1. FROM THE FALL OF
ROME TO THE CRUSADES
A B R I E F OVE RVI EW OF IMPOR TANT EVENT S
2. THE DARK AGES
• Describes the Early Middle Ages from 476-1000
• Started after Rome was destroyed by Barbarians
• Refers to the lack of culture
• Literature, written history, cultural advancements
• Time of backwardness where the advancements of
Rome were not apparent
3. THE DARK AGES
• Historians assumed the period was a time of
violence and idleness
• Now used more as a way to describe the time
period, more ‘silent’ than ‘dark’
• Justice: Ordeal, judgement before God
• By fire: burn palm, if it healed in a matter of time you were
innocent
• Battle: fight accuser, winner is right
• Water: Witch, float = guilty/burn, sink = innocent
4. THE FRANKS
• Were a Germanic tribe who eventually became the
French.
• Inhabited the former wealthy Roman provinces of
Gaul and became the most powerful of the
Germanic tribes.
• Created the strongest and most stable barbarian
kingdom in the days after the Western Roman
Empire had collapsed.
5. THE FRANKS
• Childeric was the father
of Clovis (481-511), the
first ruler of the
Merovingian dynasty.
• Clovis was a ruthless
warrior and he and his
immediate successors
destroyed all resistance
within their empire.
• He drove the Gallic
Visigoths into Spain
• Clovis converted to
Orthodox Christianity, an
act which made him king
of the Franks in the eyes
of the pope.
6. CHARLEMAGNE
• Charlemagne (Charles
the Great) inherited the
Frankish throne in 768,
ruled for 46 years
• Rule brought civilization,
order, and learning
• Led many campaigns
in Europe
• People in conquered
territories would be
forced to convert to
Christianity or they
would be killed
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X
GkUNK8kmDw
7. CHARLEMAGNE
• Crowed “Emperor of the Romans” by Pope Leo III
• Legacy:
• Government: area divided into regions ruled by Counts
• Had appointed officials to keep the counts in line
• Also heard complaints from the people, made laws
• Education and Training: started schools taught by monks
• Based on Roman teachings
• Charlemagne’s grandsons fought over his land and
finally signed the Treaty of Verdun, which split the
empire into three kingdoms
• Trickle down effect, weak!
8. THE PROPHET MUHAMMED
• Arabia was a divided
and contested country.
• In 570 C.E., Muhammed
was born into the
Quraysh tribe, which was
very influential in Mecca.
• At 40, he received a
revelation from the Angel
Jibril (Gabriel)
• He was told he was a
prophet of Allah, and
that his mission was to
bring the true Word of
Allah to the Arab
peoples.
9. THE PROPHET MUHAMMED
• Muhammed began to preach the message he had
been given:
• there was only one God, Allah;
• that no image or idol was acceptable to Allah;
• that Allah was not born from another god, and He did not
have any son or daughter;
• that all who believed the Word of Allah were as brother or
sister;
• that all the prophets, from the time of Adam to the time of
Jesus, had revealed the same message.
10. THE PROPHET MUHAMMED
• The people of Mecca were not receptive to this
strict new religion
• Meeting considerable opposition, and fearing for
the lives of his few followers, Muhammed moved to
Medina – the City of the Prophet.
• From this base Muhammed increased his efforts to
convert the other tribes of Arabia
11.
12. CRASH COURSE ISLAM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpcbfxtdoI8&list=
PLBDA2E52FB1EF80C9&index=13
13. EXPANSION OF ISLAM
• In 630 C.E., Muhammed and his armies captured
Mecca. The Ka’ba was cleansed and the idols within it
destroyed
• Muhammed died in 632 C.E. and was succeeded by the
first Caliph, Abu Bakr.
• Under the second Caliph, Ummar, the Muslims began to
expand out of Arabia.
• In battles with the Persian Empire and the Byzantine
Roman Empire, the armies of Islam proved to be
stronger.
• By 732 Dar ul Islam stretched from the Pyrennes
mountains in Europe to the borders of India, and deep
into central Asia.
14.
15. CREATION OF GUNPOWDER
• Discovered by accident in China (tried to create an
elixir of life)
• In about 850 CE it was mixed accidentally
• mixed 75 parts saltpeter with 15 parts charcoal and 10 parts
sulfur
• According to a text from that era, "smoke and
flames result, so that [the alchemists'] hands and
faces have been burnt, and even the whole house
where they were working burned down.“
• The Chinese used it for fireworks but Europeans
would ‘improve’ its usage for weaponry by the 14th
century
16.
17. THE VIKING AGE
• Came from Denmark, Norway and Sweden
• Mostly farmers, craftsmen or traders
• Would sail and raid shorelines all over Europe
• Took over most of England, Scotland and Wales
• Were brilliant ship builders
• Could come right up on the beach so they could jump out
and start fighting
• Were brave explorers, sailed west of Britain
• Faeroe Islands, Iceland, Greenland and Newfoundland
• Leif Eriksson sailed to America in 1001
• First European to land in America
18.
19.
20. THE VIKING AGE
• Vikings traded all over Europe and Central Asia
• Traded in goods and also slaves
• Men worked on farms or as craftsman or traders
• Handled boats and fought to protect family or king
• Women did all the household jobs
• Milked cows, made cheese, spun, wove and sewed all the
clothes
• Children did not go to school, helped parents work
• Learned about history, religion and law from stories
• ‘Blood-feuds’ saw families fight each other
• Settled by killing member of other family
• Eventually ended with one paying ‘blood-money’
22. END OF THE VIKINGS
• In the 9th Century, Alfred the Great of England
forced the Vikings to leave Western England
• 10th Century saw England reclaim many Viking
areas
• Early 11th century the whole of England was ruled by
the Viking King Knut
• In 1066 England was conquered by William, the
Duke of Normandy
• Vikings driven out but remained for another 300
years in Scandinavia
23. BATTLE OF HASTINGS (1066)
• Norman conquest of England by William the
Conqueror
• Most famous battle ever fought on English soil.
• Marked the end of Anglo-Saxon England, the
creation of new ties with Western Europe, and a
more unified ruling class.
• Society became bound by ties of feudal loyalty,
leading to more power in royal hands
• Also created common law, which had
consequences that still affect our lives today
25. FALL OF JERUSALEM
• Jerusalem fell from the Byzantines to the Muslims in
634 CE
• Muslim forces sieged the town for four months with
multiple assaults on the city
• The Christians surrendered but preserved their
places of worship and were not forced to convert
• As Jerusalem grew in importance to Muslims, the
persecution of Christians grew
• As news of their places of worship being destroyed
filtered into Europe, support for a Holy Crusade
grew in 1096
