Middle Ages

General Notes

The Middle Ages was the period of time from the fall of the Roman Empire until the Renaissance.

The era was characterized by significant bloodshed, cruelty, and conflict. Notable conflicts were between the British and the French in the Hundred Years' War, the conquests of Charlemagne, and several peasant revolts. A conception of a modern nation-state did not exist; instead, nations were tied to their individual religions, and especially to the Pope. Small economies of scale developed throughout the Middle Ages, in the form of vassalage between a rich lord and his clients. The system was generally extremely repressive, and discouraged upward mobility.

Of the tragedies of the period, the Crusades come foremost in the mind, along with the Black Plague, which wiped out one-third of the European population.