The
Middle Ages of
European history (adjectivial form:
medieval or
mediæval) is a period
of international history covering roughly a
millennium in the 5th century through 16th
centuries. It is commonly dated from the
fall of the Western Roman
Empire, and contrasted with a later
Early Modern Period; the time during
which the
Reformation and the
rise of
humanism in the
Italian Renaissance unfolded are
generally associated with the transition out of the Middle Ages,
with European overseas expansion as a succeeding process, but such
dates are approximate and based upon nuanced arguments.
More specific starting and ending points are sometimes adopted by
scholars to suit their respective specializations or current focus.
In particular, in British history, the Middle Ages are often
understood to start at the
Norman conquest of 1066 and
continue through to about the end of the 15th century (the era
between the fall of the Roman Empire and the Norman conquest is
referred to as the
Anglo-Saxon
period). "
Periodization
issues" are discussed in later section of this article.
The Middle Ages included the first sustained
urbanization of northern and western
Europe. Many modern European countries owe their
origins to events and trends in the Middle Ages; present European
political boundaries are, in many regards, the result of the
military and dynastic outcomes during this period.
Middle Ages in history
After the Middle Ages ended, subsequent generations imagined,
portrayed, and interpreted the Middle Ages in very 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's, which was again different from the 20th
century's, etc. 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 that), 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".
Filippo
Villani first mentioned a "middle period" between Antiquity and
his present when he observed in a treatise of 1382 that the islands
in the Mediterranean
Sea were called by different names in priscis
mediis modernisque temporibus ("primitive, middle, and modern
times"). 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 was not 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,
Croatian:
Sredni vijek,
French le moyen âge,
German das Mittelalter,
Polish średniowiecze,
Romanian ev mediu,
Russian Средние века,
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 seems to
be no simple reason why a particular language ended up with the
singular or the plural form. The term "medieval" (sometimes spelled
"mediaeval") was first contracted from the Latin
medium
ævum, or "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 périodes de l'historie
du capitalisme" in
Académie 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."
Periodization issues
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 the
modern
period.
The idea of such a periodization is
attributed to Flavio Biondo, an
Italian Renaissance humanist
historian.
Commonly seen periodizations specify a beginning between
ca. 400 CE and 476 (
the sackings
of Rome by the
Visigoths to the
deposing of
Romulus Augustus). An
end is even less clear; in fact, scholars assign different dates in
different parts of Europe. End dates range between ca. 1453
and 1517 (the
Fall of
Constantinople to the
Protestant Reformation begun with
Martin Luther's
Ninety-Five Theses).
Most
scholars who work in 15th century Italian history, for
instance, consider themselves Renaissance specialists, while anyone working
elsewhere in Europe during the early 15th century is considered a
medievalist. 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 the moveable type
printing press in Europe by Johann
Gutenberg (around 1455, independently of Asian innovations in
the field centuries earlier), the fall
of Muslim Spain or Christopher Columbus's voyage to
America (both 1492), the Protestant Reformation starting 1517,
or the Battle of
Lepanto 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 medieval world, and the Tudors a
new royal house and a new historical period. The Catholic Monarchs are generally deemed the
last medieval rulers of Spain.
Similar differences are now emerging in connection with the start
of the period. Traditionally, the Middle Ages are said to have
begun when the West Roman Empire formally ceased to exist in 476.
However, that date is not 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
Christianization 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,
Avars). 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.
In the
history of
Scandinavia, the Middle Ages followed
prehistory during the 11th century, as the rulers
converted to Christianity, and substantial written records
appeared. A similar shift from prehistory to the Middle Ages
occurred in Estonia and Latvia during the 13th century.
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-Westernization 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 favor, 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 reforms bought the
Empire time, but they demanded money. Roman power had been
maintained by its well-trained and equipped armies. These armies,
however, were a constant drain on the Empire's finances. As warfare
became more dependent on
heavy
cavalry, the infantry-based Roman military started to lose its
advantage against its rivals.
The defeat in 378 at the Battle of
Adrianople, at the hands of mounted Gothic lancers, destroyed
much of the Roman army and left the western empire undefended.
Without a strong army, the empire was forced to accommodate the
large numbers of
Germanic tribes
who sought refuge within its frontiers.
Known in traditional historiography collectively as the “barbarian
invasions”, the
Migration Period,
or the
Völkerwanderung ("wandering of the peoples"), this
migration was a complicated and gradual process. Some of these
"barbarian" tribes rejected the
classical culture of Rome, while
others admired and aspired to it. 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
Huns,
Bulgars,
Avars, and
Magyars all raided the Empire's territories
and terrorised its inhabitants. Later,
Slavic and Germanic peoples would settle the
lands previously taken by these tribes. The most famous invasion
culminated in the
sack of Rome by
the
Visigoths in 410, the first time in
almost 800 years that Rome had fallen to an enemy.
By the end of the 5th century, Roman institutions were crumbling.
Some early historians have given this period of
societal collapse the epithet of "
Dark Ages" because of the contrast to earlier
times. The last emperor of the west,
Romulus Augustulus, was deposed by the
barbarian king
Odoacer in 476. The
Eastern Roman Empire (conventionally
referred to as the "
Byzantine
Empire" after the fall of its western counterpart) had little
ability to assert control over the lost western territories. Even
though
Byzantine emperors
maintained a claim over the territory, and no "barbarian" king
dared to elevate himself to the position of Emperor of the west,
Byzantine control of most of the West could not be sustained; the
renovatio imperii ("imperial restoration", entailing
reconquest of the
Italian
peninsula and Mediterranean periphery) by
Justinian was the sole, and temporary,
exception. As Roman authority disappeared in the west, cities,
literacy, trading networks and urban infrastructure declined. Where
civic functions and infrastructure were maintained, it was mainly
by the Christian Church.
Augustine of
Hippo is an example of one
bishop who
became a capable civic administrator.
Early Middle Ages
Breakdown of Roman society
The breakdown of Roman society was dramatic. The patchwork of petty
rulers was incapable of supporting the depth of civic
infrastructure required to maintain libraries, public baths,
arenas, and major educational institutions. Any new building was on
a far smaller scale than before. The social effects of the fracture
of the Roman state were manifold. Cities and merchants lost the
economic benefits of safe conditions for trade and manufacture, and
intellectual development suffered from the loss of a unified
cultural and educational milieu of far-ranging connections. As it
became unsafe to travel or carry goods over any distance, there was
a collapse in trade and manufacture for export. The major
industries that depended on long-distance trade, such as
large-scale pottery manufacture, vanished almost overnight in
places like Britain.
Whereas sites like Tintagel in Cornwall (the extreme
southwest of modern day England) had managed to obtain supplies of
Mediterranean luxury goods well into the
6th century, this connection was now lost.
Between the 5th and 8th centuries, new peoples and powerful
individuals filled the political void left by Roman centralized
government. Germanic tribes established regional hegemonies within
the former boundaries of the Empire, creating divided,
decentralized kingdoms like those of the
Ostrogoths in
Italy, the
Visigoths in
Hispania, the
Franks and
Burgundians in
Gaul and
western
Germany, the
Angles and the
Saxons in
Britain, and the
Vandals in
North
Africa.
Roman landholders beyond the confines of
city walls were also vulnerable to extreme
changes, and they could not simply pack up their land and move
elsewhere. Some were dispossessed and fled to Byzantine regions;
others quickly pledged their allegiances to their new rulers. In
areas like Spain and Italy, this often meant little more than
acknowledging a new overlord, while Roman forms of law and religion
could be maintained. In other areas, where there was a greater
weight of population movement, it might be necessary to adopt new
modes of dress, language, and custom.
The
Muslim conquests of the 7th and 8th
centuries of the Persian
Empire, Roman Syria,
Roman Egypt, Roman North Africa,
Visigothic Spain,
Sicily and southern
Italy eroded the area of the Roman Empire and controlled
strategic areas of the Mediterranean Sea. By the end of the 8th century, the former
Western Roman Empire was decentralized and overwhelmingly
rural.
Church and monasticism
The
Catholic Church was the
major unifying cultural influence, preserving its selection from
Latin learning, maintaining the art of writing, and a centralized
administration through its network of
bishops. Some regions that were populated by
Catholics were conquered by
Arian rulers,
which provoked much tension between Arian kings and the Catholic
hierarchy.
Clovis I of the Franks is a
well-known example of a barbarian king who chose Catholic orthodoxy
over Arianism. His conversion marked a turning point for the
Frankish tribes of Gaul. Bishops were central to Middle Age society
due to the literacy they possessed. As a result, they often played
a significant role in governance. However, beyond the core areas of
Western Europe, there remained many peoples with little or no
contact with Christianity or with classical Roman culture. Martial
societies such as the
Avars and the
Vikings were still capable of causing major
disruption to the newly emerging societies of Western Europe.
The Early Middle Ages witnessed the rise of
monasticism within the west. Although the
impulse to withdraw from society to focus upon a spiritual life is
experienced by people of all cultures, the shape of European
monasticism was determined by traditions and ideas that originated
in the deserts of Egypt and Syria. 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.
Saint Benedict wrote the definitive
Rule for western monasticism during
the 6th century, detailing the administrative and spiritual
responsibilities of a community of monks led by an
abbot. The style of monasticism based upon the
Benedictine Rule spread widely rapidly across Europe, replacing
small clusters of cenobites. Monks and monasteries had a deep
effect upon the religious and political life of the Early Middle
Ages, in various cases acting as land trusts for powerful families,
centres of propaganda and royal support in newly conquered regions,
bases for mission, and proselytization. They were the main outposts
of education and literacy.
Carolingians
The coronation of Charlemagne depicted
in the 14th-century
Grandes Chroniques de France
A nucleus of power developed in a region of northern
Gaul and developed into kingdoms called
Austrasia and
Neustria.
These kingdoms were ruled for three centuries by a dynasty of kings
called the
Merovingians, after their
mythical founder
Merovech. The history of the Merovingian kingdoms
is one of family politics that frequently erupted into civil
warfare between the branches of the family. The legitimacy of the
Merovingian throne was granted by a reverence for the bloodline,
and, even after powerful members of the Austrasian court, the
mayors of the palace, took de
facto power during the 7th century, the Merovingians were kept as
ceremonial figureheads. The Merovingians engaged in trade with
northern Europe through
Baltic
trade routes known to historians as the
Northern Arc trade, and they are known to have minted
small-denomination silver pennies called
sceattae for circulation. Aspects of Merovingian
culture could be described as "Romanized", such as the high value
placed on
Roman coinage as a symbol
of rulership and the patronage of monasteries and
bishoprics. Some have hypothesized that the
Merovingians were in contact with Byzantium. 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.
The 7th century was a tumultuous period of
civil wars between Austrasia and Neustria. Such
warfare was exploited by the patriarch of a family line,
Pippin of Herstal, who curried favour with the
Merovingians and had himself installed in the office of Mayor of
the Palace at the service of the King. From this position of great
influence, Pippin accrued wealth and supporters. Later members of
his family line inherited the office, acting as advisors and
regents.
The dynasty took a new direction in 732,
when Charles Martel won the Battle of Tours, halting the advance of
Muslim armies across the Pyrenees.
The
Carolingian dynasty, as the
successors to Charles Martel are known, officially took the reins
of the kingdoms of Austrasia and Neustria in a coup of 753 led by
Pippin III. A contemporary chronicle
claims that Pippin sought, and gained, authority for this coup from
the Pope. 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.
The Imperial Coronation of Charlemagne on Christmas Day of 800 is
frequently regarded as a turning-point in medieval history, because
it filled a power vacancy that had existed since 476. It also marks
a change in Charlemagne's leadership, which assumed a more imperial
character and tackled difficult aspects of controlling a medieval
empire. He established a system of diplomats who possessed imperial
authority, the
missi, who in theory provided
access to imperial justice in the farthest corners of the empire.
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 is sometimes referred to as the
"Carolingian
Renaissance". This period witnessed an increase of
literacy, developments in the arts, architecture, and
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
medieval 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
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 recognized 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 was
not 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 recognized. 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 Germany and 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, to
sack Rome in 846 and to conquer
the islands of Corsica, Sardinia, and Sicily, and their pirates
raided the Mediterranean coasts, as did the Vikings. The
Christianization 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 development of a form of
stone architecture loosely based upon Roman forms and hence later
named
Romanesque. Where
available, Roman brick and stone buildings were recycled for their
materials. From the fairly tentative beginnings known as the
First Romanesque, the style
flourished and spread across Europe in a remarkably homogeneous
form. The features are massive stone walls, openings topped by
semi-circular arches, small windows, and, particularly in France,
arched stone vaults and arrows.
A medieval page presumably from a Book
of Hours dating from the early 1300's.
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
Kipchak and
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 is 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 11th 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
Ancient Greek and
Roman 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 is 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.
Changes
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. Cluny provided a popular solution to the
problem of bad monastic codes, and in the 11th century its abbots
were frequently called to participate in imperial politics as well
as reform monasteries in France and Italy.
St Francis of Assisi, depicted by
Bonaventura in 1235, brought about reform in the church
Monastic reform inspired change in the secular church, as well. The
ideals that it was based upon were brought to the papacy by
Pope Leo IX on his election in 1049,
providing the ideology of clerical independence that fuelled the
Investiture Controversy in
the late 11th century. The Investiture Controversy involved
Pope Gregory VII and
Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor,
who initially clashed over a specific bishop's appointment and
turned into a battle over the ideas of
investiture,
clerical marriage, and
simony. The Emperor, as a Christian ruler, saw the
protection of the Church as one of his great rights and
responsibilities. The Papacy, however, had begun insisting on its
independence from secular lords. The open warfare ended with Henry
IV's occupation of Rome in 1085 and the death of the Pope several
months later, but the issues themselves remained unresolved even
after the compromise of 1122 known as the
Concordat of Worms. The conflict
represents a significant stage in the creation of a papal monarchy
separate from
lay authorities. It also
had the permanent consequence of empowering German princes at the
expense of the German emperors.
The High Middle Ages was a period of great religious movements. The
Crusades, which have already been mentioned, have an undeniable
religious aspect. Monastic reform was similarly a religious
movement effected by monks and elites. Other groups sought to
participate in new forms of religious life. Landed elites financed
the construction of new parish churches in the European
countryside, which increased the Church's impact upon the daily
lives of peasants. Cathedral
canons
adopted monastic rules, groups of peasants and laypeople abandoned
their possessions to live like the
Apostles, and people formulated ideas about their
religion that were deemed heretical. Although the success of the
12th century papacy in fashioning a Church that progressively
affected the daily lives of everyday people cannot be denied, there
are still indicators that the tail could wag the dog. The new
religious groups called the
Waldensians
and the
Humiliati were condemned for their
refusal to accept a life of cloistered monasticism. In many
aspects, however, they were not very different from the
Franciscans and the
Dominicans, who were approved by the papacy
in the early 13th century (the Franciscan and the Dominancan friars
developed the
popular sermon). The
picture that modern historians of the religious life present is one
of great religious zeal welling up from the peasantry during the
High Middle Ages, with clerical elites striving, only sometimes
successfully, to understand and channel this power into familiar
paths.
Late Middle Ages
A bishop blesses victims of the Black
Death
The Late Middle Ages were a period initiated by calamities and
upheavals. During this time, agriculture was affected by a
climate change that has been documented by
climate historians, and was felt by contemporaries in the form of
periodic famines, including the
Great Famine of 1315-1317.
Medieval Britain was afflicted by 95 famines, and France suffered
the effects of 75 or more in the same period. The
Black Death, a disease that spread among the
populace like wildfire, killed as much as a third of the population
in the mid-14th century. In some regions, the toll was higher than
one half of the population. Towns were especially hard-hit because
of the crowded conditions. Large areas of land were left sparsely
inhabited, and in some places fields were left unworked. As a
consequence of the sudden decline in available labourers, the price
of wages rose as landlords sought to entice workers to their
fields. Workers also felt that they had a right to greater
earnings, and
popular uprisings
broke out across Europe. This period of stress, paradoxically,
witnessed creative social, economic, and technological responses
that laid the groundwork for further great changes in the Early
Modern Period. It was also a period when the Catholic Church was
increasingly divided against itself. During the time of the
Western Schism, the Church was led by
as many as three popes at one time. The divisiveness of the Church
undermined papal authority, and allowed the formation of national
churches.
State resurgence
The Late
Middle Ages also witnessed the rise of strong, royalty-based
nation-states, particularly the
Kingdom of England, the Kingdom of France, and the
Christian kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula (Aragon, Castile, Navarre, and Portugal).
The long conflicts of this time, such as the
Hundred Years' War fought between England
and France, actually strengthened royal control over the kingdoms,
even though they were extremely hard on the peasantry. Kings
profited from warfare by gaining land.
France shows clear signs of a growth in royal power during the 14th
century, from the active persecution of heretics and
lepers, expulsion of the
Jews,
and the dissolution of the
Knights
Templar. In all of these cases, undertaken by
Philip IV, the king confiscated land and
wealth from these minority groups. The conflict between Philip and
Pope Boniface VIII, a conflict
which began over Philip's unauthorized taxation of clergy, ended
with the violent death of Boniface and the installation of
Pope Clement V, a weak, French-controlled
pope, in
Avignon. This action
enhanced French prestige, at the expense of the papacy.
England, too, began the 14th century with warfare and expansion.
Edward I waged war against the Principality of Wales and the Kingdom of Scotland, with mixed success,
to assert what he considered his right to the entire island of
Great
Britain.
Both the
Kings of France and
the
Kings of England of
this period presided over effective states administered by literate
bureaucrats, and sought baronial consent for their decisions
through early versions of
parliamentary systems, called the
Estates General in France and
the
Parliament in England.
Towns and merchants allied with kings during the 15th century,
allowing the kings to distance themselves further from the
territorial lords. As a result of the power gained during the 14th
and 15th centuries, late medieval kings built truly sovereign
states, which were able to impose taxes, declare war, and create
and enforce laws, all by the will of the king. 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 is often viewed
as one of the most significant conflicts in the history of medieval
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 bishops 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.
File:Europein1328.png|Europe in 1328File:Europe
in 1430.PNG|Europe in the 1430sFile:Europe in 1470.png|Europe in
the 1470s
Religion
Gallery
File:Enluminure Drogon.jpg|An illuminated initial from the
Sacramentary of Drogon, c. 930File:H2_17.190.678.jpg|Medallion
of Christ from an Icon Frame, ca. 1100File:Autun St Lazare
Tympanon.jpg|The typanum of Christ in Majesty at Autun Cathedral,
12th century.File:Giotto - Scrovegni - -36- - Lamentation (The
Mourning of Christ).jpg|Lamentation, Giotto di Bondone, ca. 1305
See also
References
- John Burrow. A History of Histories. 2007. ISBN
978-0-7139-9337-0 - see p. 416 for Christoph (Keller)
Cellarius.
- The latter coined by Giovanni Andrea Bussi.
- Prudames, David. Lottery cash kicks off search for the real Bosworth
battlefield, 24 Hour Museum 20 January 2005.
- Henry Kamen. Spain 1469-1714. 2005. ISBN 0-582-78464-6
- p. 29.
- Although the missus dominicus makes appearances during
the second half of the 8th century, it is after 800 that they were
institutionalized.
- The Maygars of Hungary.
- The Destruction of Kiev.
- The Great Famine (1315-1317) and the Black Death
(1346-1351). Lynn Harry Nelson. The University of Kansas.
- Poor studies will always be with us. By James
Bartholomew. Telegraph. 2004-08-07.
- Famine. Encyclopædia Britannica.
- Black Death (epidemic). Encyclopædia
Britannica.
External links