The Dark Ages Get Darker

6.5 | Invasions, Reaction, and New Beginnings

“Where did they come from?”

Beginning c.800 AD Viking raiders appear, destroy, and vanish Wealthy churches are targeted Soon cities

Lindisfarne Monastery 793 AD

Scandinavia Denmark, Norway, and Sweden

Vikings, or Norsemen, or Northmen, etc.

Not-so-fertile land

Great for sailing though – fjords

The Viking Raids c.200 Years

“The number of ships grows: the endless stream of Vikings never ceases to increase. Everywhere the Christians are victims of massacres, burnings, plundering: the Vikings conquer all in their path, and no on resists them.” – Christian monk from the time

Hit and run raids – no time to prepare defenses Durable ships and excellent navigations skills

Original range far, but predictable (England, northern France)

Eventually, through the use of rivers, targets were as far as Kiev and Constantinople

Viking Settlements From Iceland to Greenland, to the Americas

Greenland 982 AD Leif Eriksson – settlements in Canada and

beyond

Normandy (northern France) Frankish kings cut a deal with Vikings Defend us from more Vikings and we will allow

you to settle in northern France Those Vikings were from Norway – the region

became known as Normandy, where the Normans live

Vikings in Russia According to legend, Slavic Russia was fertile,

but disorderly Called upon the “Rus” (northern Europeans,

possibly Vikings) to rule over them Three brothers are chosen

Novgorod is made a center of power Kiev (along the Dnieper) is another The Kievan Rus expands – siege of Constantinople

907 AD Byzantine Empire and Rus’ connection – good and

bad The impending “split” in 1054 and implications

The Asiatic Hordes Return

The Invasion of the Magyars

Would remind the Europeans of the devastating invasions of the Huns during Roman times

Would eventually settle in the region of Hungary

Thus, Europeans would refer to them (and the region) as the land of the Huns, even though this is inaccurate

Invasions

So How Do We Fix This?

Instability and insecurity rampant Well, let’s make it so that we have every inch of land

secure and ready to be defended As kings, we must parcel out land to “lesser kings” or

nobles, who will then operate militarily in place of us In this way, every bit of land owned by a king is

operated by a subordinate who maintains order While this stabilizes the situation, it decentralizes

power Beginning around the time of Charlemagne, this is

feudalism

How It Works

The Eastern Roman

Empire Under Siege

The Byzantine Empire

Byzantium – Constantinople – Istanbul

Byzantium After Rome Justinian 527-565 and his general Belisarius

Reconquer vast quantities of the Roman Empire

Preservation of Roman law and Classical heritage Justinian Code – Re-written for the common person Copies of all Greek and Roman works abundant –

schools

Center of Christianity (not yet Rome) 4 of the 5 patriarchs (for a while all 5) Hagia Sophia “Defender of the Faith” – conversions (Balkans, Slavs,

Russia)

Disputes Between Constantinople and Rome

For one, the East spoke Greek and the West Latin

Secondly, the East believed in equal power of the patriarchs and authority of councils (like Nicaea) Rome, being founded by St. Peter, believed

they had superiority to all other patriarchs – the Pope

The East allowed bishops and priests to marry The West did not

Among many, many other minutia

The Cold War of the Dark Ages

The only two superpowers existing outside China were The Byzantine Empire – Christian The Sassanid Persian Empire – Zoroastrian

Like with Rome, the two fought and fought Emperor Heraclius c.610 AD

Defeats the Persians in a long and draining war Secured European borders

Finally! It seemed that peace and stability could return…

The Muslims InvadeWe will learn about their origins later

For now, let’s observe their effects on the already over-encumbered Europe

Rapid Expansion Muslims sweep over Persia, too weak to resist 644 AD Muslims invade the weakened Byzantine Empire

Halted near the Taurus Mountains (3 patriarchs lost)

Muslims annex all Byzantine lands in Africa Muslims cross into Spain – topple Visigoth kingdom Muslims take to the sea – islands captured, southern

Italy conquered, Rome burned Siege of Constantinople 674 AD and 717 AD

Frankish Kingdom invaded – the Battle of Tours 732 AD

Charles the Hammer

Massive Power ShiftsByzantium enters a period of political instability

Rome, fearing that Byzantium can no longer protect it, turns to the Franks for help (Charlemagne)

Islam becomes the new super power, literally across the Mediterranean

In the East, China is emerging from the Warring States Period…