Frankish noble family founded by Charles Martel
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We explore 2,500 years of French history and the key events that shaped the destiny of France. We'll also discover some of the most memorable members of France's ruling families through the ages from the Gauls and the Romans to the Visigoths, Vandals and Vikings and through to the dynasties of the Franks, the Merovingians, Carolingians and the Bourbons and on through to French Revolution and the Republic of France we have today. Full of fun and fascinating facts, France's history is part Game of Thrones and part pot luck! Sit back, click play and be prepared to be wowed by the incredible history of France - and all in less than 30 minutes. Follow us: On Twitter On Instagram On Facebook On The Good Life France's website Thanks for listening!
What's so great about Charlemagne? We're about to find out. This week, Danièle speaks with Cullen Chandler about the reign of Charlemagne, how he ruled such a massive empire, and how he still took the time to care about font.You can support this podcast on Patreon - go to https://www.patreon.com/medievalists
Henry, the new king of the Romans, just 30 years of age, tall and blond, every inch his forebearer the great Charlemagne had a one track mind. There was one thing he wanted and that was the imperial crown. It is now 60 years since there last had been a crowned emperor. We had such an interregnum before, in the 10th century between the death of emperor Berengar of Friuli, yes, me neither, and the coronation of Otto the Great in 962. This, even shorter gap, had resulted in the transfers of the imperial honour from the Carolingians to the rulers of the German Lands. It was high time to go to Rome and be crowned emperor. Otherwise more people will ask as John of Salisbury had: Who appointed the Germans to be judges over the peoples of the earth? Who gave these brutish, unruly people the arbitrary authority to elect a ruler over the heads of the people?But to get to Rome for a medieval imperial coronation requires more than just picking up a plane ticket. First our new Barbarossa needs to assert his position in the empire, gather followers for the journey and establish peace and justice. He needs to convince the pope to send an invitation and the king of France not to send an army to stop him. Most of all he needs to calm down the Empire sufficiently so that it does not fall into anarchy whilst he is away. And whilst he is busy making peace between the warring factions, convincing them that all he cares about is being semper Augustus, always augmenting the empire and reassuring everyone that he is not just enriching his family as his predecessors had done, that is when he walks away with the most valuable prize of them all, the kingdom of Bohemia.The music for the show is Flute Sonata in E-flat major, H.545 by Carl Phillip Emmanuel Bach (or some claim it as BWV 1031 Johann Sebastian Bach) performed and arranged by Michel Rondeau under Common Creative Licence 3.0.As always:Homepage with maps, photos, transcripts and blog: www.historyofthegermans.comFacebook: @HOTGPod Twitter: @germanshistoryInstagram: history_of_the_germansReddit: u/historyofthegermansPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/HistoryofthegermansTo make it easier for you to share the podcast, I have created separate playlists for some of the seasons that are set up as individual podcasts. they have the exact same episodes as in the History of the Germans, but they may be a helpful device for those who want to concentrate on only one season. So far I have:The Ottonians: The Hanseatic LeagueThe Teutonic KnightsThe Holy Roman Empire 1250-1356
In a country fragmented by Roman withdrawal during the 5th century, theemployment of Germanic mercenaries by local rulers in Anglo-Saxon Britain wascommonplace. These mercenaries became settlers, forcing Romano-Britishcommunities into Wales and the West Country. Against a background of spreadingChristianity, the struggles of rival British and Anglo-Saxon kingdoms were exploited bythe Vikings, but eventually contained by the Anglo-Saxon king, Alfred of Wessex. Hisdescendants unified the country during the 10th century, however, subsequent weakrule saw its 25-year incorporation into a Danish empire before it finally fell to theNorman invasion of 1066.Scholars of the early Church have long known that the term ‘Dark Ages' for the 5th to11th centuries in Britain refers only to a lack of written sources, and gives a falseimpression of material culture. The Anglo-Saxon warrior elite were equipped withmagnificent armour, influenced by the cultures of the late Romans, the ScandinavianVendel people, the Frankish Merovingians, Carolingians and Ottonians, and also theVikings.Today's guest is Stephen Pollington, author of ”Anglo-Saxon Kings and Warlords AD 400-1070.” We look at the kings and warlords of the time with latest archaeological research.This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/3101278/advertisement
Ready to embark on a journey through time to the heart of Europe's empirical history? Strap in as we dive headfirst into the rich tapestry of the mighty Roman Empire, making our way through to the medieval power corridors. We'll shed light on the rise and fall of the Frankish Maravigian dynasty, all the way to King Clovis's Catholic conversion and the establishment of hereditary rule. Uncover the secrets of the feudal system and discover the shocking power dynamics that led to the Maravigian dynasty's deposition by the Carolingians. As we navigate into the second half of our journey, we grapple with the chaotic aftermath of Charlemagne's death in 814. Witness the splintering of the Carolingian Empire and the rise of the Western Frankish Kingdom, Eastern Kingdom, and Lotharingia. Uncover the shift from consolidated power to a feudal system and its profound effect on medieval Europe's political makeup. We'll tackle tales of civil wars, religious politics, and the rise of local vassals in France. Our expedition concludes in 911 with the birth of the Duchy of Normandy – revealing how the Vikings adopted the local language. From the pinnacle of power to the nitty-gritty of everyday life, we make the pages of history spring to life in an unforgettable journey.Support the showShow Notes: https://www.thepithychronicle.com/resourceshttps://www.tiktok.com/@thepithychroniclershttps://www.instagram.com/the.pithy.chronicle/
SAGA: Age of Vikings continues, with the Carolingian faction
Host Mike Demana welcomes Advance the Colors 2022 Tournament co-champion Daniel Broaddus. Brodi talks about his victory with his Vandal faction from the Old Friends, New Enemies section of the Age of Invasions book. He goes over why he chose this variant of the Carolingian battle board, and how he sets up his army. Mike and Brodi talk about the key differences between the Carolingians and Vandals. Brodi goes on to recount his three victories in detail, explaining his tactics and the keys to his success in each game. The two then analyze the abilities on the battle board, pointing out how they work for the Vandals and Carolingians. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/sagaohio/message
Ben of Battle Royale: French Monarchs joins the podcast to rank the Carolingians. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Gary: Thank you very much for being on the show Ben. I am so excited to have you on. Quite a while ago I ranked the Merovingian monarchs from worst to best, and now we are going to do the same with the Carolingian monarchs. And here I have a slightly different Ben than the […]
In Weeds and the Carolingians: Empire, Culture, and Nature in Frankish Europe, AD 750–900 (Cambridge University Press, 2021), Dr. Paolo Squatriti asks: Why did weeds matter in the Carolingian empire? What was their special significance for writers in eighth- and ninth-century Europe and how was this connected with the growth of real weeds? In early medieval Europe, unwanted plants that persistently appeared among crops created extra work, reduced productivity, and challenged theologians who believed God had made all vegetation good. For the first time, in this book weeds emerge as protagonists in early medieval European history, driving human farming strategies and coloring people's imagination. Early medieval Europeans' effort to create agroecosystems that satisfied their needs and cosmologies that confirmed Christian accounts of vegetable creation both had to come to terms with unruly plants. Using diverse kinds of texts, fresh archaeobotanical data, and even mosaics, this interdisciplinary study reveals how early medieval Europeans interacted with their environments. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose doctoral work focused on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network
In Weeds and the Carolingians: Empire, Culture, and Nature in Frankish Europe, AD 750–900 (Cambridge University Press, 2021), Dr. Paolo Squatriti asks: Why did weeds matter in the Carolingian empire? What was their special significance for writers in eighth- and ninth-century Europe and how was this connected with the growth of real weeds? In early medieval Europe, unwanted plants that persistently appeared among crops created extra work, reduced productivity, and challenged theologians who believed God had made all vegetation good. For the first time, in this book weeds emerge as protagonists in early medieval European history, driving human farming strategies and coloring people's imagination. Early medieval Europeans' effort to create agroecosystems that satisfied their needs and cosmologies that confirmed Christian accounts of vegetable creation both had to come to terms with unruly plants. Using diverse kinds of texts, fresh archaeobotanical data, and even mosaics, this interdisciplinary study reveals how early medieval Europeans interacted with their environments. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose doctoral work focused on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history
In Weeds and the Carolingians: Empire, Culture, and Nature in Frankish Europe, AD 750–900 (Cambridge University Press, 2021), Dr. Paolo Squatriti asks: Why did weeds matter in the Carolingian empire? What was their special significance for writers in eighth- and ninth-century Europe and how was this connected with the growth of real weeds? In early medieval Europe, unwanted plants that persistently appeared among crops created extra work, reduced productivity, and challenged theologians who believed God had made all vegetation good. For the first time, in this book weeds emerge as protagonists in early medieval European history, driving human farming strategies and coloring people's imagination. Early medieval Europeans' effort to create agroecosystems that satisfied their needs and cosmologies that confirmed Christian accounts of vegetable creation both had to come to terms with unruly plants. Using diverse kinds of texts, fresh archaeobotanical data, and even mosaics, this interdisciplinary study reveals how early medieval Europeans interacted with their environments. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose doctoral work focused on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/environmental-studies
In Weeds and the Carolingians: Empire, Culture, and Nature in Frankish Europe, AD 750–900 (Cambridge University Press, 2021), Dr. Paolo Squatriti asks: Why did weeds matter in the Carolingian empire? What was their special significance for writers in eighth- and ninth-century Europe and how was this connected with the growth of real weeds? In early medieval Europe, unwanted plants that persistently appeared among crops created extra work, reduced productivity, and challenged theologians who believed God had made all vegetation good. For the first time, in this book weeds emerge as protagonists in early medieval European history, driving human farming strategies and coloring people's imagination. Early medieval Europeans' effort to create agroecosystems that satisfied their needs and cosmologies that confirmed Christian accounts of vegetable creation both had to come to terms with unruly plants. Using diverse kinds of texts, fresh archaeobotanical data, and even mosaics, this interdisciplinary study reveals how early medieval Europeans interacted with their environments. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose doctoral work focused on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/food
In Weeds and the Carolingians: Empire, Culture, and Nature in Frankish Europe, AD 750–900 (Cambridge University Press, 2021), Dr. Paolo Squatriti asks: Why did weeds matter in the Carolingian empire? What was their special significance for writers in eighth- and ninth-century Europe and how was this connected with the growth of real weeds? In early medieval Europe, unwanted plants that persistently appeared among crops created extra work, reduced productivity, and challenged theologians who believed God had made all vegetation good. For the first time, in this book weeds emerge as protagonists in early medieval European history, driving human farming strategies and coloring people's imagination. Early medieval Europeans' effort to create agroecosystems that satisfied their needs and cosmologies that confirmed Christian accounts of vegetable creation both had to come to terms with unruly plants. Using diverse kinds of texts, fresh archaeobotanical data, and even mosaics, this interdisciplinary study reveals how early medieval Europeans interacted with their environments. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose doctoral work focused on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/european-studies
In Weeds and the Carolingians: Empire, Culture, and Nature in Frankish Europe, AD 750–900 (Cambridge University Press, 2021), Dr. Paolo Squatriti asks: Why did weeds matter in the Carolingian empire? What was their special significance for writers in eighth- and ninth-century Europe and how was this connected with the growth of real weeds? In early medieval Europe, unwanted plants that persistently appeared among crops created extra work, reduced productivity, and challenged theologians who believed God had made all vegetation good. For the first time, in this book weeds emerge as protagonists in early medieval European history, driving human farming strategies and coloring people's imagination. Early medieval Europeans' effort to create agroecosystems that satisfied their needs and cosmologies that confirmed Christian accounts of vegetable creation both had to come to terms with unruly plants. Using diverse kinds of texts, fresh archaeobotanical data, and even mosaics, this interdisciplinary study reveals how early medieval Europeans interacted with their environments. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose doctoral work focused on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars.
In Weeds and the Carolingians: Empire, Culture, and Nature in Frankish Europe, AD 750–900 (Cambridge University Press, 2021), Dr. Paolo Squatriti asks: Why did weeds matter in the Carolingian empire? What was their special significance for writers in eighth- and ninth-century Europe and how was this connected with the growth of real weeds? In early medieval Europe, unwanted plants that persistently appeared among crops created extra work, reduced productivity, and challenged theologians who believed God had made all vegetation good. For the first time, in this book weeds emerge as protagonists in early medieval European history, driving human farming strategies and coloring people's imagination. Early medieval Europeans' effort to create agroecosystems that satisfied their needs and cosmologies that confirmed Christian accounts of vegetable creation both had to come to terms with unruly plants. Using diverse kinds of texts, fresh archaeobotanical data, and even mosaics, this interdisciplinary study reveals how early medieval Europeans interacted with their environments. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose doctoral work focused on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In Weeds and the Carolingians: Empire, Culture, and Nature in Frankish Europe, AD 750–900 (Cambridge University Press, 2021), Dr. Paolo Squatriti asks: Why did weeds matter in the Carolingian empire? What was their special significance for writers in eighth- and ninth-century Europe and how was this connected with the growth of real weeds? In early medieval Europe, unwanted plants that persistently appeared among crops created extra work, reduced productivity, and challenged theologians who believed God had made all vegetation good. For the first time, in this book weeds emerge as protagonists in early medieval European history, driving human farming strategies and coloring people's imagination. Early medieval Europeans' effort to create agroecosystems that satisfied their needs and cosmologies that confirmed Christian accounts of vegetable creation both had to come to terms with unruly plants. Using diverse kinds of texts, fresh archaeobotanical data, and even mosaics, this interdisciplinary study reveals how early medieval Europeans interacted with their environments. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose doctoral work focused on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In Weeds and the Carolingians: Empire, Culture, and Nature in Frankish Europe, AD 750–900 (Cambridge University Press, 2021), Dr. Paolo Squatriti asks: Why did weeds matter in the Carolingian empire? What was their special significance for writers in eighth- and ninth-century Europe and how was this connected with the growth of real weeds? In early medieval Europe, unwanted plants that persistently appeared among crops created extra work, reduced productivity, and challenged theologians who believed God had made all vegetation good. For the first time, in this book weeds emerge as protagonists in early medieval European history, driving human farming strategies and coloring people's imagination. Early medieval Europeans' effort to create agroecosystems that satisfied their needs and cosmologies that confirmed Christian accounts of vegetable creation both had to come to terms with unruly plants. Using diverse kinds of texts, fresh archaeobotanical data, and even mosaics, this interdisciplinary study reveals how early medieval Europeans interacted with their environments. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose doctoral work focused on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/christian-studies
In this episode we're covering the centuries between King Clothair's conquest of the Kingdom of Burgundy and King Robert II's conquest of the Duchy of Burgundy. A lot changed in that period and we're going to look at the decline of the Merovingians, the rise and fall of the Carolingians, the rise of Feudalism, some of the big events of Frankish History, and how Burgundy became a Duchy. I hope you'll join me! Time Period Covered: 561 - 1016 Notable People: Pepin de Herstal, Charles Martell, Lothar I, Richard the Justiciar, Hugh the Great, King Robert II Notable Events: Battle of Tertry, Battle of Tours, Treaty of Verdun, Capitularies of Charles the Bald, Viking Raids in France Cover Art by Brandon Wilburn Music by Zakhar Valaha
We are delighted to be joined by historian Dr Rutger Kramer on today's special episode recapping and re-examining all the Carolingians we have ranked on the podcast, from Charles Martel to Louis V. In this episode, among plenty of other topics, we talk about what the Battle of Tours really meant to the Franks, why Charlemagne is such an anomaly in this period, and why Louis the Pious might have been robbed!Rutger's "Rethinking Authority in the Carolingian Empire: Ideas and Expectations During the Reign of Louis the Pious (813-828)" is available as an open-access read, for those who want to learn more.Other recommendations:Vita Caroli (Life of Charlemagne) by Einhard (full translation)Gesta Normannorum (History of the Dukes of Normandy) by Dudo of St-Quentin (full translation)The Penitential State: Authority and Atonement in the Age of Louis the Pious by Mayke de JongList of books by Thea Beckman (Dutch historical fiction author)The Royal Diaries series by Kathryn Lasky (fiction)The Dark Queens: A gripping tale of power, ambition and murderous rivalry in early medieval France by Shelley Puhak (non-fiction narrative history about Fredegund and Brunhild, available in the US and UK)
This week we're going to take a look at what happened with Duke Tassilo III of Bavaria. This relatively minor-sounding player in the midst of Charlemagne's dynastic growth may sound unimportant, but he is a bellwether of just how strong Charles was becoming as King. You see, Charles and Tassilo were the most current iteration of an inter-family rivalry going back decades, hundreds of years even. They marked the high-water point of both groups and, as we will see, they also will symbolize just how much raw power the Carolingians had obtained by the late 8th century. ⚜️ ⚜️ ⚜️ Links to social media and the website: Patreon: Become royalty! Wise: The better way to send and convert money Audible: Try an audiobook for free! Site: https://www.thugsandmiracles.com/ Email: thugsandmiracles@gmail.com Twitter: @thugsandmiracle (with no “s” on the end) Facebook: @ThugsAndMiracles Instagram: @ThugsAndMiracles YouTube: Thugs and Miracles Academia.edu: Life After Rome Listenable: History of the Merovingians, 451-613
715 - 987 - Early Medieval France was as important as any nation of Europe in its history. This episode deals with the rekindling of kingship through the Carolingians and their relationship with the Papacy, and how their succession tradition proved to damage the empire and make way for the fragmentation of the Frankish Empire.
Our last episode was on Project MAC, a Cold War-era project sponsored by ARPA. That led to many questions like what led to the Cold War and just what was the Cold War. We'll dig into that today. The Cold War was a period between 1946, in the days after World War II, and 1991, when the United States and western allies were engaged in a technical time of peace that was actually an aggressive time of arms buildup and proxy wars. Technology often moves quickly when nations or empires are at war. In many ways, the Cold War gave us the very thought of interactive computing and networking, so is responsible for the acceleration towards our modern digital lives. And while I've never seen it references as such, this was more of a continuation of wars between the former British empire and the Imperialistic Russian empires. These make up two or the three largest empires the world has ever seen and a rare pair of empires that were active at the same time. And the third, well, we'll get to the Mongols in this story as well. These were larger than the Greeks, the Romans, the Persians, or any of the Chinese dynasties. In fact, the British Empire that reached its peak in 1920 was 7 times larger than the land controlled by the Romans, clocking in at 13.7 million square miles. The Russian Empire was 8.8 million square miles. Combined the two held nearly half the world. And their legacies live on in trade empires, in some cases run by the same families that helped fun the previous expansions. But the Russians and British were on a collision course going back to a time when their roots were not as different as one might think. They were both known to the Romans. But yet they both became feudal powers with lineages of rulers going back to Vikings. We know the Romans battled the Celts, but they also knew of a place that Ptolemy called Sarmatia Europea in around 150AD, where a man named Rurik settle far later. He was a Varangian prince, which is the name Romans gave to Vikings from the area we now call Sweden. The 9th to 11th century saw a number o these warrior chiefs flow down rivers throughout the Baltics and modern Russia in search of riches from the dwindling Roman vestiges of empire. Some returned home to Sweden; others conquered and settled. They rowed down the rivers: the Volga, the Volkhov, the Dvina, and the networks of rivers that flow between one another, all the way down the Dnieper river, through the Slavic tripes Ptolemy described which by then had developed into city-states, such as Kiev, past the Romanians and Bulgers and to the second Rome, or Constantinople. The Viking ships rowed down these rivers. They pillaged, conquered, and sometimes settled. The term for rowers was Rus. Some Viking chiefs set up their own city-states in and around the lands. Some when their lands back home were taken while they were off on long campaigns. Charlemagne conquered modern day France and much of Germany, from The Atlantic all the way down into the Italian peninsula, north into Jutland, and east to the border with the Slavic tribes. He weakened many, upsetting the balance of power in the area. Or perhaps there was never a balance of power. Empires such as the Scythians and Sarmatians and various Turkic or Iranian powers had come and gone and each in their wake crossing the vast and harsh lands found only what Homer said of the area all the way back in the 8th century BCE, that the land was deprived of sunshine. The Romans never pushed up so far into the interior of the steppes as the were busy with more fertile farming grounds. But as the Roman Empire fell and the Byzantines flourished, the Vikings traded with them and even took their turn trying to loot Constantinople. And Frankish Paris. And again, settled in the Slavic lands, marrying into cultures and DNA. The Rus Rome retreated from lands as her generals were defeated. The Merovingian dynasty rose in the 5th century with the defeat of Syagrius, the last Roman general Gaul and lasted until a family of advisors slowly took control of running the country, transitioning to the Carolingian Empire, of which Charlemagne, the Holy Roman Emperor, as he was crowned, was the most famous. He conquered and grew the empire. Charlemagne knew the empire had outgrown what one person could rule with the technology of the era, so it was split into three, which his son passed to his grandsons. And so the Carolingian empire had made the Eastern Slavs into tributaries of the Franks. There were hostilities but by the Treaty of Mersen in 870 the split of the empire generally looked like the borders of northern Italy, France, and Germany - although Germany also included Austria but not yet Bohemia. It split and re-merged and smaller boundary changes happened but that left the Slavs aware of these larger empires. The Slavic peoples grew and mixed with people from the Steppes and Vikings. The Viking chiefs were always looking for new extensions to their trade networks. Trade was good. Looting was good. Looting and getting trade concessions to stop looting those already looted was better. The networks grew. One of those Vikings was Rurik. Possibly Danish Rorik, a well documented ally who tended to play all sides of the Carolingians and a well respected raider and military mind. Rurik was brought in as the first Viking, or rower, or Rus, ruler of the important trade city that would be known as New City, or Novgorod. Humans had settled in Kiev since the Stone Age and then by Polans before another prince Kyi took over and then Rurik's successor Oleg took Smolensk and Lyubech. Oleg extended the land of Rus down the trading routes, and conquered Kiev. Now, they had a larger capital and were the Kievan Rus. Rurik's son Igor took over after Oleg and centralized power in Kiev. He took tribute from Constantinople after he attacked, plunder Arab lands off the Caspian Sea, and was killed overtaxing vassal states in his territory. His son Sviatoslav the Brave then conquered the Alans and through other raiding helped cause the collapse of the Kazaria and Bulgarian empires. They expanded throughout the Volga River valley, then to the Balkans, and up the Pontic Steppe, and quickly became the largest empire in Europe of the day. His son Vladimir the Great expanded again, with he empire extending from the Baltics to Belarus to the Baltics and converted to Christianity, thus Christianizing the lands he ruled. He began marrying and integrating into the Christian monarchies, which his son continued. Yaroslov the Wise married the daughter of the King of Sweden who gave him the area around modern-day Leningrad. He then captured Estonia in 1030, and as with others in the Rurikid dynasty as they were now known, made treaties with others and then pillaged more Byzantine treasures. He married one daughter to the King of Norway, another to the King of Hungary, another to the King of the Franks, and another to Edward the Exile of England, and thus was the grandfather of Edgar the Aetheling, who later became a king of England. The Mongols The next couple of centuries saw the rise of Feudalism and the descendants of Rurik fight amongst each other. The various principalities were, as with much of Europe during the Middle Ages, semi-independent duchies, similar to city-states. Kiev became one of the many and around the mid 1100s Yaroslav the Wise's great-grandson, Yuri Dolgoruki built a number of new villages and principalities, including one along the Moskva river they called Moscow. They built a keep there, which the Rus called kremlins. The walls of those keeps didn't keep the Mongols out. They arrived in 1237. They moved the capital to Moscow and Yaroslav II, Yuri's grandson, was poisoned in the court of Ghengis Khan's grandson Batu. The Mongols ruled, sometimes through the descendants of Rurik, sometimes disposing of them and picking a new one, for 200 years. This is known as the time of the “Mongol yoke.” One of those princes the Mongols let rule was Ivan I of Moscow, who helped them put down a revolt in a rival area in the 1300s. The Mongols trusted Moscow after that, and so we see a migration of rulers of the land up into Moscow. The Golden Horde, like the Viking Danes and Swedes settled in some lands. Kublai Khan made himself ruler of China. Khanates splintered off to form the ruling factions of weaker lands, such as modern India and Iran - who were once the cradle of civilization. Those became the Mughals dynasties as they Muslimized and moved south. And so the Golden Horde became the Great Horde. Ivan the Great expanded the Muscovite sphere of influence, taking Novgorod, Rostov, Tver, Vyatka, and up into the land of the Finns. They were finally strong enough to stand up to the Tatars as they called their Mongol overlords and made a Great Stand on the Ugra River. And summoning a great army simply frightened the Mongol Tatars off. Turns out they were going through their own power struggles between princes of their realm and Akhmed was assassinated the next year, with his successor becoming Sheikh instead of Khan. Ivan's grandson, Ivan the Terrible expanded the country even further. He made deals with various Khans and then conquered others, pushing east to conquer the Khanate of Sibiu and so conquered Siberia in the 1580s. The empire then stretched all the way to the Pacific Ocean. He had a son who didn't have any heirs and so was the last in the Rurikid dynasty. But Ivan the Terrible had married Anastasia Romanov, who when he crowned himself Caesar, or Tsar as they called it, made her Tsaritsa. And so the Romanov's came to power in 1596 and following the rule of Peter the Great from 1672 to 1725, brought the Enlightenment to Russia. He started the process of industrialization, built a new capital he called St Petersburg, built a navy, made peace with the Polish king, then Ottoman king, and so took control of the Baltics, where the Swedes had taken control of on and off since the time of Rurik. Russian Empire Thus began the expansion as the Russian Empire. They used an alliance with Denmark-Norway and chased the Swedes through the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, unseating the Polish king along the way. He probably should not have allied with them. They moved back into Finland, took the Baltics so modern Latvia and Estonia, and pushed all the way across the Eurasian content across the frozen tundra and into Alaska. Catherine the Great took power in 1762 and ignited a golden age. She took Belarus, parts of Mongolia, parts of modern day Georgia, overtook the Crimean Khanate, and modern day Azerbaijan. and during her reign founded Odessa, Sevastopol and other cities. She modernized the country like Peter and oversaw nearly constant rebellions in the empire. And her three or four children went on to fill the courts of Britain, Denmark, Sweden, Spain, and the Netherlands. She set up a national network of schools, with teachings from Russian and western philosophers like John Locke. She collected vast amounts of art, including many from China. She set up a banking system and issued paper money. She also started the process to bring about the end of serfdom. Even though between her and the country she owned 3.3 million herself. She planned on invading the Khanate of Persia, but passed away before her army got there. Her son Paul halted expansion. And probably just in time. Her grandson Alexander I supported other imperial powers against Napoleon and so had to deal with the biggest invasion Russia had seen. Napoleon moved in with his grand army of half a million troops. The Russians used a tactic that Peter the Great used and mostly refused to engage Napoleon's troops instead burning the supply lines. Napoleon lost 300,000 troops during that campaign. Soon after the Napoleanic wars ended, the railways began to appear. The country was industrializing and with guns and cannons, growing stronger than ever. The Opium Wars, between China and the UK then the UK and France were not good to China. Even though Russia didn't really help they needed up with a piece of the Chinese empire and so in the last half of the 1800s the Russian Empire grew by another 300,000 square miles on the backs of a series of unequal treaties as they came to be known in China following World War I. And so by 1895, the Romanovs had expanded past their native Moscow, driven back the Mongols, followed some of the former Mongol Khanates to their lands and taken them, took Siberia, parts of the Chinese empire, the Baltics, Alaska, and were sitting on the third largest empire the world had ever seen, which covered nearly 17 percent of the world. Some 8.8 million square miles. And yet, still just a little smaller than the British empire. They had small skirmishes with the British but by and large looked to smaller foes or proxy wars, with the exception of the Crimean War. Revolution The population was expanding and industrializing. Workers flocked to factories on those train lines. And more people in more concentrated urban areas meant more ideas. Rurik came in 862 and his descendants ruled until the Romanovs took power in 1613. They ruled until 1917. That's over 1,000 years of kings, queens, Tsars, and Emperors. The ideas of Marx slowly spread. While the ruling family was busy with treaties and wars and empire, they forgot to pay attention to the wars at home. People like Vladimir Lenin discovered books by people like Karl Marx. Revolution was in the air around the world. France had shown monarchies could be toppled. Some of the revolutionaries were killed, others put to work in labor camps, others exiled, and still others continued on. Still, the empire was caught up in global empire intrigues. The German empire had been growing and the Russians had the Ottomans and Bulgarians on their southern boarders. They allied with France to take Germany, just as they'd allied with Germany to take down Poland. And so after over 1.8 million dead Russians and another 3.2 million wounded or captured and food shortages back home and in the trenches, the people finally had enough of their Tsar. They went on strike but Tsar Nicholas ordered the troops to fire. The troops refused. The Duma stepped in and forced Nicholas to abdicate. Russia had revolted in 1917, sued Germany for peace, and gave up more territory than they wanted in the process. Finland, the Baltics, their share of Poland, parts of the Ukraine. It was too much. But the Germans took a lot of time and focus to occupy and so it helped to weaken them in the overall war effort. Back home, Lenin took a train home and his Bolshevik party took control of the country. After the war Poland was again independent. Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, and the Serbs became independent nations. In the wake of the war the Ottoman Empire was toppled and modern Turkey was born. The German Kaiser abdicated. And socialism and communism were on the rise. In some cases, that was really just a new way to refer to a dictator that pretended to care about the people. Revolution had come to China in 1911 and Mao took power in the 1940s. Meanwhile, Lenin passed in 1924 and Rykov, then Molotov, who helped spur a new wave of industrialization. Then Stalin, who led purges of the Russian people in a number of Show Trials before getting the Soviet Union, as Russian Empire was now called, into World War II. Stalin encouraged Hitler to attack Poland in 1939. Let's sit on that for a second. He tried to build a pact with the Western powers and after that broke down, he launched excursions annexing parts of Poland, Finland, Romania, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia. Many of the lands were parts of the former Russian Empire. The USSR had chunks of Belarus and the Ukraine before but as of the 1950s annexed Poland, Easter Germany, Czechoslovakia, Romania, and Bulgaria as part of the Warsaw Pact, a block of nations we later called the Soviet Bloc. They even built a wall between East and West Germany. During and after the war, the Americans whisked German scientists off to the United States. The Soviets were in no real danger from an invasion by the US and the weakened French, Austrians, and military-less Germans were in no place to attack the Soviets. The UK had to rebuild and British empire quickly fell apart. Even the traditional homes of the vikings who'd rowed down the rivers would cease to become global powers. And thus there were two superpowers remaining in the world, the Soviets and the United States. The Cold War The Soviets took back much of the former Russian Empire, claiming they needed buffer zones or through subterfuge. At its peak, the Soviet Union cover 8.6 million square miles; just a couple hundred thousand shy of the Russian Empire. On the way there, they grew to a nation of over 290 million people with dozens of nationalities. And they expanded the sphere of influence even further, waging proxy wars in places like Vietnam and Korea. They never actually went to war with the United States, in much the same way they mostly avoided the direct big war with the Mongols and the British - and how Rorik of Dorestad played both sides of Frankish conflicts. We now call this period the Cold War. The Cold War was an arms race. This manifested itself first in nuclear weapons. The US is still the only country to detonate a nuclear weapon in war time, from the bombings that caused the surrender of Japan at the end of the war. The Soviets weren't that far behind and detonated a bomb in 1949. That was the same year NATO was founded as a treaty organization between Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, and the United States. The US upped the ante with the hydrogen bomb in 1952. The Soviets got the hydrogen bomb in 1955. And then came the Space Race. Sputnik launched in 1957. The Russians were winning the space race. They further proved that when they put Yuri Gagarin up in 1961. By 1969 the US put Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the moon. Each side developed military coalitions, provided economic aid to allies, built large arsenals of weapons, practiced espionage against one another, deployed massive amounts of propaganda, and spreading their ideology. Or at least that's what the modern interpretation of history tells us. There were certainly ideological differences, but the Cold War saw the spread of communism as a replacement for conquest. That started with Lenin trying to lead a revolt throughout Europe but shifted over the decades into again, pure conquest. Truman saw the rapid expansion of the Soviets and without context that they were mostly reclaiming lands conquered by the Russian imperial forces, won support for the Truman Doctrine. There, he contained Soviet expansion in Eastern Europe. First, they supported Greece and Turkey. But the support extended throughout areas adjacent to Soviet interests. Eisenhower saw how swiftly Russians were putting science in action with satellites and space missions and nuclear weapons - and responded with an emphasis in American science. The post-war advancements in computing were vast in the US. The industry moved from tubes and punch cards to interactive computing after the Whirlwind computer was developed at MIT first to help train pilots and then to intercept soviet nuclear weapons. Packet switching, and so the foundations of the Internet were laid to build a computer network that could withstand nuclear attack. Graphical interfaces got their start when Ivan Sutherland was working at MIT on the grandchild of Whirlwind, the TX-2 - which would evolve into the Digital Equipment PDP once privatized. Drum memory, which became the foundation of storage was developed to help break Russian codes and intercept messages. There isn't a part of the computing industry that isn't touched by the research farmed out by various branches of the military and by ARPA. Before the Cold War, Russia and then the Soviet Union were about half for and half against various countries when it came to proxy wars. They tended to play both sides. After the Cold War it was pretty much always the US or UK vs the Soviet Union. Algeria, Kenya, Taiwan, the Sudan, Lebanon, Central America, the Congo, Eritrea, Yemen, Dhofar, Algeria, Malaysia, the Dominican Republic, Chad, Iran, Iraq, Thailand, Bolivia, South Africa, Nigeria, India, Bangladesh, Angolia, Ethiopia, the Sahara, Indonesia, Somalia, Mozambique, Libya, and Sri Lanka. And the big ones were Korea, Vietnam, and Afghanistan. Many of these are still raging on today. The Soviet empire grew to over 5 million soldiers. The US started with 2 nuclear weapons in 1945 and had nearly 300 by 1950 when the Soviets had just 5. The US stockpile grew to over 18,000 in 1960 and peaked at over 31,000 in 1965. The Soviets had 6,129 by then but kept building until they got close to 40,000 by 1980. By then the Chinese, France, and the UK each had over 200 and India and Israel had developed nuclear weapons. Since then only Pakistan and North Korea have added warheads, although there are US warheads located in Germany, Belgium, Italy, Turkey, and the Netherlands. Modern Russia The buildup was expensive. Research, development, feeding troops, supporting asymmetrical warfare in proxy states, and trade sanctions put a strain on the government and nearly bankrupted Russia. They fell behind in science, after Stalin had been anti-computers. Meanwhile, the US was able to parlay all that research spending into true productivity gains. The venture capital system also fueled increasingly wealthy companies who paid taxes. Banking, supply chains, refrigeration, miniaturization, radio, television, and everywhere else we could think of. By the 1980s, the US had Apple and Microsoft and Commodore. The Russians were trading blat, or an informal black market currency, to gain access to knock-offs of ZX Spectrums when the graphical interfaces systems were born. The system of government in the Soviet Union had become outdated. There were some who had thought to modernize it into more of a technocracy in an era when the US was just starting to build ARPANET - but those ideas never came to fruition. Instead it became almost feudalistic with high-ranking party members replacing the boyars, or aristocrats of the old Kievan Rus days. The standard of living suffered. So many cultures and tribes under one roof, but only the Slavs had much say. As the empire over-extended there were food shortages. If there are independent companies then the finger can be pointed in their direction but when food is rationed by the Politburo then the decline in agricultural production became dependent on bringing food in from the outside. That meant paying for it. Pair that with uneven distribution and overspending on the military. The Marxist-Leninist doctrine had been a one party state. The Communist Party. Michael Gorbachev allowed countries in the Bloc to move into a democratic direction with multiple parties. The Soviet Union simply became unmanageable. And while Gorbachev took the blame for much of the downfall of the empire, there was already a deep decay - they were an oligarchy pretending to be a communist state. The countries outside of Russia quickly voted in non-communist governments and by 1989 the Berlin Wall came down and the Eastern European countries began to seek independence, most moving towards democratic governments. The collapse of the Soviet Union resulted in 15 separate countries and left the United States standing alone as the global superpower. The Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland joined NATO in 1999. 2004 saw Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia join. 2009 brought in Albania and Croatia. 2017 led to Montenegro and then North Macedonia. Then came the subject of adding Ukraine. The country that the Kievan Rus had migrated throughout the lands from. The stem from which the name and possibly soul of the country had sprouted from. How could Vladimir Putin allow that to happen? Why would it come up? As the Soviets pulled out of the Bloc countries , they left remnants of their empire behind. Belarus, Kazakstan, and the Ukraine were left plenty of weapons that couldn't be moved quickly. Ukraine alone had 1,700 nuclear weapons, which included 16 intercontinental ballistic missiles. Add to that nearly 2,000 biological and chemical weapons. Those went to Russia or were disassembled once the Ukrainians were assured of their sovereignty. The Crimea, which had been fought over in multiple bloody wars was added to Ukraine. At least until 2014, when Putin wanted the port of Sevastopol, founded by Catherine the Great. Now there was a gateway from Russia to the Mediterranean yet again. So Kievan Rus under Rurik is really the modern Ukraine and the Russian Empire then Romanov Dynasty flowed from that following the Mongol invasions. The Russian Empire freed other nations from the yolk of Mongolian rule but became something entirely different once they over-extended. Those countries in the empire often traded the Mongol yolk for the Soviet yolk. And entirely different from the Soviet Union that fought the Cold War and the modern Russia we know today. Meanwhile, the states of Europe had been profoundly changed since the days of Thomas Paine's The Rights of Man and Marx. Many moved left of center and became socialized parts of their economy. No one ever need go hungry in a Scandanavian country. Health care, education, even child care became free in many countries. Many of those same ideals that helped lift the standard of living for all in developed countries then spread, including in Canada and some in the US. And so we see socialism to capitalism as more of a spectrum than a boolean choice now. And totalitarianism, oligarchy, and democracy as a spectrum as well. Many could argue reforms in democratic countries are paid for by lobbyists who are paid for by companies and thus an effective oligarchy. Others might argue the elections in many countries are rigged and so they aren't even oligarchs, they're monarchies. Putin took office in 1999 and while Dmitry Medvedev was the president for a time, but he effectively ruled in a tandemocracy with Putin until Putin decided to get back in power. That's 23 years and counting and just a few months behind when King Abdullah took over in Jordan and King Mohammed VI took over in Morocco. And so while democratic in name, they're not all quite so democratic. Yet they do benefit from technology that began in Western countries and spread throughout the world. Countries like semi-conductor manufacturer Sitronics even went public on the London stock exchange. Hard line communists might (and do) counter that the US has an empire and that western countries conspire for the downfall of Russia or want to turn Russians into slaves to the capitalist machine. As mentioned earlier, there has always been plenty of propaganda in this relationship. Or gaslighting. Or fake news. Or disinformation. One of those American advancements that ties the Russians to the capitalist yoke is interactive computing. That could have been developed in Glushkov's or Kitov's labs in Russia, as they had the ideas and talent. But because the oligarchy that formed around communism, the ideas were sidelined and it came out of MIT - and that led to Project MAC, which did as much to democratize computing as Gorbachev did to democratize the Russian Federation.
He may be called simple, however, his reign is anything but. Sit tight as we take you on a roller coaster, from a weak little boy at the mercy of his nobles to... a weak old man at the mercy of his nobles. But it's all about the journey, not the destination, and our fourth (or third?) Charles's reign is one hell of a ride - from the murder of an archbishop to Vikings attending French classes. That's right, the NORMANS are here, and people are MAD about it! Visit our Wordpress for episode images, score summaries, contact details and more!Go to our Ko-Fi to buy us a coffee and contribute to the show!
It's time to see if the long-awaited son of Robert the Strong turns out to be an O-do or an O-don't! And if that dad joke wasn't enough to entice you, then Eliza's excitement for this king certainly will, as she makes plans to name a goldfish after him. But of course no description of this episode would be complete without a tease of the SIEGE OF PARIS, the great Viking assault that you may have seen dramatised in the show Vikings or the game Assassins' Creed. But here you will get the REAL story, as told by a "crooked cleric" who witnessed the event firsthand. After our first Robertian king proves himself a hero against the Vikings and makes his move to snatch the crown from the Carolingians, will he prove to be the great king that all his promise showed, or will he face his downfall from his squabbling nobles?If you are enjoying us, please make sure to leave us a review wherever you are able (and we might even read your review out on the show!), and if you are REALLY enjoying us, you can now support the pod on our Ko-fi!
After decades in the background of our Carolingian series, it is time for the large-and-in-charge Emperor Charles to come to the fore and lead West Francia to ... well, greatness is a strong word. Plagued by poor health and a lack of heirs, will Charles the Fat be able to steady the sinking ship, or will he allow the Carolingian empire to shatter once and for all?Things to look forward to in this episode include a baby getting possessed by a demon, an empress undergoing a literal Trial by Fire, bishops cracking Viking skulls with their hefty Bibles, and a medical procedure called "trepanning" which you really shouldn't google. It's getting very medieval up in here.If you are enjoying the podcast and want to help us continue, you can now "buy us a coffee" on our Ko-Fi page! We would really appreciate your support, if you just want to throw us a one-off donation.
The Bishop of Rome, also known as the Pope, is a position like no other. It is a position that carries prestige and power, not only as the head of the Roman Catholic Church, but as the head of state for Vatican City and all of the territories included in the States of the Church. However, the Pope hasn't always had this prestige and power. Until the late 8th Century the Pope had no lands, and he had to get permission from the Roman Emperors in Constantinople before he could even accept the election to Pope. It was a position that really didn't have much more influence than any other bishop in the Church. That started to change when the Pope made a deal with the Franks and the rich and powerful French family, the Carolingians. Pepin the Short donated what became the Papal States to the Pope, and it would change the Papacy forever. What did the Carolingians get in return for this donation, and how did this alliance kick off what many refer to as the Dark Ages? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #101.
By popular demand, everyone's (least) favourite clown has arrived to crash the Carolingian party! As the first non-Carolingian ruler within Charlemagne's empire and an extremely controversial figure in his time, we thought it only fitting that we cover him in a special episode. In this episode, we discuss Boso's rise to power on the coattails of his sister Richilde, who successfully seduced the ageing king Charles the Bald. We then go through how he unsuccessfully governed Italy, forcibly married Princess Ermengarde, and rescued the Pope from Moorish pirates. A man of contradictions is our Boso...Also, as in Robert the Strong's episode, we get to zoom in on a particular part of what will become France: the rugged southeastern regions of Provence and Upper Burgundy.If you are enjoying the podcast so far and want it to keep going and continue to improve, we now have a way for you to show your support: Go to ko-fi.com/battleroyale and "buy us a coffee"! We would appreciate it SO much.
Listen to our friend Roberto's podcast, History of Saqartvelo Georgia!Hot off the heels of his brother and co-ruler Louis III, will Carloman II be able to save the West Franks from the Viking menace? No? It just gets worse? Oh, dear.Prepare yourself for the most horrifying horrors of the Viking age, forcing even our scribe Archbishop Hincmar to flee his church as the Annals of St Bertin come to their climactic end.Stay tuned also for our quiz at the end of the episode! Let us know if you managed to beat Eliza, or at least remember Pepin the Short...
The Carolingian family tree is starting to shrivel up, but Louis III is a spot of light in the darkness, known for his famous battles against the Vikings. Louis wins the battle, but can he win the war? How will he go with sharing power with his brother Carloman II? And when will Boso go away and stop annoying everyone?But perhaps the most interesting question about Louis III is... He died HOW?
It's time for Louis 2: Electric Booga- Oh, wait, his reign's already over? Thankfully, Louis the Stammerer is no Merovingian, so we have bountiful evidence of what he was doing throughout his short and rather chaotic life. From facing down Robert the Strong at the mere age of 12 to having to make small talk with Pope John VIII at the Council of Troyes, Louis's life is full of awkward moments that would be bad enough without a speech impediment.Flock to social media and let us know what you thought of our second Louis, and tune in next week for his son Louis III. How will he fare against the renewed onslaught of the Vikings, and the boundless ambition of our villainous clown Boso? The answer may surprise you.
During our exploration of the Frankish Papacy, Dr. Rutger Kramer has been our academic hero, providing access to sources, and inspiring thought-provoking discussions that resulted in much more informative episodes. So it only seemed right that we invite him on to the show, to provide his expertise! In this episode, Bry and Rutger discuss the concepts of power, state, and church for both the Carolingians and the Papacy, the complicated dynamics of the Carolingian-Papal relationship, and critically evaluating our contemporary sources! Find Rutger: https://twitter.com/AnotherAspirin
The most wonderful time of the year was made even more wonderful by our first ever guests, Bry and Fry of the Pontifacts podcast, who rate all of the popes from Peter to Francis. Complemented as ever by the splendid humour of Fry and Eliza, Bry and Ben recount the tales of the five patron saints of France who have been woven into our story so far: Saint Petronilla, Saint Denis, Saint Martin, Saint Remy and Saint Radegund. This is definitely not your average Christmas episode! We've got a guy carrying his own severed head, an emperor's butt being set on fire and a dove descending from the sky with a Molotov cocktail, just to name a few incidents. We also find out that not only could women read in the Dark Ages (shocker!), but one of them could even speak to frogs! How very French of her.Go read about the INSANE story St Ulphia wrote!And of course, listen to Pontifacts!
This week we're zooming in on northwestern France to talk about an initially minor nobleman named Robert. From humble(ish) origins, he will found a dynasty that will come to rival the Carolingians in the west. But what of the man himself? This week, we're talking sneaky skulduggery, bloody battles and vicious Vikings! Robert will die defending Francia from the heathens ... but the story of how he got there is a little more complicated.As he is not a king, Robert the Strong will not be eligible for the guillotine. Instead we decide from which seats he will get to watch the final tournament: the VIP Box, or the Carloman Memorial Nosebleed Section?
Welcome back and welcome to Season Three! As always, I'm Benjamin Bernier, and this week we're going to get right into it... Picking up where we left off at the end of last season, we're going to watch the newly crowned Pépin I of the Carolingians answer the call for help from the Pope... just three years after the call was initially put out, and after the death of the Pope who was calling. So much for timelines! However, when the Franks finally did get things in order in Francia well enough for them to come over the Alps, well, the Lombards were going to find out who the real power players in Western Europe really were. All of this action would lead to new realizations, a new map of Empire, and in the end, a Donation to the Church that would change the way the Papacy was viewed right up until the present day. On a more present note, with the inauguration of Season 3, we here at T+M also decided the time was right to start a Patreon account! We appreciate everyone who listens to the show and everyone who leaves reviews, and now we're asking, if your heart is big enough, to show the world how much you like us with a donation to help us cover some of the production costs. Over the past two years, we've done this show with almost nothing in the way of ads or other income, and well, it hasn't been the greatest business model, to say the least! What we're doing now is asking you to pick a level you're comfortable with, and with those levels you'll get access to some great extras, as well as the chance to join the Merovingians, Carolingians, Capetians or Napoleons: For $1 you can become a Merovingian, a founding supporter of the show; for that you'll get your name read out in our next episode! For $3 you can step up to being a Carolingian; at that tier you get your name read out, you get access to our Patreon Exclusive episodes, and the chance to vote on topics for upcoming Exclusives. We have five of our Bonus Episodes from Seasons 1 and 2 already migrated over to Patreon, and we plan on dropping a new Exclusive episode once a month going forward. For January, we'll be looking at what might have been if Charles Martel had lost at the Battle of Tours; if that interests you and you want to have a say in the show, this level is for you! Next is the Capetian level, offering you all of the other great benefits already mentioned. But wait, there's more! For $5/month as a Capetian, you'll get access to the ad-free feed of the show (because soon enough, the free stream of the pod will include staff-selected ads from companies with products we think our audience will like). If you don't want your listening experience sullied by intrusive adverts, then please head on over to Patreon and take advantage of becoming a Capetian. Finally, for anyone out there who dreams just a little bigger, we have the final level: Napoleonic! For $20/month, you get everything the show has to offer, plus you'll get your name mentioned in every single episode while your reign lasts. And there's a limit to how many Emperors we can have: just as there were only three Emperors Napoleon, this tier will also be limited to three. You just don't get much more exclusive than that, and we're sure that we'll have extra extras in store for you as time goes on. Thank you for supporting the show, and thank you for showing you care, either financially or with a nice review! We are looking forward to another great season, and can't wait to be back in your feed in 10 days! * * * Links to social media and the website: Site: https://www.thugsandmiracles.com/ Email: thugsandmiracles@gmail.com Twitter: @thugsandmiracle (with no “s” on the end) Facebook: @ThugsAndMiracles Instagram: @ThugsAndMiracles YouTube: Thugs and Miracles Academia.edu: Life After Rome Listenable: History of the Merovingians, 451-613
Another jam-packed reign, with possibly the most tricky and controversial ranking yet. A lot of deliberation was cut from the ranking segments! Will Charles the Bald make his father Louis the Pious proud, by reviving the glory of his namesake Charlemagne? Or will he be chopped up ... like a turnip?Once you have listened, what will you think of Charles the Bald? Was he a peak or a trough of the Carolingian period? Did he deserve the judgement we gave him? We are particularly keen to hear your thoughts on this one, so flock to our socials to let us know. Also BIG NEWS! We are doing a collaboration with the PONTIFACTS podcast over Christmas and talking about the patron saints of France. Which would you love to hear us cover?
Charlemagne is a hard act to follow, but Louis the Pious shows promise. Will he pull through and escape the guillotine? This lengthy episode is jam-packed with so many twists and turns of fates and loyalties, leaving us wondering what exactly to make of this unholiest of holy kings...
A massive army of Odin-worshippers sail down the Seine and threaten Paris. With the Carolingians gone the Franks will have to fend for themselves. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
It's finally time for the Carolingians to snatch that crown from the feeble hands of the last Merovingians. This week we'll see the Franks and the Lombards finally butt heads in an epic showdown, witness a blossoming bromance between Pepin and the Pope, and discuss why Pepin the Short (like Napoleon) was probably not short. This is hopefully the last of our sketchy-audio-quality episodes. So look forward to crisp and clear sound next week with Carloman I, whose reign will be an important prelude to that of the Father of Europe himself, Charlemagne.
Email-Adress for Q&A: thofcgn@gmx.de Cologne during the Carolingian dynasty. A city in the heart of the Eastern Frankish Empire. In this episode we once again take a walk through the Cologne that might have been in the 9th century.
With Theodoric, we say goodbye to Ebroin's meddling and hello again to the dynasty that will become the Carolingians. A bit of stability is nice... but at what cost to the Merovingians?As ever, make sure you visit our Wordpress site, and give us a rating if you've enjoyed us. Also follow us on social media. It's just a small way you can help grow our little community!
Louis the German is dead but a golden age for the Carolingians seems right around the corner as Carloman and his brother Louis III both look like amazing leaders to reunite the empire. Just as long Charles the Fat doesn't get the crown things look like it will be grand!
This week, at long last and well overdue, we have made it to the end of Season 2 of the podcast! Having wrapped up all of the Kings and having put us on the road to Season 3 with the Carolingians, we're taking this week to look back on the past 300 years of podcasting and two years of history. Wait, I think I got those backward... As a special treat and to try something new this week, I've chosen to do something which - to me - felt completely crazy: this episode is script-free. No safety net. No sweet comfort of written words. I've spent so much time in the past few years thinking, researching and writing on this topic that I felt I had a solid 30 minutes inside of my mind with which to make this final episode, and sure enough, I did! What follows is, I hope, a less filtered and more open discussion on my feelings toward the Merovingians, the early Franks, and just why I feel it was important to start the podcast in 476. To know where you're going, know where you've been... and frighteningly enough, some of the lessons from this first of Europe's dynasties are still applicable today. In some ways - some good, some bad - human beings never seem to change. * * * Links to social media and the website: Academia.edu: Life After Rome Kindle Vella: Queens of Blood Site: https://www.thugsandmiracles.com/ Email: thugsandmiracles@gmail.com Twitter: @thugsandmiracle (with no “s” on the end) Facebook: @ThugsAndMiracles Instagram: @ThugsAndMiracles YouTube: Thugs and Miracles Listenable: History of the Merovingians, 451-613
This week, we have finally made it to the last day of the last Merovingian King, Childéric III. And what can we say about this event other than it has been a really, really long time coming. I mean seriously, we're talking about a Merovingian king still sitting the throne in 751; that's nearly a century after Grimoald made his coup attempt in the wake of the death of Sigibert III, and it's 117 years since the death of Dagobert I, who is arguably the last Merovingian king of any stature or importance. 117 years is just a long time to be dealing with ineffective royal leadership, guys who were basically holding onto the crown simply because that's what their father and their grandfather had done. Add into the mix that upwards of five of these guys were probably pulled out of monasteries and told to say that they were “Merovingians” - to include the latest and last king - and then add into the mix that the Carolingian precursors had been dealing with all of this for basically the entire 117 years, and all of a sudden Pépin's move doesn't look so much like a coup d'état as it does an incredibly slow-moving inevitability. Well, the inevitable happens... this week! On a related note, I was listening recently to the Prologue episodes of Dirk Hoffmann-Becking's History of the Germans podcast recently and I heard him describe the entire situation with the Mayors of the Palace as being akin to the fictional “Stewards of Gondor” from the Lord of the Rings books and movies. Honestly, I thought this was a great parallel: the Stewards sat for centuries waiting for the absent King to reappear, and in that time they became more and more powerful, acting as de facto kings themselves. In both cases, everyone seemed fine with the situation even though, to an outside observer, they seem rather silly; why not just create a meritocracy and put a good fit on the throne? Well, that's what the Mayors of the Palace eventually got around to. If the Stewards of the Throne in Tolkien's books had taken the final step and tried for the throne themselves, they pretty much would have been the Carolingians! * * * Links to social media and the website: Academia.edu: Life After Rome Kindle Vella: Queens of Blood Site: https://www.thugsandmiracles.com/ Email: thugsandmiracles@gmail.com Twitter: @thugsandmiracle (with no “s” on the end) Facebook: @ThugsAndMiracles Instagram: @ThugsAndMiracles YouTube: Thugs and Miracles Listenable: History of the Merovingians, 451-613
At the beginning of the 8th century, the power of the Merovingian kings has declined. The high officials at the royal court hold the real power. It is the rise of the Carolingians, who gradually worked their way up from the Merovingians as court officials. So powerful are they now that they even fight among themselves for power and who can continue to make the Merovingian king dance like a puppet to be the real ruler of the Frankish Empire. A bloody conflict arises between two Carolingians: stepmother Plektrudis in Cologne and her stepson Karl Martell. The conflict has its beginning but also its end in Cologne.
This week we're finally looking at the do-nothing kings, les rois fainéants, as exactly that: kings who sat the throne, and besides the title and crown, had very little to say in the actual administration of the land over which they nominally ruled. In this case, we're looking at Theuderic III, whose Mayor of the Palace was the aforementioned Ebroin, and Dagobert II, led by Martin and Pépin d'Herstal. Looking deeper, we're going to examine the knife's edge that not only victory sits upon, but history as a whole. I say this because quite simply, and as evidenced in the opening story, things could easily have broken Ebroin's way as much as they did Pépin's. And let's face it: the two men were really not all that dissimilar, even though the scribes advocating for the Carolingians in later years would do their best to hide this fact. So with all of that said, let's get into the heavyweight fight that would determine the future of Francia. Ebroin and Pépin entered the ring nearly equally matched; the difference between winning and losing, between immortality and obscurity, danced on a knife's edge... * * * Links to social media and the website: Site: https://www.thugsandmiracles.com/ Email: thugsandmiracles@gmail.com Twitter: @thugsandmiracle (with no “s” on the end) Facebook: @ThugsAndMiracles Instagram: @ThugsAndMiracles Patreon (Who I Support): https://www.patreon.com/user/creators?u=47488268
Meg Leja (SUNY Binghamton) joins Merle and Lee to discuss her work on early medieval medicine and the Carolingians. Meg begins the conversation by situating the Carolingians historically and explaining why they have been written out of the “standard” story of history of medicine. She continues by discussing how the Carolingians thought about health and medicine, while also pointing out some of the issues of concern - and innovations - of the Carolingian period. Among the topics that come up are the supposed dichotomy between “medical” knowledge and “religious” ideas and the extent to which these ideas were held among contemporaries. Meg also links the Carolingian story to broader issues in medieval medicine and reflects upon its importance to non-medievalists.
Bret Devereaux is a teaching assistant professor of history at North Carolina State University and is the author of the famous https://acoup.blog The blog covers ancient history generally with military history as the main focus. One of the genius ideas in the blog is to illuminate the subject by analysing fantasy literature. In this episode we talked about the battle of Helm's Deep (with forays into World War II and the world of the Carolingians and much else beside). Saruman's reputation as a general is not enhanced. Bret also spoke about Tolkien's place in the canon of World War I literature. I hope you enjoy it.
Lots of good Saga conversation in this episode! Host Mike Demana is joined by his guest from Episode 01, Jim Beegan. The two discuss the potency of Jim's Jomsviking army, which he feels is one of the toughest in the game. Mike then introduces his next army, Carolingians, and they discuss tactics he has used in his battles so far and whether his list is too one-dimensional. After analyzing both armies, the pair talk about Jim's amazing pandemic project to create a slew of spring, summer, autumn, and winter boards -- each with its own set of packaged terrain (with all possible options!). Tune in and join in on the Saga goodness! Also see host Mike's Lead Legionaries blog: http://leadlegionaries.blogspot.com --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/sagaohio/message
The Last of the Carolingians and the first canonization ever!
The Last of the Carolingians and the first canonization ever!
814- 888 AD: With Charlemagne dead, it is up to his children to live up to their father's legacy. In less than a century they went from the dominant power in Europe to a bunch of squabbling feuding kingdoms overtaken by those they conquered To skip profanity laden rant: go from 4:10-10:51Song: Empire by August Burns Red- Leveler www.warandconquest.comwarandconquestpcast@gmail.comhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdUOD52RBg1BBm_zndE-DdAhttps://www.patreon.com/warandconquestWar and Conquest Podcast on Facebookwarandconquestpcast on Instagramwarandconquest1 on Twitter Venmo: @Warand Conquest
We discuss the legendary poem that has survived far beyond any of the Carolingians.
Episode 26 of the podcast we are discussing Louis IV of the Carolingian Dynasty, King of Western Francia. Tune in to hear our special guest, Justin, discuss his opinions of the current-day uni-brow, how we are, yet again, not done with the Carolingians, and what "helmeted cocks" and curly pig tails are doing in the same dish. We cover the reign of Louis IV of France 'from overseas'. - You can find Justin on Instagram @bahama06gaming or thru Twitch Bahama06 If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review us on ApplePodcasts and don't forget to like, share, and subscribe! You can follow us on Instagram or Facebook @royalmalarkey Check out our website at royalmalarkey.com We'd love to hear from you! Send us a message at info@royalmalarkey.com Follow our Podcast Network Channel on YouTube AVersion TV a podcast network where you can also find ANX Gamecast, a podcast that covers new video game releases, trending gaming news & MORE! Click here to watch the latest videos!
The chaos of the Carolingians and factionalism in Rome.
The chaos of the Carolingians and factionalism in Rome.
This week we're going to take a look at Chlothar II and the first part of his reign pre-dating 613. He really was – and this is just my opinion here – the luckiest guy I have ever heard of. I mean, he was basically born a king. His dad died four months into his life, so there was never a moment in time that he would be able to remember where he wasn't in charge. And then he has this wicked, crazy, intelligent mom stage-mom who does everything she can to get him to the precipice of power. And then, when the time comes, he doesn't even have to fight to rule the whole lot; his knucklehead cousins kill themselves in an early medieval version of The Benny Hill Show (and if you don't get that reference kids, stop right now and do a search in YouTube. It's old, but it's still funny and the music is worth it). By the age of 30, Chlothar II had gone from being a fifth male son who shouldn't have even been thinking about the line of succession, to the notional ruler of an almost non-existent kingdom, to the monarch of a small but growing entity, and then to the ruler of all of Francia, all without doing much of the heavy lifting. Beyond Chlothar II, we're going to spend a little time this week looking back on Season 1; this is the final episode of our first year/season, and it's interesting to take a moment and think about the things that struck us the most. For me, it was finding out about just ow big Arianism was as a sect of Christianity, seeing how much influence women held in this incredibly patriarchal society, and learning that the Merovingians transferred their kingdom to all of their sons, not just the oldest. This, of course, led to more than a few civil wars... When we come back in 48 days (6 September), we'll be starting where we left off, with the advent of les rois fainéants and the battles that come about when people begin to fill the power vacuum left by leaders who don't want – or are not up to – their job. Beyond that, next season promises to bring us the rise of invaders who want to take what the Franks have: these include the Muslims coming up from the south and the Vikings coming down from the north. In both cases, the arrival of strong, religiously-alien and conquest-minded attackers will serve to panic the Franks, but also to make them stronger and more cohesive. Finally, if all goes well and we make good time, we'll see the fall of the Merovingians and the rise of the Carolingians, and we'll understand what transpired to make this transition a reality. The plan at the moment is to have all of this culminate with us meeting one of the greatest leaders in European and world history, a guy known as Charles the Great, a.k.a. Charles Magnus, a.k.a. Charlemagne. Links to social media and the website: Site: https://www.thugsandmiracles.com/ Email: thugsandmiracles@gmail.com Twitter at @thugsandmiracle (with no “s” on the end) Facebook and Instagram: @ThugsAndMiracles
In this episode, we cover the rise of the Carolingians and Charlemagne's conquest of Western Europe.
A line of do-nothing-kings from the Merovingian dynasty rule the Franks, which forces the creation of mayors of the palace, an office of chief household officials. In time, these mayors seize more and more control, and Pepin III is finally crowned king, beginning the new Carolingian dynasty. Charles Martel (“the Hammer”) would follow, and Charles the Great, better known as Charlemagne, would achieve the greatest height among them.
*Below is Pastor Andrew’s teaching outline from Sunday evening's church history study, not a word for word manuscript. This is meant as aid in seeing the thought and direction of the lesson. Empire: -Frankish Kings were subject to the leadership of their prime Ministers and Nobility -Primary Family- the Carolingians: lead by Pepin of Laudon…… Continue reading Evening= Historic Faith: The Holy Roman Empire
*Below is Pastor Andrew’s teaching outline from Sunday evening's church history study, not a word for word manuscript. This is meant as aid in seeing the thought and direction of the lesson. Empire: -Frankish Kings were subject to the leadership of their prime Ministers and Nobility -Primary Family- the Carolingians: lead by Pepin of Laudon…… Continue reading Evening= Historic Faith: The Holy Roman Empire
732 At the Battle of Tours near Poitiers, France, Frankish leader Charles Martel, a Christian, defeats a large army of Spanish and North African Moors, halting the Muslim advance into Western Europe. Abd-ar-Rahman, the Muslim governor of Cordoba, was killed in the fighting, and the Moors retreated from France, never to return in such force. Victory at Tours ensured the ruling dynasty of Martel's family, the Carolingians. His son Pepin became the first Carolingian king of the Franks, and his grandson Charlemagne carved out a vast empire that stretched across Europe. 1845 The United States Naval Academy opens in Annapolis, Maryland, with 50 midshipmen students and seven professors. Known as the Naval School until 1850, the curriculum included mathematics and navigation, gunnery and steam, chemistry, English, natural philosophy, and French. The Naval School officially became the U.S. Naval Academy in 1850, and a new curriculum went into effect, requiring midshipmen to study at the academy for four years and to train aboard ships each summer–the basic format that remains at the academy to this day. 1911 The building of railways by foreign powers in China stokes nationalistic fervor, and unfair financial gain for those same foreign powers leads to violent protests. Today's Wuchang Uprising will start the Xinhai Revolution, the overthrow of the Qing dynasty, ending more than 2 millennia of imperial rule, and establishing the Republic of China. The Revolution begins with a bomb explosion and the discovery of revolutionary headquarters in Hankow. The revolutionary movement spread rapidly through west and southern China, forcing the abdication of the last Qing emperor, six-year-old Henry Pu-Yi. By October 26, the Chinese Republic will be proclaimed, and on December 4, Premier Yuan Shih-K'ai will sign a truce with rebel general Li Yuan-hung. 1964 The Tokyo Summer Olympics Begin, as 93 countries participated in the first Olympics to be held in Asia. As a tribute to the horrors of the Second World War, Yoshinori Sakai, who was born in Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, the day an atomic bomb destroyed the city, was chosen as the torchbearer to light the Olympic flame during the opening. The Tokyo Olympics was also the first Olympic Games that used satellites - Syncom 3 in the United States and Relay 1 in Europe - to telecast the games. Some of the games were also broadcasted in color for the first time. 1970 The paramilitary group Front de libération du Québec is demanding independence for Canada's primarily French-speaking province of Quebec and has already kidnapped British Trade Commissioner James Cross. Now its members kidnap Quebec's Labour Minister, Pierre Laporte, ratcheting up tensions in this 'October Crisis.' In response, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau invoked the only peacetime use of the War Measures Act, deploying Canadian soldiers on the streets of Ottawa and Montreal. Police were also given more power in arrest and detention, which is ambiguous to say the least. The kidnappers would murder Laporte one week later.
Intro to Middle Ages Franks Merovingians to Carolingians
The revived Roman Empire gets an emperor. Uniting Europe with Catholic support, Charlemagne brings order to Europe. But was it worth the cost? Flurry, Gerald. The True History of the True Church of God. Philadelphia Church of God. 2015. (https://www.thetrumpet.com/literature/books_and_booklets/2345) Flurry, Gerald. Germany and the Holy Roman Empire. Philadelphia Church of God. 2009. (https://www.thetrumpet.com/literature/books_and_booklets/22) Flurry, Gerald. “The Holy Roman Empire Goes Public--Big Time.” The Philadelphia Trumpet. Philadelphia Church of God. October, 2018. (https://www.thetrumpet.com/17669-the-holy-roman-empire-goes-public-big-time) Macdonald, Brad. The Holy Roman Empire in Prophecy. Philadelphia Church of God. 2017. (https://www.thetrumpet.com/literature/books_and_booklets/2384) Armstrong, Herbert W. Who or What Is the Prophetic Beast? Philadelphia Church of God. 2015. (https://www.thetrumpet.com/literature/books_and_booklets/387) Gregory of Tours: The History of the Franks, Translated by Lewis Thorpe. Penguin Classics 1974. James, Edward. The Franks. Basil Blackwell. 1988. Bachrach, Bernard. Early Carolingian Warfare: Prelude to Empire. University of Pennsylvania Press. 2001. Riche, Pierre. Daily Life in the World of Charlemagne. University of Pennsylvania Press. 1978. Rosamond McKitterick. The Carolingians and the Written Word. Cambridge University Press. 1995. Rosamond McKitterick. Charlemagne: The Formation of a European Identity. Cambridge University Press. 2008. Einhard and Notker the Stammerer: Two LIves of Charlemagne. Translated by David Ganz. Penguin Classics. 2008. Johnson, Paul. A History of Christianity. Touchstone, Simon & Schuster. 1995. Barbero, Alessandro. Charlemagne: Father of a Continent. University of California Press. 2000. Holland, Tom. Millennium: The End of the World an the Forging of Christendom. Little Brown. 2008. Noble, Thomas. The Republic of St. Peter: the Birth of the Papal State 680 - 825. University of Pennsylvania Press. 1984. Durant, Will. The Story of Civilization: Caesar and Christ. Simon and Schuster. 1950. Durant, Will. The Story of Civilization: The Age of Faith. Simon and Schuster. 1950.
The Early Middle Ages - the years from A.D. 650 to 1000 - were crucial to Europe's future social and political development. These 24 lectures trace a journey from Scandinavia across northern and central Europe to the farthest reaches of the Byzantine and Islamic empires, providing an exciting new look an era often simply called the "Dark Ages." Given the period's dismal reputation and its temporal remoteness from the 21st century, you'll be surprised to learn about some of the most challenging questions historians have ever had to tackle: Why did the Roman Empire fall? Why did the ancient world give way to the medieval world? Why did Christian monotheism become the dominant religion in Europe? You'll meet some of the era's exciting figures, such as St. Augustine and Justinian, and you'll consider the extent to which the historical realities of King Arthur and Charlemagne match up to the legends that have become attached to their names. You'll also look at the era's effect on the Vikings, the rise of the Carolingians, and the golden age of Islamic rule in Spain. Professor Daileader also explores the contrasting historical theories offered by two extremely influential historians: Edward Gibbon, the English author of the monumental The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, whose explanations closely followed those of the Roman moralists of the 4th and 5th centuries; and Henri Pirenne, the Belgian thinker who injected a newfound emphasis on social and especially economic factors into the analysis of history. You'll see why the era belies its reputation as dark and dismal, but you'll come away with a new appreciation for this once-lost era.
Sweet holy mother of everything that's heroically awful: we made it to 100 episodes! To celebrate Ben and Barry drill down into everything terrible about the number 100: from dodgy bank notes to terrible cricketers and golfers, suspiciously young super-centenarians, premature wartime celebrations and bang average cars. As ever, we take you on a journey including all human life from Ancient Etruscans to disappearing Carolingians, via the Venerable Bede and Edward VII. Follow us on Twitter: @worstfoot @bazmcstay @benvandervelde Visit www.worstfootforwardpodcast.com for all previous episodes and you can now donate to us on Patreon if you’d like to support Ben’s new baby and Barry’s crippling trivia addiction: https://www.patreon.com/WorstFootForward Worst Foot Forward is part of Podnose: www.podnose.com
888- 926 We look at the anarchy Italy fell into after the end of the Carolingians with the dealings of such men as Berengarius of Friuli and Guy of Spoleto, intersperse with some more foreign kings and emperors.
843- 887 We finish off the last of th Carolingians in Italy and take a look at the feudal system they brought with them into the county.
We first cleat up the concept of the "Kingdom of Italy" and then make our way back up from the Arab Emirate of Sicily to look at the Principality of Benevento, the Duchy of Naples and the Duchy of Spoleto in the ninth century as the Carolingians do their thing up north.
In this episode we will witness a Carolingian ruler, Pippin the Short, finally take his seat on the throne of the Frankish Kingdom. Before we get there, first we will take a look at the early career of Pippin and his brother Carloman, as they secure their grip on the Kingdom their father had left them. We'll see how, thanks perhaps to guilt and piety, Pippin was catapulted onto the top of the political ladder and why he decided to take the crown. Then we'll talk about the problems of being a usurper - coups are never easy and we'll see how Pippin was able to use the endorsement of the Pope to secure his position and leave the Kingdom of the Franks to his sons. There is a lot to cover, and with it, we move ever closer to returning to the stories the Northern Neighbors of the Franks.
We look at developments in the West during the 8th century. We follow the rise of the Carolingians and the amazing career of Charlemagne. We also see the various dilemma faced by the Papacy and how the collapse of Byzantine influence created a new power dynamic. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
In a previous lecture, we looked at the Frankish World. We now return to that world by looking at a specific dynasty, or family, the Carolingians. We met briefly the Merovingian dynasty. The Carolingian family was the dynasty that overthrew the Merovingians and it was the family that some have called the architects of Europe, that is, they are largely responsible for the rough national boundaries in modern Europe. This lecture is the first of several on this family. Their importance cannot be overstated. We will see their rise in this lecture, their reforms in the next lecture, and their fall in the lecture after that. Throughout these three lectures, I ask simple but important question: why were the Carolingians so important? Heavy Interlude by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100515 Artist: http://incompetech.com/
In the previous lecture, we looked at Charlemagne and the so-called Carolingian renaissance. I only briefly laid out Charlemagne's life because I am producing a whole series of lectures on him. If you'd like to learn more about him, please listen to that lecture series. I am now turning away from Charlemagne here and looking at the later Carolingians, beginning with his son, Louis the Pious, up through the reign of his grandsons Charles the Fat and Charles the Simple with whom the Carolingian family's control wanes and dies. While Charlemagne is certainly the most important Carolingian, we will see that it is, in fact, the later Carolingians that begin to roughly define the boundaries between modern-day European countries. Heavy Interlude by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100515 Artist: http://incompetech.com/
In this lecture, Professor Freedman discusses the Carolingian Renaissance, the revival of learning sponsored by Charlemagne and his successors. The period before the Carolingians saw a decline in learning, evidenced in part by the loss of lay literacy. As literacy became the purview of clerics, monasteries set up scriptoria in order to copy manuscripts on a larger scale. In this context, the Carolingians sponsored a revival of learning both for the sake of bringing educated people into the government and in order to encourage the piety of the people. Professor Freedman ends the lecture by discussing Einhard’s writings on Sts Marcellinus and Peter. Their story illustrates how, in this period, the piety of the well-educated was not all that different from that of the common people. Complete course materials are available at the Open Yale Courses website: http://oyc.yale.edu This course was recorded in Fall 2011.
In this lecture, Professor Freedman discusses the Carolingian dynasty from its origins through its culmination in the figure of Charlemagne. The Carolingians sought to overthrow the much weakened Merovingian dynasty by establishing their political legitimacy on three bases: war leadership, Christian rule, and the legacy of Rome. Charlemagne’s grandfather Charles Martel won a major victory over the Muslims in 733 at the Battle of Poitiers. Charlemagne’s father Pepin the Short allied the Carolingians with the papacy at a time when the latter was looking for a new protector. Charlemagne, crowned emperor in Rome by Pope Leo III in 800, made strides in reestablishing the Roman Empire; although, being centered in northern Europe, his was not an exact imitation of the Roman Empire. Professor Freedman concludes the lecture with the observation that Charlemagne can be considered the founder of Europe as a political and cultural expression. Complete course materials are available at the Open Yale Courses website: http://oyc.yale.edu This course was recorded in Fall 2011.
In this lecture, Professor Freedman discusses the crisis and decline of Charlemagne’s empire. Increasingly faced with external threats -- particularly the Viking invasions – the Carolingian Empire ultimately collapsed from internal causes, because its rulers were unable effectively to manage such a large empire. In the absence of strong social infrastructure and an idea of loyalty to the ruler, government servants strove to make their positions hereditary and nobles sought to set up independent kingdoms. Although it only lasted for a short time, the Carolingian Empire helped shape the face of Europe, especially through the partitions of the Treaty of Verdun which created territories roughly equivalent to France and Germany. Complete course materials are available at the Open Yale Courses website: http://oyc.yale.edu This course was recorded in Fall 2011.
Cutting Through the Matrix with Alan Watt Podcast (.xml Format)
Red Ice Radio Write-Up: We continue talking with Alan Watt and go into an entirely different avenue. We kick things off talking about the Priory of Sion, Plantard, the Knights Templar and the Grail Hunters and this leads us into some fascinating areas about DNA research, the Human Genome or is it the "Gnome" project. What is the goal of this scientific process? We talk about the elimination or exclusion of the feminine. We talk about the strife for eternal life and the aspiration for creating life. We also talk about the Merovingians, the Carolingians and the Cathars. Towards the end we talk about the recent news concerning the unearthing of the 1918 Spanish Flu by Canadian scientists.
This episode is titled – The Great Recession.I usually leave house-keeping comments for CS to the end of each episode but wanted to begin this by saying thanks to all who subscribe, listen regularly, and have turned others on to the podcast.Website stats tell us we have a lot of visitors & subscribers. Far more than you faithful ones who've checked in on the Facebook page & hit the “like” button. Can I ask those of you who haven't yet to do so?Then, if you're one of the many who accesses the podcast via iTunes, you probably know how difficult it can be to find what you're looking for there. Millions use iTunes as their podcast portal yet the search feature is clunky. So tracking down what you want can be a challenge. What helps people find content on iTunes is reviews. So, if you're an iTunes user and like CS, you could be a great asset by writing a brief review for the podcast. Thanks ahead of time.Okay, enough shameless self-promotion . . .Christianity more than proved its vitality by enduring waves of persecution prior to Constantine the Great. When persecution was withdrawn & the Faith climbed out of the catacombs to become the darling of the State, the question was whether it would survive the corruption political power inevitably brings. While many thousands of pagans professed faith because it was the politically expedient thing to do, some sincere believers marked the moral corruption that took place in the church & forsook society to practice a purer faith in monasteries, as we saw in our last episode.The institutional Church, on the other hand, organized itself in a manner that resembled the old Roman Imperial system. When the Empire crumbled under the weight of its own corruption, that fall accelerated by barbarian invasions, the question was, would Christianity fall with it?The story of Christianity in the West is a remarkable tale of survival. So often in history, when a culture is swept away, so is its religion. Christianity has proven an exception. As often as not it endured when the culture changed. Such was the case in Europe and the events that followed the Fall of Rome at the end of the 5th Century.When the Gospel first came to those urban centers which were the cultural heart of the Roman Empire in the late 1st & early 2nd Centuries, it was regarded as a Jewish reform movement. Its first converts were Jews scattered around the Empire and those Gentiles who'd attached themselves to the Jewish synagogues. But once these God-fearing Gentiles came to faith, they evangelized their Gentile friends. Following Paul's example in speaking to the philosophers on Mars Hill, these Gentile Christians recast the Gospel in Greco-Roman terms, using ideas & values familiar to the pagan mind.When I say “pagan” don't think of it as the insult it is in our modern vernacular; someone void of moral virtue. By pagan, I mean those who practiced the religion of the Greeks & Romans with its pantheon of gods. In that sense, Plato & Aristotle were pagans. Zeno, the philosopher who developed Stoicism, was a pagan. These were all men who developed the philosophical framework that shaped the worldview of Greco-Roman culture & society. They asked some penetrating questions that provided the intellectual backdrop of the 1st & 2nd Centuries. Gentile Christians picked up these questions & used them to say they'd found their answers in Christ. Many other pagans found these arguments convincing & were won to faith. Some of the Early Church Fathers even appealed to the ancient philosophers in the formal letters they wrote to the Emperors on why persecution of Christians was bad policy. They argued for a promotion of the Faith as a boon to the health of culture, not a harm to it. Their defense of the Faith was couched in terms the Emperors were familiar with because they shared the same philosophical language.My point here is that Christianity made an appeal to the Greco-Roman worldview it was growing in the midst of. So, what would happen when that society fell?Also, the Church's organizational structure increasingly came to resemble the Imperial structure. What would happen when that was dismantled? Would the Faith survive? Had Christianity grown too close to the culture?The answer is à Yes & no. The Empire's demise did pose a set-back to the Church. But we might ask if maybe that was good. The institutional Church had in many ways deviated from its purpose & calling. Not a few bishops were far more concerned for their political power than for their role as spiritual shepherds. In many minds, spiritual & earthly power had merged into the same thing.Rome's fall allowed the Faith to break away from the political attachments that had corrupted it for a century & a half. But there's little doubt that from the 6th through 9th Centuries, Christianity suffered a kind of spiritual declension. Over that 400 years, the total number of people who claimed be Christians dropped, fresh movements of renewal declined, & moral & spiritual vigor flagged. While there were exceptions, overall, Christianity lost ground, giving this period of time in Church history the title, as Kenneth Scott Latourette calls it, the Great Recession.Following the timeline of Church history at this point becomes difficult because so much was going on in various places. So for the balance of this episode, I want to give a quick sketch of both the many reversals & few advances Christianity saw from the 6th thru 9th Centuries.When the Goths, Visigoths, & Ostrogoths moved in to pick clean the bones of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th Century, something remarkable happened. While they helped themselves to the wealth of the Empire, they also adopted some of the Roman customs they admired. But nothing was so surprising as their embrace of Christianity. In truth, these barbarians were already what we'd have to describe as nominally Christian. Their invasion of & settling into Roman lands greatly furthered their identification with the Faith.Remember that in the ancient world, war was more than just an attempt to take land & plunder; it was a contest of faiths. The ancients believed armed conflict was a kind of spiritual tug of war. The mightiest god gave his or her people victory. This is why when one people defeated another, the loser's religion was often wiped out.But the Germanic barbarians tended to embrace Christianity rather than destroy it. There was something different in the message of Christ from their ancient folk faiths that drew and converted them. So when they took down the Roman Imperial structure, they left the churches intact. Bishops continued to exercise oversight in their flocks.Unlike other religions, Christianity was super-cultural. It wasn't just the faith of one group; it potentially embraced all. Even those who rejected the Gospel recognized it wasn't merely the spirituality of a specific ethnic group. Its message transcended culture to encompass all humanity.That was the situation on the north & northeastern borders of the Empire. The situation in the south was very different. In the 7th Century, Islam swept out of Arabia to conquer the Middle East & North Africa. The Muslims managed to get a foothold in Spain before the armies of Charles Martel stopped them pushing any further North in 732. Where Islam conquered, it replaced native religions. Enclaves of determined Jews & Christians eked out an existence but by & large, the Crescent replaced the Cross throughout the Middle East & North Africa.While there's no specific date or event that marked the onset of the Great Recession, we'll set the year 500 as the starting point. Here's why …In 476 the last Roman Emperor was deposed by the Goth leader Odoacer. This marks the end of the Western Roman Empire. The capital then shifted undisputedly to Constantinople in the East.20 years later, in 496, the Frank king Clovis was baptized. This marked a new era in which Germanic rulers became the standard-bearers of the Faith instead of Romans.Then in 529, the Eastern Emperor Justinian closed the Schools of Athens. These academies were the last official symbols of Greco-Roman paganism. Justinian ordered them closed to signal the final triumph of Christianity over paganism.In that same year, 529, Benedict built his monastery on Monte Cassino as we saw in our last episode. The Benedictine Rule was to have a huge impact on the course of the Faith in the West.While Christianity seemed to stumble in many of the places where it had been installed 3 & 400 years before, it continued its relentless spread into new territory. It was during the early 6th Century that the Faith went up the Nile into Sudan. In the latter part of that century, Pope Gregory sent missionaries to Britain and in the early 7th Century the Gospel reached China.But the 7th Century was when the Arab conquests began. In less than 20 years after Mohammed's death, Islam had raised its banner over, Israel, Syria, Mesopotamia, Persia, & Egypt. Before the end of the Century they'd conquered all North Africa, including the capital at Carthage and by 715 had taken Spain.If you've been listening from the earliest episodes, you know that these lands the Arabs conquered had a rich Christian history, especially in North Africa. Alexandria & Carthage were home to some of the most prominent Christian leaders & theologians – Athanasius & Arius, Alexander, Cyril, & Augustine, to name a few.At the same time, the Arabs were spreading Islam across Christian lands, up in the Balkan peninsula & Greece, pagan Slavs moved in. In 680, Asians called Bulgars crossed the Danube River & set up a kingdom in what had been the Eastern frontier of the Empire.Between these losses to the Arabs in the South & the Slavs & Bulgars in the East, about half the total land area that had been Christian territory was lost.The 8th Century saw large numbers of German tribes come to Faith. But the 9th & 10th Centuries were marked by repeated invasions of pagans from the distant north. These Scandinavians raided the shores of northern Europe, Britain, and all the way to Russia. They delighted in looting the many defenseless churches & monasteries they included in their conquests.These Scandinavian raids helped shatter the fragile unity the Carolingians had pulled together in Europe. As society broke apart into minor political regions, the quality of spirituality in the churches declined. Discipline in the monasteries grew lax. Bishops focused more on secular than spiritual matters. The clergy grew corrupt. The Roman Papacy became a political football.The Eastern church of the 8th & 9th Centuries was rent by a theological controversy over the use of images. In the 9th Century, Muslims conquered Sicily & Crete, & established a beachhead in southern Italy.In China of the mid 9th Century, Christianity experienced a wave of fierce persecution. This was due to the Faith having been too closely identified with the previous dynasty.As we come to the dawn of the 10th Century, there were several positive signs the Faith was growing again in the regions where it had declined. Churches were planted among the Slavs & Bulgars. The Faith extended its reach into Russia & there are indications the Church in India grew during this time.One sign of a positive spiritual turn took place in Eastern France in a place called Cluny. In 910, Duke William of Aquitania founded a monastery on the Rule of St. Benedict. The abbots selected to lead it were men of tremendous character & piety. They were determined to correct the lax moral attitudes that had become all too common in monastery life.The Clunaic reforms not only reinvigorated monastic life, they established a new hierarchy for monasteries. Prior to Cluny, monasteries were connected to & in a sense answerable to local bishops & nobility. Cluny and the monasteries that came from it were directly answerable to the Pope. This became an important element of church life when during the 11th Century, the popes tried to un-tie the Church from secular powers.While the monastic life may seem strange & at the same time stereo-typical of the romanticized view of Medieval life we have today, monasteries acted as repositories of the wisdom & learning of previous generations. As wave after wave of invaders washed over Europe, and society was shattered into a thousand bits, monasteries remained cultural lighthouses.
The title of this episode is “What a Mess!”As is often the case, we start by backing up & reviewing material we've already covered so we can launch into the next leg of our journey in Church History.Anglo-Saxon missionaries to Germany had received the support of Charles Martel, a founder of the Carolingian dynasty. Martel supported these missions because of his desire to expand his rule eastwards into Bavaria. The Pope was grateful for his support, and for Charles' victory over the Muslims at the Battle of Tours. But Martel fell afoul of papal favor when he confiscated Church lands. At first, the Church consented to his seizing of property to produce income to stave off the Muslim threat. But once that threat was dealt with, he refused to return the lands. Adding insult to injury, Martel ignored the Pope's request for help against the Lombards taking control of a good chunk of Italy. Martel denied assistance because at that time the Lombards were his allies. But a new era began with the reign of Martel's heir, Pippin or as he's better known, Pepin III.Pepin was raised in the monastery of St. Denis near Paris. He & his brother were helped by the church leader Boniface to carry out a major reform of the Frank church. These reforms of the clergy and church organization brought about a renewal of religious and intellectual life and made possible the educational revival associated with the greatest of the Carolingian rulers, Charlemagne & his Renaissance.In 751, Pepin persuaded Pope Zachary to allow Boniface to anoint him, King of the Franks, supplanting the Merovingian dynasty. Then, another milestone in church-state relations passed with Pope Stephen II appealing to Pepin for aid against the Lombards. The pope placed Rome under the protection of Pepin and recognized him and his sons as “Protectors of the Romans.”As we've recently seen, all of this Church-State alliance came to a focal point with the crowning of Charlemagne as Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire in AD 800. For some time the Popes in Rome had been looking for a way to loosen their ties to the Eastern Empire & Constantinople. Religious developments in the East provided the Popes an opportunity to finally break free. The Iconoclastic Controversy dominating Eastern affairs gave the Popes one more thing to express their disaffection with. We'll take a closer look at the controversy later. For now, it's enough to say the Eastern Emperor Leo III banned the use of icons as images of religious devotion in AD 726. The supporters of icons ultimately prevailed but only after a century of bitter and at times violent dispute. Pope Gregory II rejected Leo's edict banning icons and flaunted his disrespect for the Emperor's authority. Gregory's pompous and scathing letter to the Emperor was long on bluff but a dramatic statement of his rejection of secular rulers' meddling in Church affairs. Pope Gregory wrote: “Listen! Dogmas are not the business of emperors but of pontiffs.”The reign of what was regarded by the West as a heretical dynasty in the East gave the Pope the excuse he needed to separate from the East and find a new, devoted and orthodox protector. The alliance between the papacy and the Carolingians represents the culmination of that quest, and opened a new and momentous chapter in the history of European medieval Christianity.In response to Pope Stephen's appeal for help against the Lombards, Pepin recovered the Church's territories in Italy and gave them to the pope, an action known as the 'Donation of Pepin'. This confirmed the legal status of the Papal States.At about the same time, the Pope's claim to the rule of Italy and independence from the Eastern Roman Empire was reinforced by the appearance of one of the great forgeries of the Middle Ages, the Donation of Constantine. This spurious document claimed Constantine the Great had given Rome and the western part of the Empire to the bishop of Rome when he moved the capital of the empire to the East. The Donation was not exposed as a forgery until the 15th Century.The concluding act in the popes' attempt to free themselves from Constantinople came on Christmas Day 800 when Pope Leo III revived the Empire in the West by crowning Charlemagne as Holy Roman Emperor. It's rather humorous, as one wag put it – the Holy Roman Empire was neither Holy, nor Roman, and can scarcely be called an Empire.Charlemagne's chief scholar was the British-born Alcuin who'd been master of the cathedral school in York. He was courted by Charlemagne to make his capital at Aachen on the border between France & Germany, Europe's new center of education & scholarship. Alcuin did just that. If the school at Aachen didn't plant the seeds that would later flower in the Renaissance it certainly prepared the soil for them.Alcuin profoundly influenced the intellectual, cultural and religious direction of the Carolingian Empire, as the 300-some extant letters he wrote reveal. His influence is best seen in the manuscripts of the school at Tours where he later became abbot. His influence is also demonstrated in his educational writings, revision of the Biblical text, commentaries and the completion of his version of Church liturgy. He standardized spelling and writing, reformed missionary practice, and contributed to the organizing of church regulations. Alcuin was the leading theologian in the struggle against the heresy of Adoptionism. Adoptionists said Jesus was simply a human being who God adopted & MADE a Son. Alcuin was a staunch defender of Christian orthodoxy and the authority of the Church, the pre-eminence of the Roman Bishop and of Charlemagne's sacred position as Emperor. He died in 804.The time at which Alcuin lived certainly needed the reforms he brought & he was the perfect agent to bring them. From the palace school at Aachen, a generation of his students went out to head monastic and cathedral schools throughout the land. Even though Charlemagne's Empire barely outlived its founder, the revival of education and religion associated with he and Alcuin brightened European culture throughout the bleak and chaotic period that followed. This Carolingian Renaissance turned to classical antiquity and early Christianity for its models. The problem is, there was only one Western scholar who still knew Greek, the Irishman John Scotus Erigena. Still, the manuscripts produced during this era form the base from which modern historians gain a picture of the past. It was these classical texts, translated from Greek into Latin that fueled the later European Renaissance.The intellectual vigor stimulated by the Carolingian Renaissance and the political dynamism of the revived Empire stimulated new theological activity. There was discussion about the continuing Iconoclastic problem in the East. Political antagonism between the Eastern and the Carolingian emperors led to an attack by theologians in the West on the practices and beliefs of the Orthodox Church in the East. These controversial works on the 'Errors of the Greeks' flourished during the 9th C as a result of the Photian Schism.In 858, Byzantine Emperor Michael III deposed the Patriarch Ignatius I of Constantinople, replacing him with a lay scholar named Photius I, AKA Photius the Great. The now deposed Ignatius appealed to Pope Nicholas I to restore him while Photius asked the Pope to recognize his appointment. The Pope ordered the restoration of Ignatius & relations between East & West sunk further. The issue ended in 867 when Pope Nicholas died & Photius was deposed.Latin theologians also criticized the Eastern church for its different method of deciding the date of Easter, the difference in the way clergy cut their hair, and the celibacy of priests. The Eastern Church allowed priests to marry while requiring monks to be celibate, whereas the Western Church required celibacy of both.Another major doctrinal debate was the Filioque [Filly-o-quay] Controversy we briefly touched on in an earlier episode. Now, before I get a barrage of emails, there's debate among scholars over the pronunciation of Filioque. Some say “Filly-oak” others “Filly-o-quay.” Take your pick.The point is, the Controversy dealt with the wording of the Nicene Creed as related to the Holy Spirit. The original Creed said the Holy Spirit proceeded from the Father. A bit later, the Western Church altered the wording a bit so as to affirm the equality of the Son of God with the Father. So they said the Spirit proceeded from both Father & Son. Filioque is Latin for “and the Son” thus giving the name of the controversy. The Eastern Church saw this addition as dangerous tampering with the Creed and refused to accept it while the Filioque clause became a standard part of what was considered normative doctrine in the West.Another major discussion arose over the question of predestination. A Carolingian monk named Gottschalk, who studied Augustine's theology carefully, was the first to teach 'double predestination'; the belief that some people are predestined to salvation, while others are predestined to damnation. He was tried and condemned for his views by 2 synods and finally imprisoned by the Archbishop of Rheims. Gottschalk died 20 years later, holding his views to the end.The other major theological issue of the Carolingian era concerned the Lord's Supper. The influential Abbot of Corbie wrote a treatise titled On the Body and Blood of the Lord. This was the first clear statement of a doctrine of the 'real presence' of Christ's body and blood in the Communion elements, later called the doctrine of “transubstantiation,” an issue that will become a heated point in the debate between the Roman Church & Reformers.The reforms of King Pepin and Pope Boniface focused attention on priests. It was clear to all that clergy ought to lead lives beyond reproach. That synod after synod during the 6th, 7th, & 8th Cs had to make such a major issue of this demonstrated the need for reform. Among the violations warned against were the rejection of celibacy, gluttony, drunkenness, tawdry relationships with women, hunting, carrying arms & frequenting taverns.Monastic developments at this time were significant. The emphasis was on standardization and centralization. Between 813 and 17 a revised Benedictine rule was adopted for the whole of the Carolingian Empire. Another Benedict, a monk from Burgundy, was responsible for an ultra-strict regimen. Charlemagne's successor, Louis the Pious, appointed Benedict the overseer of all monasteries in the realm, and a few years later his revised Benedictine rule was made obligatory for all monasteries. Sadly, with little long-term effect.When Louis succeeded Charlemagne, the Pope was able to regain his independence, following a long domination by the Emperor. The imperial theocracy of Charlemagne's reign would have yielded a 'state church' as already existed in the East. But the papacy stressed the superiority of spiritual power over the secular. This was reinforced by the forged Donation of Constantine with its emphasis on papal pre-eminence in the governing of the Empire, not just the Church.In the middle of the 9th C, priests at Rheims produced another remarkable forgery, the False Decretals. Accomplished with great inventiveness, the Decretals were designed to provide a basis in law which protected the rights of bishops. They included the bogus Donation of Constantine and became a central part of the canon of medieval law. It shored up papal claims to supremacy in church affairs over secular authority. The first Pope to make use of the False Decretals was Nicholas I. He recognized the danger of a Church dominated by civil rulers and was determined to avert this by stressing that the church's government was centered on Rome, not Constantinople, and certainly not in some lesser city like Milan or Ravenna.From the late 9th until the mid-11th C, Western Christendom was beset by a host of major challenges that left the region vulnerable. The Carolingian Empire fragmented, leaving no major military power to defend Western Europe. Continued attacks by Muslims in the S, a fresh wave of attacks by the Magyars in the E, and incessant raids by the Norsemen all over the Empire, turned the shards of the empire into splinters. One contemporary lamented, “Once we had a king, now we have kinglets!” For many Western Europeans, it seemed the end of the world was at hand.The popes no longer had Carolingian rulers as protectors. So the papacy became increasingly involved in the power struggles among the nobility for the rule of Italy. Popes became partisans of one political faction or another; sometimes willingly, other times coerced. But the cumulative result was spiritual and moral decline. For instance, Pope Stephen VI took vengeance on the preceding pope by having his body disinterred and brought before a synod, where it was propped up in a chair for trial. Following conviction, the body was thrown into the Tiber River. Then, within a year Stephen himself was overthrown. He was strangled while in prison.There was a near-complete collapse of civil order in Europe during the 10th C. Church property was ransacked by invaders or fell into the hands of the nobility. Noblemen treated churches and monasteries as their private property to dispose of as they wished. The clergy became indifferent to duty. Their illiteracy & immorality grew.The 10th C was a genuine dark age, at least as far as the condition of the Church was concerned. Without imperial protection, popes became helpless playthings for the nobility, who fought to gain control by appointing relatives and political favorites. A chronicle by the German bishop of Cremona paints a graphic picture of sexual debauchery in the Church.Though there were incompetent & immoral popes during this time, they continued to be respected throughout the West. Bishoprics and abbeys were founded by laymen after they obtained the approval of the papal court. Pilgrimages to Rome hardly slackened during this age, as Christians visited the sacred sites of the West; that is, the tombs of Peter and Paul, as well as a host of other relics venerated in there.At the lowest ebb of the 10th C, during the reign of Pope John XII, from 955-64, a major change in Italian politics affected the papacy. An independent & capable German monarchy emerged. This Saxon dynasty began with the election of Henry I and continued with his son, Otto I, AKA Otto the Great .Otto developed a close relationship with the Church in Germany. Bishops and abbots were given the rights and honor of high nobility. The church received huge tracts of land. Thru this alliance with the Church, Otto aimed to forestall the rebellious nobles of his kingdom.But the new spiritual aristocracy created by Otto wasn't hereditary. Bishops & abbots couldn't “pass on” their privileges to their successors. Favor was granted by the King to whomever he chose. Thus, their loyalty could be counted on more readily. In fact, the German bishops contributed money and arms to help the German kings expand into Italy, what is now the regions of East Germany & Poland.Otto helped raise the papacy out of the quagmire of Italian politics. His entrance into Italian affairs was a fateful decision. He marched south into Italy to marry Adelaide of Burgundy and declare himself king of the Lombards. Ten years later, he again marched south at the invitation of Pope John XII. In February of 962, the Pope tried a renewal of the Holy Roman Empire by crowning Otto and Adelaide in St Peter's. But the price paid by the pope for Otto's support was another round of interference in Church affairs.For the next 300 years, each new German monarch followed up his election by making a march to Rome to be crowned as Emperor. But at this point, it wasn't so much Popes who made Emperors as it was Emperors who made Popes. And when a pope ran afoul of the ruler, he was conveniently labeled ‘anti-pope' & deposed, to be replaced by the next guy. It was the age of musical chairs in Rome; whoever grabs the papal chair when the music stops gets to sit. But when the Emperor instructs the band to play again, whoever's in the chair has to stand and the game starts all over again. Lest you think I'm overstating the case, in 963 Otto returned to Rome, convened a synod which found Pope John guilty of a list of sordid crimes and deposed him. In his place, they chose a layman, who received all of his ecclesiastical orders in a single day to become Pope Leo VIII. He managed to sit in the Pope's chair less than a year before the music started all over again.