THE MIDDLE AGES

 

I.               Barbarian Invasions and the Fall of the Roman Empire

a.   The Federates: absorbing the Teutonic Threat

b.   The Huns and the Barbarian Invasions

                                                  i.     Visigoths – Sacking of Rome (410 AD)

                                                ii.     Vandals – African Empire and Sacking of Rome (455 AD)

                                             iii.     Goths, Burgundians, Ostrogoths (Sacking of Ravenna 495 AD), and Franks (Gaul)

c.    Last Emperor Deposed (476 AD)

d.  Who is to Blame? Barbarians, Christians, or Empire?

e.    Effects on Daily Life – Population, Agriculture, Education, Laws

II.            The Barbarians’ World and the Emergence of Feudalism

a.   A World of Enemies – Violence and Protection

b.   Germanic Ethos:

                                                  i.     Violence – Military and Aristocratic

                                                ii.     Blood – Kinship and Vendetta

                                             iii.     Order – Protection and Generosity

c.    Persistence of Empire – Charlemagne King of the Franks (742-814 AD)

d.  Feudalism and Middle Age Society – Struggle for Subsistence

                                                  i.     Food – Peasants – Manor

                                                ii.     Protection – Aristocracy – Castle

                                             iii.     Faith – Clerics – Monastery/Church

III.         The Papacy and the Theocratic Experiment

a.   Power Vacuum in Secular/Religious Power

b.   St. Augustine – City of God (413-426 AD)

c.    The Rising Influence of the Papacy

                                                  i.     The “Donation of Constantine” (9th-10th century AD)

                                                ii.     Charlemagne Crowned Holy Roman Emperor (800 AD)

                                             iii.     The First Crusade (1099 AD)