RTI - Christendom (Lesson)

Christendom

The term "Christendom " means the Christian World or Christians collectively. But it also refers to the geopolitical power of "The Church" during the "Dark" and Middle Ages (approx 476 CE to 1450 CE). Now this can be somewhat misleading for a couple of reasons. First, as you will soon find out the "Dark" or "Middle" Ages weren't that Dark or Middle. Second, during the period of the "Middle Age," there were really two Christian Churches that took two distinct paths that veered away from each other. But since we just finished discussing the Islamic World and will soon begin discussions on the Asian World, the use of "Christendom" to describe the area covered in this lesson isn't really too much of a stretch as it was juxtaposed between the two. And since the time period we are talking about is a time when Europe was in between two time periods, it isn't that much of a stretch to call it the "Middle Ages" either. So, let's get on with it.

When we last talked about Western Europe in the previous unit, it was a discussion about a globalizing empire (the Roman Empire) and its demise, and a globalizing religion (Christianity) and its rising. And now we will pick up where we left off...

If you will remember, the Western Roman Empire fell from a combination of internal disputes and external pressures from non-Romans. As it fell in the West, the Byzantine Empire rose in the East. By this time, both empires were officially Christian, but only one was still acting like an empire—the Byzantine Empire. The lack of an "empire," in the traditional sense, in Western Europe (where the Western Roman Empire had been) created a political vacuum. And as we all know, when there is a political vacancy, someone or something will step up to fill it. In this case, it was "The Church."

You see, when the Western Roman Empire fell, Germanic tribes settled throughout Western Europe and converted to Christianity while still maintaining their separate political identities and allegiances—the only thing they ended up having in common was their conversion to Christianity.

The first Germanic king to convert to Christianity was Clovis I in 496 CE. Under Clovis I, the Germanic tribes, known as Franks and located in Gaul (modern-day France) united under the reign of the Merovingian Dynasty. King Clovis I ruled from 481 CE (when he was only fifteen years old) to 511 CE (when he died.) Based on the map to the right, you can see why he is considered to be the first king of France.

When Clovis I died, his sons divided the realm among themselves—and subsequently earned the title of the Do-Nothing King's —which should give you an idea of what happened while they ruled. For the next two hundred years, the Merovingian Dynasty didn't do much other than fight amongst itself.

In 732 CE, Muslim armies marched out of Spain in an attempt to expand the Dar al-Islam further into Europe. But by this time, a Frankish statesman named Charles Martel had declared himself ruler and reunited Clovis I's kingdom. Under Martel's direction, the Frankish armies repelled the Muslim advance at the Battle of Tours, permanently halting further Muslim conquest of Europe.Martel is also credited with the establishment of feudalism within his realm. Feudalism, also known as manorialism, was a political system based on a reciprocal relationship between those who with the king's permissions owned the land (lords,) those who ran and/or protected the land (vassals and knights,) and those who worked the land (serfs.) It was also an economic system where those who worked the land (fiefdoms) kept some of the products of their labor for their families and gave the rest to those above them (vassals, knights and lords) from which to profit. In a feudal system, there were no big cities as there had been during the Roman Empire—instead everything was very local. And there was very little social mobility between the different economic/political levels.

 What does the chart above mean?

• Kings - rule over their lands (are almost always a lord (giver of land) and never a vassal (receiver of land))
• Noble - represented by vassal in the chart above, are both lord and vassal as they pledge loyalty to the king who gives them land and in turn they divide it amongst knights and lessor nobles who manage and protect the land
• Knights - the defenders of the land, both lord and vassal
• Peasants - not pictured above, but are between knight and serf, workers; always a vassal, never a lord
• Serf - below peasants on the social scale, work the land, are "tied" to the land and can not leave without permission, are not slaves because they can not be bought or sold*

* Well...sort of. While the PEOPLE could not be bought or sold, the LAND could. And since they were tied to the land, that meant they "went" with it. How does this work? Say a knight pledges loyalty to a lord and receives land in exchange. If that land has serfs, those serfs now serve/work for that knight. If that knight loses the favor of the lord and has his land given to another (it happened!) the serfs now work for the new knight. They are the only consistent part of the feudal pyramid as they are the only ones who can not lose their land.

If you were paying close attention—you probably noticed that The Church was not mentioned in this hierarchy. This is because it was both part of and separate from the fiefdom. Here's why—

Now...let's get back to Charles Martel. Near the end of his life, the dynastic rule of the Franks changed from the Merovingian Dynasty to the Carolingian Dynasty as his heirs took over the realm. The first king in this new dynasty was Martel's son, Pepin the Short.

Pepin the Short became the King of the Franks in 752 CE, ruling until his death in 768 CE. While his reign was short, he probably wasn't—there is some speculation as to whether history has translated his name incorrectly and that he should have, instead, been called Pepin the Younger. Regardless, despite his reign being short, it was important in establishing the Carolingian name as the rightful owners of the throne of the Franks. Pepin the Short's main accomplishment was in getting official recognition of his family's right to rule from the Pope in Rome. In so doing, he set his son up to become the leader of the Holy Roman Empire.

Pepin the Short's son had a much better name than his father—Charles the Great, more famously known as Charlemagne. As King of the Franks, Charlemagne revitalized his kingdom and grew in power. In 800 CE, the Pope in Rome crowned Charlemagne as the first Holy Roman Emperor (and the first Western European emperor since the fall of the Western Roman Empire.)

As emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, Charlemagne ruled over many different kingdoms throughout Europe as seen in the map above with his capital located in Aachen (modern-day Germany.) During his 43-year reign, Charlemagne focused his attention on expansion and conversion to Christianity but he was also very interested in education. He opened a palace school in Aachen along with monastery schools throughout his empire. In the latter, not only were sons of noblemen encouraged to attend, but also the sons of serfs. With such attention to conversion and education, Charlemagne changed the landscape of Europe with the development of the monasticism mentioned earlier. After his death in 814 CE, he was regarded as one of the greatest kings of the Middle Ages.

When Charlemagne died, his throne went to his only living son, Louis I, also known as Louis the Pious (Religious). [Side note: Charlemagne's other sons predeceased him, including his son named Pepin the Hunchback.] When Louis the Pious died in 840 CE, the succession to the throne was split among his three sons- Lothair I, Charles the Bald, and Louis the German. In 843 CE, these three brothers signed the Treaty of Verdun, establishing their three separate kingdoms and setting the stage for the development of the modern nations of Europe as highlighted in the map below.

So who got what? Names might give you one clue! Louis the German got the right side of the map and what will become Germany. Which leaves our other two. Charles the Bald took over the left side, what wil become France, and Lothair was left with the sliver in the middle (what will become Italy).... that is until his brothers both took more and more pieces over time leaving Lothair with nothing.

The emergence of the European nations followed a similar formula to the emergence of the first empires we studied in earlier units with a few local adjustments. In the case of medieval Europe, European villages developed through feudalism. By 1000 CE, these feudal societies were producing enough food to create a surplus. Towns and cities popped up around the manors (or headquarters of a fiefdom) where the surplus food allowed for the creation of a middle class consisting of specialized laborers and merchants. These towns and cities formed alliances with other nearby towns and cities for economic purposes. And before you knew it— well, actually after hundreds of years— nations emerged.

Of course, as we are talking about people, there was no one formula that determined a region's path towards nation status. Very quickly, let's look at the individual stories behind how some of the modern nations of Europe developed... Download the document in the sidebar to learn more.

As you can see, not all of the nations that formed during this time period followed the same trajectory. Some unified quickly, some slowly. Some had internal foes that they sought to oust, while others had external foes they sought to incorporate. Some had "Great" or "Terrible" leaders that oversaw their nations' expansion only to have it waste away upon the "Great's" or "Terrible's" deaths. But one thing they all had in common was an all-encompassing event that occurred in the 1300s (and will be discussed later in this unit- be patient.)

 

 

 

 

Recap Section

Watch the videos below to review what you have learned.

 

RESOURCES IN THIS MODULE ARE OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES (OER) OR CREATED BY GAVS UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED. SOME IMAGES USED UNDER SUBSCRIPTION.