WEEK #11 (October 23th-27th)
Monday: Today introduced the Dark ages and the Carolingian Dynasty here
Tuesday: We completed Cornell Notes on the Carolingians
Wednesday. Today we worked on a guided reading project with this PPT and this packet
Thursday: We finished our section on the Carolingian dynasty
Friday: We worked on our essay #2 using our time wisely to research our topics
Week #11 Homework: Complete a rough draft of your Essay #2 and bring two printed copies to school on Wednesday of next week
Week 11 Notes
Monday: Today introduced the Dark ages and the Carolingian Dynasty here
Tuesday: We completed Cornell Notes on the Carolingians
Wednesday. Today we worked on a guided reading project with this PPT and this packet
Thursday: We finished our section on the Carolingian dynasty
Friday: We worked on our essay #2 using our time wisely to research our topics
Week #11 Homework: Complete a rough draft of your Essay #2 and bring two printed copies to school on Wednesday of next week
Week 11 Notes
- Fall of the roman empire
- Western empire declines as eastern flourishes
- Internal decay
- External threats
- Overextended borders
- Remaining influences
- Roman tradition
- Western church
- Germanic tribes
- Western Europe in 500 CE
- Visigoths in Southern Gaul/Northern Spain
- Vandals in Southern Spain
- Huns throughout Europe (sacked rome 410)
- Angles-Saxons in England
- Franks in Northern Gaul
- Ostrogoths in italy
- Also Lombards, Burgundians
- Development of Christianity in the West
- As Roman control over Europe declines, the Christian Church fills the void
- Europe isolated following end of Roman Empire - Church often only authority and most stable institution
- Church administration centralized with Roman archbishop given “Papal Primacy”
- Monastic Christianity
- Monasticism - priests turning away from popular culture to study faith
- Sought seclusion instead of self-torture
- Two types -
- Hermit - complete seclusion
- Communal - communities of monks - missionary oriented - “cities of God” - ex) Benedictines
- Divisions of Christendom
- East and west compete for supremacy of Christianity
- Eastern church too preoccupied with Islam to use resources to bring west under control
- Western church allies with Franks against Lombards for protection
- Franks defend the church
- Gulf widens between doctrinal views
- Western vs eastern christianity
- Western
- Pope had final say
- Church competes with political for control
- Celibate priesthood
- Unleavened bread
- Eastern
- Church councils decide
- Church accepts political control
- Priest could marry
- Leavened bread
- Western
- Ambrose (330-397 CE)
- Archbishop of Milan
- During his time, more influential than the Pope
- Forces late Roman Emperor to do penance for killing civilians - church over state
- Jerome (347 -420)
- Translated Bible from Hebrew and Greek to Latin (Latin Vulgate)
- Travels to Constantinople, Damascus and Jerusalem to find best version of Bible
- Believed Bible allegorical, not literal
- Allegorical - stories were not literal; Noah’s arc
- Classical training good if Christian purpose served
- No baths for women
- Augutine (354-439)
- Bishop of Hippo
- Said the Bible is revealed obscurely - an education needed to understand
- Believed in original sin and predestination
- Author, “On the City of God”
- Canonized after death
- Canonized - knighted
- The Franks
- Loose group of tribes inhabiting northeastern Europe in 3rd century
- Clovis, unites group (Merovingian dynasty) to become largest political power in wake of Empire
- Converts fro alliance with the Church
- Merovingians
- Solidify rule by giving control to non-nobles (to create loyalty) with office of Count
- Counts gain land becoming another type of aristocracy who become resentful
- Administration left to the “mayor of the palace” - Pepin I takes control of the Franks
- Establishes Carolingian dynasty
- Carolingians
- Pepin I - Pepin II - Charles Martel - Pepin III (the short) - Charlemagne
- Charles Martel (the hammer) creates large cavalry force using aristocracy - awards control of local area back to nobles giving benefices or fiefs (gifts of land) - beginning of feudalism
- Used armor and heavy cavalry
- Did not call himself a king but a pope
- Defeats the Muslims at the Battle of Tours in 732, effectively ended the Muslim advance into Europe
- Carolingians and the church
- Carolingians enlist church to help maintain control - offer conversion opportunities to conquered groups - ex: Anglo-Saxons
- Pope supports Carolingian takeover of remnants of Merovingian kingdom
- Reciprocal relationship: Carolingians protects Church from the East/Church legitimizes dynasty
- Give lands surrounding Rome to the church
- Charlemagne (742-814 CE)
- Solidifies relationship with the Church
- Crowned head of (new) Holy Roman Empire
- Says catholic church owns
- Charlemagne
- Increases Frankish realm - extends domain in name of Christianity
- Forces Eastern Empire to recognize authority in west - though no takeover
- Had strong indirect control over church - restored Pope after capture
- Governs in the Carolingian way - 250 Counts from aristocracy
- Large-extroverted-practical joker
- Expected loyalty - taxes collected - justice dispensed
- Occasionally resorted to divine justice “trial by ordeal”
- Builds large palace at Aix-la-Chapelle (Aachen)
- Carolingian Renaissance
- Charlemagne used resources taken from conquered tribes to attract scholars
- Aix-la-Chapelle became center of learning
- Preserved Roman writings in easier to read Carolingian script
- Served as vehicle to train bureaucrats
- Breakup of Carolingian Dynasty
- Charlemagne’s son Louis the Pious inherits
- Without talented leader, empire unmanageable
- Louis the Pious sons’ demand empire divided
- Lothar
- Louis the German
- Pepin/Charles
- Kingdoms devolve but Holy Roman Empire remains
- Feudalism
- Still echos of it around today
- System of agriculture that bound workers (serfs) to owners of the land (lords)
- Vocabulary
- Serfs - no longer slaves - but you owe a debt for the rest of your life
- Serf/peasant - farm worker
- Lord - owner of feudal estate
- Manor- farm/estate including local shops
- Fiefdom - estate or domain of a feudal lord
- Fealty - loyalty sworn to lord
- Vassal - one who swears loyalty to lord
- Liege - lord to which one is most loyal
- Vagabond - escaped serf who roamed
- Vassalage
- Web like society rather than chain
- Hierarchy of vassalage
- King - duke/baron - serf
- Knights serve lord of the manor
- Serfs might be required to fight also
- Some lords vassals to more than one superior
- Relationship between lords and vassals
- When it worked well - it was like a family
- Made a big part of the political and social structure of the feudal system
- Vassals had certain duties to perform for the lord
- All nobles were ultimately vassals of the king
- What is a knight?
- Almost all nobles were knights
- Training began age 7 - page
- under the guidance of the lady of the manor
- Became squires at age 15
- trained by other knight
- Hooked into armor
- Those deemed worthy were “dubbed” knights
- Chivalry - system of rules that dictates knights’ behavior towards others
- Does chivalry have an effect
- Did improve the lifestyle of the early feudal lords
- However… knights only required to act courteously toward those of his own class
- Those of a lower class were free game
- Waving and shaking hands were signs of trust and peace
- Coat of arms - shields
- System of Identity among medieval knights
- Meaning belongs to:
- Colors
- Symbols
- Helmet
- Motto
- Gold = generosity
- Red = warrior
- Helmet = protector
- Cat = liberty and courage
- Dragon = valor and protection
- Workers on the manor
- There were two groups of peasant workers on the manor
- Freemen - skilled workers who paid rent and could leave the manor whenever they wished. (they usually had a skill needed by others on the manor)
- Serfs - workers bound to the land by contract with the nobles. (they had no freedom - they were the noble’s property)
- Characteristics of feudalism
- Serfs bound to the land - multigenerational
- Levels of serfdom
- Free serfs - some right, had some bargaining power (small landowners)
- Servile serfs - no rights, needed permission for marriage, travel, etc
- Why did feudalism work?
- Lords needed stable workforce for land
- Serfs needed a job and protection
- Periodic waves of invaders threatened safety of the landless - 1000 CE new wave of Vikings, Magyars, and Muslims
- Crusades were partly an excuse to give the knights something to do
- Lords traded use of land for share of crops
- Small landowners trade also with lords
- Necessary antecedent for Nation-States
- Manorialism
- Economic system around a lord’s manor
- Manor included a village and the land surrounding it
- Each group in society had their own job and responsibility to fulfill
- self- sufficient
- Changes in agriculture
- Climate improves in Europe - 700 - 1200 CE temperature rises 1 degree centigrade
- Moldboard plow allows deeper penetration
- 3 field crop rotation system used
- Padded collars for horses
- Harness of water power for mills Water Wheel/Tidal Mill
- Wheelbarrow developed