lord
• Land was known as a fief
• Public oath of fealty called "homage"
• Vassal's Obligations
• Required to attend the lord at his court
• Help administer justice
• Contribute money if needed
• Must answer a summons to battle
• Must feed and house the lord and his company
  when they traveled across his land
• Lord's Obligations
• Obliged to protect the vassal
• Give military aid
• Guard his children

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Noble Warriors Feudal Obligations among the
Elite

• Feudal Complexities
• Noblemen could be both vassal and lord at same
  time
• Serve different lords for different fiefs
• Potential for divided loyalties
• Concept of Liege Lord
• Undisputed loyalty
• Usually reserved for kings

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Peasants and Lords Mutual Obligations on the
Medieval manor

• Manor - economic and social units of life in the
  early Middle Ages
• A typical manor consisted of a castle, small
  village, and farmland
• Villages consisted of from 10-60 families living
  in rough huts on dirt floors, with no chimneys or
  windows
• The fields divided into strips
• 1/3 for the lord of the manor
• church, and serfs receive remainder
• Serfs Obligations
• Also known as Villeins
• Serf was bound to a lord and land for life
• Provide free labor, food and service to lord
• Could own no property
• Needed the lord's permission to marry