1. The Vikings
1.1. The Vikings were warriors and adventurers from Scandinavia (Sweden, Denmark, and Norway)
1.2. They were also known as Northmen or Norsemen.
1.3. The Vikings first gained attention around 800 C.E. during the middle ages, or medieval period.
1.4. The next 250 years is often called the Viking age (800-1100).
1.5. People lived in total fear of their attacks, which occurred frequently.
1.6. They were tough fighters, but they owed much of their success to superior strategy and technology.
1.7. During the 9th and 10th centuries, Vikings captured and settled a huge chunk of eastern England. They also forced the English to pay them thousands of pounds of silver to prevent them from wrecking the rest of the country.
1.8. In France, they became such a headache that the king simply gave them the region of Normandy.
1.9. Other Vikings wound up settling in Iceland, Russia, Ukraine, and Italy and launching raids as far away as the middle east.
1.10. They even tried to take over Constantinople, in modern Turkey.
1.11. The capital of the Byzantine empire, it was one of the biggest and most important cities in the medieval world.
1.12. In England, the Vikings took payments called Danegeld from rulers such as Ethelred the Unready.
1.13. Viking life was not all wars and raiding parties.
1.14. Most Vikings were farmers and fishers living in small villages close to the sea.
1.15. They probably began their raids because the farmland available in Scandinavia could not support the growing population.
1.16. People lived at the ends of fjords and wherever else they could not fertile land.
1.16.1. Fjord: A long, narrow. Salt water bay with high cliffs along its sides.
1.17. Men and Women shared the work in Viking society, although some jobs, such as weaving, were always done by women.
1.18. Free Viking women had any rights under the law.
1.19. They could own property, they could divorce their spouses, and they could sue in court.
1.20. Gunnhild, the "mother of kings," was a legendary leader .
1.21. Freydis Eriksdottir, the sister of leif the Lucky, led an expedition to Newfoundland early in the 11th century.
1.22. Viking landowners almost always owned slaves, called thralls, who did much of the heavy work on the farms.
1.22.1. Thralls had no legal rights in Viking society, and could be killed by their masters at any time.
1.22.2. The children of thralls automatically became slaves.
1.23. The keepers of Viking history and legend were called skalds.
1.23.1. Skald: A Scandinavian poet who recited poems at formal gathering.
1.24. They were great lawmakers, and designed many laws to protect people and their property.
1.24.1. Usually these laws were not written down. Instead, people called Law Speakers memorized the law and recited it as needed.
1.24.2. They usually fined criminals, but some dangerous offenders were punished more harshly.
1.25. The Viking age ended in the 11th century.
1.26. Gradually European monarchs grew stronger and learned how to deal with their northern enemies.
1.27. English monarchs gave half of England, the Danelaw, to Viking lords who then protected their lands from other Vikings.
1.28. Viking settlements in North America and Greenland were destroyed or disappeared.
1.29. The people of Norway and Denmark became Christian. By the middle of the 11th century, dragon ships filled with warriors were no longer seen in the rivers and seas of western Europe.
1.30. The Viking Age was over forever.
2. The Franks
2.1. The Franks who are they?
2.1.1. Farmers who loved making wars
2.1.2. Germanic tribe Frank= Free
2.1.3. Both male and female wore jewellery and kept their long hair
2.1.4. Conquered Gaul (France) in the late 4th century/ early 5th century
2.1.5. Armed with an axe called Francisca
2.2. The Merovingians
2.2.1. A royal family ruled the franks
2.2.2. Kings and Queens often committed murders
2.2.3. Clovis I, most successful ruler in the family and he reigned from 481 to 511 C.E.
2.3. The Laws
2.3.1. They were called the salic code
2.3.2. They had their own legal code
2.3.3. If murdered the family could accept refuse to accept the fine
2.3.4. If property was stolen or a person injured/killed a fine called wergild had to be paid to the owner
2.3.4.1. Wergild: Man-money, that is, a person's value in money
2.4. Everyday Life
2.4.1. Some people were very rich and some people were very poor
2.4.2. The franks had social classes
2.4.2.1. A lower class called Serfs and an upper class of warriors and nobles.
2.4.3. The lords and rulers could steal serf's crops at anytime
2.4.4. storms or drought could cause great hardships
3. The Anglo-Saxon and The Celts
3.1. The Angles, Saxons, and Jutes moved in, driving out the native Celtic peoples.
3.2. Soon large numbers of these Germanic invaders began to settle in Britain and pushed the Celts into Wales, Cornwall, and Scotland, and across the sea to Ireland.
3.3. The Celtic language and culture disappeared from the seven kingdoms.
3.4. The Anglo-Saxons were farmers.
3.5. They lived in small villages, and men and women shared hard work of agriculture between them.
3.6. The Anglo-Saxons were also great storytellers who created wonderful epics, such as Beowulf.
3.6.1. Epics: A long poem telling about heroic deeds and events.
3.7. Alfred the Great, an early ruler of Anglo-Saxon England, lost many battles with the Vikings before he learned how to beat them.
3.8. At his death, Alfred left western and southern England united and prosperous.
3.8.1. Prosperous: Thriving
3.9. England as a whole, however, would suffer from deadly combination of weak kings and Viking invaders until the time of William the Conqueror.
3.10. The Celts had practiced a form of nature worship called Druidism for many centuries.
3.11. They fought in bloody battles, kept slaves, and made human sacrifices.
3.12. All this changed in the fifth century, when St.Patrick, who became the patron saint of Ireland, brought to the Irish both Christianity and a healthy respect for learning.
3.13. Irish monks played a critical role in training missionaries and in spreading Christianity.
3.13.1. Also played an important role in preserving the cultural legacy of ancient Ireland, Greece, and Rome.
3.14. They traveled through Scotland, England, and then Europe, spreading knowledge and Christianity.
3.15. Ireland was was the greatest center of learning in Europe.
3.16. In the age before the printing press, every new book had to be carefully copied out by hand on sheets of dried sheepskin called "parchment."
3.16.1. The Irish monks did not limit their copying efforts to religious works such as the Bible.
3.16.2. They also copied out many of the Latin and Greek classics and ancient Celtic stories that might otherwise have been lost forever.
4. The Mediterranean World
4.1. Greece and Rome
4.1.1. Advances in art, architecture, science and technology, literature, drama, medicine
4.2. Encouraged trade and travel.
4.3. The greeks eagerly studied philosophy.
4.3.1. Philosophy: The search for ideas, wisdom, knowledge
4.4. Fertile soil, plenty of rainfall and sunshine, and a climate that has moderate, neither too hot nor too cold.
4.5. Plants had long growing season that a surplus of food could be produced.
4.6. The population grew rapidly and towns formed.
5. The Romans
5.1. Greek Influence
5.1.1. Copied Architecture
5.1.2. Copied Arts
5.2. Roman Literacy
5.2.1. Wrote thousands of books
5.2.2. Latin is the common language
5.3. Roman Laws
5.3.1. Developed common laws
5.3.2. Some roman laws are still canadian ones
5.3.3. PAX ROMANA encouraged trade and the exchanged for new ideas
5.3.3.1. PAX ROMANA: Roman peace
5.3.4. They had social classes.
5.3.4.1. An upper class called Patricians and a lower class called Plebeians.
5.4. The Fall of Rome
5.4.1. How Rome was conquered
5.4.1.1. Rome was conquered by Germanic people in 410 C.E.
5.4.1.2. Most of the Roman Empire had collapsed, except for it's capital, Constantinople
5.4.2. The Fall of Rome remains unclear
5.4.2.1. Historians have different ideas how Rome fell
5.4.2.2. Some believe civilizations has a lifespan, just like all living things
5.5. After the Fall of Rome
5.5.1. How did the legacy survived
5.5.1.1. For centuries accomplishments of Rome were lost
5.5.1.2. determination of individuals led to Roman culture
5.5.2. Greek and Roman art, architecture, drama, literature, sports, and other education had survived
5.5.3. Roads and cities began to decay and were deserted
5.5.4. Western Europe was in chaos
5.5.5. Rome was now a memory
5.5.6. In 800 pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne and he started the re-birth of Rome
5.6. Germanic people
5.6.1. Barbarians slowly took over Rome
5.6.2. They wanted the riches
5.6.3. They forced native people to leave
5.6.4. Barbarians spoke a different language (not Roman or Greek)
5.7. Why did Rome fall?
5.7.1. Death of an empire
5.7.1.1. Combination internal and external forces
5.7.1.2. Following forces contributed to fall
5.7.2. Suffered when slaves were used and supply goods and services
5.7.3. Entertainment
5.7.3.1. Spent more money than should
5.7.3.2. Also expensive luxuries
5.7.4. Diseases
5.7.4.1. Brought by soldiers
5.7.4.2. Killed thousands
5.7.5. The Roman Republic ended in 30 B.C.E and respected individual freedom
5.7.6. Religious
5.7.6.1. New ones weakened will of people
5.7.7. The Fall
5.7.7.1. Grew weak-attacks by Germanic people
6. Charlemagne
6.1. Came to power in western Europe in 768 C.E.
6.2. His father Pepin the Short, had made himself king by throwing out the last of the Merovingian rulers, who had come to be known as the "do-nothing" kings.
6.3. Charles Maritel, had defeated a Muslim army that had threatened to conquer Europe in 732.
6.4. He was very interested in rebuilding civilization, and he had the intelligence and power to do so.
6.5. Through his military success he expanded the old Merovingian Empire in every direction.
6.6. At the height of his power, on Christmas day in 800, he was crowned Emperor of the Romans by pope Leo III.
6.7. The Carolingian Empire gave much of western Europe a brief rest from the war.
6.7.1. Carolingian Empire: Charlemagne's empire, from about 770 to 814
6.8. Although he allowed local governments much freedom, he also sent out agents, called missi dominici (the lord's messengers), to make sure that people were treated properly.
6.9. He created a single code of laws for the whole empire.
6.10. He tried to make things better for serfs and tradespeople.
6.11. Charlemagne could also be heardhearted and merciless.
6.12. After a long war with the Saxons in northwest Germany, He defeated them and insisted that they convert to Christianity.
6.13. When the Saxon leaders refused, He ordered his soldiers to kill about 4000 Saxons in a single day.
6.14. Charlemagne's Renaisscance
6.14.1. Improving education throughout the empire.
6.14.2. He established new schools in monasteries and encouraged the learning of the Latin classics.
6.14.3. He took a keen interest in reviving the practice of architecture and had many stone churches and palaces built in France and Germany.
6.14.4. He was interested in science and literature.