The Early Middle Ages

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The Early Middle Ages

• World History
• SOL WHI.9a,b,c

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Essential Questions

• How and why did the Church grow in importance
  during the Middle Ages?
• How did a feudal society develop in Europe during
  the Middle Ages?
• How did the medieval manor function as a social
  and economic system?
• How did Charlemagne revive the idea of a Roman
  Empire?

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Age of Charlemagne

• After the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476
  c.e. Western Europe entered what is now called
  the Middle Ages. This period was once called the
  Dark Ages because much of the knowledge and
  sophistication of the Roman Empire was lost or
  ignored.
• During the Middle Ages kingdoms in France,
  Germany, Spain, and England became the leading
  powers.

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Age of Charlemagne

• The first major kingdom in Europe after the fall
  of Rome was the Kingdom of the Franks located in
  modern day France and extending into Germany.
  This area was called Gaul by the Romans.
• Charles Martel, a Frankish King, defeated a
  Muslim army at the battle of Tours in 732.

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Age of Charlemagne

• Charlemagne, a grandson of Charles Martel,
  founded an empire in the 800s that controlled
  most of Western Europe.
• In 800, Pope Leo III, asked Charlemagne for help
  against rebellious nobles in Rome. Charlemagne
  marched south and crushed the rebellion.
• In gratitude Pope Leo crowned Charlemagne Emperor
  of the Romans. This revived the idea of a united
  Christian community in Europe.

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Age of Charlemagne

• Charlemagne wanted to make his court at Aachen a
  second Rome. To do so he set out to revive Latin
  learning in his empire.
• Charlemagne founded a school under the direction
  of a respected scholar, Alcuin.
• Alcuin created a curriculum based on Latin
  learning that included grammar, rhetoric, logic,
  arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy.

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Age of Charlemagne

• Charlemagne was also a supporter of the church
  and he ordered many churches built across his
  empire.
• Charlemagne was crowned emperor by the Pope,
  implying a connection between the Catholic Church
  and the emperors of the Roman Empire. At the
  time Byzantium was considered the Eastern Roman
  Empire and they did not look favorably on the
  coronation.

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Cathedral built in Aachen by Charlemagne. It is
the oldest church in Northern Europe.
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Age of Charlemagne

• After Charlemagne died in 814, his empire soon
  fell apart. His heirs battled for power for
  nearly 30 years until his grandsons split the
  empire into three parts.

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Division of Charlemagnes Empire
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The Church in the Middle Ages

• After the decline of the Roman Empire the major
  unifying force in Western Europe was the Roman
  Catholic Church.
• During the early Middle Ages the Church sent
  missionaries to convert the peoples of Northern
  Europe to include England and Germany.
  Missionaries also brought the Latin alphabet to
  Germany and the Germanic languages were written
  with it.
• As secular authority declined church authority
  grew.

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Spread of Christianity to 600 c.e.
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The Church in the Middle Ages

• The parish priest was usually the only contact
  the average person had with the Church.
• The priest celebrated mass and administered the
  sacraments, the sacred rites of the Church.
• Priests preached the gospel of Jesus and the
  teachings of the Church.
• The village church was also a social center.
  After services, villagers gossiped or danced.
  Some parish priests also ran schools.

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The Church in the Middle Ages

• Villages took pride in their church buildings and
  decorated them with care.
• Prosperous communities replaced wood churches
  with stone churches.
• Some churches housed relics, or the remains of
  martyrs or other holy figures.
• Local people as well as visitors made pilgrimages
  to pray before the relics.
• To support itself the Church required Christians
  to pay a tithe, or tax equal to a tenth of their
  income.

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Monasteries

• During the Middle Ages monasteries appeared in
  Europe. Monasteries are places where monks or
  nuns devote their life to God.
• Daily life in a monastery was broken into periods
  of study, worship, and work.
• In a world without hospitals or schools,
  monasteries and convents often provided basic
  services.
• Monasteries and convents amassed large amounts of
  land because when nobles died they would leave
  money and land to them.

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Monasteries

• Monasteries also preserved the cultural
  achievements of the Greeks and Romans because
  monks were literate and they copied the works of
  ancient authors.

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Monks made illuminated manuscripts in the Middle
Ages. These books had small detailed pictures,
elaborate borders, and stylized lettering.
Manuscripts are usually religious books such as
the bible or prayer books.
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Reconstruction of a medieval monastery.
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Feudal Society

• In the Middle Ages kings and emperors were too
  weak to maintain law and order. In response to
  this basic need for protection, a new system
  evolved, known as feudalism.
• Feudalism was a loosely organized system of rule
  in which powerful lords divided their
  landholdings among lesser lords. In exchange,
  these lesser lords, or vassals, pledged service
  and loyalty to the greater lord.

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Feudal Society

• Feudal contract - An exchange of a pledge between
  a greater and lesser lord. A lord granted his
  vassal a fief, or estate.
• Fiefs could range from a few square miles to
  hundreds of acres. Besides the land the fiefs
  included the peasants to work the land as well as
  any towns or buildings on the land.

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Rigid Class Structure

• Everyone had a place in feudal society. Below
  the monarch were powerful lords, such as dukes
  and counts, who held the largest fiefs. Each of
  these lords had vassals, and these vassals had
  their own vassals.
• Vassals held fiefs from more than one lord so
  feudal relationships grew very complex.

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Knights

• For feudal nobles, fighting was a way of life.
  At the age of seven, a boy slated to become a
  knight was sent away to the castle of his
  fathers lord. There, he learned to ride and
  fight.
• When his training was finished he knelt before an
  older knight and was dubbed by the flat side of
  a sword. Then he took his place among the other
  warriors.

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The Manor

• The basic unit of the medieval economy was the
  manor, or lords estate.
• Most manors included one or more villages and the
  surrounding lands.
• Peasants, who made up the majority of the
  population lived and worked on the manor.
• Most peasants on manors were serfs, bound to the
  land. They were not slaves who could be bought
  and sold but they were not free. They could not
  leave the manor without the lords permission.

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The Manor

• Peasants and their lords were tied together by
  mutual obligations.
• Peasants had to work several days a week farming
  the lords lands. They also repaired his roads,
  bridges, and fences.
• Peasants paid the lord a fee when they married,
  when they inherited their fathers acres, or when
  they used the local mill to grind grain.

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The Manor

• The manor was generally self sufficient because
  peasants produced everything they needed from
  food and clothing to furniture and tools.
• Most peasants never ventured more than a few
  miles from their villages.
• Life for peasants was harsh. They worked long
  hours and ate simple meals.

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