Everything about Medieval Europe totally explained
The
Middle Ages form the middle period in a traditional
schematic division of European history into three "ages": the
classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages and
Modern Times. The idea of such a periodisation is attributed to
Flavio Biondo, an
Italian Renaissance humanist historian.
The Middle Ages are commonly dated from the
fall of the Western Roman Empire (or by some scholars, before that) in the 5th century to the beginning of the
Early Modern Period in the 16th century, marked by the rise of
nation-states, the division of
Christianity in the
Reformation, the rise of
humanism in the
Italian Renaissance, and the beginnings of European overseas expansion which allowed for the
Columbian Exchange. There is some variation in the dating of the edges of these periods which is due mainly to differences in specialization and focus of individual scholars. Commonly seen periodization ranges span the years ca. 400–476 AD (
the sackings of Rome by the
Visigoths to the deposing of
Romulus Augustus) The Middle Ages are often referred to as the "
medieval period" (sometimes spelled "
mediaeval" or "
mediæval"), also from the Latin.
Historiography
Middle Ages in history
After the Middle Ages ended subsequent generations imagined, portrayed and interpreted the Middle Ages in different ways. Every century has created its own vision of the Middle Ages; the 16th century view of the Middle Ages was entirely different from the 19th century which was different from the 20th century view. The different perceptions of the Middle Ages remain with us today in the form of literature, art, revival styles of architecture, film and popular conception.
Terminology
Until the Renaissance (and for some time after) the standard scheme of history was to divide history into
six ages, inspired by the biblical six days of creation, or
four monarchies based on Daniel 2:40. The early
Renaissance historians, in their glorification of all things classical, declared two periods in history, that of Ancient times and that of the period referred to as the "
Dark Age". In the early 15th century it was believed history had evolved from the
Dark Age to a new period with its revival of things classical so some scholars, such as
Flavio Biondo, began to write about a middle period between the Ancient and Modern, which became known as the Middle Age. It wasn't until the late 17th century when German scholar
Christoph Cellarius' published
Universal History Divided into an Ancient, Medieval, and New Period that the
tripartite periodization scheme began to be used more systemically.
The plural form of the term, Middle
Ages, is used in
English,
Dutch,
Russian,
Bulgarian and
Icelandic while other
European languages use the singular form (
Italian medioevo,
French le moyen âge,
German das Mittelalter Spanish edad media). This difference originates in different Neo-Latin terms used for the Middle Ages before
media aetas became the standard term. Some were singular (
media aetas,
media antiquitas,
medium saeculum and
media tempestas), others plural (
media saecula and
media tempora). There seem to be no simple reason why a particular language ended up with the singular or the plural form. The term "mediaeval" (American: medieval) was first contracted from the Latin
medium ævum, or more precisely "middle epoch", by Enlightenment thinkers as a pejorative descriptor of the Middle Ages.
The common subdivision into
Early,
High and
Late Middle Ages came into use after World War I. It was caused by the works of
Henri Pirenne (in particular the article "Les periodes de l'historie du capitalism" in
Academie Royale de Belgique. Bulletin de la Classe des Lettres, 1914) and
Johan Huizinga (
The Autumn of the Middle Ages, 1919).
Dorothy Sayers, a noted scholar in medieval literature as well as a famous writer of detective books, strongly objected to the term. In the
foreword to her translation of
The Song of Roland, she writes "That new-washed world of clear sun and glittering colour, which we call the Middle Age (as though it were middle-aged), has perhaps a better right than the blown summer of the Renaissance to be called the Age of Re-Birth."
Periodisation issues
It is difficult to decide when the Middle Ages ended; in fact, scholars assign different dates in different parts of Europe. Most scholars who work in 15th century
Italian history, for instance, consider themselves
Renaissance, while anyone working elsewhere in Europe during the early 15th century is considered a mediaevalist. Others choose specific events, such as the
Turkish capture of Constantinople or the end of the Anglo-French
Hundred Years' War (both 1453), the invention of printing by
Johann Gutenberg (around 1455), the fall of Muslim
Spain or
Christopher Columbus's voyage to
America (both 1492), the
Protestant Reformation starting 1517, or the
Battle of Lepanto (1571) to mark the period's end. In England the change of monarchs which occurred on
22 August 1485 at the
Battle of Bosworth is often considered to mark the end of the period,
Richard III representing the old mediaeval world and the
Tudors, a new royal house and a new historical period.
Similar differences are now emerging in connection with the start of the period. Traditionally, the Middle Ages is said to have begun when the West Roman Empire formally ceased to exist in 476. However, that date isn't important in itself, since the West Roman Empire had been very weak for some time, while Roman culture was to survive at least in Italy for yet a few decades or more. Today, some date the beginning of the Middle Ages to the division and
Christianisation of the Roman Empire (4th century); others, like
Henri Pirenne, see the period to the rise of Islam (7th century) as "late Classical". Another argument for a late beginning to the Middle Ages was presented by
Peter Brown. Brown championed the idea of
Late Antiquity, a period that was culturally distinct from both the preceding Empire and from the rest of the Middle Ages. Brown’s argument rests less on the economic changes within the Mediterranean than on social and religious change within the Empire between 300 and 750. To Brown, the slow collapse of the Empire allowed a period of great creativity and expressiveness in which Christianity flourished and became institutionalized.
The Middle Ages in
Western Europe are often subdivided into three intervals. This includes an early period (sometimes called the "
Dark Ages", at least from the
fifth to
eighth centuries) of shifting polities, a relatively low level of economic activity and successful incursions by non-Christian peoples (
Slavs,
Arabs,
Scandinavians,
Magyars). The middle period (the
High Middle Ages) follows, a time of developed institutions of lordship and
vassalage,
castle-building and mounted warfare, and reviving urban and commercial life. The last span is a later period of growing royal power, the rise of commercial interests, and weakening customary ties of dependence, especially after the 14th century plague. They developed feudalsim.
Geographic issues
While the term "medieval period", often used synonymously with "Middle Ages", is usually used to describe a period of European history, some 20th century historians have described non-European countries as "medieval" when those countries show characteristics of "
feudal" organization. The pre-Westernisation period in the
history of Japan, and the pre-colonial period in developed parts of
sub-Saharan Africa, are also sometimes termed "medieval." These terms have fallen out of favour, as modern historians are reluctant to try to fit the history of other regions to the European model.
Origins: The later Roman Empire
The Roman empire reached its greatest territorial extent during the
2nd century. The following two centuries witnessed the slow decline of Roman control over its outlying territories. The Emperor
Diocletian split the empire into separately administered eastern and western halves in 285. The division between east and west was encouraged by Constantine, who refounded the city of
Byzantium as the new capital,
Constantinople, in 330.
Military expenses increased steadily during the
4th century, even as Rome’s neighbours became restless and increasingly powerful. Tribes who previously had contact with the Romans as trading partners, rivals, or mercenaries had sought entrance to the empire and access to its wealth throughout the 4th century. Diocletian’s reforms had created a strong governmental bureaucracy, reformed taxation, and strengthened the army. These changes bought the Empire time, but these reforms demanded money. Rome’s declining revenue left it dangerously dependent on tax revenue. Future setbacks forced Rome to pour ever more wealth into its armies, spreading the empire’s wealth thinly into its border regions. In periods of expansion, this wouldn't be a critical problem. The defeat in 378 at the
Battle of Adrianople, however, destroyed much of the Roman army, leaving the western empire undefended. Recent research and archaeology have also revealed complex cultures persisting throughout the period. Some of these "barbarian" tribes rejected the
classical culture of Rome, while others admired and aspired to it.
Theodoric the Great of the
Ostrogoths, as only one example, had been raised in Constantinople and considered himself an heir to its culture, employing erudite Roman ministers like
Cassiodorus. Other prominent tribal groups that migrated into Roman territory were the
Huns,
Bulgars,
Avars and
Magyars, along with a large number of
Germanic, and later
Slavic peoples. Some tribes settled in the empire’s territory with the approval of the Roman senate or emperor. In return for land to farm and, in some regions, the right to collect tax revenues for the state,
federated tribes provided military support to the empire. Other incursions were small-scale military invasions of tribal groups assembled to gather plunder. The most famous invasion culminated in the
sack of Rome by the
Visigoths in 410.
By the end of the
5th century, Roman institutions were crumbling. The last emperor of the west,
Romulus Augustulus, was deposed by the barbarian king
Odoacer in 476. The style of monasticism that focuses on community experience of the spiritual life, called
cenobitism, was pioneered by the saint
Pachomius in the 4th century. Monastic ideals spread from Egypt to western Europe in the 5th and 6th centuries through
hagiographical literature such as the Life of
Saint Anthony. However, the Merovingians also buried the dead of their elite families in grave mounds and traced their lineage to a mythical sea beast called the
Quinotaur.
Pippin's successful coup was reinforced with propaganda that portrayed the Merovingians as inept or cruel rulers and exalted the accomplishments of Charles Martel and circulated stories of the family's great piety. At the time of his death in 783, Pippin left his kingdoms in the hands of his two sons,
Charles and
Carloman. When Carloman died of natural causes, Charles blocked the succession of Carloman's minor son and installed himself as the king of the united Austrasia and Neustria. This Charles, known to his contemporaries as Charles the Great or
Charlemagne, embarked in 774 upon a program of systematic expansion that would unify a large portion of Europe. In the wars that lasted just beyond 800, he rewarded loyal allies with war booty and command over parcels of land. Much of the nobility of the High Middle Ages was to claim its roots in the Carolingian nobility that was generated during this period of expansion. He also sought to reform the Church in his domains, pushing for uniformity in
liturgy and material culture.
Carolingian Renaissance
Charlemagne's court in
Aachen was the centre of a cultural revival that's sometimes referred to as the "
Carolingian Renaissance". This period witnessed an increase of literacy, developments in the arts, architecture, jurisprudence, as well as liturgical and scriptural studies. The English monk
Alcuin was invited to Aachen, and brought with him the precise classical Latin education that was available in the monasteries of
Northumbria. The return of this Latin proficiency to the kingdom of the Franks is regarded as an important step in the development of mediaeval Latin. Charlemagne's chancery made use of a type of script currently known as
Carolingian minuscule, providing a common writing style that allowed for communication across most of Europe. After the decline of the Carolingian dynasty, the rise of the
Saxon Dynasty in Germany was accompanied by the
Ottonian Renaissance.
See also the careers of Charlemagne, Louis the Pious, and Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor.
Breakup of the Carolingian empire
While Charlemagne continued the Frankish tradition of dividing the
regnum (kingdom) between all his heirs (at least those of age), the assumption of the
imperium (imperial title) supplied a unifying force not available previously. Charlemagne was succeeded by his only legitimate son of adult age at his death,
Louis the Pious.
Louis's long reign of 26 years was marked by numerous divisions of the empire among his sons and, after 829, numerous civil wars between various alliances of father and sons against other sons in an effort to determine a just division by battle. The final division was made at
Crémieux in 838. The Emperor Louis recognised his eldest son
Lothair I as emperor and confirmed him in the
Regnum Italicum (Italy). He divided the rest of the empire between Lothair and
Charles the Bald, his youngest son, giving Lothair the opportunity to choose his half. He chose
East Francia, which comprised the empire on both banks of the Rhine and eastwards, leaving Charles
West Francia, which comprised the empire to the west of the Rhineland and the Alps.
Louis the German, the middle child, who had been rebellious to the last, was allowed to keep his subregnum of Bavaria under the suzerainty of his elder brother. The division wasn't undisputed.
Pepin II of Aquitaine, the emperor's grandson, rebelled in a contest for Aquitaine while Louis the German tried to annex all of East Francia. In two final campaigns, the emperor defeated both his rebellious descendants and vindicated the division of Crémieux before dying in 840.
A three-year civil war followed his death. At the end of the conflict, Louis the German was in control of East Francia and Lothair was confined to Italy. By the
Treaty of Verdun (843), a kingdom of
Middle Francia was created for Lothair in the Low Countries and Burgundy and his imperial title was recognised. East Francia would eventually morph into the
Kingdom of Germany and West Francia into the
Kingdom of France, around both of which the history of Western Europe can largely be described as a contest for control of the middle kingdom. Charlemagne's grandsons and great-grandsons divided their kingdoms between their sons until all of the various
regna and the imperial title fell into the hands of
Charles the Fat by 884. He was deposed in 887 and died in 888, to be replaced in all his kingdoms but two (Lotharingia and East Francia) by non-Carolingian "petty kings." The Carolingian Empire was destroyed, though the imperial tradition would eventually give rise to the
Holy Roman Empire in 962.
The breakup of the Carolingian Empire was accompanied by the invasions, migrations, and raids of external foes as not seen since the
Migration Period. The Atlantic and northern shores were harassed by the
Vikings, who forced Charles the Bald to issue the
Edict of Pistres against them and who
besieged Paris in 885–886. The eastern frontiers, especially Italy, were under constant
Magyar assault until their great defeat at the
Battle of the Lechfeld in 955. The
Saracens also managed to establish bases at
Garigliano and
Fraxinetum and to conquer the islands of
Corsica,
Sardinia, and
Sicily, and their
pirates raided the Mediterranean coasts, as did the Vikings. The Christianisation of the pagan Vikings provided an end to that threat.
Art and architecture
Few large stone buildings were attempted between the Constantinian basilicas of the 4th century, and the 8th century. At this time the establishment of churches and monasteries, and a comparative political stability brought about the developedment of a form of stone architecture loosely based upon Roman forms and hence later named
Romanesque. Where available, Roman brick and stone buildings were heavily robbed for their materials. From the fairly tentative beginnings known as the
First Romanesque, the style flourished and spread across Europe in a remarkably homogenous form. The features are massive stone walls, openings topped by semi-circular arches, small windows and, particularly in France, arched stone vaults.
In the decorative arts, Celtic and Germanic barbarian forms were absorbed into Christian art, although the central impulse remained Roman and Byzantine. High quality jewellery and religious imagery were produced throughout Western Europe,
Charlemagne and other monarchs provided patronage for religious artworks such as
reliquaries and books. Some of the principal artworks of the age were the fabulous
Illuminated manuscripts produced by monks on
vellum, using gold, silver and precious pigments to illustrate biblical narratives. Early examples include the
Book of Kells and many Carolingian and Ottonian Frankish manuscripts.
High Middle Ages
The High Middle Ages were characterized by the urbanization of Europe, military expansion, and intellectual revival that historians identify between the
11th century and the end of the
13th century. This revival was aided by the conversion of the raiding
Scandinavians and
Magyars to Christianity, as well as the assertion of power by
castellans to fill the power vacuum left by the Carolingian decline. The High Middle Ages saw an
explosion in population. This population flowed into towns, sought conquests abroad, or cleared land for cultivation. The cities of antiquity had been clustered around the Mediterranean. By 1200 the growing urban centres were in the centre of the continent, connected by roads or rivers. By the end of this period
Paris might have had as many as 200,000 inhabitants. In central and northern Italy and in
Flanders the rise of towns that were self-governing to some degree within their territories stimulated the economy and created an environment for new types of religious and trade associations. Trading cities on the shores of the Baltic entered into agreements known as the
Hanseatic League, and
Italian city-states such as
Venice,
Genoa, and
Pisa expanded their trade throughout the Mediterranean. This period marks a formative one in the history of the western state as we know it, for kings in France, England, and Spain consolidated their power during this time period, setting up lasting institutions to help them govern. The
Papacy, which had long since created an ideology of independence from the
secular kings, first asserted its claims to temporal authority over the entire Christian world. The entity that historians call the
Papal Monarchy reached its apogee in the early 13th century under the pontificate of
Innocent III.
Northern Crusades and the advance of Christian kingdoms and military orders into previously
pagan regions in the
Baltic and
Finnic northeast brought the forced assimilation of numerous native peoples to the European entity. With the brief exception of the
Mongol invasions, major barbarian incursions ceased.
Crusades
The Crusades were armed pilgrimages intended to liberate
Jerusalem from Muslim control. Jerusalem was part of the Muslim possessions won during a rapid military expansion in the 7th century through the Near East, Northern Africa, and Anatolia (in modern Turkey). The first Crusade was preached by Pope
Urban II at the
Council of Clermont in 1095 in response to a request from the
Byzantine emperor
Alexios I Komnenos for aid against further advancement. Urban promised
indulgence to any Christian who took the Crusader vow and set off for Jerusalem. The resulting fervour that swept through Europe mobilized tens of thousands of people from all levels of society, and resulted in the capture of Jerusalem in 1099 as well as other regions. The movement found its primary support in the Franks; it's by no coincidence that the Arabs referred to Crusaders generically as "
Franj". Although they were minorities within this region, the Crusaders tried to consolidate their conquests, as a number of
Crusader states – the
Kingdom of Jerusalem, as well as the
County of Edessa, the
Principality of Antioch, and the
County of Tripoli (collectively
Outremer). During the 12th century and 13th century there were a series of conflicts between these states and surrounding Islamic ones. Crusades were essentially resupply missions for these embattled kingdoms. Military orders such as the
Knights Templar and the
Knights Hospitaller were formed to play an integral role in this support.
By the end of the Middle Ages the Christian Crusaders had captured all the Islamic territories in modern
Spain,
Portugal and Southern
Italy. Meanwhile, Islamic counter attacks had retaken all the Crusader possessions on the Asian mainland, leaving a de facto boundary between Islam and western Christianity that continued until modern times.
Substantial areas of northern Europe also remained outside Christian influence until the
12th century or later; these areas also became
crusading venues during the expansionist High Middle Ages. Throughout this period the
Byzantine Empire was in decline, having peaked in influence during the High Middle Ages. Beginning with the
Battle of Manzikert in 1071, the empire underwent a cycle of decline and renewal, including the sacking of Constantinople by the
Fourth Crusade in 1204. Despite another short upswing following the recapture of Constantinople in 1261, the empire continued to deteriorate.
Science and technology
During the early Middle Ages and the
Islamic Golden Age,
Islamic philosophy,
science, and
technology were more advanced than in Western Europe. Islamic scholars both preserved and built upon earlier traditions and also added their own inventions and innovations. Islamic
al-Andalus passed much of this on to Europe (see
Islamic contributions to Medieval Europe). The replacement of
Roman numerals with the
decimal positional number system and the invention of
algebra allowed more advanced mathematics. Another consequence was that the Latin-speaking world regained access to lost classical literature and
philosophy.
Latin translations of the 12th century fed a passion for
Aristotelian philosophy and
Islamic science that's frequently referred to as the
Renaissance of the 12th century. Meanwhile, trade grew throughout Europe as the dangers of travel were reduced, and steady economic growth resumed. Cathedral schools and monasteries ceased to be the sole sources of education in the 11th century when
universities were established in major European cities. Literacy became available to a wider class of people, and there were major advances in
art,
sculpture,
music and
architecture. Large
cathedrals were built across
Europe, first in the
Romanesque, and later in the more decorative
Gothic style.
During the 12th and 13th century in Europe there was a radical change in the rate of new inventions, innovations in the ways of managing traditional means of production, and economic growth. The period saw major
technological advances, including the invention of
cannon,
spectacles, and
artesian wells; and the cross-cultural introduction of
gunpowder,
silk, the
compass, and the
astrolabe from the east. There were also great improvements to
ships and the
clock. The latter advances made possible the dawn of the
Age of Exploration. At the same time huge numbers of Greek and Arabic works on medicine and the sciences were translated and distributed throughout Europe. Aristotle especially became very important, his rational and logical approach to knowledge influencing the scholars at the newly forming
universities which were absorbing and disseminating the new knowledge during the 12th Century Renaissance.
Religious and social change
Monastic reform became an important issue during the 11th century, when elites began to worry that monks were not adhering to their Rules with the discipline that was required for a good religious life. During this time, it was believed that monks were performing a very practical task by sending their prayers to God and inducing Him to make the world a better place for the virtuous. The time invested in this activity would be wasted, however, if the monks were not virtuous. The monastery of
Cluny, founded in the
Mâcon in 909, was founded as part of a larger movement of monastic reform in response to this fear. It was a reformed monastery that quickly established a reputation for austerity and rigour. Cluny sought to maintain the high quality of spiritual life by electing its own abbot from within the cloister, and maintained an economic and political independence from local lords by placing itself under the protection of the Pope. Kings encouraged cohesion in their administration by appointing ministers with broad ambitions and a loyalty to the state.
By the last half of the 15th century, kings like
Henry VII of England and
Louis XI of France were able to rule without much baronial interference.
Hundred Years' War
The Hundred Years' War was a conflict between France and England, lasting 116 years from 1337 to 1453. It was fought primarily over claims by the English kings to the French throne and was punctuated by several brief and two lengthy periods of peace before it finally ended in the expulsion of the English from France, with the exception of the Calais Pale. Thus, the war was in fact a series of conflicts and is commonly divided into three or four phases: the Edwardian War (1337-1360), the Caroline War (1369-1389), the Lancastrian War (1415-1429), and the slow decline of English fortunes after the appearance of
Joan of Arc, (1429-1453). Though primarily a dynastic conflict, the war gave impetus to ideas of both French and English nationality. Militarily, it saw the introduction of new weapons and tactics, which eroded the older system of feudal armies dominated by heavy cavalry. The first standing armies in Western Europe since the time of the Western Roman Empire were introduced for the war, thus changing the role of the peasantry. For all this, as well as for its long duration, it's often viewed as one of the most significant conflicts in the history of mediaeval warfare.
Controversy within the Church
The troubled 14th century saw both the
Avignon Papacy of 1305–1378, also called the
Babylonian Captivity of the Papacy (a reference to the
Babylonian Captivity of the Jews), and the so-called
Western Schism that lasted from 1378–1418. The practice of granting papal
indulgences, fairly commonplace since the 11th century, was reformulated and explicitly monetized in the 14th century.
Indulgences came to be an important source of revenue for the Church, revenue that filtered through parish churches to bishoprics and then to the pope himself. This was viewed by many as a corruption of the Church. In the early years of the 15th century, after a century of turmoil, ecclesiastical officials convened in
Constance in 1417 to discuss a resolution to the Schism.
Traditionally, councils needed to be called by the Pope, and none of the contenders were willing to call a council and risk being unseated. The act of convening a council without papal approval was justified by the argument that the Church was represented by the whole population of the faithful. The council deposed the warring popes and elected
Martin V. The turmoil of the Church, and the perception that it was a corrupted institution, sapped the legitimacy of the papacy within Europe and fostered greater loyalty to regional or national churches.
Martin Luther published objections to the Church. Although his disenchantment had long been forming, the denunciation of the Church was precipitated by the arrival of preachers raising money to rebuild the
Basilica of Saint Peter in Rome. Luther might have been silenced by the Church, but the death of the Holy Roman Emperor
Maximilian I brought the imperial succession to the forefront of concern. Lutherans' split with the
Church in 1517, and the subsequent division of
Catholicism into
Lutheranism,
Calvinism, and
Anabaptism put a definitive end to the unified Church built during the Middle Ages.
Image:Europe-1328.png|Europe in 1328
Image:Europe 1430.PNG|Europe in the 1430s
Image:Europe in 1470.png|Europe in the 1470s
Religion
Gallery
Image:Enluminure Drogon.jpg|An illuminated initial from the Sacramentary of Drogon, c. 930
Image:H2_17.190.678.jpg|Medallion of Christ from an Icon Frame, ca. 1100
Image:Autun St Lazare Tympanon.jpg|The typanum of Christ in Majesty at Autun Cathedral, 12th century.
Image:Giotto.mourning.750pix.jpg|Lamentation, Giotto di Bondone, ca. 1305
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