Middle Ages

Lore & Background

The Middle Ages began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire. Population decline, counterurbanisation, the collapse of centralised authority, invasions, and mass migrations of tribes had begun in late antiquity (c. ~3rd–8th centuries) and lasted into the Early Middle Ages (c. 5th–10th centuries). Large-scale movements of the Migration Period, including various Germanic peoples, formed new kingdoms in what remained of the Western Roman Empire. In the 7th century, North Africa and the Middle East—once part of the Byzantine Empire—came under the rule of the Umayyad Caliphate after conquest by Muhammad's successors. The still-sizeable Byzantine Empire, Rome's direct continuation, survived in the Eastern Mediterranean and remained a major power. The empire's law code, the Corpus Juris Civilis or 'Code of Justinian', was rediscovered in Northern Italy in the 11th century. Monasteries were founded as campaigns to Christianise the remaining pagans across Europe continued. The Franks, under the Carolingian dynasty, briefly established the Carolingian Empire during the later 8th and early 9th centuries. It covered much of Western Europe but later succumbed to the pressures of internal civil wars combined with external invasions: Vikings from the north, Magyars from the east, and Saracens from the south.

Reader's Guide

The Middle Ages are significant as the transitional period between classical antiquity and the modern era. During the High Middle Ages, which began after 1000, the population of Europe increased significantly as technological and agricultural innovations allowed trade to flourish and the Medieval Warm Period climate change allowed crop yields to increase. Manorialism and feudalism were two of the ways society was organised. This period also saw the collapse of the unified Christian church with the East–West Schism of 1054. The Crusades, first preached in 1095, were military attempts by Western European Christians to regain control of the Holy Land from Muslims. Kings became the heads of centralised nation-states, reducing crime and violence but making the ideal of a unified Christendom more distant. Intellectual life was marked by scholasticism and by the founding of universities. The theology of Thomas Aquinas, the paintings of Giotto, the poetry of Dante and Chaucer, the travels of Marco Polo, and the Gothic architecture of cathedrals such as Chartres are among the outstanding achievements. The Late Middle Ages was marked by difficulties including famine, plague, and war; between 1347 and 1350, the Black Death killed about a third of Europeans. Controversy, heresy, and the Western Schism within the Catholic Church paralleled interstate conflict, civil strife, and peasant revolts. Cultural and technological developments transformed European society, concluding the Late Middle Ages and beginning the early modern period. The most commonly given starting point for the Middle Ages is around 500, with the date of 476 first used by Bruni. For Europe as a whole, 1500 is often considered to be the end of the Middle Ages, but there is no universally agreed upon end date. Tripartite periodisation became standard after the 17th-century German historian Christoph Cellarius divided history into three periods: ancient, medieval, and modern.

Did You Know?

• The term 'Middle Ages' first appears in Latin in 1469 as media tempestas or 'middle season'.
• The East–West Schism of 1054 split the previously unified Christian church into Eastern and Western branches.
• Between 1347 and 1350, the Black Death killed about a third of Europeans.
• The tripartite periodisation of ancient, medieval, and modern became standard after the 17th-century German historian Christoph Cellarius.
• The Byzantine Empire's law code, the Corpus Juris Civilis or 'Code of Justinian', was rediscovered in Northern Italy in the 11th century.

From the Ashes of Rome: Origins of the Medieval World

The medieval era in Europe opened with the disintegration of Western Roman authority. Population decline, counterurbanisation, the collapse of centralised authority, invasions, and mass migrations of tribes had begun in late antiquity (c. ~3rd–8th centuries) and lasted into the Early Middle Ages (c. 5th–10th centuries). Germanic tribes swept across the remnants of the old empire, forming new kingdoms in what remained of the Western Roman Empire. By the seventh century, the Umayyad Caliphate had absorbed North Africa and the Middle East, regions that had once belonged to the Byzantine Empire. Yet the rupture with classical civilization was far from total. The still-sizeable Byzantine Empire, Rome's direct continuation, survived in the Eastern Mediterranean and remained a major power. Its law code, the Corpus Juris Civilis or 'Code of Justinian', was rediscovered in Northern Italy in the 11th century. In the West, most kingdoms incorporated the few extant Roman institutions. Monasteries were founded as campaigns to Christianise the remaining pagans across Europe continued. The Franks, under the Carolingian dynasty, briefly established the Carolingian Empire during the later 8th and early 9th centuries. It covered much of Western Europe but later succumbed to the pressures of internal civil wars combined with external invasions: Vikings from the north, Magyars from the east, and Saracens from the south.

The Architecture of Power: Feudalism, Manorialism, and the Crusades

After the year 1000, Europe entered a period of remarkable demographic and economic expansion. Technological and agricultural innovations allowed trade to flourish and the Medieval Warm Period climate change allowed crop yields to increase. This prosperity reshaped social organization around two interlocking systems. Manorialism, the organisation of peasants into villages that owed rent and labour services to the nobles, and feudalism, the political structure whereby knights and lower-status nobles owed military service to their overlords in return for the right to rent from lands and manors, were two of the ways society was organised in the High Middle Ages. The era also witnessed the collapse of the previously unified Christian church through the East–West Schism of 1054, a rupture that split Eastern and Western Christianity. In 1095, the Crusades were first preached, launching military campaigns by Western European Christians aimed at reclaiming the Holy Land from Muslim control. Meanwhile, kings consolidated power into centralised nation-states, reducing crime and violence but making the ideal of a unified Christendom more distant.

Scholasticism, Cathedrals, and the Flowering of the Mind

The intellectual and artistic life of the High and Late Middle Ages produced achievements that continue to define European cultural memory. At the heart of medieval thought stood scholasticism, a philosophy that emphasised joining faith to reason. This intellectual movement found its institutional home in the founding of universities, which became centers of learning across the continent. The theology of Thomas Aquinas remains a towering achievement of this scholastic tradition. In the visual and literary arts, the paintings of Giotto broke new ground, while the poetry of Dante and Chaucer gave lasting voice to the human experience. The travels of Marco Polo opened European minds to the vastness of the wider world. Perhaps no achievement captures the era's ambition more vividly than the Gothic architecture of great cathedrals such as Chartres, which stands among the outstanding accomplishments of the period toward the end of this period and into the Late Middle Ages.

Plague, Schism, and the Dying of an Age

The Late Middle Ages brought a cascade of catastrophes that shattered the social order built over the preceding centuries. Famine, plague, and war significantly diminished the population of Europe; between 1347 and 1350, the Black Death killed about a third of Europeans. The demographic and economic trauma of these calamities rippled through every level of society. Within the Catholic Church, controversy, heresy, and the Western Schism deepened divisions within the institution. On the political stage, interstate conflict, civil strife, and peasant revolts tore at the fabric of kingdoms across Europe. Yet even amid this turmoil, cultural and technological developments continued to transform the society. The medieval world did not simply end; it gradually shaded into the early modern period, a transitional phase sometimes called Early Modernity. The Renaissance, the Reformation, the European wars of religion, and the Age of Discovery collectively marked the passage from the medieval to the modern, closing a chapter that had spanned roughly a thousand years of European history.