HISTORY WESTERN CIVILIZATION

The Search for Order

Law

 German law differed from Roman law by not being written down and generally based on custom

 Disputes settled by compurgation (character references by 12 people, ordeal)

 Over time, western leaders, influenced by Rome, wrote down laws and use of wergeld, a kind of compensation

England 650 AD

Anglo-Saxon England ~700

 Converted to Christianity in 7th century, established school in Canterbury

 Monastic schools attempted to hold onto past and merge with present, such as the Venerable Bede writing history of England to 731

 Kings chosen by grace of god but approved by the Witan

Alfred the Great 871-899

 879 Alfred defeats Vikings after series of devastating raids during the winter and consolidates his control beyond merely Wessex

 Institutes new law code, promotes literacy in both Latin and English

 His successors however are weaker and after further Viking raids in 1066 William the Conqueror from Normandy seizes English throne

Charlemagne 768-814

 Unusually tall, athletic, he fought constant wars against Germanic tribes, working to spread Christianity

 Coroneted by Pope Leo III 800 Carolingian empire wished to emulate Rome and became protector of Roman Popes

First Renaissance

 Carolingian rule based on personal loyalty rather than state bureaucracy

 Empire however appointed bishops rather than Pope

 Encouraged learning, esp Latin with extensive copying of ancient Latin books

 Alcuin and Einhard major advisor to Charlemagne making his court major intellectual center

Kievan Rus

 Early beginnings of the Rus a commercial group centered in Kiev, becoming major trading partners of Byzantine empire

 Under Vladimir the Great and Iaroslav the Wise Kiev and Novogorod combine, gaining wealth from fur trade

 Vladimir accepts Orthodox Christianity in 987 limiting expansion of Latin Christianity

 Kievan intellectuals turn to Greece for inspiration