Download Class Notes Chapter 6 lesson 1 The Early Middle Ages I

Class Notes Chapter 6 lesson 1
The Early Middle Ages
I. The Geography of Europe
A. After the fall of the Roman
Empire in AD 476, Western
Europe was divided into
many kingdoms.
B. Europe is a continent, but it is
also a large peninsula and
most of Europe is within 300
miles of the coast. This
encouraged trade and helped
Europe’s economy grow.
C. Rivers in Europe made trade and travel
easy.
D. The seas and rivers offered protection from
enemies. Wide rivers (like the Rhine) kept
people separated so different cultures could
develop.
E. Europe contains many mountain ranges
making it difficult for one group to rule all
of Europe.
II. The Germanic
Kingdoms
A. The Visigoths in Spain
and Ostrogoths in Italy
adopted Roman ways
because they were close
to the center of the
Roman empire.
B. In the early 400’s, the Angles and Saxons
invaded Britain from Denmark and
Germany and became the Anglo-Saxons.
The Celts who had been living in Britain
fled west and north (into Wales, Scotland
and, Ireland)
C. The Franks were a Germanic people living
in what is today France. Clovis was the king
of the Franks and he became Catholic and
so did most of his kingdom.
D. After Clovis’s death,
fights broke out over
land and nobles called
mayors settled
disputes, gave out land
and fought each other.
E. Charles Martel was a
Frankish mayor who
wanted to control the
nobles. The Catholic
Church supported
Martel.
CHARLES MARTEL
The land of the Franks
F. Muslims conquered Spain in 711 AD and
threatened to spread Islam throughout
Europe. In 732 AD, the Battle of Tours,
Martel and the Franks defeated the
Muslims, and Christianity remained
Europe’s major religion.
BATTLE OF TOURS 732 AD
G. Pepin, Charles Martel’s son became mayor after
Martel’s death. He donated his lands to the Catholic
Church and the Pope and these lands became known as
the Papal States (inside modern Italy).
H. Pepin’s son Charles
continued to fight against the
Lombards and defend the Pope.
He conquered Germany and
Spain and earned the name
Charlemagne (Charles the
Great). The Pope crowned
Charlemagne the new Roman
Emperor. Charlemagne made his
capital in the city of Aachen.
Shar – luh – mayn
CHARLEMAGNE
I.
J.
After Charlemagne’s death, his
son divided the empire into
three kingdoms. These
kingdoms were weak and
suffered invasions.
The Vikings (from
Scandinavia) raided Europe
and conquered part of western
France called today
Normandy (after the term
Norsemen-northern men)
K. Otto I was a powerful
German king who
protected the Pope. The
Pope rewarded him by
making him the emperor
of the Romans. Otto’s
territory became known
as the Holy Roman
Empire.
III. The Rise of the Catholic Church
A. A priest named Patrick traveled
to Ireland to spread the message
of Christianity. He established
monasteries there.
B. Gregory the Great was pope
from AD 590 until 604. He asked
monks to become missionaries
and spread the Christian religion.
His monks converted Ethelbert,
the ruler of Kent in Britain.
C. Monks played an important role in the
preservation of the Latin language, knowledge
and education.
D. In 1073, Gregory VII was elected pope. He issued
a decree forbidding kings from appointing highranking Church officials. Henry IV, the Holy
Roman Emperor refused to obey.
E. Henry declared that Gregory was no longer pope.
Gregory excommunicated Henry IV. When the
German nobles chose a new emperor Henry
supported them and Henry declared war on
Gregory.
F. In 1122, the new
emperor and a new
pope made an
agreement called the
Concordat of Worms.
They agreed that only
the pope could choose
bishops and only the
emperor could give
them government jobs.
SWISS GUARDS PROTECTING THE POPE