Medieval Europe
Changes in Western Europe
• Decline of the Roman empire ushered in
Medieval period in Europe 500-1500
• Disruption of trade from invasions, which
destroyed Europe’s cities
• Downfall of cities
• Population moves from cities to
countryside
Decline of learning
• Germanic invaders illiterate
• Shift to rural areas decreased
literate Roman citizens
• Only priests and other church
officials were literature
• Knowledge of Greek lost
Loss of a Common language
• Latin changed with new population
and different dialects developed
• French, Spanish, etc. Mirrored
breakup of unified empire
Germanic Kingdoms Emerge
• Small Germanic kingdoms replaced provinces
• Germanic people lived in small communities and
unwritten rules and traditions bound them together
• Germanic stress on personal ties made it impossible to
establish orderly gov. for large territories
• Roman province of Gaul, a Germanic people called the
Franks held power
• Clovis, their leader, converts them to Christianity
• Church in Rome supported Clovis’ conversion and gave
him military support, which began the church and state
partnership
Germanic Peoples Adopt Christianity
• By 600 many Germanic peoples had
•
•
•
•
converted
Missionary activity helped
Church built monasteries out in
countryside, where monks and nuns lived
Benedict, an Italian monk, wrote a book
about the rules of monasteries that was
adopted throughout Europe
Monasteries became best educated
communities in Europe
590 Gregory the Great became Pope
• Increased papal authority
• Became more secular- involved in
politics
• Expanded the idea of a churchly
kingdom
• This would slowly conflict with
secular rulers with their own
kingdoms
A European Empire Evolves
• Clovis’ kingdom of the Franks was the strongest in Europe
and he strengthened the Merovingian dynasty
• By 700 the mayor of the palace ruled the kingdom
• Charles Martel, the mayor in 719, had more power than the
king
• Defeated the Muslims at the Battle of Tours in 732, which kept
Muslims from further advancement into Europe
• His son, Pepin the short, came to power
• Pope named Pepin “king by the grace of god” thus
beginning the Carolingian Dynasty 751-987
• Charlemagne, one of Pepin’s sons, built a great empire in
Europe
Charlemagne Takes Center Stage
• Charlemagne conquered a lot of territory and
spread Christianity
• Reunited Western Europe for the first time
since the Roman Empire
• 800 Charlemagne went to Rome to crush a mob
who had attacked the Pope
• In return, the Pope named him Roman
Emperor, signaling the joining of Germanic
power, the Church, and the heritage of the
Roman Empire
Charlemagne’s government
•
•
•
•
•
Limited the authority of the nobles
Judged cases
Settled disputes
Made regular visits to kingdom
Encouraged learning
Charlemagne’s successors
• Charlemagne died in 814 and left
only son Louis as emperor
• Louis’ three sons fought for the
empire and it split apart
• Carolingian’s lost power