Chapter 7: Early Middle Ages 

Pre-reading

A. Skim and scan the following passage and answer the following questions.

1. What are the features of the Early Middle Ages?

2. How different is the Empire of Charlemagne from the Roman Empire ?

Reading

The Merovingians ruled for a very long time, from 481 to 751. For the last 60 years of their reign, however, they were challenged by a powerful aristocratic family, the Carolingians, from the kingdom of Austrasia . Eventually the Carolingian leader Pepin the Short took over the royal throne. Although Pepin founded the royal dynasty, the most famous Carolingian king was his son Charles, known as Charlemagne (Charles the Great), a tireless conqueror and a devoted patron of the arts and scholarship. The Carolingian dynasty gets its name from the Latin word for Charles, Carolus, after the grandfather and namesake of Charlemagne, Charles Martel.

Charlemagne impressed his contemporaries as a model king. He was huge of build, full of energy, and enormously successful in almost everything he did. During his 46-year reign, from 768 to 814, he almost doubled the territory ruled by the Franks. However, after Charlemagne's death, his empire weakened and eventually fell apart. Charlemagne's descendants continued many of his projects, but they were unable to maintain his empire.

Charlemagne's empire was gained by military might and was maintained through centralized administrative institutions and personal loyalties. The powerful Carolingian army was made up of most of the free men of the kingdom. Some of these soldiers were mounted warriors who fought on horseback and were protected by armor. Most, however, were foot soldiers. This army was a formidable force. By the end of Charlemagne's reign, his empire included what is today much of central and western Europe (with the exceptions of Spain , Scandinavia , England , and southern Italy ). This empire was very different from the Roman one. While the Roman Empire was based on the Mediterranean Sea, Charlemagne's was an empire of the Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea . The Carolingian Empire was administered by royal officials called counts and dukes. In each region of the empire, these governors were expected to carry out royal laws, oversee court cases, call men up for army duty, and maintain order. To ensure their loyalty, counts and dukes had to pledge fealty (faithfulness) to the king. Instead of money, the king gave them land for their services.

Bishops and other important churchmen also played key roles in Carolingian administration. For example, Charlemagne used bishops to check up on counts and to make sure that they carried out their duties well. Carolingian kings also called frequent meetings of the chief men of the empire, including bishops and abbots (heads of monasteries), to discuss laws, military matters, and religious issues. The Carolingians were even more closely attached to the church than the Merovingians had been. Charlemagne's father, Pepin the Short, had written to the pope for authorization before he deposed the last Merovingian king. When Pepin took the throne, he had himself anointed by a bishop—that is, his head and shoulders were rubbed with holy oil. This rite had been practiced by biblical kings and priests, and Pepin intended to associate himself with those figures in the minds of his contemporaries. The Carolingian rulers, each of whom was anointed, saw themselves as ruling "by the grace of God."

The Carolingians added the imperial title to their rule as well. There had been no Roman emperor in the west since 476, but many people around Charlemagne—and no doubt he as well—thought that he deserved the title. He was certainly recognized as ruler in Rome , and the pope relied on him for help. During one of Charlemagne's trips to Rome , on Christmas Day in the year 800, the pope placed the imperial crown on Charlemagne's head while the assembled crowd acclaimed him as emperor. Charlemagne may well not have liked the pope acting as "emperor maker," as it implied that the pope was more powerful and more important than the emperor. Instead, Charlemagne preferred to claim that he was crowned emperor by God. He wanted to be known as a Christian emperor, not a Roman emperor. Charlemagne wanted to be considered a second Constantine , harking back to the first Christian emperor. Later medieval emperors looked to Charlemagne and Constantine as their models. For these later emperors, the title emperor meant two things above all. First, it meant that they were "superkings" who ruled over—or at least had authority in—more than one kingdom. Because of the tradition of the Roman Empire, some sort of control in Italy was also considered important. Charlemagne held northern Italy and was the official protector of Rome . Later emperors considered it important to rule those places too. The 10th-century emperor Otto II and some of his successors even called themselves Roman Emperor. The second significance of the title emperor was that it gave its holder some of the luster, honor, and prestige of Constantine and Charlemagne. In 1254, when the emperor's power was at its lowest ebb and every king was considered an emperor in his own kingdom, the title Holy Roman Empire was created. It referred basically to what is today central Europe and Germany , and it did not include any of Italy . The Holy Roman Empire began in 1254 and lasted until 1806. In all that time, only a handful of men were actually crowned emperor. Sometimes the term  Holy Roman Empire is used to refer to the empire founded by Charlemagne, with all medieval emperors called Holy Roman Emperor. However, this projects into the past an idea that was foreign to it.

Charlemagne recognized that Christianity was the most important factor unifying the empire. When he conquered the Saxons, a Germanic tribe in northern Germany , he forced them to be baptized, and any who returned to their old religions were executed. New monasteries were established on the frontiers of the empire, and the Carolingians tried to get all the empire's monasteries to follow the Benedictine Rule. This code, written by Saint Benedict of Nursia in the 6th century, governed the monks' daily regimen of work, study, and prayer. Charlemagne also directed that everyone across his empire stop working on Sunday in order to attend church. These policies were part of the Carolingians' attempts to unify the empire. In reality, however, there was little unity. The Carolingian Empire consisted of many different regions, each with its own language, customs, and laws. It is doubtful that everyone went to church on Sunday. It is certain that few of those who did go understood the words of the Mass, the central rite of Christian worship. The Mass was chanted in Latin, the language of ancient Rome , and by 800 only a small, educated elite understood Latin. At the same time, people in what is now northern Germany could not understand the speech of those living in the south. People in northern France made fun of the puffed sleeves and short pants worn by the Aquitainians in the south. People in Italy followed laws that differed from those elsewhere in the empire. There was enormous regional diversity.

To bring order and unity to this situation, as well as to fulfill their goal of creating a Christian empire, the Carolingians sponsored a revival of scholarship and art known as the Carolingian Renaissance. It had two main goals: to revive the wisdom of Roman writers, uniting it with Christian literature and learning, and to create new works of art and literature that expressed this same unity.

The Carolingian Renaissance began in the 790s and lasted for about a century. At first the scholars and artists involved in it came from the frontiers of the empire, such as Italy , or even from outside it, from places such as England . Later scholars and artists were Franks educated in Carolingian schools.

The most famous figure of the early Carolingian Renaissance was Alcuin. He came from England , which had important ties with Rome and the papacy and a strong tradition of scholarship. Alcuin became the head of a school at Charlemagne's court. He wrote letters on behalf of the king, advised him on issues of government, and tutored the royal household. He also revised and reedited a version of the Bible known as the Vulgate. This was important because it provided a standardized, authoritative text of the Bible for churches and schools.

Alcuin and other scholars also wrote theological treatises, poems, histories, essays on government, biographies (the most famous is Life of Charlemagne by Einhard), and hagiographies (stories of the lives of saints). Instead of using paper, which was unknown in the West, these scholars wrote on parchment made of animal skins. All works were written out by hand, which is why they are called manuscripts —from the Latin words manus (hand) and scriptus (written). Carolingian artists worked with Byzantine and Roman illustrations to create paintings to decorate these texts. These paintings are called illuminations, and manuscripts with these illustrations are known as illuminated manuscripts. For example, in the front of each of the four Gospels (the first four books of the New Testament of the Bible) artists painted the portraits of the authors using vivid colors and gold leaf. The Romans had often begun their books with an author portrait of this type. By adopting this practice for Christian texts, the Carolingians used Roman traditions for Christian purposes. The Carolingians also sponsored schools. Carolingian kings wanted every monastery to have both an internal school for future monks and an external school for the children in the neighborhood. In these schools children would learn the alphabet and how to read the Latin of the Psalter (the book of Psalms in the Bible). The idea was to give everyone enough education to understand at least the basic doctrines of Christianity so that they could fully participate in the Christian community. It is doubtful, however, if many external schools were set up, although monasteries and churches did organize schools for future monks and priests.

The legacy of the Carolingian Renaissance lasted long after the Carolingian Empire had passed away. It provided good, clear copies of important Christian texts: the Vulgate Bible, chants for the Mass, and the Benedictine Rule, which most of the monasteries in the empire followed. Its scholars' treatises and other writings set a solid foundation for the development of schools and universities in the 12th century.

A great deal of wealth was necessary to keep the Carolingian government and cultural programs running. At first, as Charlemagne's armies conquered to the south and east, wealth poured in from booty taken in war. When the conquests stopped, the Carolingians had to depend on two main sources of wealth: land and trade.

The Carolingian economy was largely based on land. The king's royal estates were everywhere. Monasteries and churches also owned large tracts of land. Wealthy aristocrats had estates scattered from one end of the empire to the other. Sandwiched between these vast estates were smaller plots held by common folk. These plots ranged in size from quite large to just large enough to support a family.

The large estates were organized into manors, which had two parts: the land belonging to the lord (the holder of the estate) and the land belonging to the peasants. The peasants, who were dependents of the lord, farmed both parts. They owed the lord labor on his land as well as dues and other services at various times of the year. But not all peasants owed the same amounts. Some peasants were considered unfree: They owed the lord more labor services and dues, and their own plots were very small. Other peasants were considered free: They owed less and owned more.

The daily lives and work routines of peasants were similar on most manors in the 9th and 10th centuries. On one of the manors belonging to the wealthy monastery of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, near Paris , for example, all the peasants lived near one another in a village. Almost every morning the men went out to work in the fields. In May they plowed one field and then in the fall they plowed it again and sowed it with seed for winter crops, such as wheat, rye, and barley. In February they plowed another field in order to sow spring crops of oats or beans. Meanwhile they left a third field uncultivated, allowing the farm animals to graze there and fertilize the soil with their droppings. This was the three field system, the most up-to-date way to till the soil, as it left only one-third of the land uncultivated in order to regain its fertility. The alternative, practiced in many places, was the two field system, in which a full half of the land was left fallow.

Besides plowing, sowing, and reaping, the peasants had many other tasks. They tended the manor's vineyard, pruning vines and preparing the grapes to make into wine. Some of them spread manure in the fields. Others looked after the pigs. Still others carted lumber, crops, or other supplies. Women also worked in the fields, helping sow and reap, but most of their time was spent in the women's workshops, where they spun thread, wove cloth, and made clothing. Some also worked in the kitchen as cooks. Every peasant family living on a manor owed dues to its lord. On one of the manors of Saint-Germain, each family paid two sheep, nine hens, 30 eggs, 100 wooden planks, and other items every year to the monastery. On a different manor, this one belonging to a monastery near Reims , the burden was less. Each family owed a measure of wine, one hen, five eggs, and a cartload of wood.

Surprisingly, this world of hens, eggs, and oats produced a modest surplus. Local markets were held so that peasants and lords could sell their goods. The Carolingians minted small silver coins to make such commerce easier. They obtained some of the silver from long-distance trade with the Islamic world, selling their surplus wine to the Muslims, who paid them in silver.

After the death of Charlemagne's heir, Louis the Pious, his sons fought over the empire and divided it numerous times. With the Treaty of Verdun in 843, they split it in a way that roughly marked the later outlines of Western Europe . Charles the Bald got the western third of the empire; Louis the German got the eastern third; and Lothair I got the middle third, stretching from the North Sea to Italy , and the imperial title. Charles's kingdom eventually became France , Louis's became Germany , and Lothair's, which was fought over and divided, became The Netherlands, Belgium , Luxembourg , Switzerland , and Italy .

These states were far in the future, however. In the 9th century, the empire was fragmenting politically and was also facing invasions from three sides. From the south came a new wave of Muslims. From the east appeared the Magyars. From the north came the Vikings, daring sailors from Scandinavia . The Carolingians had great difficulties in meeting these new challenges.

Muslim bands settled in southern France and took over Sicily and southern Italy . Magyar horsemen raided all the way to the Rhine River and repeatedly attacked northern Italy and Germany . Bands of Vikings attacked Ireland and England and sailed up the rivers of France . They also made their way to Iceland and even landed on the coast of North America .

The Muslims were eventually thrown out of their strongholds in France and southern Italy . The Magyars were defeated by German king and later emperor Otto I in 955 and settled down in what is today Hungary . The Vikings, like the Magyars, eventually established permanent homes in Europe . Viking invaders created and settled Normandy , today a region of France . Scandinavia itself was drawn into Europe as its people mingled with Europeans and converted to Christianity.

In the course of fighting these invaders, Europe itself changed in varying ways. Two contrasting examples are England and France . England became unified, while France fragmented into small, nearly independent principalities (regions ruled by princes).

The Vikings first attacked, then conquered and settled, the eastern half of England . By the end of the 9th century, it looked as if the rest of the country, which was divided into small kingdoms, would soon be overtaken. In Wessex , the southernmost kingdom, King Alfred the Great was determined to oppose the threat. He reorganized his army, built ships, and set up a system of fortifications. His victories over the Vikings gave him such prestige that he was recognized as king of all England not under Viking rule. Alfred's successors pushed out most of the Vikings and absorbed the rest of England into one kingdom.

France  had a very different experience. The king was unable to mobilize his forces quickly enough to fight the Viking raids. Powerful local men, often dukes or counts, organized their own regional defenses. Carolingian prestige suffered, and by the end of the 10th century a new dynasty, the Capetian, came to the throne. Although the Capetians were successful in the long run, at this point they ruled only the region right around Paris . The rest of France was ruled by local men.

The political fragmentation of France became more extreme in the 10th and 11th centuries. Many counts and dukes lost power to castellans, local strongmen with a retinue of soldiers who controlled a castle and its immediate surroundings. Protected by their fortifications and armed followers, castellans dominated the surrounding countryside, even though they had no particular right to rule.

Local strongmen such as castellans, counts, and dukes depended on the loyal service of warriors and the dues of peasants. As the Carolingian Empire broke apart, peasants and warriors became distinctly different groups. Carolingian peasants had also served in the army, but by the 11th century, peasants were supposed to till the soil, not pick up arms. There were no longer free and unfree peasants, nor were there many peasants who owned their own land. Most peasants became serfs, who were half free ( see Serfdom). They owed dues and services to the local strong man (as well as to the lord of their manor, if they lived on one), and they called him their lord. This system is known as seignorialism ( 领主制度 ).

Warriors, however, became an elite class of knights. They rode horses and wielded weapons that required great skill, such as the heavy lance. The majority of knights were free men. They had lords, but their lords (kings, counts, dukes, and castellans) were also knights, and in that sense were their equals. As a lord's vassal, a knight pledged fealty to him and served him in war. Some vassals lived with their lords, sleeping in the great hall of the castle and rising in the morning to eat together with the lord, his wife, and the other vassals. Luckier vassals had fiefs—grants of land owned by their lord that the vassals used and lived on. Fiefs had been given out in earlier times. For example, Charlemagne gave fiefs to his counts, but he could also take them away if he wanted to. Gradually, however, fiefs became hereditary. By the 11th century, a man who had a fief knew he could pass it on to his son. The son then pledged fealty to his father's lord. Some historians use the term feudalism to refer to the social system of lords, vassals, and fiefs. Others use this word to refer to the political fragmentation that took place in France , where the power of local strong men, supported by their men and castles, became more important than the authority of kings. For still others, feudalism means the orderly political hierarchy of lords and vassals established in certain principalities and later in kingdoms. Normandy is a good example of one such principality. The duke of Normandy gave fiefs to his barons (his most important vassals), who owed him not only their own military service but also that of their own knights, to whom they in turn gave fiefs. When the Normans conquered England in 1066, they set up this system across their new kingdom. Given the many definitions of feudalism, some of which conflict, and given the fact that the word itself was never used in the Middle Ages, a number of recent historians have stopped using the term altogether.

As society changed, so too did the Christian church. In France churches were absorbed into the new organization of small kingdoms and local rulers. Local bishops often came from local ruling families, and parish priests received their posts from the local lord. Monasteries, founded on family lands, became family institutions. In the Empire (comprising roughly what is today Germany and Italy ), churches were drawn into the governmental system set up by Otto I and his successors. In this area, bishops appointed by the emperor acted as governors as well as spiritual leaders.

Test yourself

1. Multiple Choice

51. The Carolingians___.

A.  assimilated the Merovingians B. were less civilized

C. came from Asia D. subdued the Merovingians

52.  Charlemagne___.

A.  means Charles the Great B. refers to the first monarch

C. founded the royal dynasty D. was tired of war

53.  Charlemagne' empire was gained__.

A. by personal loyalty B. by force

C. by peace D. by authority

54.  Charlemagne by no means maintained the empire___.

A.  through centralization of political power

B.  through personal loyalty

C. through military actions

D.  through centralized administrative institutions

55.  Charlemagne' empire was different from the Roman Empire for it was__.

A.  based on the Mediterranean Sea

B.  administered by the central power

C.  ruled directly by the king

D.  an empire of the Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea

56.  In the Charlemagne's empire, the royal officials do anything but__.

A. carrying out royal laws

B.  overseeing court cases

C.  getting money from the king for their services

D.  pledging faithfulness to the king

57.  In the Charlemagne's empire, the bishops do anything but__.

A.  checking up on local officials

B.  giving money to the local officials for their services

C.  making sure that local officials carried out their duties well

D.  attending the meetings called by the king

58.  Charlemagne wanted __.

A.  the pope to be more powerful

B.  to be known as a Roman emperor

C.  to be known as a Christian emperor

D.  to be a Roman emperor

59.  Charlemagne preferred __.

A.  to be crowned by the pope

B.  to be a Roman emperor

C.  to be known as a Roman emperor

D.  to claim that he was crowned emperor by God

60.  Charlemagne set ___as his model.

A. Constantine B. the Roman Empire

C. the pope D. all the super-kings before him

61.  The Holy Roman Empire __.

A.  began in the 12th century B. began in the 13th century

C. included Italy today D. excluded Germany today

62.  The Holy Roman Empire lasted__.

A. about 300 years B. about 400 years

C. over 500 years D. over 600 years

63.  The Holy Roman emperor is __.

A.  viewed as a Roman emperor B. viewed as a second pope

C. like a pope D. viewed as a Christian emperor

64.  Charlemagne converted the Saxons into Christianity__.

A. by force B. by baptism

C. by building monasteries D. by ministry

65.  To unify the empire Charlemagne_.

A.  only relied on execution B. first relied on Christianity

C. relied on personal loyalty D. relied on the pope

66.  The Carolingian Renaissance was aimed at fulfilling the goal of___.

A.  reviving the wisdom of Roman writers only

B.  creating Christian literature only

C.  creating an orderly and unified Christian empire

D.  improving the works of art and literature of the time

67.  The Carolingian economy was__.

A.  completely based on land

B.  mostly based on trade

C.  largely based on trade

D.  largely based on farming

68.  The breakup of the Carolingian Empire was caused by__.

A.  cooperative attacks from the Muslims, the Vikings and the Magyars

B.  foreign invasions and internal conflicts

C.  the sons of Charlemagne

D.  the heir of Charlemagne

69.  Foreign invasions caused__.

A.  a stronger France

B.  a weaker England

C.  a unified England

D.  the unification of France and England

70.  As the Carolingian Empire split_.

A.  peasants were richer

B.  were happier

C.  warriors became peasants

D.  warriors became equal to their lords

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