Stop 2: Missions, kingdoms, and new powers

Chapters 6–10 · Atlas year: 800 CE

Chapters in this stop

• The Church's Eldest Daughter
• The Coming of the Moors
• The Carolingians
• The Conversion of Europe
• Anglo-Saxon England

First, find it

Look from Iberia across Francia to the North Sea and central Europe. Follow frontiers and travel corridors instead of treating Europe as one uniform block.

Keep this lens while reading

Conversion, conquest, alliance, and learning moved through families and local rulers as well as famous kings. Watch for the difference between a ruler's decision and everyday change.

Family question

How would a court writer describe a ruler differently from a farmer, rival, missionary, or conquered neighbor?

Period voices and trustworthy context

Einhard's Life of Charlemagne

Period voice · Internet History Sourcebooks, Fordham University

A courtier and friend writes about Charlemagne's appearance, habits, wars, learning, religion, and government.

Early medieval source collection, 565–1000

Source shelf · Internet History Sourcebooks, Fordham University

Choose one short source from a perspective missing in the chapter—Byzantine, Islamic, Iberian, Frankish, English, or Scandinavian.