Germanic Kingdoms and the Growing Power of Christianity

    Today in class we talked about Germanic Kingdoms and Christianity power. Some of my notes are below.

Germanic Kingdoms emerge: AD 400-600

  • Germanic warriors' loyalty is to the lord of the manor
  • he provides them with food, weapons, and treasure
  • Result:
  • no orderly gov't for large areas 
  • small communities rule 
  • "I would die for my chief, but I see no reason to pay taxes to a king I don't even know. So there."
Clovis rules the Franks 
  • Clovis rules the Germanic people or Gaul known as the Frank's (where France comes from)
  • in 496 he has a battlefield conversion- he and 3000 of his warriors became Christians 
  • the Church and Rome like this 
  • by 511 the Franks are united into one kingdom with Clovis and the church working as partners
Spread of Christianity
  • Church and Frankish rulers= rise in Christianity 
  • In 520, Benedict writes out rules for monks 
    • vows of poverty (live simply in monasteries)
    • chastity (no marital relationships)
    • obedience (listen to church superiors)
  • His sister Scholastic writes similar rules for nuns
  • they operate schools, maintain libraries, copy books 
Pope Gregory and Papal Power Play
  • Pope Gregory I (Gregory the Great) goes secular (world power)
  • Church revenues are used to help the poor, build roads, and raise armies 
  • This is a theocracy (God government)
  • Gregory's spiritual kingdom (Christendom) extends from Italy to England, from Spain to Germany
Who's Running Europe?
  • Clovis rules the Frank's in Gaul until his death in 511
  • Most of the rest of Europe consists of smaller kingdoms (seven in England alone)
  • Clovis's descendants include Charles Martel, aka Charles the Hammer
  • Hammer defeats a muslim raiding party from Spain at the Battle of Tours in 732- if he hadn't won, western Europe could have become part of the Muslim Empire

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