I.  The Franks :
    occupied Gaul by 481
    combined German & Roman cultures
    The Merovingians
   A. Clovis (481-511 A.D.) -- united the Franks
   B. Clovis converted  -- politics and Christianity
   C.  Decline of the Merovingians
      i. succession -- kingdom divided among sons
         Clovis -- Lothair
      ii. counts appointed to control counties
          acted in their own interests
      iii. Merovingian kings incompetent, weak rulers --
          became figureheads
      iv. power in the hands of the Mayors of the palace
      v. Charles Martel (the Hammer) in control in
          714 A.D.
       vi. defeated  Muslims at Poitiers (732-733 A.D.)
           ending threat
     Read   Battle of Tours
     and  The Great Stirrup Controversy
    D. Pepin the Short  -- The House of Pepin &
         the Carolingian dynasty
       i. legitimacy assured by pope --
          coronation in 751 A.D.
       ii. the donation of Pepin
          (the papal states in 756 A.D.)
        iii. alliance of Franks and pope
        iv. began tradition of church approval of kings
        v. coronation helped establish papal authority
            over kings
        vi. widened split with Byzantium
    E. Charlemagne   (Carolus Magnus) 768-814 A.D.
       i. the conquest and conversion of the Saxons
          the wars against the Spanish Muslims:
        Charlemagne Invades Spain
        The Song of Roland
        ii. the appeal from the pope and the defeat of
          The Lombards
        iii. renewal of papal alliance
        iv. his coronation as Holy Roman Emperor in
            800 A.D. by  Leo III
        v. extended Christianity
        vi. moved the center of power to western Europe
        vii. the political structure of
            Charlemagne's empire
           a. Kingdom divided into counties and marks
           b. missi dominici -- king's envoys / agents
           c. **  feudalism:
           d. lord / vassals --
             king assisted by local nobility
           e. homage -- investiture
           f. fief given in return for feudal obligations
           g. the church and feudalism
        viii. the Carolingian Renaissance
           a. the The Life of Charlemagne
               by Einhard
           b. Alcuin
           c. palace school
           d. scriptoria preserved ancient manuscripts
           Medieval and Renaissance Book Production
           e. education at monasteries
    F. Louis the Pious and his sons
     i. divided kingdom among sons -- led to civil war
      ii. Lothar
      iii. Charles the Bald
      iv. Louis the German
      v. the Strasbourg Oaths between
          Charles & Louis
      vi. the Treaty of Verdun 843 A.D. --
             led to division of Europe
      vii. Charles the Bald and the loss of the west
      viii. the deposition of his successor --
            Charles the Fat
      ix. power divided
      weakened Frankish kingdoms easy prey for
     Vikings , Magyars, Moors
     Vikings Raid European Mainland
      need for security
     Feudalism
     The Rise of Feudalism    
 
              Medieval Images of Charlemagne

              The Collapse of the Carolingian Empire

            The Germans         The French