Mr.
Diony Martinez
World History (Honors)
Felix Varela Senior
Ms. Nichol Guerra
World History
Mast Academy of Homestead
• Germanic people began moving into the Roman Empire by the third century.
• Visigoths and Ostrogoths moved both Italy and Spain.
• Western Europe came to be dominated by various Germanic tribes.
• Germanic warriors would eventually exclude Romans within their spheres
from holding any power.
• Roman influence was even weaker in Britain.
• When Rome abandoned England at the beginning of the 5th century, the
Angles and Saxons, Germanic tribes from Denmark, eventually moved in and
settled it.
• Came to be known as Anglo-Saxons.
• One of the longest lasting Germanic states was the kingdom of Franks.
• Established by Clovis, a strong military leader who around 500 became the
first Germanic ruler to convert to Christianity.
- At first, believed “God can do nothing” for him.
• But in a moment of desperation on the battlefield, he prayed to Jesus to save
them from their enemies… and he survived.
• Earned him great acclaim from the Roman Catholic Church.
• With his death, the Frankish kingdom was divided amongst his sons.
• Overtime, Germans and Romans intermarried and slowly created a new
society.
• German people considered family the nucleus of society and adapted their
laws and customs in such a manner.
• In Roman law, crimes were considered an offensive against a state or society.
• In Germanic law, the crime was considered personal and could lead to a feud
or acts of revenge.
• Thus, wergild was developed where a wrongdoer would pay the family of the
victim.
- Literally meant “money for man”… But an offense against a
nobleperson held a much higher penalty than a slave.
- Ordeals involved a physical trial of some sort… such as a holding a red- hot
iron.
• By the end of the fourth century, Christianity had become the supreme
religion of the Roman Empire.
• The Roman Empire was almost altogether monotheistic and religiously
unified.
• Local Christian communities (parishes) were lead by priests.
- Parishes were headed by bishops.
• Over time, the bishop of Rome began to claim he was the leader of the new
Roman Catholic Church.
• Thus, the Pope came to be recognized as the head of the church.
- The amount of power he would have was not clear.
• The powerful Pope Gregory I (590-604) would come to server as spiritual and
political leader of Rome and surrounding territories.
• A monk is a man who separates from ordinary human society in order to
dedicate himself to God.
- Monasticism is the practice of living the life of a monk.
• Communities of monks were founded for which set rules were put into place.
- These monasteries were ruled by an abbot (father).
• Monks were given land to be self-sustained and fulfill their vow of poverty.
- They taught, healed, constructed and guided.
- They were a moral example to society.
• Soon, missionaries sent out their religious message and attempted to convert.
- By 1050, most of Western Europe was Catholic.
• Woman, known as “nuns”, came to live in abbesses.
• During the 600’s, the kings of the Frankish kingdom
gradually lost their power to the mayors of the
palace.
• One mayor, known as Pepin, came to rule the
Frankish Empire.
- Dying in 768, Pepin’s son, Charles the Great, came
to the Frankish throne.
• During his lengthy rule from 768-814, Charles greatly expanded the Frankish
empire and created the massive Carolingian Empire.
- He would communicate with his counts (representatives in local areas)
through missi dominici (“messengers of the lord king”).
• In 800, Charlemagne acquired a new title – Emperor of the Romans.
**A German king had been crowned emperor of the Romans and was the spiritual
leader of Western Christendom… a new civilization emerged.
