By the 5th Century AD the western Roman Empire was disintegrating and "barbarian" tribes were setting up their own kingdoms in Europe; the Ostrogoths in Italy, the Visigoths in Spain and the Franks in Gaul. The take-over wasn't always by conquest. Settlement of Roman lands by treaty and the use of barbarian mercenaries by them, contributed to the new order. The newcomers, by and large, adopted the Christian religion of the Romans.
The Frankish lands, roughly present-day France and western Germany were ruled over by the Merovingian dynasty. However, rule was weakened by the sub-division between a rulers' sons and other relatives. Charlemagne (768 - 814) managed to create a strong Frankish empire, extending across most of central Europe, while suppressing the Saxons to the east. This empire was once more sub-divided by the "Partition of Verdun" in 843, when Charles the Bald took the western half, Louis the German the eastern half and Lothar, a strip between them. Although Lothar was nominally emperor, over the centuries, Lotharingia as it was known, shrunk to the present-day province of Lorraine. Charles's section, though, eventually became France and Louis's, Germany.
In 711 AD, most of Spain fell to the Muslims, or Moors as history has called them. They were not expelled until the "Reconquista" (1085 - 1340).
Christianity was important in medieval Europe and governed the actions of kings and emperors. Kings and bishops were twin pillars of power and any king claiming divine rule, needed the Pope's cooperation.
|
Carolingian France
Charles II le Chauve (the Bald)
843-877 (875-877 as Emperor)
|
Feudal France
Duke Richard I of Normandy
943-996 AD
|
Carolingian France
Conrad the Peaceful
834-993
|
Feudal France -Paris
Philip II
1180 AD - 1223 AD
|
Feudal France
Philip VI de Valois
1328-1350
|
Feudal France: Duchy of Lorraine
Charles II (the Bold)
1391 - 1431
|
France
Henri II
1547 AD - 1559 AD
|
Germany - Holy Roman Empire
Friedrich I Barbarossa
1152-1190
|
Germany - Bishop of Constance
Diethelm von Krenkingen
1190-1206
|
Bavaria -Regensburg
Bishop Heinrich II and Duke Otto III
1277 AD - 1296 AD
|
Italy -Lucca
Conrad II
King of Germany 1024 - 1039 AD
|
Sicily
William II 1166 - 1189
AE15 Arabic/Latin
|
Naples
Charles II of Anjou
1285 AD - 1309 AD
|
Venice
Doge Pietro Gradinego
1289 AD - 1311 AD
|
Spain: Castile and Leon
Alphonso X
1252 AD - 1284 AD
|
Spain: Aragón
Jaime II
1291 AD - 1327 AD
|
Spain: Castile and Leon
Henry (Enrique) IV
1454 AD - 1474 AD
|
Spain
Ferdinand and Isabella
1474 AD - 1504 AD
|
Spain
Philip II or III
1556 AD - 1598 AD
|
Hungary
Stephen I (Saint Stephen)
997-1038 AD
|
Hungary
Bella III
1172 - 1196 AD
|
Hungary
Sigismund
1387 AD - 1437 AD
|
Luxembourg, Bohemia, Poland
John the Blind
1309-1346
|
Poland/Lithuania
Stephen Báthory, (Stefan I)
1576-1586
|
Poland
Sigismund III (Zygmunt Wasa)
1587 - 1632 AD
|
Free city of Riga
autonomous
1561 - 1581 AD
|
Austria
Archduke Leopold V of Tirol
1619-1632
|
Holy Roman Empire
Leopold I, The Hogmouth
1619-1632
|
Scotland
William I 'the Lion'
1165-1214
|
Scotland
Alexander III
1249-1286
|
Scotland
Mary & Francis
1542-1567
|
Scotland
Charles I
1625-1649
|
Low Countries -Brabant
John I Duke of Brabant
1267-1294
|
Low Countries -Hainaut
William III Count of Hainaut,
"the Mad"; 1356-1389
|
Bulgaria
Ivan Alexander and Mihail
1330-1355(65?)
|
Armenia
Levon I
1196 AD - 1219 AD
|
Russia: Ivan IV (the Terrible)
1534-1584
AR wire Kopek
|
|
|
|