The Carolingian Empire - Assignment Example

Lecturer Paper Question1 The Carolingian empire which lasted from 800 to 843 depended on personal than forms of rule.It controlled a better portion of Western Europe. Upon the death of Pepin the short in 768, the kingdom was divided between Charlemagne and Carlo man according to the customs of the Frankish. The two were his only exiting sons. Charlemagne made himself the sole ruler upon the death of Carlo man in 771 by ignoring the inheritance rights. During this time, Charlemagne engaged in constant warfare with the Polytheistic Germanic tribes who were compelled to accept Christianity after the defeat. Charlemagne went into war with Saxons for 18 times which resulted into a lot of rebellion when forced to convert to Christianity. Charlemagne embraced war; he believed he had an obligation to spread Christianity, need to protect borders from intruders and finally to satisfy his followers. The wars explain the extraordinary factors which forced the departure of small kingdoms. The violent attacks pushed by Charlemagne brought confrontations with other cultures such as the polytheistic German, Scandinavian and Slavic tribes, Muslims in Spain and the Orthodox Christians in Byzantium. During the Christmas eve of 800 Pope Leo 3 (111) presided over a historical ceremony which meant to crown Charlemagne the emperor; though to the Byzantines , Pope had no right to crown an emperor, therefore the crowning of Charlemagne drove the eastern and western halves apart instead of uniting them (273). This coronation brought into light prominent characteristics of Carolingians which include; Imitation of the ancient Roman Empire and the duty of the Frankish kings to protect the Roman popes. The system which was applied by the Carolingians required a monarch with superb personal abilities which Charlemagne possessed. Charlemagne organized the government into territorial units called counties. The king also brought around him known professionals who understood and studied Latin well. He therefore ordered that all the prospective priests undergo a serious Latin training (Levac, Edward & Meredith, 274). Charlemagne rule and reputation brought a lot of lasting significance to Europe. Carolingians made the region not only a geographical expression but also geographical centre of new Christian civilization that played a key role in civilization of the Mediterranean and totally transforming the culture of the west (Levac et al, 276). The collapse Charlemagne who died in 814 had one son Louis who did not posses some of the energetic leadership qualities like his father. Louis begot three rearing the biggest dilemma of dividing the empire to his three sons; Charles the bald, Lothair and Louis the German. They stated fighting over the administration of the empire. Further fragmentations later developed as a result of the inheriting laws which some descendants of Charlemagne did not agree with. The divisions and wrangles made the throne weak. The empire which was formidable with very tight security collapsed when the last Charlemagne descendant died. After the collapse western European kingdoms emerged. (Levac et al 284) Pope Urban (11), called on people in 1095, and delivered a landmark speech which informed the people on how Muslims in the East were persecuting Christians and the ransacking of the holy places in Palestine. The army was then prepared to go for the war. Crusades led to the establishment of the Latin principalities which were devoted to maintain a western foothold in the holy land. The second crusade helped the king of Portugal retake Lisbon from the Muslims while the third crusade led to truce negotiation between Richard and the Saladin. The fourth crusade led to Christians fighting themselves though the intention was to recapture Jerusalem. This led to weakening of the Byzantine Empire by making a price of the western adventures (Levac et al, 302). Question 2 The late eleventh through to thirteenth were revolutionary periods to Western Europe in a number of ways, considering the tireless efforts of the people who participated in the wars during the crusaders, European merchants and the great church theologians. The Catholic Church during this period proved military, economically and intellectually powerful within Byzantium and also against the Muslim community. The agricultural revolution that began in the 11th century stimulated urbanization and population growth. Due to the agricultural products which were being taken to towns, cities started producing industrialized goods such as woolen. Technological innovations played a vital role in bring the Western Europe’s economy into its feet again. The adoption of labor saving machines ushered in the dawn of the agricultural revolution. Farmers’ started utilizing the power within various domesticated animals. The most important revolution was the adoption of the carruca which cut and aerated the land and also brought minerals on the surface. The final revolution was on the introduction of the three field system which produced extra ordinary advantages. The growth in cities also explained the growth which occurred during the 12th and the 13th century. For instance between 1160 and 1300 Ghent expanded city walls five times to ensure that all the inhabitants are accommodated. Advances in transportation networks also played a vital role. Transportation of gods such as grains, woolen clothes which were bulky in nature was done through water transport and in places which were not navigable, the haulers used train to transport goods. Creation of new business techniques also improved the economic power of the monarchs (Levac et al 311). The monarchies strengthen themselves through military conquests and shrewd administrative reforms. They ensured military and judicial control through developing bureaucracies which had to be followed within the kingdom. Some for instance the William 1 in England ensured that one-fifth of the land was kept under his personal rule and the rest were parceled to churches, monasteries and loyal nobles. They also reformed the judiciary which tried those who were purported to have committed criminal activities within the area of jurisdiction. Question 3 The fourth century brought with it some of the worst disasters which had never been experienced before. The winter season extended abnormally with rains raining without stopping, the Caspian Sea began to go up; flooding villages along the shores, prices of goods went up due to meager harvests which came late. People opted for desperate options such as eating cats, rats, animal dung, reptiles and tree leaves. Diseases and famine became part of the daily leaving and seeing a corpse became part of them. During this time industries shriveled leading to disappearing of trade in the region. Widespread famine that rocked Western Europe caused a crisis in agricultural production. During the industrial revelation agriculture had improved tremendously leading to an increase in population. Upsurge in population led to increased human being activities like soil erosion which resulted to some of the catastrophes. Climatic change was also responsible which led to a drop in the annual temperature making it impossible to grow crops. This resulted to insufficient food resulting into deaths. All these could be avoided as famine resulted into some of the human being actions. Black Death was a great catastrophe which swiped Europe with brutal force. During 1348 summer almost a half of the Siena people died. This led to the loss of Siena’s economic preeminence it used to have. The cold wind from the west was another crisis which affected Western Europe. West was suffering from the microbes; they were also Mongol warriors who came from Outer Mongolia due to their relentless conquests. They put a lot of pressure as they charged westward out of Central Asia and hobbled Kiev an Rus. Mongol accomplished their mission through a highly disciplined military organization. Mongol Empire eventually destroyed this trade. The pressure combined with the Ottoman forces led to reduction in agricultural production hence causing a myriad of crises which West Europe faced. Finally, I believe the collapse of the Byzantine Empire could have avoided as more of internal factors responsible could have been avoided (Levac et al, 319). Question4 Renaissance which means rebirth is used by historians to describe movement that sought to understand culture of antiquity. Renaissance reiterated human beings responsibility to improve the living standards of communities through social welfare with self devotion to citizenship. This was majorly practiced in Italy as the existed systems encouraged experimentation of cultures. It really benefited women than men. For instance before men would for marriages for financial gains and benefits without the consent of the lady (Levac et al, 371). The foundation of the state system was one of the achievements of the Renaissance. The government established strong armies; this followed military revolution which was accompanied by infantry in battle field and gunpowder cannons to besiege cities. Before, soldiers were recruited on feudal levies though after the fifteenth century the government’s started recruiting professional army. The second development was coming up with proper mechanisms to collect taxes. This was informed by the need to fund the professionally recruited army personnel. The monarchy also adopting a strategy aimed at weakening the resistance by removing all tax exceptions to local communities without consulting the regional assemblies and the parliament. Institutions of resident ambassadors who became linchpins in sophisticating information were also adopted. Work cited Levac, Brian k, Edward Muir & Meredith Veldman. The West: Encounters & Transformations, Combined Volume (3rd Edition) Read More