Early Middle Ages. The emergence, development and division of the Frankish Empire A brief retelling of the birth of the Kingdom of the Franks

The Franks were a large tribal union formed from several more ancient Germanic tribes (Sigambri, Hamavs, Bructeri, Tencteri, etc.). They lived east of the lower reaches of the Rhine and were divided, like a wall, by the Charbonniere forests into two groups: the Salii and the Ripuarii. In the second half of the 4th century. The Franks occupied Toxandria (the area between the Meuse and the Scheldt), settling here as federates of the empire.

Orange shows the territory inhabited by the Ripuarian Franks in the second half of the 5th century.

During the great migration of peoples, the Merovingian dynasty took the dominant position among the Salians. At the end of the 5th century, one of its representatives, Clovis (466-511), stood at the head of the Salic Franks. This cunning and enterprising king laid the foundation for the powerful Frankish monarchy.

Reims Cathedral - where kings take their oaths

The first king to be crowned in Reims was the Frankish leader Clovis. This happened in 481. Tradition tells that on the eve of the coronation a miracle happened: a dove sent from heaven brought in its beak a vial full of oil necessary to anoint the king as king.

The last Roman possession in Gaul was Soissons and its surrounding territories. Holdwig, who knew from the experience of his father about the untouched riches of the cities and villages of the Paris Basin, and about the precariousness of the authorities that remained the heirs of the Roman Empire, in 486. in the battle of Soissons, he defeated the troops of the Roman governor in Gaul, Syagrius, and seized power in this region of the former empire.

To expand his possessions to the lower reaches of the Rhine, he goes with an army to the Cologne region against the Alemanni, who have ousted the Ripuarian Franks. The Battle of Tolbiac took place on the Wollerheim Heath field near the German town of Zulpich. This battle is extremely important in its consequences. Clovis's wife, the Burgundian princess Clotilde, was a Christian and had long convinced her husband to leave paganism. But Clovis hesitated.

They say that in the battle with the Alemanni, when the enemy began to gain the upper hand, Clovis vowed in a loud voice to be baptized if he won. There were many Gallo-Roman Christians in his army; upon hearing the vow, they were inspired and helped win the battle. The Alemanni king fell in battle, his warriors, in order to stop the murder, turn to Clovis with the words: “Have mercy, we obey you” (Gregory of Tours).

This victory makes the Alamanni dependent on the Franks. The territory along the left bank of the Rhine, the area of ​​the Neckar River (the right tributary of the Rhine) and the lands up to the lower reaches of the Main pass to Clovis...

François-Louis Hardy Dejuynes - The Baptism of Clovis at Reims in 496

Holdvig donated a lot of wealth to the church and replaced the white banner on his banner, which depicted three golden toads, with a blue one, later, with the image of a fleur-de-lis, which was a symbol of St. Martin, the patron saint of France. Clovis allegedly chose this flower as a symbol of purification after baptism.

Along with the king, a significant part of his squad was baptized. The people, after the king’s speech, exclaimed: “Dear king, we renounce mortal gods and are ready to follow the immortal God whom Remigius preaches.” The Franks received baptism from the Catholic clergy; Thus, they became of the same faith with the Gallo - Roman population, and could merge with them into one people. This clever political move provided Clovis with the opportunity, under the banner of the fight against heresy, to oppose the neighboring Visigoth tribe and other barbarian tribes.

In 506, Clovis created a coalition against the Visigothic king Alaric II, who owned a quarter of south-west Gaul. In 507, he defeated Alaric's army at Vouillet, near Poitiers, pushing the Visigoths beyond the Pyrenees. For this victory, the Byzantine Emperor Anastasius I granted him the honorary title of Roman consul, sending him the signs of this rank: a crown and a purple mantle, and thereby, in the eyes of the Gallic population, seemed to confirm the power of Clovis in the newly conquered regions. He enjoys the support of the bishops, who see Clovis as a winner in the fight against Arianism, which they consider heresy.

Many of the Roman and Gallic nobility hastened to recognize the power of Clovis, thanks to which they retained their lands and dependent people. They also helped Clovis rule the country. The rich Romans became related to the Frankish leaders and gradually began to form a single ruling stratum of the population. At the same time, the Eastern Empire was primarily focused on its own benefits, primarily in foreign policy terms.

The efforts of imperial diplomacy around the Frankish “kingdom” of Clovis were aimed both at achieving a favorable balance of power in the West and at creating a stronghold here against other Germans, in particular the Goths. In this regard, Byzantine diplomacy continued the traditional policy of the Roman Empire: it was preferable to deal with the barbarians with their own hands.

By order of Clovis, the law was codified, the ancient judicial customs of the Franks and the new decrees of the king were recorded. Clovis became the sole supreme ruler of the state. Not only all Frankish tribes, but also the population of the entire country now submitted to him. The power of the king was much stronger than the power of the military leader. The king passed it on as inheritance to his sons. Actions against the king were punishable by death. In each region of the vast country, Clovis appointed rulers from people close to him - counts. They collected taxes from the population, commanded detachments of warriors, and supervised the courts. The highest judge was the king.

In order to conquer and, most importantly, retain new lands, a military leader must rely on the proven loyalty of his military retinue, which accompanies and protects him everywhere. Only a full treasury can give him such an opportunity, and only the seizure of funds contained in the treasury of his rivals can make him able to acquire the loyalty of new warriors, and this is necessary if territorial claims extend to the whole of Gaul. Clovis and his successors, strengthening their power and ensuring themselves the ability to control the acquired territories, generously gave away lands to their associates and warriors as a reward for their service. The result of such donations was a sharp intensification of the natural process of “settlement of the squad to the ground.” The endowment of warriors with estates and their transformation into feudal landowners took place in almost all countries of feudal Europe. Very soon, noble people turned into large landowners.

At the same time, Clovis tried to unite the Frankish tribes subordinate to the other Merovingians under his rule. He achieved this goal by cunning and atrocities, destroying the Frankish leaders who were his allies in the conquest of Gaul, while showing a lot of cunning and cruelty. The Merovingians were called “long-haired kings” because, according to legend, they did not have the right to cut their hair, because this could bring misfortune to the kingdom and was punishable by immediate deprivation of the throne. Therefore, at first the rulers of the Franks did not kill their rivals, but simply cut off their hair. But the hair grew back quickly... and soon they began to cut it off along with the head. The beginning of this “tradition” was laid by the son of Childeric and the grandson of Merovey - Clovis, who exterminated almost all relatives - the leaders of the Salic Franks: Syagray, Hararic, Ragnahar and their children, his brothers Rahar and Rignomer and their children.

He eliminated the king of the Ripuarian Franks, Sigebert, by persuading his own son to kill his father, and then sent assassins to his son. After the murder of Sigebert and his son, Clovis also proclaimed himself king of the Ripuarian Franks. At the end of the 5th century, tribes of Germans calling themselves Franks formed a new state (the future France), which, under the Merovingians, covered the territory of present-day France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and part of Germany.

The long-awaited moment came for Clovis - he became the sole ruler of the Franks, but not for long, he died in the same year. He was buried in Paris in the Church of the Holy Apostles, which he himself built with his wife (now the Church of Saint Genevieve).

Considering the kingdom as his own, he left it to his four sons. Thierry, Chlodomir, Childebert and Chlothar inherited the kingdom and divided it among themselves into equal parts, only occasionally uniting for joint campaigns of conquest. There were several kings, the kingdom was still one, although divided into several parts, to which German historians gave the name “Shared Kingdom”. The power of the Frankish kings underwent changes in the period from the end of the 5th to the middle of the 6th century. Having been at first only a power over one people or nationality, uniting people for war, it became a power over a certain territory, and because of this, a permanent power over several peoples.

The fragmentation of the kingdom did not prevent the Franks from uniting their efforts for joint action against the Burgundians, whose state was conquered after a protracted war in 520-530. The annexation of the region of the future Provence, which turned out to be bloodless, also dates back to the time of the sons of Clovis. The Merovingians managed to achieve the transfer of these lands from the Ostrogoths, who were embroiled in a long war against Byzantium. In 536, the Ostrogothic king Witigis abandoned Provence in favor of the Franks. In the 30s In the 6th century, the Alpine possessions of the Alemanni and the lands of the Thuringians between the Weser and Elbe were also conquered, and in the 50s. - lands of the Bavarians on the Danube.

But the apparent unity could no longer hide the signs of future strife. An inevitable consequence of the partition was civil strife in the Merovingian family. These civil strife were accompanied by cruelties and treacherous murders.

Jean-Louis Besard as Childebert I, third son of King Clovis I and Clotilde of Burgundy

In 523-524. Together with his brothers, he took part in two campaigns against Burgundy. After the death of Chlodomer during the second campaign, a bloody conspiracy between Childeber and Chlothar occurred, who plotted to kill their nephews and divide their inheritance among themselves. So Childebert became king of Orleans, recognizing Chlothar as his heir.

In 542, Childebert, together with Chlothar, organized a campaign in Spain against the Visigoths. They captured Pamplona and besieged Zaragoza, but were forced to retreat.

From this campaign, Childebert brought to Paris a Christian relic - the tunic of St. Vincent, in whose honor he founded a monastery in Paris, later known as the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés. In 555, together with his nephew Temple, Childebert rebelled against Chlothar I and plundered part of his lands. After Childebert's death, Chlothar took possession of his kingdom.

In 558, all of Gaul was united under the rule of Clothar I. He also had four heirs, which led to a new division of the state into three parts - Burgundy, Austrasia and Neustria. In the southeast was Aquitaine, which was considered the common territory of all three Frankish kings. The Merovingian power was an ephemeral political entity. It lacked not only economic and ethnic community, but also political and judicial-administrative unity. The social system of different parts of the Frankish state was not the same. At the beginning of the 7th century, under King Clothar II, the landed nobility obtained from him major concessions listed in the edict of 614, and thereby limited his power.

The last significant Merovingian king was Dagobert (son of Clothar II). The Merovingians who followed were more insignificant than each other. Under them, the decision of state affairs passes into the hands of the mayors, appointed by the king in each kingdom from representatives of the most noble families. Amid this chaos and turmoil, one position particularly stood out and achieved the highest power: that of the palace manager. The manager of the palace, the chamber mayor, or major domus, in the 6th century did not yet stand out from many other positions; in the 7th century he began to occupy first place after the king.

The Frankish state split into two main parts: the eastern, Austrasia, or the German lands proper, and the western, Neustria, or Gaul.

One Austrasian mayor, Pishsh of Geristal, was already so powerful that he forced himself to be recognized as mayor in Neustria. As a result of his campaigns of conquest, he expanded the territory of the state and the tribes of the Saxons and Bavarians paid him tribute. His son Charles, by his side wife Alpaida, also kept both halves under his rule.

In 725 and 728, Charles Pepin undertook two campaigns in Bavaria, as a result of which it was subordinated to his kingdom, although it continued to be governed by its duke. In the early 730s he conquered Alemannia, which in the past was part of the Frankish state.

Charles significantly strengthened the military power of the Frankish kingdom. Under him, the military art of the Franks received further development. This was due to the appearance of heavily armed cavalry of the Frankish nobility - which in the near future became knightly cavalry.

Karl came up with an original move. He began to issue state lands not as full, but as conditional ownership. Thus, in the Frankish state, a special type of land ownership developed - benefices. The condition was complete “self-arming” and performing mounted military service. If the owner of the land refused, for whatever reason, his plot was confiscated back to the state.

Charles carried out a wide distribution of benefices. The fund for these grants was at first the lands confiscated from the rebellious magnates, and when these lands dried up, he carried out partial secularization (the removal of something from ecclesiastical, spiritual jurisdiction and transfer to the secular, civil), due to which he allocated a large number of beneficiaries. Using part of the church lands to strengthen the beneficiary system, Charles at the same time actively contributed to the spread of Christianity and the enrichment of churchmen in the lands he conquered, and saw in the church a means of strengthening his power. His patronage of the missionary activities of St. is known. Boniface - "Apostle of Germany".

The Arabs, having conquered Spain, invaded Gaul. Near the city of Poitiers in 732, the troops of the Frankish mayor Charles defeated the army of the Andalusian emir Abderrahman al-Ghafaki, who decided to punish the Duke of Aquitaine Ed.

A battle took place in which the desperate courage of the Muslims was crushed by the fortress of the Franks. The battle turned out to be in many ways a turning point in the history of medieval Europe. The Battle of Poitiers saved it from Arab conquest, and at the same time demonstrated the full power of the newly created knightly cavalry. The Arabs returned to Spain and stopped advancing north of the Pyrenees. Only a small part of Southern Gaul - Septimania - was now left in the hands of the Arabs. It is believed that it was after this battle that Charles received the nickname “Martell” - Hammer.

In 733 and 734 he conquered the lands of the Frisians, accompanying the conquest with the active planting of Christianity among them. Repeatedly (in 718, 720, 724, 738) Charles Martell made campaigns across the Rhine against the Saxons and imposed tribute on them.

However, he stood only on the threshold of the true historical greatness of the Frankish state. Before his death, he divided the Frankish kingdom between his two sons, Carloman and Pepin the Short, the first of them received majordom in Austrasia, Swabia and Thuringia, the second in Neustria, Burgundy and Provence.

Charles Martell was succeeded by his son Pitsch the Short, so nicknamed for his small stature, which did not prevent him from possessing great physical strength. In 751, Major Pepin the Short imprisoned the last Merovingian (Childeric III) in a monastery and turned to the Pope with the question: “Who should be called king - the one who has only the title, or the one who has real power?” and the understanding dad answered exactly as the questioner wanted. This seemingly simple question challenged the ancestral sacredness of the Franks embodied in the Merovingians.

Francois Dubois - Anointing of Pepin the Short in the Abbey of Saint-Denis

Holy Bishop Boniface anointed Pepin as king, and then Pope Stephen II, who arrived to ask for help against the Lombards, himself repeated this rite of anointing. In 751, at a meeting of the Frankish nobility and his vassals in Soissons, Pepin was officially proclaimed king of the Franks. Pepin knew how to be grateful: by force of arms he forced the Lombard king to give the pope the cities of the Roman region and the lands of the Ravenna exarchate that he had previously captured. On these lands in Central Italy, the Papal State arose in 756. So Pepin became a monarch, and the pope who sanctioned the coup received an invaluable gift, an enormously important precedent for the future: the right to remove kings and entire dynasties from power.

Charles Martell and Pepin the Short understood that the spread of Christianity and the establishment of church government in the German countries would bring the latter closer to the Frankish state. Even earlier, individual preachers (missionaries), especially from Ireland and Scotland, came to the Germans and spread Christianity among them.

After the death of Pepin the Short in 768, the Crown passed to his son Charles, later called the Great. The mayors of Austrasia from the house of Pipinids (descendants of Pepin of Geristal), becoming the rulers of the united Frankish state, laid the foundation for a new dynasty of Frankish kings. After Charles, the Pipinid dynasty was called the Carolingians.

During the reign of the Carolingians, the foundations of the feudal system were laid in Frankish society. The growth of large-scale land ownership accelerated due to social stratification within the community where it remained, the ruin of the mass of free peasants who, losing their allods, gradually turned into landed and then personally dependent people. This process, which began under the Merovingians, in the 8th-9th centuries. took on a violent character.

Continuing the aggressive policy of his predecessors, Charles in 774 made a campaign in Italy, overthrew the last Lombard king Desiderius and annexed the Lombard kingdom to the Frankish state. In June 774, after another siege, Charles took Pavia, proclaiming it the capital of the Italian kingdom.

Charlemagne went from defensive to offensive and against the Arabs in Spain. He made his first trip there in 778, but was only able to reach Saragossa and, without taking it, was forced to return beyond the Pyrenees. The events of this campaign served as the plot basis for the famous medieval French epic “Songs of Roland”. Its hero was one of Charles’s military leaders, Roland, who died in a skirmish with the Basques along with the rearguard of the Frankish troops, covering the Franks’ retreat in the Roncesvalles Gorge. Despite the initial failure, Charles continued to try to advance south of the Pyrenees. In 801, he managed to capture Barcelona and establish a border territory in the northeast of Spain - the Spanish March.

Charles fought the longest and bloodiest wars in Saxony (from 772 to 802), located between the Ems and Lower Rhine rivers in the west, the Elbe in the east and the Eider in the north. In order to break the rebellious, Charles entered into a temporary alliance with their eastern neighbors, the Polabian Slavs, the Obodrites, who had long been at enmity with the Saxons. During the war and after its completion in 804, Charles practiced mass migrations of Saxons to the interior regions of the Frankish kingdom, and Franks and Obodrites to Saxony.

Charles's conquests were also directed to the southeast. In 788, he finally annexed Bavaria, eliminating the ducal power there. Thanks to this, the influence of the Franks spread to neighboring Carinthia (Horutania), inhabited by the Slavs - the Slovenes. On the southeastern borders of the expanding Frankish state, Charles encountered the Avar Khaganate in Pannonia. The nomadic Avars carried out constant predatory raids on neighboring agricultural tribes. In 788, they also attacked the Frankish state, marking the beginning of the Frankish-Avar wars, which continued intermittently until 803. A decisive blow to the Avars was dealt by the capture of a system of ring-shaped fortifications called “hrings”, surrounded by stone walls and a palisade made of thick logs; Many settlements were located among these fortifications. Having stormed the fortifications, the Franks enriched themselves with countless treasures. The main hring was protected by nine successive walls. The war with the Avars lasted for many years, and only the alliance of the Franks with the southern Slavs allowed them, with the participation of the Khorutan prince Voinomir, who led this campaign, to defeat the central fortress of the Avars in 796. As a result, the Avar state collapsed, and Pannonia temporarily found itself in the hands of the Slavs.

Charlemagne is the first ruler who decided to unite Europe. The Frankish state now covered a vast territory. It extended from the middle reaches of the Ebro River and Barcelona in the southwest to the Elbe, Sala, the Bohemian Mountains and the Vienna Woods in the east, from the border of Jutland in the north to Central Italy in the south. This territory was inhabited by many tribes and nationalities, varying in level of development. From the moment of its inception, the administrative organization of the new Frankish empire was aimed at universal education, the development of art, religion and culture. Under him, capitularies were issued - acts of Carolingian legislation, and land reforms were carried out that contributed to the feudalization of Frankish society. By forming border areas - the so-called Marches - he strengthened the defense capability of the state. The era of Charles went down in history as the era of the “Carolingian Renaissance”. It was at this time that the Frankish Empire became the link between antiquity and medieval Europe. Scientists and poets gathered at his court, he promoted the spread of culture and literacy through monastic schools and through the activities of monastic educators.

Under the leadership of the great Anglo-Saxon scientist Alcuin, and with the participation of such famous figures as Theodulf, Paul the Deacon, Eingard and many others, the education system was actively revived, which was called the Carolingian Renaissance. He led the church's struggle against the iconoclasts and insisted that the pope include the filioque (the provision of the procession of the Holy Spirit not only from the Father, but also from the Son) in the Creed.

Architectural art is experiencing a great boom; numerous palaces and temples are being built, the monumental appearance of which was characteristic of the early Romanesque style. It should be noted, however, that the term “Renaissance” can be used here only conditionally, since Charles’s activities took place during the era of the spread of religious-ascetic dogmas, which for several centuries became an obstacle to the development of humanistic ideas and the true revival of cultural values ​​created in the ancient era.

Through his vast conquests, Charlemagne demonstrated a desire for imperial universality, which found its religious counterpart in the universality of the Christian Church. This religious and political synthesis, in addition to being symbolic, also had great practical significance for organizing the internal life of the state and ensuring the unity of its heterogeneous parts. Secular power, when necessary, used the authority of the church to assert its prestige. However, this was an unstable union: the church, seeing its support in the state, laid claim to political leadership. On the other hand, the secular power, whose strength gradually grew, sought to subjugate the papacy. Therefore, the relationship between church and state in Western Europe included confrontation and inevitable conflict situations.

Charles could no longer rule numerous countries and peoples while continuing to bear the title of King of the Franks. In order to reconcile and merge together all the heterogeneous elements in his kingdom - the German tribes of the Franks, Saxons, Frisians, Lombards, Bavarians, Alamanni with the Roman, Slavic and other components of the state - Charles needed to accept a new, so to speak, neutral title that could would give it undeniable authority and significance in the eyes of all subjects. Such a title could only be that of a Roman emperor, and the only question was how to obtain it. The proclamation of Charles as emperor could only happen in Rome, and the opportunity soon presented itself. Taking advantage of the fact that Pope Leo III, fleeing from the hostile Roman nobility, took refuge at the court of the Frankish king, Charles undertook a campaign to Rome in defense of the pope. The grateful pope, not without pressure from Charles, crowned him with the imperial crown in 800 in St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome, solemnly placing on him the imperial crown with the title "Charles Augustus, crowned by God the great and peace-making Roman Emperor."

Charlemagne's new Roman Empire was half the size of the previous one, Charlemagne was German rather than Roman, preferring to rule from Aachen or wage war. The Holy Roman Empire of the German nation lasted a thousand years until it was destroyed by another great conqueror - Napoleon, who called himself the successor of Charlemagne.

The word king did not exist before Charlemagne. It came from his name. The anagram of Charlemagne encrypts his name - Karolus.

Despite the efforts of Charlemagne, the Frankish state never achieved political unity, and weakening as a result of external threats accelerated its collapse. From that time on, only church unity was preserved in Europe, and culture found refuge in monasteries for a long time.

The fragmentation of the empire by the grandchildren of Charlemagne in 843 meant the end of the political unity of the Frankish state. Charlemagne's empire collapsed due to feudalization. Under the weak sovereigns, who turned out to be his son and grandsons, the centrifugal forces of feudalism tore it apart.

According to the Treaty of Verdun in 843, it was divided between the descendants of Charlemagne into three large parts: the West Frankish, East Frankish kingdoms and an empire that included Italy and the lands along the Rhine (the empire of Lothair, one of Charles's grandsons). The partition marked the beginning of the history of three modern European states - France, Germany and Italy.

The formation of the “kingdom” of the Franks is a kind of result of the long historical path traversed by the West German tribal world over hundreds of years. Of all the “states” formed by the Germans, the state of the Franks lasted the longest and played the most important role. Perhaps this is explained by the fact that the Franks settled in large numbers, completely displacing the “Roman” population from certain territories.

In place of the slaveholding territories of Ancient Rome, free peasant communities were formed, the formation of large feudal estates began - the era of feudalism, or the era of the Middle Ages, began. And the formation of French civilization begins, as part of European civilization.

In modern Europe, Charlemagne is considered one of the forerunners of European integration. Since 1950, the annual Charlemagne Prize for contributions to European unity has been awarded in Aachen, the capital of Charles' empire.

A typical example of an early feudal monarchy was Frankish state, states in Western and Central Europe from the 5th to the 9th centuries. It was formed on the territory of the Western Roman Empire simultaneously with other barbarian kingdoms. This territory has been inhabited by the Franks since the 3rd century. Due to the continuous military campaigns of the mayor of the Franks - Charles Martella, his son - Pepin the Short, as well as grandson - Charlemagne, the territory of the Frankish empire reached its largest size by the beginning of the 9th century.

The Kingdom of the Franks lasted much longer than all the other barbarian states of continental Europe. Two and a half centuries later, having reached Charlemagne its highest power and its maximum territorial extent. Frankish Empire was the ancestral home of a number of modern Western European states - France, Germany, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, etc.

The rapid formation of the Frankish state in the form early feudal monarchy contributed to the victorious wars and class differentiation of Frankish society. Since the Frankish state entered the era of feudalism in the process of decomposition of the primitive communal system, bypassing the stage of slavery in its development, elements of the old communal organization and tribal democracy still remained in it. The society was characterized multi-structure(a combination of slaveholding, tribal, communal, feudal relations) and the incompleteness of the process of creating basic classes of feudal society.

The genesis of feudalism among the Franks

The processes of feudalization among the Franks are developing during the wars of conquest of the 6th - 7th centuries. The right to dispose of the conquered land in Northern Gaul is concentrated in the hands of the king. The serving nobility and royal warriors, bound by vassalage to the king, became large owners of lands, livestock, slaves, and colones (small tenants of land). The nobility was replenished by the Gallo-Roman aristocracy, who went into the service of the Frankish kings. The development of feudal relations accelerated due to the clash between the communal orders of the Franks and the private property orders of the Gallo-Romans.

In the middle of the 7th century. in Northern Gaul begins to take shape feudal estate with its characteristic division of land into master's and peasant's. The royal land fund was reduced due to the distribution of land by kings to their vassals. The growth of large landholdings was accompanied by infighting among landowners, which showed the fragility of the Merovingian kingdom. During this period, state power was concentrated in the hands of the nobility, who seized all the main positions and, above all, the post of mayor. Mayordom under the Merovingians he was the highest official. Initially, he was appointed by the king and headed the palace administration.

With the weakening of royal power, his powers expand, and the mayor becomes the actual head states. At the turn of the 7th–8th centuries, this position became the hereditary property of a noble and wealthy family, which laid the foundation for the Carolingian dynasty.

Period of the Merovingian monarchy (VI-VII centuries)

Leader of the Western (Salic) Franks tribe Clovis from the family of Merovey, he defeated the Romans at the Battle of Soissons and subjugated Northern Gaul (486). He and his squad converted to Christianity according to the papal rite (496). The Merovingians had two goals:

• elimination of tribal separatism, unification of all parts of the state;
• the elimination of old forms of government, the subordination of the country, divided into territorial districts, to royal officials and judges.

The legal code of the Salic Franks was Salic truth . The land, previously considered the property of the clan, turned into allodium - property of a specific family (late VT century). Allod could be bequeathed, sold, bought.

The head of state was king. His government consisted of: the first councilor of the kingdom ( majordomo); legal advisor to the king (palace count); manager of the office (referendar); commander of the royal cavalry (marshal). The king's lieutenants in a certain district (counts) were judges and tax collectors.

After the death of Clovis, internecine wars began, as a result of which the kings were almost completely removed from governing the country. The period is coming "lazy kings" . The actual head of state becomes the major.

Mayordom Charles Martell carried out reforms. Having confiscated part of the church and monastery lands, he began to distribute them as benefices - grants of land under the condition of performing military service and performing certain duties. As a result, a standing army was created. This is how the connection began to develop: the king ( senor) and the beneficiary subordinate to him ( vassal).

Period of the Carolingian monarchy (8th century - first half of the 9th century)

The transfer of royal power to the Carolingians was ensured by successes Charles Martella , who was the mayor of the Frankish state in 715 - 741. He restored the political unity of the kingdom and actually concentrated the supreme power in his hands. The lands confiscated from rebellious magnates and monasteries, together with the peasants who lived on them, are transferred to them for conditional lifelong tenure - benefice .

Beneficiary - beneficiary holder - was obliged to perform service, mainly military, sometimes administrative, in favor of the person who awarded the land. Refusal to serve or treason against the king was deprived of the right to an award. The reform led to the growth of feudal land ownership and increased enslavement of peasants, and also gave impetus to education vassalage systems - feudal hierarchical ladder, a special system of subordination: contractual relations were established between the beneficiary (vassal) and the person who handed over the land (seigneur).

Charlemagne (768 - 814)

Son of Charles Martel Pepin the Short was proclaimed king of the Franks (751). With his son Charlemagne The Frankish kingdom reaches its peak (768-814). He takes the title emperor(800). The territory of the state grew due to conquests. Italy (774), Bavaria (788), northeastern Spain (801), Saxony (804) were annexed, and the Avar Khaganate in Pannonia was defeated (796-803).

Under Charlemagne, the traditions of ancient culture are being revived. Schools for boys are opened, and an Academy is established in Aachen. The Romanesque style in architecture is being formed.

At the head of the state was the king - the supreme overlord of all feudal lords. The vassals of the first level were large secular and spiritual feudal lords: dukes, counts, princes, archbishops, bishops. Vassals of the second level are barons. The knights (petty nobles) did not have their own vassals; they were directly subordinate to the peasants, to whom they gave the land to hold.

The peasant paid rent to the landowner. Forms of rent: labor (corvée), food, cash.

The basis of vassalage was the allotment fief- hereditary land property, which was given under the condition of military service, military or monetary assistance and loyalty to one’s overlord.

Collapse of the Frankish Empire

The grandchildren of Charlemagne, according to the Treaty of Verdun, divided the empire into three parts (843).

• Senior - Lothair received possession of Italy, Burgundy and Lorraine - lands along the river. Rhine.
• Second - Louis the German- land beyond the river Rhine (Saxony, Bavaria).
• Third - Karl Baldy- lands of the Frankish kingdom itself.

The Treaty of Verdun marked the beginning of the formation of three future European countries - France, Germany, Italy. The Carolingian dynasty had five branches:

• Lombard, founded by Pepin of Italy, son of Charlemagne. After his death his son Bernard ruled Italy as king. His descendants settled in France, where they had the titles of counts of Valois, Vermandois, Amiens, and Troyes.
• Lorraine descended from Emperor Lothair, the eldest son of Louis the Pious. With his death, the Middle Kingdom was divided among his sons, who received Italy, Lorraine and Lower Burgundy. Since the new rulers had no sons left, in 875 their lands were divided between the German and French branches.
• Aquitaine, founded by Pepin of Aquitaine, son of Louis the Pious. Since he died before his father, Aquitaine went not to Pepin's sons, but to his younger brother Karl Tolstoy. The sons left no descendants, and in 864 the dynasty died out.
• German descended from Louis the German, ruler of the East Frankish kingdom, son of Louis the Pious. He divided his possessions between his three sons, who received the duchies of Bavaria, Saxony and Swabia. His youngest son Karl Tolstoy briefly reunited the western and eastern kingdoms of the Franks, which were finally separated with his death.
• French- descendants of Charles the Bald, son of Louis the Pious. They owned the West Frankish kingdom, the reign of the dynasty was interrupted after the death of Karl Tolstoy and during the usurpation of the throne by the Robertines (twice) and the Bosonids. After the death of Louis V in 987, representatives of the French branch of the Carolingians lost the royal throne.

With the collapse Frankish Empire a period began in Europe feudal fragmentation . With the growth of feudal land ownership, individual lords, large landowners, received privileges - immunity , which consisted in possessing the rights of military, judicial and financial power over the peasants living on their lands. The estates of the feudal lord who received the king's immunity letter were not subject to the activities of state officials, and all state powers were transferred to the owner of the estate. In the processes of establishing the power of large landowners over peasants in Western Europe, she played a huge role, becoming herself a large land owner. The stronghold of the dominant position of the church were monasteries, and the secular nobility - fortified castles, which became patrimonial centers, places for collecting rent from peasants, and a symbol of the power of the lords.

Lesson summary "The Frankish state as a typical example of an early feudal state."

Franks, a group of Germanic tribes who lived along the lower and middle Rhine in the 3rd century. They were divided into Salic and Ripuarian. The Franks found themselves early in Rome's sphere of influence. From the 3rd century AD they were settled as federates in the north of Gaul. At the end of the 4th century they conquered Gaul, forming the Frankish kingdom. Evidence of the external image of the Franks has been preserved: “... from the top of their heads, their reddish hair falls onto their forehead, and the naked back of their head shines, having lost its covering. They have light blue-gray eyes. They are clean-shaven and instead of a beard they wear a sparse mustache, which they diligently care for by combing it with a comb. Tight clothing fits the slender body of men; the clothes are pulled up high, so much so that their knees are visible, and a wide belt covers their narrow waist. They amuse themselves by throwing double-bladed axes over a long distance, ... waving their shields, jumping ahead of the spears they throw, in order to be the first to reach the enemy” (Sidonius Apollinaris, 5th century).

The Kingdom of the Franks owes its formation to Clovis (481–511). For a time he bore the Roman title of proconsul. After the fall of Rome, Syagrius made claims to imperial power, fled to Soissons and restored there a semblance of the Senate and higher magistrates. It was with him that Clovis began to fight. In 486 he captured Soissons and deprived Syagrius of power. Here an episode occurred that was very characteristic of pre-feudal relations between the king and the people. The Franks received rich booty, including a rare cup from the cathedral in Soissons. The bishop of the city came to the king with a request to return the sacred monstrance. Clovis replied that he would willingly give it to the petitioner if he got it by lot. Arriving at the place where the trophies were divided, he declared that he was ready to give up his share for the said cup. Then one of the warriors cut the vessel with a sword, declaring that the king would only get what was drawn by lot. The king had to reckon with the demands of egalitarian morality, without showing any wounded pride. Some time later, when it seemed that everyone had forgotten about what had happened, a traditional review of weapons and combat skills took place (such May reviews continued even during the time of Charlemagne), and at it Clovis approached that warrior, found his halberd in neglect, and snatched it from he was thrown out of his hands and thrown to the ground, and when the warrior bent down to pick up his weapon, he cut his head with a sword, saying: “That’s what you did to my cup!”

The king’s dependence on the opinion of the people is also manifested in another case, namely: the baptism of Clovis. Being married to a Christian, he stubbornly refused to be baptized himself. Neither the persuasion of his wife nor the sermons of St. Remigius worked. The king declared that the people would laugh at him. And so, during the war with the Alamanni, when his army was defeated, Clovis appealed to the Almighty for help: “Jesus Christ... If You help me defeat my enemies, and if I experience Your power in practice..., then I will believe in I will accept you and be baptized in Your Name...” And indeed, soon the Franks turned the tide of the battle and emerged victorious. In 498, Clovis was baptized and with him 3 thousand soldiers. In 507, the war with the Visigoths began. The king of the Franks took the Catholic population of Gaul under protection, forbade the plunder of churches and monasteries, and thereby won over the Gallo-Romans, who did not want to tolerate the Arians - the Visigoths. A decisive battle took place at Poitiers, during which Clovis was struck from both sides by spears, but he was saved by armor and a horse. The Visigoths were completely defeated, King Alaric II was killed. The Franks expanded the borders of their kingdom to the Loire and the Ardennes mountains. Paris was chosen as the capital. Around 511 the famous "Salic Law" was compiled. Being written in Latin, in which the actual Frankish vocabulary was dissolved, it almost did not reflect Roman influence. There is no mention of coloni, peculium, patrocinia, nobility, etc. It seems that the Franks settled in areas with sparse population density, without entering into relations with the Gallo-Romans, without resorting to land redistribution and therefore without conflict with the local residents.

Perhaps in this, as well as in the preference of the Catholic faith over Arianism, it is worth looking for the reasons for the greater viability of the Frankish kingdom in comparison with others. In 534, Chlothar I (511–561) conquered the Burgundians. Subsequently, under the grandchildren of Clovis, the Frankish state split into 4 kingdoms: Neustria, led by Charibert (561–568), Austrasia, ruled by Sigebert (561–575), who, according to some assumptions, served as the prototype of the epic Siegfried, Aquitaine, which was ruled by Chilperic I (561–584) and Burgundy, which went to Guntram (561–592). The first was known as a lawyer and imitated the manners of Roman judges. The second acted as a model of Christian virtues, who, unlike his brothers, was content with one wife, Brynhilda. He was famous for his patronage of the muses. At his court lived Gregory of Tours, a historian who is called the “Herodotus of barbarism,” Venantius Fortunatus, a poet, truly a balancing act of rhyme, capable of composing stanzas that took the shape of a cross or had 33 lines of 33 letters each. The third had claims to be a grammarian, theologian and poet. Listening to his poems, limping on four legs, the noble Gauls exclaimed with trepidation that the son of Sicambra defeated the sons of Romulus with the grace of his tongue. The brothers waged a fierce struggle among themselves, in which the wives were not inferior in vindictiveness and crimes to their husbands. Ultimately, Chilperic emerged victorious, uniting Aquitaine, Austrasia and Neustria under his rule.

The Frankish Kingdom (Frankish State) (lat. Regnum Francorum) is a barbarian kingdom founded in Gaul by the Franks at the end of the 5th century. By the beginning of the 6th century, the kings of the Salic Franks (the Salic branch of the Frankish tribe had several kings until the 6th century) expanded their domains to the Seine and Loire and extended their power over a wide area along the middle and upper Rhine. In 496, Clovis, along with a thousand Franks, was baptized and entered into an alliance with the Catholic bishops, which was of great importance for strengthening the Frankish kingdom.

The alliance with the church provided Clovis with the support of the influential elite of the Gallo-Roman population and the people dependent on it in the fight against the barbarian Arian kings. Under the sons and grandsons of Clovis, the conquest of Gaul was gradually completed, with the exception of Septimania, which remained with the Visigoths, Thuringia was conquered, Alemannia and Bavaria were subjugated, although the Bavarians retained their rights and their tribal leaders as part of the Frankish kingdom.

In the 1st half of the 6th century, the Frankish kingdom was a large political entity. The Frankish king exercised government power at the center and locally through his servants. Royal clerks, who oversaw the correct receipt of contributions to the royal treasury - deductions from trade transactions, court fines, etc. - turned into government bodies and replaced the ancient elected positions.

The bulk of the population of the Frankish state during the era of its formation were free Franks and Gallo-Romans. Below them on the social ladder stood litas, freedmen and slaves. The Salic Franks did not have a clan nobility during the Merovingian dynasty, but very quickly a service nobility emerged from among the royal warriors and trusted servants endowed with large land holdings.

After the death of King Dagobert I in 639, there were constant internecine wars between representatives of the powerful aristocracy. At the same time, each surrounded himself with vassals, ruled like a small sovereign, involving the sections of the population dependent on him into internecine strife. In each of the three parts into which the Frankish state was divided - in Burgundy, Neustria and Austrasia, there were special heads of the palace - mayordomos, who, being representatives of the nobility, actually led the foreign and domestic policy of the state, ignoring royal power and fighting with each other. In the early 640s, Thuringia, Alemannia and Bavaria separated from the Frankish kingdom, and around 670 Aquitaine became independent, which began to be governed by its independent dukes.

In the process of internecine struggle among representatives of the aristocracy, the strongest of them rose to power - Pepin of Geristal, Major of Austrasia, who in 687 became the single Major of all three parts of the Frankish state. The title was left to the kings of the Merovingian house, and all actual power passed to the mayors. Relying on their enormous land wealth and many free vassals, Pepin and his successors brought the nobility to obedience and strengthened the military power of the Frankish kingdom. Pepin himself, having dealt with the nobility, successfully acted against the Germans in the east; he subjugated part of the Frisian territory to his power and again established Frankish influence in Alemannia and Bavaria.

Pepin's son, majordomo Charles Martel (715–741), distributing the lands of the Frankish Church as military benefices to his warriors, created a well-organized army with which he could undertake the most difficult campaigns. He conquered all of Friesland, strengthened the power of the Franks in Thuringia, and even imposed tribute on the warlike Saxons. He established close ties with Catholic missionaries who spread Christianity among the Germans and consolidated the successes of Frankish weapons across the Rhine.

In the south of the state, Charles Martel won a brilliant victory at Poitiers in 732 over the Arabs who had moved to Gaul from Spain they had conquered. The Battle of Poitiers was a turning point, after which further Arab advances into Europe were stopped. He again subjugated Aquitaine to the Franks.

Charles Martel's son, Pepin the Short (741-768), finally expelled the Arabs from Gaul, conquered Septimania, and continued to consolidate the successes of the Franks across the Rhine. He completed the conquest of Thuringia, following the example of his father in the closest alliance with the church.

The Frankish mayor, with the support of a friendly pope, imprisoned the last Merovingian king in a monastery and in 751 he himself took the throne. The new Frankish king, from whom the new Carolingian dynasty came, helped, in turn, the pope in the fight against the Lombards and gave him the region taken from the Lombards (the former Zarchate of Ravenna) to the pope as a secular sovereign. Thus, Pepin laid the foundation for the penetration of Frankish influence into Italy.

The Frankish state reached its peak under Charlemagne (768-814), who sought to unite all the Roman and Germanic peoples of the West, using the fighting power of the Franks and the support of the Church for this. In 773-774, Charlemagne conquered Northern Italy and annexed it to the Frankish state, declaring himself king of the Franks and Lombards, the very fact of this conquest making the papal throne completely dependent on his power. Of the Germanic tribes, only the Saxons, who occupied almost all of Lower Germany and preserved the ancient Germanic system, remained independent. For as many as 33 years (772-804), Charlemagne introduced Christianity and Frankish rule among the Saxons with iron and blood, until he finally broke their tenacity. Having conquered Saxony and undertaken a series of campaigns into the Slavic lands, Charles built several fortresses on the border, which later became strongholds for the spread of the Germans to the east.

Charles's Danube campaigns led to the destruction of the independence of Bavaria (788) and the defeat (final in 799) of the Avar Khaganate. In the south, Charles, continuing the struggle of his predecessors with the Arabs, undertook several campaigns in Spain and extended Frankish rule here to the river. Ebro. The conquests of Charlemagne, which brought all Western European Christian countries (with the exception of England) under the rule of the king of the Franks, gave him the opportunity to move to first place among the rulers of Europe and allowed him to achieve the imperial title as the successor of the Western Roman emperors. Charlemagne's assumption of the imperial title in 800 formalized his conquests and cemented his hegemony in Europe.

The collapse of the Frankish state began immediately after the death of Charlemagne. Under his successor, Louis the Pious, the Frankish possessions were divided among his sons. The partition led to strife, which especially intensified after the death of Louis. After the Treaty of Verdun in 843, the final division of the Frankish state into three independent states took place between the sons of the deceased king: the East Frankish state (Germany), the West Frankish state (France), Italy and Burgundy (the state of Lothair, the Kingdom of Italy). Italy and Burgundy at times united under one government, at times they split into two independent states.

In 395, the Roman Empire, by the will of its last emperor, Theodosius, was divided into two parts between his sons. This is how the Western Roman Empire with its capital in Rome and the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium) with its capital in Constantinople were formed.

The Western Roman Empire fell to barbarian tribes in the 5th century. A new period in history began, called the “Middle Ages.”

Barbarians on the territory of the Western Roman Empire

The Romans, following the Greeks, called “barbarians” all peoples living outside their state and speaking a language they did not understand. They gave them the collective name "Germans".

Initially, the Germans moved from the Rhine to the Danube in search of food, shelter and wealth, leaving behind disasters and the destruction of houses, bridges and roads. Not all Germanic tribes were savage barbarians; some of them switched to a sedentary lifestyle and tried to live in a civilized manner. The leader of the German tribe Odoacer, who deposed the last emperor of the Western Roman Empire, Romulus Augustulus, managed to establish diplomatic relations with the Byzantine Empire. Subsequently, the barbarians created kingdom states, some of which lasted for several centuries.

Formation of barbarian kingdoms

Having settled on the territory of the former Roman Empire, barbarian tribes created their own kingdoms. By the end of the 5th century, several barbarian states were known, among which were the Visigothic (formed by the Western Goths), Ostrogothic (created by the Eastern Goths), Vandal (state of the Vandal tribe), Burgundy (state of the Burgundians) and the Frankish state created by the Franks. The remaining Germanic tribes did not have their own statehood.

Large groups of Germanic tribes settled in what is now western Germany and western France. In the conquered areas, the Germans constituted a minority of the population, but retained power thanks to their belligerence and well-organized leadership.

The formation of barbarian states changed the life of the Germanic tribes. The differences between the conquerors and the conquered peoples were gradually smoothed out, and business and family ties began to be established between them. The Germans began to adopt the lifestyle, traditions, methods of leadership and legislation of the conquered peoples; Experienced Roman nobility were involved in governing the state. Not only the Romans, but also the Germans had to pay taxes. But the inequality between the Germans and the Romans remained: the Romans were not allowed to join the army - only the Germans could serve the king.

Economically, the conquerors used advanced Roman agricultural methods. Internal trade, which was widely developed in the Roman Empire, was restored; Trade in handicrafts between states increased.

The emergence of the Frankish state

In 486, as a result of the unification of Germanic tribes that advanced from Northern Europe (from the territory of modern Belgium) to Gaul, the state of the Franks was formed. IN ancient times Gaul was a province of the Roman Empire conquered by Julius Caesar.

Over the centuries, the Gauls adopted much from the culture and lifestyle of the Romans. From the name of the Frankish tribes that came to the territory of Gaul, came the name of the country that was later formed here - France.

The main dynasties that ruled the Franks for a long time were the Merovingian and Carolingian dynasties. The history of the Frankish kingdom begins with the Merovingian dynasty. ()

State of the Franks under Clovis

Reign of King Clovis

The leader of the Salic Frankish tribe, Clovis, from the Merovian clan, was the founder of the royal Merovingian dynasty (V-VII centuries).

Clovis (486-511) managed to unite all the Franks into a single state, which lasted 200 years. His reign marked a turning point in European history for several reasons:

1. - Clovis created the first strong state of the Franks, located north of the Alps;
2. - He became the first military leader of the Franks to receive the title of king;
3. - Clovis was the first of the kings of the barbarian states to convert to Christianity.
   ()

Borders of the Frankish state in the 6th century

The territory of the new state during the reign of Clovis expanded significantly and became approximately three times larger than the territory of Gaul, which the Franks came to in the 5th century. Borders have shifted in all directions; especially many lands were conquered in the west and southwest. By 507, the entire territory in which modern France is located was under the rule of Clovis. The capital of the state was the city of Paris.

The expansion of borders led to the acquisition of the wealth of the conquered peoples, who were forced to pay tribute to the Franks.

Administration in the Kingdom of the Franks

To create a powerful kingdom, Clovis used a single government, a single law and a single religion. All power was concentrated in the hands of the king: he was the supreme owner of all lands; all taxes went to the royal treasury and the king was the commander-in-chief of the army (squad). In case of military necessity, a militia was collected, which also entered the service of the king.

To strengthen the state, Clovis ordered to collect all the norms and rules existing among the Franks into a single legislation, called Salic Truth (LexSalica). With the help of established laws, mandatory for all residents of the country, it was possible to keep the Franks in obedience and maintain order in the state. Salic truth is an important source for studying the legislation, management system, economy and customs of the Franks.

When governing the state, Clovis relied on a single religion - Christianity, to which he himself converted and forced his subjects to convert. His role in converting the Franks to Christianity was so great that the Pope officially recognized Clovis as the first king of the Franks.

Changes in the life of the Franks in the 6th-7th centuries

From the 6th century, the Franks began to stratify their society: wealthy and poor residents appeared. The peasant community, which previously supported its members, helping them in times of need, lost its importance - peasants were observed leaving the community in order to create their own farms. Former community members who lost property left the settlement and became vagrants.

Inequality was reflected in legislation: the law defined differently the extent of responsibility of rich and poor for the same crime or violation of the law. For the poor, the fine was several times higher than the fine for wealthy citizens. Judicial punishment for the poor was more severe.

In Frankish society there were slaves who appeared as a result of conquests. But slave labor was not widely used and gradually disappeared.

Reasons for the strength of the Frankish state

Internal and foreign policy Clovis ensured the strength of the Frankish state. The reasons for the sustainable development of the country were the following features of the state structure of the Franks:

Royal power was concentrated in the center, at the court of the king, and on the outskirts of the country, the observance of royal decrees and the collection of taxes in favor of the king was monitored by the king's envoys - the counts;

The dependence of the Frankish nobility on the king was ensured by the fact that the aristocracy - counts and dukes - received land from the king on the condition of performing military service for him;

The army (squad) was completely subordinate to Clovis.

Centralization of power and reliance on those close to him allowed Clovis to create a strong state.

Weakening of the Frankish state under Clovis's successors. Battle of Poitiers

Weakening of the Frankish state

After the death of Clovis, by his will in 511, the state of the Franks was divided into four parts, transferred to the control of Clovis's sons.

Initially, the expansion of the state, begun by Clovis, continued under his sons: Burgundy was annexed to the Frankish state. But over time, the divided state lost its power, the power of the kings became increasingly weak, and the managers at the royal court (mayordomos or majordomos), who knew the secrets of management well, concentrated significant power in their hands. They managed to turn into large landowners and become military leaders in their areas.

In VII- VIII centuries the power of the mayors became so strong that they could appoint and remove kings, who, due to their weakness, received the name “lazy”. The Merovingian dynasty was losing power. Majordomo Charles Martell at the beginning of the 8th century managed to defeat his rivals who were striving for complete power, and laid the foundations of a new dynasty - the Carolingians (from the Latin spelling of the name Charles - Carolus). The Carolingians ruled the Frankish state from the end of the 7th century, first as mayors, and from 751 as kings.
()

Wars of the founder of the Carolingian dynasty

The founder of the Carolingian dynasty, Charles Martell (715-741), set as his goal the strengthening of central power. To do this, he had to pacify the rebellious Germans. Having defeated the Saxons, Frisians, Bavarians, Dukes of Aquitaine and the rulers of Provence, Charles Martell forced them to pay him tribute.

Martell had to fight a new external threat - Arab conquerors. The Arabs, moving from the Arabian Peninsula, had as their goal the creation of a huge Islamic state - the caliphate. They managed to conquer a significant part of European countries, including Spain; their next target was the state of Charles Martel.

In 732, a well-trained Arab army invaded the territory of the Frankish kingdom, but was repulsed. The decisive battle between the Franks and the Arab army took place at Poitiers. In the battle, Charles Martel used new units - the Frankish cavalry army. The Franks inflicted a crushing defeat on the Arabs, the leader of the Arabs died in battle. The significance of the Frankish victory was great: by defeating the Arab offensive, they protected the rest of Europe from foreign conquest and prevented the conversion of the Christian population to the Islamic religion.

Main features of feudal relations in the Frankish state

After the victory over the rebellious feudal lords and Arabs, the Frankish state continued to strengthen. New relationships took shape, which were called feudal (from the word “feud”). A fief is a land ownership received from a ruler on the condition that he performs military service. The fief could be inherited if the sons of the deceased owner continued to perform military service. Ownership included a plot of land along with the settlements, fields, meadows, forests, rivers and roads located on it.

With the strengthening of the feudal system, peasants increasingly began to become dependent on the feudal lords, as they had to bear certain duties (for example, work on the owner’s land for a certain number of days) and pay taxes. Due to a lack of funds, peasants fell into debt dependence on the feudal lords. Many of the workers went bankrupt and left the village in search of a better life.

To create a land fund, Charles Martell confiscated the lands of rebellious feudal lords and partially took away church and monastery lands, which caused discontent among some feudal lords and the Catholic Church. This problem had to be solved by the next rulers of the Carolingian dynasty.

Reign of the Carolingian dynasty in the 8th century. Formation of the Papal States

Beginning of the Carolingian dynasty

The first Carolingians were mayordomos; The first king of the Carolingian dynasty was the son of Charles Martel, Pepin the Short. The new dynasty ruled the Frankish state from 751 to 843 and was glorified not only by Pepin the Short, but also by his son, named Charlemagne.

Pepin the Short managed to enlist the support of the feudal lords and the church - the church lands taken away under Charles Martel were recognized as church property and returned to the church. The Catholic Church became a loyal ally of the Carolingian kings.

In 751, the Pope crowned Pepin the Short as king. For the kingdom's subjects, this meant that Pepin had received support from God himself. The last Merovingian king was sent to a monastery. In exchange for the pope's favor, Pepin promised support for the Catholic Church, whose possessions were being attacked by the German tribe of the Lombards. The skillful policy of Pepin the Short made it possible to strengthen the Frankish state.

Carolingians and the Papal States

In the history of the Catholic Church, the formation of the papal region was of great importance. The territories of the city of Rome and the surrounding lands were part of the Byzantine Empire until the middle of the 8th century, then they were conquered by the Lombards. Events forced the Pope to seek protection from the Franks. Pepin the Short made two campaigns against the Lombards, in 754 he expelled the Lombards from Rome and handed Rome over to Ravennupapa. This is how the papal region was formed, where the Pope reigned supreme.

The borders of the papal region separated northern Italy from southern Italy and stretched from the shores of the Tyrrhenian Sea to the Adriatic coast. The granting of lands to the Pope strengthened the alliance between the Catholic Church and the Frankish state.

The rule of the Merovingians and the first Carolingians laid the foundations for the creation of large and powerful European states