The Middle Ages

1.The Frankish Rulers

I. An Age of Transition

a. Middle ages started.

b. The Franks did much to shape the new culture of post-Roman Europe.

II. Clovis and the Merovingians

a. Clovis became king of one of the Frankish tribes.

b. Clovis controlled of all the Frankish tribes. He controlled all of northern Gaul.

c. The Merovingian kings who ruled after Clovis were generally weak.

d. Clovis's successor was Pépin II, who ruled from 687 to 714.

III. Charles Martel and Pepin The Short

a. Charles Martel, known as Charles the Hammer, became mayor of the palace.

b. Charles Martel's cavalry defeated the Spanish when they invaded France.

c. Charles Martel died in 741. His son, Pépin III, called "the Short," became the Merovingian kingdom's joint mayor of the palace with his brother, Carloman.

d. Pépin overthrew Childeric III, the last Merovingian ruler.

e. Charlemagne, Pépin's son and the greatest of all Frankish kings.

IV. Charlemagne's Empire

a. Charlemagne inherited the Frankish throne in 768 and ruled until 814.

b. He helped to spread church teachings and Christian beliefs.

c. He defeated the Lombards in Italy, the Saxons in northern Germany, and the Avars in central Europe, drove back the Moors back across the Pyrenees.

d. The pope's coronation of Charlemagne was also significant because it showed the close ties that existed between the Franks and the Christian church.

V. Government

a. He established his capital at the northern Frankish city of Aix-la-Chapelle.

b. Appointed officials helped Charlemagne run his empire. These officials were called missi dominici or "the lord's messengers."

c. They would travel through the empire to hear complaints, investigate official misconduct, and determine the effectiveness of laws.

VI. Education and Learning

a. Scholars were invited from all over western Europe to teach at the school.

b. Alcuin developed a curriculum based on the Roman model, emphasizing grammar, rhetoric, logic, mathematics, music, and astronomy.

c. Throughout his rule Charlemagne encouraged--sometimes forced--the empire's people to convert to Christianity.

2. The Decline of the Frankish Empire

I. The Empire After Charlemagne's Death

a. Charlemagne's only surviving son, Louis The Pious, proved to be a well- educated and religious king but a weak and shortsighted ruler.

b. When Louis died in 840, his sons Lothair, Charles the Bald, and Louis the German agreed to divide the empire among themselves.

c. Charlemagne's empire was further undermined by invasions of different peoples from beyond the empire's frontiers.

II. The Vikings

a. The most feared invaders of western Europe during the 800s and the 900s were the Vikings from Scandinavia in the north.

b. The Vikings would sometimes place a dead person in a boat and burn it.

c. In about 930 an Arab, Ibn Fadlan, witnessed the funeral of a Viking chieftain.

d. The Vikings were also skilled in siege operations and could capture even strongly fortified towns.

3. Feudalism

I. The system

a. The noble who received the grant was entitled to use of the land and its products, but could not "own" the land.

b. This grant of land allowed the lesser noble to "maintain" himself and his household. In return for maintenance, the lesser noble promised loyalty, military assistance, and other services to the lord who granted the land.

c. local lords held many of the powers associated with government.

II. Warfare

a. Wars were common during the Middle Ages. Many wars grew out of private fights between feudal lords, or lords and vassals, and were local conflicts that involved only a handful of nobles and their knights.

b. In medieval times wars had different effects on society. For nobles, wars were an opportunity for glory and wealth. For most people of the Middle Ages, however, war was a major cause of suffering and hardship.

c. Private wars continued until kings became strong enough to stop them.

III. Feudal Justice

a. Trial by battle

b. Compurgation

c. Or oath taking

IV. The Manorial System

a. Feudalism provided social and political structure to the culture of the Middle Ages. manorialism shaped the economy of much of Europe during these years.

b. A lord and several peasant families shared the land of the manor. Generally the lord kept about one third of the manor's lands, called the domain, for himself.

c. If the lord's domain was divided, he too had strips of land in each field.

V. Nobles' Lifestyles

a. Frequently people think of the Middle Ages as a time when lords and knights lived in elegant castles.

b. Castles were usually built on hills or other landforms that would prevent easy attack. If a castle was on flat land that was difficult to defend, a ditch called a moat was built around it and sometimes flooded with water.

c. A lord or the head of a peasant family depended on his wife and children for help. Marriage was