Early Middle Ages

Some refer to the Middle Ages as the “Dark Ages”. I could not find this more wrong. I think that even though documentation of this area is void, doesn’t automatically mean that it was void of advancements too. Today, I will use three documents: a picture of Joan of Arc, a map of the major trade routes of Afroeurasia, and an excerpt from the Magna Carta. With these I will prove that the Middle Ages were not just a Dark Age in history.

The Middle Ages in Europe mark a roughly thousand year period of time, often thought as a dead period. However, it is far from that. The Middle Ages is rather a Golden Age because it made many advancements, withstood harsh conditions, and transmitted older civilizations’ ideas. This can be seen through both harsh documents and flourished documents.

11) What factors led to the dramatic population growth of Europe between 1500 and 1700?

The later Middle Ages is characterized as a time of great transition and advancement, especially pertaining to areas of politics, economics, art and intellect. A new trend towards the pursuit of new knowledge and ideas first emerged in fifteenth century Renaissance Italy. This new area of intellect marks the emergence of humanism, which essentially came to be the defining characteristic leading up to the Scientific Revolution in the eighteenth

Changing Population Size: The population size was quite big at the time, though it was still growing. The population growth is attributed to increased migration and other natural causes.

Throughout the Middle Ages, Europe had very different class systems and practices compared to present day Europe. For most countries the main focus was on the rich and powerful. Ancient Persia, Greece, and Rome were some of the most well known countries during the Middle Ages. There are many similarities and differences in the class systems of Ancient Rome, Greece, Persia, and Europe during the Middle Ages; including practices, beliefs, and everyday life.

The Anglo-Saxon refers to the settlers from the German regions of Angeln and Saxony, who made their way over to Britain after the fall of the Roman Empire around AD 410. Thus, paved the way to be known as the Anglo-Saxon Era. But I, the author of this essay, will simply discuss the Anglo-Saxon’s similarities and differences with the present modern time, specifically in three areas. And these areas would be gender roles, language and social conduct.

The Late Middle Ages were characterized by both periods of decline and periods of transition into the Renaissance. Therefore, if only viewed through some aspects, the overall quality of the Late Middle Ages can be interpreted in vastly different ways. When all events are taken into account, it is evident that even though there were periods of extreme decline and cultural deficiency, numerous events helped transition Europe into an age of discovery and innovation.

Thesis: The Middle Ages of Europe should not be known as the “Dark Ages” because it this period of time was the golden-age of education and wealth for the Anglo-Saxons, and there were clear laws as well as educated intellectuals throughout the continent.

Once long ago, there was a world in which an illogical amount of moil had to be done from all of mankind, from servants who were settled in the village, to peasants on the countryside nearby. Unfortunately, this was a reality for people who lived in a time period situated with the name of The Middle Ages. As these people lived within the lowest social class, their lives were filled with many mishaps. During this era of history, servants had a heavy load on their shoulders--many goods were to be crafted, while diligent peasants were off planting crops and doing such drudgery for their lord while being fed with the least costly foods, and there was a variety of fabrics and styles to be seen.

The period between 1300 and 1450 encompasses one of the most lamentable eras in European history – dominated by famine, war, plague, and death. During this period, the Roman Catholic Church was arguably the single most powerful institution, with Christianity being referred to as the “matrix of medieval life”. The Roman Catholic Church’s teachings and ceremonies underpinned beliefs surrounding morality, the meaning of life and the afterlife. Failure to follow the orthodoxy of the Catholic Church was deemed heretical, and resulted in the accused being subjected to an inquisition.

The Middle Ages or Medieval Ages is the time period in Europe between the fall of Rome and the beginning of the Renaissance (History). For this paper it will be referred to as the Middle Ages. This time is also sometimes described as the Dark Ages by some because of some of the bad events that happened and because they say nothing of importance came out of the time period. It is true Rome fell, there were many wars which caused many to die, a shortage of food that caused many to die and an awful sickness that caused many people to die. Despite The Great Famine, The Plague and the fall of Rome during the medieval time period, it should not be known as the dark ages due to the architecture, art, and both educational and the technological

Medieval universities were founded across Europe in the 12th century. Only men were allowed to attend, and were often members of religious orders working as clerics. These universities offered two curriculums, trivium and quadrivium, to their small student population. Trivium, the most popular, consisted of grammar, rhetoric, and logic. Quadrivium was composed of music, astronomy, geometry, and mathematics. Some students went on to study medicine, law, or theology after completing these curriculums.

The period between c.1000 and c. 1500, the so called Middle Ages, were a time of major developments in all aspects of life that laid the ground work for developments that occurred later in history. It was a transitory period in which the building blocks for later advancement were laid and new ideas emerged. The social, economic, political, religious and intellectual developments that occurred in this period of five hundred years clearly show that the Middle Ages were not a time of stagnation but a time of questioning and then deciding on what was the right answer for society.

Many of these advancements came in the form of the arts and theology as well as politics. The arts went retro so to speak and focused more on the humanity of its subject rather than a rough interpretation of what the artist saw. The subject of the art was given a sense of personality and realism. This had not been seen since Greek and Roman art so it was heavily inspired by these societies. Arts became vivid and celebrated and beautiful works of art started to arise and amazing artist such as Michelangelo and DiVinci. In medieval time's arts was primarily for cathedrals and other religious needs and the worked seemed to lack spirit but when the Renaissance began art became an expression of the world around it. Just looking at this art you can see the vivid differences and mood of the artist that created these masterpieces. The ability to think outside the box heavily influenced these artists and had they been alive in a feudalistic society many of these works would never have been created.