Government During The Dark Ages
During the early Dark Ages (453-1000), Europe shattered into little governments. The Roman imperial governmental system crashed, and the governments that remained were local in nature and thoroughly inept. Nation states, empires, and other regional governments simply did not exist immediately after Rome’s demise. Not until cities began to grow in size, wealth, and power did competent government begin to reassert itself.
Figure 14 Holy Roman Empire.
Cities favored the central government of a king over local warlords because the king could subdue a larger area, thus helping trade flow. Kings looked to the growing wealth of cities to fill their coffers. Slowly, central governments grew until kings controlled large areas forming states. The first areas advancing to the European nation state concept were France and England.
The Franks—France
In AD 496 the King of the Franks, Clovis, converted to Christianity. This was the start of the Merovingian dynasty. By the time of his death in AD 530, he conquered the area we now call France, and formed it into a state. None of the regional “kings” of the era governed like a national government today. Many of the local warlords still ran local areas, but they were allied with the king of the region and owed him feudal duties. It was nothing like our unified nation states in 2010. The Carolingian Empire arose in 751 in Gaul (France) when Pepin the Third deposed the last Merovingian ruler becoming the king. Thereafter, he expanded his rule to include an area nearly as large as the old Western Roman Empire. After the death of Pepin III in 768, his son Charlemagne (786 to 814) continued to expand the empire. He was a truly great ruler. For over forty-six years Charlemagne ruled his lands, termed the Holy Roman Empire, by constantly traveling and waging war. He refused to sit about his castle letting others tell him what was going on (smart guy), he went out and saw for himself. He established special schools and began pulling Central Europe out of its Dark Age.
On Christmas Day, in the year AD 800, the Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne Roman Emperor. If this sounds odd, it should. The Roman Empire was gone, so how was this fellow being crowned emperor? To many Germanic tribes, Rome, as a central government, was all they knew. Anyone who controlled Gaul (the West) had to be a Roman emperor. Accordingly, the empire continued in the minds of people even though gone for hundreds of years. Such was the impact of Rome. In the East at Constantinople, the Emperor ( a woman named Irene who had killed her son to reach the position) did not like the pope crowning someone Roman Emperor. After all, the Eastern Empire of Byzantium considered themselves the real Roman Empire, while the pope controlled a backwater group of near barbarians. By giving the crown of Rome the pope implied the true crown of Rome was his alone to give. Charlemagne did not like the pope crowing him either. If the pope had the power to give the position he also had the power to take it away. The clear implication was the Church was greater than the state. The great king said nothing and went away not realizing what the pope had started.
Charlemagne kept governing and ignoring the Roman crown. Through his efforts alone he put many Dark Ages scourges to flight. The Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne died in 814, but the Dark Ages, which seemed to be ending with his rule, resumed with a sudden vengeance. The cause was bloodthirsty raiders from the north.
The Viking raids on Europe and England started about 800 and continued unabated for decades. These raids, along with intense plagues, crammed Europe back into the putrid pit of the Dark Ages. One ongoing theme did mark the tenure of the Holy Roman Empire. This empire, and its successors the Hapsburg dynasty, stood between the Muslims and the conquest of Europe for centuries after the fall of the Byzantine Empire and Constantinople in 1453.
The disintegration of Charlemagne’s large empire came quickly after his death. His grandsons divided the empire into three parts with Henry the Fowler establishing the Saxon dynasty of German kings and Hugh Capet starting the Capetian dynasty of France. Lothair got the center between the kingdoms of the east (Germany in modern times) and the west (France of modern times). One side or the other was forever overrunning the land of King Lothair between the two great peoples of France and Germany. Alsace—Loraine lies in this area, and Germany and France have contested the region for generations.
France was having trouble enough when the English King Edward III claimed the throne of France in 1337 and invaded in 1346. This was the start of the Hundred Years War between France and England to determine who would rule the country. The English won tremendous bloody victories at Crecy (1346), Poitiers (1356), and Agincourt (1415), crippling France for a generation. Incompetent French leadership was the main cause for the unmitigated series of disasters. By 1422 Charles, the dauphin (crown prince) of France, was holed up in a dingy castle in Touraine and ruled almost nothing. To become king he had to be consecrated in the cathedral of Reims, but the cathedral and the surrounding area was held by hostile forces. Out of nowhere, a 16 year old girl who had heard voices telling her to save France arrived and told the dauphin she would raise the English siege of Orleans on the Loire River. Her name was Joan of Arc. The illiterate gal led the royal army to the attack on a ring of English forts surrounding the city of Orleans. She decisively defeated the English and broke the siege. The voices then told Joan to get the dauphin to Reims so he could be anointed. Her army fought its way through to the cathedral and the dauphin was consecrated on July 17, 1429. France now had a legit king.
Joan’s life did not end well. Eventually captured in battle she was tried and burned as a witch by the English. This was a large error. By burning Joan the English really ticked off the French populace and ensured their own defeat in the Hundred Years War. By dying a martyr Joan had won the war for France. The French king made a deal with his local enemies and then turned on the English. In a series of victories he drove the English off the continent. In 1453 the war was at last over with the French king in control of France.
Thus, an illiterate 16 year old farm girl saved France. Guess the voices knew what they were doing.
England
Early on, the Anglo Saxons ruled England, but the Viking raids (Danes to the English) and settlements were putting pressure on them. Alfred the Great (849-899) managed to drive them out from most of their conquests and established the Anglo Saxons as the undisputed rulers. The Anglo Saxons had few noblemen but a good sized class of land owning men (thanes), both governed by the unwritten laws of tribal customs as much as anything else. It was during this era that the epic tale of Beowulf was created (the Danish and Scandinavian connections are strong in this story). In 1066, Harold Godwinson was the most powerful man in England, but he had problems with the succession to the throne which led to a few bigger problems.
William, leader of the Normans, had a claim to the English throne but Harold had the title. William decided to mount an invasion, and assembled 700 transport vessels to move on isle of England. The Normans invaded in 1066 and managed to defeat the Anglos and Saxons at the Battle of Hastings after an arrow killed Harold Godwinson. The Normans now became the rulers of England and the last successful invaders of the island. William the Conqueror, leader of the Normans, created a new society in England. They created a written survey, named the Doomsday Book, in 1086 listing all the assets William controlled—for tax purposes of course. The tally was precise down to the last sheep. This was the most comprehensive survey undertaken in the middle ages. William constructed large castles and handed out land to his loyal servants who fought by him in battle. Thereafter, William engaged in constant warfare keeping his kingdom secure and trying to expand it in France (Normandy) by warring against France’s King Philip I. Wounded in battle while in France, William died in 1087. The Norman conquest brought England, which had been tending toward Scandinavian ties, into the culture of Western Europe.
Henry II took over in 1154 and brought great prosperity to the kingdom. He laid the foundations of common law and the jury system. Richard the Lion Hearted followed Henry II but spent most of his time fighting in
the Holy Land and France. He died in battle and was replaced by King John. John’s reign was an unhappy one, and he ended up being forced to sign the Magna Carta at Runnymede in June of 1215. The Magna Carta (Great Charter) gave rights to various noblemen, the church, merchants and more, and it established that the king could not imprison or deprive a free man of land without a legal judgment “. . . of his peers or by the law of the land.” Thus, the king was put below the law and forced to recognize the rights of others. The Magna Carta was a big deal in the history of democracy. At last, the king was brought under control of the law. John’s son, Henry III, took the throne in 1216 and went even further by allowing Parliament’s powers to increase. By the time Edward I took power in 1272 Parliament was growing more powerful, and Edward fully cooperated with the representative body. The Model Parliament of 1295 gained control of the nation’s finances, eventually developing into the House of Commons. At this point England was well on its way to its modern form.
The Viking Raids
Bold raids by Scandinavian Vikings began around 793 when Lindisfarne in eastern England was stormed, and increased in severity throughout the next 200 years. Because of their shallow draft boats, which were eminently seaworthy, the raiders not only invaded coastal areas they could foray up large rivers and plunder deep inland. Paris and Poitiers, in France, suffered plundering in 843 and 864 respectively. England, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, and others experienced large Viking strikes. England was a favorite target and, in 866, an enormous landing force captured the city of York and then stayed. Over the next 40 years a constant state of warfare existed in the area of York, as the Vikings—called the Great Heathen Army by their opponents—sought to expand their territory while seizing loot and women. Alfred the Great of England realized the Vikings were fierce but lightly armed hit and run raiders seeking gold and other valuables; hence, not a stable long-term army. Alfred calculated they were not equipped mechanically or mentally to sit out long sieges; accordingly, he constructed sturdy forts around the Viking areas. When incursions came, people just ran into the fort and then waited for the raiders to leave. As the Vikings had no ability to storm robust forts, their era of expansion in England collapsed. The Great Heathen Army was at last defeated.
Vikings were efficient traders and bold colonist. They ventured as far as Moscow and Kiev, and founded the kingdom of the Rus. (and you thought Russian’s were Mongols) They traveled down the great rivers to Novgorod and set up trade links to Byzantium (Constantinople) by AD 907. As seafarers and raiders, the Vikings have never been surpassed.
Even as the Viking raids battered Europe, another invader began gathering power in the Middle East. After AD 600, Islam became an aggressive force in the eastern Mediterranean, conquering the Middle East, North Africa, eastern Europe, Constantinople, and even Spain for a time. Islam’s ruthless warriors murdered Christian in the hundreds of thousands, demanding conversion to Islam or death. Only Spain was re-conquered, and that did not occur until 1492. In essence, Christianity inherited the Western Roman Empire and Islam the Eastern Roman Empire (and a lot more).
The Mongols
Figure 15 The Mongol Empire about 1253
The Mongols of central and eastern Asia united under Genghis Khan in 1206 (ruling from1206 to 1227). The Great Khan eventually conquered China, Persia, Rus (Russia), and Eastern Europe, never knowing defeat. In 1211, Genghis devastated the Chin Empire in China then moved west destroying the Khorezm Empire in campaigns lasting from 1215 to 1245. (Genghis was replaced by his heirs after his death, and the campaigns went on) The Mongol conquest spread from northern China to the Black Sea. Sacking Kiev in Russia in 1240, the Mongols reduced the once great city to ashes and slaughtered everyone in the place. Genghis Khan died in 1227, splitting the empire between four of his sons. Batu, Genghis Khan’s grandson, fell on Europe in 1241, riding to the gates of Vienna while defeating and butchering the Poles, Templars, and Teutonic Knights at the battle of Legnica. Batu then defeated the Hungarian army in 1241 at the battle of the Sajo River again taking a tremendous toll on his enemies. The Mongols were prepared to march on Central Europe when Batu died, and the Mongols retreated to bury Batu and choose a new leader. With the death of the Great Khan Batu in 1241 the Mongol pressure on Europe eased somewhat; nevertheless, they held Rus (western area of Russia) until the late 1400s. In 1279 the Mongol Empire reached its zenith as the largest land empire in history. By controlling the 5000 mile “Silk Road” between China and Europe, they derived enormous wealth. The trading centers of Central Asia began declining as trade shifted to sea routes away from the land-bound caravans passing through Mongol territory. Around 1260 the Mongol Empire split into four large units with Kublai Khan ruling Mongolia and China, the Golden Horde ruling Russia and some of Eastern Europe, and Il-Khan ruling the Middle East. (and converting to Islam) The fourth Mongol state was the Jagadai Khanate that continued to rule over central Asia until the 1400s. In the late 1300’s, Timur, yet another great Mongol conquer, set out to repeat the conquests of Genghis, and he did quite well. He took central Asia, Northern India, Persia, parts of Russia, and the Middle East. Timur died in 1405, his conquests remaining in Mongol hands until the 1500’s.
Like all empires, the immense Mongol Empire did not last. Ivan the III of Rus refused tribute to the Khans and re-conquered Moscow in 1480; thereafter, he married the niece of the last emperor of Byzantium and claimed for himself the title of Czar (Caesar). Ivan conquered a large area to the east of Poland and established himself as a monarch rightfully demanding respect. He began the myth that Moscow was the Third Rome and the center of the true faith (note the references to Rome once again). This was to be Russia, land of the Rus, destined for great power and wealth. With Ivan’s conquests, the Mongol’s time had passed.
Europe Battles Toward the Renaissance
In Western Europe growth was slow until about AD 1000. The Christian religion managed to convert the Scandinavians, Poles, and Magyars from around 950 to 1050. As some order emerged around the year 1000, trade began to pick up, towns began to grow, and artisans expanded their wares. In growing towns such as Paris, Salerno, Oxford, and Bologna, universities were established and started work on the theological, scientific, legal, and philosophic underpinnings of modern Western society. Great names in philosophy and modern thought emerge from this era such as Thomas Aquinas, Roger Bacon, and Duns Scotus. Aquinas would accept the translations of Aristotle and develop a philosophy that brought science (Aristotle) religion and philosophy to the same conclusion; God did exist. Commercially and intellectually Europe was growing.
Europe was moving ahead politically as well. Monarchs began to call on members of the local town for advice. Then the towns assigned representatives to see the sovereign. Eventually, elections chose these town representatives. The monarchs clearly saw the power of the towns as they grew into powerful cities and dared not ignore them. These elected representative bodies slowly became parliaments, and their power grew as time moved on. The crowned heads trying to build power were able to call on the city and its rich merchants for additional taxes, and money was power (things never change). These funds enabled the national kings to establish their superiority over the local warlords partially through the purchase of powerful artillery to batter down castle walls. This new money helped the monarchs carve out national boundaries ultimately leading to nation states. Of course, all this brought so much power to the parliaments they could challenge the king for ultimate authority over the nation—and in some cases, they won. Overall, things were looking up for Europe in the early 1200s, but numerous new tribulations were approaching that would quell the happy times.
In 1347, an ultra deadly executioner called on Europe by way of ships from the east bringing a merciless assailant—the Black Death. This eastern marauder exterminated over 25 million lives possibly cutting the population of Europe by about one-third to one-half. It was total ruin. No one knew fleas that had bitten infected rats carried the disease. Rats were commonplace at the
time, and fleas were everywhere just like all the other bugs. No one had invented bug killer, and bugs enjoyed eating on humans regularly. To the people of the age the disease just spread. Had God flung hell to earth punishing humanity for wrongs beyond comprehension? The Black Death of 1347 was the last of the great plagues to strike Europe in this era. The march of death by plague started as early as 452 and continued to hit Europe in waves until the Black Death finally ended the disease cycle. The Byzantine Empire was on the rise under Justinian when the plague hit and destroyed about one-third to one-half of the people in the empire. It is thought that well over one hundred million (100,000,000) people died in the plagues that swept over Europe from 452 to 1347. These plagues helped destroy commerce and unity in Europe for a thousand years—just about the same amount of time assigned to the Dark Ages.
The Little Ice Age began in 1200, but hit in force by 1300 causing temperatures to drop precipitously and putting an end to high crop yields. The plague, the Little Ice Age, and the wars throttled any chance of recovery after 1200.
Chronic feudal wars, the Hundred Years War between England and France (fought in France), the War of the Roses in England, and other local wars too numerous to account continued while people died in throngs from the plague. The Hundred Years War between France and England coupled with the Black Death and the falling temperatures all but wiped out the population of France and central Europe. The bad times had returned in spades.
While all this was going on, the Catholic Church began arguing over who was the rightful pope. In the Great Schism (1378 to 1417) there were two popes, and each pope excommunicated the other as well as all his followers. They also mounted crusades against one another. This caused great problems for the Catholic Church. The Church decided to call a council to decide who the real pope would be. It couldn’t make things any worse, right? The council of Pisa in 1409 elected a third pope who promptly excommunicated the other two, who then excommunicated him. The Council of Constance (1417) eventually named the one and only rightful pope, and said he must reside in Rome. The concept of a council of Church leaders solving a crisis of such magnitude put some Catholics on edge. Was a council’s authority above that of the pope? The question still goes unanswered.
The Super Summary of World History Page 12