“The Free” Franks
The Middle Ages: Continued
• Christianity in Western Europe
– The Barbarians desired the ______of the Western Roman Empire.
– The unintended ______was that the tribes ______faith throughout all the peoples of Europe.
– Rome’s official religion since______had been Christianity.
______– ______“scourge of god”
– 454 – Death of Attila the Hun
§ assassinated in camp
o weak leadership
– ______
– roaming Finns called Magyars are labelled Huns by observers out of fear
• settle down in modern Hungary, not actually related to the Huns
481-511ce ______, Merovingian ruler of the Franks
• C | LOVIS > LOUIS
• ______becomes capital in 508
• Marries Catholic noble, Clotilde
• ______after prayers answered in battle
• Conquered the Visigoths and formed an alliance with the Ostrogoths.
• When Clovis died, the Merovingian empire was divided between his four sons
• the Merovingian Kings soon became figure heads (puppets); and power passed to the aristocracy: cliques of nobles.
• For the next 200 years, land is ______, weakened, disintegrated,
• and ______
720s_: ______(“The Hammer”) is mayor of the palace
• Took his warriors to meet invading Saracens (“______”) from Spain
• Muslims v. Christians
• Umayyad Arabs
______Won the Battle of Tours
• Retired to a Benedictine monastery in 747, and left the power to his brother, Pepin the Short.
______King of Franks
• 751, the Lombards captured the Pope’s summer home in Ravenna and threatened the Pope in Rome, who asked for help.
• Pepin sent in ______and the Lombards went home (Northern Italy / Germany)
• Pepin the Short asked the Pope: “Is it right that a powerless ruler should continue to bear the title of king?”
• Pepin the Short is ______.
• End of Merovingian Kings > Start of ______Empire > “Sons of Charles”
______– Charles the Great
• Determined to ______the different kingdoms of Europe.
• Starting in 774 he embarked on over 50 military campaigns.
– In 779 Pope Leo III was driven out of Rome by an angry mob
– Charlemagne ______.
– In return, the grateful Pope crowned Charlemagne the head of the ______on Christmas Day, 800.
• Charlemagne would Christianize many of the tribes he conquered →
– usually did this through what was known as 'baptism by the sword'.
• Charlemagne was described as warm and talkative on the one hand, hard, cruel, and violent on the other
• admiration and fear (or, hope and fear).
• a model medieval feudal warrior king.
Holy Roman Empire - Charlemagne as supporter of the Church
– Duty to ______
– Duty to ______
• ______(735-804)
– Invited from England to France
– Ran palace school for royal family, nobles
– Expanded schools, libraries throughout empire
– Increased literacy among clergy
– Promoted copying of ancient manuscripts
Holy Roman Empire Cnt’d
– Charlemagne never really attained the economic and social organization of a civilized state before his death
– After the battles ended, he ran out of ______.
– Loyalty was everything, local representatives sent messages
Louis the Pious
– Son Louis the Pius inherits the Kingdom, 814-40
– Louis forced to ______by a son!
– 3 Sons take over
Treaty of ______
Medieval Europe – Threatened from all sides.
– Invasions in the 9th & 10th c
– Vikings
– Normans
– Magyars in Eastern Europe – defeat by Germans in 955
– Saracens / Easterners
Settling Down
By the 10th century, Europe was on the eve of the High Middle Ages.
Causes of the recovery -- a series of interrelated causes:
(1) the barbarian ______
(2) tribes ______
(3) there were no big plagues/famines, etc.;
(4) rise of______
(5) ______extended.