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Home , Alboin, Austrasia, Desiderius, Lothair I, Middle Francia, Ostrogothic Kingdom

Lesson 3.

The early medieval states in West and Central

Learning tasks: by completing this unit of study, the student will be able to:  Identify and retain the most important moments of the evolution of the early medieval states of Western and Central Europe between the 5th century and the 11th century: the ; the Langobard Kingdom; the ; the Vandal Kingdom; the Frankish State (The Frankish Kingdom; The ) and the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms.

1. The Ostrogothic Kingdom

The domination in lasted more than half a century (493-554). The Ostrogothic Kingdom encompassed the central and , northwestern and . In 497 was reached the agreement between Theoderic the Great (493-526) and Anastasius, in which was recognized as of the Ostrogoths and empowered of the Eastern to Italy with the rank of and supreme commander. But, in reality Theoderic led Italy as a real sovereign. In 523 takes place a conspiracy of the Roman nobility, in conjunction with the Eastern Roman Empire. Three years later, Theoderic dies and as leader of the Ostrogothic kingdom followed his daughter Amalasuntha, who held the power during the nonage period of her son. Between 526 and 535 have increased clashes between the groups of pro-Roman and anti-Roman Ostrogothic aristocracy, which led to the weakening of royal authority and the Ostrogothic Kingdom. Between the fourth decade and the six decade of the sixth century, during the reign of the Emperor Justinian (527-565), the Eastern Roman Empire started the actions to the reconquest of the provinces of the West Roman Empire, in order to restore the unity of the Roman Empire. On the eve of the reconquest, in the Ostrogothic Kingdom the Roman nobility and the continued to maintain secret relations with the Eastern Roman Empire. The war between the Byzantines and the Ostrogoths took place over three stages:

Daniel Flaut, Introduction in Medieval History

 In the first stage of the war (535-541), the Roman armies have achieved significant successes occupying , , the up to Pad, including and .  In the second stage (541-552), Baduila () (541-552), the penultimate king of the Ostrogoths, took measures to weaken the position of the great Roman landowners who sustained Justinian's reconquest efforts and to attract the masses of free peasants, settlers and slaves.  In the last stage of the war (552-562), the Eastern Roman Empire armies defeated remnants of the Ostrogothic army and retook the entire Italy. Thus, Justinian put an end to an ephemeral existence of the Ostrogothic Kingdom. *

2. The Langobard Kingdom

The Langobards, a tribe originally from the Lower Elbe region, settled in the middle of the sixth century in Pannonia. In the spring of 568, under the reign of the king (ca. 560-572), they have left their settlements from Pannonia, because of the Avars, and were established in Italy. At the beginning of the seventh century, after several wars, was done a condominium of power between Langobards and Byzantines. The Byzantines possessed the , the Duchies of , , , Pentapolis, Rome and , while the Langobards controlled Northern, Central and a part of . The Langobard conquest was accompanied by the destructions and confiscation of the properties of the Roman nobility. In the Langobard Kingdom, the political power belonged to the king and the Langobard aristocracy. The papacy asks for help to under the conditions in which the of the Langobards wanted to annex the papal territories from Italy. In 754 and 756, , the king of the Franks (752-768), defeated the Langobards and forced them to cede to the the Exarchate of Ravenna, thus forming the Pontifical State. In 772, the of Rome led by , the king of the Langobards (756-774), occasioned a last intervention of the Franks. Thus in 773 and 774 besieged and conquered and then he annexed the Langobards Kingdom to the Kingdom of the Franks. *

3. The Visigothic Kingdom

Until the beginning of the sixth century, the Visigothic Kingdom encompassed southern and central and most of the . After the Franks conquered central and southern Gaul (507-508) in the possession of the remained only , except its northwestern

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Daniel Flaut, Introduction in Medieval History region, where had been set, since the beginning of the fifth century, the Suebic Kingdom and , a region of coast from southern Gaul. In this way, the Visigothic kingdom was transformed from a Gallo-Hispanic Kingdom, with its capital at , into an almost Iberian Kingdom, with the capital at Sevilla and then in Toledo. After the defeat at the Battle of Vouillé (507) the Visigothic Kingdom went into decline. Taking advantage of the internal struggles from the Visigothic Kingdom the armies of the Eastern Roman Empire occupied southeastern Spain, with the cities Cordoba and Cartagena (550-554). At the beginning of the eighth century, the Moors from broke in Spain, they defeated the Visigoth army (June 711) and in a few years they conquered almost the entire Iberian Peninsula, which remained under the Arab rule for several hundred years. *

4. The Vandal Kingdom

In the first decades of the sixth century, the Vandal Kingdom from northwest Africa was weakened by clashes between groups of the aristocracy, the Roman nobility conspiracies and by the attacks of the Berber tribes on the kingdom borders. The army of the Eastern Roman Empire landed in northern Africa and defeated the Vandals near Carthage, in the autumn of 533, in the battles of Ad Decimum and Tricamarum. In the spring of 534, the imperial army occupied the entire Vandal Kingdom, , and the Balearic Islands. *

5. The Frankish State

a) The Frankish Kingdom

In the late fifth century and at early sixth century the Frankish kingdom was established under the Merovingian . Later, the Franks conquered (531) and (532-534) and took advantage of the difficulties of the Ostrogothic Kingdom, at war with the , forcing the Ostrogoths to cede . By the middle of the sixth century, the Franks imposed their domination over the , the and the , thus becoming the strongest and most extended Kingdom from the Western Europe. At the death of the King Chlodovec (481-511), his four sons divided the French state into four separate kingdoms, then regrouped into three kingdoms, , and Burgundy. Under the conditions of decay of the royal authority, the effective power was exercised by the of the palace, who represented especially the interests of the great aristocracy of the palace. In the last decades of the seventh century, an important role had the Arnulfing mayors of Austrasia and especially Pepin II of (680-714). In 715, after the death of Pepin II of Herstal, of Austrasia became his

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Daniel Flaut, Introduction in Medieval History son, (715-741). He restored the unity of the Frankish kingdom and through the victory gained over the at (732), stopped the Arab expansion to the north of the . His son, the mayor Pepin the Short (741-751) replaced the with the .

b) The Carolingian Empire

In November 751, with the support of the Pope, Pepin the Short convoked at a meeting of the high prelates and the aristocracy which deposed the last Merovingian king Childeric III and elected Pepin the Short as King (751-768). His son, Charlemagne (768-814)co nducted several campaigns of conquest. After the campaign of 773-774 from Italy, he incorporated the Longobard Kingdom in the Frankish kingdom. In 778, taking advantage of internal struggles from Spain, Charlemagne undertook an expedition to the south of the Pyrenees, but the failure from forced him to retreat. During withdrawal, the Frankish rearguard, led by Hruotland, the prefect of Brittany, was destroyed in the Roncevaux defile. Following the new expeditions, made between 785-812, Charlemagne conquered north east of Spain, with , which was under the Arabs domination, and created the Spanish March. After an almost uninterrupted war, between 772 and 804, Charlemagne annexed Saxony. Between 791 and 797, the Franks organized several expeditions against the Avars, who had their dominion center in Pannonia. Following the defeat of the Avars, a part of the territories ruled by them were filled, forming the nucleus of the Eastern March (the future ). Following these conquests, at the end of the eighth century, the French state included Gaul, northern and and northeastern Spain and vast territories from the east of the . On 800, December 25th , when Charlemagne arrived in Rome, the Pope crowned him as Roman Emperor. “Renovatio Romani Imperii” was only a nominal of the Roman Empire. The new empire was actually the Frankish Carolingian Empire, a continuation of the Merovingian Frankish kingdom. During the Charlemagne's successor, (814-840) and to the Louis sons have been weakening and dismantling of the Carolingian Empire. After a period of dynastic struggles in which clashed Louis the Pious and his sons Lothair, Pepin and (830-840) and then his sons Lothair, and Louis the German (840-843), they decided the division of the empire of Charlemagne. By the Treaty of (843), the Carolingian Empire was divided into three separate states. (Louis' eldest surviving son) became the ruler of the Middle Frankish Kingdom (or Middle ), known as King of the Central or Middle Franks; Louis the German (Louis' second son) became King of the East Frankish Kingdom (or ); Charles the Bald (Louis' third

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Daniel Flaut, Introduction in Medieval History son) became the ruler of the West Frankish Kingdom (or ). The principle of the unity of the empire continued to maintain, theoretically, by holding the title of Emperor by Lothair. Nevertheless, Lothair I don't have an effective authority over his two brothers, but only an honorary precedence. For a short time, a restoration of the unity of the Carolingian Empire was made by . Between 876 and 884 he unified , Italy and Western Francia and reigned as emperor between 884 and 888. His dethronement (888) ended the last attempt to restore of the unity of the Carolingian Empire. The three branches of the Carolingian dynasty gradually faded: in Italy and in 875, in Germany in 911 and in in 987. *

6. The Anglo-Saxon kingdoms

Under the name of Anglo-Saxon are included the Germanic tribes from Holstein, Schleswig and Jutland which in the second half of the fifth century started to migrate to Britain. Withdrawal of the Roman administration and army from Britain in 407, facilitated their penetration in Britain. The penetration of the Anglo-Saxons in Britain took place in two stages and resulted in the formation of several kingdoms:  In the first phase, between 449 and 519, were established the following kingdoms: Kent, Sussex, Wessex and East-England. The victory of the , who were led by their legendary King Arthur, in the Battle of Mons Badonicus (520) was followed by termination, for nearly three decades, of the Anglo-Saxon attacks.  In the second stage of the conquest (552-600) were formed the kingdoms of Mercia, Essex and Northumberland. The Celts who was not subjected were pushed to the west and north, in Wales, Devon, Cornwall, Cumbria and Scotland, where they continued to fight. A large number of Celts migrated to the mainland and they settled in the province of Armorica (Brittany). The existence of has made Northumbria, Kent, Mercia and Wessex to fight to primacy and the battles result was the unification of territorial under one Bretwalda (the ruler of Britain). Wessex imposed the real suzerainty in 823, during the reign of King Egbert (802-839). In 827, after conquered East-England, Mercia and Northumberland, Egbert took the title of "King of the ''. In 837, Egbert rejected a Danish army. In 871, his nephew, Alfred the Great (871-899) had several battles, the last one, at Askdown, assured him the crown of the kingdom of Wessex. Later, Alfred the Great was forced to cede East-England, Mercia and Northumberland to the Danish but Wessex retained the independence. In 955

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Daniel Flaut, Introduction in Medieval History the unity of England was restored and Edgar the Peacemaker (955-975) took the title of "Emperor of the entire England''. In the eleventh century (1013), England fall under the Danish dominion, being included in the empire of Cnut the Great (1013-1035). In 1042, England removed the Danish dominion and Edward the Confessor was elected king (1042-1066). *

Homework Elaborate an essay with the title: Charlemagne: Father of a Continent

References:  Barbero, Alessandro, Charlemagne: Father of a Continent, translated by Allan Cameron, Berkeley, University of California Press, 2004.  Becher, Matthias, Charlemagne, translated by David S. Bachrach, New Haven, Yale University Press, 2003.  Collins, Roger, Charlemagne, Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 1998.  McKitterick, R., Charlemagne: The Formation of a European Identity, Cambridge, UK, Cambridge University Press, 2008.  Pirenne, Henri, Mohammed and Charlemagne (Dover ed.), Mineola, N.Y., Dover Publications, 2001.  Russell, Charles Edward, Charlemagne, first of the moderns, Boston and New York, Houghton Mifflin Co., 1930.  Sypeck, Jeff, Becoming Charlemagne: Europe, Baghdad, and The Empires of A.D. 800. New York, Ecco/HarperCollins, 2006.  Wilson, Derek, Charlemagne: The Great Adventure, , Hutchinson, 2005.

Bibliography  Blair, John, The Anglo-Saxon period (c. 440-1066), in The Oxford History of Britain, edited by Kenneth O. Morgan, Oxford University Press, 1991, p. 60-111.  Blair, P. H., An introduction to Anglo-Saxon England, Cambridge University Press, 1970.  Collins, Roger, Visigothic Spain, 409-711. , Malden, MA, Oxford, Blackwell Pub, 2004.  Flaut, Daniel, Evul mediu apusean (secolele V-XV). Repere cronologice, Ed. Ex Ponto, Constanţa, 2002, p. 17-34.  Ganshof, F. L., The Carolingians and the Frankish : Studies in Carolingian History, translated by Janet Sondheimer, Ithaca, N.Y., Cornell University Press, 1971.  Langston, Aileen Lewers and J. Orton Buck, Jr (eds.), Pedigrees of Some of the Emperor Charlemagne's Descendants, Baltimore, Genealogical Pub. Co., 1974.  Madaule, Jacques, Istoria Franţei, vol. I, Bucureşti, 1973.

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Daniel Flaut, Introduction in Medieval History

 Manolescu, Radu (ed.), Istoria medie universală, Ed. Didactică şi Pedagogică, Bucureşti, 1980, p. 26-51.  Maurois, Andre, Istoria Angliei, Bucureşti, 1997.  Oman, Charles. The Dark Ages, 476–918 (6th ed.), London, Rivingtons, 1914.  Painter, Sidney, A History of the , 284-1500, New York, Knopf, 1953.  Riché, Pierre, The Carolingians: A Family Who Forged Europe, Middle Ages Series, Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1993.  Salin, Edouard, La civilisation merovingienne, vol. I-IV, , 1949-1951.  Stenton, F. M., Anglo-Saxon England, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1950.  Tierney, Brian, The Crisis of Church and State 1050-1300, Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 1964.

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