The Super Summary of World History - Alan Dale Daniel [52]
The Viking raids on Europe and England started about 800 and continued unabated for decades. These raids, along with intense plagues, crammed Europe back into the putrid pit of the Dark Ages. One ongoing theme did mark the tenure of the Holy Roman Empire. This empire, and its successors the Hapsburg dynasty, stood between the Muslims and the conquest of Europe for centuries after the fall of the Byzantine Empire and Constantinople in 1453.
The disintegration of Charlemagne’s large empire came quickly after his death. His grandsons divided the empire into three parts with Henry the Fowler establishing the Saxon dynasty of German kings and Hugh Capet starting the Capetian dynasty of France. Lothair got the center between the kingdoms of the east (Germany in modern times) and the west (France of modern times). One side or the other was forever overrunning the land of King Lothair between the two great peoples of France and Germany. Alsace—Loraine lies in this area, and Germany and France have contested the region for generations.
France was having trouble enough when the English King Edward III claimed the throne of France in 1337 and invaded in 1346. This was the start of the Hundred Years War between France and England to determine who would rule the country. The English won tremendous bloody victories at Crecy (1346), Poitiers (1356), and Agincourt (1415), crippling France for a generation. Incompetent French leadership was the main cause for the unmitigated series of disasters. By 1422 Charles, the dauphin (crown prince) of France, was holed up in a dingy castle in Touraine and ruled almost nothing. To become king he had to be consecrated in the cathedral of Reims, but the cathedral and the surrounding area was held by hostile forces. Out of nowhere, a 16 year old girl who had heard voices telling her to save France arrived and told the dauphin she would raise the English siege of Orleans on the Loire River. Her name was Joan of Arc. The illiterate gal led the royal army to the attack on a ring of English forts surrounding the city of Orleans. She decisively defeated the English and broke the siege. The voices then told Joan to get the dauphin to Reims so he could be anointed. Her army fought its way through to the cathedral and the dauphin was consecrated on July 17, 1429. France now had a legit king.
Joan’s life did not end well. Eventually captured in battle she was tried and burned as a witch by the English. This was a large error. By burning Joan the English really ticked off the French populace and ensured their own defeat in the Hundred Years War. By dying a martyr Joan had won the war for France. The French king made a deal with his local enemies and then turned on the English. In a series of victories he drove the English off the continent. In 1453 the war was at last over with the French king in control of France.
Thus, an illiterate 16 year old farm girl saved France. Guess the voices knew what they were doing.
England
Early on, the Anglo Saxons ruled England, but the Viking raids (Danes to the English) and settlements were putting pressure on them. Alfred the Great (849-899) managed to drive them out from most of their conquests and established the Anglo Saxons as the undisputed rulers. The Anglo Saxons had few noblemen but a good sized class of land owning men (thanes), both governed by the unwritten laws of tribal customs as much as anything else. It was during this era that the epic tale of Beowulf was created (the Danish and Scandinavian connections are strong in this story). In 1066, Harold Godwinson was the most powerful man in England, but he had problems with the succession to the throne which led to a few bigger problems.
William, leader of the Normans, had a claim to the English throne but Harold had the title. William decided to mount an invasion, and assembled 700 transport vessels to move on isle of England. The Normans invaded in 1066 and managed to defeat the Anglos and Saxons at the Battle of Hastings after an arrow killed