UNIT 1.

THE MIDDLE AGES

Sandra Mantilla
Map of the Middle Ages • Label the map with the cities of
Medina, Mecca, Cairo,
Constantinople, Damascus,
Baghdad and Cordoba.

• Colour the maximum area of the

Byzantine Empire.

• Colour the maximum area of the

Muslim Caliphate.

• Colour the Germanic kingdoms

with stripes and label the
kingdoms: Ostrogoths,
Visigoths, Suebi, Vandals,
Franks, Burgundians.
Byzantine Empire
Islam
empire
Germanic Kingdoms
Timeline of the Middle Ages
 INDEX
0. INTRODUCTION
1.EARLY MIDDLE AGES: The first medieval civilizations
1.1. The Germanic kingdoms
1.2. The Visigothic Kingdom
1.3. The Carolingian Empire
1.4. The Byzantine Empire
1.5. The Islam
2. HIGH MIDDLE AGES: Feudalism 3. LATE MIDDLE AGES: Urban renaissance and crisis
2.1. Origins and characteristics 3.1. The rise of Nation States
2.2. The fief 3.2. Agriculture and trade
2.3. Feudal society and economy 3.3. Society
2.4. Feudal political system 3.4. The development of the cities
2.5. Christian church 3.5. The crisis of feudalism
 0. INTRODUCTION

• The Middle Ages is the period of European History that lasted

from the 5th to the late 15th century.
• It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 AD
and ended with the fall of Constantinople in 1453.
• Is called “Middle ages” because it bridged the Ancient Age and
the Renaissance.
• Another word to name the same period is “medieval” or “the
dark age”. The word "medieval" is popularly used to indicate
something that is backward or barbaric, but few who have
actually studied this period would use the term in that sense.
The fall of the Western
Roman Empire
The Empire was
too large to
control

Invasion of Army made up

Germanic tribes of mercenaries

Causes

Economic crisis:
Traditional heavy taxes,
roman values population
declined decrease,
decline of cities
The fall of the Western
Roman Empire
• The Huns, a tribe from Central Asia,
started attacking the Germanic
tribes.
• Germanic tribes crossed the Roman
Empire frontiers, but Rome was no
longer able to stop the enemies.
The fall of the Western
Roman Empire
The fall of the Western
Roman Empire
• The Eastern Roman Empire drove
the Germanic tribes away towards
the Western Roman Empire. It
survived the fall of Rome and the
Germanic invasions. It became the
Byzantine Empire.

• The Western Roman Empire started

to make alliances with some
Germanic tribes. Finally, Rome fell in
476. The Western Roman Empire
divided in different Germanic
kingdoms.
The fall of the Western
Roman Empire

ROMAN EMPIRE EARLY MIDDLE AGES

(AFTER THE ROMAN EMPIRE)
POLITICS One strong state Political division: many smaller,
weaker Germanic states.
SOCIETY Urban society: big cities Rural society

ECONOMY Complex, trade all over the empire Simple, based on agriculture

CULTURE They shared laws, culture and Different laws, cultures and languages
language
1.EARLY MIDDLE AGES:
The first medieval civilizations
1.1. The Germanic kingdoms
• Among the Barbarians, so called by the Romans, were the
Germanic tribes, the Slavs and the steppe tribes (Huns, Magyars,
etc.)
• Germanic people had no formal writing, laws or state structure.
• They organized in family tribes.
• They were ruled by a military leader.
• Their main activity was agriculture.
• When they occupied the territory, they were a minority, but
they became the landowning nobility.
• They adopted Latin as the official language and over time
they converted to Christianity.
1.1. The Germanic kingdoms
1.2. The Visigothic kingdom
• Foedus: The Roman Empire gave the Visigoths
lands in southern Gaul in exchange of pacifying
Hispania against other barbarians (Vandals,
Suebi and Alans).
• When the Roman Empire fell, they expanded
but Franks defeated them in Gaul (6th Century)
and drove them to Hispania. They created the
Kingdom of Toledo.
• Territorial unification: King Leovigild defeated
the Suebi and controlled the North. He also
allowed mixed marriages.
• Religious unification: King Reccared converted
from Arian to Catholicism.
• Legal unification: King Recceswinth
established a single law with the Liber
Iudiciorum (654) based or Roman laws.
• The Visigothic kingdom disappeared in 711
after the Muslim invasion.
1.2. The Visigothic kingdom
• Political organization: elective monarchy,
which led to serious battles for succession.
The monarch was advised by the Aula Regia,
an organisation composed of nobles and
ecclesiastics and the Councils of Toledo
(religious and civil assemblies), where laws
were made.
• Economy: agriculture and livestock farming.
• Society: rich minority, small landowners,
latifundia workers, craftsmen, merchants and
serfs.
• Culture: influenced by romans. It became
impoverished and remained in the hands of
the church. Key figure: St. Isidoro, author of
“The Etymologies”.
1.2. The Visigothic kingdom
 ACTIVITY
Copy the following statements. Are they true or false? Correct the false ones.

a) The Visigoths settled in the south of Gaul after defeating the Romans.
b) The foedus was a pact between the Visigoths and the Romans: the Visigoths could live in Gaul but they had
to defend the territory fighting other germanic tribes.
c) The Visigoths entered in the Iberian peninsula to fight the Suebi, the Vandals and the Alans.
d) After being defeated by the Franks, the Visigoths changed the capital of their kingdom from Toledo to
Toulouse.
e) In 507 the Visigoths were defeated by the Muslims and had to leave Gaul.
f) The Visigothic kingdom of Toledo fell in the 711, when the Muslims invaded the Iberian peninsula.
g) The Visigothic monarchy was hereditary, this led to much instability due to conspiracies and battles
between the nobles so they changed their political system to an elective monarchy.
h) Leovigild converted to Catholicism in 589.
i) Reccared implemented the common legislation known as Liber Iudiciorum.
 1.3. The Carolingian Empire
• The Franks became the most powerful Germanic kingdom when
they expelled the Visigoths from Gaul.
• Frankish kings became weak and handed power over to the
Mayors of the Palace. Charles Martel was a Mayor with great
power.
• His son, Pippin the Short deposed the king and started the
Carolingian dynasty. He gave the Pope the lands he conquered in
Italy to the Lombards. Those lands became the Papal States.
• Pippin’s son, Charlemagne was a great military leader that
wanted to unite the Germanic tribes into a single Christian state,
as the successor of the German Roman Empire.
• He was crowned emperor by the Pope in 800 and promoted
culture. However, his son Louis the Pious divided the empire for
his three sons in 843.
• They started civil wars weakening the Empire. The last
Carolingian emperor was deposed by the Vikings.
1.4. The Byzantine Empire

Schism
1.4. The Byzantine Empire
 ACTIVITY
After watching the video, answer the following questions:

1) Is it true that the Roman Empire fell in the 5th century AD?
2) How do we call today the Eastern Roman Empire? Why that name?
3) Which emperor moved the capital of the Roman Empire to Constantinople? When?
4) In which aspects can we see continuity between the Classical Roman Empire and the
Byzantine or Eastern Roman Empire?
5) What was the main contribution of Anna Kommene?
6) What was the main contribution of Leo the mathematician?
7) Who conquered the city of Constantinople in the year 1453?
8) Why did the scholars started to call Byzantine Empire one thousand years after its fall?
The Roman emperor Constantine proclaimed religious tolerance for
Christianity by the Edict of Milan (313 A.D.). In 380 Christianity became the
official religion of the Roman empire.
In 330 he rebuilt the old Greek port of Byzantium, at the entrance of the Black
sea. He renamed it Constantinople. This city became the capital of the Eastern
Roman empire when it split in two.
1.4. The Byzantine Empire
• In the 6th century, the Byzantine empire reached
its maximum size during the reign of Emperor
Justinian (527- 565).
• Justinian and his wife Theodora had the objective
of restoring the old Roman Empire.
• Justinian ruled as an autocrat with the help of his
influential wife Theodora. The emperor or Basileus
held all the power.
• He reviewed and unified the old roman laws in one
simpler legal code: the Justinian Code.
• Thanks to Theodora women’s rights were
recognized: divorce, property ownership, etc.
• Under his rule, many monuments were built.
Hagia Sophia the church of Holy Wisdom with a
great dome was finished in 537.
1.4. The Byzantine Empire
TO BE CONTINUED…