THE CENTURY

OF THE NORTH

(798-912)

THE CENTURY OF THE NORTH (798-912)

W hy is the ninth century called the century of the North ? During this century, Anglo-Saxon dynasties ruled Western Europe, the Vikings conquered huge territories, conducting raids all over Europe, the Germanic faith has been reformed,... The Age of the Vikings begins in

800: the beginning of the century is the beginning of the era of the Northmen. However, this century is also a time of affirmation for religions: the image struggle in the East leads to the victory of the iconoclasts, Catholicism is affirmed by the conversion of Eastern Europe and the Reconquest in the Iberian Peninsula, Shiism appears with the creation of a Shiite Caliphate in 875, and we can mention the reform of the Germanic faith even if it takes place in 798. We will see the rise of the Eadricing dynasty in the Holy Roman Empire, the Offing dynasty in Francia, and the rise of the Scandinavian world.

1

Map of the Holy Roman Empire in 910 After the fall of the Eadricing Dynasty in 907, the empire is fragile. The Lombard emperor Hilderic 'the Dragon' ruled over an empire divided by religious tensions (the Catholic religion is confronted with many heresies and the recently conquered Denmark, but also Flanders, are still of Germanic faith) and cultural (in the empire different people cohabit : Franks, Lombards, Italians, Spaniards, Anglo-Saxons, etc.).

Dyn

asty

Ead

ricin

g on

the

Hol

y Ro

man

Em

pire

(825

-907

)

798

825

900

907

912

798

: The

Ger

man

ic R

efor

mat

ion

825

: Cor

onat

ion

of M

orca

r as

empe

ror o

f the

Hol

y Ro

man

Em

pire

800

THE RISE OF THE EADRICING

The Eadricing Dynasty is from the British Isles, more precisely from the kingdom of Northumbria. In the 8th century, the kingdom of Northumbria was very unstable. Between 705 and 765, eight kings succeeded on the throne. Among them, two abdicated to become

monks, one was killed, one died in battle, and two were deposed. Æthelwald Moll took the throne in 759 even if he wasn't a member of the royal family. Ealhred, nicknamed the 'Son of Satan', acceded to the throne in 765 after Æthelwald Moll's deposition.His lineage goes back to the ancient kingdom of Bernicia, and he received a kingdom destabilized by dynastic disputes and a very turbulent people and nobility. However, he managed to establish his power. In 768 he married Osgifu, the daughter (or sister) of Oswulf, the predecessor of Æthelwald Moll.In 768 he wed Osgifu, the daughter (or sister) of Oswulf, the predecessor of Æthelwald Moll. This reinforced his legitimacy on the throne. The king seeks alliances to defend his throne in case of new revolts and decides to wed his firstborn son, Osred, to Princess Daufreda, the daughter of the king Desiderius of Lombardy. The monarch had to face internal revolts (in 770 and 780) which he repressed, and faced the Scots in the battles of Teviotdale and Dunbar to take over the Isle of Man.

However, the Eadricing dynasty did not rise thanks to King Ealhred, but to his grandson Morcar, now considered as " the grandfather of Europe " (see next page).The reign of Morcar is known thanks to a complete biography written by a monk (anonymous, however) who was contemporary of Morcar.

It is also necessary to place the reign of Morcar in the context of the period: another Anglo-Saxon dynasty, the Offing dynasty, ruled East Anglia but also the powerful kingdom of France between 784 and 828. The Northern Century is well named because in the first half of the century, the Eadricing and Offing dynasties ruled the most powerful kingdoms on the European continent.

2

Why is the king Ealhred (765-790) called the 'Son of the Satan' ?

Ealhred was nicknamed as such during his lifetime. In addition to his duty as overlord, Ealhred was very devout. Known for his zeal, he did not hesitate to burn his firstborn son for heresy on 5 June 779. He was accused of being a parricide, but the Pope gave him absolution in exchange for a penance. When his own son was sentenced to be burned for heresy, a priest called Osred accused him of being « the son of Satan to kill his son in the name of the Holy Church  ». The court adopted this nickname and it was even written in the Chronicles of the Kingdom of Northumbria when Ealhred died in 790.

The Offing Dynasty

At the end of the 8th century, the Carolingian dynasty disappeared. After the reign of the king Charles (768-774) and then his nephew Pepin (774-784), Pepin's step-brother became king of the Franks. However, this step-brother is Sælred I, an Anglo-Saxon of the Offing dynasty, a native of the kingdom of East Anglia. This dynasty remained in power for several generations and divided the kingdom of the Franks into several realms (France, Aquitaine, Austrasia, Burgundy, Germania) but succeeded to maintain a political unity. However, on the death of the last Offing king, Cuthberth, on September 21, 828, with no direct heir, all the kingdoms became independent, splitting the Western world for some decades.

3

Founder of the Holy Roman Empire Emperor Morcar 'the Frog'

Morcar ascended to the throne of Northumbria in 790 after the death of his grandfather. His bloodline is prestigious for the time: his grandfather was the

king of Northumbria, his mother the daughter of a king of Lombardy. The death of his mother in 791 gave him a claim on Lombardy. Morcar saw an opportunity to impose himself on the continent in front of the Anglo-Saxon dynasty of the Offing (see page 2). In 793, Morcar declared war on his cousin Rosamund, the queen of Lombardy (who was still a young child) to conquer the kingdom. Unable to intervene on the continent with the armies of Northumbria, the monarch sent his allies the kings of France and Asturias to capture the region. In 797, the coalised armies won the battle of Ivrea, causing the fall of the Lombard kingdom. A few months later, Morcar was crowned King of Italy. Shortly after, was born Prince Eadweard, the heir of the new kingdom of Italy. A few years after his invasion of Italy, the king faced a great rebellion led by the Lombard Alberto, called 'the Old', Duke of Tuscany and Pisa. The Lombard aristocrats seek to put the former queen Rosamund back on her throne. The king seems little concerned by this revolt because after the beginning of the revolt he led a war in the Carniola against the Slavs of the region. At the same time Western Christianity suffered the crisis of the IXth century (see page 7) with the birth of many heresies. Italy was affected with Siena which saw fraticellism becoming the dominant religion. At the battle of Clydesdale, heretics defeated the royal armies and threatened the position of Catholicism in the British Isles. The emperor, who was a devout man, reacted: he led theological debates and reconverted the heretical strongholds. Morcar went for a pilgrimage to Roma in 812 where he met the Pope. If he managed to stay in Italy and to unify England, and Morcar swore to defend the papal territories, the Pope promised to crown him as emperor. King Morcar decided to lead a series of conflicts in Mercia and Wessex that led to the foundation of the kingdom of England in 814. On 25 May 825, Morcar was coronated Holy Roman Emperor by the pope Leo III: it was the birth of the Holy Roman Empire. The new emperor gave himself two missions: to extend and protect Christianity. With this in view, he defended Scotland against the Swedish at the Battle of Unanun. He died on August 3, 833, giving to his son Eadweard a powerful empire which remains fragile, divided between the British Islands and Italy.

Timeline

๏ 790 Death of his grandfather, Morcar is his successor on the throne of Northumbria

๏ 791 Death of his mother, he inherits a claim on the kingdom of the Lombards

๏ 793-797 War against his cousin Rosamund, the queen of the Lombards. He defeated her at the battle of Ivrea in 797

๏ 797 Morcar became King of Italy and birth of his son Eadweard.

๏ 800 War against the Slavs in Carniola

๏ 802 Morcar deposes the king Ecgfrith II of Mercia

๏ 805 à 823 Revolts in Italy ๏ 812 à 819 Revolts in England ๏ 812 Pilgrimage to Roma ๏ 814 Morcar is proclaimed

King of England ๏ 822 et 824 Wars against the

king Beornwulf of Wessex ๏ 825 Morcar 'the Frog' is

coronated Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Leo III

๏ 825 Morcar converted Styria to Catholicism

๏ 826 Cornwall is submitted ๏ 830 Morcar defended the

kingdom of Scotland against the Swedish

๏ 831 Revolt of Italian Lords ๏ 833 Military campaign in

Ireland ๏ 833 Morcar died on August 3,

833, and was succeeded by his son Eadweard.

HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE

The death of Emperor Morcar leads to a question about the succession in the Empire: should the tradition of the Salic division be continued ? An elective monarchy ?

Primogeniture ? Finally, a special type of model for the Holy Roman Empire was established : a princely elective, with prince-electors from England and Italy. The first elected emperor was the son of Morcar, Eadweard, who ruled between 833 and 841. His reign is far from being as famous as his father's: despite some victorious conflicts and the conquest of East-Anglia against France, he had to sign a white peace against the Swedish invasions. He died on September 18, 841 at the age of 44 from a serious wound, and the Prince Electors chose his brother Ealdwulf, Catholic, as his successor at the detriment of his son, who was Orthodox. Ealdwulf became emperor and wanted to reinforce the Catholic religion: he helped the conversion of Slavs from Silesia. He gained the nickname the 'Missionary' for this event. He begins a military campaign in Wales, but dies of sickness on 19 October 842 at the age of 39. Again the question of succession emerged: the emperor had only daughters with his wife, who could be his successor? The prince electors chose his brother, Eardwulf. Eardwulf finished the conflict in Wales that his defunct brother began. He chases away the French kingdom of Essex during a war that lasted between 844 and 846, he took Scotland after a holy war (from 848 to 849) against the Danes led by the king Hrörekr, created a kingdom of Scotland to ensure the control of the north of the British Isles in 849, led a campaign in Ireland in 849. However, his reign came to a premature end: he was murdered (his assassins are still unknown today) on February 23, 849, while he was facing a rebellion of a league of independentist lords in Italy. His son, Osweald, is his successor. Osweald could do nothing to counter the rebellion that his father was facing before he passed away: the new emperor recognized the independence in February 850 of several lords in Italy, reducing the size of the Holy Roman Empire. Osweald was excommunicated in April 850 before the excommunication was withdrawn after a public humiliation in Roma. However, Osweald didn't give up and led a victorious campaign in Ireland to establish the imperial authority in the region. He joined the christian coalition which defended the kingdom of Burgundy from a swedish invasion in 852, before moving on to the conquest of Italy. Modena was annexed on 9 February 853, and the Duke of Friuli surrendered on 11 December 854. Osweald is also known for his financial reforms: a coin, produced by the emperor, was introduced throughout the kingdom in October 852. Osweald followed in his father's footsteps by conducting a victorious holy war (from February 857 to July 858) against the Danes who had been settled in Scotland since the beginning of the century: the Danish king was killed on 17 June 858 at the Battle of Buchan. The emperor submitted Aquitaine, which was forced to pay tribute to the empire: this was the beginning of an hegemonic vision for the empire. He attacked rebels from the kingdom of France to seize Picardy, but couldn't end this conflict because the emperor was deposed for the benefit of his 14 year old son after a war (from 863 to 866) against a rebellious vassal (the khazarian Bulan, conqueror of the duchy of Ivrea).

4

5

Born in 851, died in 905 Cynewulf 'the White Knight'

Cynewulf born on 15th August 851, he is the son of the emperor Osweald and the empress Ælfwynn. His parents are cousins, which explains why Cynewulf

was slow to understand. He is educated at his father's court, where he is a talented diplomat. However, his father is deposed by a revolt, and the young Cynewulf, at the age of 14 years old, became emperor. His beginning of reign consisted in facing the challenges inside the empire. In 866, there were 7 factions against the emperor, and Chief Bulan, an adventurer and conqueror of the Duchy of Ivrea, even tried to seize the crown (this is the "Bulan Rebellion", which lasted between 866 and 870). The regency ended in 867, when Cynewulf was 16 years old. In 872, he had to face an army of a claimant, which he defeated in 873 after the battle of Cividale. The reign of Cynewulf was a turning point for the empire: the emperor wanted to unify Western Europe, and to do this he conducted a series of military campaigns, submitting kingdoms on the continent. Italy returned to the imperial rule, the kingdoms of France (from 877 to 879), Austrasia (from 885 to 886), Burgundy (from 886 to 887), Aquitaine (from 895 to 897), the Irish and Welsh countries, the duchies of Barcelona (from 882 to 883) and Aragon (from 893 to 894) were submitted. Holy wars drive the Swedish out of Flanders (from 889 to 890), heretical rebellions are crushed. The emperor is known for his "Northern Campaigns" from 901 to 903, where he conquered most of Denmark, driving out the Swedish and Danes who were in control of the region. The Kingdom of Germany is the only kingdom of the former Offing Dynasty that was not submitted by the emperor. Emperor Cynewulf is famous for one of his passions too: the hunt. All his life he pursued a "White Stag", to the point that his court at the beginning of his reign nicknamed him "the Hunter". Today, the castle of Wessex has a White Stag on its coat of arms in memory of this monarch. A knight of excellence, the emperor was ambitious, religious and brave: he was the Perfect Knight, and even today, many people still trace their lineage to Cynewulf, 'the White Knight'. In 904, the emperor decided to lead a new kind of war against the Norwegians: he wanted to establish a new (Catholic) kingdom, but one that would be dependent of the Empire. This new "campaign of the North" will not be completed by the White Knight: Cynewulf died on February 29, 905 of a disease called camp fever. As soon as his death was announced, the Pope proclaimed him " Beatified " during a ceremony in Roma.

Timeline

๏ 851 Birth of Cynewulf on August 15. His father is Emperor Osweald, and his mother is Ælfwynn, Osweald's cousin.

๏ 866 His father's being deposed: Cynewulf became emperor at the age of 14

๏ 866-870 Bulan Rebellion ๏ 867 End of the regency ๏ 872-873 Conflict with a

challenger, Nikodemos ๏ 874 à 875 Cathar revolt in

Northumbria ๏ 877 à 879 War to submit

France by establishing a claimant

๏ 880 Submission of independent lords in Northern Italy

๏ 880 Military campaign in Ireland (Laigin) and submission of Brittany

๏ 881 Submission of the Sardinian Company which controlled a part of Wales

๏ 882 à 883 Conquest of the Duchy of Barcelona

๏ 885 à 886 War to submit Austrasia by establishing a claimant

๏ 886 à 887 Military campaigns to subdue Burgundy and Wales

๏ 889 à 890 Conquest of Flanders against the Swedish

๏ 892 Conquest of Valencia ๏ 893 Submission of Ireland ๏ 895 à 897 War to submit

Aquitaine by establishing a claimant

๏ 899 à 904 Farmers' and heretics' revolts

๏ 901 à 903 : "Northern Campaigns" against the Swedish and the Danes

๏ 904 Start of the war against Norway

๏ 905 Cynewulf died on 29 February of camp fever

THE END OF THE CENTURY OF THE NORTH

The death of Emperor Cynewulf was the end of the first imperial golden age, and the beginning of a period of instability. When he

died, his son Osweald (born in 868) became emperor under the name of Osweald II. He finished his father's military campaign in Norway in May 906, and established a kingdom dependent of the empire in Norway. However, Osweald II didn't have enough time to govern: he died (probably murdered) on April 29, 907. For the first time in imperial history, the electors didn't choose a member of the Eadricing family, but a powerful lord. The Duke of Milan, Hilderic, became emperor in 907. A descendant of the Lombard kings and of a king of France, he conducted a policy of intolerance against heretics, revoking their titles, banishing them, and even eating them.Indeed, Emperor Hilderic 'the Dragon' is known to be a cannibal, inspiring many horror films nowadays. He has to face the rebellion of one of Osweald II's sons, Cynewulf, King of Valencia, who is trying to escape from his forced exile by seizing the imperial crown. It' s a defeat: King Cynewulf's allies are jailed like him, their titles are revoked. The King of Valencia Cynewulf died in prison in February 911. Other emperors succeeded after the death of Hilderic 'the Dragon' (in January 911) but the imperial territories suffered repeated wars and the instability of these new emperors.

The Eadricing dynasty didn't disappear however: the daughter of the king Cynewulf (must not be confused with his ancestor the emperor), Margaret, will even become empress in 939, but in an empire divided between the Holy Roman Empire that she will lead, and an empire of Great Britain. Empress Margaret, however, was involved in the fall of the Eadricing dynasty: she executed family members such as her sister or the Duke of East Anglia, son of Emperor Cynewulf, and her son in November 939. The peak of the empire under the "Perfect Knight" that was Emperor Cynewulf had to seem so far away for the people of that time...

6

The Scandinavian world

In 800, the Age of the Vikings begins. Two years earlier, in 798, the king Hrörekr I 'the Cruel' had reformed the Germanic faith, proclaiming himself 'Fylkir'. Spiritual power was linked to the political power from the beginning: so the kings of Sweden in the IXth century (who were from the same dynasty as Hrörekr I) were also 'Fylkir'. The Nordic people, who were religiously and politically unified on several occasions, started to conquer and raid the surrounding countries. Indeed, the Germanic kingdoms (those of Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Saxony, Finland, ...) seized territories in Ireland, Flanders, Burgundy, Saxony, Finland, the Russian plains ... The Scandinavians participated to make the IXth century the "Century of the North". The first golden age of the Vikings ended in 912, when the Danes failed to retake Norway from the Catholics. The emperor of the Holy Roman Empire Diaco 'the Just' (who reigned between 911 and 927) proclaimed "the end of the century of the men of the North". History has kept the expression "the Century of the North" but it teaches us that Diaco was wrong...

Map of the Holy Roman Empire (in white) in 910

RELIGION : CATHOLICISM

The catholic religion expanded in the IXth century. Paradoxically, Catholicism went through one of its most important crises in

the IXth century. It was a time of many heresies, forcing the Catholic lords to regularly subdue heretical rebellions. Paradoxically, the Papacy became stronger: with the coronation of Morcar 'the Frog' in 825 by the Pope Leo III, the territories of the Pontifical States expanded. Successive popes negotiated the coronations in exchange for lands and gold: the Papal States reached their territorial apogee in 850: the Papacy had a territory dominating all of central Italy. However, the rise of the Catholic Church led to political conflicts: the King of Germany tried to reduce the power of the Papacy by naming an anti-pope (Joannes VIII) in Mainz (the anti-papacy ended in 915). When the Holy Roman Empire is proclaimed in 825, the Papacy found a defender: the emperors will have the task to protect Christianity. However, the IXth century remains the century of the North: for example, Pope Callistus II, whose pontificate lasted from 804 to 819, was an Anglo-Saxon from the British Isles.

Christianity expanded during the IXth century: the Slavic kingdoms of Bohemia and Poland became catholic, and nomads were also converted: the Khazars joined the Church during the reign of the khagan Yilig 'the Impudic', who ruled between 879 and 888. The Reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula advanced (even if the Agrudid empire will crush the efforts of the IXth century during the Xth century as can be seen on the maps below). In 861, a Berber named Isalcas created the Catholic kingdom of Ifriqiya, pushing the Muslims out of the region.

7

Map of the Iberian Peninsula and its area in 858 and later in 938 We can see the Christian kingdoms of Asturias and Lusitania, the duchies of Aragon and Barcelona. There were still Muslim territories, which were later defended (and for some conquered) by the empire of the Agrudid. The kingdom of Lusitania collapsed in the Xth century and the Holy Empire annexed part of the peninsula during the reign of Emperor Cynewulf (866-905).

Religious map of Europe in 900 Catholics dominate Western Europe, a part of North Africa, and a part of the steppes. In the Byzantine Empire, we can see that the Iconoclastic faith was durably established in Southern Italy, the Balkans and Anatolia. The reformed Germanic faith was reduced to Scandinavia at the end of the IXth century. The Slavic religion is collapsing, while in the Caucasus, Shiism begins to develop.