Top 3 Invaders of the Frankish Empire

The following points highlight the top three invaders of the Frankish Empire. They are: 1. The Northmen, Norsemen or Vikings 2. The Magyars 3. The Moslems.

Frankish Empire # Invader 1. The Northmen, Norsemen or Vikings:

The German tribes of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden were almost entirely free from the Roman influence and Christianity.

They lived in independent groups without any central government, but during the ninth century many of the tribes were united under some leaders who arose.

Three king­doms were established, namely, the kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden.

The nobles and other lesser leaders who were too proud to submit to the rule of the kings turned to the sea, hoping to preserve their independence. They began as pirates and plundered towns and monasteries on the coasts of Gaul, Germany, Spain and even Italy.

Gradually they began to spend winter in the countries they went to plunder and such settlements eventually became permanent. They were soon joined by their countrymen who wanted to share their prosperity. The Scandinavian freebooters were given the term Viking which meant those who haunt­ed a bay or creek.

The Northmen possessed a marked degree of adaptability which was a German characteristic. “In France they became Frenchmen, in England, Englishmen and in Russia, Russians.” They did not lose their individuality, self-confidence, courage and a thirst for fame and praise.

Their genius for governing, their bodily vigour, their love of cruelty and ferocious warfare, their deceit and cunning were never lost. Hardy, bold and restless the pagan Vikings excelled as seafarers, traders and warriors. Their love of fighting was equaled by their love of gain. Their gods, Odin the Wily, Thor the Rough, reflected their own character.

Yet with all their barbarism the Scandinavians Adaptability possessed a progressing civilization and culture and had a subtle grasp of law and was skillful manipulators in disputes. They were good learners and were ready to seize on new ideas and adopt the higher organisation of the society of the country wherein they settled.

With their long narrow ships, remarkably designed for speed and seaworthiness, they were capable of most adventurous voyages. Like the Goths and the Vandals they left their religion when they left their original home and in the countries where they settled adopted Christianity with heartiness that soon made them champions of Christianity.

They rebuilt churches and monas­teries many of which they themselves had plundered and destroyed and developed a great regard for holy places, and from pirates became Christian knights.

The Viking expeditions, primarily along the coasts of the British Isles, Ireland, the Netherlands, France, Spain, and North Africa, extended as far as the shores of Greenland and America, and east­ward to the lands of the Baltic, Finnis and Slavic peoples. In absence of defenses against sea-borne invasions anywhere in those days, the Vikings easily swept forward without difficulty.

They sailed into the interior of each region through rivers. They crossed Poland and Russia via the Vistula, Dnieper, Dwina and Volga and reached the Black and the Caspian seas; and reached burgundy by crossing the Seine and Meuse. They pillaged and plundered everything before them and eventually were tamed and absorbed by the civilizations of the countries wherein they settled permanently.

After their conversion to Christianity they became amal­gamated with the native peoples. In this way they settled in Normandy by 911, in England by 870 and in Russia by 862. Under the leadership of Rurik and his comrades, they founded the first Russian state.

The impact of the Northmen or Viking inva­sions and settlement in different parts of Europe was as varied as it was important. Wherever the Vikings settled, they changed the political institutions of the country. In France their presence strengthened the tendencies towards feudal decentralization.

The king’s authority was weakened and the nobles saw a chance of challenging royal prerogatives. Seeking wider autonomy the nobles did not hesitate to engage the support of the Vikings. To counter this move, the kings vainly tried to buy the service of the nobles with the gift of royal lands and then playing them against others.

The parceling out of the royal land served all the more to diminish the strength of the central autho­rity. Decentralization that took place in this way further accentuated the differences between nor­thern and southern France in language, law and tradition. Trade and commerce declined, life be­came insecure and living standard very low.

The effect of the Viking invasions proved even more disruptive in England than in France. Al­though the Vikings under Danish leadership were converted into Christianity at the instance of Alfred and subsequently the Danelaw was conquered by the Anglo-Saxon kings still this did not bring stable government.

Shortly after 1000 A.D. the Danes strengthened by reinforcements received from their homeland regained the initiative and their struggle for power was resumed.

In the eastern and central Eastern Europe the Northmen shattered the old regimes and thus com­pelled the emergence of new political systems. In the second half of the ninth century the Northmen under Rurik arrived at Novgorod and established their political sway along the trade route connecting the Baltic and Black Seas and thus a Russian state, properly speaking came into being.

Towards the last quarter of the tenth century the Northmen under their ruler Vladimir I accepted Christianity and his subjects followed suit. As in the case of Russia the states of Poland, Hungary, etc., also achieved their statehood under the Northmen.

But the German Empire remained untouched by the Norse invasions and while the East and West of Europe were being transformed by Norse invasions, in Germany and Italy two main forces of the Middle Ages were evolv­ing, namely, the Empire and the Papacy.

Frankish Empire # Invader 2. The Magyars:

The Magyars, called Hunga­rians, in the West by their marauding and migrating expeditions devastated Lombardy in 899, the first country to suffer severely at their hands. King Berengar of Lombardy was completely defeated and after a year’s free looting and plundering of his country, the Magyars realized a heavy ransom from him before leaving.

They renewed their invasions several times and at least once at the invitation of Berengar himself against a rival. It was not before 955 when the Magyars were defeated at the hands of Otto the Great at the battle of Lech-field that Italy was delivered of the great scourge. Germany suff­ered at their hands even more.

Since 900 A.D. Magyar invasion became an annual affair and all provinces of Germany were invaded by them in turn. The Magyars invaded Saxony in 924 and its chief was captured. Duke Henry of Saxony (he was elected King of Germany in 919) entered into a treaty with the Magyars whose captured chief agreed by this treaty to leave Germany alone for ten years in return for an annual tribute.

But after

nine years when the tribute money was refused, they reappeared in 933 but were routed by Henry. There were renewals of invasions but the Magyars were routed more than once. In the next year when they invaded Bavaria in full force, the German nobles united under Otto the Great and defeated the pest finally and decisively in the battle of Lech-field, already referred to above.

The effect of the Magyar invasions was the addi­tion of one powerful nation to Europe which, how­ever, did not add any creative factor to the West. Their devastations produced their most important effect in separating the south-western Slavs from their kinsmen in the Balkans, thereby widening the cleft between the Eastern and Western Europe.

Another very important effect of the Magyar inva­sions was the strengthening of the new German kingship, as was evidenced in the united support the nobles gave to Otto the Great in the battle of Lech-field in 955.

Frankish Empire # Invader 3. The Moslems:

The Moslem invaders of the sea coasts of Western Christendom carried on incur­sions of terrible severity. Early in the ninth century the Moslem pirates from Spain which was then under the Moslems, seized on Crete. The Aghlabid Amirs of Africa began conquering Sicily. The Moslem pirates practically compelled the closure of the intercourse between the Eastern Empire and Italy.

There was no effective check of the Moslem pirates who swooped upon the coasts of southern Italy, for the south Italian dynasties turned their attention from the sea to the shore. In 831 Palermo fell into the hands of the Moslem pirates and it became a magnificent harbour for their attack upon the mainland.

The Italian dukes also occa­sionally requisitioned their help in their wars against their rivals. This while gave them better idea of the inland countries, earned the moral support of their employers in their depredating in­cursions. Taranto and Bari were occupied by them. Their attempt on Naples, however, failed.

Mutual quarrel of the Italian localities, such as between Lombardy and Campania, made the Moslem invaders’ job easier, and for years the Lombardians and Campanians could not prevent their ravages. Under Emperor Lewis II Italy ably resisted the Moslem menace, but on his death in 875 princes and the Pope began to look for a new defender.

The shadow emperors and the princes in north Italy did nothing to save Italy from the Moslem piratical invasions from Spain. The Byzantine Emperor Basil I, however, succeeded in occupying Taranto and Bari from the Moslems but failed to take Sicily. Naples and Benevento took the help of the marau­ders in their struggle with Campania and in 881 the Moslems destroyed the famous abbeys of Monte Cassino and Volturno.

Situation in Italy became all the more desperate because of the wars between the local dynasties and against the advancing Byzantine. The tenth century opened with greater terror for Italy Ibrahim of Aghlabid dynasty wrest­ed Taormina from the Byzantines and invaded Capua. But fortunately, for the Italians, he died soon after and the civil war that ensued in Sicily on his death gave a breathing space to the Italians.

It was with the Byzantine help that warrior Pope John and Marquess Alberic of Spoleto defeated and annihilated the Moslems at Garigliano. This victory put an end to the worst period of the Moslem piratical incursions, although coastal raids were yet to continue.

The lull was broken under the Fatimide Caliphs. Caliph Mahdi conquered Sicily in 917; in 935 an African fleet stormed Genoa as well as Byzantine territories. During 950-52, African troops overran Calabria and besieged Naples. The mono­tony of ravages and blackmail was over with the re-conquest of Crete by Nicephorus Phocas but counterbalanced by a disastrous invasion for the re-conquest of Sicily (963).

The Moslem pirates of Fraxinetum, in the mean­time, were carrying on depredations on both sides of the Alps. Caravans in the Alpine passes were plundered by them. Attempts by Hugh of Provence, King of Italy and Byzantine fleet failed to make any impression upon them. It was under Otto the Great that there was the deliverance from this terrible scourge.

In 972 a large number of Moslems were extirpated and the passes were made free for the travellers and the Moslem colonies were occupied. In the meantime in 969, the Fatimide Caliphs con­quered Egypt and began hostilities with Byzantine Empire and Moslem raids of Italy went on as before only to be bought off by the princes.

Attempt of Otto II to free south Italy of the infidels met with no success; instead he met with a defeat at the hands of Abul Qasim, Amir of Sicily. Rescue ultimately came from the growing sea power of the Italian cities.

A Venetian fleet saved Bari from an attempt­ed capture by the Moslems in 1002, in 1005, a fleet from Pisa won a battle with the Moslems in the straits of Messina. With the defeat of Mujahid, king of Denia in 1016 there was a final turning of the tide.

The impact of the Moslem incursions on the Italian mainland and coasts stimulated the growth of local powers. Except in Sicily, the Saracens made no tangible contribution to the European civilization. In Sicily, despite their ferocity, they ‘transplanted the Arabic culture of Islam as it has formed in the courts of the Caliphs, and left a deep imprint on the island and its people.’