Today we took notes for our test tomorrow

Middle Ages= Medieval period

AD 476- AD 1453

Medieval Europe is fragmented

This new society has roots in:

-classical heritage of Rome

-Beliefs of the Roman Catholic Church

-Customs of various Germanic Tribes

Overrun the western half of the Roman Empire

Causing:

-disruption of trade

-downfall of cities

-population shifts to rural areas

Effects of Invasion:

Declining of learning

-tribes had oral tradition, songs, but couldn’t read Greek or Latin

-Romance Languages evolve (French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian)

-few besides priests were literate
 

-Germanic warriors' loyalty is to the lord of the manor he provides them with food, weapons, treasure Result:

-no orderly government for large areas

-small communities rule

-Clovis rules the Germanic people of Gaul, known as the Franks (Which is where "France comes from)

-in 496 he has a battlefield conversion- he and 3000 of his warriors became Christians

-In 520, Benedict writes rules for monks:

-Vows of poverty (live simply in monasteries)

-Chastity (no marital relations

-Obedience (listen to church superiors)

-his sister Scholastica writes rules for nuns

-they operate schools, maintain libraries, copy books

Church revenues are used to help the poor, build roads, and raise armies

-this is a theocracy( one dominant religion)

-Gregory's spiritual kingdom ( Christendom) extends from Italy to England, from Spain to Germany

-Clovis descendants include Charles Martel, known as Charles the Hammer

-Hammer defeats a Muslim raiding party from Spain at the battle of Tours in 732

-Charles Martel's son is Pepin the Short

-Son #2 is Charles , known as Charlemagne, meaning Charles the Great

                  -became the most powerful king of all time

                  -his son- Louis the Pious- was ineffective

                  -Louis' three sons- could figure out who to be king- split up kingdom at the Treaty of Verdun in 843 AD