8th century europe after decades of relative stability a new threat has appeared on the horizon the umayyad caliphate a muslim dynasty whose territory stretches from morocco to central asia the umayyad armies pour across the straits of gibraltar and easily wrestle control of the iberian peninsula from the visigoths leaving the muslim empire poised to conquer all of europe but ready to resist are the franks distant cousins to the visigoths who had taken the former gallic regions of the roman empire in 732 frankish forces under the command of charles martell prepare to meet the umayyads at the
battle of tor the franks hoped to deliver a stunning defeat to the invaders blocking an umayyad conquest of europe and opening the continent for frankish wool hi i'm griffin johnson the armchair historian the fall of the western roman empire was one of the most influential events in european history innumerable kings princes and minor states rushed to fill the power vacuum left in the empire's rubble by the 8th century a.d europe was mostly controlled by the various gothic kingdoms who had dealt roam its death blow remarkably adaptable the goths settled into their new lands as nobles
and administrators even taking up their own brand of christianity arianism today we will be discussing how these germanic kings would go on to form the holy roman empire and how those who had once torn down the roman colossus would become their successors before we begin our deep dive into medieval politics i'd like to highlight our sponsor for this video mindstone an innovative new tool designed to help you learn and process information as quickly and efficiently as possible when confronted with a subject as complicated as history especially medieval history it's vital to maintain focus on the
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for life during research for this video my team was able to collect a large amount of information on the carolingian empire that was extremely useful for both the script writing and art departments to gain access to this shared library on mindstone for yourself all you have to do is click the link in the notes section and you'll be sent right there charles martell's dramatic and unlikely victory at tour dashed all hopes the umayyads had of moving beyond iberia it also marked the beginning of the carolingian dynasty with martell's son pep in the short becoming the
king of the franks in 751 despite his dimunitive moniker pepin was a wise ruler who cultivated a strong relationship with the church greatly expanding the power and influence of the papacy by granting pope stefan ii control over a number of italian cities that pepin had conquered from the lombards thus were born the papal states however it would not be until the reign of pepin's own sons charlemagne and carliman that the possibility of building a true empire to rival rome presented itself despite splitting the kingdom equally between charlemagne and carlin in accordance with the frankish inheritance
law the two brothers began plotting against each other with lawsuits not having been invented yet the two brothers prepared for the next best thing civil war but conflict was averted when carliman died in glory armor covered in the gore of an acute nosebleed with his only true rival dead the energetic and capable charlemagne was now king of all francia and the reunited kingdom soon became the most powerful nation in europe it was a power that would soon be tested in 795 the consecration of pope leo iii sent shockwaves through the catholic world leo was a
commoner with no political allies or influence and the election of a low-class pontiff was unheard of the nobility within the new pope's flock quickly sought to gently persuade leo to abdicate and he was forced to flee rome in 799 after nearly having his eyes and tongue torn out by hired thugs thanks to his family's positive standing with thee church charlemagne was the logical person to turn to for help and leo was soon back in rome under heavy carolingian guard but with his enemies accusing him of crimes ranging from adultery to perjury pope leo was left
with little choice but to swear an oath of purgation stating his innocence before god on pain of eternal damnation unable to challenge this declaration without calling their own religious integrity into question leo's enemies were forced to admit defeat and most were promptly exiled with his power unquestionably restored pope leo presided over holy mass in old saint peter's basilica and as a reward for his service leo christened charlemagne imperator romanarum emperor of the romans before the dumbfounded faithful to say this was a controversial move would be an understatement for one thing the mantle of imperator romanarum
was already taken by empress irene in constantinople despite having lost control of italy the roman empire had preserved thanks to its prosperous eastern territories and its inhabitants viewed themselves as being part of the exact same national and political entity that had existed since the founding of rome itself the papacy had even endorsed this viewpoint having maintained for centuries that the person sitting on the throne in constantinople empress irene at this point was the legitimate ruler of all former roman holdings in europe with a single declaration pope leo iii had unpended political and religious conventions which
had been in place for over 400 years why was leo so ready to flout tradition the relationship between the church and the roman empire had been initially one of mutual benefit the pope endorsed the legitimacy of each new emperor in exchange for their assurance that the empire would come to their aid in any time of need but over the years the papacy had come to regard the title of emperor as ultimately originating from god designated specifically by the pope and returned to him upon the death of each emperor finally it was unthinkable for a patriarchal
organization like the church to be seen as declaring a woman as emperor so empress irene remained unrecognized despite her holding the title leo had just given away due to the belief that the imperial title could only be granted by the church charlemagne was barred from declaring a new imperial dynasty and his intense piety prevented him from questioning this state of affairs furthermore frankish succession laws meant that the vast territories he had amassed were inevitably split into separate nations by his heirs within just a few generations mighty francia had reverted into squabbling petty kingdoms and the
imperial title was reduced to little more than a bribe dispensed by the pope to ensure the loyalty of italian nobles when burniker the first of italy was assassinated in 924 the title was rendered all but defunct however the coronation of otto the first as king of east francia in 962 a.d would resurrect the title imperator romanarum in stunning fashion by this point in history east francia's culture and politics were distinct from its western neighbor causing many to refer to it as the kingdom of germany the early days of otto's reign were marked by endemic political
intrigue the impractical frankish inheritance laws responsible for tearing the carolingian empire apart had long since been discarded in favor of an elective monarchy with the electoral vote being carried out by the most powerful dukes of the realm but otto's father king henry disregarded tradition by naming his son heir apparent without consulting the electors leading too much resentment the situation came to a head in 937 when civil war broke out between otto and his nobles who promptly sought aid from west francia in the bloody series of conflicts that followed otto distinguished himself by crushing the rebellion
and re-establishing control over germany having consolidated power otto now began seeking to expand it further beginning with the subjugation of the kingdom of italy a key part of the old carolingian empire in a bid to consolidate his grip on the peninsula otto allowed the defeated berniger ii to style himself king of italy in exchange for bernier's fealty but he was resentful of his suzerain and when otto became distracted by affairs back in germany the king of italy launched a revolt crucially bernabeu's forces besieged the city of rome causing pope john xii to petition otto for
aid seeing a chance to demonstrate his ring kissing otto raced south with an army and quickly forced bernard to retreat upon entering rome otto met with the pope and swore a solemn oath to defend the church against all adversaries having secured a powerful and influential protector once more the pope was more than happy to dust off the imperial title and declare otto emperor of the romans byzantines be damned unfortunately for john xii otto was no charlemagne he was contemptuous of pope john's alleged depravity and worldliness and chastised the pope for his lack of piety incensed
at this ridicule from a mere earthly ruler the pontiff began plotting against otto from the moment he left rome but the new emperor was no fool and discovered the papal plan within a year for his treachery john xii was ignominiously deposed and a new pope was elected in his place this set an important precedent demonstrating that any sufficiently powerful emperor could easily defy the papacy and get away with it otto secured imperial power by having his son otto ii crowned his co-emperor by pope john xiii in 967 this skillful political maneuvering cemented the creation of
a new imperial dynasty which would reign until 1024 although otto's actions secured a lasting claim to the title of roman emperor his roman empire was not yet holy his behavior also created a lasting animosity between the new emperors and the papacy with both claiming to be the main inheritors of the church's divine mandate and the legacy of ancient rome additionally otto's autocratic rulership alienated his nobility and as the power of his dynasty slowly waned they were able to take back control of the elective monarchy and extract numerous concessions from the new emperors this complicated relationship
casted a shadow over the rule of frederick barbarossa the first the man who would finally make the german lands a so-called holy roman empire barbarossa was elected emperor of the romans and king of germany in 1152 but with little intrinsic power frederick had to politic his way through the courts of germany to accomplish anything of substance however frederick's boundless ambition drove him onward and he began planning to wrestle control back from his quarrel some nobles and restore the glory of the imperial throne his opportunity came just one year later in 1153 when pope eugene iii
appealed to him for aid this was a dark time for the papacy with the abject failure of the second crusade having weakened their political sway in italy to such an extent that the citizens of rome had ejected the pope from the city and were calling for the church to renounce all of its worldly possessions not one to let a good crisis go to waste frederick signed the first treaty of constance with pope eugene promising to restore the pope's position in rome in exchange for a grand and public coronation as emperor this last point was critical
as up until now frederick was merely an emperor elect and had yet to be crowned in a holy ceremony his attempts to enforce the treaty faced innumerable setbacks before the year ended pope eugene was dead with pope adrian iv replacing him and nominally upholding the agreement after a year-long campaign in the south of italy frederick arrived in rome in 1155 only to refuse to follow the ritual displays of subjugation to his holiness demanded by tradition the deeply offended adrian refused to move forward with the coronation until he had been sufficiently honored frederick eventually gave in
but is quoted as muttering proper non adriano for st peter not adrian the hasty coronation that followed was punctuated by yet another revolt forcing frederick to spend his first few hours as emperor reestablishing control over the streets of rome he was then informed that his kingdom was in disarray after his year-long absence forcing him to retreat from italy and leave pope adrian to broker a humiliating peace with his amused opponents [Music] ironically this embarrassing affair would be the basis upon which frederick established the true holy roman empire bombarded with a series of angry letters from
the pope that could easily have been interpreted as threats to revoke his new title frederick made the fateful decision to sever all imperial ties with the church for good in 1157 he declared his nation a holy empire and granted himself full power to appoint or dismiss members of the clergy within his domain finally the embittered frederick decreed that the title of roman emperor was now intrinsically holy that the leaders elected to the throne were holy roman emperors ruling with the backing of god from this point onwards no future emperor would ever seek to gain or
consider the validity of their title based on papal endorsement thus was finally founded the holy roman empire its foundations were not built upon glorious wars of conquest or even great acts of personal valor instead they were constructed upon a centuries-old legacy of frustration mistrust and bitter arguments between church and state after centuries of petty rivalries civil wars and papal politics the holy roman empire was finally born at least in concept despite standing until 1806 the hre was more a set of kingdoms unified under a loose set of ideological principles than a homogeneous political entity backed
by an absolutist state the citizens of the hre were also largely germanic with no claim to roman ancestry and the protestant reformation shattered any religious unity within the empire forever dispelling any hopes of it being seen as holy in the eyes of god but this very lack of centralized identity allowed the hre to endure centuries of internal upheaval and external conflict special thanks to mindstone for sponsoring this video if you want to improve your learning skills and expand your knowledge of history or any other topic in the fastest most efficient way possible and join my
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