Lecture Notes: Dark Ages
Byzantine Empire: Considered a “Greco-Roman” civilization due to Greece influence, it is centered around Constantinople, the Ostrogoths control Italy, Odovacar will be king for 11 years before getting overthrown, killed after trying to negotiate a peace treaty.
Nika Revolt: Justinian tried to hang 8 men from the green team and the blue teams, the blues and greens joined together to revolt against Justinian, Justinian ended it by baiting them to the place to negogiate
Justinian Code: A code where Justianian chose ten men to review 1,600 books full of Roman Law and create a simpler legal code. The men created the Justinian Code with just over 4,000 laws. The laws were recorded in four books. They are the basis for common law
Hagia Sophia: Built by Justinian, the largest church, it is now a mosque, it had a cool optical illusion
Expansion: Justinian re-conquers territories in Africa, Spain, parts of Southern Italy that were lost to the Ostrogoths and Vandals. He would buy off what he couldn’t win back, he would, the Eastern Roman Empire became bankrupted and severely weakened
Herakleios: The Eastern Roman Emperor who was known for the Exarchates and Themes System
Exarchates: Military outposts that were built by the Byzantines in other territories
Themes System: districts where civillian administration is replaced with military administration of territories
Herakleios also (ALLEGEDLY) took the Cross where Jesus was originally hung up
Herakleios would begin to fight many wars against the Persians and had lost to Islam expansion in the Battle of Yarmouk
Caesaropapism: Temporal ruler extends authority over ecclesiastical and theological matters
Iconoclasm: Destroying the icons of the Christian paintings, started by Emperor Leo III and his son Constantine V, it causes a split between the Eastern and Western Church
Irene: Empress of Rome during the Eastern Roman Empire, she kills her underage son so she can continue to rule, she declares Iconoclasm a heresy and tries to get on good terms with the pope and Charlemagne so she can continue to rule with getting away of killing her son
Basil: (Not Basil Omori), Basil expends the Empire to Greece instead of the South, he is called the Bulgar Slayers because he kills the Bulgars in the North, he gets the help of Harold, the Empire falls into decline after his death as the reclaimed territories revolt against the Byzantines
Battle of Manzikert: A battle between the Byzantines and Saljuqid Turks, sultan Alp Arslan fights against Romanus and is able to win against Romanus, it becomes the Byzantine version of the Battle of Adrianople, the Byzantine Empire shrunk greatly and at this point the Byzantines realize that they cannot keep the Muslims out, they layed seige on Constantinople
Monasticism= The idea of monks (holy men) living in monasteries. Monasteries are generally in isolated places where monks can focus on things like fasting and prayer without distractions. Monks produce may religious written works during this perios (literacy is uncommon, but monasteries provide monks with access to education). They are the last bastion of education
The result of monks being educated is a connection between the church and state
Saint Benedict: ora et labora literally means “work and pray”, the Benedicting rule basically there would be many bells that would declare what they should do (pray or work or etc)
Pope Gregory: An important person who made Christmas a Christian holiday to appeal to the Vikings, he supported missionaries and people who sent them out to different regions to spread the word
Saint Patrick: He is NOT Irish, but English, he was captured by Irish pirates and was a slave, he escaped and went to England, converted a Christian but actually went back to Ireland to convert his captors, he allegedly played a pipe and lured the snakes off a cliff, he spread Christianity to Ireland and converted the nation to Christianity
Book of Kells = An example of the religious text produced in monasteries, the Book of Kells contains parts of the Christian Gospels with elaborately ornate illustrations
Lombards = a group of pagan tribes that invade and conquer Italy three years after the death of Justinians. They were Arian Christians, the Lombards conflict with bishops and popes of Orthodox Christianity, this is a foreshadowing of the church and the state coming together. In the early 600s, a Lombard queen, Theudelinda, convinces her second husband, Agilulf, to convert to Orthodox Christianity. From this point forward, the Lombards follow Orthodox Christianity
Visigoths = An Arian Christian “barbarian” group located in present day Spain. In 586, a Visigoth emperor, Reccared, converts to Orthodox Christianity
Council of Toledo = Power church councils from Toledo (capital of the Visigoths) with strong influence over the Visigoth government and socirty, including nominating Visigoth kings. The Councils of Toledo pass measures that oppress non-Christian communities (Arians and Jews).
Franks = Roman federates (semi-autonomous group under Roman government rule). When Roman authority collapses in Gaul (an area making up parts of present day France and Belgium) during the 5th century, the Franks take over control. Early converts to Orthodox Christianity, the Franks able to overcome the distinction as “barbarians.” The “Franks” eventually become known as the “French.”
Clovis- king of the Franks, united several Frankish tribes around Gaul
Meroginvians- Clovis and his successor
Clovis was known for converting many people to Christianity because he needs help on people who can read and write for his kindgom, another variant was that his favorite wife gave birth to a child who was Christian, Clovis baptized a baby but said baby died, he was upset that his child was dead, when another child happened his wife tried to convince him again, although not on board at first, Clovis was nontheless convinced.
Gavelkind = The way the Franks did things, if a farmer died, all his sons will get equal parts of his land, sounds alright, but it was A HOT MESS
Salic Law of Sucession = People who were descended from a WOMAN could not take the throne (yayyyy more misogyny)
Dagobert: ruled as a King of Austrasia from 623 to 634 and as King of All the Franks from 629 to 639. Together with the reign of his father, Chlothar II, the period of Dagobert’s rule has been characterized as the peak of Merovingian power. However, Dagobert was the last king of the Merovingian Dynasty to exercise any significiant royal authority.
Muslims had moved into Spain because:
1: They saw Europe as a source of slaves
2: They want to spread their religion
MAYOR OF THE PALACE: The only governmental institution was the chieftainship or kingship, and the Merovingians based their power upon lands -- towns and villages -- that they considered to be their own personal property. They and their followers lived on the produce of these lands, and the royal household travelled from royal estate to royal estate since no single estate produced enough to supply the royal household for more than a few days and nights. The staff who provided for the household also had to manage the estates that supplied them with food, clothing, horses, and other necessities. These household servants included the mayor of the palace (who directed all household operations). In time, the mayor of the palace ruled for the king, much like the viziers who ruled for caliphs in Muslim territories or the shoguns who ruled for the emperor in Japan. The position of Mayor of the Palace eventually became passed down by family succession, thus they became hereditary positions as powerful as the king. The increasing power of the Mayors of the Palace decreases the power of Merovingian kings.
Charles Martel = Mayor of the Palace, known for the Victory at Torice against the Moors, the Pope comes up to him and tells him the Lombards are under attack and that if he defeats them, he will become the king of the Franks, Charles declines and dies, his son Pepin comes to the throne and creates a new line of kings called Carolingians and has to sons, Charlemagne and Carloman
Charlemagne: Considered a model of kingships in this era, Pope Leo III crowns Charlemagne as emperor
3 accomplishments of Charlemagne:
Expansion of the Kingdom, expands the Frankish kingdom down to Spain and to Saxony and Germany
Expands and Protects Christianity, causes the Saxons to convert anyways and protected Spain from the Muslim Umayyads
Revives learning, the Franks push for greater literaacy result in the standardization of writing. The push for literacy results in the standardization of uncial (upper-case) and miniscule (lower-case) letters
Missi Dominici= transaltes to the “lord’s emissaries,” lord meaning king. The missi dominici were two officials working together, one secular member and one member of the clergy (a layman and a bishop), who inspected the work of dukes and counts
counts = administrative officials in charge of cities, with limited control of munciipal territories, and administer royal justice
dukes = administrative officials similar to counts, but in charge of larger geographic areas (more authority than the counts)
Alquin = English monks who started schools and tutored Charlemagne’s children
Bust of Charlemagne - an idealised portrayal and reliquary said to contain Charlemagne’s skull cap, is located at Aachen Cathedral Treasury, and can be regarded as the most famous depicition of the ruler
Treaty of Verdun: Charles the Bald got France, Lothar got Italy, and Louis of Germany got Germany (surprising right?), The Treaty of Redun sets the groundwork and landscape for future Europe
After Charlemagne dies, new groups challenge the Frankish/Carolingian kings who continue to fight each other. These include the Muslim Moors, Magyards (Future Hungarians), and Vikings, who raided into Frankish territory
Vikings = from Scandinavia (present day Denmark, Findland, Norway), wanted women and young girls, but they wanted the monasteries because those had the most money and the monks didn’t fight back, they attack the British Isles (England, Scotland, Ireland), and Constantinople and Paris, the Vikings would attack the villages that look like they couldn’t defend themselves and skip those that are more heavily armed, after the Vikings do all of their raping and pillaging, just like any other violent groups, they settle down and become farmers, they settle in Greenland and Iceland and settle in what is present day Canada
longboats: Long, wide, but not huge ships that are fast and can be used for traveling at high speeds and can sail up river and handle rough waves and rough stormy weather
Viking Raids
845: Attacked Paris successfully under Ragnar Lodbrok. West Frankish king Charles the Bald bribes Ragnar to leave with 7,000 French livres or 5670 pounds of silver and gold!
886= Vikings lay siege to Paris again. This time unsuccessfully. Defense of Paris by Odo, Count of Paris. An account of the siege was left by a monk Abo Cernuud. The account is probably biased to favor the French and Cernuud is well known for his exaggeration. Vikings eventually bribed to leave after the arrival of the Frankish king Charles the Fat (Yes, he was actually fat). He offers the Vikings 700 livres to leave
Charles the Simple gives land grant to the Viking king Rollo
This territory will be known as Normandy
Charles the Simple did this for 2 reasons:
To encourage the Vikings to stop raiding Frankish territory
Rollo would act like a gatekeeper and protect the territory from future Viking raids
A funny story: Rollo looked like he was about to kiss Charles’ foot, but he flipped him over and the vikings started laughing, the Frenchmen were upset and were gonna draw their weapons, but Charles found it funny and had one of Rollo’s men kiss his foot
Ironic is that while the Vikings were completely bloodthirsty, barbaric, and straight up murderers and plunderers, they were advanced in treating women like equals and the vikings would leave the women in their huts and find silver at Spring and went back to the homes during winter