Early Dark Ages and Barbarian Invasion

WORLD HISTORY AND CIVILIZATION

MEDIEVAL HISTORY AND CIVILIZATION

EARLY DARK AGES AND BARBARIAN INVASION

1. Early Dark Ages

1. Barbarian Invasion
2. Rise of the Roman Catholic Church

1. Barbarian Tribes- Teutonic Group, Leader and Places Conquered

1. Huns (Attila the Hun)- Italy and Rome
2. Visigoths (Alaric)- West Goths; Spain
3. Vandals- Carthage, Africa; Emperor Justinian of Byzantine conquered them
4. Ostrogoths- East Goths; Italy; overthrown by Emperor Justinian
5.    Lombards- South Italy; Lombardy was a placed founded therein
6.    Franks (Clovis)- Gaul (France Today)
7. Anglo-Saxons – England/Great Britain
8. Magyars- Eastern Europe; St. Stephen of Hungary was canonized.
9.    Vikings- “men of the bays; Northmen or Norsemen; Scandinavia and Russia

1. Russia- Viking seafarer
2. Eric the Red- founded Greenland
3. Leif Ericson- founded Vinland in North America

1. Effects of the Barbarian Invasion

1. Founding of new cities in Europe

1. Anglo-Saxons in UK
2. Normans in  France

1. Blending of Germanic Blood with the Christian Religion and Graeco-Roman Culture
2. Addition of the customary law as one of the sources of law
3. Idea of social contract between ruler and subject
4. Idea of an elected king rather than a hereditary one or by military succession
5. Trial by Ordeal
6. Legends, Stories and Literature

1. Beowulf- national epic of England
2. Days of the Week (Norse Mythology)

1. Tuesday – Tiuw (Father God)
2. Wednesday- Wodin (War God)
3. Thursday- Thor (Thunder God)
4. Friday- Friga (Fertility Goddess)

THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE

• Clovis-  leader of the Franks who was converted into a Christian
• Charles the Martel- “mayor of the palace”; won over the Battle of the Tours in 732 AD
• Pepin the Short- one of the “Do-nothing Kings”
• Charlemagne- founder of the Carolingian Empire; “Father of Europe”; “Emperor of Romans”
• Pope Leo III- he crowned Charlemagne as “Emperor” on December 25, 800 AD.
• Roland- greatest knight of Charlemagne; the hero of the epic “Song of Roland”
• Otto I- founder of the “Holy Roman Empire”
• Treaty of Verdun- division of Charlemagne’s empire for his grandsons (843 AD)

1. Louis the German- Germany
2. Charles the Bald- France
3. Lothar- Italy

• Voltaire (Francois Marie Arouet)- “Holy Roman Empire is neither Holy nor Roman nor Empire”

FEUDALISM AND CHIVALRY/KNIGHTHOOD IN MEDIEVAL EUROPE

1. Feudalism- social, economic and political system based on land

1. Fief or feudum- the feudal land
2. Feudal Relationship

1. Lord – the land-giver
2. Vassal- the land recipient and protector

1. Homage- a feudal ceremony
2. Manor- lord’s castle and the land around it.
3. Serfs- peasants who tilled the feudal land.

II. Chivalry and Knighthood- a noble code of ethics which knights should follow.

1. Chevalier- “horsemen”
2. Stages of Knighthood

1. Page- 7 years old
2. Squire – 14 years old
3. Knight- 21 years old

1. Accolade- knighthood investiture ceremony.
2. St. Michael the Archangel- patron saint of the knights
3. Knighthood in Media and Literature

1. Ivanhoe- written by Sir Walter Scott
2. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court- written by Mark Twain

1. Role of the Church in Feudalism

1. Monks/Priests as Father Confessors to monarchs, lords, knights, squires and peasants
2. Truce of God- prohibited fighting during Christmas, Lent, Sundays and Holidays.
3. Peace of God- forbade attacks on clergy, merchants, peasants and holy places.
4. Church -as refugee and sanctuary from tyranny, injustice and war.

1. Decline of Feudalism

1. Rise of the National States

1. France
2. England
3. Spain

1. Crusades
2. Growth of Towns and Cities
3. Firearms in Warfare

1. Effects of Feudalism

1. Bad Effects

1. Creation of feudal aristocracy
2. Delay of formation of the national states

1. Good Effects

1. Protection to the different people of Christendom
2. Chivalric Literature
3. Spirit of Self-Reliance and Personal Independence
4. Noble Sentiments of man such as honor, gallantry to women, protection of the weak, respect for the aged, & devotion to God

CRUSADES

• Definitions of Crusades

1. Derived from the Latin word “crux” meaning “cross”
2. Military and religious expeditions by the Christian kings and knights to Europe to rescue the Holy Land (Palestine) from the Muslim Turks.

• Causes of Crusades

1. Capture of Jerusalem by the Seljuk Turks
2. Closure of the Holy Land to Christian Pilgrims

• Crusade Highlights