1. Middle Ages/Dark Ages/Medieval Time Period

2. Germans After Rome fell 5 changes occurred in Western Europe
Disruption of Trade
Downfall of Cities
Population shifts from the cities to the countryside
Decline of learning
Loss of common language

3. Germans Social: Germans lived in small communities under one chief
Warriors followed the chief they could see and not a king they never saw
Family very important
All land divided equally among sons

4. Germans
The Franks took over Gaul and under the great chief Clovis they converted to Christianity
He started the Merovingian Dynasty

5. Germans
After Clovis’s death, the major domo or mayor of the palace was more powerful than the king
Charles Martel was a major domo and beat the Muslims at the Battle of Tours
His son Pepin the Short eventually became king of the Franks and started the Carolingian Dynasty

6. Charlemagne
Charles Martel

7. Germans
Charlemagne or Charles the Great took over after Pepin and built the largest kingdom since Rome
He stopped a mob from killing the Pope and in gratitude the Pope crowned him emperor

9. Germans Charlemagne revived learning and started schools
Charlemagne died and he divided his kingdom between his 3 sons
The Treaty of Verdun officially divided the empire

11. Raiders Raiders invaded Europe between AD 700 and AD1000
Vikings invaded from Scandinavia
Magyars came from the east on horseback
They did not settle, instead they captured people and sold them into slavery

12. Raiders
With all the invasions, people turned to the local lords to protect them
This started Feudalism

13. Feudalism
Feudalism is a governing system where a lord, or landowner, gives land called a fief to a vassal in exchange for military protection

14. Feudalism Serfs or peasants were the bottom of the social order.
Serfs were bound to the land, but they were not slaves

15. Feudalism Serfs rarely traveled 25 miles from their birthplace
They rarely ate meat. They mainly ate barley soup
Bloodletting was the main cure for illnesses
Average life expectancy was 30 years old

16. Feudalism The economic system of the time was manor system
The manor system is the lord gives land and protection to his vassals in exchange for working the land and giving a portion of their work to the lord

17. Knights To become a knight:
At age 7, parents send son to another lord to serve as page. They learn manners, chess, fight skills, and fighting strategies
At age 14, page becomes a squire. They take care of a knight and his horse and escorts the knight into battle
At age 21, squire becomes a knight

18. Knights 2 technological advances to make knights more effective
Leather saddle (keep knight on horse)
Stirrups (to brace knight during collisions

19. Knights
Lords required a knight to fight 40 days a year in exchange for fiefs

20. Knight To stop violent urges, lords held tournaments or mock battles
Jousting
Sword fighting

21. Knight
If coward, a knight will have his armor stripped, his shield cracked, spurs cut, sword broken, and knight thrown into a coffin and have a mock funeral service.

22. Knights Epic poetry was very popular during this time
The Song of Roland was the most famous epic poem. It was about French knights fight to the death against Muslims
Troubadours were the poet-musicians during this time

23. Knights
To stop brutal fighting, knights follow the code of chivalry which is a complex set of ideals that a knight has to follow when fighting for his 3 masters
Lord
Lady
God

24. Knights
Women are to be protected and their power actually declined in society
They only had power in the home and in a convent

25. Church The Christian Church also became powerful during this time.
They opened up monasteries or religious communities with monks and nuns
They became centers of learning

26. Pope Gregory I

27. Church
Pope Gregory I made the church more secular, or involved in nonreligious things and he believed the Christian Church should be first in all lives

28. Church
The Church provided sacraments or important religious ceremonies like:
Baptism
confirmation

29. Church The Church also had its own laws called canon laws
One law was everyone had to pay a tithe to the Chuch. The tithe was 10% of your income
If someone disobeyed a canon law, bishops or the pope could excommunicate them (take them out of the Church)

30. Church
Many Germans thought that the Church was too powerful and tried to fight back
Emperor Henry IV tried to appoint his own bishops and he fought the pope over it.

31. THE STRUGGLE INTENSIFIES
Battle between Pope Gregory VII and Henry IV
Over “Lay Investiture”- a person not of the church appointed bishops.
Pope excommunicated Henry

32. STRUGGLES INTENSIFIES
Due to struggles at home Henry IV asked for forgiveness.
Pope lifted the excommunication
Struggle over investiture dragged on for nearly 50 years
It ended with the Concordat of Worms