CHAPTER

UNIT 6 THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES274

18The Franks400 A.D.–843 A.D.

� Frankish jewelry

A bronze statue ofCharlemagne onhorseback �

481 A.D.Clovis is chosen

king of the Franks

711 A.D.Arab Muslimsconquer Spain

732 A.D.Battle of Tours

800 A.D.Charlemagne

crowned emperor

843 A.D.Treaty of Verdun

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Terms to Learnconvertedanointedcountslordsserfsminstrels

People to KnowClovisCharles MartelPepinCharlemagneRolandLouis the Pious

Places to LocateParisToursAachen

SECTION 1 ClovisDuring this period, a Germanic people called the Franks

became very important. They began to build a new civilization,one that later developed into modern France and Germany. TheFranks lived along the Rhine River in what is now Germany.They were more successful in governing than other Germans.One reason for this was that the area in which they lived wasclose to their homeland, and they felt fairly secure. Also, unlikethe Goths and Vandals, the Franks did more than just fight andrule. They became farmers.

Atfirst, theFranksweredividedintoseparategroupswithout acommon ruler. In 481, one Frankish group chose a man named

Why It’s Important The decline of the Roman Empire led todisorder everywhere in western Europe. Many of the Germanicinvaders were too weak to govern well. As a result, towns andvillages fell into ruin. Roads and bridges were not repaired.Robbers roamed the countryside, making it unsafe for travel-ers. Trading and business slowed down, and there were short-ages of food and other goods. People were no longer interestedin learning, and many books and works of art were damagedor lost.

Chapter FocusRead to Discover

• How Clovis united the Franks and brought them Christianity.

• How Charles Martel’s defeat of the Arabs kept western Europe Christian.

• How Charlemagne brought all of western Europe under his rule.

• What life was like in Charlemagne’s empire.• Why Charlemagne’s empire collapsed.

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Chapter OverviewVisit the Human Heritage Web siteat humanheritage.glencoe.comand click on Chapter 18—Chapter Overviews to previewthis chapter.

CHAPTER 18 THE FRANKS

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You wantto present aresearch reportto your class,

and you want to really hold their atten-tion. How do you do it? Your presenta-tion can be exciting if you use variousforms of media.

Learning the Skill At its most basic,a multimedia presentation involvesusing several types of media. To discusslife under the Frankish kings, for exam-ple, you might show photographs ofhistoric paintings. You could also recordselections from The Song of Roland orballads sung by minstrels. Or you mightpresent a video of Charlemagne’s life.

You can also develop a multimediapresentation on a computer. Multimediaas it relates to computer technology isthe combination of text, video, audio,and animation in an interactive comput-er program.

In order to create multimedia pro-ductions or presentations on a comput-er, you need to have certain tools. Thesemay include traditional computergraphic tools and art programs, anima-tion programs that make still imagesmove, and authoring systems that tieeverything together. Your computermanual will tell you what tools yourcomputer can support.

This chapter focuses on the growthof the Frankish empire in the early Mid-dle Ages. Ask yourself questions likethe following to create a multimedia

presentation on the cultural and politi-cal developments of that era:• Which forms of media do I want to in-

clude? Video? Sound? Animation?Photographs? Graphics? Other?

• Which of these media forms does mycomputer support?

• What kind of software programs orsystems do I need? An art program?A program to create interactive, ortwo-way, communication? An author-ing system that will allow me tochange images, sound, and motion?

• Is there a "do-it-all" program I can useto develop the kind of presentation Iwant?

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DevelopingMultimedia

Presentations

Skill Practice

Developing Multimedia Presentations

Keeping in mind the four guide-lines given above, write a plandescribing a multimedia presenta-tion you would like to develop.Indicate what tools you will needand what steps you must take tomake the presentation a reality.

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Clovis (klo’ vis) as king. Although he was cruel and greedy, Cloviswas a good general and an able king. He eventually brought all theFranks under one rule. Part of Clovis’s kingdom later becameFrance, which took its name from the Franks.

Clovis was the first Germanic king to accept the Catholicreligion. Clovis was not happy with the Frankish gods. Althoughhe prayed to them faithfully, they failed to help him win battles.Clovis decided that if he defeated the enemy, he would become aChristian. Clovis’s army won its next battle. Clovis and some3,000 Frankish soldiers, still in full battle dress, immediatelyconverted (kuhn ver’ tuhd), or changed religion, to Christianity.It was not long before all the Franks followed his example.

When Clovis became a Christian, he gained the support ofthe Romans in his kingdom. Before long, the Franks began speak-ing a form of Latin that later became the modern French lan-guage. Now, all the people in Clovis’s kingdom practiced thesame religion, spoke the same language, and felt united.

The Pope and other church officials gave Clovis their sup-port. Priests served in his government. In return for theChurch’s help, Clovis was expected to protect the Church againstall non-believers.

Clovis extended his rule over what is now France andwestern Germany and set up his capital in Paris. He admired theRoman Empire. He wore purple robes similar to those of theRoman emperors and made Latin the official language of thecourt.

CHAPTER 18 THE FRANKS

SECTION 2 Charles the HammerThe Frankish kings who followed Clovis were weak rulers.

Instead of keeping the kingdom united, they divided it amongtheir sons. The sons often fought over their shares of land. They

Reading Check What happened

after Clovis converted to Chris-tianity?

Section 1 Assessment1. Define: converted.2. What modern nations developed out of

the civilization built by the Franks?3. Why were the Franks more successful

at governing than other Germanic peoples?

Critical Thinking4. Drawing a Conclusion Why was it

important for Clovis to have the Pope’sblessing and the support of the Church?

Graphic Organizer Activity5. Draw this diagram, and use it to show

the cause and effects of Clovis’s conver-sion to Christianity.

EffectsCause ClovisConverts

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spent so much time and energy fighting that they lost much oftheir power to local nobles.

It was not long before the Franks began to accept theleadership of a government official known as the “Mayor of thePalace.” The Mayor was a noble and the most important officialin the king’s household. As the Frankish kings grew weaker,the Mayors took over many of their duties. In time, the Mayorswere conducting wars, giving out land, and settling disputes.Of all the Mayors, the most powerful was Charles Martel (mahrtel’). He wanted to reunite all the Frankish nobles under hisrule. Before long, Charles Martel had gained the support of theChurch.

Charles Martel became known as “The Hammer” because ofhis strength in battle. In 732, he led the Franks in the Battle of

UNIT 6 THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES

BATTLE OF TOURS Charles Martel (shown center in this painting) leads hisarmy against the Muslims at the Battle of Tours. The Frankish victory halted theMuslim advance into western Europe. It also helped the Frankish rulers to build astrong kingdom. Why were the Muslims invading western Europe?

Mounted KnightsCharles Martel could notfollow up his victory atTours because he had toofew mounted soldiers.From then on, he requiredevery landowner to pro-vide him with at least onefully outfitted knight. Overtime, mounted knightsbecame the core of theFrankish army.

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Tours (turz), one of the most important battles in European histo-ry. The Franks defeated an army of Arabs and Berbers who hadconquered Spain in 711. The Arabs and Berbers were Muslims,who hoped to spread their religion of Islam everywhere. TheFranks’ victory at the Battle of Tours enabled Christianity to sur-vive in western Europe.

When Charles Martel died, his son Pepin (pep’ in) becameMayor of the Palace. With the help of the Pope and most Frank-ish nobles, Pepin removed the king and started a new dynasty.Pepin was the first Frankish king to be anointed (uh noin’ tuhd),or blessed with holy oil, by the Pope. In return for the Church’ssupport, Pepin helped the Pope when he was threatened by agroup of Germans known as Lombards (lahm’ bahrdz). Pepin ledan army into Italy, defeated the Lombards, and gave the landthey held in central Italy to the Pope. This gift made the Pope thepolitical ruler of much of the Italian Peninsula.

CHAPTER 18 THE FRANKS

When Pepin died in 768, his kingdom was divided betweenhis two sons. His son Carloman died within a few years. Pepin’sother son Charles then became king of the Franks. He is bestknown by his French name Charlemagne (shar’ luh man), whichmeans “Charles the Great.”

A powerful leader, Charlemagne wanted to bring all ofwestern Europe under his rule. He also wanted all the Germanicpeople to become Christian. To achieve these goals, he waged aseries of wars.

First, Charlemagne went to Italy and defeated the Lombards.Next, Charlemagne attacked Saxons (sak’ suhnz), who lived inwhat is now northern Germany. For years, the Saxons had beenraiding towns and monasteries inside the Frankish border. He

Reading Check Who anointed

Pepin, and why wasthis an importantevent?

Section 2 Assessment1. Define: anointed.2. Why was the Battle of Tours a turning

point in history?3. How did Pepin help the Pope?

Critical Thinking4. Predicting Consequences What might

western Europe have been like if theArabs and Berbers had won the Battleof Tours?

Graphic Organizer Activity5. Draw this diagram, and use it to com-

pare the accomplishments of CharlesMartel and his son Pepin.

Contributions

CharlesMartel

Pepin

SECTION 3 Charlemagne

Student Web ActivityVisit the Human Heritage Web site at humanheritage.glencoe.comand click on Chapter 18—Student Web Activities to findout more about Charlemagne.

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CharlemagneC. 742 A.D.–814 A.D.

Christian EmperorCharlemagne contin-ued the German war-rior tradition, spread-ing the Christian reli-gion at the tip of asword. In building hisempire, he broughttogether the German,Roman, and Christiancultures that becamethe basis for Europeancivilization.

280

sent thousands of captured Saxons into Frankish territory andthen moved many Franks onto Saxon lands. Eventually, theSaxons accepted Christianity.

Charlemagne also led his armies in several campaigns acrossthe Pyrenees (per’ uh nez) Mountains to fight the Muslims inSpain. A mountain people known as Basques (basks) did not wantthe Frankish armies to cross their territory. When Charlemagnewas returning home from one of his Spanish campaigns, Basquewarriors attacked the rear guard of his army in a narrow mountainpass. The rear guard was led by Roland, a fine warrior. SinceRoland had far fewer soldiers than the Basques, he lost the battle.Even so, the fight was remembered, told, and retold throughoutEurope. Over time, it became legend and was written down inFrench as a poem called The Song of Roland.

By 800, Charlemagne had created a large empire. It includedmost of the Germanic peoples who had settled in Europe sincethe early 400s. Charlemagne also fought against non-Germanicpeoples in northern and eastern Europe. Although they managedto keep their freedom, they agreed to respect Charlemagne’spower and not fight against his army.

CROWNING OF CHARLEMAGNE In 800, Charlemagne became emperor ofa new Christian Roman Empire. Here, Charlemagne is crowned “Emperor of theRomans” by the Pope. How did Charlemagne aid the Church?

UNIT 6 THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES

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A Christian Empire Charlemagne became the mostpowerful leader in western Europe. The people considered him asimportant as any Roman emperor. Charlemagne wanted to keepclose ties between the Church and the government. Churchofficials kept records and helped Charlemagne run the country. Inturn, he appointed the bishops and regarded any act against theChurch as a sign of disloyalty to him.

Both Charlemagne and the Pope wanted a new ChristianRoman Empire in western Europe. Charlemagne’s conquests hadbrought him closer to their goal. On Christmas day in 800,Charlemagne was worshiping in St. Peter’s Church in Rome.When the religious ceremony was over, the Pope placed a crownon Charlemagne’s head. The Pope then declared that Charle-magne was the new Roman emperor. Although Charlemagneaccepted the title, he was not pleased that the Pope had crownedhim. This made it seem as if the emperor’s right to rule came fromthe Pope rather than directly from God.

Charlemagne was a wise and just ruler who issued manylaws. To make sure these laws were obeyed, he set up law courtsall through the empire. Charlemagne chose officials called countsto run the courts. The counts took care of local problems, stoppedfeuds, protected the poor and weak, and raised armies forCharlemagne.

Charlemagne often had trouble keeping the counts under hiscontrol because of poor transportation and communication. So,he sent royal messengers all through the empire to check on them.These messengers reported to Charlemagne how well the countswere doing their jobs. Once a year, Charlemagne called his countsand warriors together. They reported troubles and talked overnew laws for the empire. The final decision on what new laws toissue, however, was made by Charlemagne.

Charlemagne ruled his empire from Aachen (ah’ kuhn),known today as Aix-la-Chapelle (aks’ lah shah pel’). However, hedid not always stay in the capital. He journeyed throughout theempire with his advisers and servants. The royal party would stopand rest at different palaces or homes. Wherever the king and hisofficials went, they were given food and entertained by thepeople. Such royal visits ensured the loyalty of local officials andpeople to Charlemagne’s government.

Education Most people in Charlemagne’s empire couldneither read nor write. Charlemagne, however, appreciatedlearning. Unlike earlier Frankish rulers, he believed in educationand was proud of his own ability to read Latin. He kept a slate andcopybook next to his bed so that he could practice writing.

Charlemagne wanted his people to be educated also. Heworked hard to push back the darkness that had followed the fallof the Roman Empire. He encouraged churches and monasteries

CHAPTER 18 THE FRANKS

Reading Check What role did

counts play inCharlemagne’s gov-ernment?

Frankish OfficialsOfficials in Charlemagne’scourt had specific duties.His chaplain advised theemperor on matters of con-science and supervised offi-cial documents. The count of the palace judged courtcases that were not handledby Charlemagne and man-aged the palace in theemperor’s absence. Thechamberlain took care of theroyal bedroom and trea-sury. The seneschal kept thepalace supplied with food,wine, and servants. The con-stable cared for the horses.

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CHARLEMAGNE’S SCHOOL Charlemagne often visited his palace school,which was attended by children of the court. Directed by the monk Alcuin, the schoolalso provided a place where scholars could gather to share their knowledge and toinspire one another. Why was Charlemagne interested in learning?

UNIT 6 THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES

to found schools. He had a scholar named Alcuin (al’ kwin) start aschool in one of the palaces to train the children of governmentofficials to serve in the Church or in the royal household. Thechildren studied such subjects as religion, Latin, music, literature,and arithmetic.

Scholars came from all over Europe to teach in Charle-magne’s school. One of their many tasks was to copymanuscripts. This led to the development of a new form ofwriting. The Roman writing the scholars used contained onlycapital letters. These letters took up a lot of space on a page. So,the scholars began to write with small letters instead of capitalones. The new letters not only took up less space, but they werealso easier to read. The new letters became the model for thelower-case letters used today.

Under Charlemagne, the arts began to flower again.Painters, sculptors, and metalworkers developed their talents.They built palaces and churches around a large courtyard as theRomans did. Artists covered palace and church walls withpictures showing stories from the Bible. They made book coversand ornamental weapons, and they decorated the manuscriptscopied by scholars.

Deep Sleep Many leg-ends spread about Charle-magne. According to onelegend, he did not die butwas only sleeping, andwould awaken at the hourof his country’s need.

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Estate Life Lords, or nobles, were the most powerful peo-ple in Charlemagne’s empire. They were the descendants ofFrankish warriors and Roman landowners. Most of the lords’wealth came from goods grown or made on their estates. Asthere was little trade in Charlemagne’s empire, each estate tookcare of its own needs. There were shoemakers, carpenters, andblacksmiths on each estate. There were also artisans who madeweapons, cooking vessels, and jewelry.

Lords lived in stone farmhouses. Wooden stockades (stahkadz’), or fences, often were built around the houses. Each farm-house had a banquet hall, sleeping quarters, cellars, stables, stor-age places, and a small chapel.

Farmers lived in simple wooden houses in small villages onthe estates. They worked in the fields, vineyards, orchards, andforests around their villages. The fields were owned by the lords,but the farmers worked them three days a week. The rest of thetime they worked small pieces of land the lords had given them.

CHAPTER 18 THE FRANKS

Writing in Minuscule Today the word minus-cule means “extremely small.” However, dur-ing the rule of Charlemagne, it referred tosmall letters used in writing (below). The useof small letters replaced the all-capital lettersused by the Romans. This writing style laterdeveloped into the capital and lowercase let-ters used in all Western languages (right).What subjects did the children of govern-ment officials study?

Reading Check Who were the

lords, and fromwhere did they gettheir wealth?

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Sometimes,there is notenough space ona map for infor-

mation to be shown clearly. Mapmakershave solved this problem by usinginset maps, or small maps that are setwithin larger ones. Often placed in acorner of the main map, inset maps mayhave their own scales and legends.

Inset maps are used for two rea-sons. One is to show parts of the mainmap enlarged and in greater detail.Maps of countries or states often includeinset maps showing individual cities.

Another reason inset maps are usedis to show in a different way an area on

the main map. For example, on the mapbelow, the main map shows the Frank-ish Empire from Clovis through Charle-magne. The inset map in the upper rightshows what happened to the same terri-tory after the death of Charlemagne.

Understanding InsetMaps

Map Practice1. What two cities were in the king-

dom of Charles?2. Who controlled Rome after the

Treaty of Verdun?3. Through which kingdom did the

Danube River flow?

284

Treaty of Verdun, 843

The Frankish Empire

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The farmers divided the land into three sections. They letone section lie fallow (fal’ o), or not planted. On the other two sec-tions, they used heavy metal plows to prepare the hard but fertilesoil. In autumn, they planted wheat or rye in one section. Inspring, they planted oats or barley in the other section. Eachyear, the farmers rotated (ro’ ta tuhd), or changed by turns, thekind of crops they grew in each section. They also let a differentsection lie fallow. These changes helped them grow larger crops.

Besides working the land, the farmers had to give the noblesfood and animals. The farmers had to perform many services forthe nobles, too. Men repaired buildings on the estates, cut downtrees, carried loads, gathered fruits, and served in the army.Women worked as hard as men. They looked after the childrenand small animals, wove cloth, and sewed clothing copied fromearlier Roman styles. The farmers gradually did more for thenobles and less for themselves. They were becoming serfs, orpeople bound to the land.

Neither the nobles nor the farmers had much time to learn toread or write or to think about religion. Both groups acceptedChristianity, but the new religion had little to do with their dailylives. However, on religious holidays, both rich and poor sang,danced, and feasted. They listened to traveling musicians calledminstrels (min’ struhlz). The minstrels journeyed from place toplace singing the praises of Charlemagne and his empire.

The Collapse of the Empire The glory of the empire didnot last long after Charlemagne’s death in 814. The empireneeded a strong and able ruler. Charlemagne’s heirs wereneither. Many counts and lords became increasingly indepen-dent. They cared more about their own estates than about thegood of the empire. They refused to obey Louis the Pious (pı ’uhs), Charlemagne’s son.

Louis the Pious unknowingly weakened the empire furtherwhen he divided it among his three sons. After he died, theybegan fighting among themselves over their shares. Lothair (lothahr’), Louis’s oldest son, received the title of emperor. Hisyounger brothers, Charles and Louis, were jealous of Lothair.

In 843, the brothers agreed to a new and different division ofthe empire. Under the Treaty of Verdun (ver duhn’), Lothair keptthe title of emperor, but he ruled only a narrow strip of land thatstretched from the North Sea to the Italian Peninsula. Louisreceived the area to the east. Called the East Frankish Kingdom, itlater became the nation of Germany. Charles received the area tothe west. Called the West Frankish Kingdom, it later becameFrance.

The brothers were weak rulers who allowed the counts andnobles to have most of the power. Once again, a united westernEurope was divided into smaller territories.

Painting of Minstrel

CHAPTER 18 THE FRANKS

Reading Check How did farmers

gradually becomeserfs?

Reading Check How did

minstrels increaseCharlemagne’s popularity?

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286 UNIT 6 THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES

Section 3 Assessment1. Define: counts, lords, serfs, minstrels.2. Why did Charlemagne object to the

Pope crowning him emperor?3. What did Charlemagne do to encour-

age learning?

Critical Thinking4. Identifying Alternatives What might

have prevented the collapse of Charle-magne’s government?

Graphic Organizer Activity5. Draw this diagram, and use it to sum-

marize Charlemagne’s political, educa-tional, and cultural accomplishments.

Charlemagne's Accomplishments

Political Educational Cultural

1. During the late 400s, the Franks beganto build a civilization that would laterdevelop into the modern nations ofFrance and Germany.

2. Clovis united the Franks and was thefirst Germanic king to accept theCatholic religion.

3. Clovis gained the support of theRomans in his kingdom and madeLatin the official language of the royalcourt.

4. A series of weak kings followed Clovis, and leadership gradually cameinto the hands of a government offi-cial known as the “Mayor of thePalace.”

5. In 732, a Mayor of the Palace namedCharles Martel defeated the Muslimarmy at the Battle of Tours. This keptwestern Europe Christian.

6. Charles Martel’s son Pepin started anew dynasty and became the firstGermanic king to be anointed by thePope.

7. Pepin’s son Charlemagne brought allof western Europe under his control.

8. In 800, the Pope crowned him the newRoman emperor.

9. Charlemagne was a wise and justruler who wrote new laws.

10. Charlemagne was very interested inlearning and encouraged the foundingof schools in his empire.

11. During the rule of Charlemagne, pow-erful lords grew wealthy from goodsgrown or made on their estates.

12. Louis the Pious divided the FrankishEmpire among his three sons, whichled to its final collapse.

Chapter Summary & Study Guide

Self-Check QuizVisit the Human Heritage Web site at humanheritage.glencoe.com and click on Chapter 18— Self-Check Quizto assess your understanding of this chapter.

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Using Key Terms

Write a paragraph about the Franksand their rule in western Europe. High-light one of the people mentioned in thechapter in your paragraph. Use the follow-ing words.

converted anointed countslords serfs minstrels

Understanding Main Ideas

1. What happened to western Europeafter the decline of the Roman Empire?

2. How did Clovis help people within hisempire feel united?

3. What was the relationship between theChurch and Clovis?

4. Why did the Mayor of the Palacebecome important?

5. What were Charlemagne’s main goalswhen he became king of the Franks?

6. How did Frankish farmers becomeserfs?

7. What happened to western Europeafter Charlemagne’s heirs came topower?

Critical Thinking

1. Do you think that Charlemagne’s trav-eling all over the empire was a wiseidea? Why or why not?

2. Why was the title “the Great” good forCharlemagne? What other title mighthave been better? Why?

3. What parts of life in Charlemagne’sempire would you have liked? Whatparts would you have disliked?

4. What do you think Louis the Piouscould have done with the FrankishEmpire instead of dividing it amonghis three sons?

Graphic Organizer Activity

Economics Create a diagram like theone shown, and use it to show details thatsupport this main idea: “Life in the Frank-ish Empire centered around the estates oflords.”

Geography in History

Places and Regions Refer to themap on page 284 and compare the loca-tions of Saragossa, Paris, and Rome. Eachof these was an important city in theFrankish Empire. What geographic simi-larities and differences can you see inthese places?

AssessmentCHAPTER

MainIdea

Details

287

Using Your Journal

Review any details you may

have noted about the changes

that took place during Charle-

magne’s empire. Write a diary

entry describing how some of

these changes can still be seen

today.

18

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