Monday, May 19, 2014

West Civ Day #44- Germanic Kingdoms Unite Under Charlemagne

Today in West Civ we took more notes on Middle Ages:
-Many Germanic kingdoms that succeeded the Roman Empire were reunited under Charlemagne's empire
-Charlemagne spread Christian civilization throughout northern Europe, which is where many of us came from
-Middle Ages= medieval period
-500-1500 AD
-Medieval Europe is fragmented
A-Invasions trigger changes in Western Europe
     1-Invasions and constant warfare spark new trends
           a-Disruption of trade
                  1-Europe cities are no longer economic centers
                  2-Money is scarce
           b-Downfall of cities
                  1-Cities are no longer centers of administration
           c-Population shifts
                  1-Nobles retreat to the rural areas
                  2-Cities don't have strong leadership
     2-Decline of learning
                  1- Germanic invaders are illiterate but they communicate through oral tradition
                  2-Only priests and church officials could read and write
                  3-Knowledge of Greek (literature, science, philosophy) is lost
     3-Loss of a common language
                  1-Dialects develop in different languages
                  2-By the 1800s French, Spanish, other Roman based languages are evolving from Latin
B- Germanic kingdoms emerge
     1- The concept of government changes
            a-Roman society: loyal to public government
            b-Germanic society: loyal to family
                  1-Germanic chief led warriors
                  2-During peace he provided food, weapons, treasure, a place to live (the lord's hall)
                  3-During wartime warriors fought for the lord
            c-"The King? Who's that? You want to collect taxes from me? Who the heck are you?"
            d-Franks live in the Roman province of Gaul- their leader is Clovis
     2-The Franks under Clovis
            a-Another battlefield conversion
            b-Clovis and 3000 of his warriors are baptized by the bishop
            c-The Church in Rome approves of this "alliance"
            d-Clovis and the Church begin to work together
-Clovis' military expertise + the Church's support and money = A STRATEGIC ALLIANCE BETWEEN TWO POWERFUL FORCES
C-Germanic peoples adopt Christianity
      1-511 AD- Clovis unites Franks into one kingdom
      2-600 AD- Church + Franks rulers convert many
      3-Fear of Muslims in southern Europe spur many to become Christians
      4-Monasteries and convents
            a-520 AD-Benedict wrote the rules for monks and monasteries
                    1-Poverty, chastity, obedience, study
            b-His sister Scholastica did the same for nuns in convents
            c-731 AD-The Venerable Bede wrote a killer history of England
            d-Monks opened schools, maintained libraries, and copied books (Bibles, Greek texts)
      5-Pope Gregory expands papal power
            a-Papacy = popes power
            b-Secular power = worldly power
            c-So...under Gregory the Great...
PaPal Power(Power of the Pope) is Political Power Presented from the Pope's Palace
            d-The church can use church money to:
                     raise armies
                     repair roads
                     help the poor
            e-Gregory the Great began to act as mayor of Rome and as head of an earthly kingdom(Christendom)
  

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