The Barbarianization of the West and the Dawn of the Early

Middle Ages, 400 - 900 AD

I. Barbarians and the Transformation of the Classical

WorldA. West Germanic Revolution, 200 - 400 AD

Historical Dialectic at Work

Thesis Antithesis

Synthesis

B. Origins

1. Indo-European

2. Cosmology

animistic

trees, nature, tricentric

3. Warrior-based society

a. status based on cattle-raising,

fighting Odin

b. households, clans, tribes

“bloodfeuds”

c. WEREGELD

- manipulated by Romans

B. Imperial Germans

1. Role in Roman politics, society

2. Comitatus

Hermann Arminius

3. West Germanic Revolution

C. The Germanic West

1. Germans take over

a. Early 400s, Roman generals German

b. 487, Ostrogoths occupy Italy

2. Germans use Roman aristocracy

a. Gallo-Romans

b. Germanic chieftains sought

Roman titles

By 500 AD, the western half of the Roman Empire was under the control of Germanic chieftains…

…but at the local level society still governed by

Roman laws and aristocrats

II. Germanic Kingdoms, 500 - 900

A. The Frankish Kingdom

1. Clovis kills last Gallo-Roman general, 486

2. Appointed “patrice” by Byzantine Emperor

3. Married a Christian woman and converted

4. Established “Merovingian” Dynasty

B. Living in the Early Middle Ages

1. Roman slavery disappears

a. Manses, manorial system

2. Single family household

- marriage depended on permission

- economic, not “sacred”

3. Peasant culture gradually becomes Christian

a. prior to 500, Christianity was urban

b. Venerable Bede, (600-700s)

blending pagan/Christian rituals

C. the new Aristocracy

1. Land (Roman) and warfare (German)

2. Liege-lord grants fiefs

* origins of Germanic loyalty

a. vassal serves lord in exchange for fief

3. Love-hate relationship with Germanic kings

4. Status of women

4. Constant need to pursue honor

“Quest” myths popular in medieval Europe

Beowulf - 6th Century Nordic; pagan mysticism

oral tradition, oldest epic in vernacular Old English

Arthurian Legend

Celtic King who fought Anglo Saxons

Might does not make right

Quest for the Holy Grail

Between 500 - 700, Germanic tribes establish Kingdoms in the West based on Roman land-use patterns and Germanic customs

…as these kingdoms solidify, powerful Germanic kings try to reconstitute the Roman Empire under their rule

III. The Carolingian Achievement

A. Carolingian power

1. 700s, rebellious nobles

2. Charles Martel

Battle of Tours, 732 AD

Saved the West? Christianity?

3. Gregory III declares Charles “Protector of the Church”

4. Martel’s son, Pippin, named “King of the Franks”

Frankish Kings and Church relying on each other to establish legitimacy

B. Charlemagne and the Holy Roman Empire

“The Holy Roman Empire was neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire…discuss.”

1. Reformed the clergy

church feared pagan influences

2. Forcibly converted non-Christians

Einhard, The Life of Charlemagne

C. Christmas Day, 800

1. Pope declares Charlemagne the Holy Roman Emperor

the Empire Restored?

2. The Carolingian Renaissance, post 800 AD

Charlemagne established universities, monasteries

Unifies Europe long enough to withstand new invasions

Desire to centralize Europe (Roman) contends with tendency to resist centralization (Germanic)