The Early Middle Ages | Rise of the Carolingians (Lecture 13)

Lecture 13: During the late 7th century and the first half of the 8th century, the Merovingian dynasty found itself pushed aside by the Carolingians, a process that culminated in the deposing of the last Merovingian king by Pepin the Short in 751. The Carolingians could make themselves kings of the Franks by virtue of the prestige they gained via military victory against the Arabs and by virtue of the alliance they struck with the papacy, which needed a new protector after it broke with the Byzantine Empire during the Iconoclasm Controversy. Early Carolingian rulers, such as Charles Martel and Pepin the Short, brought all of Francia under their control and even began to intervene militarily in Italy, reversing the relationship between Italy and northern continental Europe that had existed in the days of the Roman Empire.

Suggested Readings:
Bernard S. Bachrach. Early Carolingian Warfare. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2000.
Patrick Geary. Before France and Germany: The Creation and Transformation of the Merovingian World. Oxford University Press, 1988.
Thomas Noble. The Republic of Saint Peter: The Birth of the Papal State, 680–825. University of Pennsylvania Press, 1981.
Ian Wood. The Merovingian Kingdoms, 450–751. Longman, 1994.

Lecture 14: https://www.bitchute.com/video/KXEUGYA5hpT5/