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Source: TimeMaps > Medieval Europe: King Lothair I

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Titre	TimeMaps > Medieval Europe: King Lothair I

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LOTHAR II, König von Lothringen

Notes


Medieval Europe This article mainly concerns western Europe in the Medieval Period (“Medieval” means “Middle Ages”). Medieval eastern Europe is dealt with elsewhere (see, for example, the article on the Byzantine empire). Overview The period of European history which we call “Medieval” is usually regarded as consisting of the thousand years or so between the fall of the Roman empire in the west (in the 5th century), through to the period of the Renaissance in the 15th century. In fact, the term was coined by later historians, and means “Middle Ages”, which might today be rendered as “in-between times” – that period which came after the high civilizations of the Greeks and Romans, and before the high civilization of the Renaissance:an age of barbarism, ignorance, illiteracy and violence. We still get an echo of this in the ideas surrounding the term “Gothic” – dark, gloomy, foreboding. In fact, though, modern historians regard these centuries as the cradle of the modern age, a time when many elements of our society which we value – democracy, industrialization, science and so on, had their roots. It was one of the most fascinating and transformative eras in world history. The thousand-year long period of western Medieval Europe can be divided into three main phases, of unequal length. The five-plus centuries after the fall of Rome (up to c.1000) have been called the Dark Ages, and witnessed a dramatic decline in the level of material civilization. Long distance trade shrank, the currency collapsed, the economy mostly reverted to barter, and the towns diminished in size. Literacy, and with it learning, all but vanished. Western European society was reshaped with the rise ofself-sufficient estates (or manors), then of horse-soldiers (knights), and finally of feudalism. The Christian Church, already highly influential by the time of the western Roman empire’s fall, strengthened its hold on society. The period of the High Middle Ages, from about 1000 to 1350, was the high water mark of medieval civilization, leaving a durable legacy in the soaring cathedrals and massive castles which sprang up all over Europe. From about 1350 to 1500 the period of the late Middle Ages was a time of transition, seeing the emergence of modern Europe. It opened with the Black Death, which swept through Europe, killing perhaps a third of its people and having a huge impact on society. It ended with such developments as the Italian Renaissance, the fall of Constantinople, the Age of Discovery, and the spread of printing. Changing frontiers By definition, the civilization of Medieval Europe lay in Europe. However, in terms of those features we associate with medieval society – feudalism, chivalry, Christendom and so on – the location changed over time, and never really covered all of Europe.Northern Italy and much of eastern Europe, for example, never became fully feudal societies; large tracts of Spain did not belong to Christendom for many centuries; the concept of chivalry only came to the fore comparatively late in medieval times, and so on. The roots of many medieval elements of society had their geographical origins in the provinces of the late Roman empire, mainly Gaul (France), Spain and Italy. When the Roman empire collapsed and these provinces were overrun by barbarian tribes, the synthesis between Roman and German cultures eventually produced a recognizably “feudal” society – which is one of the defining feature of medieval European civilization (though the word “feudalism” needs some careful handling). This distinguishes the areas of the old western Roman empire from that of the eastern Roman empire. Here, Roman power survived for a thousand years longer than in the west, centred on Constantinople. Modern scholars describe this as the Byzantine empire, and it came to influence much ofeastern Europe. Western Europe, plus those parts of northern and central Europe which became part of the same cultural community, formed a very distinct society in medieval times: a civilization whose roots lay in the Christian, Latin-speaking provinces of the late Romanempire and the Germanic kingdoms which succeeded them. As time went by, the borders of this civilization changed. Peripheral areas were added: England in the 6th century, the Low Countries in the 7th, the German peoples in the 8th and 9th centuries, and the Scandinavians and western Slavic peoples in the 10th and 11th centuries. Meanwhile, much of Spain was lost when the Muslims seized it in the early 8th century, and only gradually regained. Medieval European society grew out of the ruins of the Roman empire. From the 5th century onwards, barbarian invasions led to the disintegration of Roman power in the western provinces. These territories also experienced a sharp decline in material civilisation. A literate, complex urban society gave way to an almost illiterate, much simpler and more rural one. Much, however, continued from one era to the next. Most notably, the Christian Church survived the fall of the Roman empire to become the predominant cultural influence in medieval Europe. The Latin language continued in use as the language of the Church;and at a popular level vulgar Latin morphed into the Romance languages of modern Europe, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and French. Much of the learning of Greece and Rome was preserved by the Church, and Roman law influenced the law codes of the barbarian kingdoms. Late Roman art and architecture continued in use for the few stone church buildings still being erected, and eventually would evolve into the medieval Romanesque and Gothic styles. The feudal system The feudal system (as modern scholars call it) first emerged in France in the 10th century, and spread to other lands in the 11th century. The word feudal derives from the word fief, which usually denotes an area of land held on certain conditions. A person who granted a fief to someone was that person’s lord, and the person who received a fief became the lord’s vassal. The vassal usually had to provide the lord with military service, and also give him money from time to time, and advice. But the lord also had duties towards the vassal: he had to protect him and see that he received justice in court. Kings granted out much of their kingdoms as large fiefs to their nobles, and these in turn granted smaller fiefs for lesser lords, and so on. In this way a pyramid of mutual support was built up, stretching from the king downwards, to the lord of a singlevillage. The building blocks of fiefs were manors. These usually covered quite small areas of land, for example that attached to a village. The vast majority of peasants who farmed the land in Medieval Europe were attached to manors, and had to provide their lordswith labour or rent. They were known as serfs – peasants who were practically slaves, in that they were bound for life to the manors in which they were born. They were not allowed to leave this land, nor marry, nor pass on their particular plots to anyone, without their lords’ permission. On the other hand, they had the right to look to their lord for protection and justice. The Church The Church exerted a powerful influence on all aspects of life in medieval Europe. Indeed, such was the Church’s place in European society that medieval Europeans defined themselves as living in “Christendom” – the realm of the Christians. All the key moments of life – birth, marriage, death – were under the Church’s control. Education was dominated by churchmen, and most medieval scholars in Europe were members of the clergy. The vast majority of art and architecture was religious in nature, either commissioned by churches or abbeys themselves or by wealthy lords and merchants to beautify churches. The largest and most beautiful structures in any medieval town or city were religious buildings, and the towers and spires of cathedrals and churches soared above urban skylines. Churches were also to be found in every village The Church was the wealthiest landowner in western Europe. It was a hugely powerful international organisation, challenging and constraining the authority of emperors and kings. Senior churchmen were ministers and high officials to secular rulers, and theservants of the Church – priests, monks, nuns and other “clerks” – were tried in their own courts and by their own system of law. The medieval Church in western Europe looked to the pope, the bishop of Rome, for leadership. For much of the high Middle Ages popes asserted their complete sovereignty over the Church. They also claimed authority over secular rulers. Although the latter eventually succeeded in resisting this claim, the struggle between the Papacy and monarchs had a profound impact on the history of western Europe. Monasteries One ubiquitous feature of medieval society was the presence of monks and nuns. Their monasteries came in different shapes and sizes, but typically formed a complex of buildings – cloisters, dormitories, kitchens, store rooms, libraries, workshops, a mill,and so on – all gathered around a church. Monasteries dotted both countryside and towns, and many owned extensive lands and property. Monastic communities had arisen at the time of the Roman empire, but in the years after its fall monasticism was given a new lease of life by St Benedict of Nursa, in the late 5th and 6th centuries. He developed a code of guidelines to order the communityand individual lives of monks and nuns. These were practical and moderate rules which aimed at allowing men and women to live communal lives of worship and study, separate from the rest of society whilst contributing to its welfare. Even today these rules are well regarded for their combination of moderation and spirituality. Monasteries and nunneries spread throughout Europe during the Middle Ages, and monks and nuns provided much of the education, healthcare and practical charity for the population at large, as well as the preac

Medieval Europe
This article mainly concerns western Europe in the Medieval Period (“Medieval” means “Middle Ages”). Medieval eastern Europe is dealt with elsewhere (see, for example, the article on the Byzantine empire).

Overview
The period of European history which we call “Medieval” is usually regarded as consisting of the thousand years or so between the fall of the Roman empire in the west (in the 5th century), through to the period of the Renaissance in the 15th century. In fact, the term was coined by later historians, and means “Middle Ages”, which might today be rendered as “in-between times” – that period which came after the high civilizations of the Greeks and Romans, and before the high civilization of the Renaissance:an age of barbarism, ignorance, illiteracy and violence.

We still get an echo of this in the ideas surrounding the term “Gothic” – dark, gloomy, foreboding. In fact, though, modern historians regard these centuries as the cradle of the modern age, a time when many elements of our society which we value – democracy, industrialization, science and so on, had their roots. It was one of the most fascinating and transformative eras in world history.

The thousand-year long period of western Medieval Europe can be divided into three main phases, of unequal length. The five-plus centuries after the fall of Rome (up to c.1000) have been called the Dark Ages, and witnessed a dramatic decline in the level of material civilization. Long distance trade shrank, the currency collapsed, the economy mostly reverted to barter, and the towns diminished in size. Literacy, and with it learning, all but vanished. Western European society was reshaped with the rise ofself-sufficient estates (or manors), then of horse-soldiers (knights), and finally of feudalism. The Christian Church, already highly influential by the time of the western Roman empire’s fall, strengthened its hold on society.

The period of the High Middle Ages, from about 1000 to 1350, was the high water mark of medieval civilization, leaving a durable legacy in the soaring cathedrals and massive castles which sprang up all over Europe. From about 1350 to 1500 the period of the late Middle Ages was a time of transition, seeing the emergence of modern Europe. It opened with the Black Death, which swept through Europe, killing perhaps a third of its people and having a huge impact on society. It ended with such developments as the Italian Renaissance, the fall of Constantinople, the Age of Discovery, and the spread of printing.

Changing frontiers
By definition, the civilization of Medieval Europe lay in Europe. However, in terms of those features we associate with medieval society – feudalism, chivalry, Christendom and so on – the location changed over time, and never really covered all of Europe.Northern Italy and much of eastern Europe, for example, never became fully feudal societies; large tracts of Spain did not belong to Christendom for many centuries; the concept of chivalry only came to the fore comparatively late in medieval times, and so on.

The roots of many medieval elements of society had their geographical origins in the provinces of the late Roman empire, mainly Gaul (France), Spain and Italy. When the Roman empire collapsed and these provinces were overrun by barbarian tribes, the synthesis between Roman and German cultures eventually produced a recognizably “feudal” society – which is one of the defining feature of medieval European civilization (though the word “feudalism” needs some careful handling). This distinguishes the areas of the old western Roman empire from that of the eastern Roman empire. Here, Roman power survived for a thousand years longer than in the west, centred on Constantinople. Modern scholars describe this as the Byzantine empire, and it came to influence much ofeastern Europe.

Western Europe, plus those parts of northern and central Europe which became part of the same cultural community, formed a very distinct society in medieval times: a civilization whose roots lay in the Christian, Latin-speaking provinces of the late Romanempire and the Germanic kingdoms which succeeded them. As time went by, the borders of this civilization changed. Peripheral areas were added: England in the 6th century, the Low Countries in the 7th, the German peoples in the 8th and 9th centuries, and the Scandinavians and western Slavic peoples in the 10th and 11th centuries. Meanwhile, much of Spain was lost when the Muslims seized it in the early 8th century, and only gradually regained.

Medieval European society grew out of the ruins of the Roman empire. From the 5th century onwards, barbarian invasions led to the disintegration of Roman power in the western provinces. These territories also experienced a sharp decline in material civilisation. A literate, complex urban society gave way to an almost illiterate, much simpler and more rural one.

Much, however, continued from one era to the next. Most notably, the Christian Church survived the fall of the Roman empire to become the predominant cultural influence in medieval Europe. The Latin language continued in use as the language of the Church;and at a popular level vulgar Latin morphed into the Romance languages of modern Europe, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and French. Much of the learning of Greece and Rome was preserved by the Church, and Roman law influenced the law codes of the barbarian kingdoms. Late Roman art and architecture continued in use for the few stone church buildings still being erected, and eventually would evolve into the medieval Romanesque and Gothic styles.

The feudal system
The feudal system (as modern scholars call it) first emerged in France in the 10th century, and spread to other lands in the 11th century. The word feudal derives from the word fief, which usually denotes an area of land held on certain conditions. A person who granted a fief to someone was that person’s lord, and the person who received a fief became the lord’s vassal. The vassal usually had to provide the lord with military service, and also give him money from time to time, and advice. But the lord also had duties towards the vassal: he had to protect him and see that he received justice in court.

Kings granted out much of their kingdoms as large fiefs to their nobles, and these in turn granted smaller fiefs for lesser lords, and so on. In this way a pyramid of mutual support was built up, stretching from the king downwards, to the lord of a singlevillage.

The building blocks of fiefs were manors. These usually covered quite small areas of land, for example that attached to a village. The vast majority of peasants who farmed the land in Medieval Europe were attached to manors, and had to provide their lordswith labour or rent. They were known as serfs – peasants who were practically slaves, in that they were bound for life to the manors in which they were born. They were not allowed to leave this land, nor marry, nor pass on their particular plots to anyone, without their lords’ permission. On the other hand, they had the right to look to their lord for protection and justice.

The Church
The Church exerted a powerful influence on all aspects of life in medieval Europe. Indeed, such was the Church’s place in European society that medieval Europeans defined themselves as living in “Christendom” – the realm of the Christians.

All the key moments of life – birth, marriage, death – were under the Church’s control. Education was dominated by churchmen, and most medieval scholars in Europe were members of the clergy. The vast majority of art and architecture was religious in nature, either commissioned by churches or abbeys themselves or by wealthy lords and merchants to beautify churches. The largest and most beautiful structures in any medieval town or city were religious buildings, and the towers and spires of cathedrals and churches soared above urban skylines. Churches were also to be found in every village

The Church was the wealthiest landowner in western Europe. It was a hugely powerful international organisation, challenging and constraining the authority of emperors and kings. Senior churchmen were ministers and high officials to secular rulers, and theservants of the Church – priests, monks, nuns and other “clerks” – were tried in their own courts and by their own system of law.

The medieval Church in western Europe looked to the pope, the bishop of Rome, for leadership. For much of the high Middle Ages popes asserted their complete sovereignty over the Church. They also claimed authority over secular rulers. Although the latter eventually succeeded in resisting this claim, the struggle between the Papacy and monarchs had a profound impact on the history of western Europe.

Monasteries
One ubiquitous feature of medieval society was the presence of monks and nuns. Their monasteries came in different shapes and sizes, but typically formed a complex of buildings – cloisters, dormitories, kitchens, store rooms, libraries, workshops, a mill,and so on – all gathered around a church. Monasteries dotted both countryside and towns, and many owned extensive lands and property.

Monastic communities had arisen at the time of the Roman empire, but in the years after its fall monasticism was given a new lease of life by St Benedict of Nursa, in the late 5th and 6th centuries. He developed a code of guidelines to order the communityand individual lives of monks and nuns. These were practical and moderate rules which aimed at allowing men and women to live communal lives of worship and study, separate from the rest of society whilst contributing to its welfare. Even today these rules are well regarded for their combination of moderation and spirituality.

Monasteries and nunneries spread throughout Europe during the Middle Ages, and monks and nuns provided much of the education, healthcare and practical charity for the population at large, as well as the preac