314-315-0313co 10/11/02 3:57 PM Page 314 European Middle Ages, 500–1200 Connect History and Geography In 771, Charlemagne took charge of the Frankish kingdom and began building an empire. By the time of his death in 814, the empire had reached its height. The map at the right shows Charlemagne’s empire, and the way it was divided 29 years after his death. Use the map to answer the questions below. 1. What bodies of water form the borders of Charlemagne’s empire? 2. What island is part of Charlemagne’s empire? 3. How and when was the empire divided? For more information about the Middle Ages in Europe . CLASSZONE.COM From 771 to 814, Charlemagne ruled a vast kingdom later called the Holy Roman Empire. While serving as pope from 590 to 604, Gregory the Great wore only a monk’s robe. He humbly called himself “the servant of the servants of God.” 511 732 Charles Clovis unites Franks Martel stops under Christian rule. Muslim invasion. 314 314-315-0313co 10/11/02 3:57 PM Page 315 Europe About 843 10°W 0° 20°E Scandinavians SWEDEN a e DENMARK S North c l t i Sea Danes B a British Baltic Peoples Isles SAXONY ENGLAND SLAVIC Elbe R STATES R iv h e i r n e Aachen R 50°N . EAST FRANKISH Bohemians Slavs KINGDOM Dan Paris ub A TLANTIC (Louis the e R German) iver OCEAN BRITTANY BAVARIA Tours Charlemagne's Empire, 814 WEST Avars Division by Treaty of Verdun, 843 S FRANKISH P LOMBARDY KINGDOM L 0 250 Miles A Venice (Charles 0 250 Kilometers the Bald) CENTRAL KINGDOM ° 10 W Robinson Projection (Lothair) A Serbs d r P i a YRE c NE t i Eb E c ro S Corsica S R Rome e iv a er 40°N s. CALIPHATE OF ic I ar CORDOVA le a 20°E B Sardinia N Cordoba i t e r r a n e a n S e a M e d Sicily 0° Muslim Africa 800 900s 962 1190 Charlemagne crowned Outside invasions spur Otto the Great Holy Roman emperor by the pope. growth of feudalism. crowned emperor. Empire weakens. 316-0313s1 10/11/02 3:58 PM Page 316 Interact with History ou are living in the countryside of western Europe during Ythe 1100s. Like about 90 percent of the population, you What is good are a peasant working the land. Your family’s hut is located in a small village on your lord’s estate. The lord provides your basic and bad about needs, including housing, food, and protection. Opportunities to leave the estate are rare. Within your the small lifetime, you will probably travel no more than 25 miles from your home. world of a Peasants retreat behind the castle walls during attacks. peasant’s life? EXAMINING the ISSUES • What is secure about your world? • How do you view the world beyond your estate? • How is your life limited? • How do you cope with the many hardships? Peasants owe their lord two or three days’ labor every As a class, discuss these questions. In your week farming his land. discussion, think about other people who have limited power over their lives. As you read about the lot of European peasants in this chapter, see how their living arrangements determine their role in society and shape their beliefs. This peasant feels the right to stay on his lord’s land is more important than This peasant woman his freedom to leave. cannot marry without her lord’s consent. 316 317-321-0313s1 10/11/02 3:58 PM Page 317 TERMS & NAMES 1 • Middle Ages Germanic Kingdoms • Franks • monastery • secular • Carolingian Unite Under Charlemagne Dynasty • Charlemagne MAIN IDEA WHY IT MATTERS NOW Many Germanic kingdoms that Charlemagne spread Christian succeeded the Roman Empire were civilization through northern Europe, reunited under Charlemagne’s empire. where it had a permanent impact. SETTING THE STAGE The gradual decline of the Roman Empire ushered in an era of European history called the Middle Ages, or the medieval period. It spanned from around 500 to 1500. During these centuries, new institutions slowly emerged to replace those of the fallen Roman Empire. Unified civilizations flourished in China and Southwest Asia. Medieval Europe, though, remained fragmented. Invasions Trigger Changes in Western Europe By the end of the fifth century, invaders from many different Germanic groups over- ran the western half of the Roman Empire. Repeated invasions and constant warfare sparked new trends. A series of changes altered government, economy, and culture: • Disruption of Trade Merchants faced invasions from both land and sea. Their businesses collapsed. Population of Three Roman Cities The breakdown of trade destroyed Europe’s cities as economic centers. Money became scarce. 350 • Downfall of Cities With the fall of the Roman 300 Empire, cities were abandoned as centers of administration. 250 • Population Shifts As Roman centers of trade and THINK THROUGH HISTORY 200 A. Recognizing government collapsed, nobles retreated to the rural (in thousands) Effects How did the areas. Roman cities were left without strong leader- 150 fall of the Roman ship. Other city dwellers also fled to the countryside, Empire lead to 100 disorder in western where they grew their own food. The population of Population Europe? western Europe became mostly rural. A. Answer Strong 50 government vanished, The Decline of Learning The Germanic invaders who economic life was in 0 stormed Rome could not read or write. Among Roman Rome Lyon Trier turmoil, cities were subjects themselves, the level of learning sank sharply as (in France) (in Germany) abandoned, and learn- City Populations around A.D. 100 ing declined. more and more families left for rural areas. Few people City Populations around A.D. 900 except priests and other church officials were literate. Knowledge of Greek, long important in Roman cul- SKILLBUILDER: ture, was almost lost. Few people could read Greek works Interpreting Graphs of literature, science, and philosophy. The Germanic 1. How much did Rome’s population tribes, though, had a rich oral tradition of songs and leg- decrease from around A.D. 100 to 900? ends. However, they had no written language. 2. What does the bar graph suggest about trends that occurred after the fall of the Loss of a Common Language As German-speaking Roman Empire? Vocabulary peoples mixed with the Roman population, Latin began dialects: various to change. It was no longer understood from region to region. Different dialects devel- ways words from the oped as new words and phrases became part of everyday speech. By the 800s, French, same language are pronounced or used in Spanish, and other Roman-based languages had evolved from Latin. The development different regions. of various languages mirrored the continued breakup of a once unified empire. European Middle Ages 317 317-321-0313s1 10/11/02 3:58 PM Page 318 Germanic Kingdoms Emerge In the years of upheaval between 400 and 600, small Germanic kingdoms replaced Roman provinces. The borders of those kingdoms changed constantly with the for- tunes of war. The Church was an institution that survived the fall of the Roman Empire. During this time of political chaos, the Church provided order and security. The Concept of Government Changes Along with shifting boundaries, the entire concept of government changed. Loyalty to public government and written law had unified Roman society. Family ties and personal loyalty, rather than citizenship in a public state, bound Germanic society together. Unlike the Romans, Germanic peoples lived in small communities. These were governed by unwritten rules and traditions. Every Germanic chief led a band of warriors who had pledged their loyalty to him. In peacetime, these followers lived in their lord’s hall. He gave them food, weapons, and treasure. In battle, warriors fought to the death at their lord’s side. They consid- ered it a disgrace to outlive him. Germanic warriors willingly died for a leader they respected. Yet they felt no obli- gation to obey a king they didn’t even know. Nor would they obey an official sent to collect taxes or administer justice in the name of an emperor they had never met. The Germanic stress on personal ties made it impossible to establish orderly government for large territories. In the Roman province of Gaul, a Germanic people called the Franks held power. Their leader, Clovis (KLOH•vihs), would eventually bring Christianity to this region. The Franks Under Clovis Clovis’s wife, Clothilde, urged him to convert to her faith. She believed in a traditional form of Christianity. In 496 Clovis led his warriors into battle against another Germanic army. Fearing defeat, Clovis appealed to the Christian God. “For I have called on my gods,” he prayed, “but I find they are far from my aid . Now I call on Thee. I long to believe in Thee. Only, please deliver me from my enemies.” The tide of the battle shifted and the Franks triumphed. Afterward, Clovis and 3,000 of his warriors asked a bishop to baptize them. The Church in Rome welcomed Clovis’s con- version and supported his military campaigns against other Germanic peoples. By 511, Clovis had united the Franks into one kingdom. The strategic alliance between Clovis’s Frankish king- dom and the Church marked the beginning of a special partnership between two powerful forces. This ivory carving shows Clovis’s conversion to Germanic Peoples Adopt Christianity Christianity in 496. Politics played a key role in spreading Christianity. By 600, the Church, with the help A bishop baptizes him as his wife, of Frankish rulers, had converted many Germanic peoples.