Charlemagne responsibilities grew after the battle against the Saxons, which lasted a long period of time (33 years) with each conquest the Frankish empire grew, the growth became the additional power and responsibility for Charlemagne. His responsibility as a Carolingian monarch was to eliminate the leaders in the church that weren’t Christians or who refused to convert themselves or be baptized as a Christian or the conquense was death. The church played a Major role in the kingdom of Charlemagne. It gave him a sense of stability, he in turn provided stability in the church. The people conquered by charlemegne , after being converted to christianty, were taught through the bible of codes that taught right and wrong.
Charlemagne defeated thousands of barbarians and kings during his time of power. He was a very pious Christian, and spread Christianity throughout the Carolingian Empire. Most importantly, using the re-establishment of education and order, Charlemagne was able to save many political rights and bring back culture in Western Europe. The fall of the Roman Empire triggered an era in history known as the “Dark Ages.” The Empire had been divided and taken over by barbarian tribes from the North and East. There was tons of chaos and havoc all over.
.” (Funck- Brentano, 1). Fear of invasions from Germanic tribes took over the region, and government was nonexistent until Charlemagne came to power. Under the reign of Charlemagne, whose main political group was the Catholic Church, these tribes were united and converted to Christianity.
When the Hundred Years War broke out, both side decided to use their ability to tax the church granted to the kings by the church as a repayment for the crusades. When the church refused to pay France, they kidnapped Pope Boniface VIII. The Pope died soon after his rescue and the cardinals elected a French pope so as not to stir trouble again. But instead of moving to Rome, the new Pope Clement V stayed in Avignon. A new string of Popes would settle in Avignon for the next 70 years where the French kings were able to maintain a firm hold on the papacy.
The Roman Empire was the western half and the Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Half. After Constantine’s death, the empire would be divided. The east would survive and the west would fall. The West would fall because the Germanic Tribe invaded
In the mid-12th century, the Turkic ruler Saladin rose to lead the Seljuks and succeeded in uniting the fragmented Muslim armies of Southwest Asia and North Africa. To Saladin, the Christian armies were the infidels that had to be evicted. When Saladin’s forces took Jerusalem, the call went out across Europe to launch another crusade. Three kings came forward-Emperor Frederick Barbarossa of Germany, King Phillip II of France, and King Richard I, later known as Richard the Lionheart of England. Held in 1187-1192.
Later on as the pax romana began to crumble the romans executed Christians for refusing to worship roman gods. They were crucified, burned, or killed by wild animals. Despite persecution Christianity became a powerful belief. By the third century a.d., there were millions of Christians in the Roman
Constantine legalized Christianity after he said he saw a cross before a battle. The legalization of Christianity allowed the Roman Empire to change from a polytheistic state to a monotheistic state. During the post classical period, Europe changed culturally. Because the Roman Empire was split into the west and the east, they were not culturally unified. The east side was able to read and write while the west was not able to.
The First Crusade and the Propagation of Religion The First Crusade was a military attempt by Roman Catholic Europe to regain control over the Holy Lands of Jerusalem, in which the Muslims had taken control of in 661. During this crusade, knights and peasants from many areas of Western Europe went on this pilgrimage, first stopping at Constantinople and then continuing on to Jerusalem. In the group of crusaders, the peasants greatly out numbered the military knights. Many crusaders did not make it the long journey, and the lasting crusaders were mostly the knights, as they were better trained and prepared for such combat. Once the Knights reached Jerusalem, they took control by ransacking every building and torturing and killing almost all of the 60,000 unarmed civilians living in Jerusalem.
Ottonian Period At Charlemagne's death, his empire was divided among his heirs and as it gradually weakened, shrank into small principalities with little centralized authority, much resembling modern Europe. Western Europe was invaded by Vikings, Danes, Magyars, and Slavs, draining much energy and resources from art and culture. This period lasted for over a century until Otto the Great won a victory over the Magyars in 953. Ten years later, Otto was crowned Augustus in Rome, and became Emperor of what was to be called the Holy Roman Empire. Otto, as Augustus, could trace his imperial lineage from Augustus to Constantine to Charlemagne, and the symbolic impact of this "genealogy" would deeply affect Ottonian art and architecture.