 Post Roman Empire  Political decline  Social decline  Economic decline  Dark Ages  Middle Ages  500 AD to 1500 AD

 486, Clovis conquers Gaul  Clovis converted to Christianity  Gained allegiance of Christian Church in Rome  Importance?

 Huge empire beginning to form  Palestine to North Africa to present day Spain

 Muslim army crossed into France  Charles Martel rallied Frankish warriors  Christians triumphed  Sign of God? Or Christian Savior?

 Grandson of Charles Martel  King of Franks  Became known as Charlemagne  “Charles the Great”  Further brings Church and state together

 800 AD, Christmas Day  The Pope proclaimed him Emperor. Why?  Revived “Christendom”  Future of power struggles.

 “Christendom”  Missi Dominici’s  “administer laws fully and justly in the case of the holy church”

 Charlemagne held education in high regards  Stressed the revival of Latin  Created local schools

 Blended Germanic, Roman, and Christian traditions  Strong and efficient governments  Treaty of Verdun

 Flourishing  Eastern emperor saw himself as the sole Roman ruler and religious leaders as well

 Muslim forces  Created a stronghold in Sicily  Magyars  Present day Hungary

 Scandinavian raiders  Traded and sailed around Scandinavia and Mediterranean  1000 AD set up colony in North America

 The invasions of the Vikings, Muslims, and Magyars weakened emperor’s ability to maintain law and order  Result?  Feudalism ▪ Loosely organized system of rule in which powerful local lords divided their landholdings among lesser lords ▪ Lesser lords (vassals), pledged service and loyalty to the greater lord

 Feudal contract  Lord granted his vassal a fief (estate / land) ▪ Peasants to work the land were included

 Lord promised to protect his vassal  Vassal pledged loyalty to his lord  40 days of military service pledged

 Monarch  Powerful Lords (Dukes and Counts) – Largest fiefs ▪ Vassals ▪ Vassals had vassals

 Knights – Mounted warriors  Age of 7  Boy was slated to be a Knight  Difficult training  Structured discipline  Tournaments a part of life and training

 Brave, loyal, and true to their word  Code of conduct developed by the Church to calm the knights down.

 To guard the honour of fellow knights  To eschew unfairness, meanness and deceit  To keep faith  At all times to speak the truth  To persevere to the end in any enterprise begun  To respect the honour of women  Never to refuse a challenge from an equal  Never to turn the back upon a foe  To fear God and maintain His Church  To serve the liege lord in valour and faith  To protect the weak and defenceless  To give succour to widows and orphans  To refrain from the wanton giving of offence  To live by honour and for glory  To despise pecuniary reward  To fight for the welfare of all  To obey those placed in authority  To guard the honour of fellow knights

 The lord’s estate  Peasants referred to as serfs  Farm land  Repair roads, bridges and fences  Pay taxes  Bound to the land  Guaranteed food, housing and land

 Social center  Largest public building  Took great pride in their church buildings  Tithe – Christians required to pay a tenth of their income

 Only contact people had with the church  Celebrated mass  Administered sacraments