Difference between revisions of "Middle Ages"

Revision as of 17:55, September 29, 2007

!

Apologies This page is undergoing massive reconstruction. You can help, if you have specialized knowledge of the subject matter. Please discuss modifications on the Talk Page.

General Notes

The Middle Ages, also known as the Medieval period, is the period of time from the fall of the Roman Empire until the Renaissance. Historians have suggested different dates for its beginning and end. The beginning is most commonly set at the abdication of the last Emperor of the Western Roman Empire in 476 AD, but the Gothic sack of Rome in 410 AD has also been suggested. The ending point is variously gives as the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453, the discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus in 1492, or the Protestant Reformation in 1517. Other historians prefer a more vague periodization from 500 AD to 1500 AD, arguing that the change between epochs require a transitional period over many years, making it pointless to try to fix the change at an exact date.

Middle Ages in Brief

• Aftermath of the Roman Empire

• Carolingian Empire

• Vikings

• Crusades

• Renaissance of the 12th century

• Italian city states and Hanseatic League

• Hundred Years' Wars

• Crisis of the later Middle Ages

One of the major events of the late Middle Ages is the Black Death, a plague pandemic between 1347 and 1351, which is believed to have wiped out one-third of the European population. The plague had momentous consequences for the late medieval European society and mentality.

Society

A conception of a modern nation state did not exist in the Middle Ages. The two dominant political entities were kingdoms, in which the king ruled with the consent of the nobility, and the city state, which was often ruled by an oligarchy drawn from either the local nobility or the merchant class. However, it was also during the Middle Ages that the groundwork for the later nation states were laid.

Warfare was endemic to the period, often on a very small scale. When at war, medieval rulers typically depended on troops paid from their own resources, supported by soldiers provided by their vassals. This meant that only limited number of troops could be raised, and difficulties in logistics and communications further limited this number. For this reason, warfare was often conducted by raids through enemy territories and sieges of important towns or castles. Open field battles between armies were quite rare.

Notable conflicts of the era were between the English and the French in the Hundred Years' Wars, the conquests of Charlemagne, and several peasant revolts.

Economy

Small economies of scale developed throughout the Middle Ages, in the form of vassalage between a lord and his clients.

Religion

Overall, Europe during the Middle Ages was predominantly Catholic. At the beginning of the period, however, the Christian Western Roman Empire had broken up and been replaced by Germanic kingdoms that were predominantly non-Christian. Combined with serious doctrinal conflicts inside the Church, this represented a

A long period of missionary activities, as well as the support of the Carolingian Empire, meant that by the year 1000 AD, Christianity was again the dominant religion in Europe. A division occurred in 1054 AD, however, when the Church broke up into a Catholic western part and an Orthodox eastern part.

Later Perceptions of the Middle Ages

• Renaissance: the medium aevum

• Enlightenment: dark superstition

• Romanticism: the glorious past

• Modern times: academic study and prejudices

• Now: renewed interest?

References

McKay, Hill, and Buckler: a History of Western Society, 6th Ed.

External Links

Internet Medieval Sourcebook Project

The Orb

The Labyrinth