Western Europe
Fall of Rome 476 A.D.
The Fall of Rome is significant because it is generally viewed as the end of the major world era of Ancient Civilizations. It also marked the end of the Classical Period of advancement and achievement by Greece & Rome. After the fall of Rome, Western Europe falls into a developmental rut, and doesn’t get out of it until the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance.
Rome was continually having to defend its border from invading Barbarian warlords. Their empire became so large it was difficult to difficult and defend. Around 280 A.D. the empire splits into the Western and Eastern Roman Empire. The West is ruled from Rome and the East is ruled from Constantinople (named after Constantine, the emperor who converted to Christianity).
The fall of Rome was not a sudden process. It happened gradually and as a result of several factors. We studied these factors in class using a reading, class discussion, and political cartoons comparing these problems to America today. You need to know these factors, or at least be able to identify in a multiple choice which factors actually applied and which didn’t.
When thinking of the fall of Rome, remember the analogy used in class comparing Western and Poly to the Western and Eastern Roman Empires. The school would be too difficult to run from the Western central office so they split into two different empires. Barbarian Warlords from Roland Park are pounding on the doors, and finally get in around 476. They storm into the office, and the school falls into chaos. It is every classroom for themselves. The halls are not safe. There is little travel and exchange between classrooms. Barbarians are fighting over classrooms to build smaller kingdoms.
This period is often called the Dark Ages of Western Europe, because compared to previous times people seemed to be living in darkness. With no real travel trade stops, and education (literacy) declines. People become increasingly superstitious. As a result of the difficult living conditions, people look to the Roman Catholic Church for hope. Churches, particularly monasteries (church village communities) become the center of learning and commerce during these times. In many places, only Priests can read, and the only books would be found in Churches.
One barbarian who successfully takes over classrooms to establish a kingdom is Clovis (481 A.D.). Clovis converts to Christianity to gain popularity and solidify his power as King of the Franks. As Clovis conquers new territory he automatically recruits the people into his Christian army. Clovis was a brutal, paranoid leader that went to great lengths to secure his position of power.
Following Clovis, another significant King of the Franks is Charlemagne (768 A.D.), who seeks to reestablish the glory of the fallen Western Roman Empire. He renames his Kingdom the Holy Roman Empire, and is pronounced by the Pope to be the Emperor of it. To build his Kingdom, Charlemagne gave land to nobles, who in return offered him loyalty in the form of military service and taxes. This established what would become the social, political, and economic system of the Middle Ages: Feudalism.
Under feudalism, Lords offer lands to Vassals in exchange for taxes, military service, and food. Kings offered land, or a fief, to nobles, who would then offer it to knights, and both would live on manors with peasants who would work the land to provide food for everyone. Some peasants were serfs, or legally bound to the land, while others were freemen, they were free to leave as they pleased. Freemen could also be thrown off of the medieval manor, while serfs could not.
In general, life for the peasants was hard. They were responsible to work the land, pay taxes, and fight in the military. They lived in cruck houses, and would often bring their animals into their houses at night so that they would not get stolen. Sanitation was virtually non-existent to the peasants, and they rarely bathed. Their drinking water was often contaminated, and they would drink beer instead, because it was safe to drink. Of course it would also get them drunk, and it is likely that many people were very drunk most of the time.
So if life was so harsh for the peasants, why didn’t they revolt? There are several reasons why the peasants generally did not revolt, though there were several instances of peasant revolts. Peasants would sometimes swear an oath of loyalty on the Bible to their Lords – thus equating rebellion from their Lords to sin. In addition, medieval punishments were often very cruel, as they would amputate limbs or ears to make examples out of those who broke the rules.
Throughout this time many in Western Europe relied on the practice of ordeals as a sort of legal/justice system. Ordeals were a superstitious practice that would involve the accused undergoing some sort of injury, like burning your hand, and the healing process was viewed as God revealing his will through nature. For instance, if someone is accused of stealing, he would be forced to pull a small pebble out of a boiling pot of water. After 2-3 days the wound would be examined. If it was healing, he would be deemed to be innocent, as God/nature was kind to him in helping his wound to heal. If the wound was infected it would be interpreted as guilt as he was cursed by nature because he was guilty. There were also ordeals by water where if you were guilty you would float (water rejects you because you are impure) or innocent you would sink (water accepts you because you are pure). The ordeal by combat basically involved letting the involved parties fight it out, and the winner would be deemed as the correct party, as the forces of nature helped them win the battle because of the rightness of their cause.
In the late Middle Ages, feudalism began to break down. One factor in this was the Crusades, which were a series of religious conflicts between Christians and Muslims from approx. 1100 until about 1300 A.D. The Crusades were the result of several factors, one of which being the ongoing friction/tension/conflict between the Islamic Empire and their neighboring Eastern Orthodox (Christian) Empire. Over centuries, Christians throughout Europe fostered negative views of Muslims. These views were seemingly confirmed in 1009 when a Muslim leader, al-Hakim, orders the destruction of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. The Church was later rebuilt, but Christians vowed to conquer Jerusalem in the name of Christianity. The Crusades were formally declared by Pope Urban II, who in a speech promised forgiveness of sins to all Crusaders. In addition, Christians throughout Europe wanted to make the pilgrimage the sacred city of Jerusalem.
In the 1st Crusade, Crusades stormed into Jerusalem and killed pretty much everyone that was there. They stormed into Jerusalem and
The Crusades had a dramatic impact on Western Europe. As knights and peasants left to go fight in the Crusades, they left the land that was given to them through feudalism. Many knights and nobles sold or gave back their land to the Kings, while many peasants were eager to get out of their feudal obligations and go fight in the Crusades. As a result, feudalism began to weaken in Western Europe after the Crusades.
The Crusaders themselves came back changed after the Crusades. Having been exposed to Islamic society, especially the spices and fine goods, they started bringing these goods back with them to Europe. More importantly, Crusaders became exposed to the many advancements made in Islamic societies including soap, Greek & Roman texts translated into arabic, and their fine fabrics like silk. As these goods and ideas made their way into the daily life of Europe, the stage was set for the Renaissance. But there was still another terrible force that would dramatically change the fact of Western Europe altogether.
The Black Death is the bubonic plague that ravaged Europe and the Middle East throughout the late 14th Century. The plague hit especially hard in Western Europe, killing off nearly half of the population in some areas
