Download OLM/THEO/CH FLF14 THE CAROLINGIAN AGES Slide show notes

OLM/THEO/CH
THE CAROLINGIAN AGES
Slide show notes
Rise:
PAX CAROLINGIA
CULTURAL RENAISSANCE
CHRISTENDOM
FLF14
Fall:
CAESAROPAPISM & FEUDALISM
NEW INVASIONS
3 cultures: Roman - Germanic – Catholic.
3 classes: Nobles - serfs - clergymen.
3 goals: unite - educate - convert.
3 countries: France - Germany - Italy.
3 events: 800 Crowning of Charlemagne - 843 Treaty of Verdun - 1075 Dictatus Papae.
Charlemagne’s reign was based on harmony, which developed between three elements:
the Roman past, the Germanic way of life, and Christianity. Charlemagne devoted his
entire reign to blending these three elements into one kingdom and by doing this, he
secured a foundation upon which European society would develop. Frankish society was
entirely rural and was composed of three classes or orders: (1) the peasants - those who
work, (2) the nobility - those who fight, and, (3) the clergy - those who pray…
Charlemagne's goal was to unite all Germanic people into one kingdom. The second policy
was religious in that Charlemagne wanted to convert all of the Frankish kingdom, and
those lands he conquered, to Christianity.
Pope Leo said "life and victory to Charles Augustus, crowned by God, the great and
peaceful emperor of the Romans." This was an extremely important act. Charlemagne
became the first emperor in the west since the last Roman emperor was deposed in 476.
The most durable and significant of all Charlemagne's efforts was the revival of learning in
his kingdom.
In Italy, Charlemagne met Alcuin who devised a course of study that was intended to train
the clergy and the monks. Here we find the origins of the seven liberal arts: the trivium
comprised grammar (how to write), rhetoric (how to speak) and logic (how to think) while
the quadrivium was made up of the mathematical arts, geometry, arithmetic, astronomy
and music.
What Charlemagne did was institute a standard writing style. Remember, previous texts
were all uppercase, without punctuation and there was no separation between words. The
letters of the new script, called the Carolingian minuscule, were written in upper and
lower case, with punctuation and words were separated. It should be obvious that this
new script was much easier to read, in fact, it is the script we use today.
One of the most important consequences of the Carolingian Renaissance was that
Charlemagne encouraged the spread of uniform religious practices as well as a uniform
culture. Charlemagne set out to construct a respublica Christiana, a Christian republic.
We must consider the renewed invasions from barbarian tribes. The Muslims invaded Sicily
in 827 and 895, invasions which disrupted trade between the Franks and Italy. The Vikings
came from Denmark, Sweden and Norway and invaded the Empire in the 8th and 9th
centuries… The third group of invaders was the Magyars who came from modern-day
Hungary. Their raids were so terrible that European peasants would burn their fields and
destroy their villages rather than give them over. All these invasions came to an end by the
10th and 11th centuries for the simple reason that these tribes were converted to
Christianity. And it would be the complex institution known as feudalism which would
offer Europeans protection from these invasions, based as it was on security, protection
and mutual obligations.
The fragility of the pontifical states required protection by some other political power.
The emergence of separated surrounding powers as England, Slavic countries, the Muslim
Spain & the Byzantine area that Charlemagne tried to incorporate.
Charles had only one son who survived him: Louis, whose patronage of the Church earned
him the nickname of Pious. Louis was a good king but an unremarkable one.
He divided the Frankish empire among his three sons, splitting what his forefathers had
brought together with so much toil.
The birth of a fourth son in 823 to Louis and his second wife, Judith, triggered a dynastic
crisis. Louis's elder sons, Pippin, Lothair and Louis the German, had maintained a delicate
if uneasy balance, and when Louis attempted to reorganize the empire to include little
Charles, resentment raised. There was a palace revolt in 830, and in 833 when Louis
agreed to meet Lothair to settle their differences (at what became known as the "Field of
Lies," in Alsace), he was instead confronted by all his sons and a coalition of their
supporters, who forced him to abdicate.
Look at a map of Europe today. There is France to the west and Germany to the east.
Between them you can still find the fragments of Lothar's kingdom, the Middle Kingdom:
Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Switzerland. The divisions made at Verdun would
persist for over a thousand years.
Otto saved roman states & fought Magyars & saracens.
The Ottonian dynasty was a dynasty of Germanic Kings named after its first emperor.
The Ottonian rulers are also regarded as the first dynasty of the Holy Roman Empire, as
successors of the Frankish Carolingian dynasty and Charlemagne, who is commonly
viewed as the founder of the Holy Roman Empire.
Since Otto I most of the German kings were also crowned Holy Roman Emperor. Under the
reign of the Ottonian rulers, the kingdom of the Eastern Franks finally became Germany.
The roots of this empire lay on Charlemagne’s empire divided into 3 parts. Louis the
German’s heritage formed the core of the future Ottonian empire.
St. Nicholas defended papacy against Lothair II.
He also Argued w/ Photius.
The son of a Roman official, Pope/St. Nicholas I was born c. 820. He developed an
interesting theory of church-state relations: both the pope and the emperor possess
power; their spheres, however, are different. The pope, since his realm of power is
spiritual, can interfere in matters of state, but the emperor, because his realm of power
is temporal, cannot interfere in matters of the church. Nicholas deposed Patriarch
Photius of Constantinople for deposing the previous patriarch, Ignatius. Photius later
excommunicated Nicholas. Nicholas refused to allow Lothair II to abandon his wife,
Theutberga, to marry his mistress. Nicholas died in 867
New waves of invasions: NORTH: Vikings - EAST: Magyars - SOUTH: Saracens
The Holy Roman Empire starts to split into a multitude of kingdoms. Politic manipulation
becomes vital: alliances, treatises, betrayals, local wars…
Sylvester II had to deal with Ottonian emperors. Chosen by Otto II but reformer.
Pope Sylvester II (or Silvester II) (c. 946 – May 12, 1003), born Gerbert d'Aurillac, was a
prolific scholar, teacher, and Pope. He endorsed and promoted study of Arab/GrecoRoman arithmetic, mathematics, and astronomy, reintroducing to Europe the abacus and
armillary sphere, which had been lost to Europe since the end of the Greco-Roman era. He
was the first French Pope, reigning from 999 until his death. Due to his efforts to root out
simony and other corruption within the Church, and his connection with the science and
intellectualism, there were many rumors and legends spread of Sylvester II being a
sorcerer in league with the devil.
Henry IV’s position, however, was precarious from the start. A conflict over the
relationship between the papacy and the imperial throne resulted in the
investiture controversy during the reign of Henry IV (1084–1105), who appointed bishops
to three sees already under the direction of papal appointees. He was also suspected of
tolerating simony and other practices that the pope was trying to curb. In 1076, Henry IV
withdrew his obedience to Pope Gregory VII and was excommunicated. Subsequent
struggles between the popes Alexander III, Gregory IX, and Innocent IV and the emperors
Frederick I and Frederick II concerned papal sovereignty in Italy. The papacy was victorious,
and the emperors ceased to interfere seriously with papal affairs except during the Great
Schism (see Schism, Great) of the 15th cent and in the Italian Wars of the 16th cent.
But the papacy had been entirely emancipated from the imperial power, and the German
Church, on which Otto the Great had built up his power, had become more closely united
to Rome and ceased to be a constitutional state church. Consequently, though this did not
appear immediately, the foundations of the Ottonian system were undermined. Strong
and energetic popes had appeared on the scene and found allies.
In 1073 Hildebrand had ascended the papal throne as Gregory VII. The "greatest
ecclesiastical statesman", as von Ranke calls him, wrote the Dictatus Papae and directed
his attacks against the traditional right of the German kings to participate in the filling of
vacant sees.