Early Middle Ages ca. 750 1000

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Early Middle Ages ca. 750 - 1000
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CULTURAL SYNTHESIS OF WESTERN EUROPES MIDDLE AGES

• A. Judaeo-Christian Tradition
• B. Greco-Roman (CLASSICAL) Culture
• C. Germanic Culture
• --- customs and law literature art

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TRANSITION IN WESTERN EUROPE FROM ROMAN 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

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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.
• Came into conflict with the Britains (Celtic)
• 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 untiy
• 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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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.
• Religion
• 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.
• 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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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 o 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

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Medieval Baghdad
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Medieval Baghdad

• 762 - Abbasid dynasty moved the capital of
  Islamic empire to the newly-founded city of
  Baghdad
• Caliph Al-Mansur founded
• Banks of the Tigris River
• Known as the Round City
• Foreign influences Persian, Syrian
  Hellenistic
• Baghdad capital of "Golden Age" of Islamic
  civilization
• Muslim scholars - important contributions in the
  sciences, humanities, medicine, mathematics,
  astronomy, chemistry, and literature
• Became city of museums, hospitals, libraries
• World's richest most intellectual city of the
  time
• Believed to be largest city in the world from 775
  to 935 - possibly over 1,000,000
• Baghdad was destroyed by the Mongols in 1258
• Ended era of the Abbasids

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Medieval Baghdad

• Bayt al-Hikmah (the House of Wisdom)
• World famous center of learning
• Attracted scholars from all over the world
• Library, academy and translation bureau
• Translate Greek works of Aristotle, Plato, Galen,
  Hippocrates, Euclid, and Pythagoras
• Translate Persian, Sanskrit, Syriac into Arabic
• Al-Khawarizmi, the "father" of algebra 
• Merchants played a major role in the city
• From Persia, China, India, Africa Europe
• Sinbad the Sailor recounts actual voyages made
  by Muslim merchants
• Caliphal palace known as the Golden Gate or the
  Green Dome
• Dome of audience chamber rose to 130 feet

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Harun al-Rashid

• Abbasid caliph (r.786-809)
• Baghdad a city of immense wealth and
  international significance under al-Rashid
• Tribute paid by many rulers to the caliph
• Used on architecture, arts luxurious life at
  court
• Great patron of arts sciences
• Encouragement of learning, art, poetry, music
• A scholar and poet himself
• Invited many scholars to the kingdom
• Founded first Muslim hospital
• Built Green Dome palace in Baghdad
• Fabulous court inspired the book One Thousand and
  One Nights
• Displays of extravagant wealth
• Entertainers flocked to his court poets, wits,
  musicians, singers, and dancers
• Diplomatic relations with Charlemagne

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One Thousand and One Nights

• Classic of world literature
• Stories were created over many centuries, by many
  people and in many styles
• Originally Arabian, Persian, Indian folk tales
• Collected during time of al-Rashid
• Best known stories
• Ali Baba, Sinbad the Sailor, and Aladdin
• al-Rashids court frequent setting
• Frame story
• Efforts of Scheherezade to keep her husband, King
  Shahryar from killing her by entertaining him
  with a tale a night for 1,001 nights
• Always a cliff hanger
• British translator Richard Burton