Lesson 3. The early medieval states in West and Central Europe 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 Ostrogothic Kingdom; the Langobard Kingdom; the Visigothic Kingdom; the Vandal Kingdom; the Frankish State (The Frankish Kingdom; The Carolingian Empire) and the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. 1. The Ostrogothic Kingdom The Ostrogoths domination in Italy lasted more than half a century (493-554). The Ostrogothic Kingdom encompassed the central and northern Italy, northwestern Balkans and Pannonia. In 497 was reached the agreement between Theoderic the Great (493-526) and Emperor Anastasius, in which Theodoric was recognized as king of the Ostrogoths and empowered of the Eastern Roman Empire to Italy with the rank of patrician 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 Catholic Church 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 Dalmatia, Sicily, the Italian Peninsula up to Pad, including Rome and Ravenna. In the second stage (541-552), Baduila (Totila) (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 Alboin (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 Exarchate of Ravenna, the Duchies of Istria, Venice, Genoa, Pentapolis, Rome and Naples, while the Langobards controlled Northern, Central and a part of Southern Italy. 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 Franks under the conditions in which the kings of the Langobards wanted to annex the papal territories from Italy. In 754 and 756, Pepin the Short, the king of the Franks (752-768), defeated the Langobards and forced them to cede to the Pope the Exarchate of Ravenna, thus forming the Pontifical State. In 772, the siege of Rome led by Desiderius, the king of the Langobards (756-774), occasioned a last intervention of the Franks. Thus in 773 and 774 Charlemagne besieged and conquered Pavia 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 Gaul and most of the Iberian Peninsula. After the Franks conquered central and southern Gaul (507-508) in the possession of the Visigoths remained only Spain, except its northwestern 2 Daniel Flaut, Introduction in Medieval History region, where had been set, since the beginning of the fifth century, the Suebic Kingdom and Septimania, a region of coast from southern Gaul. In this way, the Visigothic kingdom was transformed from a Gallo-Hispanic Kingdom, with its capital at Toulouse, 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 North Africa 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 vandals 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, Sardinia, Corsica 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 dynasty. Later, the Franks conquered Thuringia (531) and Burgundy (532-534) and took advantage of the difficulties of the Ostrogothic Kingdom, at war with the Byzantine Empire, forcing the Ostrogoths to cede Provence. By the middle of the sixth century, the Franks imposed their domination over the Saxons, the Bavarians and the Suebi, 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, Neustria, Austrasia and Burgundy. Under the conditions of decay of the royal authority, the effective power was exercised by the mayors 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 Herstal (680-714). In 715, after the death of Pepin II of Herstal, mayor of Austrasia became his 3 Daniel Flaut, Introduction in Medieval History son, Charles Martel (715-741). He restored the unity of the Frankish kingdom and through the victory gained over the Arabs at Poitiers (732), stopped the Arab expansion to the north of the Pyrenees. His son, the mayor Pepin the Short (741-751) replaced the Merovingian dynasty with the Carolingian dynasty. b) The Carolingian Empire In November 751, with the support of the Pope, Pepin the Short convoked at Soissons 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 Zaragoza 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 Barcelona, 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 Austria). Following these conquests, at the end of the eighth century, the French state included Gaul, northern and central Italy and northeastern Spain and vast territories from the east of the Rhine. On 800, December 25th , when Charlemagne arrived in Rome, the Pope crowned him as Roman Emperor. “Renovatio Romani Imperii” was only a nominal restoration 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, Louis the Pious (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 Louis the German (830-840) and then his sons Lothair, Charles the Bald and Louis the German (840-843), they decided the division of the empire of Charlemagne. By the Treaty of Verdun (843), the Carolingian Empire was divided into three separate states. Lothair I (Louis' eldest surviving son) became the ruler of the Middle Frankish Kingdom (or Middle Francia), known as King of the Central or Middle Franks; Louis the German (Louis' second son) became King of the East Frankish Kingdom (or East Francia); Charles the Bald (Louis' third 4 Daniel Flaut, Introduction in Medieval History son) became the ruler of the West Frankish Kingdom (or West Francia).