Category Lost Civilizations

               Charlemagne was one of Europe’s most successful monarchs. He was crowned by the Pope on Christmas Day, 800 AD. One of the most important things Charlemagne did for his people was to introduce a jury system, which was trial by jury, instead of by ordeal. He turned his castle into a learning centre – inviting scholars from all over the world to take up residence there. He used his scholars to create illustrated manuscript that preserved knowledge. Charlemagne ruled his vast empire by using local officials called counts to help him. At least once a year, he paid surprise visits to his various counts to make sure they were managing things fairly and effectively. Charlemagne introduced a payment system for taxes using silver coins. He standardized the value of each coin.

               At the same time, Charlemagne also greatly expanded the size of his kingdom. He conquered France down to the Pyrenees Mountains, and even into Northern Spain. He crossed the Rhine River, and conquered Germany, Switzerland and Austria, even modern Hungary. To the north, he conquered Belgium. He also conquered the Lombards in Northern Italy. Charlemagne’s conquests, as well as his reforms and sponsorship of education and science all contributed to him being called ‘The Father of Europe’ by later generations.

               The Franks were also a Germanic tribe that had been living for some time in Northern Germany. The early Franks were, in fact, a loose confederation of tribes who shared a similar culture. Because they had not come into contact with Rome, they were still worshipping the old gods, and had not converted to Christianity.

               The Franks first settled in Northern France and Belgium, but around 490 AD, the Franks became Christians under a new, young, and ambitious king named Clovis, They began to fight their way south. Clovis established the independent development of the Frankish Church, and encouraged the growth of churches and abbeys as centres of learning.

               The Franks were legendary fighters. They fought with the Visigoths in 509 AD, and won. The Franks now took over all of France, except Burgundy. One of the greatest of their kings was Charlemagne. Using the strength and loyalty of his army, combined with his own leadership abilities, Charlemagne soon defeated most of the other barbarian tribes in Western Europe. He expanded the Frankish Empire to include Germany, all of France, most of Italy, and even sections of northern Spain.

               The name ‘Frank’ is closely related to the word that means ‘fierce’ or ‘free’ in the Frankish language- and the Franks was indeed a fearless people! 

               Have you heard the word ‘vandalism’? Vandalism is any kind of damage done on purpose, for no good reason. The word comes from ‘vandals’ which is the name of Germanic tribes that had a reputation for looting and sacking wherever they went. These tribes originally settled in Hungary, Romania, and Silesia. They were forced westward by the Huns and moved to Spain, and later to North Africa. They conquered Carthage in 439. Later, the Vandal leader, Geiseric built a powerful fleet and sailed to Italy to sack Rome. Eventually, the Vandals were defeated by the rulers of the Byzantine Empire.

               The Lombards were also a Germanic tribe. Their origin was in Southern Sweden. They worked their way down into Italy by the 6th century. There, they established permanent German rule in Italy, but became Italians in the process and gave their name to the Northern Italian region of Lombardia.

               The Lombards were always in conflict with the Popes, and had to continually defend themselves against attacks from the Franks, who were supporters of the Pope and the Byzantines. The Lombards were finally brought under the control of the Franks, and then the Normans. It is thought that their name refers either to their long beards, or to their long handled battle axes! 

            The Visigoths and Ostrogoths were originally Goths, a Germanic tribe who lived in what is now Scandinavia. In the third century AD, the Goths invaded the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire, and during the fourth century, they broke into two groups. Those living north of the present-day Danube River became known as the Visigoths, while those living farther east, in present-day Ukraine, were called the Ostrogoths.

            When the Huns from Central Asia attacked the Goths, many of the Visigoths escaped into an eastern Roman province. Rebelling against the Roman rulers, the Visigoths destroyed the Roman army at a battle in Adrianople, and killed Valens, the emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire.

            In 410, they destroyed the city of Rome. The Ostrogoths, on the other hand, were conquered by the Huns. After Attila, king of the Huns, died in 453, the Ostrogoths regained their independence. Most of them were at that time living in what is now Hungary.

            The Ostrogoths became a military power under King Theodoric. In 488, with encouragement from Zeno, the eastern emperor at Constantinople, Theodoric invaded Italy. However, after Justinian became emperor, he crushed the Ostrogoths in a long war, and the Ostrogoths soon lost their separate identity in Italy. 

               The origin of the Germanic peoples was in the fog shrouded forests on the North and Baltic Sea shores of Europe. The Germanic peoples are descended from explorers, who settled in extreme Northern Europe, and spoke a language that was a fusion of an Indo-European tongue, and the language of the Northern Megalithic culture. These two cultures, the Indo-European, and Northern Megalithic met and fused in Northern Europe sometime around 1600 BC.

               The Germanic tribes lived mostly by hunting, gathering wild herbs, cultivating crops, and raising cattle. They lived in small scattered villages and large farmsteads. Their religion glorified war, and their paradise – Valahalla was depicted as a place of endless feasts and contests. The family and clan were the cornerstone of their society, and the head of the house ruled over not only his own family, but also many servants and slaves.

               Germanic tribal migrations started in the mid 4th century. We can see that these migrations were a large contributory factor leading to the break-up of the Roman Empire. These groups all developed separate dialects, the basis for the differences among Germanic languages down to the present day.

               The ancient Germanic people made a considerable impact on the development of ancient Europe, particularly through their interactions with the Roman Empire. Today, the descendants of the ancient Germanics or Teutons are mainly to be found in Germany, Austria, and German speaking Switzerland, as well as in England, the Netherlands, Flemish and German speaking Belgium, Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Iceland. 

               The origin of the Celts remains shrouded in mystery, but what is known is that they spread throughout Europe because of their large scale migrations. Around 900 BC, the Celts began to arrive in the British Isles, where they lived in settlements as artisans and smiths, and mingled with the local people. After 400 BC, because of shortages in food and available land, some Celts migrated to Germany, Austria, and Italy. In 51 BC, Julius Caesar conquered Gaul, where the Celts had settled, and divided it into Roman provinces. This resulted in a gradual mingling of the Roman and Celtic cultures.

               The Celts gradually migrated to Transylvania and Dalmatia and intermingled with the native people. They pushed into Greece as far as Delphi, and large groups went as far as Asia Minor. One band settled in Turkey, and named this area Galatia.

               The Celts first burst into recorded history in the writings of the ancient Greeks and Romans in about 500 B.C, but they were by then, already a mighty and widespread people.