Part 1: Roman Empire Part 2: Medieval Europe

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Part 1 Roman EmpirePart 2 Medieval Europe
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Part 1 Roman EmpireTheme Republic and Empire
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Origins of Rome

• Rome was founded in the 8th Century B.C.E and was
  originally a small city-state ruled by a single
  king
• Late in the 6th Century B.C., the citys
  aristocrats deposed the king, ended the monarchy,
  and instituted a republic
• A republic is a form of government in which
  delegates represent the interests of various
  constituents
• The Roman republic survived for over 500 years
  and at one time dominated the Mediterranean basin

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Mediterranean Basin
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Legend of Romes Founding

• Aeneas migrated from Troy to Italy
• Two of his descendants, Romulus and Remus, were
  abandoned by an evil uncle in the flooded Tiber
  River
• A kindly she-wolf found them and nursed them to
  health
• The boys grew strong and courageous and in 753
  B.C., Romulus founded the city of Rome and
  established himself as its first king

Romulus and Remus being nursed by the she-wolf
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Rise of Rome

• From humble beginnings, Rome grew into a strong
  commercial center, in part because of its
  geographic location
• Rome enjoyed easy access to the Mediterranean via
  the Tiber River, but because it was not on the
  coast, it was safe from invasion or attack by the
  sea
• By the 6th Century B.C., trade routes from all
  parts of Italy converged in Rome

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Establishment of the Republic

• When the aristocracy deposed the king in 509 and
  established a republic, they instituted a
  republican constitution
• Executive responsibilities were entrusted to two
  consuls who wielded civil and military power
• Consuls were elected by an assembly dominated by
  hereditary aristocrats and wealthy classes
• Consuls served one year terms

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Establishment of the Republic

• The Senate was composed mostly of aristocrats
  with extensive political experience
• They advised the consuls and ratified all major
  decisions

Roman Senate house
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Patricians versus Plebeians

• Both the consuls and the Senate represented the
  interests of the patricians the hereditary
  aristocrats and wealthy classes
• This caused tension between the patricians and
  the common people the plebeians

In honor of the Roman plebeians, freshmen at West
Point are called plebes
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Patricians versus Plebeians

• In the early 5th Century, tensions got so bad
  that the plebeians threatened to secede from Rome
  and establish a rival settlement
• In order to maintain the integrity of the Roman
  state, the patricians granted the plebeians the
  right to elect officials known as tribunes to
  represent their interests

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Patricians versus Plebeians

• Originally the plebeians were authorized two
  tribunes, but that number eventually rose to ten
• Tribunes had the power to intervene in all
  political matters and to veto measures they
  thought were unfair
• Still the patricians continued to dominate Rome

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Increased Representation for Plebeians

• During the 4th Century, plebeians became eligible
  to hold almost all state offices and gained the
  right to have one of the consuls come from their
  ranks
• By the early 3rd Century, plebeian-dominated
  assemblies won the power to make decisions
  binding on all of Rome
• Republican Rome was gradually broadening the base
  of political participation

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Dictators

• In times of civil or military crisis, the Roman
  constitution allowed for the appointment of a
  dictator who wielded absolute power for a term of
  six months

Cincinnatus, shown here handing the rods of power
back to the city fathers, served as dictator of
Rome twice
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Expansion of the Republic

• Rome expanded from central Italy, to the Italian
  Peninsula, to the Mediterranean basin
• Defeated the Carthaginians in the Punic Wars
  between 264 and 146 B.C.

Territory under Roman control near the end of the
republic, 44 B.C.
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From Republic to Empire

• Imperial expansion brought wealth to Rome, but
  the wealth was unequally distributed which
  aggravated class tensions
• Conflicts arose over political and social
  policies
• During the 1st Century B.C. and the 1st Century
  A.D., Roman civil and military leaders will
  gradually dismantle the republican constitution
  and replace it with a centralized imperial form
  of government

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Problems with Conquered Lands

• Conquered lands usually fell into the hands of
  wealthy elites who organized enormous plantations
  known as latifundia
• The owners of latifundia enjoyed great economies
  of scale and used slave labor to drive the owners
  of smaller holdings out of business

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Problems with Conquered Lands

• Tiberius and Gaius Gracchi worked to limit the
  amount of conquered land an individual could hold
• They met strong resistance from the wealthy and
  ruling classes and were both assassinated

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Bigger Problem

• The problem of land distribution was a symptom of
  a bigger problem
• The constitution of the Roman republic had been
  designed for a small city-state
• It was not suitable for a large and growing
  empire
• Roman politicians and generals began jockeying
  for power and several raised personal armies for
  support

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Civil War

• The two most important generals were Gaius Marius
  and Lucius Cornelius Sulla
• Marius sided with social reformers who favored
  redistribution of land
• Sulla sided with the conservative and
  aristocratic classes

Sulla
Marius
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Civil War

• In 87 B.C., Marius marched on Rome, placed the
  city under military occupation, and began hunting
  down his enemies
• When Marius died the next year, Sulla moved to
  replace him
• In 83, Sulla seized Rome and began slaughtering
  his enemies

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Sulla

• Sulla initiated a reign of terror that lasted
  almost five years until he died in 78
• During that period he killed some ten thousand
  individuals
• He imposed an extremely conservative legislative
  program that weakened the influence of the lower
  classes and strengthened the hand of the wealthy

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Julius Caesar

• Sullas program did not address Romes most
  serious social problems
• The latifundia continued to crush small farmers
  and poverty was rampant
• There were many social eruptions when times were
  especially hard
• Julius Caesar stepped into the chaos and
  inaugurated a process that replaced the Roman
  republican constitution with a centralized
  imperial form of government

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Julius Caesar

• Caesar was a nephew of Marius and he favored
  Marius liberal policies and social reform
• In the 50s B.C., Caesar led an army that
  conquered Gaul and made him very popular

Gaul (now mostly France)
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Julius Caesar

• In 49 Caesar marched his army to Rome and by
  early 46 he had named himself dictator
• But instead of the constitutional six month term,
  Caesar claimed to be dictator for life

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Julius Caesar

• Caesar centralized military and political
  functions and brought them under his control
• He confiscated property from conservatives and
  distributed it among veterans of his army and
  other supporters
• He launched large scale building projects to
  provide employment for the poor
• He extended Roman citizenship to people in the
  imperial provinces

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Julius Caesar

• But Caesars reforms alienated many of Romes
  elite who considered him a tyrant
• In 44 B.C. they assassinated him
• However it was too late to return to the old
  conservative ways and a new round of civil crisis
  ensued for thirteen years
• Octavian emerged in power

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Octavian

• Octavian was a nephew, protégé, and adopted son
  of Julius Caesar
• He defeated his principal rival, Mark Anthony,
  and Anthonys ally Cleopatra at Actium, Greece in
  31 B.C.

Anthony and Cleopatra by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema
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Augustus

• Octavian consolidated his rule and in 27 B.C.,
  the Senate bestowed upon him the title Augustus
• Augustus has religious connotations suggesting
  a divine or semidivine nature
• Augustus ruled virtually unopposed for 45 years
  in a monarchy disguised as a republic

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Augustus

• Augustus centralized political and military power
  like Julius Caesar did, but he was careful to
  preserve traditional republican offices and forms
  of government and included members of the Roman
  elite in his government

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Government under Augustus

• Accumulated vast powers for himself and
  ultimately took responsibility for all important
  governmental functions
• Placed individuals loyal to him in all important
  positions
• Reorganized the military system
• Created a new standing army with commanders who
  owed allegiance to him
• Eliminated the personal armies of earlier years
• Stabilized the land after the years of civil war
  and allowed the institutions of empire to take
  root

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Mare Nostrum

• After Augustus, the Roman Empire continued to
  grow to the point that it surrounded the
  Mediterranean
• Romans called the Mediterranean mare nostrum
  (our sea)
• Expansion brought Roman soldiers, diplomats,
  governors, and merchants throughout the region
• Trade flourished

Roman Empire, 117 A.D.
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Pax Romana

• By stopping the civil wars, Augustus inaugurated
  an era known as pax romana (Roman peace) which
  greatly facilitated trade and communication
• Lasted from 27 B.C. to 180 A.D.
• Also included applying standards of justice and a
  basic code of law throughout the empire

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How were populations controlled by the Romans?

• Under the republic?
• Under the empire?

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How were populations controlled by the Romans?

• Under the republic
• Representation (consuls and Senate)
• Resolution of conflicts between the patricians
  and plebeians (tribunes)
• Dictators
• Under the empire
• Julius Caesar centralized authority but alienated
  elite
• Augustus continued centralization but placated
  elite and ensured loyalty through patronage
• Pax romana stabilized region through trade,
  communication, and law

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Part 2 Medieval EuropeTheme Order in the
absence of empire

• Lesson 18

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Regional States

• Germanic invaders toppled Romes authority in the
  late 5th Century A.D. but no clear successor to
  centralized authority emerged
• The Franks temporarily revived empire the high
  point of which was the reign of Charlemagne from
  768-814

Charlemagne
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Regional States

• After Charlemagne, his successor Carolingians had
  no effective means of defending against Magyars,
  Muslims, Vikings, and other invaders
• In response, European nobles sought to protect
  their lands and maintain order in their own
  territories
• Political authority in early medieval Europe thus
  devolved into competing local and regional
  jurisdictions with a decentralized political
  order
• Feudalism

Viking long ship
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Feudalism

• There really was no feudal system if that
  implies a neat hierarchy of lords and vassals who
  collectively took charge of political and
  military affairs
• Because the feudal hierarchy arose as a makeshift
  for defense against invaders, it always had a
  provisional, ad hoc, and flexible character
• There was no system
• However, medieval European society was
  characterized by
• Fragmentation of political power
• Public power in private hands
• Armed forces secured through private contracts

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Medieval SocietyEarly Middle Ages (450-1050)

• The country was not governed by the king but by
  individual lords who administered their own
  estates, dispensed their own justice, minted
  their own money, levied taxes and tolls, and
  demanded military service from vassals
• Usually the lords could field greater armies than
  the king
• In theory the king was the chief feudal lord, but
  in reality the individual lords were supreme in
  their own territory
• Many kings were little more than figurehead
  rulers

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Retainees

• The nobles maintained their armies by offering
  grants, usually land, to armed retainees
• In exchange for the grants, the retainees pledged
  their loyalty and military service to their lords
• The retainees gained increased rights over their
  land, to include the prerogative to pass on their
  rights to the heirs

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Political-Military Relationship

• A close relationship between political and
  military authorities developed
• As a result, political authorities and military
  specialists merged into a hereditary noble class
  which lived off the surplus agricultural
  production that it extracted from the cultivators
• Only by tapping into this surplus could the lords
  and their retainees secure the material resources
  necessary to maintain their control over
  military, political, and legal affairs

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Serfs

• Free peasants sought protection from a lord and
  pledged their labor and obedience in exchange for
  security and land to cultivate
• Beginning in the mid 17th Century, this category
  became recognized as serfs neither fully slave
  nor fully free
• But still owed obligations to the lords whose
  lands they cultivated

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Serfs Obligations

• Had the right to work certain lands and to pass
  those lands on to their heirs
• In exchange they had to perform labor services
  and pay rents in kind (a portion of the harvest,
  chickens, eggs, etc)
• Male serfs typically worked three days a week for
  their lords with extra services during planting
  and harvesting times
• Women serfs churned butter, spun thread, and
  sewed clothes for their lords and their families

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Serfs Obligations

• Since the lord provided the land, the serfs had
  little opportunity to move and had to get the
  lords permission to do so
• Even had to pay fees to marry someone who worked
  for a different lord

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Manors

• Manors were large estates consisting of fields,
  meadows, forests, agricultural tools, domestic
  animals, and serfs
• The lord of the manor and his deputies provided
  government, administration, police services, and
  justice for the manor
• Many lords had the authority to execute serfs for
  serious misconduct
• In the absence of thriving cities in rural areas,
  manors became largely self-sufficient communities

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Transition to the High Middle Ages(1050 to 1400)

• The regional stability of the early middle ages
  allowed local rulers to organize powerful
  regional states
• Holy Roman Empire
• Capetian France
• Norman England
• Papal States
• etc
• The kings of England and France used their
  relationships with retainees to build powerful,
  centralized monarchies
• Still no one could consolidate all of Europe
  under a single empire

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Three Estates of Medieval Society

• Those who pray
• The clergy of the Roman Catholic Church
• Those who fight
• Nobles
• Those who work
• Peasants
• The result was a society marked by political,
  social, and economic inequality

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Chivalry

• Church officials originally proposed a chivalric
  code to curb fighting within Christendom
• By the 12th Century, the ritual by which a young
  man became a knight commonly included the
  candidate placing his sword upon an altar and
  pledging his service to God

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Chivalry

• With chivalry, warriors were encouraged to adopt
  higher ethical standards and refined manners and
  become cultivated leaders of society
• The chivalric code called for a noble to devote
  himself to the causes of order, piety, and the
  Christian faith rather than seeking wealth and
  power

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How was order maintained in the Early Middle Ages?
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How was order maintained in the Early Middle Ages?

• In the absence of a strong centralized authority,
  local political and military elites worked out
  various ad hoc ways to organize and protect their
  territories
• Lords and retainees
• Manors
• Serfs

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How was order maintained in the High Middle Ages?
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How was order maintained in the High Middle Ages?

• The regional stability of the Early Middle Ages
  allowed powerful regional states to be built, but
  there was still no single European Empire
• The code of chivalry helped provide some order
  and protection for those who otherwise would be
  most vulnerable to unchecked power

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