preface
Western Europe from the 9th to the 10th century AD was in a period of expanding Christian theocracy and laying the foundations for theological rule, and the Western European states of this period not only belonged to the Christian school of religion and thought, but also had a tendency to be subordinate to the papacy in terms of the authority of the kings.
From the 5th century to the 9th century AD, it was also a period of continuous establishment, change and characterization of state power in Western Europe, especially after the 9th century AD, when a new wave of regime change began in Western Europe due to foreign invasions, and laid the foundation for the future state situation in Western Europe.
In Western Europe under Christian control, because the power of the kings was constantly limited by the Christian church, basically all the western European kingdoms were in a situation of weak royal power.
This continuous decline of royal power directly led to a significant increase in instability within the kingdom, a decline in central authority, and was often ignored by local feudal lords and aristocratic forces, and the kingdom often failed to achieve uniform deployment in the important aspects of monarchy, so it was often unable to solve it in the face of foreign invasions or internal turmoil.
The Three Kingdoms era of Western Europe
Division must be accompanied by invasion, and western Europe is divided internally, and while it is divided into three, it is also invaded on a large scale
From the 9th century AD to the 10th century AD, the countries of Western Europe began to encounter frequent foreign invasions, and the situation in Western Europe was also very chaotic at that time, and the originally very powerful Frankish kingdom was divided into three kingdoms in 843 AD during the reign of The Carolingian Dynasty, due to internal divisions, and the Treaty of Verdun was signed, and the powerful Frankish kingdom was divided into three kingdoms, which became the three kingdoms of France, Germania and Italy.
This also laid the foundation for the existence of state power in the southern part of Western Europe, while the northern regions of England and Ireland were also in the midst of fierce annexation wars between the separatist regimes.
At the same time, there were massive foreign invasions from the south, north, and east of Western Europe, with Arabs in the south, Hungarians in the west, and Normans in the north.
At the same time, the three major foreign forces waged colonial wars against Western European countries, and caused a huge impact and impact on the political situation in Western Europe at that time, which led to obvious changes in the social development of Western Europe. Of the three foreign invasion forces, the Normans were the strongest, and the impact on Western Europe was the most violent.
Hungarian invasion
The Arab invasion of Hungary dealt a heavy blow to Western Europe, making Western Europe worse
The Arab invasion was simply to conquer local regimes, plunder wealth, and make up the capital chain of the Arab Empire as far away as West Asia
Western Europe was already in a state of chaos and had suffered an unprecedented foreign invasion. The Arab forces had already occupied the Iberian Peninsula by sea as early as the invasion of the Byzantine Empire, and the Spanish region was already under the control of arab powers
Spain's importance in Western Europe is self-evident
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The Iberian Peninsula became an important base for further Arab advances into Europe, during the late merovingian rule of the Frankish kingdom,
Its forces had already invaded Gaul
In 732, the Merovingian emperor Xiangmat led the Frankish army to resist the arab offensive and won the decisive battle of Pavatier, and the Arab invasion of Europe came to a halt.
But beginning in the 9th century AD, the Arabs made a comeback, expelling Byzantine armies and establishing a powerful Fatimid dynasty in North Africa, when they attacked Western Europe from the sea.
By the beginning of the 10th century, Arab powers had successfully landed and marched towards the Italian peninsula, directly occupying the southern and central regions.
The Normans landed
At the same time, the Arabs divided into two routes, one stationed in the Italian region as an important rear supply, and the other marched directly north, aiming directly at France, which was divided at the time.
The Arab invasion was not to directly conquer the local regime, but more to plunder the wealth of the rich local cities, because at this time the Arab Empire in Far West Asia was in decline and needed huge funds.
The Hungarian invasion was actually expelled by the Huns and fought for settlement
The Hungarians were originally a typical nomadic people living in Siberia, but due to the expulsion of tribes such as the Huns, they began to migrate south to west, and eventually settled near the Danube River in Europe, and continued to grow.
In the mid-9th century, Hungary attacked the Western European plain with a powerful nomadic cavalry, which was mainly inhabited by Germany, France, and Italy. The Hungarian cavalry units had a strong impact and were able to show a strong army combat capability in the plains, and the Western European countries were unable to form an effective resistance for a while.
In 955, germany organized a strong army, strengthened its defenses, and successfully repelled and expelled the Hungarian invasion.
The Normans invaded the Plains of France
The Invasion of the Normans, which moved from sea to land, shook the foundations of all of Western Europe
The Normans were actually a branch of the northern barbarian Germanic tribes during the Roman Empire, and geographically the Normans were further north than the Vandals, Ostrogoths, Visigoths, and Franks.
However, the Normans were not invaded by the Huns because of their geographical location, so they remained in northern Europe and still lived a primitive tribal alliance life.
Therefore, from the perspective of the overall development of the Germanic tribes, the Normans could not directly contact and absorb the advanced civilizations of the Roman Empire like the Ostrogoths and Franks who had moved south, so the overall development speed and status of the Normans were far behind the peoples who had moved south. It was not until the 9th century AD that these Normans who lived in northern Europe gradually rose.
Norman pirates
Due to the socio-economic development and the continuous changes in social form, the Normans also began to break away from the original narrow and closed tribal alliance era and gradually entered the slave society.
The increasing population and the increasingly sharp contradiction between man and land made more and more Normans begin to go out of their sphere of influence, because they were close to the sea, so the shipbuilding industry was very developed, and the Normans began to rely on the advantages of sea warfare to become the pirate forces that frequently invaded Western Europe in the 9th century AD.
The Normans built unique sea vessels, perhaps to accommodate the complex conditions of navigation at sea, with very pointed and deep bottoms, each capable of accommodating about 40 to 60 well-equipped combat soldiers. They made rapid sea voyages, often landing from the coast of Europe, and entering the interior of the continent.
The main targets of their attacks and plunder were churches and monasteries that were very wealthy and had little armed protection at the time. Not only that, but in the long-term invasion species, these Norman pirates who fought by sea gradually learned to fight immediately, which caused a huge impact on the whole of Europe.
Norman cavalry
The colonization of the Normans hastened the decline of western European regimes, and the kings had become vain
The continuous invasion of the Normans in Europe, after obtaining a large amount of plundered wealth, also made their own civilization have been rapidly developed, and it is precisely because the Normans do not believe in Christianity that the impact on the Christian church in Western Europe is more violent, but some Normans have also begun to transform into loyal Christians in their long-term dealings with the natives of Western Europe.
In the 10th century, as the Normans expanded their power in Europe, their methods of conquest gradually changed.
In the long-term interaction with the local people of Europe, the Normans accepted a more advanced form of civilization and social development, not only that, they formed families with the local residents, in the process of ethnic integration, the Normans gradually became part of the local area.
At this time, the Norman invasion of Western Europe was no longer the stormy barbarian invasion of the original, and at this time, due to the improvement of civilization and the continuous enrichment of their own understanding, they began to turn to the colonial expansion of Western Europe.
King Charles III
England was the most frequent and intense invasion by Norman pirates, and in the 5th century AD, a large number of Anglo-Saxons moved into England and established a number of small states, so England has always been in a situation of mutual conquest of small countries.
At the end of the 8th century AD, the Danes invaded England and established a number of colonies, which lived in England for a long time. In the 11th century, the Danish kings even conquered the whole of England and established the powerful Cnut Empire.
In 911 AD, the Normans finally compromised the French king during the long invasion of France, granting the Norman king the title of duke, and later the Normans conquered England and Italy in the 11th century AD.
The Invasion of the major countries of Western Europe by the Normans directly led to an increase in the already shaky status of the king. In particular, the three principalities formed by the division of the Frankish kingdom were basically vain by the king at this time.
Norman Duke Rollo
appraise
The 9th to 10th centuries were a period of turmoil for Europe, especially the major countries in Western Europe, in addition to the internal divisions and wars among many small countries, what was more serious was that Western Europe encountered an unprecedented crisis of foreign invasion.
Although the Arabs and Hungarians had a great impact on Western Europe, with the decline of their own power and the resistance of Western European countries, these forces were basically completely eliminated in the 10th century AD.
The difference is that the Norman invasion and colonial expansion had a profound historical impact on Western Europe. In 843, the Frankish kingdoms of Lorraine, Charles the Bald, and Louis the Germans signed the Treaty of Verdun, which directly divided the Frankish kingdom into three, and the three kingdoms were invaded by the Normans.
Perhaps because the Normans also belonged to the early Germanic tribes, which belonged to the same category as the major western European countries, the rise of the Normans in the Nordic region and their unique expansion methods made the Western European countries temporarily overwhelmed. The Normans did not believe in Christianity, so there were no ideological constraints or concerns at all.
Therefore, the Invasion of Western Europe by the Normans was extremely impactful, not only that, but in the long-term invasion of the Normans and the local People of Western Europe, they also gradually bid farewell to the backward era of ignorance and entered a civilized society. The Normans, under the influence of Western European societies, also changed the way they invaded, and they established colonial rule in Western Europe, which had a huge impact on the royal power of Western European countries.
Under the onslaught of the Normans, the carolingian rule of France came to an end, and the Carolingian dynasty in Germany was declared over in 911 AD. From then on, the major countries of Western Europe began to enter the stage of the development of the medieval church under the papal domination of the monarchy, and began the rule of theological Christianity.
Reference: History of the Franks