HST 1100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Umayyad Caliphate, Einhard, Centrality
Rise of the Carolingians
Disintegration of Merovingians
• Merogingians had taken over Gaul
• Because of their practice of partible inheritance led to the destabilization of the kingdom
o Fathers giving pieces of inheritance to each son
o War, and the separation of kingdoms
• Clothar II – inherited the entire kingdom in 613
o Split up again after his death into Burgundy, Neustria, Austrasia, and Aquitania
• Increased reliance on delegation of authority by kings
o Comites and Duces
▪ Local authority (Roman titles)
o King gave land and power to them in exchange for support and military force
• Also adapted the title of the Mayor of the Palace (major domo)
o An official who took care of the kings househeld and decided who could see the king
and tracked his itinerary
o Begin to rule the Kingdoms behind the throne
o Charles Martel (688-741)
▪ The major domo of the most notable Frankish kingdom
▪ There was an invasion by the Muslims
• Meets them at the Battle of Poitiers and beats them in 732
• This success shows that he is the true authority
▪ His sons Carloman and Pippon depose of the final Merovingian king
• The Pope authorizes this
• Pippon has two sons named Carloman and Charles
o Charlemagne is how we refer to Charles
Charlemagne
• Active early life in both military and politics
o Met Pope Stephen as an early teen
o Affirmed that he would be king
• Charlemagne and Carloman square off to become King of the Franks
o Alliance with the Lombards against brother Carloman
o Carloman dies and his heirs flee to Lombardy
o Charlemagne demands the heirs returned but they are given sanctuary
▪ He marches into Lombardy and takes the capitol of Pavia
▪ Crowns himself King of the Lombards and Franks
• Saxon Wars
o War to subjugate Saxony
▪ 775-777
▪ Forces mass baptisms
▪ Diet of Paderborn (treaty): Saxons pledge allegiance to Charlemagne
o There is another revolt in 782
▪ Charles goes in and executes 4500 Saxons traitors
▪ Officially under his control
• Has a failed campaign against Islamic Spain
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o Ambushed by native peoples in the North called the Basts
o “Song of Roland” – epic song that immortalizes this battle
▪ On the way out of Spain while being ambushed
▪ His marshal Roland is supposed to hold of the Baths and dies in the process
Charlemagne’s Government
• Decided location means everything – centralized court
o City of Ached in northern Europe
o Roman style palace
o Housed Charles’s advisors
o Brought in scholars to aid administration
▪ Einhard
• Member of the clergy
• Knew how to write and read latin
• Writes his biography
• Charlemagne’s Military
o In order to pay his troupes he had to capture treasure for them
▪ Land and titles as payment
▪ Vassels
o Fideles – the faithful
▪ Made faithful with payment
• Missi Dominici – “envoys of the lord”
o Charlemagne’s agents
o Traveled in pairs: lords and member of clergy
o Taking Charlemagne’s will into the provinces
▪ Had full power of the king
o Capitularies: royal decrees
o Literacy becomes a pathway to power because these decrees were written out
• Allies with the Church and his imperial titles
o Help administer and keep records
o Founds monasteries and uses monasteries as agents
• Christmas day in the year 800 Pope Leo declares Charles the Roman Emperor
o Remaking of the Western Empire
o Much of his territory was the western empire
o Symbolic gesture
▪ Merges three pillars of Western Civilization
• (Germanic) Frankish Rule, Roman Past, and Christianity
• The Fideles – Charles’s faithful military leaders
o Drawn from the Missi Dominici
▪ Vassals – loyal to the fideles
▪ Bring their own weapons
• The Bannum: Charles’s ability to call the military
o If he hold the bannum he commands the military
▪ If you do not come you are fined for your lack of surface
▪ Basis of the idea of military taxation
o Held as the basic right of kings
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