Germanic kingdoms unite under charlemagne

- many Germanic kingdoms that succeeded the roman empire were reunited under charlemagnes empire
- charlemagne spread christian civilization throughout northern europe, where many of us came from

Middle ages - midieval period
500 - 1500 AD
Midieval Europe fragmented

Invasions trigger changes in west europe
- invasions and constant warfare spark trends
- drisruption of trade
- europe no longer has control of economic center
- money scarce
- downfall of cities
- cities no longer centers of administration
- population shifts
- nobles retreat to rural areas
- cities dont have strong leadership

- decline of learning
- germanic invaders illiterate, but they communicate through oral tradition
- only priests and church officials could read and write
- knowledge of greek almost lost
- loss of common language
- dialects develop in different regions
- by 800s, french, spanish, other roman based languages evolving

Germanic kingdoms emerge
concept of government changing
- roman society: loyal to public government
- germanic society: loyal to family
- germanic chief led warriors
- during peace he provided food, weapons, treasure, place to live
- during wartime, warriors fought for lord
- franks live in roman province of Gaul - their leader clovis

- franks under clovis
- another battlefield conversion
- clovis and 300 of his warriors are baptized by bishop
- church in rome approves of alliance
- clovis and church work together

511 AD - clovis united franks into 1 kingdom
600 AD - church and frankish rulers convert many people

- fear of muslims in southern europe spur many to become christians

- monasteries and convents

520 AD - benedict wrote rules for monks and monasteries

- poverty, chastity, obedience, study
- sister scholastica did same thing for nuns in convents

731 AD - venerable bede wrote a killer history of england

- monks opened schools, maintained libraries, and copied books

Feudalism: political, military, and economic system based on land-holding and protective alliances
- based on loyalty to people who can help
Lord (rich) / vassals (helpers)

- kings
- vassals
- nobles bishops
- knights
- fiefs
- peasants (serfs)

Manor: lord's estate
- manor house
- church
- workshops
- 15-30 families
- few square miles

- self sufficient community
- harsh for peasant

differences between patricians and plebeians?:
patrician: upper class, landowning
plebes: lower class / middle class

senate: roman government
consuls: 2 people in government that share equal power
tribunes: leaders of plebeian assembly; at first powerless, but then gained power

- first time that laws were written down
- set up to protect plebeians
- publicly diplayed in forum
- 12 tables

senate / assemblies - US Senate / house of reps
consuls / dictator - president of the US
senate could act like judges - like supreme court

Rise of christianity:
- jesus spends 3 years preaching, and then is killed
- followers believe he is messiah and savior who has risen from dead
- saul (persecutor) becomes paul (evangelist) spreading jesus' message
- christianity goes from cult status to official religion
- priest, pope, bishop (bishop of rome)
- christian and jewish: monotheistic
- conflicted with roman beliefs
- persecution against both was common
- christianity appealed to the poor
- as it grew, roman leaders embraced chrstianity
- AD 313: constantine has battlefield conversion
- issues edict of milan
- not only no persecution, but actual approval of christianity, eventually making it the official religion of rome
- roman empire and christianity now linked in power and influence

May 5th blog cont.
Caligula:
- germanicus' son
- tiberuis' adopted grandson
- next in line for emperor
- started off well: granting bonuses to those in military, declared treason trials thing of past
- first 7 months of rule were "completely blissful"
- begins to fight with senate
- claimed to be a god
- made many statues in many places, including jewish temple
- bragged about adultery
- indulged in spending and sex
- tried to make his horse a consul and priest
- assassinated by his own aids
- AD 41 (28)

Claudius:
- ostracized by family due to disabilities
- was last adult male in his family when caligula was killed
- conquered britain; built roads, canals, aquaducts, renovated circus maximus
- awful marraige to messalina

Religious troubles:
- christianity and judaism: monotheistic
- romans - polytheistic, emperor viewed as god sometimes
- AD 66: jewish zealots try to rebel, but romans put them down and burn their temple
- half million jews die in rebellion
- western wall: holiest of jewish shrines

Persecution of Christians:
- harsh toward those who would not worship emperor
- viewed as a cult
- used as entertainment in colosseum
- despite oppression, christianity grew quickly - by AD 200, around 10 percent of people in roman empire were christian

Octavian - aka Caesar Augustus - first emperor:
- pax romana - period of peace and prosperity
- roads, aquaducts
- set up civil service, grain supply, even postal service
- died at age 76 in AD 14
- passed power to tiberius

Jesus:

-Roman citizen and practicing jew

- At 30, began his ministry preaching to poor and reach out to outsiders

- "my kingdom is not of this world" made the romans nervous, and planned execution

- Governor of Judaea- Pontius pilate sentenced him to crucifixion

Paul:

- paul had big influence on christianity 

- gets message while riding a horse to not condemn christians, but spread good news

- writes letters to those he spoke to

- if not for paul, jesus may not be as popular

Assassination of Caesar:
- Caesar was a great emperor, but senators did not like him because he decided to make himself a dictator, and Rome had not had one in over 400 years, so they thought it would mess up the system. Although Caesar was a great emperor, they still did not like him. When the Senate decided they had had enough of him, they called him into a meeting. Caesar was not armed. As Caesar entered the meeting, they grabbed him and stabbed him over 23 times. Each senator stabbed him, so none of them could be persecuted for the murder.