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UNIT 1 - THE MIDDLE AGES

MAP OF THE GERMANIC KINGDOMS OF THE 6TH CENTURY A.D.

What are the Middle Ages?

The Middle Ages are a time period in European history. They started around the year 476 AD when the Western Roman Empire ended, and they continued until around the time Christopher Columbus discovered the New World in 1492. The 'Middle Ages' are called this because it is the time between the fall of Imperial Rome and the beginning of the Renaissance (which began at different times in different countries). This period of time is also known as the Medieval Age, the Dark Ages (because of the loss of knowledge and organization after the fall of Rome) or the Age of Faith (because of the rise of Christianity). To be exact, the term "Dark Ages" refer only to very early period, from 476 to 800 (the coronation of Charlemagne).

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The Beginning of the Middle Ages In the year 395 A.D. Emperor Theodosius divided the Roman Empire into two parts, giving the Western Empire to his son Honorius and the Eastern Empire to his other son Arcadius. In this way he hoped to defend the Empire better from the constant attacks by Germanic tribes. The Germanic peoples lived across the rivers Rhine and Danube. They were semi-nomadic tribes who lived more from cattle raising than from settled farming. They didn’t generally live in towns or use coins, but they did make iron weapons. They frequently raided over the frontiers of the Empire in the third and fourth centuries, but the massive invasions began in the fifth century at a time when the Western Empire was at its weakest. The Empire in the East, with its capital at Constantinople, was able to resist, but the Western Empire could not stop the waves of Germanic peoples who began to settle within its frontiers. The Western Empire disappeared in the year 476 A.D. when Odoacer, a barbarian chieftain, defeated the last Emperor of the West, Romulus Augustulus. The Germanic tribes that had settled in the Empire’s territories became independent kingdoms, although they adopted much of the predominant Roman culture: many of them adopted Christianity as their religion and used Latin as their main language of communication. The most important Germanic kingdoms included:

In the Roman province of Hispania: the kingdom of the Visigoths (Western Goths) In the Roman province of Gaul: the kingdom of the Franks In Italy: the kingdom of the Ostrogoths (Eastern Goths) In North Africa: the kingdom of the Vandals In the Roman province of Britannia: the Angles and the Saxons

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The disappearance of the Roman Empire of the West created a climate of insecurity: with frequent attacks from so-called barbarian peoples and fighting between the different Germanic kingdoms, life became difficult, transport by land and sea was interrupted, trade was severely affected, the great Roman cities were abandoned or reduced. Little by little the economy of these Germanic kingdoms became reduced to farming and cattle raising. Small communities produced food and other goods for themselves – it was an economy of survival. The Visigoths With the fall of the Roman Empire the Visigoths created a new kingdom. Its first capital was in Toulouse (modern day France) and later they moved it to Toledo. The Visigoths were the most Romanized of the Germanic peoples, although they practised a different version of Christianity: Arianism (they didn’t believe in the divinity of Jesus Christ). The Visigothic kingdom was at the height of its power in the sixth and seventh centuries. King Leovigild consolidated royal power and turned the Suevi kingdom (in the north of the Peninsula) into a Visigothic province. His son Reccared promoted religious unification by converting to Catholic Christianity. The Visigothic monarchy was not hereditary, the king was elected by the nobles which was the cause of division and fighting and ultimately weakened the kingdom. The king governed with the help of the Aula Regia, a Royal Council of nobles and clergy. The number of Visigoths that settled in Hispania was small (about one hundred thousand) compared to the Hispano-Roman population of about five or six million – which explains why the Visigoths adopted the Hispano-Roman language, culture and religion. The Church transmitted cultural knowledge and the monasteries, where many classical texts were copied, were centres of learning and culture. Saint Leander and Saint Isidore were great intellectuals of this period.

THE CONVERSION OF RECCARED

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The Anglo-Saxons (see Unit 1A)

The breakdown of Roman law and civilisation in Britain happened quickly after the Roman army left in 410 AD. There were frequent attacks from the Vikings, so British tribes brought in mercenaries from Europe to defend them from attack. These mercenary soldiers were Angles and Saxons from northern Germany.

Eventually the Anglo Saxon mercenaries saw that they were stronger than their employers and began to take over the running of areas themselves.

The new Anglo-Saxon invaders were not organised centrally, as the Romans had been. They slowly colonised northwards and westwards, pushing the native Celts to the edges of Britain. Roman Britain was replaced by Anglo-Saxon Britain, with the Celtic peoples remaining in Cornwall, Wales and Scotland. The Anglo-Saxon areas eventually combined into kingdoms, and by 850 AD the country had three competing kingdoms: Mercia, Northumbria and Wessex, not only were competing between themselves, but they were also under constant attack from the Vikings. The Viking incursions culminated with a "Great Army" landing in East Anglia in 865 AD. By 875 they had defeated the kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria. Only Wessex remained as Anglo Saxon. The Vikings attacked Wessex in 878, and the Saxon king, Alfred the Great, had to flee and hide. He survived, led a victorious attack and consolidated his kingdom. The final Saxon king, Harold, died in 1066 at the Battle of Hastings when William the Duke of Normandy invaded England.

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The Byzantine Empire The fall of the Western Empire in 476 A.D. left Byzantium (the Empire in the East) as the continuation of the Roman Empire for nearly one thousand years. The Byzantine Empire survived the Germanic invasions and developed a brilliant civilization. It finally disappeared in 1453 when the capital fell to the Turks. The most important Byzantine emperor was Justinian who governed with his wife Theodora from 527 to 565 A.D.

1. The Byzantine Empire reached its greatest extension with conquests in Italy, North Africa and Visigothic Spain.

2. Byzantium dominated trade in the

Mediterranean. 3. The Justinian Code modernized ancient Roman

law. Emperor Justinian’s conquests did not last a long time:

The Lombards invaded Italy and the Visigoths invaded the Byzantine territories in Hispania.

In the seventh and eighth centuries the Muslims occupied the south and east of the Mediterrranean.

In the centuries that the Byzantine Empire existed it developed great trading links and great urban centres based in Constantinople, the capital, Alexandria, Damascus and Antioch. They constructed magnificent buildings, of which the best example is the church of Saint Sophia.

THE CHURCH OF HAGIA SOPHIA (CONSTANTINOPLE)

http://www.paradoxplace.com/Insights/Topkapi/Byzantine%20Constantinople.htm (Images of Byzantine Constantinople)

EMPEROR JUSTINIAN

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Byzantium gradually became more influenced by Greek culture than by ancient Roman culture. Greek became the official language instead of Latin and the emperor adopted the title of “basileus” (king). In 380 A.D. the emperor Theodosius had declared Christianity the official religion, but the Byzantine Church began to separate from the Roman Church. The most serious dispute caused the great schism of 1054 when the Eastern Church did not accept the authority of the Pope of Rome. This was the beginning of the Orthodox Church. During the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries the Turks occupied large areas of the Byzantine Empire and so Constantinople became isolated. The Catholic Church in the West did not listen to the petitions for assistance because Byzantium did not accept the authority of the Pope. The Turks occupied Constantinople in 1453, putting an end to the Empire. Islam The word “Islam” has two meanings:

1. The religion which the prophet Mohammad taught in the seventh century. 2. The empire which the Muslims (followers of the Islamic religion)

conquered in the seventh and eighth centuries. The Islamic religion began in the Arabian Peninsula in the seventh century. Mohammad was born in the city of Mecca in 571, where at the age of forty he began to preach a new religion called Islam (a word which means “submission to God”). At first this religion was not welcome in Mecca, where they followed a polytheistic religion. Mohammad was obliged to escape to the city of Medina in 622 – this event is called the hegira and it marks the beginning of the Muslim calendar. Eight years later Mohammad returned victorious to Mecca and by the time of his death in 632 nearly all of Arabia was unified under Islam.

MAP SHOWING THE EXPANSION OF ISLAM

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The Expansion of Islam After the death of Mohammed, the Muslim army extended the new religion though jihad (holy war) and they created a new empire. This expansion had three phases:

1. The orthodox caliphate 632-661. The Muslims conquered Syria, Palestine, Persia and Egypt. They fought against the Byzantine Empire, but internal conflict brought a new dynasty.

2. The Omeya caliphate (661-750). The capital of the empire was moved to Damascus. This dynasty expanded into North Africa and conquered the Iberian Peninsula. They did not succeed in conquering the Byzantine Empire. Internal conflict gave power to the Abassids.

3. The Abassid dynasty (750-1258). Baghdad was the new capital. There were many internal struggles for power and the empire began to decline.

The maximum authority of the Muslim empire was the caliph. The first caliphs were members of the Prophet Mohammad’s family. After them, the Omeya dynasty took control, and then the Abassid dynasty. The caliph was helped by a vizier (advisor) and many officials: walis (governors of the provinces), ulemas (interpreters of the Koranic law) and qadis (judges). The Islamic Religion The Koran is the Muslim’s holy book. Muslims have five obligations:

1. They make a profession of their faith: there is only one God, Allah, and Mohammad is His prophet.

2. They must pray five times a day. On Fridays there is collective prayer at the mosque, led by an imam.

3. They must make a pilgrimage to the city of Mecca at least once a lifetime. 4. They must fast during the month of Ramadan. 5. They must give alms (charity) to the poor.

The Koran also includes obligations for everyday life, for example strict Muslims mustn’t eat pork, drink alcohol or play games of chance.

Qur’an

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Charlemagne, King of the Franks As we have mentioned, the old Roman province of Gaul was occupied by the Franks in the fifth century. Power in the Frankish kingdom was in the hands of the palace officials. The most important of these officials was Charles Martel who defeated the Muslims in the battle of Poitiers in 732. His son Pepin the Short defeated the last Frankish king and became king himself. The son of Pepin the Short was the most famous monarch of his time: Charlemagne (“Carolus Magnus” or Charles the Great). Charlemagne conquered extensive areas of Western Europe and considered himself as the defender of Christianity and inheritor of the Roman Emperors. In fact, Pope Leo III crowned him Holy Roman Emperor in Rome on Christmas day in the year 800. The Carolingian Empire was extensive, but Charlemagne was not able to defeat the Muslim in the Spanish Peninsula and his army was annihilated at Roncesvalles in the Pyrenees.

After Charlemagne died, his son King Louis the Pious inherited the empire, and then Louis's three sons divided his empire between them. One son took the west (mostly modern France), and one son took the east (mostly modern Germany) and one son took the middle territories. The middle son didn't last very long, before the other brothers killed him. Although there was a lot of fighting between the two brothers and their children and grandchildren for a long time, nobody really ever succeeded in putting together a large empire like Charlemagne's again. They each ruled small parts of his empire.

But the kings who held Germany kept Charlemagne's title of Holy Roman Emperor, and the rulers of Germany were known as the Holy Roman Emperors for the next thousand years (until Napoleon).

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CHARLEMAGNE

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ASK ME A QUESTION 1. What are the Middle ages? 2. What are three different names for the Middle Ages? 3. What are the approximate dates for this period? 4. What do we often call the period between 476 and 800? 5. What happened in the year 395? 6. Describe the Germanic peoples at the beginning of the Middle Ages. 7. Name five Germanic kingdoms. 8. What were the main results of the end of the Roman Empire in the West? NOW, WRITE A SUMMARY OF THIS HISTORICAL PERIOD:

The Middle Ages The Middle Ages are a ………….. …………….. in E…………. history. There are different names for this period: ……………………………,…………………………….., or ……………………………….. and it lasted from ……………A.D. to ……………. A.D. In the year …………… the Emperor T……………… divided the R………. E………… into ……. parts. He wanted to …………… the Empire from attacks by G……………… tribes. The G…………….. peoples lived across the rivers ……………….. and ………………….. They were s………- n……………. tribes and they r………ed cattle. Frequently they r………ed across the frontiers of the E…………… The W………….. Empire was very weak in the f………. century. The W………… E………. disappeared in the year …………. A.D. A barbarian c…………… defeated the last Emperor of the West, R…………… A…………… The most important G…………… kingdoms were:

V……………………………………… The Kingdoms of the F……………………………………… O…………………………………….. V……………………………………… A……………………………………… S……………………………………..

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The Visigoths Draw this diagram in your notebook and fill in information about the Visigoths.

THE VISIGOTHS

1. When??

2. Where??

3. Religion

4. Reccared

5. Culture

6. Visigothic Kings

Saint Isidore

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The Anglo-Saxons Draw this diagram in your notebook and fill in information about the Anglo-Saxons.

THE ANGLO-

SAXONS

1. When??

2. The Celts

3. Saxon Kingdoms

4. Vikings

5. Alfred the Great

6. Harold

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Create your own MEDIEVAL MAP.

LABEL the map of Europe with the Germanic kingdoms of the early medieval period:

The Visigoths (West Goths) The Franks The Ostrogoths (East Goths) The Angles and Saxons The Vandals The Byzantine Empire (East Roman Empire)

REMEMBER the Germanic kingdoms:

Visigoths, Franks, Ostrogoths, Vandals, Angles, Saxons Very Fine Official Vacations Are in Summer Can you invent your own sentence?

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The Byzantine Empire

BYZANTINE QUIZ 1. How long did the Byzantine Empire last?

a. For nearly 100 years b. For nearly 10 days c. For nearly 1,000 years

2. Who was Justinian’s wife? a. Dora b. Theodora c. Lola 3. What was the “Justinian Code”? a. A driving licence b. A system of Roman law c. A system of Spanish law 4. Justinian was great because he…. a. increased the Empire and trade b. increased his family c. was very tall 5. One of the famous buildings of Constantinople is: a. The Eiffel Tower b. The church of Saint Sophia c. Notre Dame 6. Which culture influenced Byzantium most? a. Roman culture b. British culture c. Greek culture 7. What is a “schism”? a. The separation of a family b. The separation of a Church c. The separation of the Pope 8. What happened in the fourteenth century? a. The Turks invaded the Empire b. The Empire defeated the Turks c. Turks occupied Constantinople 9. Why didn’t the Pope help Byzantium? a. They didn’t know the Pope b. They didn’t ask the Pope c. They didn’t accept his authority 10. The Byzantium Empire ended in…. a. 1492 b. 1453 c. 1400

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Now complete this SUMMARY of the Byzantine Empire:

The Byzantine Empire

The B……………. E…………… lasted for about ……………. years (until ……….. A.D.). The most important emperor was J……………… (…………A.D. until ……….. A.D.). He governed with his …………, T……………… He is well known for the J………………… C……….., a modernization of R………….. law; also for increasing the E………….. and dominating t………. in the M……………….. J………………….’s conquests did not l………. a long time. The capital city was C…………………….. and there were many beautiful buildings, like S………… S…………… B…………………… was influenced by G…………….. culture. It was Christian, but it separated from the Roman C…………. (the s………….m of ………….. A.D.). This was the beginning of the O………………. Church. The T………..s occupied large parts of the Empire in the …………………. and …………………… centuries. The C……………… Church did not help, and in …………… A.D. the T……….s occupied C………………….. The B……………….. Empire had ended.

Now write this summary in your notebook, but don’t look at the original.

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Islam Write DEFINITIONS for the following words and expressions: 1. ISLAM ………………………………………………………………………………… .. ………………………………………………………………………………. ………………………………………………………………………………… 2. MOHAMMAD ……………………………………………. 3. THE HEGIRA ……………………………………………. 4. JIHAD ……………………………………………. 5. THE ORTHODOX CALIPHATE …………………………………………………….. ……………………………………………………………………………………………… 6. THE OMEYA CALIPHATE …………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… 7. THE ABASSID CALIPHATE …………………………………………………………. ………………………………………………………………………………………………. 8. CALIPH ……………………………… 9. VIZIER ………………………………. 10. WALI ……………………………….. 11. ULEMA …………………………….. 12. QADI ……………………………….. 13. THE KORAN ................................................................................................... 14. MOSQUE …………………………………………………………………………... 15. IMAM ………………………………………………………………………………… 16. RAMADAN ………………………………………………………………………….. 17. NAME THE FIVE OBLIGATIONS OF MUSLIMS: a. Profession of faith: …………………………………………………………………… b. Pray: …………………………………………………………………………………… c. Pilgrimage: ……………………………………………………………………………. d. Fast: …………………………………………………………………………………… e. Alms: ……………………………………………………………………………………

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Charlemagne

ASK ME A QUESTION

1. Modern France ocuppies a part of which Roman province? ………………………………………………………………………………………………. 2. What does “Charlemagne” mean? ………………………………………………………………………………………………. 3. What title did he take? ………………………………………………………………………………………………. 4. Who crowned him? When? ………………………………………………………………………………………………. ………………………………………………………………………………………………. 5. What happened at Roncesvalles? ………………………………………………………………………………………………. 6. Where is Roncesvalles? ………………………………………………………………………………………………. 7. What happened after Charlemagne died? (DON’T COPY THE TEXT!!) ………………………………………………………………………………………………. ………………………………………………………………………………………………. 8. How long did the title “Holy Roman Emperor” exist? ………………………………………………………………………………………………. NOW WRITE A SUMMARY OF THE INFORMATION ABOUT CHARLEMAGNE.

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USEFUL WEBSITES http://www.suelebeau.com/medievaltimes.htm

All about Medieval Times – links to many different related topics

http://webtech.kennesaw.edu/jcheek3/middleages.htm

Links in alphabetical order, also Web Quests

http://www.kathimitchell.com/middleages.htm

Middle Ages for kids – many links, maps, Beowulf, King Arthur, etc

http://www.learnhistory.org.uk/medieval/

Medieval Age in Britain, many links – also “Fling the Teacher” games

http://www.activehistory.co.uk/top_activities/index.htm

History games – links

http://classroomclipart.com/cgi-bin/kids/imageFolio.cgi?direct=History/Middle_Ages

Classroom clipart – images of the Middle Ages

http://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/subjects/middleages.htm

Social Studies for kids – useful links

http://www.themiddleages.net/

Use medieval links – armour, literature, biographies, sports, lifestyles

http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/index.html

Woodlands Junior School – good history pages for primary kids