Europe in the Early Middle Ages - Essay Example

EUROPE IN THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES By Insert Presented to Location Due Europe in the Early Middle AgesDuring the early middle ages, Germanic peoples played a vital role in the new European civilization. In the third century C.E., they started penetrating the Roman Empire. Imperial authority vanished in the fifth century and several German kings started establishing new states. By 500, German state kings replaced the political influence of Western Roman Empire. The kingdom of the Franks was among the major German states in European kingdom.

The leader of the kingdom, Clovis converted to Catholic Christian in 500 to win Roman Catholic support.1 As a result, Germanic tribes dominated the Western Roman Empire and introduced Germanic laws and customs, which they merged with those of the Roman culture.2 Germans intermarried with the Romans and created a new society driven by the Germans social customs.3As the fourth century ended, Christianity was the dominant religion in the entire Roman Empire. Here, the Christian church contributed significantly to the expansion of the new European civilization.

4 It introduced a system of government, where a bishop headed every city. Monastic ideal also started spreading encouraging communities to live together. Between the seventh and eighth centuries, Frankish kingdom kings started losing their powers while palace’s mayors assumed more control, paving way for Charles the Great (Charlemagne).5 He emerged as the most powerful king in the kingdom and created the Carolingian Empire. Between the ninth and tenth centuries, Muslims, sending the raiding parties to southern France, attacked Western Europe, and eventually landed in Hungarian plains.

6 The invasions by Muslims, Vikings, and Magyars resulted to a new kind of relationship among free individuals. As the governments failed to defend their subjects, they sought a powerful lord who would offer protection.7 This resulted to feudalism. The manorial system later emerged, uniting communities together. In this case, the peasants bound to their masters both physically and economically.8 Bibliography Duiker, William and Jackson Spielvogel. World History, Volume I. New York: Cengage Learning, 2008.