Germanic Culture During The Middle Ages

Charlemagne in the historical context made many contributions to the modern world as well as the Carolingian dynasty during his reign. After his father passed away, he united the Franks and went to several conquest to expand his kingdom in 768 (Coffin, 176). Charlemagne was believed to be a very serious Christian king. In one of the longest conquest in Saxon, which lasted about 20 years, he had forced conversion to all the people who

Personally, when thinking of the middle Ages, I tend to have the misconception that it is a period of darkness with no progress. However, R.W. Southern’s book, ‘The Making of the Middle Ages’, offers an in depth study of the development of history in the world today. Observing that this book was published during the 1950s, Mr. Southern’s interpretation of the ‘Middle Ages’ was very distinctive in comparison to other historians of his time. He explores the significance of the Middle Ages as a separate sector in the study of history by which the audience will notice that previous categories of studied history is set aside, as we are no longer focusing on the usual ‘Classical Greece’ and ‘Rome’

The Mediterranean region encompasses the Mediterranean Ocean and the surrounding land outside of it. Medieval Europe is a time period, sometimes referred to as the ‘dark ages’, where because of various reasons, many cultural changes occurred. From the decline of the West Roman Empire and its empirical structures (circa 647 C.E.) and the creation of the political system, feudalism, new societies emerged with new cultural elements such as an almost complete loss of education and literacy, while other cultural aspects remained such as the social status of women and the importance of religion, mainly Christianity.

The fall of Western Roman Empire in late 5th century led to its vast territory being divided in numerous kingdoms without any central authority. Charlemagne became the King of the Franks in 768. He then successfully led a series of campaigns throughout his reign to unite most of Western Europe under a sole emperor for the first time since the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The expanded Frankish state Charlemagne founded was called the Carolingian Empire.

Anglo-Saxons refers to settlers from the German regions that migrated to Britain during the fall of the Roman Empire. In the story Beowulf, his actions portray him, indeed be an epic hero. Both Christianity and Paganism are both portrayed throughout the epic Beowulf. Beowulf frequently speaks of God throughout the story, while there are also many Pagan elements that are evident throughout the story as well. In addition, "It 's hard to ignore the Christian and Pagan elements in Beowulf. These types of elements are what define the heroic warrior in the epic Beowulf"(Vengeance the Pagan and Christian Inspiration). Throughout the epic Beowulf, while the Anglo-Saxons followed Christianity, they had a hard time letting go of the Pagan beliefs when things got hard.

In the beginning of the Middle Ages Western Europe was unorganized, politically divided, did not have a strong centralized government, intellectual activity was declining, and viking sea raids were disrupting life. Additionally Europeans faced raids, starvation, disease, and death. Document 3, a primary source from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles asserts, “842 In this year there was a great slaughter in London and Quentavic and in Rochester…... 846 and burned the town of Dordrecht,”. Document 3 discusses the invasions in London, and shows the reader the detrimental effects the invaders had on the towns of Western Europe.

Before the Romans invaded, Celts lived in Britain. There were no towns so most people lived in villages and were farmers. People were separated into tribes ruled by kings or chiefs. Chiefs were the leaders in battle; they would lead warriors into battle in

Between the years of 500 and 1400, Europe had evolved into the Middle Ages. The Dark Ages was a period of time where barbarians killed others and burned villages. The kings and nobility granted land to the knights and serfs in exchange for crops and military service this was known as the Age of Feudalism. The Age of Faith relates to how strong the christian church was, the church was an important part of life for the people in the community.The Dark Ages, the Age of Feudalism, the Age of Faith all describe the Middle Ages between the era of 500 and 1400.

Although viewed as ruthless savages, the Anglo-Saxon culture was not founded on the sole idea of barbaric brutality. The Anglo-Saxon beliefs were established by loyalty, generosity, and valor. As a result, the people of the Anglo-Saxon culture lived life by these ideals which created a great thirst for fame in being the best version of themselves. If one was decent at fighting, they would train to be the best fighter they could be, or if someone was intelligent they would devise complex riddles to boast of their intelligence. In order to fulfill their beliefs, there were many aspects of the Anglo-Saxon culture that were not only prevalent in their day to day life, they were expressed through their literature as well. In Beowulf, the

In Beowulf, the cultural traditions of the ancient Germanic tribes are expressed. Throughout the poem, treasures are a symbol of achievement, glory, and wealth in the Germanic culture. The possession of treasures such as gold earns one respect within the Germanic tribes. Moreover, the act of partitioning is celebrated and it earns you a title of a good king and warrior. While the doing the opposite condemns you and titles you a greedy king and warrior.

The history of the modern world derives from thousands of years of human history. Embedded in its history are the many eras of man which have constructed our modern learning, art, beliefs, and order. The middle ages, although represented as “dark”, backwards, and idle, were in fact a bridge linking the classical and modern world. Medieval society may not have been in a sense glorious, but the era of itself was a prime foundation of the modern world’s newfound stability, a revival of the law and teachings from the classical era, a reinvestment and reform in the church, and a precursor to the golden age of art.

Through the modern eyes, history of Western civilization, from the fall of the Roman Empire to the Age of Discovery, is seen through Medieval literature. Ten centuries of history are noticed, involving individual products of heroic periods and their unique era of culture. Acknowledging Medieval literature illustrates a society of heroic knights, led by a luxurious king, charging into battle, romantic connections between royalty and a common person, and new discoveries being found. As well as times characterized by feudal activity, along with the Catholic Church holding an influencing control of society, and placing heavily on the laws they laid. The Church ruled simultaneously with the government, controlling every aspect of the Medieval

The Middle Ages, often referred to as the Dark Ages, was regarded to be a time of despair, disease, and death. Just as the name the “Dark Ages” suggests, this period of European history seemed to be surrounded by darkness and hopelessness. Unfortunately, the majority of people only see this side of the Middle Ages when, in fact, the Middle Ages was a much more important era. Especially during the late Middle Ages, one can find a change in orthodox social structure, political instability mostly concerned with succession to the throne, and economic changes and how those changes went hand in hand with the change in society. After certain demographical changes and turning points such as the Hundred Years’ War, Europe began to transform

Western European people had endured a series of changes during the late medieval period. Changes can be categorized into two aspects: politically and socially. On politics, Popes were not as strong as they were due to conflicts between the state and the church. Socially, people began to live a religion- dominated life, and experienced active sexism towards women. These changes, either positive or negative, have become an undivided part of European History.

A set point in the historical time line stands as the medieval period. The medieval period in history was the era in European history – from around the 5th to the 15th century, coming after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, and preceding the start of the early modern era. This historical time period has been long since been the victim of film directors and romantic novelists, which has lead to the common, but false, idea of the medieval period consisting of knights and damsels in distress, wizards and dragons, and castles and battles. Although mainly wrong in most parts and being highly historically inaccurate – some aspects of the dramatic works do play true to the original time period.