Download Early Middle Ages in Europe

1. Please pick up your answer sheet and a
marker from the back table.
2. Please get out your Ch. 10 Key Points.
3. In your notes, please complete the
following….
Write a short paragraph
answering this prompt.
If you were king or queen of RRHS, how
would you rule your kingdom? Are you
strong enough to rule your kingdom
yourself ? If not, which of your friends
would you have help you rule? Which
areas of the kingdom would you have
them rule?
You are all members of a Western European society
living after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. After
the Empire fell, there were various waves of attacks from
Barbarians on the outside. Most feared of all were the
invaders that sailed from Scandinavia in the North.
These fierce warriors were known as Vikings or Danes.
They stole everything they could carry off and destroyed
what they could not. Because there was no central
government to provide protection from these attackers
people looked to powerful lords (nobles) and their bands of
knights to provide protection.
Homage: a feudal
ceremony by which a
man acknowledges
himself the vassal of a
lord
As a result of this ceremony, what
is the agreement made between
king and noble?
Vassal: a person in
who received
protection and
land from a lord in
return for loyalty
and service
1. As a result of this ceremony, what
is the agreement made between
Vassals
also
homage oaths.
noble
andgave
vassal?
2. Is a noble also a vassal? If yes, to
whom?
Serf: a person who
belonged to a low
social class and who
lived and worked on
land owned by another
person
I will be giving you 10 M&M’s. DO NOT EAT YOUR M&M’s!
These represent the food produced on a manor this year.
The serfs will be assigned to a manor. As I assign
you, please take your place in your manor with
your lord. You may not leave. You are tied to your
land for the rest of your life – it is your destiny.
Vassals/Knights: The peasants are paying for
protection with their crops. Confiscate 6 M&M’s
from each of your peasants.
Vassals/Knights: give 5 of the M&M’s you collected
to your noble as a sign of your fidelity. If you
collected from 2 serfs- you give 10 M&M’s.
Fidelity: loyalty.
Nobles: give 3 M&M’s collected from each
Vassal/Knight to the king or queen as a sign of your
fidelity. If you collected from 2 vassals/knightsyou give 6 M&M’s.
1. Is this a fair system?
Why or why not?
2. What need would the
nobles and king have
for all the food and
material?
3. What choice did the
peasants/serfs have?
4. Why did feudalism
work?
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476 Roman Empire falls in W. Europe
527 Justinian becomes Byzantine Emperor
537 Completion of the Hagia Sophia
570-632 Muhammad[ 622 Islam calendar year 1]
610-635 Koran is compiled
638 Arabs conquer Jerusalem
762-945 Abbasids take power move capital to Baghdad
800 Charlemagne crowned “Holy Roman Emperor”
860 Cyrillic Alphabet
1000 Chinese invent gunpowder
1066 William the Conqueror invades England (end of Anglo-Saxon England)
1099 Crusades begin – 1st– Crusaders take Jerusalem
1204 Crusaders take Constantinople
1215 King John signs Magna Carta
1348 Black Plague strikes Europe
1378-1417 Great Schism
Expansion &
Decline of the
Roman Empire
Under control of the Roman Empire
Christian (Edict of Toleration; Emperor
Theodosis I)
476- Roman Empire collapses in W.
Europe
• Germanic invasions
• Political instability
• Economic decline
• Population declines
 High
inflation rates
 Low agricultural outputs (yields)
 Population decline
 Weak political leaders
 Invasion, invasion, invasion
 Sometimes
called the Dark Ages
 Influenced by Germanic traditions
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Tribal organization- allegiance to the king
Warrior society
Law
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Trials by Ordeal, Combat
Wergild
 Maintains
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some institutions from the Roman Empire
Christianity
•Merging of Roman and Germanic Tribes
•Many Romans maintained their positions of
leadership under the Germanic kings
•Some Germanic tribes became more Romanized in
their traditions
•Germanic society continues to be patriarchal
•Women are valued
•Dower
•Bride price
 Missionaries
dispatched to Germanic kings
 The Conversion of Clovis (two different accounts)
http://www.fordham.edu/Halsall/source/496clovis.asp
 Conversion of Kent and Northumbria
http://www.fordham.edu/Halsall/source/bede1.asp
Activity- Create a comparison chart noting the similarities
and differences in the stories of the conversion of the
Franks, Kent and Northumbria.
How are these stories similar to the conversion of
Roman Emperor Constantine I? Write a thesis statement
and provide supporting details in outline form.
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/conv-const.asp
Clovis belongs to the Merovingian dynasty
 converts all to Christianity
Charles Martel (the Hammer) serves as Mayor of the Palace under
the Merovingian kings
 defeats the Moors at Battle of Tours
in 732
Pepin the Short overthrows the Merovingian kings
 starts the Carolingian dynasty
 granted title of Protector of Rome
by Pope
Unifies Europe
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missi dominici
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counties/Counts
 supports Christianity
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defends Pope Leo III
slaughter of the Saxons
promotes education
* Forms the Holy
Roman Empire
Einhard: The Life of Charlemagne
Charles was large and strong, and of lofty stature, though not disproportionately
tall (his height is well known to have been seven times the length of his foot); the
upper part of his head was round, his eyes very large and animated, nose a little
long, hair fair, and face laughing and merry. Thus his appearance was always
stately and dignified, whether he was standing or sitting; although his neck was
thick and somewhat short, and his belly rather prominent; but the symmetry of
the rest of his body concealed these defects. His gait was firm, his whole
carriage manly, and his voice clear, but not so strong as his size led one to expect.
His health was excellent, except during the four years preceding his death, when
he was subject to frequent fevers; at the last he even limped a little with one foot.
Even in those years he consulted rather his own inclinations than the advice of
physicians, who were almost hateful to him, because they wanted him to give up
roasts, to which he was accustomed, and to eat boiled meat instead. In
accordance with the national custom, he took frequent exercise on horseback
and in the chase, accomplishments in which scarcely any people in the world can
equal the Franks. He enjoyed the exhalations from natural warm springs, and
often practised swimming, in which he was such an adept that none could
surpass him; and hence it was that he built his palace at Aixla-Chapelle, and lived
there constantly during his latter years until his death. He used not only to invite
his sons to his bath, but his nobles and friends, and now and then a troop of his
retinue or body guard, so that a hundred or more persons sometimes bathed with
him.
Rollant ad mis l'olifan a sa
buche,
Empeint le ben, par
grant vertut le sunet.
Halt sunt li pui e la voiz
est mult lunge,
Granz .XXX. liwes
l'oïrent il respundre.
Karles l'oït e ses
cumpaignes tutes.
Ço dist li reis: "Bataille
funt nostre hume!"
Old French
Roland has put the horn at his
mouth,
He places it solidly, with great
force he blows it.
The mountains are high and
the sound carries very far,
Thirty long miles away they
heard it resonate.
Charles heard it, and all his
troops.
The king spoke these words:
"Our troops fight a battle!"
Translation
Charlemagne dies
in 814.
HRE begins
to fall apart.
Son Louis the Pious takes
over.
Issues with his coronation
 Ineffective ruler
Divides kingdom between
his 3 sons (Treaty of
Verdun, 843)
Charles the Bald
Louis the German
Lothair
CHARLES MARTEL
granted fiefs to warriors in
exchange for military support
FIEF/BENEFICE: Complete
Estate
**This system is complex,
convoluted & confusing.**
King
Clergy
Roman Patronage
Roman society also involved a system of patronage.
Members of the upper classes – the patroni – offered
protection to freedmen or plebeians, who became their
"cliens." Patronage might consist of money, food, or
legal help. Traditionally, any freed slaves became the
cliens of their former owner.
~http://www.pbs.org/empires/romans/empire/order.html
 The
economic arrangement between the land owner
(land lord) and their peasant laborers
 MANOR
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Population: majority were serfs (legally bound to the land, but
not slaves)
Paid rent with a large percentage of their goods or services to
the landlord
Compensated with protection
castle, church, village (mill, blacksmith, bake house, etc.) and
surrounding farmland
Buildings based on Roman arch
 Architecture appears “heavy”
 Church interiors were dark
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http://whc.unesco.org/pg.cfm?cid=31
&l=en&id_site=84&gallery=1&&maxrow
s=56
Technological & Agricultural Development
• Stirrups (military use by Arabs)
• Mold Board (attached to a plow)
• 3-field system
Who were they?
•Scandinavian
•Farmers, seafarers, warriors,
traders
•Polytheistic
https://www.youtube.com/watc
h?v=Lc225HP2psw
Reasons for raids:
Where did they settle?
•Overpopulation
•Wealth
•Trade
• British Isles
•Normandy
•Iceland
•Vinland
Spoken/written c. 5-12th centuries
12-15th centuries- Middle English
16th century- present- Modern English
Key figures:
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William, Duke of Normandy
Harold, Duke of Wessex
Edward the Confessor, King of
England
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Harold Hardrada
Tostig
Odo, Bishop of Bayeux
The Battle:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLy1LskT6Y8
Outcomes:
• End of Anglo-Saxon traditions
•Introduction of feudalism
•Blending of French and English languages (leads to
development of modern English)
•Doomsday book
The Records:
The Bayeux Tapestry
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle