HY 102 Lecture 20: Western Christian Civilization in the Early Middle Ages - ch 7
30 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
I.Western Christian Civilization in the Early Middle Ages (The Conversion of Northwestern Europe)
A. A transitional period
B. Gregory of Tours (538-c.594)
C. New attitudes
1. A break with the Roman past
2. Rather than continuation, a reconstruction
D. Economic disintegration and political instability
1. Causes
a. Justinian's effort to reconquer the West
b. Excessive Byzantine taxation of agricultural lands
c. Islamic piracy
2. Western Europe
. Urban life declined
a. Land passed out of cultivation
b. Too costly to maintain slaves
c. Coinage system broke down
d. Two-tier economy
i. Gold and silver among the wealthy
ii. The peasantry relied on barter
3. Political instability
. Incessant wars between kings and lords
a. Inability to regulate royal succession
b. Rivalries
E. Merovingian Gaul
1. Survival of late Roman local administration
2. Growth of monasteries
3. Massive distribution of wealth
4. Cultivating the rich, heavy soils of northern France
5. Population growth
F. Monasticism and conversion
1. Rapid increase in new monastic houses (especially seventh century)
2. Royal ties with monasteries
3. Located in rural areas—Christianizing the countryside
4. Women and the monastic life
5. Conversion and missionary activity
. Pope Gregory I (c. 540-604)
a. Roman Christianity brought to southeastern England
G. The reign of Pope Gregory I
1. Worked to prevent a breach with Constantinople
2. Necessity of penance
3. The concept of purgatory
4. The Gregorian chant
5. Asserted his authority over all Western bishops
6. Encouraged the Benedictine rule in all Monasteries
II. The Rise of the Carolingians
. Pepin of Heristal (d. 714) and the "mayors of the palace"
A. Charles "the Hammer" Martel (c. 688-741)
1. The second founder (after Clovis) of the Frankish state
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Document Summary
Justinian"s effort to reconquer the west: excessive byzantine taxation of agricultural lands. Urban life declined: land passed out of cultivation, too costly to maintain slaves, coinage system broke down, two-tier economy. The peasantry relied on barter: political instability. Inability to regulate royal succession: rivalries, merovingian gaul. Integration of the frankish monarchy into the papal-benedictine orbit: the reign of charlemagne (742-814, r. 768-814, united the frankish kingdom through armed expeditions. Italy, germany, and central europe: forcing conversion to christianity, counts and local administration. In the 790s, vikings began to attack coastal ports of northern europe. Civil wars: muslim and hungarian attacks, local political rivalries, viking invasions helped tighten the cultural and political links that kept europe together, the legacy of the carolingians, the european political entity, england becomes unified. Alfred the great (871-899: reorganized the army, codified laws, cultural regeneration patterned on the carolingian example, the saxon kings of germany.
