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| | Last week we finished the "ancient world." After the ancient world was a period of hundreds of years when there was no significant civilization in Western Europe. | | Last week we finished the "ancient world." After the ancient world was a period of hundreds of years when there was no significant civilization in Western Europe. |
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| − | This class we discuss the growing "Christendom" in Western Europe, including Charlemagne and the Carolingian Court, and we learn about the rise of Islam in the Middle East, which also spread to Europe, Africa and Asia. | + | This class we discuss the growing "Christendom" in Western Europe, including Charlemagne and the Carolingian Court. We also learn about the rise of Islam in the Middle East, which its expansion to Africa, Spain and Asia. |
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| − | We also learn about the historical emergence of "chivalry" in this lecture.
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| | ==Introduction to the Middle Ages== | | ==Introduction to the Middle Ages== |
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| − | The "[[Middle Ages]]" is the period between the fall of the western [[Roman empire]] and the "[[Renaissance]]", when there was an intellectual and cultural revival. As a rough approximation, '''the dates of the Middle Ages are from A.D. 500 to 1500''', even though the Renaissance actually began hundreds of years earlier than 1500 and Rome fell before 500. "Medieval" is the adjective for "Middle Ages": for example, "medieval times" means the Middle Ages. | + | The "[[Middle Ages]]" is the 1000-year period between the fall of the western [[Roman empire]] and the "[[Renaissance]]". As a rough approximation, '''the dates of the Middle Ages are from A.D. 500 to 1500''', even though the Renaissance actually began hundreds of years earlier than 1500 and Rome fell before 500. "Medieval" is the adjective for "Middle Ages": for example, "medieval times" means the Middle Ages. |
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| − | Both the beginning and end of the Middle Ages occurred in what is now [[Italy]]. The "Middle Ages" can be a disparaging term to describe a bridge in time between the worthwhile ancient world that ended in A.D. 500, and the worthwhile Renaissance that arose on the other side of the break, in A.D. 1500. Perhaps the term "Middle Ages" is analogous to the term "teenager", which you might notice is not always used in a complimentary way by adults! Italian humanists (non-religious intellectuals) wanted to criticize the thousand years that separated the Roman empire from the Renaissance, because it was a period of monastic life and quiet Christian spiritual growth, and hence the name "Middle Ages."
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| − | By A.D. 1500, humanists revered and esteemed the classical Greek and Roman civilizations of the ancient world, and revived the approach taken by those ancient civilizations. The humanists viewed the mostly quiet spiritual growth between A.D. 500 and 1500 as a waste of time, and exaggerated the inactivity of the period as one of darkness and ignorance.
| + | Both the beginning and end of the Middle Ages occurred in what is now [[Italy]]. The "Middle Ages" is not a complimentary term. It refers to the 1000 years in world history when there were no spectacular empires, and only a few intellectual breakthroughs. The Middle Ages were a time of feudalism and chivalry. |
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| | Recall that the [[Germanic tribes]] destroyed the Roman empire in the west in the A.D. 400s, and in particular [[Alaric]] the [[Visigoth]] sacked [[Rome]] in A.D. 410. Many of the Germanic tribes eventually converted to [[Christianity]], but their own customs made the social organization of the Roman empire impossible to maintain. The networks of roads, water, shipping and agriculture that flourished during the Roman empire began to decay. There was little obvious scholarship or artistic activity either. Except for the Carolingian court of [[Charlemagne]] discussed below, there was no kingdom in Europe from the fall of Rome to A.D. 1000. | | Recall that the [[Germanic tribes]] destroyed the Roman empire in the west in the A.D. 400s, and in particular [[Alaric]] the [[Visigoth]] sacked [[Rome]] in A.D. 410. Many of the Germanic tribes eventually converted to [[Christianity]], but their own customs made the social organization of the Roman empire impossible to maintain. The networks of roads, water, shipping and agriculture that flourished during the Roman empire began to decay. There was little obvious scholarship or artistic activity either. Except for the Carolingian court of [[Charlemagne]] discussed below, there was no kingdom in Europe from the fall of Rome to A.D. 1000. |