Facts about Middle Ages
The Middle Ages was the age of the Christian Church
whose influence pervaded the social, political, intellectual,
cultural and economic life. The period, however, also
witnessed the decline of the church's power and the rise of
another major world religion – Islam which had a major
impact on medieval Europe as well.
Middle Ages Definition, Subdivision and the Dark
Ages
The Middle Ages refers to the period in European history
between the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the
5th century and the revival of the classical culture at the
end of the 15th century.
It is traditionally subdivided into the Early Middle Ages
(the period from the 5th to the end of the 10th century),
the High Middle Ages (from the 11th to the end of the
13th century) and the Late Middle Ages (from the early
14th century to the end of the 15th century).
The Dark Ages is usually used for the period between 5th
and late 8th century and refers to the lack of historical
sources for the period rather than describing the situation
in Europe after the fall of the Western Roman Empire.
The Age of the Christian Church
Collaboration of the church with the secular authorities
resulted in the formation of Christianity-based culture as
well as the rise of power of the church which reached its
height during the High Middle Ages.
Christianity pervaded every aspect of life in the Middle
Ages including political, social, cultural, intellectual and
even economic.
The church’s attempt to establish its temporal rule over
the entire Christian world led to a bitter conflict between
the church and state.
The church permanently lost its power to the secular
rulers by the end of the Middle Ages, while immorality
and corruption of the clergy led to loss of its moral
authority and revolution within the Roman Catholic
Church – the Reformation.
Barbarization of Europe
The Migration Period that marked the Early Middle Ages
resulted in barbarization of Europe.
The new settlers were culturally, intellectually and
economically backward in compare to the Roman society.
Disintegration of the Western Roman Empire was
followed by the rise of numerous smaller barbarian
kingdoms which were politically unstable and short-lived.
The Carolingian Empire established itself as the leading
power in western Europe during the reign of
Charlemagne (ruled 768-814) who extended his rule over
most of Western and Central Europe, and northern Italy.
He also initiated the cultural and intellectual revival that
came to be known as the Carolingian Renaissance.
In the late 9th century, Charlemagne’s vast empire
permanently disintegrated into two realms – the Realm of
the West Franks (West Francia) and the Realm of the East
Franks (East Francia) evolving into the Kingdom of France
and the Holy Roman Empire, respectively, by the end of
the Early Middle Ages.
England was invaded by the Anglo-Saxons
withdrawal of the Romans in the early 5th century.
after
The Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in England, known as the
Heptarchy were unified under the rule of Wessex by the
end of the Early Middle Ages but the House of Wessex
was unable to withstand the increased Viking pressure.
The entire England was ruled by the Danes from 1013 to
1042 when the Anglo-Saxon House of Wessex was
restored to the throne.
The Anglo-Saxon rule in England finally collapsed in 1066
when the last Anglo-Saxon king, Harold Godwinson was
defeated by William the Conqueror who was a descendant
of Rollo, the first Viking ruler of Normandy.
Rise of Islam
The Middle Ages saw the rise of another major world
religion – Islam which had spread throughout the Middle
East, North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula to the
Pyrenees by the mid-8th century.
The Muslim conquests in Western Europe were halted
after the Muslim defeat against the Franks led by Charles
Martel at the Battle of Tours in 732, however, the Muslim
pressure on the Byzantine Empire continued and became
the immediate cause of the Crusades.
The military expeditions by the Western Christianity to
the Holy Land started after the Byzantine Emperor
Alexios I Comnenos (ruled 1081-1118) appealed to Pope
Urban II for military assistance against the Seljuk Turks.
All European territorial gains in the Middle East were lost
by 1291 but the Crusades brought Europe in contact to the
highly advanced Islamic culture.
The Crusades transferred much knowledge from the
Islamic to the Western world including many works of
classical authors which have been lost in Europe.
Feudalism and Manorialism
Feudalism and manorialism became the predominant
social-political organization by the end of the Early
Middle Ages.
Both landholding concepts were closely connected but
they are two distinct systems.
Feudalism that resulted in the formation of the so-called
feudal society was in the first place political and military
system.
The nobles held land as a fief, a landholding system
according to which they were obliged to provide military
assistance to their lord.
In an ideal feudal society, all land was owned by the king
and the nobles held land directly from the king. However,
the recipients of fiefs called the vassals could further grant
a part of their fief to another noble who then became their
vassal.
This led to a complex system of personal alliances within
the class of nobility in which everyone was someone’s
vassal.
Manorialism had no connection with fiefs in military or
political aspect and regulated the relationship between the
peasants and their landlords.
According to the manorial system, the peasants held land
directly from their landlord in return for dues in kind,
labor or money.
Christian-Oriented Art, Architecture, Literature
and Scholarship
Architecture was the dominant art form throughout the
Middle Ages, while all major architectural works with the
exception of castles and few civic buildings were
commissioned by the church.
Large Romanesque and later Gothic cathedrals represent
the height of medieval architecture in Western Europe,
while the Orthodox states in southeastern and eastern
Europe were influenced by the Byzantine architectural
style.
Decorative and fine arts were dominated by religious
themes the entire Middle Ages.
Religious works were the dominant form of medieval
literature which was written in Latin.
Medieval secular literature reveals a major influence of
Christian values but the German and Old Norse epic
poems, lyric poetry of the troubadours that primarily dealt
with courtly love and chivalry, and the Middle English
literature also reflect pre-Christian and/or Arab influence.
Medieval scholarship was completely dominated by the
church.
Education and literacy became available to a wider class of
people after the emergence of universities in the 11th
century but medieval scholars remained primarily
interested in theological matters and tried to fuse faith and
reason (scholasticism).
Agriculture-Based Economy and Guilds
Medieval economy was based on agriculture and
possession of land was the primary source of wealth and
power.
Estates were organized into self-sufficient economic units
producing food and manufacturing goods.
Non-agricultural activities were considered dishonorable
by nobility and thus the trade was taken over by the Jews
who were excluded from the feudal society.
The church preached against lending money at interests to
the Christians and the Jews took advantage of the lack of
competition in the financial and banking sectors after
being excluded from trade by the Italian city-states and
German merchants during the Crusades.
The rise of medieval cities and population growth during
the High Middle Ages was followed by the flow of people
into cities.
Craftsmen and merchants in the same business formed
guilds, a type of associations which set standards for
quality of their products, and worked to maintain the set
prices for their products and monopoly (on a local level)
within their business branch.
Strict Division into Social Classes
Medieval society was characterized by strict division into
social classes: nobility, clergy, serfs and later bourgeoisie.
Nobility held the land in exchange for military service to
the king or another noble.
Serfs who formed the majority of the medieval population
were on the bottom of the social hierarchy and were tied
to the land.
Clergy was virtually equal in social rank to nobility, while
the high church officials also acted as feudal lords.
Bourgeoisie consisted of merchants and businessmen
some of which gained great wealth but they were
excluded from the political life. They were ranked higher
than peasants but lower than nobility (therefore they came
to be known as the middle class).
None of the medieval social classes was a homogenous
group and there was a further hierarchy within every
class.
In addition to the four major social classes, there were also
people who did not fit into either class of medieval
society, most notably unskilled workers living in cities.
They were personally free but their living conditions were
no better than that of the serfs.
Other social groups that were excluded from medieval
social classes include the Jews, foreigners, seriously ill
people (serious illness was believed to be God’s
punishment for sin), outlaws and rare individuals who
held land in allod (a landholding system without any
obligations to anyone).
Emergence of Modern Nation-States
The Great Famine of 1315-1317, the Black Death peaking
in 1348 and the Hundred Years’ War (1337-1453) between
France and England resulted in the disintegration of the
feudal society and emergence of modern nation-states
under strong royal authority.
Both the kings of France and kings of England managed to
centralize their kingdoms under their authority, while the
French and English started to identify themselves on a
national level during the war.
Centuries long struggle of the Christian kingdoms of the
Iberian Peninsula against the Muslim Moors, known as
Reconquista was the key event in the formation of the
Spanish identity.
The formation of modern Spain was more complex than
that of France and England as the Spanish had to bring
back the entire Iberian Peninsula under the Christian rule
and to unify the Christian kingdoms.
This was achieved by Isabella I of Castile and her husband
Ferdinand II of Aragon (also known as the Catholic
Monarchs) who united Castile and Aragon through their
marriage in 1469 and conquered the last Muslim state in
the peninsula – the Emirate of Granada in 1492.
Beginning of the Age of Discovery
At the same time when the Christian kingdoms of the
Iberian Peninsula were bringing the peninsula back under
the Christian rule, a new Muslim power – the Ottoman
Turks arouse in the present-day Turkey.
With the conquest of Constantinople in 1453, the
Ottomans gave the final blow to the Byzantine Empire and
extended their rule over most of Southeastern Europe by
the end of the Middle Ages.
The fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks blocked
the traditional trade route between Europe and Asia.
European monarchs focused on finding an alternative
route to Asia which resulted in the discovery of America
by Christopher Columbus in 1492.
Source: http://www.worldhistoryonline.org/middle-ages-history/facts-about-middle-ages.html