The Struggle to Bring
Order
The Early Middle Ages,
ca. 750-1000
The Struggle to Bring Order
The Big Picture
Viking Invasions
800-950
Charlemagne’s Kingdom
768-814
700
800
Muslim Assaults
850-950
Magyar Invasions
890- 950
900
Canute’s Unification
1016-1035
1000
2
Bringing Order with Laws and
Leadership
Struggle for Order
– Fragile New Kingdoms: After the disruptions of the fifth, sixth,
and seventh centuries, Western Europeans struggled restore order to
their societies, and did so by trying to join all members of
societies—from nobles to peasants—through ties of law and
loyalty.
– Emergence of Organized Social Structures: European society
was being increasing defined by contractual and personal
relationships such as the localized one that existed between
peasants and nobles. Kings and the Church were more distant
authorities, but their power was growing.
3
Bringing Order with Laws and
Leadership
The Rule of Law
– Germanic Law: Germanic tribes had developed their own rule of law well
before they came under Roman influence, but they had had not written it
down.
– Features of Germanic Legal System: Someone accused of a crime could
have character witnesses—twelve honorable men—who would testify in a
process called compurgation. Another legal process was called ordeal,
which subjected the accused to a form of torture: being forced to pick up a
red hot poker or be submerged under water. Whether or not they suffered any
ill effects would determine whether they were guilty or not, with the belief
that supernatural forces were in play.
– Wergeld: Cycles of violence were often prevented by the tradition of “man
money,” meaning that death and injury could be monetarily compensated. A
free peasant’s life was worth about 200 shillings, while a nobleman’s life
was worth 1,200. An ear was worth 30 shillings, while a nose, 60. Women in
4
their childbearing years were worth more than postmenopausal women.
Bringing Order with Laws and
Leadership
The Rule of Law
– Intricate System of Law: The fines for everything from an insult
to a lost toe may seem bizarre to us now, but they nonetheless
represent a growing synthesis of Germanic and Roman traditions
as they were increasingly written down.
– Law as Instrument of Royal Power: By the eighth century,
kings and their royal officials inserted themselves between
feuding families, using the law codes as a means to assert their
authority. They nonetheless never completely brought their
subjects’ desire for vengeance under control. Yet wergeld,
compurgation, and trial by ordeal became regular features of
medieval law, and helped to consolidate the power of these early
monarchies.
5
Anglo-Saxon England:
Forwarding Learning and Law
• Early Medieval England: It was not unified, but consisted of
several different kingdoms, the most prominent being Northumbria,
Mercia, and Wessex.
• Theodore of Tarsus: Pope Vitalian sent this learned man from the
Eastern Mediterranean to become the archbishop of Canterbury, who
started organizing the church on the Roman model with a hierarchy
of bishops and priests, and started to replace the
monastery/missionary organization that preceded it. He also
established a school at Canterbury and sent other scholar monks to
the north of England to found monasteries, including a large one at
Wearmouth-Jarrow. Beowulf was likely recorded during this period
or monastic scholarship.
6
Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms, ca. 700
7
Anglo-Saxon England:
Forwarding Learning and Law
The Venerable Bede: Recording Science and History
– The Young Bede: A young scholar studying at Jarrow in the
700s mastered all of the texts available to him, and interpreted
classical works in a way that made them accessible to his
contemporaries, writing in Latin.
– Synthesis: Bede drew upon the work of previous scholars,
preserving them and expanding upon knowledge from pervious
centuries.
– The Nature of Things: This scientific work of Bede’s drew upon
work by classical scholars, describing the earth as globe and
explaining geography, as well as the orbits of the heavens, stars,
and planets. It was the most important scientific work of the
medieval era.
8
Anglo-Saxon England:
Forwarding Learning and Law
The Venerable Bede: Recording Science and History
– Bede’s History: The full title of Bede’s most famous work was
the Ecclesiastical History of the English People. It tells of the
history of Anglo-Saxon England up to ca. 731, and plants the
seeds of the idea that the English were indeed a cohesive people.
It also was the first work of history to distinguish between
scholarly knowledge and rumor. It was also the first to use the
B.C./A.D. distinction created by Dionysius Exiguus of
Theodoric’s court in Italy, which not many people had read (thus
the B.C./A.D. distinction is often credited to Bede).
– Roman Perspective: The History tells the tale from the
perspective of Roman Christian missionaries coming to England,
and their slow conversion of Anglo-Saxon kings.
9
Anglo-Saxon England:
Forwarding Learning and Law
Governing the Kingdom
– Anglo-Saxon Law: Like other Germanic peoples, AngloSaxons developed intricate law codes that combined
Roman principles with wergeld and other Germanic
customs.
– Common Law: The Anglo-Saxons were developing their
own tradition of common law, which differed from
statutory that is based on mandates passed by a legislative
body. Common law comes from the Germanic tradition in
which the customs of the people are admissible law.
10
Anglo-Saxon England:
Forwarding Learning and Law
Governing the Kingdom
– Witan: This was a small council of powerful and wise men that
advised the king; a king could not succeed to the throne without the
approval of the Witan. The Witan was a small part of a larger
assembly of wise men from across the kingdom, the Witenagemot,
which met occasionally with the king to discuss important matters of
governance. Young or weak kings tended to be dominated by the
Witan.
– Royal Offices: In an age of slow communications, the king relied on
local representatives, called earls, who administered districts called
shires. The king also appointed men to assist the earls and keep them
in check, called shire reeves (later, sheriffs). Parish priests and
village elders were also co-opted into the ruling system.
11
Anglo-Saxon England:
Forwarding Learning and Law
Alfred the Great: King and Scholar
– Alfred (r. 871-901): This King of Wessex is the only English
king known as “the Great” on account of his military victories
and his support of learning and culture. He did not learn to read
until he was 12, but then did so voraciously, and invited scholars,
singers, and performers to court.
– Danish Invasion: The invasion of Danes at the time of Alfred’s
reign disrupted the Anglo-Saxon political order. Scandinavian
invaders crossing the North Sea beginning in the late 700s, and
continued. The great monastery at Jarrow was raided and
destroyed, while a force of 350 ships raided and plundered
London.
12
Anglo-Saxon England:
Forwarding Learning and Law
Alfred the Great: King and Scholar
– “Danelaw”: In response to the Scandanavian invasion, King Alfred
reorganized the military and created the first English navy. With a few
English victories, Alfred was able to negotiate a treaty with Danish King
Guthrum in 886, dividing the country between them. “Danelaw”
recognized that a different set of laws ruled over the areas of Danish
conquest than in the southern areas held by Alfred. Guthrum also had to
convert to Christianity under the treaty’s terms.
– Alfred’s Translations: Alfred believed that intellectual ideas should be
shared by everyone, a very unusual position at the time. He translated or
helped translate works like Boethius’s Consolation of Philosophy and
Bede’s History from Latin to Old English spoken by most of his subjects.
– Height of Anglo-Saxon England: Alfred’s reign marked the height of
Anglo-Saxon accomplishment in southern England.
13
England in 866:
Divided between Alfred and
the Danes
14
Charlemagne and the Carolingians:
A New European Empire
Charlemagne’s Kingdom
– Charlemagne’s Reign: The Carolingian King Charles (742-814) , later
known as “Charlemagne” or “Charles the Great” (from the Latin “Carolus
Magnus”) represented the highest form of blending of Roman, Germanic,
and Christian cultures. He was a great warrior—fighting fifty-three
campaigns over his rule—but also possessed a deep intellect and greatly
valued education and scholarship.
– Administering the Realm: His vast realm, stretching from the
Mediterranean to the North Sea, posed many challenges to rule of just one
person. Charlemagne did not have fixed sheriffs like the Anglo-Saxons of
England, but sent traveling officials called missi dominici to examine and
monitor his territory. They often traveled in pairs, such as a bishop and
nobleman.
– Guaranteeing Loyalty: Charlemagne checked on his nobles by requiring
them to attend an assembly twice a year. He departed from Germanic
15
tradition by creating a personal, centralized rule.
Charlemagne and the Carolingians:
A New European Empire
Linking Politics and Religion
– Subduing the Saxons: The war-like Saxon peoples of the north had been
raiding Frankish territory for generations. Charlemagne sought to subdue
them by Christianizing them and incorporating them into his empire. Thirty
years of religious coercion brought them under his control; he used religion
as a political weapon.
– Charlemagne and Irene of Byzantium: Charlemagne tried to unify the
church and empires by having his son marry the Byzantine Empress Irene’s
daughter, but Irene blinded and deposed her son. He then tried to marry
Irene, but these negotiations fell through.
– Charlemagne’s Coronation: In 800, Charlemagne came to Rome at the
request of Pope Leo III (r. 795-816), who had lost control of Rome.
Charlemagne’s forces restored order, and in return, the pope crowned the
king the “Holy Roman Emperor,” creating a central alliance between
Frankish kings and the papacy.
16
The Empire of Charlemagne, ca. 800
17
Charlemagne and the Carolingians:
A New European Empire
Negotiating with Byzantium and Islam
– Byzantine Relations: The title of emperor irked Empress Irene, but she
did not have time to respond since she was overthrown by a Byzantine
aristocrat, Nicephorus, in 802. In 813, it was negotiated that
Charlemagne would take the title of “Emperor of the Franks” and the
Byzantine emperor would have “Emperor of the Romans.” But
relations continued to be tense.
– Relations with Islam: Charlemagne had much better relations with
Harun al-Rashid, the Caliph of Baghdad (r. 786-809). The two
exchanged many gifts, including an elephant that the caliph gave to the
emperor. Harun also gave Charlemagne nominal control over scared
Christian sites in the Holy Land.
– Relative Peace and Prosperity: The relative peace within the borders
of Charlemagne’s empire led to a period of prosperity, and lucrative
18
trade with the powers of the East.
Charlemagne and the Carolingians:
A New European Empire
An Intellectual Rebirth
– Establishing Schools: An Anglo-Saxon scholar from York,
England, Alcuin (ca. 730s – 804) visited Charlemagne’s court
and so impressed the leader that he invited to become a resident
of the court and help the emperor establish institution of
learning.
– Curriculum: Alcuin brought in scholars from across Europe,
and together they established what would become basis for
university curricula in Europe: the trivium (grammar, rhetoric,
and logic); and the more advanced quadrivium (arithmetic,
music, geometry, and astronomy). Medieval scholars saw all of
these subjects as deeply related, reflecting patterns by which
God organized the world.
19
Charlemagne and the Carolingians:
A New European Empire
An Intellectual Rebirth
– Correcting Texts: Before the printing press, books were created
by hand. It could take a full day for a scholar to copy 6-10
manuscript pages. Scribes were in short supply; more people
could read than write. Copyists often were not fluent in Latin
and made many mistakes. Scholars at Charlemagne’s court
sought to correct errors in important texts by comparing different
versions and figuring out the correct one. They also developed a
standardized method of writing, eliminating many variations
that caused confusion. [The next page shows how difficult
reading this writing could be!]
20
Photo credits: a) By permission of the Syndics of Cambridge University Library; b)  Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris
21
Struggle for Order in the Church
Monasteries Contribute to an Ordered World
– Monasteries: Benedict of Nursia (ca. 480-543) had started the tradition
of monastic and convent life, with communities living strictly
regimented lives under a monastic leader. Monastic life proved popular,
and provided one of the few avenues of social mobility. They also
provided an essential service of copying, transmitting, and preserving
texts and learning.
– Monasteries and Politics: Nobles and kings often exerted influence
over their local bishops and priests, which seemed to subsume spiritual
life to earthly politics.
– Cluniac Reform: In 910, a group of monks persuaded a duke in
southern France to fund a new monastery at Cluny that was exempt
from local control, and accountable only to the pope. Several other
monasteries followed suit, becoming accountable to the abbot at Cluny
22
and thus to the pope, avoiding local politics.
Order Interrupted:
Vikings and Other Invaders
Competing for the Realm: Charlemagne’s Descendents
– Charlemagne’s Descendents: He had only one son, Louis
the Pious (r. 814-840), who inherited his empire, and under
whose rule there were already signs of the eventual
disintegration of the empire.
– Civil War: After Louis’s death, civil war broke out
between Louis’s three sons:
Charles the Bald (r. 843-877)
Lothair I (r. 840-855)
Louis the German (r. 843-876)
23
Order Interrupted:
Vikings and Other Invaders
Competing for the Realm: Charlemagne’s Descendents
– Treaty of Verdun: This agreement between the three brothers
made in 843 destroyed Charlemagne’s united Western Europe
by dividing into three. It also anticipated future European
national divisions because linguistic divisions played a part in
the division.
– The Strasbourg Oaths: When Charles the Bald and Louis the
German took oaths to respect the treaty, the oaths were pledged
in two different languages: Charles did so in a Romance (Latinderived language), while Louis used an early Germanic tongue.
24
Partition of the Carolingian Empire, 843—Treaty of Verdun
25
Order Interrupted:
Vikings and Other Invaders
Competing for the Realm: Charlemagne’s Descendents
– Kingdom of Lothair Split Up: By 870, Charles and Louis
split up the weaker middle kingdom, creating a tradition of
disputed lands that continued down to the twentieth century (as
in the case of Alsace Lorraine on the German-French border).
– Invasions Weaken the Carolingians: The rulers may have
recovered the Carolingian empire at some point, but invaders
from the north, south, and east weakened them. These included
the Magyars (Hungarians) from the east, the Muslims from the
south, and the Vikings from the north.
26
Invasions of Europe, Ninth and Tenth Centuries
27
Order Interrupted:
Vikings and Other Invaders
“The Wrath of the Northmen”: Scandinavian Life and Values
– Northern Pagans: When Charlemagne converted the Saxons (in what
is now northern Germany) to Christianity, the people of Scandinavia
(what is now Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Finland) remained
pagan. These peoples worshipped gods who were similar in function to
the Greek and Roman gods, but with different names: Wodin, Thor,
and Freya (we get some of our English day names from them:
Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday).
– Scandinavian Life: Scandinavians tended to be farmers, but the
growing season in Northern Europe is so short that their society had a
tendency toward scarcity. They also tended to be excellent seamen and
traders, and goods from all of Europe found their way to Scandinavian
farms.
28
Order Interrupted:
Vikings and Other Invaders
“The Wrath of the Northmen”: Scandinavian Life and Values
– Germanic Peoples: Scandinavians were Germanic peoples,
but they had much less contact with the Romans than the
Germanic people to the south. They preserved their history in
spoken prose narratives called sagas, which valued wit and
humor as much as strength and courage. They also shared the
Germanic passion for revenge, and had a tendencies toward
violence. Many Vikings left Scandinavia to take refuge from
blood feuds.
29
Order Interrupted:
Vikings and Other Invaders
“The Wrath of the Northmen”: Scandinavian Life and Values
– Viking Ships: Vikings were skilled navigators and had developed highly
sea-worthy and quick vessels.
They were built of oak and had
enough flex built into them to deal
with the rough pounding of the
North Atlantic. Each could carry
between 50 to 100 men, who would
man oars on each side. The shallow
keel allowed the boats to sail upriver
during raids, something most other
large European vessels could not do.
Viking raiders often escaped before a
counterattack could be mounted. One
Anglo-Saxon prayers said, “God help us from the wrath of the Northmen.”
30
Order Interrupted:
Vikings and Other Invaders
Viking Travels and Conquests
– Eastern Travels: Some traveled down the Dnieper River to outside
the gates of Constantinople. Throughout the 900s, the Byzantine
emperor’s personal guards, the Varangians, were Scandinavians.
Others traveled down the Volga, founding a strong state known as
the Kievan Rus (as discussed in Chapter 6). Others merely raided
territories looking for gold, and amassed great hordes.
– Western Explorations: Some Vikings sailed across the North
Atlantic, establishing a permanent settlement on Iceland, and one
that lasted several centuries on Greenland. Norwegian Leif Erikson
(970-1035) traveled all the way to the Canadian maritimes, which
he dubbed Vinland, which was not permanently settled. They called
the native people of North America as Skraelings, which had a
31
derogatory meaning.
Order Interrupted:
Vikings and Other Invaders
Viking Travels and Conquests
– European Settlements: Vikings made permanent settlements in
Northern France (Normandy), Sicily, and England. Danes had
conquered much of the northern England by mid-ninth century. In
1016, King Swein and his son, Canute, sailed for England with a
large force and beat the Anglo-Saxon King, Edmund Ironside (r.
1016). Canute became a king of a united England.
32
Order Interrupted:
Vikings and Other Invaders
An Age of Invasions: Assessing the Legacy
– Two-Hundred Years of Chaos: Viking, Magyar, and Muslim
invasions disrupted the order that Charlemagne had worked so
hard to restore. Charlemagne’s descendents to not uphold his
vision of a personal, centralized authority. Learning and
scholarship also suffered, as did the authority of the church
during the turmoil of the tenth century. Nuns would mutilate
their faces as Vikings approached to avoid rape, which would
break their vows of chastity.
– Vikings Convert: In the eleventh century, the cycle of violence
spent itself as many Vikings converted to Christianity.
33
Manors and Feudal Ties:
Order Emerging from Chaos
Peasants and Lords: Mutual Obligations
on the Medieval Manor
Mutual Bonds: As early as the 700s, Carolingian nobles began
to develop mutual contracts that bound people into specific
relationships. These were based on Germanic tribal relationships,
but were more ordered and hierarchical: each person was bound
to a superior, from the peasantry up to the king. This system
evolved slowly over centuries.
34
Manors and Feudal Ties:
Order Emerging from Chaos
Peasants and Lords: Mutual Obligations
on the Medieval Manor
Manors: These developed from the old agricultural estates of the Roman Empire. In
Western Europe, manors developed a pattern of serfs and lords that held sway for
almost 1,000 years. Almost all manors consisted of the lord’s home, outbuildings like
barns and mills, and a village where the peasants resided. Fields were laid out in strips
dedicated to each family. Animals were grazed in common pastures. Peasants ate very
little meat since their animals produced milk and wool for clothes. Oxen were used to
plow the hard clay soil of Northern Europe. Forests provided firewood; fallen limbs
could be collected, but trees could not be cut down.
35
Figure 7.8
36
Manors and Feudal Ties:
Order Emerging from Chaos
Peasants and Lords: Mutual Obligations on the
Medieval Manor
– Serfs: Peasants were at the bottom of the social order, so they had
obligations to those above them, but to no one below them. They were
personally free (not slaves), but were bound to the land that they
worked (those so bound were serfs).
– Serfs’ Obligations: Aside from being required to stay put, serfs had to
give the lords a percentage of the crops they grew and livestock they
raised, and owed him labor as well. Serfs did not owe military service,
as it was only the nobles who could fight. Serf women owed the lord a
percentage of their domestic work: spinning and weaving.
– Lord’s Obligations to the Serfs: He provided equipment and
buildings like barns, and also military protection in case of attack.
37
Manors and Feudal Ties:
Order Emerging from Chaos
Noble Warriors: Feudal Obligations among the Elite
– Supporting Fighting Men: Fighting men were expensive but necessary, so
feudal society was organized around supporting them. Manors were the
basic unit to provide kings with warriors, and it took about ten peasant
families to support one mounted knight.
– Lords and Vassals: Warriors were bound to their superior through a web of
obligation, just like serfs were bound to their lord. Lords would give
warriors land in exchange for military service.
– Charles Martel (r. 714-741): Charlemagne’s grandfather who defeated the
Muslims at Tours, first offered this exchange of land for service. He
recognized the advantage of heavy cavalry, but at the same, knew of its
expense. This web of obligation evolved out of Martel’s idea. Pledging
loyalty, the knight would become the lord’s vassal, a bond for life.
38
Vassal pledging fealty and receiving a fief from his lord.
FIGURE 7.9
Drawing illustrating the relationship between a
lord and his vassals
Photo credit:  Universitatsbibliothek, Heidelberg
39
Manors and Feudal Ties:
Order Emerging from Chaos
Noble Warriors: Feudal Obligations among the Elite
– The Fief: The vassal would be given something from the lord that
would produce income, whether it be agricultural land or something
else. These nobles would not work the land; their serfs would do this
for them.
– Feudal Complexities: Even the lowest vassal was still a lord to the
peasants who worked his fief. Furthermore, sometimes a vassal was
bound to several different lords, and if fighting broke out between
them, the vassal often would choose the lord who would give him
the biggest fief.
– Liege Lord: To prevent these situations, kings in eleventh-century
France tried to establish the concept of liege lord: a lord to whom
vassals owed absolute loyalty.
40
41
42