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Lecture 7C: The Germanic Kingdoms- Emperors and Saints in the West

Introduction: The Anglo-Saxons

Let’s turn now to look at the third civilization- the Germanic kingdoms formed by the barbarians that had invaded and taken over Western Europe. By 750 CE, barbarian tribes that moved into Western Europe and the former Western Roman Empire had created their own kingdoms. The four main barbarian groups were the Anglo-Saxons, Visigoths, Lombards, and Franks, and each of these groups took a different approach to the Romans living in the territories they conquered. For example, two barbarian groups- the Angles and the Saxons- invaded England separately before merging into one group- the Anglo-Saxons. The Anglo-Saxons pretty successfully squashed Roman civilization in England, they wiped out Christianity almost completely, and kept their polytheistic religion for the first couple of centuries. It wasn’t until the 600s, that the Anglo-Saxons were converted to Roman Catholicism.

The Franks

The Franks invaded the region called Gaul. Gaul is what today we know of as France and Germany. France actually gets its name from the Franks that conquered that area. In contrast to the Anglo-Saxons, the Franks adopted aspects of the Roman culture they conquered. One of the first Frankish rulers was a guy named Clovis. Around the year 500, Clovis converted from his native, polytheistic religion to Roman Catholicism. And when Clovis converted to Roman Catholicism, most of his people did too. So, by the early 500s most of the Franks were Roman Catholics. Now Clovis may have converted for legitimate religious reasons. He may have actually believed in the ideas of Roman Catholicism. But he also used his conversion as a political tool. Clovis wanted to expand the territory of his kingdom, and he justified his expansion by explaining that he was bringing Roman Catholicism to the people of the regions he conquered. So, again, we see another example of the overlap between politics and religion. Clovis and his family started the first dynasty of the Franks called the Merovingian dynasty. But this dynasty came to an end at the beginning of the 700's, when a guy named Charles Martel took over. Charles created the second Frankish dynasty called the Carolingians. And Charles Martel-- who was nicknamed the hammer-- was really important for Western civilization because he defeated an invading army of Muslims at the Battle of Tours in 732. If he hadn't done this, the Muslim forces may have kept going and taken over all of Western Europe.

Quiz Question #7

The Pope: Leader of the Roman Catholic Church

As I mentioned a few minutes ago, by 750 CE, all of the Germanic groups of Western Europe had converted to Roman Catholicism. Don’t forget that we now have two forms of Christianity at this point in time in Western Civilization. We’ve talked about the Orthodox Church in the Byzantine Empire. Remember, the Orthodox Church was led by the patriarch, who was appointed by the emperor. In the West, the Roman Catholic Church became the dominant form of Christianity. In Roman Catholicism, the Pope is the leader of the church.

The pope became the leader based on what is known as the Doctrine of Petrine supremacy. According to the gospel of Matthew, Jesus gave Peter-- one of his apostles-- the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Peter thus became the first leader of the Christian church, and he went on to become the first bishop of Rome. Based on this tradition, the bishops of Rome presented themselves as the heirs of Peter and thus the heads of the Roman Catholic Church. The bishops of Rome began using the title papa, or father, and the term papa evolved into the title pope. The position of pope and the pope’s officials form an institution known as the papacy. Until the 1300s, the popes lived in the city of Rome. And from there he oversaw the rest of the Catholic hierarchy- the archbishops, bishops, priests, and monks of Western Europe.

In the 6th and 7th centuries, the rulers of the Franks and the other barbarian groups relied heavily on the bishops and archbishops to help them run their kingdoms. So, these church officials often had religious, as well as political roles. They helped to make sure the laws are being followed, they collected taxes and raised armies for the kings. The reason why barbarian rulers relied so heavily on the bishops and archbishops was because they were more likely to be able to read and write than any other member of society. In addition, most people respected priests and bishops, so it made sense to put them in charge of local communities.

Quiz Question #8

Monks as Missionaries

Although many people converted to Roman Catholicism when their king did, other people had to be persuaded. While the bishops and archbishops served primarily as community leaders, the individuals who played the biggest role in converting the barbarians were the monks. This represents a new development for monks. If you remember back to my previous lectures, the monastic movement began in the 200s and 300s, when monks practiced asceticism in order to gain a better relationship with God. Like St. Anthony, they often went out into deserts and forests and lived there for decades by themselves. Eventually, monks and nuns began to live together, and they created rules and orders. Now, in the 6th and 7th centuries in Western Europe, monks began to act as missionaries. They still had the same basic goal. They would avoid all the unnecessary pleasures of life to build a relationship with God, but in this case, the avoiding of all unnecessary pleasures meant putting themselves into danger by going out and converting people who could be quite hostile to strangers and anyone who threatened their established way of life. In essence, the monks went out knowing that they could be martyred anytime, and they accepted and even welcomed this risk as God's will.

St. Patrick and Ireland

As we've discussed, the Roman Empire-- when it still existed-- was humongous. And Roman emperors managed to expand the empire all the way to England before the Anglo-Saxons invaded and took it over. But the Roman emperors never managed to conquer Ireland. It had remained under the power of the Celts, who practiced polytheism.

But eventually the Irish were converted by a famous missionary monk named St. Patrick. Now St. Patrick was actually from England. If you remember, I told you that when the Anglo- Saxons invaded in the 400s, they pretty much eradicated Christianity. But stories emerged about a few people who held on to their Christian beliefs. According to the legend, Patrick was the son of a Roman who held on to his Christian beliefs when the Anglo-Saxons invaded. So, Patrick was raised Christian, but he was kidnapped as a young man by Irish raiders and brought back to Ireland to be a slave. Eventually, Patrick escaped from slavery and returned to England where he became a monk. As a monk, he went back to Ireland to convert the Irish to Christianity. Do you know the legend about snakes in Ireland? According to one tradition, one of the ways Patrick convinced the Irish to convert was by driving the snakes out of Ireland. In the legend, Patrick hit the ground with his staff and all the snakes slithered off the island in fear.

This story probably isn't true. It is a fact that there are no native snakes in Ireland because it’s an island and the snakes never found a way over there over the course of evolution. In reality, the story is more of a metaphor for the Irish converting to Christianity. Patrick used his staff-- which in Christianity represents the shepherd who guides his sheep-- to drive out the snake, which is a symbol for Satan and evil. But Patrick was a real person. And he managed to convert a lot of people to Christianity.

Quiz Question #9

Monks as Leaders in Ireland

One important thing to note is that because Ireland is an island and fairly isolated from the European continent, the Irish developed their own Christian practices and ideas. In Ireland, monks tended to act as religious and community leaders instead of bishops. Irish monks also emphasized learning. They created beautiful books called illuminated manuscripts to pass on information and learning. Remember, there is no printing press at this time. If you wanted a copy of a book, you had to copy it by hand. And that's what these monks were doing. And because books were so rare and so expensive at this time, monasteries were often the only places with libraries. So if someone wanted an education, they often came to monasteries. These were the first schools in Ireland, and through much of Western Europe monasteries were the only centers of education available. Irish monks also emphasized missionary work, and they played a large role in converting the Anglo-Saxons in England to Roman Catholicism in the 7th century.

Charlemagne: The Carolingian Roman Emperor

As I mentioned before, Charles Martel started the second Frankish dynasty, called the Carolingians. But the most famous and influential Carolingian ruler was Charles the Great, also known as Charlemagne. Charlemagne was a fierce warrior, as well as a supporter of learning and knowledge, and a skillful political leader. When Charlemagne became King of the Franks he decided to expand his kingdom. Over the course of his reign, he engaged in no less than 54 military campaigns. In 773, he led his army into Italy, crushed the Lombards, and added northern and central Italy to his territory. Eventually, Charlemagne's territory covered all of Western Europe, except for Southern Italy, Spain, and the British Isles. The land shaded green on the map on your screen represents Charlemagne's territory. So Charlemagne was King of this giant empire.

But he wanted more. He wanted to be the Roman emperor. I’m about to tell you one of my favorite stories from this entire Western Civilization course, and it’s another great example of politics and religion overlapping. Although barbarian tribes had destroyed the Roman Empire in the previous centuries, many Germanic kings had dreams of bringing it back together. Under their control of course. From Charlemagne's perspective, presenting himself as the heir of the Romans would make him look more powerful. And it would justify his control over most of Europe. The problem was that Charlemagne couldn't just proclaim himself emperor. He needed a way to make it look valid and based on something real.

Charlemagne was a smart man. And he realized that the Roman Catholic pope could provide valuable assistance in this regard. What better person to proclaim him emperor than the pope? The office of the pope had been around for centuries. And it was connected to one of Jesus' apostles. All Charlemagne had to do was convince the pope to proclaim him emperor. And his opportunity for this came in the year 799 CE. The pope in 799 was Leo the third. And Pope Leo had made some people in the city of Rome angry when he started meddling in local politics. In retaliation for his meddling, when Pope Leo was riding his horse to church, a group of local men pulled him off his horse, beat him, and locked him in a monastery. With some assistance, Pope Leo managed to escape and fled to Charlemagne, the most powerful ruler in Europe for justice. Realizing where Leo was going, the local men who had attacked the pope sent their own representatives to Charlemagne to explain their actions. When the representatives came before Charlemagne, they accused the pope of adultery and perjury. So Charlemagne had to give a judgment on this conflict. To find out the truth, Charlemagne sent a commission of men to Rome to conduct an investigation of the accusations against the pope. The report that the commission sent back confirmed the major charges against Leo. With this in mind, Charlemagne saw an opportunity for himself. He travelled to Rome, and at the trial for Pope Leo, Charlemagne judged the Pope innocent of all accusations, and he charged the pope's accusers with treason.

Charlemagne received his repayment two days later on Christmas day of the year 800. After mass, in front of St. Peters tomb in Rome, Pope Leo placed a crown on Charlemagne's head and proclaimed him emperor of the Romans. Charlemagne's coronation as Roman emperor shows that even after 300 years, the persisting view of an enduring Roman Empire. Even if a Roman Empire no longer existed, the ideal remains. Even more importantly, Charlemagne's coronations symbolized the fusion of Roman, Christian, and German elements that constituted the foundation of European civilization. This was an incredibly important moment in the history of Western civilization.

In addition to being a fierce warrior and a skilled politician, Charlemagne was a supporter of learning and knowledge. Charlemagne had a strong desire to revive learning in his kingdom. This stemmed from his own intellectual curiosity, as well as the need to provide educated clergy for the Church, and literate officials for the government. His efforts led to a revival of learning and culture called the Carolingian Renaissance.

As part of the Carolingian Renaissance, Charlemagne encouraged the establishment of more schools. Prior to this point, the only schools available were in monasteries where the books were located. Charlemagne developed palace schools. These were exactly as they sounded. They were classrooms set up in the royal castles and palaces throughout the kingdom. Charlemagne brought in leading scholars from all over Europe to these palace schools- scholars like the famous Anglo-Saxon monk, Alcuin. Of course, only the most elite children of society attended the schools, but these schools produced the desired outcome. More educated clergy and literate officials. As a result of Charlemagne's cultivation of leaning and the arts, his royal court became a lively center of intellectual exchange. In the coming weeks, we will continue to trace the development of education. And I’ll show you have Charlemagne’s palace schools were a steppingstone towards the establishment of our modern colleges and universities.