23.3 Europe: a.d. 801 to 900  (Page 4/10)

Czechoslavakia

Like the rest of Central Europe this area was subject to Charlemagne's religious wars early in the century. With fire and sword he preached the Gospel to Saxons, Bohemians and down into Hungary. Later in 870, Sviatopluk, a Moravian prince, united Moravia, Bohemia and Slovakia into the Kingdom of Moravia and held against further German aggression. It was during his reign that Cyril and Methodius brought Christianity of the Byzantine variety to the region. In the last years of the century, however, the German clergy redoubled its efforts and won back Bohemia and Moravia for the Latin Church. (Ref. 119 ) The Czechs became dominant over all the Bohemian tribes, while Slovakia came under Magyar rule. (Ref. 206 , 222 )

Switzerland

In this 9th century part of what is now Switzerland was included in Swabia and the rest was part of Transjurane Burgundy. (Ref. 137 )

Western europe

Spain

Charlemagne conquered Catalonia in northeastern Spain but otherwise this country remained politically as in the 8th century, about half or less Christian and the remainder Moorish Moslem. The Christian princes lived in the high, barren northern mountains and the Basques remained in the central north by themselves, while the plains of Granada and Andalusia were the home of the Moslems and the Jews. Agricultural poverty and political disunity kept Christian Spain far behind its Moslem rival in the south and its Frank rival in the north.

The Spanish Moslem rulers continued to be the last remnants of the Omayyad house. Hakam I added Mamluk slaves to the royal guard and continued to cruelly suppress all independent intellectual activity. His successor, Abd-er-Rahman II, was more peaceful to his own people and although his armies waged continuous warfare against the Christians, Cordoba attained its greatest splendor. The second university in Europe (Solerno was the first) was formed around the library of Khalif al-Hakim of Cordoba. It is said that he collected 400,000 volumes (equal to about 20,000 modern books) and read them all, making comments on the fly leaves. The mainstream of Greco-Roman learning thus came to Europe through Spain, with commentaries by both Moslem and Jewish scholars. Cordoba had paved streets, perhaps 500,000 inhabitants and 300 mosques. By about A.D. 900

NOTE: Map of The Iberian Peninsula

Portugal

As is apparent in the small map above, Portugal was not yet a separate country but part of the province of Leon of Spain, ruled in greatest part by Moors.

France

Please see the section on GERMANY, page 484, for details of the collapse of Charlemagne's Empire. During the costly civil wars which followed that collapse of the Frank kingdom, the expanding tribes of Scandinavia invaded France in a new "barbarian" wave. All the cities of northern France were sacked again and again. Tours was pillaged five times in the last half of the century and Paris was hit twice and then burned on a third attack. In 859 a Norse fleet entered the Mediterranean and raided towns from the south along the Rhone. The Saracens had already taken Corsica and held most of the French Mediterranean coast through the next century. The result of all these raids and particularly those of the Vikings was a fragmentation of public authority and a great upsurge of feudalism as a means of protection. The peasant as a freeman virtually disappeared and society was polarized between nobles and serfs. In addition, the descendants of the first generations of French agents of the Carolingians were not as loyal as their fathers and tended to identify with the particular interests of their own localities at the expense of the Frankish kingdom. As noted above, however, Charlemagne's Empire did not completely disintegrate until about 887 or 888 when it gave way to a large kingdom of "France" and a smaller kingdom of Province in the south, while the Bretons still held their northwest peninsula. (Ref. 8 , 137 ) Additional Notes