introduction to the middle ages

Copyright © VHS Inc. All rights reserved

THE MIDDLE AGES BEGAN WITH THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE

Rome, for years, had been ruled by emperors.

Rome was the most powerful empire the world had ever seen.

Its architecture was Hellenistic and its road system was as impressive as that of the Inca in S. America.

THE ROMAN EMPIREBy the early 2nd century, Rome ruled most of Europe, from Britain in the north to Egypt in the south and all around the Mediterranean Sea.

BY THE 3RD CENTURY

Barbarian invasions began to threaten the borders of the empire.

IN 284, THE EMPEROR DIOCLETIAN

Decided to protect the empire by splitting it in two!

IN 330 AD THE EMPEROR CONSTANTINE ADOPTED CHRISTIANITY AND ESTABLISHED A NEW CAPITAL IN THE EAST

The city was called “New Rome” but soon became known as Constantinople.

•By the late 300’s, invasions were frequent.•By 410, Rome itself was sacked, but it would not be the last time.

Attila the Hun, the most ruthless of all barbarians sacked Rome again in 455.

Odoacer sacked Rome in 476 and overthrew the last emperor.

The West had fallen. Constantinople became the capital of

the Eastern Roman Empire which would last another 1000 years.

The people of Constantinople still called themselves Romans, though we call them Byzantines.

By the mid 500s, the emperor Justinian and his wife led the Byzantines into their first Golden Age.

In the early 600s near Mecca, a new religion began to take hold.

The religion was called Islam.

Within 100 years, Islam had rapidly spread to India in the East and across North Africa to Spain in the West.

CHARLEMAGNE

The Franks stopped the Muslim entry into Europe at the Battle of Tours in 732 AD.

Charlemagne united the Franks by the end of the 700s and was crowned emperor by the Pope.

Under the leadership of Charlemagne and the Pope much of Europe became united in Christianity.

However, in 793 on Lindisfarne Island, off the coast of England, the lives of the Christian monks and others who lived there were changed forever.

The Anglo Saxon Chronicle entry for AD. 793 says, “This year came dreadful fore-warnings over the land of the Northumbrians, terrifying the people most woefully: these were immense sheets of light rushing through the air, and whirlwinds, and fiery dragons flying across the firmament. These tremendous tokens were soon followed by a great famine: and not long after, on the sixth day before the ides of January in the same year, the harrowing inroads of heathen men made lamentable havoc in the church of God in Holy-island, by rapine and slaughter.“ This was the first Viking attack!

THE VIKINGS

European rulers began to build castles to protect them from Vikings and other threats.

By 1100, the Pope realized he could use knights to attack the holy city of Jerusalem and take it from Muslim control and the Crusades began.

The Crusades were a series of battles between Christians and Muslims in the Middle East.

Thousands of knights and “barbarian” soldiers united under Christianity attacked Muslims and Jews in Turkey and Jerusalem to gain the land for Christians.

THE CRUSADES

Kings and popes, gained power as a result.

Never was there a time when the Church was so powerful in Western Civilization.

The Crusades inadvertently reopened trade routes, but there were other consequences as well.

The Black Plague was carried along the trade routes killing 1 in 3 Europeans.

People were left to die in the streets.

EFFECTS OF THE CRUSADES

For safety and for defense, people in the Middle Ages formed small communities around a central lord or master. Most people lived on a manor, which consisted of the castle, the church, the village, and the surrounding farm land. These manors were isolated, with occasional visits from peddlers, pilgrims on their way to the Crusades, or soldiers from other fiefdoms. No one wanted to be exposed to the Bubonic Plague.

MANORALISM

The kings had lots of land; he gave land to lords in exchange for protection and money.

Lords gave their land to knights in exchange for protection and money.

Knights let serfs work the land and would protect them.

Serfs got food and shelter. Life in Europe was not very

pleasant. Life was very difficult especially for the serfs.

FEUDALISM

IMAGE SOURCES

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Colosseum3_11-7-2003.JPG http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Caesar.jpghttp://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Roman_Empire_Map.pnghttp://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:GrandLudovisiBattleSarcophagus.jpghttp://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Constantine_Chiaramonti_Inv1749.jpghttp://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Constantinople_mediaeval_map.jpghttp://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Visigoths_sack_Rome.jpghttp://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Attila_the_Hunhttp://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flickr_-_%E2%80%A6trialsanderrors_-_Hagia_Sophia_mosque_and_Ahmed_III_fountain,_Constantinople,_Turkey,_ca._1896.jpghttp://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mecca,_Saudi_Arabia_locator_map.pnghttp://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Charlemagne_and_Pope_Adrian_I.jpghttp://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lindisfarne_castle_3.jpghttp://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Ravager.jpg http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jan_van_Goyen_-_Skaters_in_front_of_a_Medieval_Castle_-_WGA10184.jpghttp://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gustave_dore_crusades_entry_of_the_crusaders_into_constantinople.jpghttp://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Great_plague_of_london-1665.jpghttp://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:20_The_Great_Plague.JPGhttp://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Three_knights.png