Emerging Europe and the Byzantine Empire

A.

B.

C.

D.

E.

The New Germanic Kingdoms

a. New European civilization was formed by 3 elements, which were the Germanic people,
the Christian Church, and Romes legacy.
i.
The period btw. 500 and 1500 is called the Medieval or Middle Ages.
ii.
The only Germanic state that was long lasting, was the Franks. The
Frankish kingdoms was established by Clovis, a Christian military leader. By 510, he had a
powerful kingdom.
The Role of the Church
a. By the 4th cen, the Christian church developed organization where local communities,
parishes, were headed by priests, and a group of parishes was headed by a bishop. Their area of authority was
a bishopric or diocese
i.
The bishop of Rome claimed that he was the leader of the Roman
Catholic Church, so Roman bishops came to be called the pope,
ii.
A monk was a man who pursues a life of total dedication to God. In
the 6th cen, St. Benedict wrote rules for use by monastic groups. Monks were the social workers of
their communities.
Charlemagne and the Carolingians
a. Charles the Great, or Charlemagne came to rule the Frankish kingdom in 768 who was a
Christian and statesman who was a patron of learning
i.
During his rule from 768-814 he expanded the kingdom to the
Carolingian Empire.
1. His empire was s large and powerful, it was
called the kingdom of Europe.
ii.
In 800, he was crowned the Emperor of Rome by the Pope.
Feudalism
a. After Charlemagnes death, the empire began to fall apart from the Vikings, so nobles
protected
i.
Feudalism is the system where people received protections from an
aristocrat, and in return they had to provide service
b. A vassal was a man who served a lord in military capacity. For 500, Europe was
dominated by these heavily armored knights who had great social prestige.
i.
Whren lords wanted a vassal to fight for them, theyd give the Vassal
a piece of land
c. By the 9th cen, a grant of land given to a vassal was called a fief, and vassals who had
fiefs held political authority in them, so after the empire crashed, lords and vassals were responsible for order.
i.
The feudal contract included the obligation from a vassal to a lord,
which required them to perform military service,
The Growth of European Kingdoms
a. England, was a powerful European kingdom.
i.
On Oct. 14, 1066 WIlliam of Normandy defeated King Harold at
the Battle of Hastings. When he was crowned king, he combined Anglo-Saxon and Norman
institutions.
b. Under Henry II (1154-1189) increased the monarchys power by expanding royal courts.
i.
England used common law, instead of law codes that varied from
place to place.
c. Nobles resented the growth of king John's power, so at Runnymede, he was forced to
sign the Magna Carta.
i.
It stated that the king had limited power, not absolute, however things
like trial by jury only applied to the less than of the pop. in 1215
ii.
In the 13th cen, Edward I developed the English Parliament, which
consisted of 2 knights from each county, 2 people from every town, and all of the bishops and
nobles.
1. The House of Commons was townspeople and
knights, House of Lords was nobles.
d. In 843 the Carolingian kingdom was divided into 3, and the Frankish part became France.

i.

In 987, nobles chose Hugh Capet as the king, beginning the Capetian

dynasty.

F.

G.

ii.
King Philip II Augustus (1180-1223) grew French monarchy by
waging war against England, thus regaining territories, and expanding income. By 1300, France
was the largest monarchy.
e. The Saxon (Germany) king, Otto I was crowned empoeror of the Romans in 962, b/c he
helped the pope.
i.
As leaders of Germany and Italy, Kings Frederick I and II tried to
build a new type of empire.
ii.
They wanted to create a Holy Roman Empire, but the spent a lot of
time fighting, so the monarchy in Germany was weakened by the power of nobles in Germany.
f. Eastern Slavic people settled in present day Ukraine and Russia, but by the 8th cen,
Swedish Vikings dominated the natives. Viking rulers were called the Rus.
i.
A viking leader, Oleg, created the Rus state, the principality of Kiev.
Successors expanded.
1. Civil war brought an end to the 1st russian state
in 1169 and in the 13th cen, the Mongols conquered Russia and required tributes from
Russian Princes.
2. Alexander Nevsky, prince of Novgorod, was
awarded title of grand-prince by Mongols.
The Byzantine Empire
a. Justinian became emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire in 527, he wanted to restore the
Roman Empire, and in 552 he seemed to have achieved his goals, but in 565, the Lombards conquered Italy.
i.
Justinian created the simple law code, The Body of Civil Law.
b. Islam challenged the Eastern Roman Empire when the E.R.E. was defeated at Yarmuk in
636
i.
By the 8th cen, the smaller empire was called the Byzantine empire,
which lasted until 1453
ii.
Byzantium was a Greek and Christian state. The church was called
the Eastern Orthodox Church.
c. The Macedonians ruled from 867 to 1081, and by 1025 the empire was the largest since
the 7th cen.
i.
The Seljuk Turks defeated Byzantine forces in 1071.
The Crusades
a. During the 11th-13th centuries, Euro Christians did military expeditions called the
Crusades. These arose when Alexius I asked for help against the Muslim Seljuk Turks.
i.
Pope Urban II rallied warriors to liberate Jerusalem and the Holy
Land from the Muslims.
b. The 1st Crusade in June 1099 was the only successful one and the captured Jerusalem,
and organized 4 crusader states, which relied on goods from Italy.
i.
In 1187, Jerusalem fell to Muslims under Saladin.