Germanic Kingdoms Unite under Charlemagne

• Medieval Europe is fragmented.
• Middle Ages = medieval period
• 476 - 1453 AD
• What happened in 476 AD?
• Romoulus Augustulus was told to step down. (no more emperor, no more Roman empire)
• This new society has roots in:
• Classical heritage of Rome
• Beliefs of the Roman Catholic Church
• Customs of various Germanic tribes
• Invaders overrun the western half of the Roman Empire causing:
• Disruption of trade
• Downfall of cities
• Population shifts to rural areas
• Decline of learning:
• Tribes had oral traditions, songs,couldn't read Greek or Latin
• Roman languages evolve (French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian)
• Few besides priests were literate
• Germanic Kingdoms emerge: 400-600 AD
• Germanic warriors' loyalty is to the lord of the manor he provides them with food, weapons, treasure, etc.
• Results:
• no orderly government for large areas
• small communities rule
• Clovis rules the Germanic people of Gaul, knows as the Franks (France)
• in 496 he has a battlefield conversion - he and 300 of his warriors become Christians
• the Church in Rome likes this
• By 511 the Franks are united into one kingdom, with Clovis and the Church working as partners.
• Church + Frankish rulers = rise in Christianity
• In 520, Benedict writes rules for monks:
• vows of poverty (live simply in monasteries)
• chastity (no marital relations)
• obedience (listen to church superiors)
• Pope Gregory 1 goes secular (worldly power)
• Church revenues are used to help the poor, build roads, and raise armies.
• This is a theocracy
• Gregory's spiritual kingdom (Christendom) extends from Italy to England, from Spain to Germany
• Clovis rules the Franks in Gaul until his death in 511
• Most of the rest of Europe consists of smaller kingdoms (7 in England alone)
• Clovis' descendants included Charles Martel, aka Charles the Hammer
• Hammer defeats a Muslim raiding party from Spain at the Battle of Tours in 732
• if he hadn't won, western Europe could have become part of the Muslim Empire
• Charles Martel's son is Pepin the Short
• He works with the Church and is named "king by the grace of God" by the Pope
• Pepin the Short dies in 768, leaving two sons
• #! Carloman dies in 711
• #2 Charles, aka Charlemagne meaning Charles the Great
• 6'4 of rocking ruling warrior greatness!
• Charlemagne's grandsons:
• Lothair
• Charles the Bald
• Louis the German
• Split up the kingdom at the Treaty of Verdun in 843 AD