Dark Ages

Aethelflaed

“lady of the mercians”; alfred’s daughter; originally intended to be a political pawn for Wessex, ended up being more effective than her brother (Edward); expanded burghal system into Mercia

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

history of England starting from the invasion of Saxons; started by Alfred, intended to be used throughout future; proves as one of the best medieval sources

Battle of Brunanburh

7 comes kings attempted to come together to take down Athelstan; proved effectiveness of the fyrd’s as they were the key to victory for the English; marked demise of the comitatus era…finally

Battle of Edington

last straw for Alfred against the Norse; brought together separate comitatuses in Wessex (100-150 men each) to fight them; THEY WON :D

Battle of Lechfeld

Otto vs. the Magyars; Otto gave a speech about how God would back the Germans; Magyars ran away :D

Burghal Hidage

attaching burhs to hides; hide owners were required to build a 6ft wall along their land, this land had burhs inside—> in turn protecting the burhs basically for free

Burhs

network of trade towns; required many aspects to create and be successful; had immense economic and military advantages

The Cadaver Synod

WHAT THE FUCK THEY HELD A TRIAL WITH AN ENTIRE CORPSE HELLO??; Stephen VI threw the corpse into the Tiber (river) → very bad because it contaminates water supply → killed Stephen :O

Carolingian Proto-Feudalism

francian system reorganized into manors → farming villages with a residence for the lord, who had to answer to Charlemagne directly; appointed royal stewards to also run manors → selected out of monasteries, specifically had to be educated commoners, so that they would be less likely to rebel

Carolingians

the original leaders during the Merovingian rule, were the “behind-the-scenes” guys; got increasingly more angry as Merovingians took credit for their work (ie. Charles Martel)

Charlemagne

pepin's son; new gov’t system and diplomacy; ordeal system; art, architecture, minting coins; Carolingian proto-feudalism (look at other, this is TLDR)

Chansons de Geste

fictionalized tales of warriors, very violent and vulgar; marked cultural change as this was solely for enjoyment

Clovis

one of the first Francian kings to convert to christianity, made christianity conversion a necessity in order to ally with him (INFLUENCE)

Comitatus

war-bands led by Comes’; eating, drinking, boasting, looting, sharing said loot

Danegeld

payments that kings (Irish, Saxon, or Frankish) could make for the Norse to leave them alone

Danelaw

created through the Treaty of Wedmore; the Norse part of England

De Villis

rules, fixating on what they can actually do; provision that forces people to actually do stuff (fear of Charlemagne just showing up on their doorstep for provisionary checks); mechanism in which proto-feudalism is actually going to work

The Donation of Constantine

allegedly when Constantine was sick he went to Pope Sylvester to make him better, did it on two condition → Constantine needed to get baptized, and give all power to the popes, LIESSSSS, connie only got baptized right before he died; most likely Leo forged this document

Emperor Otto I

was chosen by East Francian dukes to be a strong leader in the face of the Magyer attacks; spent about 2 decades fixing his army to be fit enough to face the Magyers

Emperor Otto III

inherited power at 3-years old; Otto II died :O (shhh, we don’t talk about him); saw himself as the second Constantine; took over Italy and moved capital back to Rome; deposed sitting pope and switched him to Sylvester III (was an interesting decision, half the people supported, have of them opposed); the people believed that he was the second coming; he died and everything went to shit D:

Fyrd

local saxon farmers, the designated warriors; could only be called 6 weeks a year, except for the farming seasons; had a subsection called the Select Fyrd of the best warriors —> awarded with MONEY, STATUS, POWER, could be called at any time since they were actually employed; better funding basically

The Great Army

around 1000 Norse fighters; goal of conquering heptarchy and getting land; commanded by HALFDAN, IVAR, and ubbi :)

Hamwic

trade town attempt; goal was to get revenue to fund soldiers and re-establish trade with Francia; everything was going great —> (specialized workers, royal mint)... and then the Norse attacked D:

Heptarchy

limited degree of central authority; commonly at war with each other

Housecarls

the warriors; basically rethought version of comitatus system; instead of rewarding these housecarls with loot, they would be rewarded with land, which they would want to protect, which gave Alfred the free protection he needed

Hugh Capet

came from the Comes groups of France, these Comes’ were upset about royalty not doing anything; Hugh overthrew the last of the Carolingians → led to almost all nobles being independent of the crown; catastrophic for the next three centuries

Inventory of a Carolingian Manor

details specifics of production in Carolingian manors, numbered; basically a more specific De Villis

Kievan Rus

the slavic tribes near Kiev that agreed to follow Norse rule, in return for protection

King Aethelstan

Edward’s son; raised by Aethelflaed; took back Northumbria, brought peace to Wales border; crowned as first king of England

King Alfred the Great

super cool guy; switch from previous ruler, he is educated; know his events, they are separately defined

King Edward the Elder

son of Alfred; led conquest into East Anglia (heavily helped by his sister), never expanded the Burghal system into East Anglia >:(

King Offa the Great

most powerful man in the heptarchy, king of Mercia (militia, iron mines, grain production); had alliance with Charlemagne for more protection; minted the penny → first micro currency, usable for day to day transactions; had a BIG wall that was meant to discourage raiding; doesn’t last because of the Comitatus system → Mercia fell after his death

L’Anse aux Meadows

where Leif Erikson settled on his quest to find more land; near Labrador; immediately killed by natives; Norse never returned

Law of the Salian Franks

basically a big popularity contest; was bad because it was heavily biased towards the upper classes who could buy their way out by purchasing more oath-takers to stand up for them; trials happen during the Thing, only meets twice a year so you have to wait

Magyars

tribe of horse nomads from central Asia; attacked during times of chaos, making it easier to wreak havoc; pagans, many saw them as the literal horsemen of the apocalypse (very feared)

Marozia

Theodora’s daughter; finessed her way into power for about 3 decades by being everyone’s mistress; died by being imprisoned by Duke Alberic II; her death marked end of Pornocracy

Mercia

most populous out of the heptarchy; frequently attacked Northumbria’s last polytheists; ruled during Offa era because they had iron, grain, and men; doesn’t succeed because it was based on the Comitatus

Merovingians

ruling dynasty of Frankish kingdom; unique because they used Christianity to their advantage, used the blond, blue-eyed version of Jesus to compare themselves to him → basically trying to get people to think they are descended from him

Millenarianism

the notion that the world will end imminently; major theme during turn of first millenia; has strong root in religion, in Christianity, heavily based on Judgement Day (people scared that they haven’t done enough virtues and will be sent to hell)

Norse

peoples from modern-day Scandinavia; split into mini-comitatus kingdoms; expert sailors/shipbuilders; too many people living on their land → went out in search of more; had surprising amount of autonomy for women (ie. women could divorce their husbands is they were “unsatisfactory”)

Northumbria

most powerful economy; center of monastic learning; able to cement coalitions of kings through power; SHEEP

Pepin the Short

Charles Martel’s son; struck a deal with Pope Zachariah where Pepin would receive Zachariah’s blessing for the throne (again shows the power of the papacy), and Zachariah would be able to have control of the churches in Francia

Pope Joan

ultimate morality tale from era of unfit popes

Pope John XII

son of Duke Alberic II; became Pope at 18!!; such a bad guy, he loved hunting and gambling, which were both banned in the clergy; rumors of him worshipping the devil; fucked everyone over that got in his way of being an ass

Pope Leo III

tricks Charlemagne into becoming emperor so that he would have power through the fake document (Donation of Constantine)

Pornocracy

era in papacy where it was controlled by women exerting their sexuality to exert power; ended when Marozia died

Ragnarok

THE END OF THE WORLD IN NORSE RELIGION, EVERYONE IS GOING TO DIE EVEN THE GODS

Simony

the sin of selling church positions for money (or land); became very popular during the turn of the 9th century

St. Hilda

established first all-female nunnery at Whitby; was able to do this because of her royal blood → had the influence to be able to persuade the king

Synod of Whitby

gathering of representatives from Saxon and Celtic churches in Briton to decide the fate of Easter, really was a fight over religious authority → ended up deciding on Leo’s new version (“the movable feast”); led to decline of Irish monasticism

Thing

meets twice a year; council for trails of crimes

Treaty of Saint-Clair-Sur-Epte

between Rollo of the Norse and Francian king, Charles the Simple; Charles gave Rollo the land around the mouth of the Seine, and proclaimed him a duke → terrible mistake

Treaty of Verdun

treaty that separated Francia between Charles, Louis, and Lothair

Treaty of Wedmore

divided England into two parts: one part being ruled by Alfred, and the other, the Danelaw, being ruled by the Norse

Trial by Ordeal

developed by Charlemagne; basically allowed God to choose if you were guilty or not; pope LOVED this; (ie. sticking your hand into water to retrieve a heated iron bar, if youre hand was healed in 3 days then God said you were innocent); could easily be rigged (ie. covering your hand in honey)

Valhalla

basically the comitatus heaven after-life; eating, drinking, killing, fighting; exclusively for warriors that had dies valiantly in battle

The Venerable Bede

first major Saxon historian of the church; major scholar → had the biggest library England :O

Wessex

Alfred’s territory, eventually becomes England

Whitby

first establishment of all-female nunnery by St. Hilda; became haven for noble women who wanted to escape male-dominated world, and get educated

Wergild

everything in society has a price tag; pregnant women are worth the most