TRANSFORMING THE ROMAN WORLD
Germanic tribes became the dominant political force in Europe during the Early
Middle Ages, while Christianity became the dominant religion. Rome became the
center of the Catholic Church’s power. Ultimately a new empire emerged that was
linked to the idea of a lasting Roman Empire.
The New Germanic Kingdoms
The Germanic peoples had begun to move into the lands of the Roman Empire
by the third century. The Visigoths occupied Spain and Italy until the Ostrogoths,
another Germanic tribe, took control of Italy in the fifth century. By 500, the Western
Roman Empire had been replaced by a number of states ruled by German kings. The
merging of Romans and Germans took different forms in the various Germanic
kingdoms. Both the kingdom of the Ostrogoths in Italy and the kingdom of the Visigoths
in Spain retained the Roman structure of government. However, a group of Germanic
warriors came to dominate the considerably larger native populations and eventually
excluded Romans from holding power. Roman influence was even weaker in Britain.
When the Roman armies abandoned Britain at the beginning of the fifth century, the
Angles and Saxons, Germanic tribes from Denmark and northern Germany, moved in
and settled there. Eventually, these peoples became the Anglo-Saxons.
The Kingdom of the Franks
Only one of the German states on the European continent proved long lasting—
the kingdom of the Franks. The Frankish kingdom was established by Clovis, a strong
military leader who around 500 became the first Germanic ruler to convert to
Christianity. At first, Clovis had refused the pleas of his Christian wife to adopt
Christianity as his religion. According to Gregory of Tours, a sixth-century historian,
Clovis had remarked to his wife, “Your God can do nothing.” During a battle with
another Germanic tribe, however, Clovis’s army faced certain destruction. Clovis was
reported to have cried out, “Jesus Christ, if you shall grant me victory over these
enemies, I will believe in you and be baptized.” After he uttered these words, the
enemy began to flee, and Clovis soon became a Christian. Clovis found that his
conversion to Christianity won him the support of the Roman Catholic Church, as the
Christian church in Rome was now known. Not surprisingly, the Catholic Church was
eager to gain the friendship of a major ruler in the Germanic states. By 510, Clovis
had established a powerful new Frankish kingdom that stretched from the Pyrenees
in the southwest to German lands in the east—modern-day France and western
Germany. He defeated the many Germanic tribes surrounding him and unified the
Franks as a people. After Clovis’s death his sons followed Frankish custom and
divided his newly created kingdom among themselves. The once-united Frankish
kingdom came to be divided into three major areas. out, “Jesus Christ, if you shall
grant me victory over these enemies, I will believe in you and be baptized.” After he
uttered these words, the enemy began to flee, and Clovis soon became a Christian.
Clovis found that his conversion to Christianity won him the support of the Roman
Catholic Church, as the Christian church in Rome was now known. Not surprisingly,
the Catholic Church was eager to gain the friendship of a major ruler in the Germanic
states. By 510, Clovis had established a powerful new Frankish kingdom that stretched
from the Pyrenees in the southwest to German lands in the east—modern-day France
and western Germany. He defeated the many Germanic tribes surrounding him and
unified the Franks as a people. After Clovis’s death his sons followed Frankish custom
and divided his newly created kingdom among themselves. The once-united Frankish
kingdom came to be divided into three major areas.
Germanic Society
Over time, Germans and Romans inter-married and began to create a new
society. As they did, some of the social customs of the Germanic people came to play
an important role. The crucial social bond among the Germanic peoples was the family,
especially the extended family of husbands, wives, children, brothers, sisters, cousins,
and grandparents. This extended family worked the land together and passed it down
to future generations. The family also provided protection, which was much needed in
the violent atmosphere of the time.
The German concept of family affected the way Germanic law treated the
problem of crime and punishment. In the Roman system, as in our own, a crime such
as murder was considered an offense against society or the state. Thus, a court would
hear evidence and arrive at a decision. Germanic law, on the other hand, was
personal. An injury by one person against another could mean a blood feud, and the
feud could lead to savage acts of revenge. To avoid bloodshed, a new system
developed, based on a fine called wergild (WUHR•gihld). Wergild was the amount paid
by a wrongdoer to the family of the person he or she had injured or killed. Wergild,
which means “money for a man,” was the value of a person in money. The value varied
according to social status. An offense against a member of the nobility, for example,
cost considerably more than an offense against an ordinary person or a slave.
Germanic laws were now established by custom, not at the whim of a king or codified
like Roman law.
One means of determining guilt in Germanic law was the ordeal. The ordeal was
based on the idea of divine intervention. All ordeals involved a physical trial of some
sort, such as holding a red-hot iron. It was believed that divine forces would not allow
an innocent person to be harmed. If the accused person was unharmed after a
physical trial, or ordeal, he or she was presumed innocent.
The Role of the Church
By the end of the fourth century, Christianity had become the supreme religion of
the Roman Empire. As the official Roman state fell apart, the Church played an
increasingly important role in the growth of the new European civilization.
Organization of the Church
By the fourth century, the Christian Church had developed a system of
organization. Priests led local Christian communities called parishes. A group of
parishes was headed by a bishop, whose area of authority was called a bishopric, or
diocese. The bishoprics were joined together under an archbishop. Over time, one
bishop—the Bishop of Rome—began to claim that he was the leader of what had
become the Roman Catholic Church. Catholics believed that Jesus gave the keys to
the kingdom of Heaven to Peter, who was considered the chief apostle and the first
bishop of Rome. Later bishops of Rome were viewed as Peter’s successors. They
came to be known as popes (from the Latin word papa, “father”) of the Catholic
Church.
Western Christians came to accept the bishop of Rome—the pope—as head of
the Church, but they did not agree on how much power he should have. In the sixth
century, a strong pope, Gregory I, known as Gregory the Great, strengthened the
power of the papacy (office of the pope) and the Church. Gregory I, pope from 590 to
604, was also leader of the city of Rome and its surrounding territories (later called the
Papal States), thus giving the papacy a source of political power. Gregory I increased
his spiritual authority over the Church in the West. He was especially active in
converting non-Christian peoples of Germanic Europe to Christianity. He did this
through the monastic movement.
Monks and Monasteries
A monk is a man who separates himself from ordinary society to dedicate himself
to God. The practice of living the life of a monk is known as monasticism. At first,
Christian monasticism was based on the hermit who led an isolated spiritual life. In the
sixth century, however, Saint Benedict wrote a set of rules to guide a community of
monks he founded. This community became the model for monasticism in the Catholic
Church and the Benedictine rule was used by other monastic groups. Benedict’s rule
divided each day into a series of activities, with primary emphasis on prayer and
manual labor. Physical work was required of all monks for several hours a day,
because idleness was “the enemy of the soul.” At the very heart of community practice
was prayer, the proper “Work of God.” Although prayer included private meditation and
reading, all monks gathered together seven times during the day for common prayer
and the chanting of Psalms—sacred songs. A Benedictine life was a communal one.
Monks ate, worked, slept, and worshiped together. Each Benedictine monastery was
led by an abbot or “father,” whom the monks were expected to obey. The abbot had
complete authority over the monks. Each monastery owned lands that enabled it to be
self-sustaining and isolated from the world. In the monastery, monks were to fulfill their
vow of poverty. Monks became the new Christian heroes, an important force in the
new European civilization. The monastic community set the highest ideal of Christian
life and provided a moral example to all. Monks were the social workers of their
communities, providing schools for the young, hospitality for travelers, and hospitals
for the sick. They also taught peasants carpentry and weaving and made agricultural
improvements that they passed on to others.
Monasteries became centers of learning. The monks worked to spread
Christianity to all of Europe. English and Irish monks were very enthusiastic
missionaries— people sent out to carry a religious message—who undertook the
conversion of non-Christian peoples, especially in German lands. By 1050 most
western Europeans had become Catholics. Although the first monks were men,
women, called nuns, also began to withdraw from the world to dedicate themselves to
God. These women played an important role in the monastic movement. Nuns lived in
convents headed by abbesses. Many of the abbesses belonged to royal houses,
especially in Anglo-Saxon England. In the kingdom of Northumbria, for example, Hilda
founded the monastery of Whitby in 657. As abbess, she was responsible for giving
learning an important role in the life of the monastery and helped educate five future
bishops.
The Carolingian Empire
During the 600s and 700s, the Frankish kings gradually lost their power to the
mayors of the palace, chief officers of the king’s household. One of them, Pépin, finally
took the logical step of assuming the kingship for himself and his family. Pépin was the
son of Charles Martel, the leader who defeated the Muslims at the Battle of Tours in
732. Upon Pépin’s death in 768, his son became the new Frankish king. This powerful
ruler is known to history as Charles the Great, or Charlemagne. He was a determined
and decisive man who was highly intelligent and curious. Charlemagne was a fierce
warrior, a strong statesman, and a pious Christian. Although possibly unable to write,
he was a wise patron—supporter—of learning.
During his long rule from 768 to 814, Charlemagne greatly expanded the
Frankish kingdom and created what came to be known as the Carolingian (KAR•uh•lin•
jee•uhn) Empire. At its height, this empire covered much of western and central
Europe. Not until Napoleon Bonaparte’s time in the nineteenth century would an
empire its size be seen again in Europe. The administration of the empire depended
both on Charlemagne’s household staff and on counts (German nobles) who acted as
the king’s chief local representatives. In order to limit the counts’ powers, Charlemagne
set up the missi dominici (messengers of the lord king)—two men sent out to local
districts to ensure that the counts carried out the king’s wishes.
Charlemagne as Roman Emperor
As Charlemagne’s power grew, so too did his prestige as the most powerful
Christian ruler. One monk even described Charlemagne’s empire as the “kingdom of
Europe.” In 800, Charlemagne acquired a new title— emperor of the Romans.
Charlemagne’s coronation as Roman emperor showed the strength of the idea of an
enduring Roman Empire. After all, his coronation took place 300 years after the
collapse of the Western Roman Empire. The coronation also symbolized the joining of
Roman, Christian, and Germanic elements. A Germanic king had been crowned
emperor of the Romans by the pope, the spiritual leader of Western Christendom. A
new civilization had emerged.
Carolingian Renaissance
Charlemagne had a strong desire to promote learning in his kingdom. This desire
stemmed from his own intellectual curiosity and from the need to educate Catholic
clergy and government officials. His efforts led to an intellectual revival sometimes
called the Carolingian Renaissance, or rebirth. This revival involved renewed interest
in Latin culture and classical works—the works of the Greeks and Romans. The
monasteries, many of which had been founded by Irish and English missionaries,
played a central role in this cultural renewal. By the 800s, the work asked of
Benedictine monks included copying manuscripts. Monasteries established scriptoria,
or writing rooms, where monks copied not only the works of early Christianity, such as
the Bible, but also the works of classical Latin authors. Their work was a crucial factor
in the preservation of the ancient legacy. Most of the ancient Roman works we have
today exist because they were copied by Carolingian monks.
