Western Christendom After the Fall of Rome WHAP/Napp

Western Christendom after the fall of Rome WHAP/Napp “In the early centuries of the postclassical era, history must have seemed more significant than geography, for the Roman Empire, long a fixture of the western Mediterranean region, had collapsed. The traditional date marking the fall of Rome is 476, when the German general Odoacer overthrew the last Roman emperor in the West. In itself not very important, this event has come to symbolize a major turning point in the West, for much that characterized Roman civilization also weakened, declined, or disappeared in the several centuries before and after 476. Any semblance of large-scale centralized rule vanished. Disease and warfare reduced Europe’s population more than 25 percent. Land under cultivation contracted, while forests, marshland, and wasteland expanded. Urban life too diminished sharply, as Europe reverted to a largely rural existence. Rome at its height was a city of 1 million people, but by the tenth century it numbered perhaps 10,000. Public buildings crumbled from lack of care. Outside Italy, long-distance trade dried up as Roman roads deteriorated, and money exchange gave way to barter in many places. Literacy lost ground as well. Germanic peoples, whom the Romans had viewed as barbarians – Goths, Visigoths, Franks, Lombards, Angles, Saxons – now emerged as the dominant peoples of Western Europe. In the process, Europe’s center of gravity moved away from the Mediterranean toward the north and west.

Yet much that was classical or Roman persisted, even as a new order emerged in Europe. On the political front, a series of regional kingdoms – led by Visigoths in Spain, Franks in France, Lombards in Italy, and Angles and Saxons in England – arose to replace Roman authority but many of these Germanic peoples, originally organized in small kinship-based tribes with strong warrior values, had already been substantially Romanized. Contact with the Roman Empire in the first several centuries C.E. generated more distinct ethnic identities among them, militarized their societies, and gave greater prominence to Woden, their god of war. As Germanic peoples migrated into or invaded Roman lands, many were deeply influenced by Roman culture, especially if they served in the Roman army. On the funeral monument of one such person was the telling inscription: ‘I am Frank by nationality, but a Roman soldier under arms.’” ~ Ways of the World

1. When scholars refer to Western Europe 2. Which of the following was NOT a factor as a “hybrid civilization,” they are referring that left the western part of the Roman to the combination, after the collapse of the Empire more vulnerable to collapse than the Roman Empire, of elements of eastern half at the end of the fourth century (A) Byzantine and Slavic cultures to C.E.? produce a new civilization. (A) The western portion was if anything (B) Classical Roman, Germanic, and Celtic wealthier than the eastern portion, but cultures to produce a new civilization. squandered its resources foolishly. (C) Slavic and Germanic cultures to (B) The western portion possessed a much produce a new civilization. less easily defended capital. (D) Byzantine and Celtic cultures to (C) The western portion had a longer produce a new civilization. frontier to defend than the eastern portion. (D) The western portion possessed a weaker army and navy. Key Words/ I. Fiefs and Faith: Western Europe after the fall of Rome Questions A. A highly fragmented and decentralized society with great local variation B. Independent, self-sufficient, and isolated landed estates or manors 1. A manor was the lord’s land; an agricultural estate C. Lesser lords and knights swore allegiance to lords thus becoming vassals 1. Vassals received land for military service to lords (Feudalism) D. Roman slavery gave way to serfdom 1. Serfs were not slaves but were bound to the lord’s land E. In absence of central Roman authority, only security lay in manors II. Roman Catholic Church A. Hierarchical organization (pope, bishops) modeled on Roman Empire B. Began the process of converting many of Europe’s “pagan” peoples C. Provided unity and stability during a time of political fragmentation D. By 1100, most of Europe had embraced Christianity E. Church was a center of literacy, received tithes (taxes), and landowner F. Church Controversies 1. Investiture Controversy during the eleventh and twelfth centuries 2. Church officials and kings debated who had the right to make Church appointments but eventually Church officials were given the right G. Pace of change in West picked up in several centuries after 1000 H. By 1000, invasions had been checked and absorbed into societies 1. Called the High Middle Ages (expansion and commerce occurred) III. Stability and Trade A. Urbanization proceeded as towns and cities began to attract people B. Groups organized themselves into guilds or associations of people pursuing the same line of work in order to regulate professions C. For women, religious life provided opportunities [like Buddhism] 1. Catholic nuns D. Further change: 11th – 13th century, monarchs became more powerful IV. The Crusades A. Beginning in 1095, the Crusades or a series of “holy wars” B. Crusaders were offered an indulgence: removed penalties for sins C. But by 1291, Muslim forces had recaptured all of the temporary Christian states established in the eastern Mediterranean 1. “Successful failures”: Europeans lost permanent control of the Holy Land but gained ideas from Islamic golden age 2. Europeans rediscovered their own classical ideas in Muslim libraries 3. But also tremendous cruelty: slaughtered Muslims and Jews 4. Crusading elsewhere too: Spanish waged war for centuries to reclaim the Iberian Peninsula from Muslim hands (Reconquista) 5. Europeans also learned techniques for producing sugar on large plantations using slave labor from Muslims 6. Muslim scholarship, together with the Greek learning it incorporated, also flowed into Europe, largely through Spain Reflections: 1. “The Crusader states were able to cling to 3. In Western Europe, the multicentered survival only through frequent delivery of political system made up of competing states supplies and manpower from Europe. and a three-way struggle for power within [They] were defended primarily by three states between kings, warrior aristocrats, semi-monastic military orders: the and Church leaders resulted in Templars, the Hospitallers, and the (A) The achievement of an unusual Teutonic Knights. Combining monasticism independence for urban-based merchants. and militarism, these orders served to (B) The Roman Catholic Church losing its protect pilgrims and to wage perpetual war political authority as Western rulers against the Muslims.” developed their own version of Palmira Brummett, world historian, 2007 caesaropapism. (C) A slowing in technological development, “Whenever I visited Jerusalem, I always because of the devastation of war. entered the al-Aqsa Mosque, beside which (D) All of the above. stood a small mosque which the Franks had converted into a church.… [T]he Templars 4. A feature of the High Middle Ages in … who were my friends, would evacuate the Western Europe was little adjoining mosque so that I could pray (A) Population growth. in it.” (B) Reemergence of political unity as popes Usamah ibn Munqidh, Muslim historian, started to take the additional title “Holy Jerusalem, circa 1138 Roman Emperor.” (C) Considerable growth in long-distance The second passage does not support the trade. first passage because the second passage (D) Both a and c. (A) shows that an influx of manpower from Europe was not critical for the survival of 5. Which of the following was NOT a the Crusader states similarity between the establishment of (B) shows that Muslims vastly outnumbered Buddhism in China and Christianity in Europeans in the Crusader states Western Europe? (C) minimizes the importance of (A) Both the Buddhist and Christian Hospitallers and Teutonic Knights in the establishments built hierarchies modeled on administration of the Crusader states their respective empires. (D) presents an incident in which a military (B) Reformers often accused both Buddhist order supported a Muslim traveler and Christian establishments of forgetting their central spiritual missions. 2. The political culture of post-Roman (C) Both Buddhism and Christianity Western Europe possessed all EXCEPT appealed to recently settled nomadic rulers which of the following? who sought legitimacy for their rule. (A) A church more independent from the (D) Both Buddhist and Christian state than in the Byzantine Empire monasteries offered relative freedom from (B) A more powerful and centralized male control for substantial numbers of political structure than China women. (C) A complete lack of politically independent cities (D) Political authority exercised exclusively by the Pope Feudalism is a political and military system based on loyalty and exchange. Look at the diagrams of below. Identify three characteristics of feudal, medieval Western Europe.

Three Characteristics: ______Reading: The Vikings “From the eighth until the twelfth century, the European north Atlantic was primarily the province of marauding sailors and raiders from the north. These Vikings were the ancestors of today’s Norwegians, Swedes, and Danes [Scandinavians]. They were also colonizers, fishermen, and traders. One group from Norway began to settle Iceland around 870 and Greenland about 982. Under Leif Eriksson they reached Newfoundland in North America about 1000 and established a settlement there as well, but it did not endure. Danes and Norwegians plundered along the entire Atlantic coast of Europe, with especially early and devastating attacks on Lindisfarne off the northern coast of England (793), Dorestad in Frisia (834), and Nantes in France (842), where they murdered the bishop and all his clergy. These Vikings were also traders and colonizers who fostered urban development and trade in the places they conquered.” ~ The World’s History Critical Thinking Questions: 1- What characteristics did the Scandinavians share with earlier Germanic peoples? ______2- Why did Scandinavians emigrate? What skills did they possess that enabled emigration? What was the extent of Viking travels? ______How did Vikings interact with the peoples they encountered in their travels and conquests? ______Thesis Practice: Analyze continuities and changes in Western Europe from 400 C.E. to 1400 C.E. ______