24.3 Europe: a.d. 901 to 1000

Europe (beginning the age of feudalism, chivalry and the rise of the german monarchy)

Back to Europe: A.D. 801 to 900

Europe's history now became a maze of alliances, treacheries, claims and acquisitions. Historians usually consider the 10th century almost as dark and barbarous as the 7th, but this is only from the political and written word viewpoint. 10th century art was as splendid and technically skilful as that of any other age. (Ref. 116 ) Heavy iron horse-shoes which allowed hooves to tolerate wet soil had been brought into Europe from the east in the last century and by A.D. 1,000 they were cheap enough to be afforded by peasants; but still lacking an adequate yoke, horses could still not be used for plowing, harrowing nor even heavy hauling. (Ref. 213 )

Southern europe

Cotton reached the Mediterranean world via the Arabs, from India. (Ref. 160 )

Eastern mediterranean islands

Byzantium troops took Candia, the northern Cretan city, from the Turks in 961 and the city was ruthlessly sacked. By 1,000 Genoese colonists had appeared on the same island. Other Mediterranean isles remained unmolested in the Byzantium Empire. (Ref. 41 , 48 )

Greece

A part of Byzantium

Upper balkans

The Bulgar King Simeon, educated at Constantinople as a monk, was the first of his people to take the title of Czar. He extended his rule to Serbia and the Adriatic Sea and engaged in wars with Constantinople and Greece. The conversion of the Bulgarians to Christianity did not prevent their monarch from aspiring to the throne at Constantinople and he tried to civilize his people with Greek literature. After his death the country was weakened by civil strife and heretics converted about half of the population to pacifism and communism. Serbia recovered its independence in 931 but lost it again to the Bulgarian Samuel in 989.

But we are a little ahead of our story. In 963 the prince of Kiev, with Byzantine help, had annexed the eastern section of Bulgaria, which was in chaos at the time. By 969, however, led by Chichmanides, the western section managed to break away from the Kievan state and form an independent kingdom in the regions later to be known as Macedonia, Albania, the district of Moravia and some regions of Vidin and Sofia. Under King Samuel, Macedonia became the cultural center of the realm. Four years after Samuel's death the Byzantines had annexed his realm, however, and the First Bulgarian Empire had ended. (Ref. 206 )

With regard to Serbia, Chaslav tried to unite the various mountain clans of Serbs in mid-century when they were somewhat out from under the Bulgarian yoke, but in the end the attempt was not successful.

Italy

At the end of the last century there had been considerable confusion concerning who was "king of Italy" and the Holy Roman Emperor. The title changed hands repeatedly among the late Carolingian heirs. Arnulf, illegitimate son of Carloman, grandson of Louis the German, was crowned king of Italy in 894 and then emperor in 896. Louis the Child was elected king by the magnates in 900. Upon his death in 911 Conrad, Duke of Franconia was elected in the same way. Italy was without effective native rule throughout this 10th century. In approximately the same period there were still others claiming to be the emperor. There was Berengar1, grandson of Louis the Pious, Guido of Spoleto, Lambert his son, and Louis of Provence, who was crowned emperor in 915. In the Germanic portion of the old Charlemagne Empire, King Henry I, called the Fowler, began his reign as the first Saxon king, but he avoided ecclesiastical coronation as emperor. But the "Middle Kingdom" of the three-way split, which included northern Italy, was weak and soon fell to the stronger Germany as Otto I the Great, succeeded Henry. After some difficulties with the pope, he was eventually crowned as Holy Roman Emperor in 962 and claimed all central and northern Italy except the papal territory of Rome and the Sabine region. In the papal state confusion had reigned for some time, with the landed aristocracy dominating. Marozia, mistress of Pope Sergius III