CAROLINGIAN CONCEPT OF
KINGSHIP:
"sacral"
kingship: source of power not just military but sacred
ruler of German
state is also protector of Christian church
sources: Germanic ideas of kingship, also papal anointing, coronation
Division of Charlemagne's Empire: West = Francia, East = Germany
Middle Kingdom of Lothar (weakest)
INVASIONS OF 9TH &
10TH CENTURY:
Political consequences include disintegration of Carolingian government;
fragmentation of authority, power is local, military = RISE OF FEUDALISM
MOSLEMS (Saracens/Arabs)
632 death of Mohammed,
followed by conquest of N. Africa, Spain;
stopped at Battle of Tours/Poitiers 733
(Charles Martel)
Control Mediterranean: raids on Italy, Spain, so. France until 11th C
830's conquer Sicily; 840 attack southern
Italy
847-848 Pope Leo IV builds Leonine wall
to protect Vatican from attacks
Frankish warriors as
Christian knights: in part because of ties to Papacy,
Franks are identified with Christian military
opposition to Islam
Charles Martel, 723 Battle of Tours/Poitiers:
Moslem army stopped in France
Song
of Roland: Frankish epic: chanson de geste (gesta
= warrior deeds)
written after 1100, during
Crusades, but set in reign of Charlemagne
Refrain: "pagans
are wrong, Christians are right."
MAGYARS (Hungarians)
899-954 nomadic tribe from Asia enter Europe by
land from East, like earlier invasions; Italy especially hard hit
VIKINGS (Norsemen/Normans)
most damage in north Europe, come by sea,
793 raids on outlying areas of northern
England
Northumbria, monasteries of Lindisfarne, Iona
845 Seine River: sail up rivers, raiding,
looting; plunder Paris
Norse/ Viking Conquests:
North West France: Normandy conquered,
but absorbed into feudal system
911
Rollo, chief of Norsemen raiding Paris, settles in Normandy
accepts
pact with King Charles of West Francia:
Rollo made first Duke of Normanday:
agrees to defend Frankish realm;
baptized,
becomes vassal of Frankish King (but only nominally)
[See
class handout for 10th C. Chronicle account of ceremony.]
England: 1066 - Norman Invasion by William the Conqueror
reinforces
trend towards centralized government in England
Mediterranean: 11th C. taken from Moslems, with southern Italy and
Sicily: 1060- conquered by Normans with
Papal backing
"FEUDALISM"
modern term for European social/political
order 9th to 13th C
response to disintegration of central governmental
authority
way of organizing society in absence of
state institutions
Strayer: = "method of government, not
a system of production"
Basic feudal arrangements:
COMMENDATION: free man, warrior chooses Lord to follow
ENFEOFFMENT = grant of land called FIEF (feudum) in exchange for
VASSALAGE: vassal owes services to his Lord, especially "aid and
counsel,"
military service, vassal homage, wardship
and marriage etc.
SUBINFEUDATION: process by which vassals create their own subvassals,
contributing to general disintegration of
political authority:
vassals exercise sovereign power (eg military,
courts, tax, coinage)
** public authority treated as private possession
= feudal approach to govt
MANORIALISM: economic
dimension of feudal system, including
subjection of unfree peasants; COMMENDATION
= free peasants bind
themselves to a Lord, exchanging labor services
for military protection
Agriculture and Population:
1) crop to seed ratio as measure
of agricultural progress:
9th
C -- 2:l 14th
C -- 4:1
15th C -- 5:1
higher yield: reclamation of land, better
tools, from 2 to 3 field system
2)
population increase from l000; 1250 land reclamation ends
increasing
population pressure on the land until l4th C.
MALTHUSIAN
CRISIS of 14th C: population increases faster than food
"demographic
scissors" -population control by rise in death rate