Germanic Kingdoms Unite Under Charlemagne

Main Idea

• Many Germanic kingdoms that succeeded the Roman Empire were reunited under Charlemagne's empire.

Why It Matters Now

• Charlemagne spread Christian civilization throughout northern Europe, which is where many of us came from.

Setting The Stage

• Middle Ages= medieval period
• 500- 1500 AD
• medieval Europe is fragmented

A. Invasions trigger changes in western Europe.

• Invasions and constant warfare speak new trends
• Disruption of trade
• Europe's cities are no longer economic centers
• Money is scarce

• Downfall of cities
• Cities are no longer centers of administration

• Population shifts
• Nobles retreat to the rural areas
• Cities don't have strong leadership

• 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

B. Germanic kingdoms emerge

1. The concept of government changes

• Roman society: loyal to public gov't

• Germanic society: loyal to family
• Germanic chief led warriors
• During peace, he provided food, weapons, treasure, a place to live
• During wartime, warriors fought for the lord

• Franks live in Roman province of Gaul - their leader is Clovis
• The Franks under Clovis
• Another battlefield conversion, like Constantine
• Clovis and 3k of his warriors are baptized by the bishop
• The Church in Rome approves of this "alliance"
• Clovis and the Church begin to work together

Clovis' military expertise + the Church's support and money = a strategic alliance between two powerful forces.

C. Germanic people's adopt Christianity

• (Pope) Gregory I expands papal power
• Papacy=pope's office
• Secular power = wordy power
• So... under Gregory the Great...

Papal power (power of the pope) is political power, presented from the pope's palace.

• The church can use church honey to:
• Raise armies
• Repair roads
• Help the poor
• Gregory the Great began to act as mayor of Rome, and as heard of an earthly kingdom.

• 511 AD - Clovis unites Franks into one kingdom
• 600 AD - Church and Frankish rulers convert many
• Fear of Muslims in southern Europe spur many to become Christians
• Monasteries and convents
• 520 AD - Benedict wrote the rules for monks and monasteries
• Poverty, chastity, obedience, study
• His sister Scholastics did the same for nuns on convents
• 731 AD - the Venerable Beds wrote a killer history of England
• Monks opened schools, maintained libraries, and copied books (Bibles, Greek texts)