HST 121 - Rise and Fall of the Carolingians

I. Merovingians [MAP]
        A. Clovis = founder of the dynasty
        B. name of family from a god called Meroveg
        C. Clovis united the Franks in the 5th century
        D. Clovis converted to non-Arian Christianity in 496
        E. Clovis divided the kingdom of the Franks among his 4 sons (511)
                1. no primogeniture yet
			- instead, they used partible inheritance, or divided succession
		2. the sons fought each other, but still managed to increase the size of the kingdom
                3. when 3 of the sons died, the kingdom was united under
                        the last son, Clothar I
        F. when Clothar died, the kingdom was divided amongst his 4 sons (562)
                1. but this division lasted until the rise of the Carolingians
                2. the 4 new kingdoms were called:
                        a. Austrasia
                        b. Neustria
                        c. Burgundy
                        d. Aquitaine
                        [Map: Europe, c. 600]
II. Early Carolingians
        A. Carolingians emerged as a powerful landholding family
                in the kingdom of Austrasia
        B. they acquired the position of mayor of the palace of the 
                Austrasian king
        C. they used this power to control the whole area that used to 
                be the Merovingian kingdom
                1. the 4 kings had become weak because they gave away
                        royal land to attract loyal followers
                2. Austrasia has a succession of minor kings
                3. Pepin of Herstal defeated the Neustrians and exerted
                        his influence over Burgundy and Aquitaine (687) 
                4. Charles Martel united the Franks to defeat the Muslims
                        at the Battle of Tours in 732
                5. Charles kept pushing the Muslims back into Spain and
                        he conquered Frankish lands on the way
                6. on his death in 741, Charles had complete control of France
        D. the new kingdom survived in tact because of luck
                1. over the next 100 years, each Carolingian was fortunate
                        to have only one long-surviving heir
                2. this allowed them to overcome their practice of
                        of dividing the kingdom among their sons, as the 
                        Merovingians had done
        E. the kingdom fell to the two sons of Charles Martel in 741
                1. but Carloman was deeply religious and decided
                        to enter a monastery instead of ruling half the kingdom
                2. this left the entire kingdom to Pepin the Short
        F. Pepin the Short (741-768)
                1. Pepin had control of the kingdom, but he wanted 
                        the Frankish crown for himself
                2. the pope needed defensive help against the Lombards
                        and Byzantines
                3. the pope looked to Pepin for help because he was the 
                        most powerful ruler in western Europe, and also
                        because he was a good Christian ruler who was
                        very supportive of the conversion efforts of the 
                        Benedictine monks
                4. in 751, Pepin wrote to pope Zacharius, asking him:
                        "Is it right that a powerless ruler should continue to
                        bear the title of king?"
                5. the pope responded that Pepin should be king
                6. thus, Pepin was anointed into office by a papal representative
                7. in 754, the new pope (Stephen II) traveled to France
                        and crowned Pepin himself
                8. Stephen also asked Pepin to come to Italy and defend
                        Rome against the Lombards
                9. Pepin marched into Italy in 755, quickly defeated the 
                        Lombards and began to return home
                10. the Lombards reneged on the peace treaty and attacked Rome
                11.  Pepin returned and crushed the Lombards for good
                12. Donation of Pepin: Pepin secured the territory in central
                        Italy for the pope; this area came be called the Papal States [Map]
                13. on Pepin's death (768), his kingdom was divided among his
                        two sons: Carloman and Charles (Charlemagne)
                14 Carloman died within 3 years, leaving Charlemagne
                        to rule the entire kingdom
III. Charlemagne (Charles the Great)
        A. Military achievements [Map: Europe in 814]
                1. southeast: Italy
                        - he conquered the Lombards (774)
                2. southwest: Spain
                        - he conquered the Spanish March from the Muslims (778)
                3. east: Bavaria
                        - he created a frontier to protect the Frankish kingdom
                                from the Slavs and Avars (787)
                4. northeast: Saxony
                        - he established control of the region by 804
        B. Administration of the kingdom
                1. the problem: how to control a relatively backward,
                        yet very large empire?
                2. Charlemagne had to rely on local dukes, margraves and counts
                        who had pledged their loyalty to him
                3. Charlemagne created the missi dominici (envoys of the lord)
                        - they were pairs of royal inspectors who checked on
                                his royal officials
                4. but once the land and plunder ceased to flow into his hands
                        when he stopped his conquests in 804, so also did
                        his means of rewarding his officials stop
        C. "Carolingian Renaissance"
                1. educational reforms
                        a. Charlemagne saw the desparate need for schools
                                in his kingdom
                        b. so he forced cathedrals and monasteries to operate
                                schools in order to preserve and disseminate the
                                the basics of Classical and Christian culture
                2. patronage of scholars
                        a. Charlemagne brought scholars from all over Europe
                                to his palace school at Aachen
                        b. they helped keep Classical and Christian culture alive by:
                                1. diligently copying texts
                                2. establishing schools
                                3. teaching basic Latin grammar to their students
        D. imperial coronation
IV. Charlemagne's Successors
        A. Louis the Pious (814-840)
                1. he had very little real control of the localities
                2. he did devise a plan for succession: he gave his eldest
                        son supreme political authority
                3. but his two younger sons revolted
                4. this plunged the kingdom into civil war
        B. the Treaty of Verdun (843)
                1. the civil war continued on Louis' death in 840
                2. in 842, the two younger sons met at Strasbourg
                        and made an alliance against their elder brother
                3. this forced their elder brother to compromise
                        and sign the Treaty of Verdun in 843
                4. Lothar (the eldest) was given Italy, the southern part
                        of the Frankish kingdom and a strip of land that
                        stretched to the north sea
                5. Charles the Bald was given the west
                6. Louis the German was given the east
                [Map: Division of the Frankish Kingdom, 843]