Transforming the Roman
World
9-1
New Germanic Kingdoms
 476 CE – fall of Western Roman Empire
 Germanic states set up around Europe:
 Spain – Visigoths
 Italy – Ostrogoths
 Britain – Anglo-Saxons
 France/Germany – Franks (longest lasting)
Germanic Society
 Importance of family
 Germanic law – handled personally (instead of through
Roman system)
 Crimes settled by blood feuds and savage acts of revenge
 Wergild – “money for a man”
 Ordeal to determine guilt – physical test
Church Organization
Pope
(bishop of Rome)
Archbishop
Bishop
Priest
Monks and their Mission
 Pope Gregory I – uses the monastic
movement to convert non-Christians
 Saint Benedict - regulates monasteries
(Benedictine Rule)
 Day of prayer and manual labor
 7 daily gatherings for group prayer and
chanting of Psalms
 Strict rule by an abbot (“father”)
The Carolingian Empire
 600s-700s – slow decline of the Frankish Kingdom –
eventually taken over by one of the king’s officers who
establishes hereditary rule, which passes to his son:
Charlemagne (Charles the Great)
 768-814: rule of Charlemagne
 Expanded Frankish territory
 Vast administration system (counts, missi diminici)
 Intellectual renewal (Carolingian Renaissance)
Charlemagne the Man
Charlemagne the
Conqueror
Charlemagne the
Administrator
Charlemagne the
Patron of Learning
Charlemagne,
Emperor of Rome
 800 CE - Germanic King crowed Emperor of Rome by the Pope
 Symbolic coming together of different European heritages
Feudalism
9-2
End of the Carolingian
Empire
 Death of Charlemagne in 814 – 30 years later the
Carolingian Empire was divided amongst his grandsons
into three major sections:
 West Frankish lands
 Eastern Frankish lands
 Middle Kingdom
 Local nobles gained power
 Many areas were invaded
The Invaders
Feudalism
 Became increasingly difficult to defend their subjects
against invaders as the Carolingian Empire fell apart
 People turned to local aristocrats, nobles, for protection
> new political and social system called feudalism
Feudal Society
 Vassal: man who served a lord in a
military capacity (Germanic
tradition) – received land (fief) in
return for serving in a lord’s army
 Knight: heavily armored cavalry –
social prestige
The Feudal Contract
 System of honor and chivalry made up of unwritten rules
 Obligations of vassal:



Military service (approx. 40 days/year)
Give advice in court when summoned
Financial payments for lord’s son’s knighting, daughter’s wedding,
or ransom payment
 Obligations of lord:



Grant land
Protection
Take vassal’s side in court of law
Nobility of the Middle Ages
 Nobility: kings, dukes,
counts, barons, bishops
and archbishops =
aristocracy
 Great lords and knights
were included as well
 Social divisions within
the aristocracy based on
wealth and landholdings
Tournaments
 Contests where knights could show off fighting skills
Chivalry
 Code of ethics that knights
were supposed to uphold
 Treat captives as honored
guests
 Knights fight for glory, not
material reward
Aristocratic Women
 Could hold property (most controlled by men)
 Men often away at war – women in charge of the estate
 Manage household


Take care of financial accounts
Oversaw food supply
 Expected to be subservient to husbands

Exception: Eleanor of Aquitaine

Heiress – married to King Louis VII of France – annulled

Married King Henry II of England – created her own court – two of
her sons (Richard and John) became kings of England