European Civilization in the Early Middle Ages, 750 1000

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• European Civilization in the Early Middle Ages,
  750 - 1000

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I. Europeans and the Environment

• Sparsely populated, heavily forested landscape
• Villages separated by forests
• Farming
• Less than 10 percent of land cultivated
• Low crop yields
• Climate
• Improving weather after 700
• Constant threat of natural disaster

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II. The World of the Carolingians

• Charlemagne and the Carolingian Empire (768
  814)
• Pepin the Short (751 768) deposed last
  Merovingian
• Receives the blessings of the pope for the
  throne.
• Both needed each other.
• Pepin conquers the Lombards in 756
• Papal States

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B. Charlemagne

• Carolus Magnus, or Charles the Great
• Expansion of the Carolingian Empire
• Army gathered each spring for campaign
• Carolingians crush the Lombards in Italy (773)
• Disastrous campaign in Spain (777)
• Song of Roland
• Campaigns against the Saxons
• Bavarians, Slavs and Avars

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Map 8.1 The Carolingian Empire
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Governing Charlemagnes Empire

• Governing the Empire
• Income from royal estates
• Counts as administrators
• Missi Dominici
• System very inefficient
• Help from the Church

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Governing Charlemagnes Empire

• Charlemagne as Emperor
• Pope Leo III (795 816)
• Charlemagne crowned emperor in 800

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THECAROLINGIANINTELECTUALREVIVAL

• SCRIPTORIA
• CAROLIGNIANMINISCULE
• CAROLIGNIANRENAISSANCE
• ALCUINOFNORTHUMBRIA

MONKSASCOPYISTS
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The Carolingian Intellectual Revival

• Scriptoria
• Carolingian Miniscule
• Carolingian Renaissance
• Alcuin of Northumbria

Monks as Copyists
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5. Life in the Carolingian World

• The Church, Marriage and Sexuality
• Monogamy
• Divorce prohibited
• The nuclear family
• Christianity and Sexuality
• Celibacy
• Sexual activity permitted only within marriage
• Homosexuality
• Travel and Hospitality

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Life in the Carolingian World

• Diet and Health
• Bread as the basic staple
• Pork, wild game, dairy, eggs, vegetables
• Gluttony and drunkenness
• Medical practices
• Herbs and Bleeding
• Magic

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In Class Writing

• How was Charlemagne able to unite and govern his
  large empire?

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III. Disintegration of the Carolingian Empire

• Louis the Pious (814 840)
• Treaty of Verdun (843)
• Charles the Bald (843 877) Western Section
• Louis the German (843 876) Eastern Section
• Lothair (840 855) Middle Section

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III. Disintegration of the Carolingian Empire

• Conflicts between the three sons of Louis the
  Pious
• Emergence of two different cultures

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B. Invasions of the Ninth and Tenth Centuries

• Muslims and Magyars
• Muslims attack in Mediterranean
• Magyars settled in modern day Hungary

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2. The Vikings
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2. The Vikings

• Germanic people from Scandinavia
• Warriors and shipbuilders
• Russia
• Ireland, England and France
• Iceland, Greenland and Newfoundland
• Raids end in 1000

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Map 8.2 Invasions of the Ninth and Tenth
Centuries
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Castle at Les Baux Constructed as a Refuge from
Saracen raidsEight Century Provence, France
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Replica of a Viking house in Denmark
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IV. The Emerging World of Lords and Vassals

• Feudalism
• Political and military system

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B. Vassalage and Fief-Holding

• Lords and Vassals
• Act of Homage
• Grant of land in exchange for military service
• Subinfeudation

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• Fiefholding
• Knighthood
• Page
• Squire
• Knight

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• Fragmented authority in the ninth century
• Mutual obligations of lord and vassal
• Duties in Peacetime
• Grant in aid

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A Knights Equipment Showing Saddle and Stirrups
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C. New Political Configurations in the Tenth
Century

• The Eastern Franks
• The Saxon dynasty
• Otto I (936 973)

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2. The Western Franks

• Louis the Sluggard dies 987
• The Capetians
• Hugh Capet (987 996)
• Paris

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3. Anglo-Saxon England

• Unification under Alfred the Great (871 899)
• Growth of monarchial government

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D. The Manorial System

• The Manor
• Landed estate
• Steward

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Map 8.3 A Typical Manor
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2. Peasants and Serfs

• 60 of European population had become serfs by
  ninth century
• Working the demesne (lords land) and paying
  rents
• Lords legal rights over the serfs
• Manorial administration

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3. Trade in Luxury Goods

• Iron, timber, furs and slaves (slavs)
• Venice

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In Class Writing

• What is the relationship between feudalism and
  manorialism?

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Discussion Questions

• How was Charlemagne able to unite and govern his
  large empire?
• What role did the Church play on family and
  everyday life in the Carolingian world?
• Why were the invasions of the Ninth and Tenth
  Centuries so damaging to Europe?
• What liberties did peasants give up in exchange
  for land and protection from their lords?
• What is the relationship between feudalism and
  manorialism?
• What impact did the Byzantine world have on the
  Slavic people of Central and Eastern Europe and
  vice versa?
• What were the factors that contributed to the
  flourishing of Islamic Civilization under the the
  Abbasids?

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Web Links

• NetSerf The Internet Collection of Medieval
  Resources
• Internet Medieval Sourcebook The Carolingians
• Wharram Percy A Lost Medieval Village
• Corpus of Early Medieval Coin Finds
• Vikings The North Atlantic Saga
• Byzantine Studies on the Internet
• Baghdad Metropolis of the Abbasid Caliphate