New societies and tribes after the end of the Western Roman Empire The political structure of Western Europe changed with the end of the united Roman Empire. Although the movements of peoples during this period are usually described as "invasions", they were not just military expeditions but migrations of entire peoples into the empire. Such movements were aided by the refusal of the Western Roman elites to support the army or pay the taxes that would have allowed the military to suppress the migration. The emperors of the 5th century were often controlled by military strongmen such as
Stilicho (d. 408),
Aetius (d. 454),
Aspar (d. 471),
Ricimer (d. 472), or
Gundobad (d. 516), who were partly or fully of non-Roman background. When the line of Western emperors ceased, many of the kings who replaced them were from the same background. Intermarriage between the new kings and the Roman elites was common. This led to a fusion of Roman culture with the customs of the invading tribes, including the popular assemblies that allowed free male tribal members more say in political matters than was common in the Roman state. Material artefacts left by the Romans and the invaders are often similar, and tribal items were often modelled on Roman objects. Much of the scholarly and written culture of the new kingdoms was also based on Roman intellectual traditions. An important difference was the new polities' gradual loss of tax revenue. Many new political entities no longer supported their armies through taxes; instead, they relied on granting them land or rents. This meant there was less need for large tax revenues, so the
taxation systems decayed. Warfare was common between and within the kingdoms. Slavery declined as the supply weakened, and society became more rural. leader
Theoderic the Great, struck in Milan, Italy, Between the 5th and 8th centuries, new peoples and individuals filled the political void left by the centralised Roman government. The Burgundians settled in Gaul, and after an earlier realm was destroyed by the Huns in 436, formed a new kingdom in the 440s. Between today's
Geneva and
Lyon, it grew to become the realm of
Burgundy in the late 5th and early 6th centuries. Elsewhere in Gaul, the Franks and
Celtic Britons set up small polities.
Francia was centred in northern Gaul, and the first king of whom much is known is
Childeric I (d. 481). His grave was discovered in 1653 and is remarkable for its
grave goods, which included weapons and a large quantity of gold. Under Childeric's son
Clovis I (r. 509–511), the founder of the
Merovingian dynasty, the Frankish kingdom expanded and converted to Christianity. The Britons, related to the natives of
Britannia – modern-day Great Britain – settled in what is now
Brittany. Other monarchies were established by the
Visigothic Kingdom in the
Iberian Peninsula, the
Suebi in northwestern Iberia, and the
Vandal Kingdom in
North Africa. The invasions brought new ethnic groups to Europe, although some regions received a larger influx of new peoples than others. In Gaul, for instance, the invaders settled much more extensively in the north-east than in the south-west.
Slavs settled in
Central and
Eastern Europe and the Balkan Peninsula. Changes in languages accompanied the settlement of peoples.
Latin, the literary language of the Western Roman Empire, was gradually replaced by
vernacular languages, which evolved from Latin but were distinct from it, collectively known as
Romance languages. These changes from Latin to the new languages took many centuries. Greek remained the language of the Byzantine Empire, but the migrations of the Slavs added
Slavic languages to Eastern Europe.
Byzantine survival showing
Justinian with
the bishop of
Ravenna (Italy), bodyguards, and courtiers.|thumb|right As Western Europe witnessed the formation of new kingdoms, the Eastern Roman Empire remained intact and experienced an economic revival that lasted into the early 7th century. There were fewer invasions of the eastern section of the empire; most occurred in the Balkans. Peace with the
Sasanian Empire, Rome's traditional enemy, lasted most of the 5th century. The Eastern Empire was marked by closer relations between the political state and the Christian Church, with doctrinal matters assuming an importance in Eastern politics that they did not have in Western Europe. Legal developments included the codification of
Roman law; the first effort—the
Codex Theodosianus—was completed in 438. Under Emperor Justinian (r. 527–565), another compilation took place—the
Corpus Juris Civilis. Justinian also oversaw the construction of the
Hagia Sophia in Constantinople and the reconquest of North Africa from the Vandals and Italy from the Ostrogoths, The conquest of Italy was not complete, as a deadly outbreak of
plague in 542 led to the rest of Justinian's reign concentrating on defensive measures rather than further conquests. At the Emperor's death, the Byzantines had control of
most of Italy, North Africa, and a small foothold in southern Spain. Historians have criticised Justinian's reconquests for overextending his realm and setting the stage for the
early Muslim conquests, but many of the difficulties faced by Justinian's successors were due not just to over-taxation to pay for his wars but to the essentially civilian nature of the empire, which made raising troops difficult. In the Eastern Empire, the Slavs' slow infiltration of the Balkans added further difficulty for Justinian's successors. It began gradually, but by the late 540s, Slavic tribes were in
Thrace and
Illyrium and had defeated an imperial army near
Adrianople in 551. In the 560s, the
Avars began to expand from their base on the north bank of the
Danube; by the end of the 6th century, they were the dominant power in Central Europe and routinely able to force the Eastern emperors to pay tribute. They remained a strong power until 796. An additional problem to face the empire came as a result of the involvement of Emperor
Maurice (r. 582–602) in Persian politics when he intervened in a
succession dispute. This led to a period of peace, but when Maurice was overthrown,
the Persians invaded and during the reign of Emperor
Heraclius (r. 610–641) controlled large chunks of the empire, including Egypt, Syria, and
Anatolia until Heraclius' successful counterattack. In 628, the empire secured a peace treaty and recovered its lost territories.
Western society In Western Europe, some older Roman elite families died out while others became more involved with ecclesiastical than secular affairs. Values attached to
Latin scholarship and
education mostly disappeared, and while literacy remained important, it became a practical skill rather than a sign of elite status. In the 4th century,
Jerome (d. 420) dreamed that God rebuked him for spending more time reading
Cicero than the
Bible. By the 6th century,
Gregory of Tours (d. 594) had a similar dream, but instead of being chastised for reading Cicero, he was chastised for learning
shorthand. By the late 6th century, the principal means of religious instruction in the Church had become music and art rather than the book. Most intellectual efforts went towards imitating classical scholarship, but some
original works were created, along with now-lost oral compositions. The writings of
Sidonius Apollinaris (d. 489),
Cassiodorus (d. ), and
Boethius (d. c. 525) were typical of the age. Changes also occurred among laypeople, as aristocratic culture focused on great feasts held in halls rather than on literary pursuits. Clothing for the elites was richly embellished with jewels and gold. Lords and kings supported the entourages of fighters who formed the backbone of the military forces. Family ties within the elites were important, as were the virtues of loyalty, courage, and honour. These ties led to the prevalence of feuds in aristocratic society, including those related by Gregory of Tours in
Merovingian Gaul. Most feuds seem to have ended quickly with the payment of some
compensation. Women took part in aristocratic society mainly in their roles as wives and mothers of men, with the role of mother of a ruler being especially prominent in Merovingian Gaul. In
Anglo-Saxon society, the lack of many child rulers meant a lesser role for women as queen mothers, but this was compensated for by the increased role played by
abbesses of monasteries. Only in Italy does it appear that women were always considered under the protection and control of a male relative. Peasant society is much less documented than the nobility. Most of the surviving information available to historians comes from
archaeology; few detailed written records documenting peasant life remain from before the 9th century. Most of the descriptions of the lower classes come from either
law codes or writers from the upper classes.
Landholding patterns in the West were not uniform; some areas had greatly fragmented landholding patterns, but in other areas, large contiguous blocks of land were the norm. These differences allowed for a wide variety of peasant societies, some dominated by aristocratic landholders and others having great autonomy. Land settlement also varied greatly. Some peasants lived in large settlements that numbered as many as 700 inhabitants. Others lived in small groups of a few families and lived on isolated farms spread over the countryside. There were also areas where the pattern was a mix of two or more systems. Unlike in the late Roman period, there was no sharp break between the legal status of the free peasant and the aristocrat, and a free peasant's family could rise into the aristocracy over several generations through military service to a powerful lord. Roman city life and culture changed greatly in the early Middle Ages. Although Italian cities remained inhabited, they contracted significantly in size. For instance, Rome shrank from hundreds of thousands to around 30,000 by the end of the 6th century.
Roman temples were converted into
Christian churches and city walls remained in use. In Northern Europe, cities also shrank, while civic monuments and other public buildings were raided for building materials. The establishment of new kingdoms often meant some growth for the towns chosen as capitals. Although there had been
Jewish communities in many Roman cities, the
Jews suffered periods of persecution after the conversion of the empire to Christianity. Officially, they were tolerated, if subject to conversion efforts, and were sometimes encouraged to settle in new areas.
Rise of Islam Religious beliefs in the Eastern Roman Empire and Iran were in flux during the late sixth and early seventh centuries.
Judaism was an active proselytising faith, and at least one
Arab political leader converted to it. In addition Jewish theologians wrote polemics defending their religion against Christian and Islamic influences. Christianity had active missions competing with the Persians'
Zoroastrianism in seeking converts, especially among residents of the
Arabian Peninsula. All these strands came together with the emergence of
Islam in Arabia during the lifetime of
Muhammad (d. 632). After his death, Islamic forces conquered much of the Eastern Roman Empire and Persia, starting with
Syria in 634–635, continuing with
Persia between 637 and 642, reaching
Egypt in 640–641,
North Africa in the later seventh century, and the
Iberian Peninsula in 711. By 714, Islamic forces controlled much of the peninsula in a region they called
Al-Andalus. The Islamic conquests reached their peak in the mid-eighth century. The defeat of Muslim forces at the
Battle of Tours in 732 led to the reconquest of southern France by the Franks, but the main reason for the halt of Islamic growth in Europe was the overthrow of the
Umayyad Caliphate and its replacement by the
Abbasid Caliphate. The Abbasids moved their capital to
Baghdad and were more concerned with the Middle East than Europe, losing control of sections of the Muslim lands. Umayyad descendants took over the Iberian Peninsula, the
Aghlabids controlled North Africa, and the
Tulunids became rulers of Egypt. By the middle of the 8th century, new trading patterns were emerging in the Mediterranean; trade between the Franks and the Arabs replaced the old
Roman economy. Franks traded timber, furs, swords, and enslaved people in return for silks and other fabrics, spices, and precious metals from the Arabs.
Trade and economy The migrations and invasions of the 4th and 5th centuries disrupted trade networks around the Mediterranean. African goods stopped being imported into Europe, first disappearing from the interior and, by the 7th century, found only in a few cities such as Rome or
Naples. By the end of the 7th century, under the impact of the
Muslim conquests, African products were no longer found in Western Europe. Replacing goods from long-range trade with local products was a trend throughout the old Roman lands in the Early Middle Ages. This was especially marked in the lands that did not lie on the Mediterranean, such as northern Gaul or Britain. Non-local goods appearing in the archaeological record are usually luxury goods. In northern Europe, not only were the trade networks local, but the goods carried were simple, with little pottery or other complex products. Around the Mediterranean, pottery remained prevalent and appears to have been traded over medium-range networks, not just produced locally. The various Germanic states in the west all had
coinages that imitated existing Roman and Byzantine forms. Gold continued to be minted until the end of the 7th century in 693–694, when it was replaced by silver in the Merovingian kingdom. The basic Frankish silver coin was the
denarius or
denier, while the Anglo-Saxon version was called a
penny. From these areas, the denier or penny spread throughout Europe from 700 to 1000. Copper or bronze coins were not struck, nor were gold, except in Southern Europe. No silver coins denominated in multiple units were minted.
Church and monasticism dictating to a secretary Christianity was a major unifying factor between Eastern and Western Europe before the Arab conquests, but the conquest of North Africa sundered maritime connections between those areas. Increasingly, the Byzantine Church differed in language, practices, and
liturgy from the Western Church. The Eastern Church used Greek instead of Western Latin. Theological and political differences emerged, and by the early and middle 8th century, issues such as
iconoclasm,
clerical marriage, and
state control of the Church had widened to the extent that the cultural and religious differences were more significant than the similarities. A formal break known as the
East–West Schism came in 1054, when the
papacy and the
patriarchy of Constantinople clashed over
papal supremacy and
excommunicated each other, which led to the division of Christianity into two Churches—the Western branch became the
Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern branch the
Eastern Orthodox Church. The
ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Empire survived the movements and invasions in the West mostly intact. Still, the papacy was little regarded, and few of the Western
bishops looked to the bishop of Rome for religious or political leadership.
Many of the popes before 750 were more concerned with Byzantine affairs and Eastern theological controversies. The register, or archived copies of the letters, of Pope
Gregory the Great (pope 590–604) survived. Of those 850 letters, most were concerned with affairs in Italy or Constantinople. The only part of Western Europe where the papacy had influence was Britain, where Gregory had sent the
Gregorian mission in 597 to convert the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity.
Irish missionaries were most active in Western Europe between the 5th and the 7th centuries, going first to England and Scotland and then on to the continent. Under such
monks as
Columba (d. 597) and
Columbanus (d. 615), they founded monasteries, taught in Latin and Greek, and authored secular and religious works. The Early Middle Ages witnessed the rise of
monasticism in the West. The shape of European monasticism was determined by traditions and ideas that originated with the
Desert Fathers of
Egypt and
Syria. Most European monasteries were of the type that focuses on the community experience of the spiritual life, called
cenobitism, which was pioneered by
Pachomius (d. 348) in the 4th century. Monastic ideals spread from Egypt to Western Europe in the 5th and 6th centuries through
hagiographical literature such as the
Life of Anthony.
Benedict of Nursia (d. 547) wrote the
Benedictine Rule for Western monasticism during the 6th century, detailing the administrative and spiritual responsibilities of a community of monks led by an
abbot. Monks and monasteries had a profound effect on the religious and political life of the Early Middle Ages, in various cases acting as
land trusts for powerful families, centres of propaganda and royal support in newly conquered regions, and bases for missions and proselytisation. They were the main and sometimes only outposts of education and literacy in a region. Many of the surviving manuscripts of the Latin
classics were copied in monasteries in the Early Middle Ages. Monks were also the authors of new works, including history, theology, and other subjects, written by authors such as
Bede (d. 735), a native of northern England who wrote in the late 7th and early 8th centuries.
Carolingian Europe The Frankish kingdom in northern Gaul split into kingdoms called
Austrasia,
Neustria, and
Burgundy during the 6th and 7th centuries, all of them ruled by the Merovingian dynasty, who were descended from Clovis. The 7th century was a tumultuous period of wars between Austrasia and Neustria. Such warfare was exploited by
Pippin I (d. 640), the
Mayor of the Palace for Austrasia who became the power behind the Austrasian throne. Later, his family inherited the office and acted as advisers and regents. One of his descendants,
Charles Martel (d. 741), won the
Battle of Poitiers in 732, halting the advance of Muslim armies across the Pyrenees. Great Britain was divided into small states dominated by the kingdoms of
Northumbria,
Mercia,
Wessex, and
East Anglia which descended from the Anglo-Saxon invaders. Smaller kingdoms in present-day Wales and Scotland were still under the control of the native Britons and
Picts. Ireland was divided into even smaller political units, usually known as tribal kingdoms, under the control of kings. There were perhaps as many as
150 local kings in Ireland of varying importance. The
Carolingian dynasty, as the successors to Charles Martel are known, officially took control of the kingdoms of Austrasia and Neustria in a coup of 753 led by (r. 752–768). A contemporary chronicle claims that Pippin sought and gained authority for this coup from Pope (pope 752–757). Pippin's takeover was reinforced with propaganda that portrayed the Merovingians as inept or cruel rulers, exalted the accomplishments of Charles Martel, and circulated stories of the family's great
piety. At the time of his death in 768, Pippin left his kingdom in the hands of his two sons, Charles (r. 768–814) and
Carloman (r. 768–771). When Carloman died of natural causes, Charles blocked the succession of Carloman's young son and installed himself as the king of the united Austrasia and Neustria. Charles, more often known as Charles the Great or
Charlemagne, embarked upon a programme of systematic expansion in 774 that unified a large portion of Europe, eventually controlling modern-day France, northern Italy, and
Saxony. In the wars that lasted beyond 800, he rewarded allies with war booty and command over parcels of land. In 774, Charlemagne conquered the Lombards, which freed the papacy from the fear of Lombard conquest and marked the beginnings of the
Papal States. at
Aachen, completed in 805 The coronation of Charlemagne as emperor on Christmas Day 800 is regarded as a turning point in medieval history, marking a return of the Western Roman Empire since the new emperor ruled over much of the area previously controlled by the Western emperors. It also marks a change in Charlemagne's relationship with the Byzantine Empire, as the assumption of the imperial title by the Carolingians asserted their equivalence to the Byzantine state. There were several differences between the newly established Carolingian Empire and both the older Western Roman Empire and the concurrent Byzantine Empire. The Frankish lands were rural, with only a few small cities. Most of the people were peasants who settled on small farms. Little trade existed, and much of that was with the British Isles and Scandinavia, in contrast to the older Roman Empire with its trading networks centred on the Mediterranean.
Carolingian Renaissance gatehouse, , an example of
Carolingian architecture—a first, albeit isolated
classical architecture movement Charlemagne's court in
Aachen was the centre of the cultural revival, sometimes referred to as the "
Carolingian Renaissance". Literacy increased, as did development in the arts, architecture, jurisprudence, and liturgical and scriptural studies. The English monk
Alcuin (d. 804) was invited to Aachen and brought the
education available in the monasteries of Northumbria. Charlemagne's
chancery—or writing office—made use of a new
script today known as
Carolingian minuscule, allowing a standard writing style that advanced communication across much of Europe. Charlemagne sponsored changes in
church liturgy, imposing the Roman form of church service on his domains, as well as the
Gregorian chant in liturgical music for the churches. An important activity for scholars during this period was copying, correcting, and disseminating basic works on religious and secular topics to encourage learning. New works on religious topics and schoolbooks were also produced. Grammarians of the period modified the Latin language, changing it from the
Classical Latin of the Roman Empire into a more flexible form to fit the needs of the Church and government. By the reign of Charlemagne, the language had so diverged from the classical Latin that it was later called
Medieval Latin.
Breakup of the Carolingian Empire Charlemagne planned to continue the Frankish tradition of dividing his kingdom between all his heirs but was unable to do so as only one son,
Louis the Pious (r. 814–840), was still alive by 813. Just before Charlemagne died in 814, he crowned Louis as his successor. Numerous divisions of the empire marked Louis's reign of 26 years among his sons and, after 829, civil wars between various alliances of father and sons over the control of various parts of the empire. Eventually, Louis recognised his eldest son (d. 855) as emperor and gave him Italy. Louis divided the rest of the empire between Lothair and
Charles the Bald (d. 877), his youngest son. Lothair took
East Francia, comprising both banks of the Rhine and eastwards, leaving Charles
West Francia with the empire to the west of the Rhineland and the Alps.
Louis the German (d. 876), the middle child, who had been rebellious to the last, was allowed to keep Bavaria under the
suzerainty of his elder brother. The division was disputed.
of Aquitaine (d. after 864), the emperor's grandson, rebelled in a contest for
Aquitaine, while Louis the German tried to annexe all of East Francia. Louis the Pious died in 840, with the empire still in chaos. A three-year civil war followed his death. By the
Treaty of Verdun (843), a kingdom between the
Rhine and
Rhone rivers was created for Lothair to go with his lands in Italy, and his imperial title was recognised. Louis the German controlled Bavaria and the eastern lands in modern-day Germany. Charles the Bald received the western Frankish lands, comprising most of modern-day France. In 987, the Carolingian dynasty was replaced in the western lands, with the crowning of
Hugh Capet (r. 987–996) as king. In the eastern lands, the dynasty had died out earlier, in 911, with the death of
Louis the Child, and the selection of the unrelated
Conrad I (r. 911–918) as king. Invasions, migrations, and raids by external foes accompanied the break-up of the Carolingian Empire. The Atlantic and northern shores were harassed by the
Vikings, who also raided the British Isles and settled there and in Iceland. In 911, the Viking chieftain
Rollo (d. c. 931) received permission from the Frankish King
Charles the Simple (r. 898–922) to settle in what became
Normandy. The eastern parts of the Frankish kingdoms, especially Germany and Italy, were under continual
Magyar assault until the invader's defeat at the
Battle of Lechfeld in 955. The break-up of the Abbasid dynasty meant that the Islamic world fragmented into smaller political states, some of which began expanding into Italy and Sicily, as well as over the Pyrenees into the southern parts of the Frankish kingdoms.
New kingdoms and Byzantine revival Efforts by local kings to fight the invaders led to the formation of new political entities. In
Anglo-Saxon England, King
Alfred the Great (r. 871–899) came to an agreement with the Viking invaders in the late 9th century, resulting in
Danish settlements in Northumbria, Mercia, and parts of East Anglia. By the middle of the 10th century, Alfred's successors had conquered Northumbria and restored English control over most of the southern part of Great Britain. In northern Britain,
Kenneth MacAlpin (d. c. 860) united the Picts and the
Scots into the
Kingdom of Alba. In the early 10th century, the
Ottonian dynasty had established itself in
Germany, and was engaged in driving back the Magyars. Its efforts culminated in the coronation in 962 of (r. 936–973) as
Holy Roman Emperor. In 972, he secured recognition of his title by the Byzantine Empire, which he sealed with the marriage of his son
Otto II (r. 967–983) to
Theophanu (d. 991), daughter of an earlier Byzantine Emperor
Romanos II (r. 959–963). By the late 10th century
Italy had been drawn into the Ottonian sphere after a period of instability;
Otto III (r. 996–1002) spent much of his later reign there. The western Frankish kingdom was more fragmented, and although kings remained nominally in charge, much of the political power devolved to the local lords. ivory plaque from the
Magdeburg Ivories; Christ receiving a church from |thumb|left|upright=0.7
Missionary efforts to Scandinavia during the 9th and 10th centuries helped strengthen the growth of kingdoms such as
Sweden,
Denmark, and
Norway, which gained power and territory. Some kings converted to Christianity, although by the year 1000, not all had done so. Scandinavians also expanded and colonised throughout Europe. Besides the settlements in Ireland, England, and Normandy, further settlement took place in what became
Russia and
Iceland. Swedish traders and raiders ranged down the rivers of the Russian steppe and even attempted to seize Constantinople in
860 and
907. Christian Spain, initially driven into a small section of the peninsula in the north, expanded slowly south during the 9th and 10th centuries, establishing the kingdoms of
Asturias and
León. In Eastern Europe, Byzantium revived its fortunes under Emperor
Basil I (r. 867–886) and his successors
Leo VI (r. 886–912) and
Constantine VII (r. 913–959), members of the
Macedonian dynasty. Commerce revived, and the emperors oversaw the extension of a uniform administration to all the provinces. The military was reorganised, which allowed the emperors
John I (r. 969–976) and
Basil II (r. 976–1025) to expand the frontiers of the empire on all fronts. The imperial court was the centre of a revival of classical learning, a process known as the
Macedonian Renaissance. Writers such as
John Geometres (
fl. early 10th century) composed new hymns, poems, and other works. Missionary efforts by both Eastern and Western clergy resulted in the conversion of the
Moravians,
Bulgars,
Bohemians,
Poles, Magyars, and Slavic inhabitants of the
Kievan Rus'. These conversions contributed to the founding of political states in the lands of those peoples—the states of
Moravia,
Bulgaria,
Bohemia,
Poland, Hungary, and the Kievan Rus'. Bulgaria, which was founded around 680, at its height reached from Budapest to the Black Sea and from the Dnieper River in modern Ukraine to the Adriatic Sea. By 1018, the last Bulgarian nobles had surrendered to the Byzantine Empire.
Art and architecture , an
illuminated manuscript created in the British Isles in the late 8th or early 9th century Few large stone buildings were constructed between the Constantinian
basilicas of the 4th and 8th centuries, although many smaller ones were built during the 6th and 7th centuries. By the beginning of the 8th century, the Carolingian Empire revived the basilica form of architecture. One feature of the basilica is the use of a
transept, or the "arms" of a cross-shaped building that are perpendicular to the long
nave. Other new features of religious architecture include the
crossing tower and a monumental
entrance to the church, usually at the west end of the building.
Carolingian art was produced for a small group of figures around the court and the monasteries and churches they supported. It was dominated by efforts to regain the dignity and classicism of imperial Roman and
Byzantine art but was also influenced by the
Insular art of the British Isles. Insular art integrated the energy of
Irish Celtic and
Anglo-Saxon Germanic styles of ornament with Mediterranean forms such as the book, and established many characteristics of art for the rest of the medieval period. Surviving religious works from the Early Middle Ages are mostly
illuminated manuscripts and carved
ivories, originally made for metalwork that has since been melted down. Objects in precious metals were the most prestigious form of art, but almost all are lost except for a few crosses such as the
Cross of Lothair, several
reliquaries, and finds such as the Anglo-Saxon burial at
Sutton Hoo and the
hoards of
Gourdon from Merovingian France,
Guarrazar from Visigothic Spain and
Nagyszentmiklós near Byzantine territory. There are survivals from the large
brooches in
fibula or
penannular form that were key pieces of personal adornment for elites, including the Irish
Tara Brooch. Highly decorated books were mostly
Gospel Books and these have survived in
larger numbers, including the Insular
Book of Kells, the
Book of Lindisfarne, and the imperial
Codex Aureus of St. Emmeram, which is one of the few to retain its "
treasure binding" of gold encrusted with jewels. Charlemagne's court seems to have been responsible for the acceptance of figurative
monumental sculpture in
Christian art, and by the end of the period near life-sized figures such as the
Gero Cross were common in important churches.
Military and technological developments During the later Roman Empire, the principal military developments were attempts to create an effective cavalry force and the continued development of highly specialised types of troops. The creation of heavily armoured
cataphract-type soldiers as cavalry was an important feature of the 5th-century Roman military. The various invading tribes had differing emphases on types of soldiers—ranging from the primarily infantry centered Anglo-Saxons to the Vandals and Visigoths, who had a high proportion of cavalry in their armies. During the early invasion period, the
stirrup had not been introduced into warfare, which limited the usefulness of cavalry as
shock troops because it was not possible to put the full force of the horse and rider behind blows struck by the rider. The greatest change in military affairs during the invasion period was the adoption of the
Hunnic composite bow in place of the earlier, and weaker,
Scythian composite bow. Another development was the increasing use of
longswords and the progressive replacement of
scale armour by
mail armour and
lamellar armour. The importance of infantry and light cavalry declined during the early Carolingian period, with a growing dominance of elite heavy cavalry. The use of
militia-type levies of the free population declined over the Carolingian period. Although much of the Carolingian armies were mounted, a large proportion during the early period appear to have been
mounted infantry, rather than true cavalry. One exception was Anglo-Saxon England, where the armies were still composed of regional levies, known as the
fyrd, which were led by the local elites. In military technology, one of the main changes was the return of the
crossbow, which had been known in Roman times and reappeared as a military weapon during the last part of the Early Middle Ages. Another change was the introduction of the stirrup, which increased the effectiveness of cavalry as shock troops. A technological advance that had implications beyond the military was the
horseshoe, which allowed horses to be used in rocky terrain. == High Middle Ages ==