Short story Middle Ages: Epoch, states, battles, people Khlevov Alexander Alekseevich

Wandering peoples

Wandering peoples

The Great Migration of Peoples is the era of mass migrations of tribes on the territory of Europe in the period of the 4th-7th centuries. By all accounts, its peak was in 375–476 BC. But just as reasonably, one can take the invasion of the tribes of the Cimbri and Teutons at the end of the 2nd century BC as the beginning of migrations. BC e., and at the end - the expansion of the Vikings in the VIII-XI centuries.

With all the variety of routes of these migrations, a general direction of campaigns emerges: from the northeast to the southwest - from the Baltic Sea to the Iberian Peninsula. It is impossible to limit the area of ​​migrations only to Europe: many tribes left Asia, and a number of peoples later ended up in the African provinces of Rome.

The vast majority of those who participated in the Great Migration sought to seize the lands of the Empire. As a result, it finally fell, and barbarian kingdoms appeared on its territory and beyond.

The reasons for the Great Migration are many. The weakening of Rome became a kind of signal for advancement and facilitated the tasks of the barbarians. However, this was not the main thing. The most important came from the modernization of their society. The crisis of the tribal structure, which manifested itself in all Germans almost simultaneously, gave rise to a burst of energy. She materialized in conquest campaigns.

Tribal leaders who sought to strengthen their power; squads that needed prey both to maintain their existence and to strengthen their own significance; ordinary members of society, who needed more fertile lands and free territories (due to population growth), all formed the starting prerequisite for massive conquests and the movement of peoples to other places of residence. The inability of the Empire to defend its borders turned into a rapid increase in the activity of the barbarians. In just 100 years, the Western Empire disappeared from the political map of the ancient world.

The Great Migration prompted the invasion of the Northern Black Sea region by the Huns. The union of the Turkic tribes of the Xiongnu formed in Central Asia as early as the 3rd century BC. BC e. In the 1st century BC e. the Chinese pushed them to the West, and by 370 the Huns from the Southern Urals migrated to the steppes of the North Caucasus and the lower reaches of the Volga and Don. Here, having defeated and subjugated the tribes of the Alans, the Huns engaged in nomadic cattle breeding and robbery of their neighbors.

In 374-375 all the power of this tribal union fell upon the Gothic power of Germanarich. Unconditional numerical superiority and the use of maneuverable steppe cavalry ensured victory for the Huns, and Germanaric was defeated. Part of the Ostrogoths was forced to join the Hunnic alliance, and the Visigoths in the fall of 376 asked for asylum in the Empire - south of the Danube. They were allowed to settle in these places. However, the abuses of Roman officials just a year later caused an uprising of the Visigoths, which was joined by fugitive slaves and mine workers. The leader of the Goths, Fritigern, demanded from the Romans the entire territory of Thrace with cattle and fruits. On August 9, 378, one of the largest battles took place - the battle of Adrianople, in which the Roman army (mainly infantry) was defeated by the forces of the Goths (using cavalry); Emperor Valens was killed during the battle.

Soon, the commander Theodosius, who became emperor in 379, managed to suppress the uprising, but the Goths perfectly settled in the imperial territory, having received the rights of federates. Theodosius (under whom the Empire was finally divided into Western and Eastern) brought closer to him the leader of one of the Gothic detachments - Alaric. After the death of the emperor in 395, Alaric revolted, and in 401 invaded Italy. At the same time, tribes of Vandals and Alans poured into the province of Rezia.

First decade of the 5th c. proved fatal for the Roman Empire. The crisis in the West reached its peak, Italy was extremely vulnerable to outside invasion. The court of Emperor Honorius, located by the end of the 4th century. in Milan, moved to the swamp-protected Ravenna. The legions were urgently withdrawn from Britain and from the Rhine. The Rhine border remained to be guarded mainly by the Franks, and not by the Romans. The talented commander Stilicho in 402 near Pollentia, and then near Verona, defeated the troops of Alaric; the Visigoths were eventually given land along the Sava River. However, in 405 Italy was invaded by the troops of the Ostrogoths, Vandals, Alans and Suebi under the leadership of Radagaisus. To repel this threat, the Visigothic detachments were invited, the Huns were attracted, and even some of the slaves were armed. Radagaisus was defeated, but new masses of Vandals, Alans and Suebi broke through the Frankish barrier, bursting into Gaul. In Britain, one of the commanders proclaimed himself Emperor Constantine III (407), defeated the barbarians in Gaul, and in fact seized the Gallic and Spanish possessions of Rome.

At the same time, Alaric again begins to threaten Italy. Stilicho, who advocated an agreement with the barbarians, was killed. In 408-410 Alaric makes three trips to Italy, collects huge indemnities, and on August 24, 410 takes Rome. This event, which changed almost nothing in the military sense, had a deafening effect on contemporaries. The fall of the Eternal City for most meant the end of the entire Empire.

Until 418, the Visigoths fought in Gaul and Spain. Then, as federates, they settled in southern Gaul, where they soon formed a primitive state. In the 5th century in the territory of the Western Empire, barbarian tribes are at war with each other and with the Roman troops, making up political combinations and entering into alliances - how intricate, just as short-lived.

In 429, an 80,000-strong army of Vandals and the Alans who joined them, under the command of Gaiseric, crossed Gibraltar to Africa. After a fierce struggle, by 435 the Vandals won the status of federates for themselves and settled in the rich lands of North Africa - mainly in the former possessions of Carthage. The huge fleet carrying grain to Italy was captured and turned into a military transport flotilla, used for raids on Italy and Sicily. At the end of May 455, the Vandals landed at the mouth of the Tiber and captured Rome, subjecting it to a two-week robbery. Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica and the Balearic Islands became part of the new kingdom.

This second takeover demonstrated a major change in the mindset of the Romans. It caused much less resonance than the events of 410. The idea of ​​eternal existence through the efforts of Christian authors (especially Augustine) was now associated not with the city, but with the Christian church. Therefore, it was believed that the barbarians could damage the Empire, but not the church. This fueled the further disintegration of the state.

The Burgundian tribes contributed to its destruction. By the end of the IV century. they settled in the area where the Main flows into the Rhine and waged continuous wars with the Alemanni. From 407, the Burgundians invaded the territory of the Empire and in 413 received the rights of federates along with the lands around Worms. Their struggle with the Roman general Aetius ended with the defeat of the Burgundians in 435 and 436, after which they were settled in Sabaudia (Savoie), establishing a kingdom centered in Geneva.

Complete the picture of trouble the raids of the Angles, Saxons and Jutes on the coast of Britain, as well as the activation of the Franks. The last of the defenders of the border turn by the middle of the 5th century. the main threat to Roman influence in Gaul.

The flexible policy of the Eastern Empire in these decades was based on redirecting the invasion of the barbarians to the West, so the lands of the East did not experience the disastrous consequences of the invasions. The Western empire, in turn, knew the brunt of the struggle. Rome exists by the middle of the 5th century. just as a formality. Several barbarian kingdoms operate in his domain, and the remaining imperial territory is de facto lands of independent states ruled by Roman military leaders and magnates.

Another flurry of events was caused by the Huns. For several decades, Constantinople skillfully maneuvered, either fighting with them, or hiding behind them from other barbarians. In the 430s, the Hun tribes became stronger again. Eastern empire fell into dependence on their union. She had to pay an annual tribute of 350 pounds of gold (later 700 and even 2100 pounds). After the death of the leader of the Huns Rua in 434, his nephews Attila and Bleda became co-rulers. In 445, Attila killed Bleda and soon began a grand campaign to the West.

Possessing a brilliant strategic talent and undisguised ambition, and going down in history as the Scourge of God, he was one of the most formidable figures in Europe. The primitive proto-state of the Huns was maintained only thanks to regular military actions and robbery of neighbors.

At the beginning of 451, Attila's troops from Pannonia invaded the Western Empire. Warriors from various - mostly Germanic - tribes also served under his command: Gepids, Thuringians, Rugii, Heruli, Ostrogoths, Skirs, Rhine Franks. Gaul was the main target.

Attila was opposed by no less motley Roman troops under the command of Aetius. Among his allies were the Visigoths, Alans, Salic Franks, Saxons, Burgundians.

On the Catalaunian fields (in modern Champagne) a grandiose battle took place, called by contemporaries "Battle of the Nations". During a two-day clash that resulted in thousands of victims, the Huns were defeated. However, Aetius did not want to completely destroy them, hoping to use the enemy as a counterbalance to the rest of the barbarian tribes. He allowed Attila to retreat. The lull was short-lived.

In 452, the leader of the Huns organized an invasion of Italy and captured a number of cities - Aquileia, Ticin, Milan. Further onslaught was prevented by the fact that the army suffered from a lack of food and epidemics. Pope Leo I managed to persuade Attila to leave Italy. Subsequently, this greatly contributed to the growth of the authority of the papacy. It is from 452 that the Roman high priest turns into the spiritual leader of the Western Church.

In 453 Attila died under mysterious circumstances after his own wedding feast. His state collapsed almost immediately, and from that moment the Huns no longer threaten Rome. In the arena of European history, mainly Germanic tribes remain.

The mission of the Huns was reduced to the massive destruction of the remnants of the Roman state. Nomadic life did not allow the attackers to have a serious impact on the economic or ethnic life of Europe. However, the motives of the arts and crafts of the Huns influenced European tastes - this is associated with the emergence polychrome style. He dominated the era early medieval(represented by jewelry made of precious metals, equipped with bright enamel inserts and large, often uncut gems).

The next two decades are a time of political and military chaos in the West. All real power at the Roman court is concentrated in the hands of the commanders of the troops, who, at their own discretion, put emperors on the throne, who have almost no authority. In 474, such a commander, the patrician Orestes, overthrew the next ruler, Julius Nepos, and proclaimed his son, the infant Romulus Augustulus, as emperor. But in 476, one of the army commanders, Odoacer from the tribe of the Skirs (related to the Goths), kills Orestes, and soon deposes Romulus Augustulus, who, however, saves his life and even appoints an annual pension. An innovation in the coup was that the insignia of power were sent by Odoacer to Constantinople to Zeno. He did not claim the imperial title and received the title of patrician, being in fact an independent ruler of Italy.

For all the formality of this act, this meant the end of the Western Empire. This is how the event was regarded by many contemporaries. Therefore, 476 should be considered as the end of the ancient era and the beginning of the Middle Ages.

In 488, Constantinople set Ostrogoths against Odoacer, led by one of the most prominent leaders of that time, King Theodoric. Having captured a significant part of Italy, he forced the patrician to become co-ruler, and then killed him. From 493, the kingdom of the Ostrogoths headed by Theodoric the Great appeared on the territory of Italy.

In 486, the Franks liquidated the last fragment of Western Rome - the state of the patrician Syagria with its center in Soissons (Northern Gaul). On this political history The Western Empire ended.

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What tribes invaded the territory of the Roman Empire.

Section III. History of the Middle Ages.

Why did the Roman Empire collapse?

According to what laws was built the life of the community of Rome.

1 The concepts of ʼʼa good farmeretsʼʼ, ʼʼa good warriorʼʼ and ʼʼa good citizenʼʼ merged into one in the minds of the Romans.

2 There were no taxes in Rome. People who held the highest positions did not receive salaries, but had to build temples at their own expense, arrange games, and feasts.

3 Service in the army was obligatory, but honorable; a person could not become a statesman if he did not serve in the army.

4 Religion played a big role, but it is not the gods who judge a person, but society, that is, fellow citizens, assessed the actions of a person.

5 The idea of ​​ʼʼcommon goodʼʼ determined the obligations of the Roman: in the first place was the duty to society, in the second - to the family, and in the last place - concern for one's personal welfare.

6 People's assemblies, the Senate and two consuls, all elected by the people - the republic played an important role.

1 Rome waged continuous wars, capturing more and more land - Rome turned into a huge power with numerous provinces, and in the II-I centuries. BC e. Rome became a world power.

2 Rome is going through turmoil at this time: endless wars, unrest in the provinces, slave uprisings, the struggle of factions for power, which resulted in a civil war - began to emerge new form board - the sole power of a dictator or emperor - only with the help of a strong one-man power could the state be preserved.

3 In the first centuries A.D. e. the crisis of the Roman Empire - the transfer of the capital to Constantinople, split into Western and Eastern, in 476 ᴦ. The last Roman emperor was overthrown.

The reasons:

4 The destruction of slaveholding relations, the emergence of new forms of government.

5 Spiritual Crisis - Affirmation new religion- Christianity.

6 Raids of barbarian tribes.

The rise of Christian civilization. ʼʼChildhood of Europeʼʼ

The "Childhood" of Europe proceeded in a catastrophic, stormy environment of the great migration of peoples, the clash of two completely opposite and seemingly incompatible worlds - the barbarian Germanic tribes and the civilization of Rome.

The first onslaught of the Germanic tribes was repulsed in the 1st century. BC e. on the river Rhine and a special role in this Julius Caesar. It was along this river that the border separating the Roman lands from the Germanic tribes ran. The Germanic tribes that lived side by side with the Romans, of course, absorbed Roman culture and were much more ʼʼcivilisedʼʼ compared to those tribes that were removed from the border.

In the IV century. the Great Migration of Peoples began - the mass movement of tribes. The Visigoths settled on the territory of the empire, modern Bulgaria, then moved to Gaul and created the first barbarian state on the territory of the Roman Empire. Then other tribes poured in, taking advantage of the fact that Rome was busy fighting with the Visigoths. Vandals were especially dangerous: wild and incredibly aggressive. In addition to the Germans, the Huns invaded the territory of the empire. After the victory over the Huns, the formation of barbarian kingdoms followed one after another, but this did not lead to stability. The new states waged constant wars among themselves, their borders were not permanent, and life, as a rule, was short-lived.

This rather chaotic picture was supplemented by the continuous movements across Europe of numerous Germanic tribes that had not yet created statehood. The waves of barbarian invasions gradually calmed down, but the situation in Western Europe remained tense for a long time, since from the 7th century. until the middle of the 11th century. the raids of the Germanic tribes of Scandinavia - the Normans began, and at the end of the 7th century. - beginning of the 8th century Islamic civilization conquered North Africa and most Spain.

Why is it customary to call the first centuries of Western European civilization ʼʼDarkʼʼ.

The barbarians destroyed the civilization of Rome, and with it the level of civilization that had been built up over many centuries. It is no coincidence that the first centuries after the death of the empire are called ʼʼdarkʼʼ. The population suffered from the conquerors, their unreasonable cruelty, hunger; cities were deserted, priceless works of art were destroyed, trade stopped, the number of neglected, uncultivated lands increased. This is how the shape was Western Europe at the beginning of its existence: vast expanses of forests and fields with rare, isolated islands of villages. Contemporaries described with horror the disasters that befell the once prosperous lands: ʼʼafter the raids of the barbarians, contagious diseases struck, and hunger began to rage so cruel that people devour human fleshʼʼ.

What changes have taken place in the socio-economic sphere.

In the era of ʼʼchildhoodʼʼ of Europe, there was a major shift in economic life - the transition to feudalism. And this process develops with the most active participation of the barbarians - this way is usually called - synthesis, i.e. (from Greek - connection, combination) - ϶ᴛᴏ connection of Roman and barbarian traditions. How did it happen? Next to the Roman estates, where peasants worked - tenants and slaves planted on the land, Germanic communities settled. Members of these communities had plots of land that could be sold, donated, etc. Only forests, pastures, and rivers remained in collective ownership. Thus, two classes of feudal society were born: the feudal lords - the owners of the land, and the peasants, who received land from the feudal lords. There is something like a mutual agreement between them: the feudal lord could not do without the peasants, and the peasants did not have their own land, in addition, they were in dire need of military protection in that turbulent era. But the feudalization of society took place at a different pace: in Gaul in the 8th century, in Italy in the 10th century, in Britain in the 11th century, in Germany in the 12th century.

What tribes invaded the territory of the Roman Empire. - concept and types. Classification and features of the category "What tribes invaded the territory of the Roman Empire." 2017, 2018.

In the ancient world, barbarians were those peoples who did not own Greek or Latin. Barbarian tribes, under the influence of certain circumstances, settled the lands of Europe and began to form new medieval states.

The era of the great migration

The great migration of peoples and numerous wars that took place due to the split of the states that existed in the barbarian kingdoms led to the formation of barbarian kingdoms. Mass migrations of barbarian peoples began in our era. The Roman Empire was attacked by the Germanic tribes. For a century, the Romans successfully repelled the attacks of the barbarians. The situation changed dramatically in 378 during the Battle of Adrianople between the Romans and the Goths. In this battle, the Roman Empire was defeated, thus showing the whole world that great empire is no longer invincible. Many historians believe that it was this battle that changed the balance of power in Europe and marked the beginning of the collapse of the empire.

The second stage of the resettlement, even more difficult for the Romans, was the invasion of the Asians. The fragmented Roman Empire could not endlessly hold back the massive attacks of the Huns. As a result of such difficult trials, in 476 the Western Roman Empire ceased to exist. The third stage is the migration of Slavic tribes from Asia and Siberia to the southeast.

In history, the formation of barbarian kingdoms takes a fairly long period of time. This era lasted five centuries, ending in the seventh century with the settlement of the Slavs in Byzantium.

Reasons for relocation

Significant natural and political factors led to the migration and the formation of barbarian kingdoms. Summary these factors are shown below:

1. One reason has been given by the historian Jordanes. The Scandinavian Goths, led by King Filimer, were forced to leave their lands due to overpopulation of the occupied territory.

2. The second reason was climatic. The sharp cooling was caused by a climatic pessimum. Humidity increased, air temperature decreased. It is quite clear that the northern peoples were the first to suffer from the cold. Agriculture was in decline, forests gave way to glaciers, transport routes became impassable, and mortality increased. In this regard, the inhabitants of the North migrated to warmer climes, which subsequently led to the formation of barbarian kingdoms in Europe.

3. At the beginning of the mass migration, the human factor played an important role. The society organized itself, the tribes united or were at enmity with each other, tried to confirm their power and might. This led to a desire for conquest.

Huns

The Huns, or Huns, were called the steppe tribes that inhabited the northern part of Asia. The Huns formed a rather powerful state. Their eternal enemies were their Chinese neighbors. It was the confrontation between China and the Hunnic state that caused the construction of the Great Wall of China. In addition, it was with the movement of these tribes that the second stage of the migration of peoples began.

The Huns suffered a crushing defeat in the fight against China, which forced them to look for new places to live. The Huns' movement created a "domino effect". Having settled in new lands, the Huns forced out the natives, and they, in turn, were forced to look for a home in another place. The Huns, gradually spreading to the west, first drove out the Alans. Then they got in their way, which, unable to withstand the onslaught, divided into western and eastern Goths. Thus, by the fourth century the Huns came close to the walls of the Roman Empire.

At the end of the Roman Empire

In the fourth century, the great experienced hard times. To make the management of a huge state more constructive, the empire was divided into two parts:

  • Eastern - with the capital Constantinople;
  • Western - the capital remained in Rome.

Many tribes fled from the constant attacks of the Huns. The Visigoths (Western Goths) initially asked for asylum in the territory of the Roman Empire. However, the tribe later revolted. In 410, they captured Rome, causing significant damage to the western part of the country, and moved to the lands of Gaul.

The barbarians were so firmly established in the empire that even the Roman army for the most part consisted of them. And the leaders of the tribes were considered the governors of the emperor. One of these governors overthrew the emperor of the western part of the state and took his place. Formally, the eastern emperor was the ruler of the western territories, but in fact the power belonged to the leaders of the barbarian tribes. In 476, the Western Roman Empire finally ceased to exist. This was crucial point in the history of the formation of barbarian kingdoms. Having briefly studied this piece of history, one can see a clear line between the creation of new states of the Middle Ages and the collapse of the ancient world.

Visigoths

At the end of the third century, the Visigoths were federates of the Romans. However, there were constant armed clashes between them. In 369, a peace treaty was signed, according to which the Roman Empire recognized the independence of the Visigoths, and the Danube began to separate them from the barbarians.

After the Huns attacked the tribe, the Visigoths asked the Romans for asylum, and they allocated the lands of Thrace for them. After many years of confrontation between the Romans and the Goths, the following relations developed: the Visigoths existed apart from the Roman Empire, did not obey its system, did not pay taxes, in return they significantly replenished the ranks of the Roman army.

Through a long struggle, every year the Visigoths got themselves more and more comfortable conditions for existence in the Empire. Naturally, this fact gave rise to discontent in the Roman ruling elite. Another aggravation of relations ended with the capture of Rome by the Visigoths in 410. Over the following years, the barbarians continued to act as federates. Their main goal was to capture maximum number the lands they received by fighting on the side of the Romans.

The date of formation of the barbarian kingdom of the Visigoths is 418, although over the next few years they remained federates of the Romans. The Visigoths occupied the territory of Aquitaine on the Iberian Peninsula. Theodoric the First, elected in 419, became the first king. The state existed for exactly three hundred years and became the first formation of barbarian kingdoms in history.

The Visigoths proclaimed their independence from the Empire only in 475 during the reign of Eirich, son of Theodoric. By the end of the fifth century, the territory of the state had increased six times.

Throughout their existence, the Visigoths fought against other barbarian kingdoms formed on the ruins of the Roman Empire. The most severe struggle developed with the Franks. In the confrontation with them, the Visigoths lost a significant part of their territories.

The conquest and destruction of the kingdom took place in 710, when the Visigoths could not withstand the onslaught of the Arabs in their quest to capture the Iberian Peninsula.

Vandals and Alans

The formation of the barbarian kingdom of the Vandals and Alans took place twenty years after the creation of the state by the Visigoths. The kingdom occupied a fairly large area in the north of the African continent. In the era of the great migration, the Vandals arrived from the Danube plains and settled in Gaul, and then they, together with the Alans, occupied Spain. They were ousted from the Iberian Peninsula by the Visigoths in 429.

Having occupied an impressive part of the African possessions of the Roman Empire, the Vandals and Alans had to constantly repel the attacks of the Romans, who wanted to return their own. However, the barbarians also raided the Empire and continued to conquer new lands in Africa. The Vandals were the only other barbarian peoples who had their own fleet. This greatly enhanced their ability to resist the Romans and other tribes encroaching on their territories.

In 533, the war with Byzantium began. It lasted almost a year and ended with the defeat of the barbarians. Thus, the Vandal Kingdom ceased to exist.

burgundy

The Burgundian kingdom occupied the left bank of the Rhine River. In 435 they were attacked by the Huns, killing their king and sacking their houses. The Burgundians had to leave their homes and move to the banks of the Rhone.

The Burgundians occupied the territory at the foot of the Alps, which now belongs to France. The kingdom endured strife, pretenders to the throne brutally killed their opponents. Gundobad played the greatest role in uniting the kingdom. After killing his brothers and becoming the sole contender for the throne, he issued the first set of laws of Burgundy - the "Burgundian Truth".

The sixth century was marked by war between the Burgundians and the Franks. As a result of the confrontation, Burgundy was conquered and annexed to the state of the Franks. The formation of the barbarian kingdom of the Burgundians dates back to 413. Thus, the kingdom lasted a little over a hundred years.

Ostrogoths

The formation of the barbarian kingdom of the Ostrogoths began in 489. It lasted only sixty-six years. They were Roman federates and, being independent, maintained the imperial political system. The state occupied the territory of modern Sicily, Italy, Provence and the Pre-Alpine region, the capital was Ravenna. The kingdom was conquered by Byzantium in 555.

Franks

During the formation of the barbarian kingdoms, the kingdom of the Franks, having begun its history in the third century, became politically significant only in the thirties of the next century. Francia became the most significant and powerful among other states. The Franks were numerous and included several formations of barbarian kingdoms. The Kingdom of the Franks became united during the reign of King Clovis the First of the Merovingian dynasty, although later the state was divided among his sons. He was one of the few rulers who converted to Catholicism. He also managed to significantly expand the possessions of the state, defeating the Romans, Visigoths and Bretons. His sons annexed the lands of the Burgundians, Saxons, Frisians and Thuringians to Thrace.

By the end of the seventh century, the nobility had gained considerable power and effectively ruled Thrace. This led to the decline of the Merovingian dynasty. The beginning of the next century was marked by civil war. In 718, Charles from the Carolingian dynasty came to power. This ruler strengthened the position of Francia in Europe, which had greatly weakened during the internecine strife. The next ruler was his son Pepin, who laid the foundation for the modern Vatican.

By the end of the first millennium, Thrace was divided into three states: West Frankish, Middle and East Frankish.

Anglo-Saxons

The Anglo-Saxons settled in the British Isles. Heptarchy - this is the name of the period of formation of the barbarian kingdoms on the territory of Britain. There were seven states. They began to form in the sixth century.

The West Saxons formed Wessex, the South Saxons formed Sussex, the East Saxons formed Essex. The Angles formed East Anglia, Northumbria and Mercia. The Kingdom of Kent belonged to the Jutes. It was not until the ninth century that Wessex succeeded in uniting the inhabitants of the British Isles. The new unified state was called England.

Resettlement of the Slavs

In the era of the formation of barbarian kingdoms, the resettlement of Slavic tribes also took place. The migration of the Proto-Slavs began a little later than the Germanic tribes. The Slavs occupied a vast territory from the Baltic to the Dnieper and to the Mediterranean Sea. It should be noted that it was during this time period that the first mention of the Slavs appeared in historical chronicles.

Initially, the Slavs occupied the territory from the Baltic to the Carpathians. However, over time, their possessions expanded significantly. Until the fourth century, they were allies of the Germans, but then they began to fight on the side of the Huns. This was one of the decisive factors in the victory of the Huns over the Goths.

The movement of the Germanic tribes made it possible for the Slavic tribes to occupy the territories of the lower Dniester and the middle Dnieper. Then they began to move towards the Danube and the Black Sea. Since the beginning of the sixth century, a series of raids by Slavic tribes into the Balkans has been noted. The Danube became the unofficial border of the Slavic lands.

Significance in world history

The consequences of the great migration of peoples are very ambiguous. On the one hand, some tribes ceased to exist. On the other hand, barbarian kingdoms were formed. States fought among themselves, but also cooperated and united in alliances. They exchanged skills and experience. These associations became the progenitors of modern European states, laying the foundations of statehood and legality. The main consequence of the formation of barbarian states was the end of the era ancient world and the beginning of the Middle Ages.

By the end of the IV century. Christianity was established in almost all provinces of the Roman Empire. In the 340s. through the efforts of Bishop Wulfila, it penetrates to the tribes ready. The Goths adopted Christianity in the form of Arianism, which then dominated the east of the empire. During the advance of the Visigoths to the west, Arianism also spread. In the 5th century in Spain it was adopted by the tribes vandals and Suevi. to Galin - Burgundians and then Lombards. Orthodox Christianity adopted by the Frankish king Clovis. It is worth saying that political reasons led to the fact that by the end of the 7th century. in most parts of Europe, the Nicene religion was established. In the 5th century The Irish were introduced to Christianity. The activity of the legendary apostle of Ireland dates back to ϶ᴛᴏ St. Patrick.

The Christianization of the barbarian peoples was carried out mainly from above. Pagan ideas and images continued to live in the minds of the masses of the people. The Church assimilated these images, adapted them to Christianity. Pagan rites and holidays were filled with new, Christian content.

From the end of the 5th to the beginning of the 7th century. the power of the Roman pope was limited only to the Roman ecclesiastical province in Central and Southern Italy. At the same time, in 597, an event occurred that marked the beginning of the strengthening of the Roman church throughout the kingdom. Dad Gregory I the Great sent preachers of Christianity led by a monk to the Anglo-Saxons-pagans Augustine. According to legend, the pope saw English slaves on the market and was surprised by the similarity of their name with the word "angels", which he considered a sign from above. The Anglo-Saxon Church became the first church north of the Alps, subordinate directly to Rome. The symbol of ϶ᴛᴏ dependence became pallium(platform worn on the shoulders), which was sent from Rome to the primate of the church, now called archbishop, i.e. the highest bishop, to whom powers were delegated directly from the pope - the vicar of St. Peter. Subsequently, the Anglo-Saxons made a great contribution to the strengthening of the Roman Church on the continent, to the alliance of the pope with the Carolingians. Played a significant role in ϶ᴛᴏm St. Boniface, a native of Wessex. It is worth noting that he developed a program of deep reforms of the Frankish Church in order to establish uniformity and submission to Rome. Boniface's reforms created the overall Roman church in western Europe. Only the Christians of Arab Spain preserved the special traditions of the Visigothic Church.



11. Barbarian Invasion and Early Feudal States: The Frankish State of the Merovingian and Carolingian Epochs.

Frankish state under the Merovingians and Carolingians. The Franks appeared on the territory of the Western Roman Empire even before its fall (it should be said that in the Battle of the Catalaunian Fields, it was the squads of the Franks who made the main contribution to the victory over Attila). This Germanic tribe was subject to rulers from the Merovingian dynasty, named after the legendary king Merovei. But the first king about whom reliable information has been preserved was Clovis (481 - 511). It was he who in 486 founded the kingdom of the Franks in northern Gaul, defeating the Roman governor, who continued to rule in this area after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. Clovis managed to take away Aquitaine from the Visigoths, he also accepted Christianity not in the Arian version, but in the orthodox one, which greatly facilitated contacts with the local Gallo-Roman population.

The contradictions between the conquerors and the vanquished were to a large extent smoothed out by the fact that the free Franks did not take away land, but preferred to settle in their villages, also avoiding cities. The reduction in the tax pressure also did not give rise to discontent. Gradually there was a rapprochement of both peoples, a single dialect was developed. Under Clovis, the first record of the legal customs of the Franks took place - the “Salic Law” on Latin. Gradually, there is a convergence of ordinary free Franks with the Gallo-Roman peasantry, on the one hand, and the Frankish nobility with magnates from the former aristocracy, on the other hand, as a result, two main classes of medieval society are formed: peasants and feudal lords.

Under the grandchildren of Clovis, a fierce struggle for power flares up within the ruling family itself, as a result of which the state weakens and breaks up into a series of almost independent parts. Power gradually leaves the hands of the representatives of the Merovingian dynasty and is concentrated in the hands of their mayors - the rulers of the royal household, but who eventually became the rulers of the state. At the end of the 7th century, the mayordoms of Austrasia, one of the parts Frankish state who manage to unite the entire state. In 715, Charles Martell became mayordom, having defeated the Arab army that invaded France at the Battle of Poitiers in 732. A huge role in the victory was played by the beneficiary reform, according to which Charles Martell distributed to his associates on conditions military service land confiscated from the church along with the peasants. These lands provided their owners with weapons for a heavy rider, which was beyond the power of ordinary community members for purely economic reasons.

Thus, military affairs become exclusively the prerogative of the ruling class, and the peasantry and townspeople for a long time are not involved in the conduct of hostilities at all. An estate of knights is being formed, in the appearance of which, in addition to social aspects Military-technical aspects also played an important role: the appearance of a stirrup, borrowed from the nomads of the south of Eastern Europe in the 7th century, and a new, larger breed of horses. The stirrup allowed the rider to hold on more firmly in the saddle, which was necessary to perform the classic knightly technique - with a large spear, clamped under the arm, to knock the enemy out of the saddle. The horses of the new breed were able to carry a rider protected by heavy armor, which the horses inherited from the ancient era could not do. The one who received the lands took an oath of allegiance to the one who gave these lands.

In 751, the son of Charles Martell removed from the throne and tonsured the last king of the Merovingian dynasty - Childeric III - and crowned himself, founding a new dynasty of Carolingians. by the most famous representative this dynasty was the son of Pepin, the king, and since 800 the emperor Charlemagne (768 - 814). During the reign of Charles, the Franks made 53 campaigns, 27 of which were led by the monarch himself. The longest and most difficult were the wars with the German tribe of the Saxons, who did not want to either obey the Franks or accept Christianity. The new empire united the vast territories of Western Europe, only Britain, Spain and Southern Italy did not fall under the rule of Charles. The Basques and part of the Slavic territories depended on the empire. The formation of the empire was of great political importance: Charles became the supreme secular head of the Christian world, all his wars were fought for the spread of Christianity, not to mention the authority that increased immeasurably as a result of receiving the imperial title.

But the creation of Charlemagne turned out to be fragile: already under his grandchildren, the unified empire broke up into three parts according to the Treaty of Verdun in 843. The result was the West Frankish kingdom, which included mainly the lands of the future France, the East Frankish kingdom, located on the territory of modern Germany, and the kingdom of Lothair, which included Italy and a long strip of land to the north of it, reaching the North Sea and separating the other two. kingdoms. In Germany, in 919, the Saxon dynasty came to the throne, in France, the national Capetian dynasty, represented by the Parisian Count Hugh Capet, established itself on the throne in 987. The Kingdom of Lothair did not have a national basis and collapsed, and the territories outside Italy were divided between Germany and France, and the unity of Italy itself remained purely formal. In 924, the rank of emperor also disappears.

Europe and the Vikings. After the end of the era of the Great Migration of Peoples, Europe was periodically attacked by some tribes, among which the ancient Scandinavians, the ancestors of modern Norwegians, Danes and Swedes, played a special role. The Scandinavian Germans, later than their counterparts from the mainland, entered the stage of destruction of primitive communal relations, and the period, characterized by a sharp increase in the military activity of the tribes and raids on neighboring peoples, fell on them at a time when the main states had already formed in Europe, and the process of forming feudal relations had begun. far enough. Scandinavia was not able to feed the increased population, therefore, along with the usual predatory raids that were carried out by the Viking squads under the leadership of the Jarl leaders, colonization was also carried out, during which both new lands were developed and territories already inhabited by other peoples were seized.

Europeans first encountered the Vikings in 793 when they stormed and sacked a monastery on the island of Lindisfarne off the east coast of England. All the monks were killed at the same time. After this event, the Viking raids soon covered almost all coastal regions of northern Western Europe. The Scandinavians also penetrate the Mediterranean Sea. A distinctive feature of the Viking culture was that it was very closely connected with the sea. All their campaigns were by sea. In Scandinavia, a special type of sailing and rowing vessel was used, which, thanks to perfect lines, had excellent seaworthiness. It was the design of the Viking Drakkars that allowed them to discover and populate the Faroe Islands, Iceland, reach Greenland and establish settlements on the island that existed there until the 14th century. Around the year 1000, the Viking Lave the Happy managed to reach the coast of North America, where the Vikings also managed to establish several settlements in the Newfoundland and Labrador region, but they did not exist there for a very long time due to the resistance of the local Indians. This discovery of America, which occurred 500 years before Columbus, remained unknown to Europe.

The Vikings are remembered for completely different exploits. The horror of the northern warriors was so great that there was even a prayer for deliverance from the Normans, as the Europeans called them, equating the raids of the Scandinavians with such phenomena as plague and drought. England and the north of France suffered the most from the Norman raids. The Vikings rose up the rivers and devastated entire regions. Gradually, the Vikings move from raids to systematic conquests. So, in 911, Jarl Rollo forced the French king to give him the north of France, and here the duchy of Normandy was formed - in fact, a possession independent of the crown. It was the people from this duchy who conquered Anglo-Saxon England in 1066, from here, around the middle of the 11th century, the invasion of Southern Italy took place, from where the descendants of the Vikings ousted the Byzantines, and then conquered Sicily from the Arabs. So the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies appears on the map, which existed until mid-nineteenth century. It should be noted that the success of the Vikings was explained not only by the strength and combat skill of the Scandinavians themselves, but to no lesser extent by the weakness of the enemy. The cessation of the practice of using the militias of free community members in hostilities made the population completely defenseless against the Vikings, who were excellent in weapons and fighting techniques, and the general weakness of the central government did not allow organizing an effective rebuff to the invaders by the forces of the knightly army.

By the beginning of the 11th century, Viking raids ceased due to a number of circumstances. On the one hand, the emergence of nation-states in Europe made it possible to organize an effective surveillance and defense service, and on the other hand, in Scandinavia, the process of formation of states with strong royal power is also beginning, for which the willful uncontrollable bands of the Vikings are an obstacle to centralization and the creation of state structures. The Vikings cease to enjoy the support of the population, and their campaigns cease.

Europe and nomads. The Huns and Alans were not the only nomadic peoples that Europe saw. And after the end of the Great Migration of Peoples, new conquerors periodically came from Asia. In the 6th - 7th centuries in Pannonia, on the site of the former power of Attila, the Avar Khaganate was formed, with which they waged a tense struggle as Byzantine Empire and the empire of Charlemagne. In the 7th century, the Turkic tribe of the Bulgarians from the Azov region moved to the Lower Danube, where, having conquered seven Slavic principalities, they formed the Bulgarian state, the first ruler of which was Khan Asparuh. From the end of the 9th century, Hungarian raids on Europe began. They settled on the territory of the Avar Khaganate, which had already collapsed by that time, in the same Pannonia, which is increasingly called Hungary from now on. These raids continue until the year 1000, when gradually the nomads begin to lead a settled way of life and create a state under the influence and model of neighboring peoples. Big influence the culture of the Asian tribes that came to Europe was influenced by the inhabitants of the countries they conquered, who had much greater social experience and transferred their economic skills to them. This is typical for all nomadic tribes: they either dissolved without a trace, like the Avars, or, having created a state, gave it their name, being themselves completely assimilated by the local population, like the Bulgarians, or retained their ethnic group, assimilating the local population, but completely moving to another way of life, like the Hungarians. The last nomads who moved to Europe were the Pechenegs and Polovtsians. They came to the territory of Byzantium and Hungary from Eastern Europe, but they failed to create their own states, they took part in the formation of local ethnic groups, although they disappeared into them.

Byzantium and the Slavs. During the 5th century, the Eastern Roman Empire was less subject to barbarian invasions, largely due to the fact that Byzantine diplomats managed to direct the expansion of a number of tribes to the West, thereby maintaining their possessions. But in the VI century, the empire was subjected to the onslaught of the Slavic tribes, who, like other barbarian peoples, from simple predatory raids, began the systematic colonization of the Balkan Peninsula and Asia Minor. With rare exceptions, the Slavs failed to create their own states in the 6th-7th centuries on the territory of the Byzantine Empire, but many of the interior regions of the Balkans, inhabited by settlers, practically got out of the power of the emperor and were independent.

Emperor Justinian (527 - 565) tried to restore the unity of the Roman Empire by returning the former western provinces to it. To this end, the generals of Justinian lead whole line long and difficult wars in North Africa against the kingdom of the Vandals, in Italy against the kingdom of the Ostrogoths, in Spain against the kingdom of the Visigoths. The longest of these wars was the war with the Ostrogoths (535-555). All these wars ended with the victory of Byzantium, but short-lived. Italy was soon taken from Justinian by the Lombards, only minor enclaves of Byzantine possessions remained on the peninsula, North Africa, devastated by Byzantine troops, was captured by the Arabs almost without resistance in the 7th century, and Spain also managed to establish itself only in a few areas of the coast. At the same time, it was necessary to wage a traditional war for the Roman Empire in the East with the Persian kingdom of the Sassanids. It must be admitted that the attempt to restore the slave system, which Justinian aspired to by pursuing a policy of conquest, ended in failure. In addition, the invasions of the Slavs, which were mentioned above, from the second half of the reign of Justinian, become catastrophic. If in the first half of the reign the defense of the empire was built along the Danube, where big number fortresses, then in the future the situation changes: fortresses are built inside the country, since more and more often the Slavic armies approach Constantinople itself.

The era of Justinian went down in history not only as an attempt to restore the empire throughout the Mediterranean. By order of the emperor, the most famous jurists collected all Roman laws, as well as legal cases, compiling a complete set of Roman law, which formed the basis of many modern legislations.

The reign of Justinian is, obviously, the final phase in the history of the slave-owning formation in the east of the former Roman Empire, where the crisis of the slave-owning economy was observed. Here, as in the West, new, feudal relations began to emerge. The resettled Slavs, who brought with them communal traditions, also played a significant role in this. In some ways, the situation was reminiscent of the situation in Roman Gaul, when it was conquered by the Franks.

Arabs and Europe. In the 7th century, the European peoples and subjects of Byzantium faced a new enemy - the Arabs. In the middle of the 7th - beginning of the 9th centuries. as a result of the Arab conquests, the Caliphate was created - the largest state in the world, whose possessions stretched from India to the coast Atlantic Ocean. Such a powerful impetus to Arab expansion was given by a new religion - Islam, the founder of which was the prophet Muhammad (c. 570 - 632). Islam is the third world religion in time of origin, which soon became a serious competitor to Christianity. Many ancient Christian areas, such as Syria, the Middle East, North Africa, began to practice Islam. The main principle of Islam is the recognition of monotheism and the prophetic mission of Muhammad, while the presence of other prophets in the past is not denied, even before the birth of Muhammad, in particular, Jesus Christ is recognized as one of these prophets. The main principles of Islam are stated in the Qur'an.

Adherents of the new religion saw one of the main tasks in the conversion of all non-believers to their faith, and this is precisely what explains the energy with which the Arabs made conquests. Pretty soon they stripped Byzantium of most of its Asiatic possessions, conquered North Africa, and, crossing Gibraltar, invaded Spain. The offensive of the Arabs was stopped only in France, at Poitiers by Karl Martell. In Spain itself, only in the far north of the country were Christian possessions preserved, which immediately began a struggle for the return of the rest of the peninsula. This struggle was called the Reconquista and continued until the 15th century. Having settled in North Africa and Spain, the Arabs captured a number of Mediterranean islands and began to make pirate raids on the coastal regions of Christian states. All this, together with the raids of the Normans and Hungarians, created additional obstacles to the peaceful and peaceful development of European countries.

12. Features of the development of the Byzantine Empire.

The Byzantine Empire, in short, is a state that appeared in 395, after the collapse of the Great Roman Empire. She could not stand the invasion of barbarian tribes and was divided into two parts. Less than a century after its collapse, the Western Roman Empire ceased to exist. But she left behind a strong successor - the Byzantine Empire. The Roman Empire lasted 500 years, and its eastern successor lasted over a thousand, from the 4th to the 15th centuries.
Initially, the Eastern Roman Empire was called "Romania". In the West, for a long time it was called the "Greek Empire", since most of it was made up of the Greek population. But the inhabitants of Byzantium themselves called themselves Romans (in Greek - Romans). It wasn't until after the fall in the 15th century that the Eastern Roman Empire began to be referred to as "Byzantium".

This name comes from the word Byzantium - this is how Constantinople, the capital of the empire, was first called.
The Byzantine Empire, in short, occupied a vast territory - almost 1 million square meters. kilometers. It was located on three continents - in Europe, Africa and Asia.
The capital of the state is the city of Constantinople, founded in the days of the Great Roman Empire. At first it was the Greek colony of Byzantium. In 330, Emperor Constantine moved the capital of the empire here and called the city by its own name - Constantinople. In the Middle Ages, it was the richest city in Europe.

the Byzantine Empire did not manage to avoid the invasion of the barbarians, but it avoided such losses as the west of the Roman state, thanks to a wise policy. For example, Slavic tribes participating in the great migration of peoples were allowed to settle on the outskirts of the empire. Thus, Byzantium received populated borders, the population of which was a shield against other invaders.
The basis of the Byzantine economy was production and trade. It included many rich cities that produced almost all goods. In the 5th-8th centuries, the Byzantine ports flourished. Land roads became unsafe for merchants due to long wars in Europe, so the sea route became the only possible one.
The empire was a multinational country, so the culture was amazingly diverse. Its basis was the ancient heritage.
On May 30, 1453, after two months of stubborn resistance by the Turkish army, Constantinople fell. Thus ended the thousand-year history of one of the great powers of the world.

13. Periodization of the Western European Middle Ages and features of folding feudal relations in Europe.

Chronological framework: 476 (fall of Rome) - 1640 (English bourgeois revolution)

1) Early Middle Ages: 5th-10th centuries

2) Classic Middle Ages: 11th-14th centuries

3) Late Middle Ages: 14th-16th centuries

According to the periodization (inevitably conditional) adopted by world and domestic science, at the origins of the Middle Ages in Western Europe there is a collapse in the second half of the 5th century. Western Roman Empire. The meeting of two worlds - the ancient Greco-Roman and barbarian (Germanic, Celtic, Slavic) - was the beginning of a profound upheaval that opened a new, medieval period in the history of Western Europe. For the history of Byzantium, the beginning of the Middle Ages is considered the 4th century, when the Eastern Roman Empire gained independence.

It looks more difficult in science to resolve the issue of the boundary between the Middle Ages and modern times. In foreign historiography, their border is usually considered the middle or the end of the 15th century, linking it with such phenomena as the invention of printing, the conquest of Constantinople by the Turks, the discovery of America by Europeans, the beginning of the Great geographical discoveries and colonial conquests. From the point of view of social changes, this milestone marks the initial stages of the change of systems - feudal to capitalist. In the recent past, Russian science has pushed back the beginning of the new time to the end of the 18th century, referring it to the French bourgeois revolution and taking into account the option of a longer maturation of the new system and a more decisive break with the old. In the practice of teaching, it is still customary to consider the first bourgeois revolution of pan-European significance, the English revolution of the 1640-1660s, which marked the beginning of the domination of capitalism in Western Europe and coincided with the end of the first pan-European Thirty Years' War of 1618-1648, as a conditional end of the Middle Ages. This periodization is adopted in this textbook.

It is necessary to note new trends in modern domestic science, which make significant adjustments to the problem of periodization. This is primarily the desire of researchers to separate the concepts of "Middle Ages" and "feudalism". Their identification at the end of the 18th century, as noted above, was a serious achievement of historical knowledge, which took the first noticeable step towards the recognition of social history. The new trend led to attempts to attribute the upper chronological boundary of the "Middle Ages" to the end of the 15th - beginning of the 16th century. Such innovations are explained not by a formal desire to unify the periodization of the Middle Ages with Western historiography, but by a new level of historical knowledge. historical science at the end of the 20th century, it developed a more balanced and flexible synthesis of “structural” and “human” history, which became possible due to the reassessment of the role of consciousness and the socio-psychological factor in the social process, as well as the restoration of the rights of event history. All this allows us to take a different look at such events at the turn of the 15th-16th centuries. in Western Europe, as humanism and the Reformation, or the Great geographical discoveries. Having received an impulse from deep and therefore much less mobile changes in public life, it was these phenomena that caused such shifts in consciousness and spiritual values ​​that created a new image of the world, which meant a decisive break with the Middle Ages.

In close connection with the noted innovation among Russian medievalists, there is a desire to single out "transitional periods" as special stages, if not self-sufficient, then having their own laws of development. Modern scholars present, in particular, convincing arguments in favor of the inherent value of the transitional period of the 16th-18th centuries, which was called the "early modern period".

The history of the Middle Ages for Western Europe is usually divided into three main periods, which differed different levels socio-economic, political and cultural development.

I. EndV- middle of the XI century. - early medieval period when feudalism was just taking shape as a social system. This predetermined the extreme complexity of the social situation, in which the social groups of the ancient slave-owning and barbarian tribal systems mixed and transformed. The agricultural sector dominated the economy, subsistence economic relations prevailed, the cities managed to maintain themselves as economic centers mainly in the Mediterranean region, which was the main hub of trade relations between East and West. It was the time of barbarian and early feudal state formations(kingdoms), bearing the stamp of the transitional time.

In the spiritual life, the temporary decline of culture, associated with the death of the Western Roman Empire and the onslaught of the pagan non-literate world, was gradually replaced by its rise. The synthesis with Roman culture and the establishment of Christianity played a decisive role in it. The Christian Church during this period had a decisive influence on the consciousness and culture of society, in particular, regulating the process of assimilation of the ancient heritage.

II. Middle of the XI - end of the XV century. - heyday of feudal relations, the massive growth of cities, the development of commodity-money relations and the folding of the burghers. AT political life in most regions of Western Europe, after a period of feudal fragmentation, centralized states are formed. A new form of state is emerging - a feudal monarchy with estate representation, reflecting a tendency to strengthen the central power and activate the estates, primarily urban.

Cultural life goes under the sign of the development of urban culture, which contributes to the secularization of consciousness, the formation of rationalism and experimental knowledge. These processes were intensified with the formation of the ideology of early humanism already at this stage of the Renaissance culture.

III. XVI-XVII centuries - the period of late feudalism or the beginning of the early modern era. Economic and social life characterized by the processes of decomposition of feudalism and the genesis of early capitalist relations. The acuteness of social contradictions causes major anti-feudal social movements with the active participation of the broad masses of the people, who will contribute to the victory of the first bourgeois revolutions. The third type of feudal state is being formed - an absolute monarchy. The spiritual life of society was determined by the early bourgeois revolutions, late humanism, the Reformation and the Counter-Reformation. The 17th century was a turning point in the development natural sciences and rationalism.

Each of the stages opened and was accompanied by major movements of peoples across Europe and beyond: in the IV century, VI-VII centuries. - the movement of the Huns, Germanic and Slavic tribes; expansion of the Scandinavian peoples, Arabs and Hungarians at the turn of the first and second stages, Crusades Western Europeans to the East and Eastern Europe in the 11th-13th centuries; and, finally, the colonial conquests of Western Europeans in the East, Africa and America in the 15th and 16th centuries. Each period opened up new horizons for the peoples of Europe. Attention is drawn to the ever-accelerating pace of development and the reduction in the time span of each subsequent stage.

1. Great Migration

What do you already know about the Great Migration of Nations from the history of the Ancient World?

The Great Migration of Peoples is a conventional name for the totality of ethnic movements in Europe in the 4th-7th centuries, mainly from the periphery of the Roman Empire to its territory. Scientists are still arguing about its causes. According to the analysis of fossilized plants of that era, it was possible to establish that in Europe the climate became colder and rainier. Crops perished, and primitive farmers set off in search of better lands. In the Asian steppes, on the contrary, droughts destroyed the grass. In the III-IV centuries, the union of nomadic tribes - the Huns - moved along the Great Steppe from China to Europe. Hundreds of thousands of horsemen moved in search of prey, followed by carts with women and children, herds of animals. In 375, the Huns crossed the Don, defeated the Goth militia and rushed on. They plundered villages and coastal towns, loading their wagons with grain and wine, gold ornaments and the finest fabrics.

The new neighbors seemed to the Romans monstrous "two-legged beasts on ugly horses." Christian priests said that these are the peoples of Gog and Magog mentioned in the Bible, the invasion of which portends the "end of the world." Fleeing from the Huns, the Goths as a whole tribe (at least 90 thousand people) crossed the Danube. The emperor allowed them to settle on the lands of the empire. However, the Goths, dissatisfied with the arbitrariness of Roman officials, rebelled and defeated the Roman legions in the battle of 378, killing the emperor himself. Divided into western and eastern, the Germanic Goths moved through the Roman provinces from the Balkans to Italy.

2. Rise of barbarian kingdoms

Follow on the map (p. 30) the routes of movement of the Germanic tribes, name the places of their new settlement and the creation of kingdoms.

The Germanic tribes moved from the territory of the central part of Europe to the West and settled in Italy, where they created the kingdom of the Ostrogoths, Spain, where they created the kingdom of the Visigoths, North Africa, where they founded the kingdom of the Vandals, in France, where they created the kingdom of the Franks, in Britain - the Angles and Saxons.

3. Orders of the Germans

1. What signs of the primitive communal system remained among the Germans at the beginning of the early Middle Ages? What accelerated the transition of the Germans to civilization?

Signs of the primitive communal system among the Germans:

Equality of all members of the community;

The presence of leaders who were considered the first among equals and led the people's militia;

Lack of writing;

The capture of Roman lands and the gradual adoption of Roman traditions, customs, language, etc. accelerated the transition to civilization.

2. What were the consequences for the Germans of their adoption of Christianity?

The Germans assimilated more and more with the local population and were less and less invaders in the eyes of the conquered people, as they shared their religion.

Questions at the end of the paragraph

1. When and why did the Great Migration of Nations begin and what were its results?

The great migration of peoples began in the 4th century due to the migration of the nomadic tribes of the Huns, which most likely began as a result of climate change. The Huns moved on ready. As a result, many tribes left their native lands in search of new lands.

The result of the Great Migration of Nations was the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, the devastation and collapse of Rome and other cities, the settlement of Germanic tribes in Western Europe and the formation of a modern ethnic map of Europe.

The end of the 4th century - the beginning of the Great Migration of Nations.

455 - the destruction of Rome by the Vandals;

476 - the capture of Rome by the barbarians, the fall of the Western Roman Empire;

493 - the subordination of Italy to the Ostrogoths;

568 - the capture of Italy by the Longobards;

3. With the help of additional materials, prepare reports on the activities of the ancient Germans and their religion.

The ancient Germanic peoples as an ethnic group formed on the territory of Northern Europe. Their ancestors are considered to be Indo-European tribes who settled in Jutland, southern Scandinavia and in the Elbe River basin. As an independent ethnic group, Roman historians began to distinguish them, the first mention of the Germans as an independent ethnic group refers to the monuments of the first century BC. From the second century BC, the tribes of the ancient Germans begin to move south. Already in the third century AD, the Germans began to actively attack the borders of the Western Roman Empire.

All the Germans were pagans, and their paganism was different, in different parts, it was very different from each other. However, most of the pagan deities of the ancient Germans were common, only they were called by different names. So, for example, the Scandinavians had the god Odin, and to the Western Germans this deity was represented by the name Wotan.

The priests of the Germans were women, as Roman sources say, they were gray-haired. The Romans say that the pagan rituals of the Germans were extremely cruel. The throats of prisoners of war were cut, and predictions were made on the decomposed entrails of prisoners.

In women, the ancient Germans saw a special gift and also worshiped them. In their sources, the Romans confirm that each Germanic tribe could have their own unique rites and their own gods. The Germans did not build temples for the gods, but dedicated any land to them (groves, fields, etc.).

Roman sources say that the Germans were mainly engaged in cattle breeding. They mainly raised cows and sheep. Their craft was developed insignificantly. But they had High Quality ovens, spears, shields. Only selected Germans could wear armor, that is, they could know.

The clothes of the Germans were mainly made from animal skins. Worn, both men and women, capes, the richest Germans could afford pants.

To a lesser extent, the Germans were engaged in agriculture, but they had a fairly high quality tools, they were made of iron. The Germans lived in large long houses (from 10 to 30 m), next to the house there were stalls for pets.

Before the great migration of peoples, the Germans led a sedentary way of life and cultivated the land. Of their own free will, the Germanic tribes never immigrated. On their lands they grew grain crops: oats, rye, wheat, barley.

4. Determine the names of which barbarian tribes in one form or another have been preserved on the modern map of Western Europe.

Burgundians, Angles, Saxons, Franks, Germans.

Questions for additional material

Why did Theodoric, a barbarian by birth, respect the Romans and their culture, value scientists?

I think that the reason for this was that Theoderic was brought up by the Romans in captivity, where he was imbued with their culture and science. He could not just destroy the people who created such a great civilization.


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