The Byzantine Empire, although heavily pressed by AVARS and BULGARIANS, controls Anatolia and much of the coasts of Greece, Dalmatia,
Italy, and the islands of the Mediterranean. Africa and most of Visigothic Spain had just fallen to the Muslims, with the exception of TODMIR
(around Cartagena, where the Visigoths held out until 756), ASTURIA and the lands of the BASQUES. In Italy there were the Lombard states -
the Lombard kingdom of Italy, which was to be conquered by the Franks in 773/774, and the DUCHIES OF SPOLETO and BENEVENTO. Then
there was the Frankish Kingdom, which is discussed in a separate chapter. its west was the Kingdom (duchy) of BRITTANY. Then, in Britain,
there were the petty kingdoms of EAST ANGLIA, MERCIA, NORTHUMBERLAND, KENT, SUSSEX, ESSEX and WESSEX and British, Welsh,
Scottish petty kingdoms such as DALRIADA and STRATHCLYDE, the Kingdom of the PICTS in SCOTLAND, others in CORNWALL, WALES and
IRELAND. If we do not count the Byzantine Empire and the christian population under Muslim rule, christian Europe roughly coincided with the
Frankish kingdom plus most of Italy, the British isles and the northern fringe of Spain.
These christian countries had a number of things in common : (1) the centralized organisation of the Catholic church, which promoted law
standardization, the spread of education and progress. and offered a forum for the settlement of disputes, and (2) common heritage, both
Roman (law, writing), Hebrew (the bible) and Germanic (again the law). With the exception of Britain, they also had in common (3) Roman
(Romanized) and Barbarian population elements living together, which yet had to be fully integrated,
B.) EXTERNAL THREATS AND INTERNAL DEVELOPMENTS
The SARACENS raided Aquitania in 732, Sardinia since 760, took the BALEARIC ISLES in 796, conquered Sicily 827-901, established
bridgeheads in FRAXINETUM (Provence) in 888 (until 975). The forces CHARLES MARTEL defeated in 732 were an advance party, not the army
the Saracens were able to muster, and Saracens continued to be a threat for the Christian areas in the vicinity of the Mediterranean coast until
late in the 10th century, Saracen raiders setting out from Fraxinetum reached as far as St. Gallen. Fraxinetum was taken in 975.
In 895, the MAGYARS occupied the plains of HUNGARY. From there they undertook annual raids into northern Italy, which lasted until 954/955,
when they were defeated by OTTO I., THE GREAT, in the BATTLE OF LECHFELD.
Then there were the Vikings, first small raiding parties which disappeared as sudden as they came, seemingly out of nowhere. By the
middle of the 9th century, their numbers had swollen so that they could risk full encounters with the local forces. In 885 a Viking army laid siege
to Paris, resulting in CHARLES THE FAT being deposed. The Viking threat was answered with efforts in fortification. Castles were erected,
bridges built (to prevent Viking fleets sailing upriver). Knig Alfred was able to secure the border of Wessex, and step by step to regain territory
of the DANELAW. By 918, all parts of the Danelaw had submitted to Wessex. The unification of England had been achieved. In France, king
Charles the Simple managed the situation by enfiefing Viking chieftain ROLLO with the county of Rouen (911), the nucleus of the
DUCHY OF NORMANDY. Count Rollo now found himself responsible for the defense of this stretch of France.
C.) THE SYMBIOSIS OF KINGDOM AND CHURCH
The Germanic Kingdoms, as well as Celtic and Slavic states, had proven notoriously instable. Often divided at the occasion of the death of a
king (duke, prince), the tradition was to divide the kingdom among the deceased king's sons. In pagan society, the position of the king (prince,
duke etc.) was not that of absolute authority. The king (prince etc.) was subject to popular law, and his authority limited. His power depended
on his personal wealth, his reputation and followership.
The conversion of European peoples to christianity, starting with the Franks in 496, in most cases followed the conversion of the king (duke etc.).
The church depended on the king for protection. The king would force his subjects to convert, enact laws which place priests, monks,
bishops under special protection, present to the church the land on which to built churches, a cathedral, monasteries. In return, the church
would act as a force stabilizing the position of the king. The CORONATION was performed by the archbishop, in a cathedral. A christian king
was king by god's grace, not by the mere consent of his people. In addition, clerics could read and write. Therefore they served in the state
administration, were responsible for bookkeeping, the archive and diplomatic correspondence.
The institutions of pre-christian kingdoms (dukedoms) were a royal court which was relatively small, and often was moved, a popular assembly
which was held in the open, and pagan temples / holy sites. A christian kingdom had both a (strengthened) royal court and, often, a (weakened)
popular assembly. It replaced the according to our sources often obstinate pagan priesthood by a strict church hierarchy dependent on the king,
cooperating with him to transform the tribal kingdom into a state. The catholic church was to become a stabilizing factor; archbishops, bishops
and abbots, because they had no dynastic interests of their own, became trusted advisors and state administrators. The position of a christian
king was much stronger than that of a pagan king.
The constitutional reform of 887, when King CHARLES THE FAT was deposed and the nobility of the East Frankish Kingdom elected
ARNULF DUKE OF CARINTHIA king, the nobility of the West Frankish Kingdom ODO COUNT OF PARIS, was a further major step in European
constitutional history. From now on, these kingdoms were not partitioned after a king deceased. The eldest son inherited, or if there was none,
the kingdom's nobility had the right to elect a king. Basically, this change of constitution in 887 meant the creation of France (the West Frankish
Kingdom) and Germany (the East Frankish Kingdom).
D.) EUROPE CA. 950, AND THE EXPANSION OF CATHOLIC CHRISTIANITY
Within a period of 150 years - between 950 and 1100 - the area inhabited by Catholic peoples doubled in size : POLAND converted to christianity
in 966, DENMARK in 968, BOHEMIA, HUNGARY in 1000, NORWAY 1030, SWEDEN ca. 1100 Many of these countries were still going through the
process of nation-building : it would be better to speak of the Kingdom of the Svear and Gotar rather than of (a unified) Sweden; Poland was a
kingdom over numerous West Slavic tribes, which would disintegrate in the 12th century. The conversion to christianity helped stabilize the
kingdom and state. The conversion to christianity had other advantages : the newly converted kkings could marry christian princesses, which
were important for international diplomacy those days. And the economy improved, as christians were forbidden to trade with pagans; this
regulation no more barred their countrymen from trading with western countries.
Southern Italy in the early 11th century was split into numeros petty counties, principalities and territories, Lombardian (catholic), Byzantine
(orthodox) and Muslim (Sicily). Norman knights arrived there, to serve as mercenaries. In 1027 they took over their first territory, the County
Aversa. Count ROGER I. conquered Apulia, Calabria, and, between 1061-1091, Sicily, establishing the KINGDOM OF SICILY. With the conquest
of Naples in 1130, the unification of southern Italy was accomplished. Christian kingdoms had always actively supported the mission in
neighbouring pagan countries. In Spain, the Kingdoms of LEON, CASTILE and ARAGON in the early 11th century began the RECONQUISTA,
conquering lands held by Muslims. The East Frankish (German) Kingdom expanded into the west Slavic lands between Elbe and Oder. The
OBODRITES were forced to convert, the LUSATIANS conquered. EMPEROR OTTO I. founded the ARCHDIOCESE MAGDEBURG (968) which was to
organize the mission in the Slavic lands.
E.) THE ESTABLISHMENT OF NATIONAL CHURCH PROVINCES
In 968, Archbishop ST. ADALBERT of Magdeburg was placed in charge of the mission of the Slavs; the borders of his territory were not fixed.
The Archbishop of Bremen similarly claimed entire Scandinavia as his archdiocese. As christian kings in these countries depended on the
archbishop for their coronation and the clergy had to follow the archbishop's orders, the newly converted kings quickly found out that it was
very inconvenient to have a foreign archbishop in charge of his countrymen. So, King BOLESLAW CHROBRY had an archbishopric established
at Gniezno in 1000, King ST. STEPHEN of Hungary in Gran and Bacs in 1006. The Danish archdiocese of Lund was established in 1104, Norway
followed in 1152 (Drontheim), Sweden in 1164 (Uppsala). On the Iberian peninsula, the christian kingdoms stabilized in the 11th century, and
archbishoprics were established for Castile in Toledo (1088), for Aragon in Tarragona (1091), for Leon in Braga (1104; after the separation of
Portugal, a new one in Santiago in 1120). Croatia received its archdiocese of Zagreb in 1093.
Next to independent church administrations, the newly converted countries strived to quickly get national saints sanctified : as France claimed
the protection of St. Martin, England (and Aragon) that of St. George, Germany that of St. Michael, Poland would claim that of St. Adalbert. In a
number of cases, members of the ruling royal family, who happened to be batptized and who have died a violent death, were sanctified :
ST. WENCESLAS (Bohemia), ST. OLAF (Norway), ST. KNUD (Denmark), ST. ERIK (Sweden). Hungary's St. Stephen was an exception - a king,
but not assassinated. These national kings had several advantages : pagan hail was replaced by christian holyness, and the RELICS were
readily available. The relics were regarded esteemed treasures - Drontheim and Gniezno immediately attracted pilgrims. In 1038, the Bohemians
raided Poland - and removed the relics of St. Adalbert, which King Boleslaw Chrobry had bought from the pagan Prussians, to Prague.
Most of the countries listed above do exist today. The combination of a kingdom and a national church administration stabilized these states,
gave them lasting endurance. In most cases the conversion meant the end to partitions after a king's death (exception Poland).
There were a number of areas which, in the 12th century, were politically independent and had distinct identities - SCOTLAND, IRELAND,
WALES, NAVARRA, or largely autonomous, like ICELAND, the FAROES, the ORKNEYS, ISLE OF MAN, GOTLAND, BRITTANY, FRISIA. Scotland was
placed directly under papal administration and thus avoided subordination to the archbishop of York; it achieved separate archbishoprics in the
15th century. The church administration of Ireland was reorganised in the 12th century. Wales, like Ireland never politically united, was
conquered by the English in 1283 and remained part of the archdiocese of Canterbury ever since. Similarly, these territories all lost their
independence and were integrated into larger states.
In 10th century christian Europe, two sets of law coexisted : SECULAR LAW and CHURCH LAW. The church had a supranational hierarchical
organisation, with the POPE at its head and the archbishops being important functionaries. The church had a bureaucracy using Latin
language all across Europe. They had a well-porganized economy, based on the TENTH as well as vast landholdings. The royal
administration, on the other hand, originally depended on the cooperation of the people, especially the nobility. A strong king ruled unchallenged.
But noblemen, pursuing dynastic interests of their own, often challenged royal authority, especially in countries like Germany and France, where
the nobility elected kings. In order to strengthen their position, kings often employed bishops in the state's administration. Bishops had no children,
hence no dynastic interests. Bishops were well-educated, experienced in administration. As bishops were politically so important, the king (or
emperor) was present, when new bishops were elected, and of course they made sure that their favourite candidate was elected. This system, in
the case of the Empire, is called IMPERIAL CHURCH SYSTEM, from the perspective of REFORM POPES called LAY INVESTITURE. The Emperors
donated large stretches of land to loyal bishops, which in this way became princes (worldly rulers) as well.
Money existed, but trade was limited to a few products. The economy largely was agricultural and subsistent. The king, dukes, bishops and
monasteries owned large estates, which produced everything needed, grain, vegetables, eggs, poultry, cheese, furniture, tools, cloth ... Again,
the church economy was more developed than the state economy, monasteries being the places of progress and education. The kings owned
large estates; but they were surrounded by numerous officials, who consumed large amounts of supplies. A royal curtis (estate) could feed the
court only for a couple of weeks; then the court moved on. Medieval states did not have a single capital.
This page is part of World History at KMLA Last revised on August 28th 2001
