Early Middle Ages

The **Early Middle Ages** started in Europe with the coronation of Charlemagne as King of the West Franks in 769. The Early Middle Ages in Western Europe were dominated by the figure of the Frankish King, later Holy Roman Emperor, Charlemagne, who built an empire that played a role in all major conflicts in Western Europe at the time. In Eastern Europe, Antavas the Bull became the warrior king of Lithuania and rapidly carved out his own empire among the surrounding Romuva, Slavic and Suomenusko peoples. He supplemented the resistance of the historic Romuva faith by reforming the religion to match some of the characteristics of the Abrahamic faiths. Meanwhile, the Byzantine Empire was being troubled by Pagan and Hellenic revivals in the Balkans and revolts which saw the royal court moved out of the historic capital of Constantinople to Kherson.

The Early Middle Ages ended in Western Europe with a decisive change in the mode of politics that was the result of the fall from power of the Carolingians and the subsequent fracturing of the Holy Roman Empire as multipe kingdoms that had previously been subject to Charlemagne's empire declared independence. This marked the end of any real attempts to a successor of the Roman Empire in the west, although the Empire persisted in parts of Charlemagne's former domains and the emerging realms of France and Germany traditionally trace their lineage back to the Carolingian Empire.

## History

To be filled in after the end of the Early Middle Ages.

## Early Medieval Politics

The mark of politics in the Early Middle Ages as discerned by scholars is the ambition towards Empire, particularly in the former Roman Empire. Notably, Charlemagne's Holy Roman Empire marked the last time Western Christendom was united to the same extent as under Roman rule. Especially when compared with the struggling Byzantine Empire to the East, the Carolingian Renaissance and the unity it brought to Western Europe can be called remarkable. Compared to much of the rest of the Middle Ages, therefore, the presence of the Empire defined the Early Middle Ages. The same can be said for Eastern Europe, where the nascent Lithuanian Empire under the successors of Antavas the Bull expanded rapidly, bringing an order among the tribes that had not before been seen, and to a lesser extent in the North, where Sweden dominated the Viking Kingdoms and became the scourge of Europe.

Chroniclers have consistently portrayed the Carolingian Empire as a new episode of *pax romana,* in which the powerful Holy Roman Emperor, backed up by the power of the Papacy and the Imperial armies, adjudicated many disputes in Europe in order to preserve the peace not just within, but outside his borders. Carolingian assistance to the reconquista efforts of the Kings of Asturias and to the Kings of Wessex in their bid to unite England before the Vikings arrived on their shores are cited as examples of this. Nevertheless, such historiography has since been discredited by historians which have noted that where the laws failed, Charlemagne's successors resorted to superior force, leading to bloody civil wars such as the Children's War and the Lombard League's attempt to gain independence during the subsequent reign of Charles the Younger. While the superior force of the Holy Roman Empire did preserve some semblance of stability in Western Christendom, therefore, especially when compared to the chaos of the Dark Ages following the Great Migrations, this should not in any way be overestimated.

A focus on Western Christendom also has the tendency to obscure what was happening in the Balkans, where post-Avvar Pannonia and Slavic Epirus were causing great trouble for the Byzantine Empire and caused great chaos in Eastern Christendom. Despite the best efforts of the Basileus, the stability that had characterised the Byzantine Empire earlier seemed far away, leading to frequent fighting in which the diminished Byzantine armies struggled greatly.

In the far East, the expansionism of the Liao Dynasty in China led to the massive expansion of Chinese tributary rule including half of India and stretching even to the border of Persia.

## Timeline

* 769:
	+ Pepin of Herstal dies, leaving his throne to his sons Karl and Carloman.
	+ Antavas rises to become High Chief of the Yatvingians
* 775:
	+ Antavas the Bull becomes King of Lithuania
* 777:
	+ Charlemagne is crowned the first Holy Roman Emperor by the Pope
* 793:
	+ Veremondo de Cantabria goes to war to reconquer Portucale, with the assistance of Charlemagne's Holy Roman Empire
* 798:
	+ Charlemagne launches a holy war to reconquer the Duchy of Barcelona for the Franks