5/28/14

Today in class we took a test. I thought it was challenging. Hopefully I did well.

5/27/2014

Today we reviewed for our test tomorrow

• middle ages were from AD 476 - AD 1453 
• (this is a new society) The new society has roots in:
• classical heritage of Rome 
• Beliefs of the Roman Catholic Church
• customs of various Germanic tribes. 
• 5th century Germanic invaders overrun the western half of the Roman Empire. Causing:
• Disruption of trade
• downfall of cities
• population shifts to rural areas. 
• Effects of invasion
• Tribes had oral tradition, songs. but couldn't read Greek or Latin.
• Romance languages evolve. (French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian)
• Few besides priests were literate.
• Germanic warriors' loyalty is to the lord of the manor, he provides them with food, weapons, treasure.
• Result: 
• no orderly government for large areas
• small communities. 
• Clovis rules the Germanic people of Gaul, known as the Franks (Which is where "France comes from) 
• in 496 AD he had a battle field conversion- he and 3000 of his warriors become Christians
• In 520 AD, Benedict writes rules for monks. Rules are on power point
• Scholastica wrote similar rules for nuns. 
• They operate schools, maintained libraries and copied books. 
• Church revenues are used to help poor, build roads, and raise armies. 
• This is a Theocracy. (know definition)
• Gregory's spiritual kingdom (Christendom) extends from Italy to England, from Spain to Germany.
• a descendant of Clovis, Charles Martel was also known as Charles the Hammer. 
• Hammer defeats a Muslim raiding party from Spain at the battle of tours in 732 (if he hadn't won, western Europe could have become part of the Muslim empire) 
• Charles Martel's son is Pepin the short. 
• Pepin the Short's son was Charlemagne, meaning Charles the Great (a great warrior, 6'4")
• Charlemagne 
• fought Muslims in Spain, and Germanic tribes
• was the most powerful king in western Europe. 
• His heirs did a terrible job. 
• Louis the Pious was ineffective. 
• he had three sons. they split up the kingdom into three different parts. (Treaty of Verdun in 843 AD)
• 
  

5/23/2014

Middle Ages

*All of these notes are on the power point on Mr. Schick's blog.*
Middle ages = medieval period
476-1453 AD.
started when Romulus Augustus wasn't emperor anymore.
When you don't have a strong roman empire, there is disruption of trade, downfall of cities, and population shifts to rural areas.
Decline of learning
tribes had oral tradition, songs, but couldn't read Greek or Latin.
Romance languages evolve (French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian)
few besides priests were literate.

Loyalty was to the lord of the manor and your family. NOT to the king because they didn't know who he was and he didn't do anything to protect them.
King doesn't have much influence.

Clovis
Rules over Gaul, known as the franks. (French)
He had a battlefield conversion- he and 3000 warriors became Christians.
By 511 the church and the franks (and Clovis) joined together and worked together as a partnership.
died in 511

Benedict made rules for monks.
Benedict's sister Scholastica wrote similar rules for the nuns.

Pope Gregory I goes secular (worldly power).
He uses tax money to raise armies, build roads. Starts to do things that the government is suppose to do.
This is Theocracy.

Charles the Hammer
Hammer defeats a Muslim raiding party from Spain at the Battle of Tours in 732. (if he hadn't won, western Europe could have become part of the Muslim Empire).
Had a son named Pepin the Short.
Pepin was announced the king by the pope.
Pepin the Short had two sons, Carloman who died in 771 and Charlemagne (Charles the great).

Charlemagne
the most powerful king in western Europe.
Spread Christianity.
He regularly went out and visited every part of his kingdom so people knew who was running things, so they were loyal to him.

5/20/2014

Middle Ages

• Charlemagne
• helped make Christians more popular.
• Only people who knew how to read and write were people in the Church.
• Europe begins to get many different languages, not just Latin. 
• Clovis
• Franks king.
• Converts to Christianity, and so do all of his troops. 
• Has a battle field conversion. 
• Unites franks into one kingdom. 
• Fear of Muslims in southern Europe spur many to become Christians. 
• Monasteries and Convents
• AD 520 Benedict
• wrote the rules for monks and monasteries
• poverty, chastity, obedience, study
• Benedict's sister, Scholastica did the same for nuns in convents. 
• 731 AD- the Venerable Bede wrote a killer history of England. 
• Monks opened schools, maintained libraries, and copied books (Bibles, Greek texts)
• The Church and the government are almost the same, you can barely tell them apart.
• Church can use money to build armies, etc. 
• Franks control largest European Kingdom. 
• The Roman providence called Gaul
• Ruled by Clovis - the Merovingian Dynasty.
• Major Domo- mayor of the palace- ruled by kingdom. 
• Charles Martel - Charles the Hammer
• Extended the Franks' reign to the north, south, and east.
• Defeated a Muslim army from Spain at the Battle of Tours in 732 
• A European empire evolves 
• Charles the Hammer's son - Pepin the Short
• possibly named for his unusually short haircut
• working for and with the Pope, Pepin fought the Lombards.
• Pope Stephen II named Pepin "King by the grace of God" - beginning the Carolingian Dynasty 751 - 987 AD
• (So a pope can name someone a king)
• Pepin the Short had Two sons, Carolman and Charles
• Carol man died, leaving ....
• Charlemagne aka Charles the Great
• Six foot four
• built the greatest empire since Rome. 
• Fought the Muslims in Spain
• Fought Germanic tribes
• Spread Christianity
• Reunited Western Europe 
• Became the most powerful king in western Europe 
• Pope Leo III crowned him emperor in 800 AD after he defended him from an unruly Roman mob.
• This signaled the joining of Germanic power, the Church, and the heritage of the Roman Empire. 
• Charlemagne's Government
• He limited the authority of the nobles
• He regularly visited every part of his kingdom
• kept close watch on his huge estates 
• cultural revival
• encouraged learning
• ordered monasteries to open school
• opened a palace school.
• But his heirs weren't nearly as good as him. 
• His son - Louis the Pious - was ineffective.
• Louis' three sons - Lothair, Charles the Bald, and Louis the German - split up the kingdom at the Treaty of Verdun in 843 AD.

5/19/2014

Today I missed class, so Cam sent me his notes.

Middle Ages Notes

• Germanic Kingdoms unite under Charlemagne
• Charlemagne spread Christian civilization throughout northern Europe
• Middle Ages equals the medieval  period, lasted from 500-1500 A.D. (medieval Europe is fragmented)
• Invasions changed the way things were in western Europe
• Disruption of trade- Europe's cities no longer were the center of trade and money was scarce
• Downfall of cities- Cities no longer were the center of administration
• Population shifts- Nobles retreat to rural areas and cities don't have strong leadership
• Decline of learning- many invaders were illiterate but they communicated through oral tradition, only priests and church officials could read and write, knowledge of Greek literature; science; and philosophy was almost lost
• Loss of common language- dialects develop in different regions, by the 800's French, Spanish and other Roman-based languages are evolving from Latin
• Germanic Kingdoms emerge- Roman society was loyal to the local public government
• Nobody cared about the king and nobody really paid attention to him
• Franks who were settling in Gaul had a leader named Clovis
• Clovis had a battle conversion like Constantine, he had a bishop baptize him and his 3,000 warriors after winning a key battle, the church approved of Clovis and began to support him
• A powerful alliance came into existence between Clovis and the church
• A pope named Gregory expanded the power of the pope which allows the church to use church money to raise armies, repair roads, and help the poor
• Gregory the Great begins to act like a mayor of Rome and as the head of an earthly kingdom
• the Church is more like a government at this time 

5/16/2014

• Feudalism- a political, military and economic system based on land holding and protective alliances. (the system is based on personal loyalty to people who can help you).
• Lord- "i own land; i need people to help me work and defend it"
• Vassals (middle class/tough dudes)- "there are a lot of us and we can help the rich dudes hold on to there land." 
• Pyramid- King at the top, the most powerful vassals next (nobles and bishops), then knights (mounted warriors who received fiefs (little plots of land) for defending their lords land, lastly the peasants (mostly serfs) : landless, powerless, money-less, right less. Just working the land for "the man" (their Lord). 
• Manor: the Lord's estate.
• the lords manor house
• a church
• some workshops
• 15-30 families
• all on a few square miles
• Good news: its a self sufficient community
• Bad News: it's harsh if you're a peasant. 
• Peasants are poor and pay high taxes.
• tax on grain
• tax on marriage
• church tax (tithe= 10% of their income)
• they live in crowded cottages
• live with animals and insects
• eat very simple
• The Church says this is your lot in life. God determines your place in society. 

5/14/2014

Today we took a test and then found out what we got on the test.

Page 151 Notes

• After Rome 500-700
• "the upheaval of the early middle ages ended not in a collapse of civilization but in its renewal, and the first two early medieval centuries set the patterns for how this renewal would later take place in western and eastern Europe."
• Medieval- Refers to the distinctive civilization of the middle ages, which developed in Europe after the disintegration of the Roman Empire and before the emergence of the modern west.