The Rise of The Western States

Franks

Who were the franks?

Were a Germanic people who lived in the region that is now modern day France

Merovingian Rule

Ruling family of the franks

Clovis

Was a merovingian. Ruler who united the Germanic kingdom of the Franks.

Clovis converted to

Christianity after major victories over rival Germanic tribes

With Clovis’s conversion to Christianity, a connection between the

Roman catholic church and french rulers was created.

The Battle of Tours

80,000 Islamic light cavalry invaded the Merovingian Kingdom of the Franks.  

Charles Martel (Charles the hammer)

Led a force of French armored cavalry against the muslims

Charles won a decisive

victory in the battle of tours

Why did Charles the hammer become a hero in Christianity?

For stopping the advancement of the Islamic empire

The rise of the carolingians

A new line of rulers

Clovis’s sons divided his

kingdom up after he died

Clovis’s sons dividing his kingdom up

weakened the merovingian line

Pepin the short

used to be a mayor, He wanted power.

How did pepin the short gain power?

He displaced the merovingian line of rules, with the blessing of the pope

Would become a champion of the church because

He got the popes blessing

Pepin the short gained power by starting the

carolingian line of rulers

Charlemagne

Son of pepin the short. “Charles the great”

Charlemagne expanded his kingdom through a series of

military campaigns.

He organized his kingdom with strong administrators called

counts

Charlemagne was given the title of

“holy roman emperor” by Pope Leo III to show the rebirth of the Roman empire

The crowning of this title demonstrated the fusing of

Roman, Christianic, and Germanic elements

Charlemagne limited authority of

nobles

Charlemagne strengthened central

authority

Charlemagne used royal agents to

report on the countryside

Charlemagne participated in his

kingdoms affairs

Charlemagne opened a palace

school

Charlemagne built

schools, roads, and churches to unite the empire

Charlemagne ordered monasteries to open

schools to train monks and priests

Monasteries expanded

their libraries

Charlemagne had only one son

Louis the pious

When louis died,

Charlemagne’s empire was divided into 3 kingdoms

Treaty of verdun

treaty partitioning the Carolingian empire among the three surviving sons of the emperor Louis I (the Pious)

Who were the three sons who divided Charlemagne, their grandfathers empire?

Charles the bald, Lothair I, and Louis the German

What problem happened between the brothers?

Civil war and violent clashes between the brothers would affect the empire.

The carolingians would in time fall to the

vikings and other internal pressures. France would once again become fragmented

Hugh Capet

Became king after the death of the last Carolingian

Capetian kings had very less

power

Capetian kings controlled the land around

Paris