I.

Geography of Western Europe

A. Location
1. Europe is the second smallest in area of the seven
continents
2. Its impact on the modern world has been
enormous
B. Resources
1. From about 500 to 1000, this region was a Y

land Ȃ a sparsely populated, underdeveloped area
2. The regionǯs rich earth was better suited for raising
crops than the Mediterranean
3. Seas provided fish for food and served as
transportation routes
a.) Europeǯs large rivers were ideal for trade
II. The Germanic Kingdoms Ȃ The Germanic tribes were farmers
and herders with no cities or written laws. They elected kings to
lead them in war
A. The Franks
1. Between 400 and 700, Germanic tribes carved Western
Europe into small kingdoms
2. The strongest kingdom was that of the Franks
3. In 486, Clovis, king of the Franks conquered Gaul
A.) When he converted to Christianity, he won the
support of the people and gained an ally in the Christian
Church of Rome

Gaul included what is now France

and Belgium and parts of
Switzerland, Germany, and the
Netherlands
Clovis was the first
Christian king of the
Franks
B. Europe and the Muslim World
1. The religion of Islam appeared in Arabia in 622
2. Muslims (believers of Islam) built a huge empire and
created a new civilization
3. European Christians were stunned when Muslims
armies overran their lands from Palestine to North
Africa to Spain
4. When Muslim armies crossed into France, Charles
Martel rallied Frankish warriors
5. At the Battle of Tours in 732, Christian warriors
triumphed
6. Muslims advanced no farther into western Europe,
but continued to rule most of Spain
7. Christians viewed the Muslim world with hostility
III. The Age of Charlemagne
A. A Christian Emperor Ȃ Charlemagne was the
grandson of Charles Martel
1. After Charlemagne helped Pope Leo III against
rebellious nobles in Rome, he was proclaimed
the Emperor of the Romans
2. He revived the ideal of a united Christian
community
3. The popeǯs actions outraged the emperor of
the eastern Roman empire in Constantinople
who saw himself as the sole Roman ruler
4. The crowning of Charlemagne helped widen
the split between the eastern and western
Christian worlds
B. Government
1. Charlemagne wanted to create a united Christian
Europe
2. He helped spread Christianity to the conquered
people
3. He appointed powerful nobles to rule local regions
4. To keep control of these provincial rulers, he sent
out officials called u 
u to check on roads,
listen to grievances, and see that justice was done
5. He instructed them to Dzadminister the law fully
and justlyǥdz
C. Revival of Learning
1. Charlemagne wanted to make his court at
Aachen (AH Kuhn) a Dzsecond Romedz
2. To do so, he set out to revive Latin learning in
his empire
3. Education had declined considerably
4. He founded a school at Aachen under the
direction of Alcuin (a scholar)
5. Alcuin created a curriculum Ȃ formal course of
study, based on Latin learning
a.) It included grammar, rhetoric, logic,
arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy
b.) He also hired scholars to copy ancient
manuscripts
6. Alcuinǯs system became the educational model
for medieval Europe
IV. After Charlemagne
A. Legacy of Charlemagne
1. After he died in 814, his empire soon
fell apart
2. His heirs battled for power for nearly
30 years
3. In 843 his grandsons drew up the Treaty
of Verdun, which split the empire into
three regions
4. Charlemagneǯs legacy extended
Christian civilization and further blended
German, Roman, and Christian traditions
5. He also set up strong, efficient
governments
B. A New Wave of Invasions
1. In the late 800s, Muslims conquered Sicily, which
became a flowing center of Islamic culture
2. About 896, a new wave of nomadic people, the
Magyars, settled in what is today Hungary
a.) they overran eastern Europe and moved on to
plunder Germany, France, and Italy
3. The Vikings were expert sailors and looted and burned
communities along the coasts and rivers of Europe
a.) they were also traders and explorers who sailed
around the Mediterranean Sea
b.) They opened trade routes
c.) They also settled in England, Ireland, and northern
France, and parts of Russia