8A Key Terms

Pepin (the short)

(751- 768) - the son of Charles Martel - when his dad died in 741 he took over. - he deposed the Merovingians and took the kingship of the Frankish state for himself and his family. - he created a new form of Frankish Kingship - he was crowned king formally by a representative of the pope with holy oil ( Old Testament practice) - symbolizes king had been entrusted with a sacred office and that Germanic infusion fused with Christian Practises in the early Middle Ages. - died in 768

Treaty of Verdun

- After Louis the Pious death his three surviving brothers signed the treaty of Verdun. Brothers fought continuously, leading to the downfall of Carolingian empire. - it divided the Carolingian Empire among them into three major sections. 1) Charles the Bald (843- 877): obtained Western Frankish lands. This formed the core of the Kingdom of France. 2) Louis of Germany(843- 876): took eastern lands, became Germany 3) Lothar (840- 855) received the title of emperor and a "Middle Kingdom. Extended from the North Sea to the Mediterranean. France and Germany fight over the Middle Kingdom for centuries.

Alcuin

- Charlemagne promoted learning; establishing a school and encouraging scholars all over Europe to come to the Carolingian court including Alcuin's. - they are the men of letters from Italy, Spain, Germany, and Ireland. Who are from the famous school at York, they founded a part of the great revival of learning in the Anglo Saxons Kingdom of Northumbria. - 782- 769 while serving at Charlemagne's court as advisors on ecclesiastical affairs they also provided the leadership for the palace school.

Battle of Lechfeld

- Magyars were crushed at the battle of Lechfeld in Germany in 955.

Carolingian Empire

- depended on royal estates for the resources to govern his empire. - To keep royal nobles at his service, granted royal lands as lifetime to nobles who assisted him. - administration of the empire depended on counts, kings chief representatives in local areas. - used margraves in dangerous border districts. - attempted to limit the power of the counts. - instituted the Missi Dominici. two men, one lay lord, and one church official sent out to local districts to ensure counts were executing the king's wishes. They had the power to remove counts they were abusing their power. Missi bolstered the royal power. - his system was held together by personal loyalty to a single ruler and strong enough to ensure loyalty by force when necessary. - did church reform, created new bishoprics, archbishoprics, and restored old ones. - got rid of the ecclesiastical government system.

Magyars

- people from West Asia - end of 9th century moved into Eastern and central Europe. - established themselves on the plains of Hungry. - made raids into Western Europe - defeated in the Battle of Lechfeld. - end of 10th denturary converted into christianity and established the Kingdom of Hungary.

Leo III

769- 816 - escaped from Rome and fled to safety at Charlemagne's court. - Charlemagne offered assistance and went Rome in Nov. 800 to settle affairs. - was received by the pope like an emperor. - Christmas day on 800 after mass, he placed a crown on Charlemagne's head and proclaimed him emperor of Romans.

Charlemagne

800 AD - known as Charles the Great - determined, decisive, intelligent, inquisitive. - wise patron of learning, resolute statesman. - greatly expanded the territory of the Carolingian Empire during his lengthy rule. -undertook 54 military campaigns. - 773 led army into Italy, crushed Lombards, took control of Lombard State. - conquered North Sea in the North to Italy in the South, and France in western Europe to Vienna in central Europe. - most powerful Christian ruler, "Kingdom of Europe", acquired a new title " emperor of the Romans" but that's controversial. - Impact: his coronation as Roman Emperor demonstrates the strength of an enduring Roman Empire. Also, it symbolized the fusion of Roman, Christian, and Germanic elements/ practises.

Louis the Pious

814-840 - Son of Charlemagne - during his reign the church prohibited divorce. - decent man, but not a strong ruler - unable to control the Frankish Aristocracy or his four sons. - died in 843

Alfred the Great

871-899 - takes place in England 9 & 10th CE - played a crucial role in producing a unified kingdom of the Anglo Saxons against the Viking invasions. - King of Wessex - defeated Danish army in 879. - made peace with the Danes in 886 after strengthen his army and creating a navy. - believed in the power of education. - his successors re-conquered the remaining areas occupied by the Danes and established a unified Anglo- Saxon Monarchy.

Otto I

936- 973 - was a Saxon king of Germany - Henry's son - defeated Magyars at the Battle of Lechfeld in 955 - encouraged ongoing program of Christianization of the Slavic and Scandinavian people. - relied on bishops and abbots in governing his kingdom. The clergy was celibate bishop and abbots could not make their offices hereditary. Allowing the king to maintain more control over them. - intervened with Italian politics and for his efforts was crowned emperor of the Romans by the Pope in 962. He revived the title that fallen into disuse with the disintegration of Charlemagne's empire. - His creation of a new "Roman Empire" in the hands of the Eastern Franks was a burden to the kingship of Germany. - Governing and ruling Italy proved to be an impossible task.

Hugh Capet

987- 996 - he was count of Orleans and Paris. - after Carolingian king died western Frankish nobles and chief prelates of the church chose him as next king. - officially king of the western Franks and overlord of the great nobles of the kingdom. - his family controlled the Ile- de- France - succeeded in making position hereditary. - nobels agreed to choose his eldest son Robert as his anointed associate in case he died on his campaign to spain in 987. - Capetian Dynasty would rule the Western Frankish Kingdom (France) for centuries. 10 CE soon to be territory if France was not a unified kingdom but a loose alliance of powerful lords who treated the king as an equal.

Saxons

Charlemagne eastern campaigns into Germany. - Saxons settled b/t Elbe River and the North Sea. - Charlemagne insisted Saxons convert to Christianity. Resisted until 844 after 18th CE campaign. Saxony finally pacified and were added to the Carolingian domain.

Vikings/Norsemen

The Vikings also called Norsemen - Germanic people based in Scandinavia. were final wave of Germanic migration. - warriors, superb shipbuilders and sailors. - best ships, carried about 50 men. Shallow draft enabled them to sail up European Rivers and attack places with inland distance. - 8th century raids: small scale, sporadic. 9th century: become regular and more devastating. - sacked villages and towns, destroyed churches, and defeated small local armies. - different groups of scandinavian vikings so expansion varied greatly. - established fortified ports in Novgorod and Kiev. - made contact with Byzantine Empire. Also with Arab traders on the Volga River and the Sea of Azov. - mid 9th CE Norsemen established winter settlements in Europe to make expeditions to conquer and settle new lands. - Daring explorers

Aachen

The capital of Charlemagne's empire, c. 800 - Charlemagne built a chapel at Aachen. It was modeled after the Church of San Vitale in Ravenna, built by the emperor Justinian after his reconquest of Italy. ~ Charlemagne made a revival for the arts and looked to Italy for inspiration. encouraged his artists and architects to look to the arts of ancient Rome and Byzantine empire.

- The granting of a fief, or landed estate, in exchange for providing military service to the lord and fulfilling certain other obligations such as appearing at the lord's court when summoned and making a payment on the knighting to the lord's eldest son. - the practice was derived from German society, which warriors swore an oath of loyalty to their leader. Fought for their chief, in return took care of their needs. - in this case, lord grants each vassal a piece of land to support the vassal and his family in return vassal provided his fighting skill - the relationship between lord and vassal was made official by a public ceremony. - To become vassal man performed an act of homage to his lord.

Vassalage

Fief

a landed estate granted to a vassal in exchange for military services. - or some other type of income granted.

Serfs

a peasant who is bound to the land and obliged to provide labor services and pay various rents and fees to the lord; considered unfree but not a slave because serfs could not be bought and sold.

Titthe

a portion of one's harvest or income, paid by medieval peasants to the village church.

Manor/Manorialism

manor: an agriculture estate operated by a lord and worked by peasants who performed labor services and paid various rents and fees to the lord in exchange for protection and sustenance. Manorialism: grew out of the unsettled circumstances of the early Middle Ages, when small farmers often needed protection or food in a time of bad harvest.

Subinfeudation

the practices whereby a lord's greatest vassals subdivided their fiefs and had vassals of their own, who in turn subdivided their fiefs, and so on down to simple knights, whose fiefs were too small to subdivide.

Scriptoria

writing rooms for the copying of manuscripts in medieval monasteries. - monks copied works of early Christianity (bibles and treaties of the church fathers) and works of classical latin fathers.