The Middle Ages

Europe’s Geography•Diverse landscape, mountains, farmlands, coastal areas

•Navigable rivers

•Warmer climate from the - North Atlantic Drift

All this in a relatively small area

The Germanic Kingdoms• No Cities (small villages)• No written laws (customs)

• 400 - 700 A.D. Larger Kingdoms start to take shape

• The Strongest of these Kingdoms was the Franks

• In 481, Clovis, King of the Franks took over Gaul (France)

The Germanic Kingdoms

In 496, Clovis (a pagan) prayed to the Christian God for a victory…..he won…….On Christmas Day, he and 3,000 of his warriors were baptized

Now Clovis had a new ally - The Roman Catholic Church

The Germanic Kingdoms

Charles Defeated the Muslims (Moors) at the Battle of Tours (732) keeping them out of Europe (other than Spain)

Charles Martel (686-741)

Charlemagne747 - 814

King of the Franksdefeated

•Lombards in N. Italy

•Saxons in Germany

•Muslims in S. France & N. Spain

•Avars & Slavs in the East

Charlemagne

……then in 800, Pope Leo III called on Charlemagne to help put down a rebellion of Roman Nobles

Charlemagne came to the rescue.

Charlemagne

On Christmas Day 800, Pope Leo III crowned him, the….

• united Christian Europe• tied Pope to western leaders• began a rife with Eastern Europe

Charlemagne

Controlled his huge Empire through nobles and land grants he sent out….

Royal messengers who kept tabs on 200 nobles

Charlemagne

Built his capital…..

……Aachen, this was to be the 2nd Rome, and it was here that he established new schools with Latin as the model going forward

Charlemagne“Charles the Great”

•Central Government

•Spread Christianity

•Model for future kingdoms

•Education

•Preserved records

•Blended cultures

Charlemagne

Charlemagne dies in 814….. His son “Louis the Pious” rules from 814-840, when he died war between his 3 sons breaks out for 2 years

Treaty of Verdun843

Divides Charlemagne’s empire into three kingdoms This weaken Europe, and the three kingdoms later breakup even further

476RomeFalls

481to

511Clovis

714to

744Charles Martel“the Hammer”

747to

814Charlemagne

843Treaty

ofVerdun

1000Leif

Erikson&

Vinland

After the Treaty of VerdunOutsiders (Vikings, Moors, etc.) see an opportunity with a weakened Europe

Landowners start to become more self-sufficient

KING

PowerfulLord

PowerfulLord

PowerfulLord

LesserLord

You

LesserLord

LesserLord

LesserLord

LesserLord

LesserLord

SerfSerfSerfSerf Serf Serf Serf Serf

FiefsProtection

FiefsProtection

rightto farmLand

Laborfees

Militarymoney

Militarymoney

Feudalism Vocabulary Sheet

• Feudalism - A political system that provided protection for it’s members.• Hierarchy – a group of people organized by rank.•Fief – A large feudal estate or farm.

Feudalism Vocabulary Sheet

• Vassal - A person under the protection of the feudal lord.

• Knight – An armed soldier who served a lord.

• Oath of Fealty - an expression of loyalty to one’s lord.

Feudalism Vocabulary Sheet

• Manor – a castle, fief, or estate of a lord.

• Serf – A peasant bound to work the land of a lord.

• Heraldry – designing family coats of arms, recording genealogy.

• Liege – Superior Lord vassal (# 1 Lord vassal is committed to).

• Page – Sent off to learn basic skills and…….

• Squire – Begin the real training

• Knight – Held to the highest standard …honorable

• Only 3% of Norway is farmable

• Longships were extremely versatile

• Worked themselves up into a frenzy before battle

Threatened Europe from 900 to 1100