What are The Middle Ages?

What are The Middle Ages?

• 5th to the 15th Century• Fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 to the Fall of Constantinople in 1453• Feudalism (government by personal loyalty) distinct from the Roman Empire that defined antiquity and the rise of nation-states characteristic of Modernity.• The predominance of the Catholic Church.• (Debatable) cultural, economic and political backwardness.

What are The Middle Ages?

Die Kultur der Renaissance in ItalienJacob Burckhardt, 1860: A few generations of Italian intellectuals and artists had - through a truly cultural revolution - freed Europe from the stifling bonds of a society that was collectively oriented and in which every aspect of life on earth was focused on life after death.

Waning of the Middle AgesJohan Huizinga, 1919:Identified typically 'medieval' cultural expressions after the Middle Ages. Others argued that there was a Carolingian Renaissance and Twelfth Century Renaissance as well as the Italian Renaissance.

Why do we use the term? Who uses it for what purpose?

Why do we use the term? Who uses it for what purpose?

• European and Eurocentric.

• Used by late medieval scholars to differentiate themselves from their immediate past and herald the dawning of a new age of reason and prosperity. Eg. Francesco Petrarch (1304 - 1374)

What are the High Middle Ages?

What are the High Middle Ages?• 1000 - 1300

• Preceded by the Early Middle Ages or Dark Ages. Followed by the Late Middle Ages.

• Characterised by rapid population growth sustained by increased agricultural productivity. Checked in the 13th century by plague and war.

• The origins of Modern Nation-States.

• The Crusades.

Krak des Chevaliers

The Krak des Chevaliers is located in modern day Syria and

is regarded as one of the greatest of Crusader castles.

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- Built by Kurds in 1031- Taken by Crusaders in 1099- (Re)captured by the Mamluk sultan, Beibars, in 1271