Notes on The Dark Ages

• Feudalism - a political, military and economic system based on land handling 
• Manor: The lord's estate
• It is a self-sufficient community
• It is harsh if you are a peasent
• Peasents are poor and pay high taxes
• They live in crowded cottages
• Live with animals and insects
• Eat VERY simply
• Many Germanic kingdoms that succeeded the Roman Empire were reunited under Charlemagne's empire
• Charlemagne spread christian civilization throughout northern Europe, which is where most of us came from
• Middle Ages - medieval period
• 500 - 1500 AD
• medieval Europe is fragmented
• Invasions trigger changes in western Europe
• Invasions and constant warfare spark new trends
• Disruption of trade
• Europe's cities are no longer economic centers
• Money is scarce
• Downfall of cities
• Cities are no longer economic centers
• Population Shifts
• Nobles retreat to the rural areas
• Cities don't have strong leadership
• Invasions trigger changes in western Europe
• Decline of Learning
• Germanic invaders are illiterate, but they communicate through oral tradition
• Only priests and church officials could read and write
• Knowledge of Greek is almost lost
• Loss of a common language
• Dialects develop in different regions
• By the 800s, French, Spanish, other roman-based languages are evoloving from latin
• Germanic Kingdoms Emerge
• The concept of government changes
• Roman Society: loyalty to public gov't
• Germanic Society: Loyal to Family
• Germanic chief led warriors
• During preace, he provided food, weapons, treasure, a place to live
• During Wartime, warriors fought for the lord
• Germanic Kingdoms Emerge
• The Franks Under Clovis
• Another battlefield conversion
• Clovis and 3000 of his warriors are baptized by the bishop
• The church in Rome approves of this alliance
• Clovis and the church begin to work together
• Germanic peoples adopt christianity
• Pope Gregory 1 expands papal power
• 511 AD - Clovis unites Franks into one Kingdom
• Fear of Muslims in southern Europe spur many to become Christians
• 731 AD - The Venerable Bede wrote a killer history of England
• Monks opened schools, maintained libraries, and copied books
• Charlemagne aka Charles the Great
• Built the greatest empire since Rome
• Fought the Muslims in Spain
• Fought Germanic tribes
• Spread Christianity
• Reunited West Europe
• Became most powerful king
• Pope Leo III crowned him emperor in 800 AD after he defended him from an unruly Roman mob
• This signaled the joining of Germanic power, the Church, and the heritage of the Roman Empire
• He limited the authority of the nobles
• He regularly visited every part of his kingdom
• Kept close with huge estates
• Encouraged learning
• Opened a palace school
• His son Louis the Pious was ineffective
• Louis' three sons Lothair, Charles the Bald, and Louis the German split the kingdom up in the Treaty of Verdun in 843 AD