1. Medieval Europe
410 A.D A.D.

2. After the fall of the Roman Empire, Europe was influenced by three distinct things: Germanic peoples, the Catholic Church, and Roman traditions.

3. Out of the chaos left by the collapse of Rome came a Frankish King by the name of Charles. He was able to consolidate many of the Germanic Kingdoms through conquest and diplomacy.

4. By all accounts, Charles was an enlightened ruler
By all accounts, Charles was an enlightened ruler. A large, athletic man, he was a ferocious fighter, smart commander, pious Christian, and a patron of learning. He was given the title Charlemagne, or Charles the Great.

5. Charlemagne left his empire to his 3 grandsons, and it broke apart
Charlemagne left his empire to his 3 grandsons, and it broke apart. Europe splintered into hundreds of individual kingdoms. Most were populated by Germanic peoples, Latin was spoken less and individual Germanic languages more and more.

6. Now that there was no centralized power, a new system of alliances and protection. Feudalism was formed. This was a system where protection and land was exchanged for money and service. Starting with the serfs or peasants, it went all the way up to a king.

7. At the heart of the Feudalism was the Manorial system
At the heart of the Feudalism was the Manorial system. Kings would give large tracts of land to Noble in return for military service. The nobles would live on a manor which would include the surrounding farms, which were worked by the peasants, or serfs. The serfs gave rent to the nobles and served in the army occasionally as needed.

8. To protect themselves and their manors, many nobles built strongholds or forts. The most simple was based on the iron age hill forts and were called Motte and bailley castles. Basically they were a keep atop a manmade hill with a ditch and wooden palisade.

9. As building techniques advanced, nobles began to build bigger keeps made of stone and even castles with surrounding curtain walls and moats.

10. Some were quite elaborate, and many were needed.

11. Groups of Northmen, or Norsemen started to raid along the coasts of Europe. They were from the areas of modern Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. Faced with starvation at home, these fierce warriors were good sailors who could bring many warriors to attack very swiftly.