2. Key Question:
After the collapse of the Western Roman
Empire, what contributions did the
Romans, the Christian Church, and the
Germanic peoples make to the new
civilization that emerged in the region?
3. Warm Up: What happened to Europe
after the fall of the Roman Empire?
In the East, the Byzan.ne
Empire became a center for
trade & Greco‐Roman culture
4. The Middle Ages In the West, Europe grew
weak & fell into the Middle
Ages from 500 to 1300
Also known as the “Dark Ages” or “Medieval” era
5. Europe After the Fall of RomeWhen barbarian kingdoms conquered Rome,
Europe was plagued by constant warfare
Warfare disrupted trade,
destroyed Europe’s ci.es, &
forced people to rural areas
Learning declined;
Few people could
read or write
Greco‐Roman
culture was forgoQen
Europe lost a common language; La.n mixed with
local languages to form Spanish, French, Italian
6. Germanic Tribes in the Middle AgesWithout the unity of the Roman Empire, Europe
became divided into a series of Germanic kingdoms
Germanic people lived in
small communi.es led by
chiefs & his loyal warriors
Family .es & loyalty
were more important
than ci.zenship
7. The New Germanic Kingdoms
-from Denmark &
northern Germany
-Moved into Britain
-Roman influence
not as strong
-in Spain
-maintained much
of structure of
Roman govt
-power centered in
a Germanic
warrior caste
-in Italy
-preserved Roman
tradition of govt
-Theodoric kept
Romans under
Roman law & his
own people under
their own customs
Angles/SaxonsVisigothsOstrogoths
8. Kingdom of the Franks
Established by Clovis, Merovingian dynasty
Became Catholic, c. 500 CE - earned him
support of Roman Catholic Church
Stretched from Pyrenees to western Germany
Split up among his sons after his death
9. Germanic Society
-main social bond = extended family
-patriarchal
-law was very personal - led to many blood feuds
(different from Roman law where offenses were against
society)
-could get very bloody so developed system - wergeld - $
paid by wrongdoer to family of person injured or killed
-method to determine guilt/innocence = ORDEAL -
based on idea that divine forces would not allow an
innocent person to be harmed
10. The Spread of ChristianityDuring the early Middle Ages, the Germanic
kingdoms were slowly converted to Chris.anity
The Catholic Pope became involved in secular
(non‐religious) issues like road repair, aiding the
poor, & helping Chris.an kings expand their power
11. Organization of
the Church
Diocese - city area headed
by a bishop
4 Main Cities/Bishops of
Rome, Jerusalem,
Alexandria, Antioch
Rome special - Jesus had
given “keys to the kingdom
of Heaven” to Peter, 1st
bishop of Rome
12. Monks
Sought to live life away from
ordinary society to pursue life
dedicated to God
Monasticism - monks living
together in a community;
ascetic life often
St. Benedict established rules
13. Benedict’s Rules
Divided day into activities with emphasis
on prayer and manual labor
Idleness was “enemy of the soul”
Communal life - prayed, ate, slept,
worked together
Monastery led by an abbot -
unquestioning control of monks
Nuns - female version -
convents/abbesses
14. Community Role of Monasteries
Provided schools, hospitality for travelers,
and hospitals for the sick
Copied ancient works
Centers of learning
missionaries
15. The Spread of ChristianityThe Franks were the largest & most powerful of
the Germanic kingdoms in the early Middle Ages
Frankish kings allied
with the Catholic Church
& expanded their power
In 771, Charlemagne
(“Charles the Great”)
became king of the Franks
16. Charlemagne & the Frankish EmpireCharlemagne was the greatest Medieval king
because he did something no other king was able
to do…create an organized empire –
The Holy Roman Empire (First Reich)
Charlemagne expanded
the Frankish empire
He spread
Chris.anity –
Missi Dominici
He valued learning & built
schools in his empire
He created schools to
train future priests
17. Charlemagne & The Holy Roman Empire
A]er Charlemagne’s death
in 814, his Frankish Empire
was divided & lost power…
…This was the last
opportunity to provide
unity in medieval Europe
18. Consolidation of Power in Frankish
Kingdom
7-8th centuries - chief officers within king’s household
took power - Pepin
768 - Pepin’s son Charles the Great, aka
Charlemagne took over
Strong leader, pious Christian, illiterate
Patron of learning
Carolingian Empire - covered much of western &
central Europe
Used counts as king’s chief representatives in local
areas
Missi dominici - messengers of the king who checked
local districts to see if counts were carrying out king’s
wishes
19. Significance of Charlemagne
800 CE - acquired title “Emperor of the Romans”
Demonstrated the enduring strength of concept of a
Roman empire
Fusion of Roman, Christian, and Germanic elements:
Germanic king crowned emperor of Romans by
spiritual leader of western Christendom
35. Italian merchant
fleets took
crusaders to
east and
engaged in trade
-received trading
concessions in
Syria & Palestine
Trade between
Italy & China
enabled by Pax
Mongolica 13th
century
-Marco Polo
Mostly agrarian
Revival of trade
in 11th-12th c.
Italian city-states
like Venice led
the way
Bruges & Ghent
in Flanders led
way in north
Trade fairs arose
& use of gold &
silver
Middle EastChinaEurope
36. The Rise of Towns & Cities
Popped up along trade routes
Often set up outside castles & fortresses - leads
to term “borough, burg, burgh, bourg)
Merchants & artisans demanded different rights
from kings and nobles - needed greater mobility
Townspeople often swore oath forming a
commune to stand up together against lords -
wanted self-government
38. For Discussion:
What were the main aspects of
the political, economic,
spiritual, and cultural revivals
that took place in Europe in the
High Middle Ages?
39. England in the Middle Ages
1066 - Battle of Hastings
William of Normandy crowned king of
England
Norman knights got fiefs and swore oath of
loyalty to William - beginning of creation of
a strong, centralized monarchy
41. Repercussions of Norman Conquest
William was King of England but vassal to
king of France - kept England connected
with continental European affairs
42. Growth of English Institutions
Henry II (1154-1189) - increased power of royal
courts; common law began to replace local law;
lost battle to control English church
Magna Carta - King John (1199-1216) - English
nobles tried to secure their feudal liberties
against the growing power of the king
Edward I (1272-1307) - Parliament - came from
idea of 2 knights from every county and 2
townspeople meeting with Great Council to
consent to new taxes (“power of the purse”)
43. Growth of French Kingdom
987 - death of last Carolingian king led to
choice of Hugh Capet, establishing new
Capetian dynasty
Not a lot of power - controlled only area
around Paris
Would take hundreds of years for Capetian
kings to centralize their power
44. Growth of French Kingdom
King Philip II Augustus (1180-1223)
Strengthened royal bureaucracy
Philip IV the Fair (1285-1314)
Reinforced French bureaucracy & created a French
parliament to meet with him (reps from the 3 estates)
France = largest, wealthiest, & best governed
monarchical state in Europe by end of 13th
century
45. Iberian
Kingdoms
10th century Muslim
power weakening
on Iberian peninsula
11th century - a
number of small
Christian kingdoms
were emerging in
the north
Muslims limited to
Granada by 13th
century
Spanish Muslims (Moors)
would be forced out of Iberian
Peninsula by 1492
46. Holy Roman Empire
Hohenstaufen dynasty - Frederick I Barbarossa
(1152-1190) and Frederick II (1212-1250) - tried
to create a new kind of empire
Planned to get chief revenues from Italy as
center of a “holy empire”- not as easy to take
over Italy as he thought
Battle with the popes & the northern Italian towns
Result of spending so much time worrying about
Italy allowed German lords to gain more power
so that the Holy Roman Emperor did not have
great (centralized) power over anyone
47.
48. Central & Eastern Europe
Slavs - originally a single
people in central Europe
Divided into 3: western,
southern and eastern
Western Slavs converted to
Catholicism
Eastern and southern Slavs
embraced Eastern Orthodox
Christianity
49. The Development of Russia
Eastern Slavs began to encounter Swedish
Vikings (late 8th century) - Vikings built trading
settlements, dominated the native peoples and
called them “the Rus”
Kiev 10th century - established by Viking Oleg -
married Slavic wives and assimilated into Slavic
population
987 - Rus ruler Vladimir officially accepted
Christianity - Byzantine Christianity became a
major part of Russian religious life
50.
51.
52. Mongols enter Russia - 13th century
Conquered Russia but not numerous to
settle the vast land
Required Russian princes to pay tribute
Alexander Nevsky - Russian prince earned
favor of Mongols - earned him title “grand
prince” which set up his descendants to
become princes of Moscow and future
leaders of Russia
55. Reform of the Papacy
Religious officials became entangled in the
secular obligations of feudalism - increasingly
secular and not too worried about their spiritual
obligations
Pope fought against lay investiture
Gregory claimed he had authority over all of
Christendom, including its rulers
German King Henry IV fought back
Investiture Controversy led to Concordat of Worms -
compromise
56.
57. Growth of Papal Power
Interdict - forbade priests to dispense
sacraments so people would put pressure
on ruler to do what pope wanted
Excommunication
58. New Religious Orders
Between 1050-1150 - wave of new
monasteries & monastic orders
Ex. Cistercians - strict aesthetic
St. Bernard of Clairvaux - new spiritual ideal
Increasing number of women joining
religious orders/convents
Haven for female intellectuals
59. New Religious Orders
Franciscans
St. Francis of Assisi
Called for return to the
simplicity & poverty of
the early church
Dominicans
Dominic de Guzman,
Spanish priest - desire to
defend church teachings
from heresy
New religious order of
men who lived in poverty
but were educated
Became inquisitors of the
papal Inquisition
60. Popular Religion in High Middle Ages
Church = integral part of people’s lives
7 sacraments administered by clergy
Clergy = key role in anyone attaining salvation
Importance of saints in protecting poor souls
Growing importance of Mary,
Jesus’ mother - many churches
devoted to her
Importance of relics - bones of
saints or objects connected to
them
62. Rise of Universities
Medieval universities = educational guilds
or corporations that produced educated
and trained individuals
1st = Bologna, Italy
By end of Middle Ages, 80 universities in
Europe (primarily in England, France, Italy,
Germany)
63. Rise of Universities
Liberal arts curriculum - grammar, rhetoric, logic,
arithmetic, geometry, music, astronomy
Teaching by lecture method (books too
expensive - teachers read from a text and then
discussed it)
All male
1st degree = bachelor of arts
2nd degree - master of arts
After a liberal arts degree, he could go on to
study law, medicine, or theology(could take
another 10 years)
64.
65. Scholasticism
Theology = “queen of the sciences”
Effort to apply reason or logical analysis to
theology impacted study of religion
Scholasticism = tried to reconcile faith and
reason
Harmonize Christian teachings with Greek
teachings of Aristotle
Key “harmonizer” was Thomas Aquinas - Summa
Theologica
66. St. Thomas Aquinas & Scholasticism
Summa - Attempted to bring together all
the learning of the preceding centuries on
a given subject (theologica - religion)
Used dialectical method =
Pose a question
Cite sources that offer opposing opinions on
the question
Resolve matter by arriving at his own
conclusions
Aquinas discussed c.600 articles
70. Gothic Cathedral
12th-13th centuries
Symbol of people’s preoccupation with God
2 innovations:
Combination of ribbed vaults and pointed arches
replaced barrel vaults - could make church higher
Flying buttress = heavy arched pier of stone built onto
outside of walls- helped distribute the weight of the
ceilings - allowed magnificent stained glass windows
which created different plays of light inside (believed
natural light was a symbol of the divine light of God)
71.
72.
73.
74. Gothic Cathedral
1st full Gothic church - Saint-Denis near
Paris
By mid-13th century - Notre-Dame, Reims,
Amiens, Chartres
All classes contributed to construction
Represented community’s preoccupation
with a spiritual ideal