Download Europe in the Early Middle Ages, 600-1000

CHAPTER 8
Europe in the Early Middle Ages, 600–1000
INSTRUCTIONAL OBJECTIVES
After reading and studying this chapter, students should be able to discuss the impact of the spread of
Islam on European history in this era. They should be able to describe the Merovingian and Carolingian
political systems and summarize how the Carolingians rose to power. They should be able to explain
what the so-called Carolingian Renaissance was. Finally, students should be able to discuss the breakup
of the Carolingian Empire, both internal causes (succession disputes, the growing power of local
magnates) and external ones (invasions).
CHAPTER OUTLINE
I.
The Spread of Islam
A. The Arabs
1. In the seventh century, Arabia was inhabited by various tribes, most of them nomadic
peoples.
2. Other Arabs lived in the southern valleys and coastal towns along the Red Sea, and in
the northwestern region called “Hejaz.”
3. These diverse tribes had certain religious rules in common.
B. The Prophet Muhammad
1. Muhammad began life as a merchant in the caravan trade.
2. Muhammad had a series of visions in which the angel Gabriel instructed him to preach.
These visions were set down in the Qur’an. Other sayings and accounts of Muhammad
were compiled in the hadith.
3. In 622 Muhammad and his followers were forced to move from Mecca to Medina, an
event known as the hijra.
4. In 630 Muhammad returned to Mecca with a large army and by 632 he had unified
most of the Arabian peninsula.
C. The Teachings of Islam
1. Muhammad preached a straightforward, strictly monotheistic theology.
2. Believers are required to submit themselves to Allah.
3. Muhammad prescribed a strict code of moral behavior, centered on the Five Pillars of
Islam.
4. Early Muslims believed that Jesus was a prophet, but not God.
D. Expansion and Schism
1. In the century following Muhammad’s death, Syria, Egypt, and all of North Africa
came under Muslim control.
2. The center of this empire was established in Damascus by the ruling Umayyad family.
3. A schism developed within Islam over the method of choosing the successors to
Muhammad.
4. Two distinct Islamic groups emerged from this schism, the Sunnis and the Shi’ites.
E. Muslim Spain
1. In Europe, Muslim influence was felt most strongly in the Iberian Peninsula.
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Chapter 8: Europe in the Early Middle Ages, 600–1000
51
2. In the eighth century, Muslims established dominance over most of Spain.
3. Muslims, Jews, and Christians coexisted in Moorish Spain.
4. Muslim economic, intellectual, and cultural practices influenced European civilization.
F. Science and Medicine
1. Arab scientific and medical achievements were transmitted to Europeans.
2. Muslim scholars reintroduced classical scholarship to the West.
G. Muslim-Christian Relations
1. Mutual animosity restricted contact between Muslims and Christians.
2. Muslims and Christians had mixed views of each other’s culture.
3. Animosity between Muslims and Christians increasingly shaped events in Spain.
II. The Frankish Kingdom
A. The Merovingians
1. Clovis divided his kingdom into four parts.
2. Lack of clear rules for succession meant numerous civil wars in Merovingian Gaul.
3. Queens exercised power because marriages made diplomatic alliances, because they
often controlled the royal treasury, and because they served as guardians of princes
who hadn’t reached legal adulthood.
B. Merovingian Government
1. Comites, or counts ruled cities and collected taxes.
2. The dux (duke) controlled military forces in a specific region.
3. Scribes at the court kept records, while legal officials and treasury agents gave advice
to the king.
4. The mayor of the palace was the most important secular official.
5. The king relied on the counts and bishops for information from throughout the
kingdom.
6. Kings depended on revenue from royal estates.
6. When kings were traveling, local officials had to support them.
7. Another source of revenue was conquest of new lands.
8. The land tax declined as more and more people became tax-exempt.
C. The Rise of the Carolingians
1. Members of the Carolingian family acquired power gradually as mayors of the palace
and dukes. Marriage alliances and military successes also helped.
2. In the period 754–756, Pope Stephen II supported the Carolingian Pippin’s claim to be
Frankish king in exchange for support against Arabs and Avars and against his
enemies within Rome.
III. The Empire of Charlemagne
A. Charlemagne’s Personal Qualities and Marriage Strategies
1. Charlemagne (r. 768–814) was crude and brutal, but extremely intelligent.
2. The security and continuation of his dynasty and the need for allies governed
Charlemagne’s complicated marriage pattern.
B. Territorial Expansion
1. Charlemagne continued the campaigns of conquest of earlier Carolingians, conquering
northern France, northwestern Germany, northern Italy (Lombardy), and Bavaria.
C. Government of the Carolingian Empire
1. Charlemagne’s empire was not a modern state but a collection of peoples and tribes
held together by personal oaths of faith and loyalty.
2. Carolingian power rested on the Frankish aristocracy.
3. Charlemagne’s advisers created a political ideology, arguing that a ruler held power
from God but had to respect the law. This was largely based on Augustine’s theories of
kingship.
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52
Chapter 8: Europe in the Early Middle Ages, 600–1000
D.
The Imperial Coronation of Charlemagne
1. In 800, Pope Leo crowned Charlemagne emperor.
2. The importance of this event has been much debated.
E. Decentralization and “Feudalism”
1. Charlemagne left his empire to his son, Louis the Pious (r. 814–840)
2. In 843, shortly after Louis’ death, his three sons divided the empire according to the
terms of the Treaty of Verdun.
3. The division of the empire was accompanied by decentralization of power at the local
level.
4. Lesser nobles became vassals of more powerful individuals in exchange for protection,
position, and land.
5. The feudal system was based on personal ties of loyalty.
6. The use of the term “feudalism” is controversial.
7. Throughout western Europe, counts or earls held the most effective political power at
the local level.
F. Manorialism, Serfdom, and the Slave Trade
1. A village and its surrounding land were called a manor.
2. Residents of manors exchanged their labor for a lord’s protection.
3. Workers who were bound to a particular manor were called serfs.
4. Serfdom was not slavery, but the Carolingian trade in slaves was extensive.
5. Most slaves were sold to Muslims.
IV. Early Medieval Culture and Society
A. Scholarship and Religious Life in Northumbria
1. The center of the Carolingian intellectual revival was the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of
Northumbria, where Roman forms of Christianity mixed with Irish-Celtic forms.
2. Northumbrian monasteries produced scores of religious books.
3. In Gaul and Northumbria “double monasteries” developed in which abbesses (women)
directed two separate but adjoining establishments, one of monks, the other of nuns.
4. The Venerable Bede, a Northumbrian monk, produced the earliest history of the
English people. He also popularized the practice of dating events from the birth of
Christ.
5. Although Bede spent his life in study, most monks did more active work in the fields
or in administering the monasteries.
6. A Northumbrian monk wrote the English heroic epic Beowulf in the eighth century.
B. The Carolingian Renaissance
1. Charlemagne patronized the synthesis of a new cultural tradition based on Christian
sources and common to Gaul, Italy, the British Isles, and Spain.
2. Charlemagne directed church officials throughout his empire to educate monks and
clergy into a better understanding of scripture and Christian writings.
3. At his court in Aachen Charlemagne assembled scholars from all over Europe,
including his chief adviser on religious and educational matters, Alcuin (ca 735–804),
a Northumbrian monk.
4. Through production of books and education scholars of the Carolingian Renaissance
completed the Christianization of Europe.
C. Health and Medical Care in the Early Middle Ages
1. Most medical treatment was by prescription of drugs.
2. Poor diet, eye infections, and infected wounds were common.
3. Many women died in childbirth.
4. Folk medicine was all that was available to most people.
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Chapter 8: Europe in the Early Middle Ages, 600–1000
V.
53
Invasions and Migrations
A. Vikings in Western Europe
1. As the Carolingian Empire weakened, outside attacks hastened its collapse.
2. The Vikings or “Normans” (Northmen) came from Scandinavia, traveling by sea and
along inland waterways. They raided throughout Europe and established control over
Slavic kingdoms, much of the British Isles, today’s Normandy, and other areas.
B. Slavs and Vikings in Eastern Europe
1. Vikings took control of river trade routes on the east European plain between the Baltic
Sea and Byzantium.
2. They also collected tribute from local Slavic tribes.
3. Viking rulers assimilated Slavic culture, adopted the Orthodox Christianity of
Byzantium, and created a loose federation of Slavic tribes under a single ruling
dynasty, based in Kiev.
4. After 1054 the Kievan federation disintegrated due to civil war between rival claimants
to the title of Grand Prince.
5. Peasants in the Slavic territories remained personally free.
C. Magyars and Muslims
1. From about 890, Magyar tribes (“Hungarians”) from Asia crossed the Danube and
conquered northern Italy, Bavaria, and Saxony. Even the Rhineland and Burgundy paid
them tribute.
2. Muslims also encroached on Europe anew. In the 600s and 700s Muslim invaders had
aimed to conquer and colonize. In the 800s and 900s they sought plunder. They
attacked Rome and even ports on the French coast of the Atlantic.
LECTURE SUGGESTIONS
1.
“The Battle of Tours (733): How Significant Was It?” Once thought to be one of the decisive
battles of world history, the Battle of Tours has more recently been viewed as less significant.
Why? Sources: L. White, Medieval Technology and Social Change (1962; see especially the first
chapter, on the introduction of the stirrup into Western warfare); P. Contamine, War in the Middle
Ages (1984); J. Beeler, Warfare in Feudal Society, 730–1200 (1971).
2.
“Putting Humpty-Dumpty Back Together Again.” Charlemagne’s coronation in 800 seemed to
many to be a return to the glorious days of the Roman Empire. Why was the image of Rome so
strong? How did Charlemagne appear to be a neo-Caesar? Sources: R. Folz, The Coronation of
Charlemagne: 25 December 800 (1974); G. Barraclough, The Crucible of Europe (1976); J.
Boussard, The Civilization of Charlemagne (1968).
3.
“Social Life in Frankish Society.” What was daily life like for the ordinary people during the time
of Charlemagne? What games did they play? What was their relationship to the royalty and the
nobility? What part did they play in warfare? Sources: C. Klapisch-Zuber, A History of Women
vol. 2: Silences of the Middle Ages (1992); J. Tibbets-Schulenburg, Forgetful of Their Sex:
Female Sanctity and Society, ca. 500–1000 (1998); P. Riche, Daily Life in the World of
Charlemagne (1983); S. Wemple, Women in Frankish Society (1981).
4.
“Muslims, Christians, and Jews in Moorish Spain.” What were relations like between Muslims,
Christians, and Jews in Moorish Spain? How were Christians and Jews treated by Muslim rulers?
How did they view their own dependent status? Sources: T.F. Glick, Islamic and Christian Spain
in the Early Middle Ages (1979); O.R. Constable, ed., Medieval Iberia: Readings from Christian,
Muslim, and Jewish Sources (1997); H. Kennedy, Muslim Spain and Portugal (1996); R. Collins,
The Arab Conquest of Spain, 710–797 (1994).
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54
Chapter 8: Europe in the Early Middle Ages, 600–1000
CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
I.
Classroom Discussion Suggestions
A. How did the Frankish kings enhance their prestige and power? What role did the papacy
play in the evolution of Frankish kingship?
B. How was Charlemagne able to maintain such a vast empire?
C. What were the real accomplishments of the Carolingian Renaissance?
D. Were Charlemagne’s successors inept rulers, or was the empire simply too big and unwieldy
to manage?
II. Doing History
A. Give students an outline map of Western Europe and ask them to shade in the part covered
by the Carolingian Empire at its greatest extent.
B. Most students seem to be surprised when they hear about the Carolingian Renaissance, since
they assume that the Renaissance comes at the end of the Middle Ages. Engage students in a
discussion of the term renaissance and its implications. Sources: W. Ferguson’s The
Renaissance in Historical Thought: Five Centuries of Interpretation (1971); J. Boussard,
The Civilization of Charlemagne (1968).
C. “Charlemagne at Play.” Did Charlemagne ever take time out for leisure activities, or was the
job of ruling his empire so great that he spent all of his time administering it? Have students
read selections from the following primary sources in an attempt to better understand the
day-to-day activities of this famous ruler. Sources: Einhard, Life of Charlemagne (1968);
The Royal Frankish Annals; and Nithard’s Histories (Carolingian Chronicles) (Penguin
edition).
III. Cooperative Learning Activities
A. Assign each class member a particular role in feudal society. Arrange the various classes of
society in teams: royal family, lord of the manor, knights (warriors), peasants, and clergy.
Have each team learn about its particular social stratum and report to the rest of the students
the contributions made by this social class to feudal society.
B. A Day in the Life: Medieval Peasant Societies
Organize the class into teams. Assign each team a particular geographical area that was
included in the Carolingian Empire. Each team should research a specific peasant society.
What were the common folk doing at the time of Charlemagne’s coronation in A.D. 800?
After teams have completed their research, have each team make a presentation to the class.
After the presentations, have each student (or team) write a first-person narrative of a day in
the life of a peasant in a particular peasant society.
C.
Divide the class into three groups. Assign each group the task of outlining the key features
of the monotheistic theology of Christianity, Judaism, or Islam. Conduct a discussion about
the most important similarities and differences of the three religions.
MAP ACTIVITY
1.
Using the map in the text for consultation, have students shade in the divisions of the Carolingian
Empire (A.D. 843) on an outline map of Europe.
2.
Using Map 8.1 (Map of the Islamic World, ca. 900) as a reference, answer the following
questions:
a.
What explains the rapidity of Muslim expansion?
b.
How did Muslim rulers in the Middle East keep control of their far-flung empire?
c.
How did Muslim expansion shape regional trade patterns?
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Chapter 8: Europe in the Early Middle Ages, 600–1000
55
AUDIOVISUAL BIBLIOGRAPHY
1.
Christians, Jews, and Moslems in Medieval Spain. (Videodisc. Color. 33 min. Films for the
Humanities and Sciences.)
2.
Muslims in Spain. (30 min. Color. International Film Bureau.)
3.
Islam. (30 min. Color. Films for the Humanities and Sciences.)
4.
Middle East Diary. (CD-ROM. National School Products.)
5.
Early Islamic Art (www.lacma.org/islamic_art/thumbnails/thmbnail_EI.htm)
6.
Charlemagne: Holy Barbarian. (26 min. Color. Learning Corporation of America.)
7.
Alfred the Great. (122 min. Color. Films, Inc.)
8.
The Meaning of Feudalism. (11 min. Color. Coronet Films.)
9.
The Vikings: Their Life and Conquests. (17 min. Color. Encyclopedia Britannica Films.)
10. The Story of the Carolingians. (Videodisc. Color. 52 min. Films for the Humanities and Sciences.)
11. Charlemagne: Unifier of Europe. (Videodisc. Color. 13 min. Britannica Videos.)
12. The Medieval Manor. (22 min. Color. Encyclopedia Britannica Films.)
13. Medieval Society: The Villagers. (11 min. Color. Coronet Films.)
14. The Lion in Winter. (131 min. Color. Films, Ltd.)
15. Time Traveler CD. (CD-ROM. Society for Visual Education, Inc.)
16. The Vatican: Fortress of Christianity. (Videodisc. Color. 29 min. Films for the Humanities and
Sciences.)
17. Venice: Economic Power in the Middle Ages. (Videodisc. Color. 19 min. Britannica Videos.)
18. Carolingian Art (employees.oneonta.edu/farberas/arth/arth109/arth109_sl18.html)
19. York Archaeological Trust: Online Photographic Archive
(www.yorkarchaeology.co.uk/piclib/photos.php)
20. The Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde: Images of the reconstruction of a Viking longboat
(http://www.vikingeskibsmuseet.dk/default.asp?contentsection=3964B7C731974A1DA15F5741E
A743FE9&zcs=)
INTERNET RESOURCES
1.
The Islamic World to 1600 (www.ucalgary.ca/applied_history/tutor/islam/index2.html)
2.
Medieval Sources on Slavery (www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/575Rauching.html,
www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/630Eligius.html,
www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/731Greg3.html,
www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/876Worms.html,
www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/1204Jewslave.html)
3.
Medieval Writing: Merovingian Script
(medievalwriting.50megs.com/scripts/examples/merov2.htm)
4.
Plan of a Medieval Manor (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manorialism)
5.
Einhard, The Life of Charlemagne (www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/einhard.html)
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
56
Chapter 8: Europe in the Early Middle Ages, 600–1000
SUGGESTED READING
J. L. Esposito, Islam: The Straight Path, 3d ed. (1998), is an informed and balanced work based on the
best modern scholarship and original sources, as is the biography M. Lings, Muhammad: His Life
Based on the Earliest Sources (1987). T. F. Glick, Islamic and Christian Spain in the Early Middle
Ages (1979) provides a good introduction, while O. R. Constable, ed., Medieval Iberia: Readings from
Christian, Muslim, and Jewish Sources (1997) presents an exciting collection of source material. H.
Kennedy, Muslim Spain and Portugal: A Political History of al-Andalus (1996), provides a good
chronological narrative of developments in the Iberian Peninsula, while R. Collins, The Arab Conquest
of Spain, 710–797 (1994), assesses the cultural impact of Arab rule, and D. J. Wasserstein, The
Caliphate in the West: An Islamic Political Institution in the Iberian Peninsula (1993), studies the
major political institution. L. Ahmed, Women and Gender in Islam: Historical Roots of a Modern
Debate (1992), is a most important contribution and the starting point for all research on Islam and
gender, while N. R. Keddie and B. Brown, eds., Women in Middle Eastern History: Shifting Boundaries
in Sex and Gender (1992), provides a variety of perspectives on women’s roles. R. Fletcher, The Cross
and the Crescent: Christianity and Islam from Muhammad to the Reformation (2003), provides a highly
readable introduction to the intricate and controversial relationships between Christianity and Islam
down to the sixteenth century.
For the Merovingians, the best general treatment is I. Wood, The Merovingian Kingdoms, 450–751
(1994). See also P. Geary, Before France and Germany: The Creation and Transformation of the
Merovingian World (1988), which argues that there were strong continuities from the Roman world.
For the Carolingians, see R. McKitterick, The Frankish Kingdoms Under the Carolingians, 751–987
(1983). R. McKitterick, The Carolingians and the Written Word (1989), will prove essential for many
aspects of the Carolingian Renaissance, as will R. McKitterick, ed., The Uses of Literacy in Early
Medieval Europe (1990), which includes essays on Ireland, Anglo-Saxon England, Merovingian Gaul,
Muslim Spain, and Byzantium. J. L. Nelson, Charles the Bald (1992), is broader in scope than the
biographical title would imply, since it contains excellent material on the entire late Carolingian period.
J. L. Nelson, The Frankish World, 750–900 (1996), has useful articles on literacy, knighthood, and
women.
A wonderful new biography of Charlemagne is A. Barbaro, Charlemagne: Father of a Continent
(2004). P. Riche, Daily Life in the World of Charlemagne, trans. J. McNamara (1978), is a detailed
study of many facets of Carolingian society. P. Riche, Education and Culture in the Barbarian West:
From the Sixth Through the Eighth Century, trans. J. J. Contreni (1976), provides a good treatment of
intellectual activity. For agricultural and economic life, G. Duby, The Early Growth of the European
Economy: Warriors and Peasants from the Seventh to the Twelfth Century (1978), relates economic
behavior to other aspects of human experience in a thoroughly readable style. E. James, The Origins of
France: From Clovis to the Capetians, 500–1000 (1982), is a solid introductory survey of early French
history, with an emphasis on family relationships.
Those interested in women in early medieval society should begin with L. Bitel, Women in Early
Medieval Europe, 400–1100 (2002). J. Schulenburg, Forgetful of Their Sex: Female Sanctity and
Society, ca. 500–1100 (1998) provides insights into society through the lives of medieval women who
became saints and S. F. Wemple, Women in Frankish Society: Marriage and the Cloister, 500–900
(1981), is still a fundamental work.
For the Carolingian economy, see A. Verhulst, The Carolingian Economy (2002) and M. McCormick,
Origins of the European Economy: Communications and Commerce (2001); McCormick’s is a large
magisterial work with valuable material on the Slavic, Byzantine, and Iberian worlds.
For feudalism and manorialism, see, S. Reynolds, Fiefs and Vassals: The Medieval Evidence
Reconsidered (1996), E. A. R. Brown, “The Tyranny of a Construct: Feudalism and Historians of
Medieval Europe,” American Historical Review 79 (1974): 1060–1088, F. L. Ganshof, Feudalism
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Chapter 8: Europe in the Early Middle Ages, 600–1000
57
(1961), and J. R. Strayer, “Feudalism in Western Europe,” in Feudalism in History, ed. R. Coulborn
(1956). M. Bloch, Feudal Society, trans. L. A. Manyon (1961), remains important.
The Oxford Illustrated History of the Vikings (1997), ed. P. Sawyer, provides a sound account of the
Vikings by an international team of scholars. J. Brondsted, The Vikings (1960), is an excellently
illustrated study of many facets of Viking culture. G. Jones, A History of the Vikings, rev. ed. (1984),
provides a comprehensive survey of the Viking world based on the latest archaeological findings and
numismatic evidence, while P. H. Sawyer, Kings and Vikings: Scandinavia and Europe, A.D. 700–1100
(1983), relies heavily on the literary evidence. For the Slavs, see P.M. Barford, The Early Slavs:
Culture and Society in Early Medieval Eastern Europe (2001), and for the Magyars, see Pál Engel, The
Realm of St. Stephen: A History of Medieval Hungary 895–1526 (2001).
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.