Scholars helped to establish standards for writing in Latin so that it could become the unifying formal language of the realm. Monk-scribes and lay craftsmen were imported into the West from the Eastern Roman Empire and began to create books. Although unable to read and write himself, he valued culture and began a series of efforts to foster it. But Charlemagne's goals went beyond political position. Pope Leo, seeing an opportunity to reinstate a Western Church, made Charlemagne Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. This government united most of Western Europe for the first time since the fall of the Roman Empire. He and his family engaged in decades of military incursions and conquests to acquire territory, and established a strong central government along with a stabilizing control structure-a feudal system-which protected the poorest of citizens through regional land-lords with private militias. Light began to enter the Dark Ages in the late 700s, when Charlemagne, the son of a powerful warlord controlling vast lands in what is now Germany, France, Austria, Hungary, and the Netherlands, became the leader of the Franks, the largest tribe in Europe. Illuminated page from the Book of Kells, "Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John," 800 A.D. A few surviving texts, such as the Book of Durrow, the Lindesfarne Gospels and the Book of Kells are wondrous examples of Christian art and craft. Monasteries were the only remaining centers of cultural, educational, and intellectual activity, and consequently they were targets for looting. In Ireland, successive Viking and Norse invasions forced the removal of treasured books from their original locations so that they could be protected and hidden. The clergy held fast to the traditions of reading, writing, manuscript illumination, and panel painting in order to maintain the Christian faith. Western art and culture were virtually non-existent except for what was protected by Christian monks and missionaries. Birth rates dropped, and disease and infections decimated undernourished human and animal populations. Travel was dangerous and trade routes were unused. Farming and mining all but ceased entirely. During the period, Roman roads and water distribution systems decayed. The preceding “Dark Ages,” which lasted for hundreds of years after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, had been a time of chaos and poverty without strong central government to maintain order. The Middle Ages were a critically important period for Western Europe. Illustration (detail) above: "Crusader Bible," 1240 A.D. Home > History > Time Periods > The Middle Ages The Middle Ages
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