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The Early Middle Ages
Chapter 15
p.492-525
From Roman Empire to Early Middle Ages
• Roman emperors gave up control of the Western Empire and made
Constantinople their new capital, which led to a power shift in
Western Europe
• Though Rome was no longer the dominant political power in Western
Europe, its influence remained strong in the language, laws, and
cultures of the kingdoms and dynasties that replaced Rome
Byzantine Empire
• The Byzantine Empire grew out of the Eastern Roman Empire after
the collapse of the west.
• The Empire was named after Byzantium, which was the capital. The
city was later named Constantinople.
• Constantinople was located on the European side of the Bosporus
• By 1000 CE, the population was about 750 000
• Its location on international trade routes and its natural harbour,
meant that it had become the commercial gateway between East and
West
• Byzantine goal coin – bezant – main currency of international trade
• Were ruled on the Roman model
• Imposed heavy taxes on all subjects
The Byzantine Empire and the Church
• As a result of Constantine’s conversion to Christianity, Constantinople
became an important religious centre
• Constantine laid the groundwork for religious conflict that would split
the Christian Church into two distinct branches
• Constantine claimed to be the spiritual leader of the empire
• Believed that they had been appointed by God as Christ’s representative on
earth, the emperors ruled the Church with an iron hand
• Two leading officials of the early Church were the bishops of Rome and
Constantinople.
• Bishop of Rome  pope
• Bishop of Constantinople patriarch
The Byzantine Empire and the Church II
• Because he was based in Constantinople, the patriarch was firmly
under the control of the emperor
• Because the pope was in Rome, which was no longer part of the
empire, the pope was able to function more independently
• For most of the early middle ages, the pope and the patriarch
coexisted as Church leaders with powers that were equal
• In the 11th century, the disagreements came to a head and this lead
to a split that divided the Christian Church into two branches
• The Eastern (Greek) Orthodox Church based in Constantinople
• The Roman Catholic Church based in Rome
The Byzantine Empire and the Church III
• Emperors who succeeded Constantine began to pass laws to
persuade than force people to become Christians
• Activities such as magic, astrology, and soothsaying were declared
illegal
• In 380 CE, Theodorus introduced laws barring other religions
• He issued decrees banning heresy – the holding of beliefs that
question or contradict the official religion
• At first, the punishment was heavy fines
• Finally, the death penalty was imposed
• Only the Jews were exempt from the laws
Justinian the Great
• Justinian and Theodora were the Emperor and Empress of the
Byzantine Empire from 527-565CE.
• Wanted to reunite the Roman world as a Christian Empire
• He changed the Roman laws and implemented the Justinian Code.
• Justinian also expanded the Empire, taking back many of the old Western
Rome provinces. Among these were North Africa, Italy and parts of Southern
Spain.
• Suppressed all remnants of paganism
• Continued to suppress all Christians whose beliefs did not match his own
• Monophysites
• Arians
• He was known as the “Emperor who never sleeps”.
The Justinian Code
• a committee of jurists worked for 15 years (529-545) to clarify, codify,
and eliminate contradictions from the many laws that had governed
the Roman Empire
• New code of law enacted by Justinian I both in Latin and Greek
• Defined property that people could own, how property could be
passed on to heirs, and how disputes should be resolved
• Christianity gains official status
• Only Christians can be citizens of Byzantium
• Laws against Heresy and Paganism
• Animal Sacrifice was banned
• Indirectly, continues to influence Western legal codes, including
Canada’s
Justinian and Theodora
• Justinian marrying a Monophysite
• Was not a patrician and was not considered a suitable wife for the
heir to the throne of Byzantium
• To overcome this, Justinian raised her to the rank of patrician
• Theodora had also been an actress, which was synonymous with
“prostitute” and there was a law banning government officials from
marrying actresses  law was changed
• As empress, Theodora was active in all affairs of the empire
• Supported churches, orphanages, and public works
• Supported laws forbidding the sale of young girls and helped change
divorce laws to protect women
Justinian and Theodora II
• Never abandoned her religious beliefs  established a Monophysite
monastery in Constantinople
• During the Nika Riot of 532, Theodora urged Justinian to stand his
ground and helped him strengthen his husband’s resolve
• Rebellion was crushed when Justinian’s forces herded 30 000 to 40 000 rebels
into the Hippodrome and slaughtered them
The Byzantine Empire after Justinian
• Latin was the official language of the Byzantine Empire but after his
death, it became Greek
• This meant that the people in Western and Eastern Europe no longer shared a
common language
• The huge empire Justinian created was later reversed by the
barbarians of Western Europe and the Islamic dynasties
• Byzantium shrunk to the size of modern Turkey and Greece by the early 8th
century
The Iconoclastic Controversy
• One of the religious disputes that divided Christians in the 8th and 9th century was the
issue of icons – portable images of Jesus, Mary, and the saints
• they were popular with many people who believed that the images possessed spiritual
powers
• Horrified many Christians who believed that it violated the Third Commandment 
forbade the creation and worship of “graven images” of anything in heaven or on Earth
• known as Iconoclasts
• In 730, the emperor barred icons, harshly persecuted those who worshipped them, and
ordered the destruction of an enormous number of sculptures, paintings, and other
artifacts
• In 787, the use of icons was re-established
• In 815, the use of icons was banned
• In 843, the use of icons was re-established and continues today in the Eastern Orthodox
Church
Warriors and Warbands
• Barbarians were migrating into areas that had been given up by the
Romans
• The Roman legions had kept the barbarians at the fringes of Roman
territory  had lived as peaceful neighbours and trading partners of
the Romans
• The Huns, a Mongol people from Asia, swept westward in the 4th
century
• Began to invade territory just beyond the eastern fringes of the empire
• To escape the Huns, the barbarians who lived in these areas started moving
westward
• Their migration pushed other tribes westward
Warriors and Warbands II
• Barbarians divided into three groups based on the languages they
spoke:
• Celtic
• Germanic
• Slavic
• Little other than language united them
• Alliances shifted frequently
• Distinctions between groups were often blurred as members of
tribes migrating to new territory either assimilated into other
tribes or were assimiliated
Celtic Peoples
• Celts included:
• Gauls who inhabited present-day France and Belgium
• Britons, who lived in the present-day United Kingdom and Ireland
• Bretons, who lived in the Brittany Peninsula of present-day France
• The Celts evolved into a warband society that sent out raiding parties
to obtain loot
• Made up of free men including the immediate kin group of the leader
and others from the outside, who swear an oath of allegiance and
military support in return for maintenance, gifts, and plunder
• Political and military leadership was the exclusive right of the
equestrian nobles
Germanic Peoples
• Germanic peoples were the most numerous of the barbarians
• Originated in Scandinavia
• Adopted the warband social structure from the Celts
• Included the Goths, Franks, Vandals, Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Frisians,
Burgundians, and Suebi
The Goths
• Separated into two distinct kingdoms:
• The Ostrogoths
• The Visigoths
The Ostrogoths
• Stretched from the Black Sea to the Baltic and
included present-day Ukraine
• It was the first to be attacked by the Huns 
many fled westward
• Others remained under the domination of the
Huns who invaded the Italian Peninsula
• In 474, the Ostrogoths rebelled and overthrew
the Huns
• Invaded the Italian Peninsula in 493
• Justinian begins a campaign to reconquer Italy
and battle with the Ostrogoths from 524-561
• Although the Ostrogoths were Germanic
peoples, they kept many Roman traditions
alive.
• Germanic influences in both the people and
language of Italy was left behind by the
Ostrogoths
The Visigoths
• When the Ostrogoths fled to escape the Huns, they invaded modernday Romania, territory originally occupied by the Visigoths
• The Romans allowed the Visigoths to settle on the western side of the
Danube.
• In 378, the Visigoths rebelled and defeated a Roman Army
• In 410, the Visigoths, under the leadership of Alaric, sacked Rome
• After their success in Rome, the Visigoths moved into Southern Gaul
and Spain
• Remained in control of Spain until the Muslim conquest of 711
Slavs and Magyars
• After the Germanic peoples (mainly the Goths) migrated out of eastern Europe,
many groups followed, claiming the land that the Goths had left behind.
• Two major Slavic empires would arise in the dark ages: Kievan Rus, and Bulgaria.
• The Kievans inhabited what is now the Ukraine. They depended largely on trade
with Byzantium, and were the some of the first Slavs to become Christianized.
• The Bulgars of the Volga attacked the Byzantines and eventually were given land
to settle on by Byzantium in 681. The Bulgarian Empire and the Byzantine Empire
would have numerous more conflicts before the Byzantines finally defeated them
in 1018.
• The Magyars were a non-Slavic people that migrated into Europe in 830 from the
Caucasus. The Magyars swept across Europe raiding and looting before settling in
the Carpathian basin, what is now Hungary.
• The Alans were likely of close relation with the Magyars
The Church in the Early Middle Ages
• One of the most enduring legacies of the Roman era in Western
Europe was the Christian Church
• In Constantine’s time, most European, included non-Christian gods
• By the Early Middle Ages, Christianity dominated Western Europe and
had extended into Scandinavia and Eastern Europe
The Spread of Christianity
• As the Christian Church extended its influence, it was granted favours
by the Roman emperors
• Allowed the Church to amass land and wealth
• Church lands were exempt from most taxes
• Bishops and other clergy were immune to prosecution in secular
courts
• Church officials took on many of the functions of local magistrates
and judges
The Spread of Christianity II
• In the 6th century, the Church became even more powerful as its
members included the ruling class of the Byzantine Empire and most
of the barbarian kings
• Entering an alliance with the Church helped the kings secure their claim to
the throne
• Kings looked to the Church to supply educated administrators to help run
their kingdoms
• In return, the Church received gifts, including land
• Church could also have kings enforce laws prohibiting other religions
The Spread of Christianity III
• When a Christian king invaded a non-Christian neighbour, the
conquered people were usually required to become Christians
• Sometimes conversion was a matter of social or political pressure
• A community leader might decide that embracing Christianity would
increase his influence  once the leader converted, his family,
followers, servants, and slaves would follow
• People who did not follow the religious practices of the majority
would be on the outside of society
• Many people were required to convert to Christianity
• Because Rome was the home of the pope, Church leaders retained
many of the customs and traditions of the Romans
Monasticism and Missionaries
• Monks were men who give up their worldly possessions and
withdraw from society in order to devote themselves to religious life
• Many women also felt moved to live lives devoted to religious
devotion and become nuns
• Most people formed communities with other people who shared
their vision of Christian life  monasteries
• Monasticism was a central feature of the Middle Ages and hundreds
of monasteries were established
• Monasteries were centres of education, literacy, and learning
Monasticism and Missionaries II
• Monastic life was usually governed by strict codes of behaviour
• Rule of Benedict – credited to Benedict of Nursia, who founded the
monastery at Monte Cassino, Italy in 529
•
•
•
•
•
•
Had to serve a year’s probation before being accepted as a full member
Vows of obedience, chastity, poverty, and silence
Personal ownership of possessions was forbidden
5-6 hours of prayer
4 hours of reading spiritual writings
5 hours of work
Cult of the Saints
• A saint is someone who has, among other things, performed miracles
that are interpreted as evidence of a special relationship with God
• Canonization, the official process of declaring someone a saint, can
take place only after the person’s death
• Early saints such as St. Anthony and St. Benedict became icons of
popular culture
• At a time when the Christian God was feared as a God of vengeance,
people often chose to pray to a saint instead
• They hoped that the saint would intervene with God on their behalf
• People also made pilgrimages to sites where the saints had lived or
reportedly performed miracles
St. Augustine
•
•
•
•
Was appointed bishop of Hippo in 396 CE
Was located near Carthage in present-day Algeria
Explained his theories in numerous sermons and writings
Most famous work was Confessions, which describes his
spiritual journey from a worldly life to one devoted to religious
thought
• ideas about ethics, self-knowledge, and the role of free will in
people’s lives influenced the Churches’ later teachings
• The Donatists were North African Christians whose idea of the
nature of God and Christ differed from orthodox views
• The Donatists resorted to violence to maintain their own church and
clergy
• Decided to meet force with force and created a theological justification
for using force against heretics  rationale for a “just war”
Illuminated Manuscripts
• Before the printing press, books were laboriously copied by
handed, usually by monks or nuns
• Because this processes was expensive, only the wealthy
could afford books
• Wealthy patrons commissioned manuscripts written on
vellum
• Often decorated with elaborate lettering, borders, and
pictures, often with gold and silver also being used
• One of the most beautiful was the Book of Kells
The Merovingians
• Merovingian comes from Merovech, the
mythical leader of the tribe of Franks, who
may have been the grandfather of King Clovis I
• King Clovis I conquered much of Gaul and
Western Europe. Franks had almost total
domination of Western Europe by the late 6th
century.
• Clovis I was the first Christian Frankish king
and it became the official religion in The
Merovingian Empire.
Merovingian Government
• Adopted many of the governing techniques that had worked for the
Romans
• Employed Gallo-Roman clerics who had been educated during the
Roman occupation of Gaul
• The king issued decrees, made law, and developed bureaucratic
shortcuts called “Formularies” – forms used to complete legal
transactions such as land transfers
• Justice was adminstered by Rachimburgs or “law speakers” instead of
written.
• Laws were a mixture of Roman and Germanic traditions
Salic Law
• The Germanic tradition of assigning a specific financial value to
everyone and everything
• The wrongdoer was required to pay this amount to the victim or the
victim’s kin
• Included various trial options
• Trial by oath
• Allowed oath helpers to swear in defence of the accused
• Trial by ordeal
• involved a physical test
• if you were injured during the test, were considered guilty
• if you were not injured, were considered innocent
Merovingian Religion and Culture
• The Merovingians founded many monasteries and religious
establishments
• Contributed to the spread of Christianity throughout Western Europe
• Employed many skilled stonecutters and masons
• Had skilled metalworkers, glass makers, and carvers of ivory
The Decline of the Merovingians
• Were known as long-haired kings as they wore long hair and beards
• From the mid-seventh century onward, the dynasty began to decline
as the later kings relaxed their grip on the kingdoms
• Monarchs became little more than figureheads
The Carolingians
• Charles Martel was one of the aristocrats who came to dominate the
government of Francia when the Frankish kingdom fell under the rule
of a series of weak kings
• Martel eliminated all his rivals, and by 719 he was mayor, the most
powerful position
• Charles Martel is best known for his victory at the battle of Tours in
732, halting Islamic expansion into Europe.
• Rewarded his followers by confiscating some of the Church lands
• Paved the way for Church reform as reformers wanted to restore spirituality
to clerical life, hold regular meetings (synods), and eliminate pagan practices
The Carolingians II
• Martel’s son, Pepin the Short took over in 741
• Pepin worked on Church reform
• By getting rid of Church officials who were actively involved in politics,
he eliminated one source of political opposition
• Brought him into contact with an English monk, Boniface, who has
chosen by the pope to work as a missionary in Germany
• Pepin offered Boniface his protection, which earned him the gratitude of the
pope
The Carolingians III
• By 751, Pepin clearly controlled the Frankish kingdom, but was not
king
• Pepin sent an embassy to Pope Zacharias in Rome to ask the pope
that the person who held the reigns of power be called “king”
• With the power of the pope behind him, Pepin overthrew King
Childeric III and became king established the Church as the maker
of kings
• When in 753, the pope wanted to regain territory seized by the
Lombards, he asked Pepin to do so
• Pepin took this territory Papal States
• Established the Carolingian dynasty as the protectors of the papacy
Charlemagne
• After Pepin’s death, the empire was divided into
two
• When Carloman died, Charles reunited the Empire
once again.
• Charlemagne expanded the empire to its greatest
extent.
• By 799, he had defeated the Saxons, Avars, Bretons,
Bavarians, and some Slavs
• Crowned “Emperor of the Romans” by the Pope Leo
III in the Vatican in 800 CE.
- First ruler of the Holy Roman Empire which would
last for 700 years
Carolingian Rule
• Charlemagne took steps to ensure that clergy obeyed Church law, that
monasteries conformed to strict codes of conduct, and that people
throughout his kingdom lived a Christian life
• Established schools to educate the people and the clergy
• Ordered that Latin be standardized
• Textbooks created and new pronunciations developed  Latin spoken by the
Romans virtually disappeared
• Manuals for preaching introduced and required that all sermons be
delivered in the language of the people
Carolingian Rule II
• Literacy, liturgy, and scholarship flourished under Alcuin, an English
theologian and Church reformer, at the palace school of Aix-laChapelle
• A new form of handwriting called Carolingian minuscule became the
model for other medieval scripts until the invention of the printing
press
• Benefits of education:
• Provided people who could administer the empire
• Produced a precise written language that could be understood by people
everywhere in the empire
• Produced a generation of scholars whose achievements could rival the
Romans
The Carolingians After Charlemagne
• Charlemagne divided his empire among his three sons, but when two
of his sons died, he left his empire to his son Louis
• Louis ascends throne in 814 and continues Church reforms of his
father
• Louis’ three sons quarreled amongst themselves before his death and
when he died in 840, his sons began a civil war that lasted 3 years
• The Church got involved it believed it had a role as maker of kings
• In 843, the Treaty of Verdun split the empire into three kingdoms
•
•
•
•
Francia Occidentalis (Western France) – Charles the Bald
Francia Orientalis (Eastern France and most of Germany) – Louis the German
Francia Media (Middle France and Italy and Rome) – Lothair
When Lothair dies, he leaves his kingdom to his three sons, further weakening
the empire
Carolingian Rule III
• Charlemagne really established feudalism in Europe
• each province had a governor who answered directly to Charlemagne
• each province had their own laws
• each count was in charge of a region called a county and was in
responsible for a court, collecting fines, and assembling armies
• inspectors came around once a year to make certain that governors
were honest and efficient
Iberia
• Peninsula made up of Spain and Portugal was called “Iberia” by
Romans
• Large agricultural estates established there wealthy landowners
seniores
• Cities had developed, as had a middle class
• Dominant feature of the culture was strong ties to the Catholic
Church
• Christian tradition first threatened by the Visigoths in 409
• Ruled from Toledo for about 300 years
Iberia II
• In the south, the Iberians, with help from Justinian’s Byzantine
armies, overthrew the Visigoths and re-established Roman influenced
culture
• Conflict only ended when the Visigothic king Reccared converted to
Catholicism in 587
• In 711, Spain was conquered by the Moors, an Islamic people from
North Africa
• Did not interfere with the religious practices of the Iberian Christians
Iberia III
• Changed in 756 when Abd al-Rahman took control and crated the Muslim
state of Andalusia with Cordoba as his capital
• Because they were surrounded by Catholic kingdoms, the Muslim caliphs
guarded their Islamic foundations and tried to suppress the Christian faith
• Emerged the Mozarabs – urban Iberians who remained Christian, but
learned to speak Arabic and adopted many Islamic cultural traditions
• Under Charlemagne, Christian forces began to reconquer the Iberian
Peninsula from the Muslims – known as infidels (Latin for unfaithful)
• Christian leaders gradually fought their way south and three distinct
Kingdoms emerged
•
•
•
•
Castile
Portugal
Aragon
By 121, the Muslim-controlled area of the Iberian peninsula was just the state of
Grenada, which fell in 1492
The British Isles
• Northwestern Europe, including Northern Gaul and the British Isles
were never as important to the Romans as the Mediterranean
• Considered as only good as a buffer against the barbarians
• When Romans withdrew, very little change at first
• Germanic tribes began to move into these areas, allowing people
from further east to move into Eastern Germany, Scandinavia, and the
Slavic territories of present-day Eastern Europe
Britain
• Roman rule collapsed in the 5th century
and the southern sections were invaded
by Germanic peoples: Angles, Saxons,
Jutes, and Frisians
• Many Britons fled west into present-day
Cornwall and Wales, or north into
Scotland
• One of those who fought the invaders is
thought to be King Arthur
• Native Britons who fell under the rule of
the invaders were often forced to work
as slaves and servants, and adopted
their conqueror’s language and customs
Britain II
• Anglo-Saxons established eight separate kingdoms, each ruled by an
aristocracy of warriors headed by a king – known as a bretwalda or
British ruler
• Divided their lands into units called hundreds and boroughs which
were administered by reeves
• Hundreds and boroughs were grouped into shires which were
governed by shire reeves – sheriffs
• First bretwalda was King Ethelbert of Kent
Alfred the Great
• In the 9th and 10 centuries, Vikings from Denmark and Norway frequently raided and
invaded England
• When the Danes conquered Northumbria and East Anglia, the area became known as
Danelaw
• Danes also threatened Mercia and Wessex until King Alfred the Great who ruled Wessex
from 871-899 beat them back
• Alfred is responsible for the restoration of London and was the first king of England, even
though his power was not absolute over all of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms.
• Built strong defences by constructing strong forts, building strong ships, and requiring all
free men to serve in the military
• Married a member of the Mercian royal family
• Supported learning by assembling scholars and establishing a court school to educate the
nobility
• Translated several Latin works into English
Conversion of the Anglo-Saxons
• Started by the rulers of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in the late 500s
• New religion trickled down to the common people
• In the 600s, Celtic missionaries from Ireland and Wales spread
Christianity north
The Venerable Bede
• Scholar and teacher in medieval England
• Studied at the monastery of Wearmouth and then Jarrow
• Became a deacon, and then a priest
• Mastered Greek, Latin, mathematics, astronom, and music
• Wrote Ecclesiastical History of the English People in 731, which
dramatizes the conversion of the English people to Christianity
• The primary source of knowledge about early Anglo-Saxons
Ireland
• Escaped occupation by Romans and Anglo-Saxons and remained
relatively untouched until the Viking raids in the late 700s
• Society was organized into clans and tribes under the authority of five
provincial kings who were nominally ruled by the king of all Ireland at
Tara
• Literature and arts were held in high esteem
• Irish history begins with the introduction of Christianity in the late
500sby St. Patrick and Latin literacy.
• Monasteries were established in Ireland by families and the Church
granted certain rights to the kin of the person who established it
• The abbot was drawn from the family  established kinship system in the
monasteries  monasteries became the focus of life in their communities
• Could be centres of learning and training missionaries
Ireland II
• Around the 5th century the Irish began to colonize western Britain,
the most important colony was the kingdom of Dál Riata in western
Scotland.
• From Dál Riata, Irish culture and language spread to Scotland.
• Irish texts make up a majority of historical documents from the
dark ages because of the loss of literacy in much of Europe.
• Ireland played a significant role in the spread of Christianity and
retention of spoken Latin in Northern Europe because of its isolated
nature.
The Vikings
• The Vikings raided all over the European coast in the Early Middle Ages, but the
most extensive Viking conquests were in Britain.
• The earliest raid happened in 787 CE according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and
resulted in one death, however the beginning of the era of Viking conquest in
Britain is set at 793CE when the monetary at Lindinfarne was attacked.
• The raiding of monasteries by independent bends of Vikings continued until
865CE when the predominantly Danish Vikings banded together and conquered
Northumbria and much of eastern Britain which became known as Danelaw.
• Vikings probably turned to piracy because of overpopulation, internal political
battles, a deteriorating climate and food supply
• Conspicuous wealth of the Carolingian Empire made them an easy target
Viking Exploration and Colonization
• Norse used longboats because they were easy to travel with.
• They were often light enough to allow the crew to portage the craft from one
river to the next.
• They traveled the river systems of Europe starting in the late 8th
century and culminated in the creation of vast trade routes and many
colonies.
• The Norse colonized many parts of Russia along the Volga river and most
founded the Kievan-Rus confederacy based in Novgorod and later in Kiev. This
was the first Russian nation and lasted until the Mongol invasion.
• They reached as far south as Constantinople in the late 9th century were they
left graffiti in the Hagia Sophia.
Viking Exploration and Colonization II
• The Scandinavians reached Iceland in the late 9th century.
• From there Eric the Red was exiled for murder. He set out west and discovered
Greenland in 982CE. He returned to Iceland and convinced many to follow him.
He set out again three years later leading 25 ships containing ~500 people to
colonize Greenland.
• The settlement became prosperous due to the lucrative ivory trade with the
North American Dorset Culture. The colony lasted for about 500 years until
the Inuit kill off and replaced the Dorset, trade died with them and the Inuit
began attacking the Norse settlements.
• Erik the Red’s son, Leif Erikson set out west around 1000CE and discovered
Helluland(Baffin Island), Markland(Labrador) and Vinland(Newfoundland).
Remains of a short lived Norse colony have been found at L'Anse-aux-Meadows
likely to be the one founded by Erikson.
Slaves and Serfs
• Slavery was common because invading tribes enslaved those peoples
they conquered
• Non-Christians often sold as slaves to Christians
• Muslims in Spain purchased slaves in Europe as Islamic law forbade
them from enslaving others
• Slavery became less attractive and some rural slave became serfs who
worked on the land on which they lived for the benefit of the owner
and provided labour for public works such as road building
• in exchange, they would be given a small wage and a share of the harvest
• Urban slaves acted more as servants and administrators
Slaves and Serfs II
• Serfs were not considered property, but they were considered part of a lord’s estate and could be
bought, sold, or exchanged
What benefits did the serf enjoy?
• most of the workers on the manor were serfs, who were bound to the land for life and could be
sold with it
• the serf had few rights, but he did have his thirty acres of land from which he could not be evicted
as long as he paid his dues and services
• even though he had few of the freedoms that a worker enjoys today, he had the security of
working his land and keeping a share of the produce
• most lords were wise enough to realize that the serf could be pushed only so far, so that self
interest often caused the lord to assist him and make his existence bearable
• besides providing land and protection for the serf, the lord built a mill and a church; he also
established a court where justice among the serfs could be secured
Slaves and Serfs III
• What obligations did the serf have to fulfil?
• the obligations of the serf to his lord were numerous and burdensome
• many of the duties were more of a nuisance to the serf than of any real value to the lord, but
once an obligation had been agreed upon, it tended to continue long after the reasons for its
imposition
• had disappeared
• the serf's obligations might be broadly divided into two categories:
• those he could fulfil by his own labour
• those that demanded payment, usually produce
• the most common practice was that the serf should work on the lord's land a certain number of
days each week, usually three
• extra days of work were demanded (boon work) at busy times such as seeding and harvest
• another sort of forced labour was the corvee which involved such work as road building, ditch
digging, or moat clearing
• the serf was usually free from military service, for the feudal knight had no great opinion of his
military ability
• in all, about half of the serf's labour was for his lord
Slaves and Serfs IV
What taxes were imposed on the serf?
• the payments that the serf could make were limited by his capacity to pay, and even the
worse lord realized this
• the most common tax was the poll, or head tax, which was not heavy
• a more oppressive one was the taille, a direct tax on the serf's property that could be
imposed at the lord's will
• the lord also demanded payment (banalities) for the use of his oven, mill, and wine press
• when the serf died, his son had to give the lord his best piece of furniture or animal
(heriot); the second-best article or animal was taken by the Church
• in addition, the Church collected an annual payment from the serf of one-tenth his
income (tithe)
• if the serf's son which to leave the manor to go to school, or if the serf's daughter
wished to marry a serf on another manor, the serf had to compensate the lord for the
lost labour
Slaves and Serfs V
What were the major problems in the life of a serf?
• one of the most common perils of the life of the serf was famine
• the lack of sanitation, inadequate diet, and years of scarcity made the
serf an easy victim of disease
• epidemics were common, and with the limited medical knowledge
available, the serf had a short life expectancy
The Role of Women
• Women were active in the monastic movement, founding and
running monasteries
• Acted as patrons, abbesses, and scholars
• Radegund was a Frankish queen and found a monastery at Poitiers
• Gathered many relics (body parts or belongings of saints)
• Was canonized by the Church
• Women also ruled
• Bathild was a Merovingian Queen who was named regent of her son
• Irene was the first woman in the Byzantine Empire to rule in her own name in
the 8th century
The Birth of Modern Language
• The great migration, and the end of the Roman empire had set the
stage for the creation of many modern European languages.
• Vulgar Latin continued to be spoken in many regions previously
owned by the Roman Empire.
• Vulgar Latin became Catalan, Galician, Romansch, Spanish,
Portuguese, Romanian, Italian and French.
• Proto-Germanic split into Norse, Old English, Frankish and Lombardic.
• Old Church Slavonic spoken in Kievan Rus gives rise to Russian,
Belarusian and Ukrainian.
• Church Slavonic is still used in many Eastern Orthodox Churches.