Introduction for Chapter 8

8 Europe in the Early Middle Ages

600–1000

By the fifteenth century scholars in the growing cities of northern Italy began to think that they were living in a new era, one in which the glories of ancient Greece and Rome were being reborn. What separated their time from classical antiquity, in their opinion, was a long period of darkness, to which a seventeenth-century professor gave the name “Middle Ages.” In this conceptualization, Western history was divided into three periods — ancient, medieval, and modern — an organization that is still in use today.

For a long time the end of the Roman Empire in the West was seen as the division between the ancient period and the Middle Ages, but, as we saw in the last chapter, there was continuity as well as change, and the transition from ancient to medieval was a slow process, not a single event. The agents in this process included not only the barbarian migrations that broke the Roman Empire apart but also the new religion of Islam, Slavic and steppe peoples in eastern Europe, and Christian officials and missionaries. The period from the end of antiquity (ca. 600–1000), conventionally known as the “early Middle Ages,” was a time of disorder and destruction, but it also marked the creation of a new type of society and a cultural revival that influenced later intellectual and literary traditions. While agrarian life continued to dominate Europe, political and economic structures that would influence later European history began to form, and Christianity continued to spread. People at the time did not know that they were living in an era that would later be labeled “middle” or sometimes even “dark,” and we can wonder whether they would have shared this negative view of their own times.

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Life in the Early Middle Ages. In this manuscript illumination from Spain, Muslim fishermen take a rich harvest from the sea. Fish were an important part of the diet of all coastal peoples in medieval Europe and were often salted and dried to preserve them for later use. (The Granger Collection, New York)

CHAPTER PREVIEW

The Spread of Islam

What were the origins of Islam, and what impact did it have on Europe as it spread?

Frankish Rulers and Their Territories

How did the Franks build and govern a European empire?

Early Medieval Culture

What were the significant intellectual and cultural changes in Charlemagne’s era?

Invasions and Migrations

What were the consequences of the ninth-century invasions and migrations?

Political and Economic Decentralization

How did internal conflict and outside threats shape European political and economic development in this period?

Chronology

481–752 Merovingian dynasty
ca. 571–632 Life of the Prophet Muhammad
651 Official version of the Qur’an published
711 Muslim forces defeat Visigothic kingdom
711–720 Muslim conquest of Spain
ca. 760–840 Carolingian Renaissance
768–814 Reign of Charlemagne
800 Imperial coronation of Charlemagne
800–900 Free peasants in western Europe increasingly tied to the land as serfs
843 Treaty of Verdun divides Carolingian kingdom
850–1000 Most extensive Viking voyages and conquests
ca. 900 Establishment of Kievan Rus
911 Vikings establish Normandy
950 Muslim Córdoba is Europe’s largest and most prosperous city
1000 Stephen crowned first king of Hungary