THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES
Almost as soon as the dust settled from the Roman collapse, Clovis, an ambitious Frankish tribal chief was visibly building up his power. From his tribal power base, centered in what is today Belgium, Clovis achieved military dominance over other Germanic tribes. He built a "kingdom" of annexed/controlled territories made up of loosely united tribes. This was called the Merovingian Kingdom (481 - 752). Clovis's descendants continued the expansion of this kingdom, and by the 8th century the Merovingian kingdom included much of modern day France and Germany.
There was a critical difference, however, between the kingdom built by the Frankish family of Clovis and the just-collapsed Roman Empire. This Merovingian kingdom was not ruled with the same degree of central control that Roman Caesars had possessed. Reflecting Frankish tribal traditions, Merovingian kings ruled based on the loyalty of local/tribal leaders who kept their local power, but did carry out (some) of the king's orders in their territories. These regional leaders included both tribal leaders/chiefs and descendants of Roman land owners. These local leaders kept a substantial degree of local, independent control. Merovingian kings did not establish a formal bureaucratic system; rather, Merovingian leaders tied regions together based solely on individual oaths of loyalty and sharing rewards from military victories with local tribal/local leaders. There was no functional bureaucracy, no centrally controlled legal system, and no centralized tax system. Laws and economic measures differed between regions in the kingdom. Bottom line, this was not a truly centralized kingdom; instead the Merovingian kings ruled over a loosely united group of tribal/regional leaders who owed only certain duties to the king. In most areas, local leaders continued to really be the ones in direct control.
Thus, while it might appear that a new unity in Europe replaced the collapse of Rome, in reality tribal traditions of decentralized power dominated. The Merovingian Kingdom was a weak state; local chieftains held on to most of their local political and military power. There was not a new Rome.
CHARLEMAGNE
Although they only had limited power, Merovingian kings retained their title and status for centuries due to the tribal emphasis on lineage and bloodline. Despite their clear weaknesses as military leaders, regional leaders did not challenge their royal claim based on tribal traditions of loyalty to oath and bloodline. By the middle of the 8th century, however, there was a family willing to challenge the declining Merovingian claim. A competing Frankish family line gained prominence; this family had for generations acted as "mayors" of the palace (right hand men to the kings.) It was in fact usually leaders from this family line that actually led Merovingian military forces on the field; this line included famous military leaders such as Peppin II and Charles Martel (victor over Islamic forces). Peppin III finally took power from the weak and inept Merovingian king. He declared the founding of the Carolingian dynasty and the Carolingian Kingdom, named in honor of his ancestor Charles Martel. The Carolingian family ruled much of West/Cen Europe from 752 - 843.
When Peppin III died, he was succeeded by his son Charles the Great - better known as Charlemagne. Charlemagne was the most famous and influential of all the Frankish leaders; he expanded the borders of the Carolingian empire to its greatest extent, ruling over more of Europe than any leader until Napoleon Bonaparte in the 19th century!. He also came the closest to recreating the political stability of the Roman Empire. During his reign, Charlemagne unified most of Central Europe, and also parts of Italy and Scandinavia. This was an extremely violent process - whenever one talks about "unifying" an area, it is almost always done through warfare.
At the peak of his power, Charlemagne was explicit in what he thought he was doing - recreating the unity of the Roman Empire. In 800, supported by the authority of the institution of the Catholic Church, Charlemagne renamed his territory the Holy Roman Empire, and he was crowned as Emperor! As part of this "rebuilding of Rome" Charlemagne did try to renew weakened economic ties to the Mediterranean. He also encouraged the resurgence of scholarship and literature which had declined dramatically during the Merovingian period. During the "Carolingian Renaissance", universities were founded, literacy made a limited comeback among the elite, and new literary works created. Innovations occurred such as the use of small case letters (minuscule) rather than the all-capitals style that was the tradition in Latin. The most famous work to emerge from this period was the warrior epic - Beowulf
However, despite the
title
of Emperor and the use of Latin in reemerging scholarship and writing,
the obvious fact is that Europe under Charlemagne was not
a recreation of the Roman Empire. The culture of the Carolingian
Renaissance was NOT a recreation of Greco-Roman culture - it was
something
very different. The influence of tribal cultures and traditions already
was deeply influencing European civilization - the culture
Charlemagne
tried to encourage was a combination of Greco-Roman legacies
and
Germanic/ tribal influences in terms of things like language and
religion.
For example, although Latin was the language used to communicate
across regions, local tribal dialects (influenced by Latin)
continued
to evolve and were much more commonly used - ultimately producing the
many
different languages of Europe such as French, English, and
Spanish.
Laws were a blend of Roman law AND tribal customs and
traditions. The work Beowulf,
for example, was clearly more Germanic than it was Mediterranean.
Beowulf is a story of tribal
warriors fighting the great dragon Grendel, much more reflective of
Anglo-Saxon tribal themes, rather than Greco-Roman subject matter.
EARLY PATTERNS OF FEUDALISM
An even more important difference from the classical Roman empire was the way in which the Carolingian kingdom was run. Despite his fame and charisma, Charlemagne did not rule a true state or bureaucracy. Charlemagne, like his predecessors, controlled much of Europe through calling on the loyal service of powerful local leaders who pledged their services to him as king (Emperor). Reciprocal relationships were the basis of the state. Local leaders served as royal officers, carrying out the dictates of Charlemagne in return for land, payments or grants of power. These officials, often called counts, maintained their local power and influence. They were bound to Charlemagne through oaths rather than a bureaucratic system. In essence, Charlemagne held this kingdom together because the powerful warrior elite respected him and remained true to their oaths of loyalty. He held the empire together through his personality and abilities - he did not have an independent and reliable bureaucracy. The danger here is obvious; if the leader of the Carolingian state lost the loyalty or those oaths were broken, the entire kingdom would fall apart. This did not happen under Charlemagne; he remained a charismatic and respected king. However, after his death the state fell apart and local leaders became increasingly independent.Charlemagne's son Louis the Pious succeeded him in 814. Louis was not a military leader and rapidly lost the respect of the warrior elite; strains in the kingdom became evident. When Louis died in 840, he had three surviving sons. The Germanic tradition was to divide up an inheritance between all sons - so who should succeed was unclear. Although Lothair, the oldest son tried to take control of the entire kingdom, the other two sons (Charles the Bald and Louis the German) fought Lothair for what they felt was their rightful claim to part of the kingdom. The resulting war was settled by the Treaty of Verdun (843) which divided the kingdom into three parts. Once the kingdom was divided, ending a unity that had taken centuries to build, fragmentation continued. Many powerful local leaders used this division as a justification to break their connection to the Carolingian family; the unity of Western/Central Europe continued to fray and unravel. (go to summary)
As the Carolingian/Holy Roman Empire fell apart, Europeans faced a dramatic increase in violence and instability. The collapse of any central leadership, even loosely based, results in the end of structured law and order. It means the end of an established state army for protection. For Europeans heading into the 9th century, there was no reliable protection from outside invaders, bandits or aggressive neighbors. At the same time the Carolingian kingdom was dissolving, Europe was hit by dangerous and deadly invasions from three sides! From the East, raiding Magyar horsemen moved in from Central Asia. To the South, Islamic armies threatened Christian control in Italy and Spain. Most infamous, however, were the invaders from Scandinavia, primarily Denmark, Iceland and Norway, known as the Vikings or Norsemen. These invaders, with their impressive naval abilities and command of the seas, faced no opposition as they sacked the coastlines of England, Scotland, Ireland, France and Germany. Ultimately, Norsemen settled down, became "civilized" (the Normans), and became a part of blended British, German and French cultures and history. However, during the 9th and 10th centuries, these groups were marauders, appearing over the horizon and striking terror in the coastal populations who knew the tales of murder, rape and pillage associated with the Vikings. These outside threats were emerging at the worst time - when there was no Roman Empire, nor even the protection of the weaker Frankish Holy Roman Empire, to provide protection.By 900 West/Cen Europe
was
a region with no effective state or central power. Although
there continued to be those who called themselves "kings", they had no
real central power; local
leaders carved out and clung to their own independent regional control.
Thus began
the
period known as the "Central Middle Ages" which lasted from 900 - 1200.
This was the period during which Europe was truly feudal
- the heart of the "Dark Ages" for Europe. (see
description)