Dark Western Europe Medieval Europe is called the Middle Ages from 500 AD to 1500 AD, and it has always been regarded as the darkest period in Europe. The invasion and settlement of barbarians caused the collapse of the Roman Empire and almost caused the complete destruction of European culture at that time. In this context, the feudal system in western Europe was produced and developed on the ruins after the fall of Rome through the integration of Germanic, Roman and Christian factors. Chivalry system also came into being in medieval Europe, which was a feudal vassal system gradually produced and established in the process of feudalization in Europe. European countries in the Middle Ages were a loose collection of territories. In a country, emperors, kings, dukes, etc. Are the supreme lords, and other big noble swore allegiance to them in exchange for fiefs-"fiefs", thus becoming vassals of the supreme lords. These vassals can have their own vassals until knights with little or no land, thus forming a complete feudal hierarchy in Western Europe. The Middle Ages in Western Europe are generally regarded as a period of cultural decline, even a period of "darkness", and the reasons for this "darkness" and "cultural retrogression" are entirely attributed to the Christian church. In fact, in the early Middle Ages of Western Europe (5- 1 1 century), church activities made great contributions to the development of Western European culture under specific historical conditions. Christianity is a classical culture. Objectively, it promoted the revival of western European culture in the early Middle Ages, laid the foundation of medieval education in western Europe, and promoted cultural exchanges among various ethnic groups in western Europe. Modern Europe has become the locomotive of world progress, and the modern civilization born from modern Europe has influenced the trend of modern world history with its great influence. The concepts of human rights, democracy, rule of law, harmony and science have been widely accepted in the world today. Great geographical discoveries have brought the world closer together, and the eastern and western worlds have since become an inseparable whole. Modern European civilization developed on the soil of medieval Europe. The Middle Ages in Europe is a unique historical period. The Germanic kingdoms, which grew up from the ruins of the Roman Empire, gradually merged Germanic and Roman factors and formed a unique series of systems contained in the feudal system in Western Europe. I. The Formation of the Feudal System in Western Europe In 476 AD, the last emperor of Rome was abolished by the Germans, and the Western Roman Empire finally perished under the invasion of barbarians. Many Germanic countries have been established on the land of the former Western Roman Empire, and the feudal system in Western Europe developed under this background. After the Franks entered Gaul, they confiscated the land of the Roman royal family and some slave owners and distributed it to the Franks' Kyle Commune. Many of them were also occupied by the king of Morovin dynasty and his soldiers, becoming a new feudal landlord class. As Franks continued to conquer new areas, kings presented the newly conquered land and its people to his subordinates, bishops and abbots, which was called "land donation". As a result of this unrestricted land grant, the local big noble's strength continued to increase, which ultimately greatly weakened the kingship, making successive kings of Mai Tam dynasty gradually become symbolic "* * * lords". When Charles Martel of Caroline family served as a court minister, she began to implement the fief system for the sake of the long-term stability of the Frankish country and for the sake of consolidating her own strength. Charles Martel took the confiscated land of rebel nobles and churches as fiefs and distributed it to nobles and churches. The recipient of the fief must provide cavalry service to the giver and swear allegiance to him; The giver of the fief has the obligation to protect the receiver from others. Feudal enfeoffment is limited to life and cannot be inherited. In a sense, the feudal system in western Europe was developed by Franks during this period, and the "fief" system played a fundamental and decisive role. The system of "fief" developed greatly during the period of Charlemagne. During this period, in addition to the old custom of the king, the earl, the earl of Mark and the duke who used to belong to state officials also became the vassals of the king and accepted the king's fiefs. At this time, fiefs gradually became hereditary. The king's bannermen can also absorb their own bannermen and give them some land as fiefs, thus becoming their bannermen again. After the 9th century, the word "fief" gradually replaced "fief"; It's called a pink map in the future. The king is the highest feudal Lord, under which there are big feudal lords such as duke, earl and bishop, and then there are small and medium feudal lords, thus forming a complete feudal hierarchy in Western Europe. The medieval country was a loose land collection, and there was no clear concept of national boundaries. "Its property rights and sovereignty are transformed into each other everywhere" [1] The feudal system in Europe is a system of political and economic integration. The feudal lords first clearly owned the ownership of the land in their fiefs, and then gradually acquired the local power of the kingship after the decline of the kingship, and transformed it into private power inherited with the fiefs, including administrative, judicial, taxation, coinage and other powers. Tracing the origin of European feudalism includes three main factors: Roman civilization, Germanic tradition and the influence of Christianity. The Dark Middle Ages in Western Europe (AD 500~ 1500) were the Middle Ages in Western Europe. It can be said that this period basically laid the national situation for later generations. During this period, the main political system in western Europe was feudalism. However, this feudalism is either feudal or feudal. In my opinion, the feudal system in Western Europe is still closer to the enfeoffment system in China's Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties. This feudal system is also that the head of state distributes land to those who want to be rewarded. However, the difference is that the small sects under the big sects can not obey the orders of the big sects above the big sects. To put it simply, it can be explained by a sentence at that time: "The vassal of my vassal is not my vassal." This clearly shows the power relationship between superiors and subordinates. In our opinion, this is undoubtedly not conducive to rule. Judging from the later history, this is good. In this era, countries in western Europe have developed rapidly, thanks to two scientific and technological inventions. One is the horse yoke, which can make animals not suffocate when they are firmly trapped. The other is a heavy plow, which can quickly break the ground and open the intricate underground roots. During this period, they contributed to the sharp decline of European forests. With the development of science and technology, people's productivity has gradually improved and the country has begun to prosper. The strength of the country makes wars frequent. Vikings from Scandinavia began to invade European countries in the 6th century. They have advanced navigation technology, but they discovered Greenland, and it is rumored that they arrived in America centuries before Columbus. Anyway, relying on advanced navigation technology, they carried out aggressive plunder on countries near the Baltic Sea and the North Sea. Of course, this also contributed to this castle that best represented the characteristics of Western Europe at that time. At that time, the castle was very big. When the robbers invaded, the farmers nearby hid in the castle for protection. Lords are also willing to provide protection for residents for strategic reasons, which forms a unique urban pattern in western Europe: layers of buildings or farmland are built around castles. In fact, the view that castles are defensive tools is very one-sided. In fact, the castle was originally built as a military base for soldiers and knights to control the nearby area. In the Middle Ages, when the power of kings declined, castles became an important tool to maintain the stability of towns. When it comes to the representatives of medieval Europe, castles will never be more distinctive than knights. The rise of knights originated from Charles the Hammer, a great warlord of the Frankish Empire. He defeated the Arabs in the battle with them, thanks to his elite cavalry. Later, knights became popular in Europe, and people in all regions were proud of being knights. Because knights need horses and weapons and armor, non-rich children are not qualified to become knights. Knights are often attached to their favorite lords, who provide them with land and farmers, and knights will fight for them when necessary. Because the cost of raising knights is much higher than that of ordinary soldiers, some lords are poor. Knight was regarded as a status, and then gradually developed into chivalry. However, in the future, because of the interests, the knights no longer pay attention to this rule. There is an absolutely powerful historical fact that confirms this phenomenon: the Crusades. The main force of the Crusaders is all kinds of unscrupulous knights, because they fantasize about plundering incomparable wealth and form various military regiments to participate in the Eastern Expedition. They participated in every war of aggression except the children's crusaders. Knight is not only a symbol of status, but also a symbol of war. There is a great nation in medieval Europe that cannot be ignored, that is, the Germanic nation. However, this Germanic is not the Germanic in Hitler's mouth, but the national name of a large area east of the Rhine, west of the Vistula and north of the Danube. The outstanding representative of the Germans was the Franks, and the Frankish kingdom at that time was extremely powerful. Later, it was divided into three parts because of the Germanic inheritance system, which were the predecessors of France, Italy and Prussia (that is, Germany). The Germanic language family influenced the whole European language, and the invasion of Germanic people who were driven to Europe by Huns directly led to the demise of the Western Roman Empire. It can be said that it is influential. In the middle ages of Europe, one thing has to be mentioned, that is, the invasion of Mongols. At that time, Mongolian soldiers even reached the east bank of the Danube, which made many Europeans turn pale when they heard the news. At that time, most towns where Mongols went were attacked by butchers. Fortunately, they were defeated by Arabs, otherwise there would be a catastrophe in Europe. In short, from 500 to 1500 years in western Europe, that is, medieval western Europe, the cloud of war has always hung over people's heads, which can be called the dark Western Europe Middle Ages.