Download The Spread of Christianity

THE
MIDDLE
AGES
Essential Question:
What was life like during the
Middle Ages?
What happened to Europe after the fall of
the Roman Empire?
The Eastern half of the Roman Empire
became the Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire became a center
for trade and Greco-Roman culture
The Western half fell to the various
Germanic tribes, who created their own
kingdoms out of the former Roman territory
Europe was plunged into an era called the
Middle Ages (also known as the “Dark Ages” or
“Medieval” era) from 500 to 1300
Western Europe was plagued by constant warfare
between the Germanic “barbarian” kingdoms
The warring between
kingdoms disrupted
trade, causing
business to collapse
European cities were
damaged by war
and/or left in
financial ruin
City dwellers fled to
the countryside to
survive and Western
Europe became
mostly rural
The warfare made life dangerous and difficult for
Europeans; as a result, the finer things in life, such as
higher learning, became less important
Literacy decreased
among Western
Europeans and few
people could read
or write (aside from
priests and rich
people); the ruling
Germans had no
written language
Greco-Roman
culture was mostly
forgotten in
Western Europe
Europe lost its common language; Latin mixed with
German dialects and evolved into new languages,
such as Spanish, French, and Italian
Germanic Tribes in the Middle Ages
Without the
unity of the
Roman Empire,
Europe became
divided into a
series of
Germanic
kingdoms
Germanic people lived in
small communities led by
chiefs and his loyal warriors
Family ties and personal
loyalty (face-to-face) were
more important than
citizenship to a state or
loyalty to a king that they had
never even met
Rather than living by written
law (like the Romans), the
Germans were guided by
unwritten laws and tradition
The Spread of Christianity
During the early
Middle Ages, the
Germanic
kingdoms were
slowly converted
to Christianity
The Spread of Christianity
The Catholic Pope became involved in secular
(non-religious) issues like road repair, aiding the poor,
and helping Christian kings expand their power
The Franks were the largest and most powerful of the
The kingdoms
Spread inofthe
Christianity
Germanic
early Middle Ages
Frankish kings allied with
the Catholic Church and
expanded their power
In the year 771,
Charlemagne
(“Charles the
Great”) became
king of the
Franks
Charlemagne was the
greatest Medieval
king because he did
something no other
Medieval king was
able to do: create an
organized empire
Charlemagne and the Frankish Empire
Charlemagne expanded
the Frankish Empire
Throughout
the Frankish
Empire,
Charlemagne
spread
Christianity
He valued learning and built
schools in his empire
He created schools to
train future priests
After Charlemagne’s
death in 814, his
Frankish Empire lost
power and was divided
This was the last
opportunity to provide
unity in Medieval
Europe; that opportunity
died with Charlemagne
From 800 to 1000, a second major wave of invasions
struck Europe; the first wave of attacks was by
Germanic barbarians that took over Western Rome
This second wave of invasions was led by the Vikings,
the Muslims, and the Magyars
These invasions caused widespread fear and suffering
People stopped
Western Europe’s kings could not looking to kings for
defend against these invaders
protection
The way that people got protection from
outside invaders was by turning to local lords
and noblemen instead of the nation’s king
This began a
new political
and social
system called
feudalism
Feudalism is
based on land
ownership
and loyalty
Landowning
lords offer
pieces of land
(called a “fief”)
to knights
In exchange,
knights offer
lords their
loyalty and a
promise to
protect the lord
and his land
Feudal Structure
Lords (also called
nobles) were the
upper-class
landowners; they
had inherited
titles (such as
“Duke,” “Earl,”
“Sir”) and held
the most power in
feudal society
The most
powerful lords
had lesser lords
who worked for
them; these less
powerful lords
were called
vassals
In the feudal
system, kings
were the highestranking lords and
had wealth and
land, but actually
did not hold the
ultimate power
In the Middle
Ages, power was
spread out and
shared among
numerous lords,
not concentrated
with a single
monarch
Knights were
specially trained
soldiers and
armored horsemen
who protected the
lords and peasants
in exchange for land
Some peasants
were serfs; they
were not slaves
who could be
bought and sold,
but they were not
free, either
They had to farm,
do all types of
physical labor in
service to their
lords, and could
not leave the land
freely
In return for their service, the serfs could farm a
few acres for themselves and were given
protection from outside invaders (such as Vikings)
During the Middle Ages, the manorial system was the
way in which people survived
The lord’s land was
called a manor
The Manorial System
The lord provided peasants with housing,
farmland, and protection
The Manorial System
In exchange,
peasants repaid
the lord by
working his land
and providing a
portion of the
food they
produced
Manors were self-sufficient communities; everything
that was needed was produced on the manor
However, peasant
life was hard: the
days were filled by
tough physical labor,
they paid taxes to
use the lord’s mill
(to make bread for
themselves), and
had to get the lord’s
permission for most
things, including
getting married
Peasant life was
also short: the
average life
expectancy of
common folk in the
Middle Ages was
only 35 years old
Lords built castles to protect their territory
from outside invasions
Both the
attackers and
the defenders
of a castle
would use the
most modern
weaponry of
the time to
fight each other

Originally created by
Brooks Baggett
Revamped by
Christopher Jaskowiak