CHARLEMAGNE & CAROLINGIAN DYNASTY OF FRANKS

RISE OF ISLAM 7-8th C
632 death of the prophet Mohamed:
      JIHAD - striving in path of Allah
            miliary expeditions sent north, conquer Byzantine Syria
            then west, conquer north Africa, Spain, raids into France
732 FRANCE: Battle of Tours/Poitiers (Loire Valley)
      CHARLES MARTEL: defeats Saracen raiding party
            founder of CAROLINGIAN dynasty of FRANKS

RISE OF THE CAROLINGIANS in Gaul
     CLOVIS: King of Franks, baptized Catholic (not Arian)
     Carolingians take power from older Merovingian dynasty
        Pepin I & II; Charles Martel (Battle of Poitiers, 723)
     Coup under Pepin III in 75l: Papacy condones action

FRANCO - PAPAL ALLIANCE:            Papal motives include
      Iconoclastic controversy: Eastern Empire perceived
            as heretical by Rome because of anti-images policy
      Lombard military threat: 751 Ravenna conquered
      753 Lombards threaten Rome; no assistance from Byz Empire
      754 Pope Steven II flees Lombards to Frankland, gives Pepin
          Imperial title of patricius romanorum = Roman patrician
          anoints Pepin & sons at St. Denis outside Paris

     755 Franks defeat Lombards in Italy,
            DONATION OF PEPIN gift to Papacy of Italian lands
             = PATRIMONY OF ST. PETER, start of Papal State
             (Donation of Constantine possibly forged c. 750)

CHARLEMAGNE 768-814 (son of Pepin III)
    Warrior King: meets nobles each spring on "Field of Mars"
      774 campaign in Italy, deposes last of Lombard Kings
           takes title of "King of Franks & Lombards"
          campaigns against Moslems, Avars, Saxons;
          by 800 all Europe except southern Italy, England
      Papal alliance: reinstates Pope Leo III
            after revolt by Roman nobility;      
      800 Christmas Day:
            crowned Emperor of Romans by Pope in Rome
      Imperial ambitions: desire to rival Eastern Empire, to
            establish "New Rome" at Aachen;
      Treaty of Aachen 812: Eastern Empire recognizes his title
            after initial resistance & military conflict
Carolingian Renaissance: scholars at court

CAROLINGIAN SUCCESSION: fragmentation of Charlemagne's Empire
      814 - 840  Louis the Pious: Charlemagne's only surviving son
      840   civil war among sons of Louis
      843 TREATY OF VERDUN: settlement & division of Empire
           Louis the German: Eastern third of Empire
           Charles the Bald: Western third (later France)
           Lothar: Imperial title, Kingdom of Italy and the
                   "middle kingdom": from Burgundy, Netherlands,
                   through Alsace, Lorraine, Switzerland, Italy
                   - subordination of Italy to Frankish interests

RISE OF ITALIAN COMMUNES IN 11-12TH C.

   Society: 11th C. cities dominated by nobility
       nobles: military, landowning class, urban
       citizens (cives):         guild members
          non-noble property holders (merchants);
       popolino (little people)
         majority poorer urban dwellers: servants, day laborers,

   Republican city states: representative self-government
        transfer of power from feudal ruler (Bishop, Counts)

   COMMUNE:  Italian for Latin res publica (public thing)
       association of free men collectively holding some public authority
      
   CONSULS:  permanent body of elected citizen executives
               extension of authority over the contado (countryside)
     Phases of the Italian commune:
     11th C. Consular commune: dominated by noble families
              Age of the Towers: built by noble families for urban warfare
     12th C. Podesta: outsider (nobleman with law degree)
                 brought as executive  for specific period (1-2 years)
     12-13th C. Rise of the popolo:  guild regimes
 
Emperor Frederick II (1220-50) Hohenstaufen dynasty:
      asserts Imperial power in Sicily and Italy

Florentine factions: background to Dante
         Guelfs (papacy) versus  Ghibellines (Empire)       

Florence: 1248-1265 urban civil war between factions:
     Guelfs (papacy) versus  Ghibellines (Empire)
     Ghibellines (Uberti faction) level towers of Guelf enemies = origins of 
GUELF ALLIANCE: Papacy, France, Guelf city states; anti-Imperial focus  
       (note similarities to early Franco-Papal alliance against Lombards)

GUILD REGIME in FLORENCE 1282-1434: l
       new office of priors elected for short 2 month terms (mistrust of officials)
       priors elected from 21 guilds (7 greater guilds, 14 lesser guilds)
               must be master craftsmen paying designated amount of taxes 

 Anti-noble agenda: 1289 serfdom abolished in Florentine countryside by popolo
       1293 Ordinances of Justice: exclude nobility from office holding because of
              history of noble violence; only guild members eligible for office
       1295 lesser nobility permitted to register in guild to get political rights
  Factional split: BLACK GUELFS versus WHITE GUELFS: origins in family disputes
       Black Guelfs: older Guelf aristocracy closely allied with Papacy (Corso Donati)
       White Guelfs: newer families, money from banking and trade (Vieri dei Cerchi)
                       accused of pro-Imperial Ghibelline leanings by their opponents
       1300 leaders of both factions exiled by Priors in effort to calm situation

1301 POPE BONIFACE VIII sends Charles of Valois (French noble) to end conflict
       Blacks put in power;
       Whites condemned as Ghibellines, exiled, property taken
       exiles include Dante Alighieri; Petrarch's father (notary, goes to Avignon)
          Dante on exile: "how lonely is the going up and down of others' stairs."   
                   becomes a supporter of Holy Roman Empire against Papacy
                    (family White Guelf, but events of 1301 make him Imperial supporter)