Western Civilization Test Topic 10-11

King Pepin's Death

768

The death of King Pepin led to a split within the Franks Kingdom. This was a tradition as once the king died, the land of the Franks would be split evenly among his sons. This made it so that one large and strong territory turned into many small and weak territories. The good news for the Franks is that once one of the brother's died, the other brother, Charlemagne, seized control of all of the land. This started a great period for the Franks as he was one of the best kings in the middle ages.

Charlemagne Becomes King

771

In 771 CE, Charlemagne finally became king of the Franks. King Charlemagne was arguably the greatest and most powerful king, so this crowning started a great time of leadership. He was very good at uniting people as he helped to unite the majority of Europe together as one.

Invasion of Northern Italian Kingdom

773

With the request of the Pope, Charlemagne led his troops into the Northern Italian Kingdom and his invasion was successful. After this invasion, he crowned himself King of the Lombards. This was a huge development as nobody had ever named themselves king of another clan and they had never switched clans. He was starting something new as he was making empires of many groups while still ruling over them all, making him very powerful.

Charlemagne Crowned Holy Roman Emperor

800

Pope Leo III named Charlemagne the Holy Roman Emperor, a title that nobody had held since the fall of the Roman Empire. This was a bold move by the pope as he was giving Charlemagne a lot of power. Charlemagne had helped Leo regain his throne and as a reward, Leo helped him become even more powerful. Many people disliked this decision as they thought it gave too much power to a man who ran around with his army to different empires trying to gain power.

Vikings Convert to Christianity

1000

The Vikings were known for their raids and one raid changed them forever. The Vikings completed a raid of people who believed in Christianity and after they concluded their invasion, they realized that they liked Christianity. They adopted Christianity and the Vikings were now a part of it. This was very important as they stopped their raids, listened to the pope, who oversaw a lot of Christianity, and brought together the tribes of the Vikings.

First Crusade

1095

The First Crusade was ordered by Pope Urban II to protect and defend the Holy Land. It was surprisingly successful as they caught everyone at the perfect time. Muslim forces had splintered apart, leaving room for defeat. They were able to defeat all of these other powers and captured Jerusalem and much of the Levant. They now had control of a lot of the Holy Land and this made the pope a more powerful figure as they now called upon military actions and were the leaders of the church.

Second Crusade

1149

The Second Crusade was led by King Louis VII and Conrad III. These were two of the most powerful leaders of Europe who came together to fight for the same cause. This was very important as not many powerful leaders worked together, many worked against each other to become more powerful. This alliance was important as it started a trend where leaders worked together to achieve one goal instead of fighting for the same goal.

Magna Carta Signed

1215

The signing of the Magna Carta had a great impact on the kings. This rule made everyone subject to the law, even the king. Kings lost a lot of power as now they had to follow the law and could not do whatever they wanted to do. This was a way to face the political crisis that King John of England was facing, but it is very important to the leaders during this time as they lost a lot of power and their ability to do whatever they please without worrying about the law.

Medieval Agriculture Revolution

1250

The medieval ag revolution allowed the population to increase by over 500% and still have food for everyone to eat. Ag technology increased to make it so that they were getting better yields and were using land that they could never use before. In Europe, this was a huge deal as it changed the economy for the better. They were now making more money and had more people to rule. This gave rulers more power as they had more people to rule and more resources at their advantage.

Black Death

1350

The black death was one of the most important pandemics that the world had seen so far. This plague had massive death tolls and ruined economies all across the world. It played a huge part in the Middle Ages and it played a huge part in leadership. Leaders had to find a way to cure the plague the best they could and still keep their economy running. The pope was important as many people thought it was religious, so they looked to the pope to make God happy. This gave the pope power.