O Mediterráneo na Idade Media

The Mediterranean during the Middle Ages

• Three civilizations co-existed and clashed around the Mediterranean Sea during the Middle Ages
• The boundaries were constantly changing:
  • Western Christianity: Originated from Germanic tribes who invaded the Western Roman Empire
  • The Byzantine Empire: In the east, it maintained ancient Greek & Latin traditions
  • Islam: Emerging in the 7th century, it was a new religion born in the Arabian Peninsula

Germanic Tribes in the Medieval World

• Germanic tribes, inhabiting northern & eastern Europe, had a peaceful coexistence with the Roman Empire for centuries.
• The Roman Empire’s decline in the 3rd century allowed the Germanic tribes to exploit its weakness.
• Tribes included: Suevi, Visigoths, Alans, Ostrogoths, Burgundians, and Vandals.
• The Huns, led by Attila, threatened the Germanic tribes in the 5th century, forcing them to flee into Roman territories.
• The Germanic tribes were rejected by the Eastern Roman Empire but managed to enter the Western Roman Empire.
• The Germanic tribes' arrival in the Western roman Empire had consequences:
  • Some tribes coexisted with Romans, helping to administrate the declining Roman system.
  • Other Germanic tribes displaced the Roman rulers in the areas they arrived.
  • The Germanic tribes established independent kingdoms after the fall of the Roman Empire: including the Visigothic kingdom in Iberia and the Frankish kingdom, which later became the Carolingian Empire.

Germanic Tribes in the Iberian Peninsula

• The first Germanic tribes to enter the Iberian Peninsula were Suevi, Vandals, and Alans in 409.
• The Visigoths arrived in the Iberian Peninsula from the Northeast in 416, settling in Southern Gaul (France).
• The Vandals and Alans eventually left the Iberian Peninsula while the Suevi agreed to help the Roman Emperor Honorius in securing the Gallaecia region.
• The Gallaecia region encompassed modern cities like Lugo, Astorga, Ourense, Tui, Porto, and Braga, with Braga as its capital.
• The Suevi, originating from the Baltic Sea, had been moving south towards Germany, committing raids and plunder, and reaching the Peninsula with an estimated 30,000 people.
• The Suevi expanded their territory but were invaded by the Visigoths in 585.
• The Visigoths had also agreed with Rome to defend Southern France and the Northeastern Iberian Peninsula.
• The Visigoths established their capital in Toulouse but were defeated by the Franks, led by King Clovis, in 507, permanently settling in Spain and relocating their capital to Toledo.
• King Leovigild invaded Suevi territory in 585 and subdued the Cantabrians and Asturians.
• Visigothic successors defeated the Byzantines in the South in the early 7th century, bringing the entire Iberian Peninsula under Visigothic control until the Muslim arrival in 711.

The Carolingian Empire

• The Frankish kingdom, one of the Germanic tribes that replaced the Roman Empire, controlled an extensive territory, encompassing what is now France and portions of Italy & Central Europe.
• Its most important ruler was Charlemagne, who reigned from the 8th to the 9th centuries (742-814).
• Charlemagne secured power by making a pact with the Catholic Church: he would defend Christianity from threats like Islam if the Pope crowned him emperor of the lands he had conquered.
• Charlemagne was crowned emperor in 800, thus establishing the Carolingian Empire.
• The Carolingian Empire aimed to revive the grandeur of the Roman Empire.
• Charlemagne not only focused on military conquests but also on the revival of Greco-Roman Culture in Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle), the capital of the empire.
• Schools were established, Latin was reintroduced in education, and monks copied numerous works of Greek and Roman authors in monasteries.
• To unite the empire, Charlemagne implemented laws called capitularies and organized the administration of the territory by dividing it into counties (ruled by counts) and frontier regions called marches (guarded by margraves).