Germanic Kingdoms of Western Europe
The Germanic Barbarians
* barbarian warlords and their families who assimilated into Roman culture became the "nobles" or aristocrats of medieval Europe
*Germanic tribes who ruled former Roman lands sought to conquer and assimilate other barbarian peoples who lived beyond the frontiers and were still pagans
more Germanic Kingdoms...
*The angles and Saxons (from Denmark and northwestern Germany) invaded Britain and assimilated the native Britons
*Most of the Anglo-Saxons were converted to Christianity in the seventh century
*The most powerful Germanic tribe was the Franks
*but the real power lay with the "mayors of the palace" who were royal officials and nobles themselves
Meanwhile back in the Eastern Europe...
From "eastern empire" to "Byzantium"
*The Eastern Roman Empire continued on while the west was now divided up by the barbarian tribes
*When the emperor Justinian came to power in 527 he decided to reunite the entire Roman Empire by reconquering the western territories
*Justinian succeeded for a time, but the land he re-took was soon conquered by new barbarian tries and massive plague
Its a christian empire now
*Greek Byzantine emperors saw themselves as Roman emperors and the heads of the Christian Church
*Byzantines preserved Greco-Roman art, architecture, philosophy, and writing despite much of it being non-christian
*Justinian built the massive domed Hagia Sophia ("Holy Wisdom") in Constantinople considered to be the most glorious church on the earth at the time
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