Charlemagne & Germanic Kingdoms

Charlemagne Unites Germanic Kingdoms

• Germanic invasions disrupted trade, leading to economic collapse and the destruction of economic centers.
• Cities declined, and people moved to the countryside, resulting in a loss of leadership in urban areas.
• Learning declined as Germanic invaders were often illiterate, and Romans relocated to rural areas; knowledge of Greek was almost lost.
• The Latin language was lost; Germanic and Roman languages mixed, evolving into French and Spanish.
• The Roman concept of government shifted from loyalty to public government and written law to Germanic emphasis on family ties and personal loyalty.
• Warriors pledged loyalty to Germanic chiefs.

Power of the Church

• Monasteries were established by the Church, becoming centers of learning and employing monks who preserved knowledge by copying books and writing religious and historical texts.
• Pope Gregory I expanded the papacy's power, involving it in politics by raising armies, repairing roads, and negotiating treaties.
• The papacy controlled regions from Italy to England and Spain to Germany.

The Franks

• Clovis, the leader of the Franks, converted to Christianity after winning a battle and was welcomed by the Church; this led to many other Germans converting, and he extended Frankish lands.
• Charles Martel, an official of the Frankish kingdom, expanded the kingdom's territory and defeated Muslim invaders from Spain.
• Charlemagne expanded Frankish rule, reuniting Western Europe for the first time since the Roman Empire and was crowned "Roman Emperor" by Pope Leo III after defending the Pope.
• Charlemagne limited the power of the nobles by sending royal agents to oversee governance and encouraged learning, establishing palace schools and ordering monasteries to open schools.

Feudalism in Europe

• Invasions by Vikings from the north, Magyars from the east, and Muslims from the south caused disorder and suffering in Europe.
• Viking invasions ceased as they accepted Christianity and as warmer temperatures made farming easier.
• Magyars invaded from modern Hungary, and the Muslims invaded from North Africa.
• The Invasions led to feudalism as people turned to local rulers with armies for protection, exchanging land for military service.

Feudalism

• Lords gave fiefs (land) to vassals (knights) in exchange for military protection and loyalty.
• The feudal pyramid consisted of the king, nobles/bishops, knights, and peasants.
• Social classes were inherited, dividing society into those who fought (knights/nobles), those who prayed (clergy), and those who worked (peasants/serfs).

The Life of Peasants

• Peasants had to pay high taxes, including taxes for using the mill and for marriages, worked long hours, and faced illness and malnutrition.
• The manor system involved lords providing serfs with housing, farmland, and protection, while serfs farmed the lord’s land and cared for animals.
• The manor was self-sufficient, and the peasants produced almost everything they needed.

Age of Chivalry

• Charles Martel's rule saw the development of fighting on horseback in Europe.
• Leather saddles and stirrups allowed knights to wield heavier weapons and be more stable on horseback.
• Feudal lords raised private armies, granting land to skilled warriors, encouraging them to devote their lives to war.
• Knights had to serve 40 days a year in battle as vassals.

Code of Chivalry

• Knights had a code of chivalry, obligating them to serve their feudal lord, God, and their chosen lady, protecting the weak and poor.
• Knights trained as pages (ages 7-14), then as squires (ages 14-21), and became knights at age 21, gaining experience through tournaments.
• Code of Chivalry required knights to be brave, loyal, and righteous.

Literature

• Literature was about knighthood, castle life, and love, with epic poetry and love songs being popular.
• Troubadours were poet-musicians who wrote songs about love.
• Chivalric literature romanticized knights and women, downplaying the brutality of warfare and feudal life.

Role of Women

• Women were seen as inferior to men and had little power.
• Noble women could inherit estates and act as military leaders when their husbands were away, but were restricted to the home and rarely inherited land.
• Peasant women worked in fields and at home, caring for children, and learned practical skills but had no formal education.
• They were essential for family’s survival.

Power of Church

• The Church sought to influence both spiritual and political matters.
• Pope Gelasius claimed that the Pope had religious power, and the Emperor had political power.

Structure

• The Pope was at the top of the Church's structure, with the clergy (bishops and priests) under his authority.
• The Church was a unifying force, providing stability, security, and community during wars and political chaos, centered around sacraments and religious holidays.

Political Power

• The Church held political power through canon law and established courts to accuse violators, using excommunication and interdict as punishments.
• Excommunication denied salvation and freed vassals.
• Interdict prohibited religious services on the king’s land, to threaten political rulers.

Conflicts

• Otto I, ruler of Germany, allied with the Church, and the Pope crowned Otto emperor.
• The Church disagreed with lay investiture, because kings appointed church officials.
• Pope Gregory banned lay investiture, and Emperor Henry was excommunicated.
• The Concordat of Worms compromised that the Church could appoint bishops, but the emperor could reject them.
• Frederick I invaded Italian cities, angering merchants and the Pope.

North and Central African Societies

• The Efe lived in forests in the Congo in small, related groups, with each family having a temporary shelter.
• Women gathered food, and men hunted using poison-tipped arrows.
• The Efe traded honey for other goods from nearby villages.
• Respected older males led the society, but everyone was free to leave, and there were no formal written laws.

Lineages

• Families were organized in lineages which traced them to a common ancestor.
• Lineages included past, present, and future generations.
• Igbo people in Nigeria had a government system with no central power (stateless society), consisting of many lineages of equal power.
• Disputes were settled by respected elders from different lineages.

Tracing Family Lineage

• Lineage determined how possessions and property were passed down.
• Patrilineal societies traced ancestors through the father, while matrilineal societies traced ancestors through the mother, but men held power even in matrilineal societies.

Muslim Influence

• Muslim rulers based their governments upon Islamic law. It led to cultural differences and variations in Muslim states.
• Berbers converted to Islam but kept their cultural identity.

Berber Groups

• The Almoravids and Almohads, two Berber groups, built empires that united the Maghrib under Muslim rule.
• The Almoravid was founded with Ibn Yasin, and his successors conquered Morocco, Ghana, and parts of Spain with its capital in Marrakech.
• The Almohads followed the teachings of Ibn Tumart, emphasizing strict adherence to the Quran and Islamic law, and overthrew the Almoravids.
• The Almohads conquered parts of Morocco and Spain.

West African Civilizations

• Trade across the Sahara increased when Berbers began using camels, which could travel about 10 days without water.
• Ghana taxed trade, becoming wealthy through the trade of gold and salt.
• Ghana was rich in gold but lacked salt, trading gold with salt coming from the Sahara.
• Ghana's king taxed chiefs and gifts, retaining ownership of gold nuggets to limit supply and maintain prices.

Islamic Influence

• Islam spread through trade in the south of the Sahara.
• Ghana accepted Islam, but retained its traditional animistic beliefs.
• Islam led to literacy among the upper class with the spread of the Quran and language.

The Mali Empire

• The Mali Empire was founded by Mande-speaking people south of Ghana.
• Sundiata became Mali’s emperor, taking over Ghana and other cities, and took control when gold was discovered which shifted trade routes to Mali.
• Sundiata managed finances, defense, and foreign affairs, promoted agriculture, reestablished the gold-salt trade, and made the capital, Niani, a trade center.

Mansa Musa

• Mansa Musa, Sundiata’s grandnephew, was a military leader who expanded the empire and divided it into provinces with governors for efficient rule.
• Mansa Musa, a devout Muslim, went on a pilgrimage to Mecca and built mosques.
• Ibn Battuta praised Mali's people for studying the Quran but criticized the lack of strict Islamic practices.

Decline of Mali

• The successors of Mansa Musa could not govern well.
• Gold trade shifted eastward, decreasing Mali’s source of wealth.

Songhai Empire

• The Songhai Empire built an army, extended territory, and controlled trade routes, with its capital in Gao.
• Sunni Ali, a military conqueror, expanded the empire.
• He siezed Timbuktu and Djenne(important trading cites).

Askia Muhammad

• Askia Muhammad led a revolt against Sunni Ali’s successor for the lack of practice of Islamic beliefs.
• Askia made tax system, and created ministers for treausry, army, navy and agriculture.

Decline of Songhai

• Songhai lacked weapons, and the Moroccans had gunpowder and cannons.

Yoruba

• The Yoruba lived in small farming communities.
• Yoruba kings were political and religious leaders, believed to be divine.
• The major Yoruba cities include Ife and Oyo.

Eastern City-States and Southern Empires

• Bantu-speaking people established fishing villages on the coast that became trade center.
• Muslim Arab and Persian traders settled in these cities, leading to the development of the Swahili language from Arabic and Bantu.

Kilwa

• Kilwa obtained it's wealth because it was the southernmost point that Indian ships could reach in one Monsoon season.
• Kilwa seized the port of Sofala and obtained economic strength because of the control it established over the gold trade.
• Kilwa was conquered by the Portuguese who wanted to take control of its trade.

Islamic Influence

• Trade spread Islam, establishing mosques in small towns.
• Government officials were wealthy Muslims, but most people held traditional beliefs.
• Arab Muslim traders exported slaves to Arabia, Persia, and Iraq.

Great Zimbabwe

• The Shona founded the Great Zimbabwe empire based on the gold trade.
• It was located on a fertile plateau near trade routes linking goldfields with Sofala and taxed traders.
• Great Zimbabwe was eventually abandoned due to overgrazing and worn out farmland.

Mutapa Empire

• Mutota left Great Zimbabwe searching for a new source of salt and founded a state in a fertile valley.
• Mutota took over the northern Shona people and forced them to give money.