The Middle Age : An Overview Essay

Personally, when thinking of the middle Ages, I tend to have the misconception that it is a period of darkness with no progress. However, R.W. Southern’s book, ‘The Making of the Middle Ages’, offers an in depth study of the development of history in the world today. Observing that this book was published during the 1950s, Mr. Southern’s interpretation of the ‘Middle Ages’ was very distinctive in comparison to other historians of his time. He explores the significance of the Middle Ages as a separate sector in the study of history by which the audience will notice that previous categories of studied history is set aside, as we are no longer focusing on the usual ‘Classical Greece’ and ‘Rome’

In middle adulthood there are many changes that occur physically, psychologically, and socially as explained in the above passages. Yet, some say that this is the best time of their life, they experience enhanced self-confidence, great sex lives, career success, and enhanced brain functions. Middle age adults are better equipped to make better life choices and decisions and not worry so much about the negative parts of life. Their problem solving skills are greater which allows them to reason more creatively. They are able to enjoy sex freely without the worries of getting pregnant and they feel more confident with their partners. In general they are happier about life and look forward to enjoying the rest of their lives.

The area of greatest disagreement was the area of midlife crisis. “Levinson (1978) views midlife as a crisis, arguing that the middle-aged adult is suspended between the past and the future, trying to cope with this gap that threatens life’s continuity (Santrock, 2013 p. 512). This is particularly interesting because the female responded that she was experiencing a midlife crisis and the male did not. However, in this instance, the female is still in the workforce and the male is retired. The experiences that the female related closely resemble the conditions of the male during the time of Levinson’s study. In addition to still working, the female had recently changed her place of employment, and within the past five years lost both of her parents. While the male was retired and took care of the house and children, his stress level had been reduced as he became the primary care giver to this in-laws and their passing reduced his overall daily responsibilities. Both maintain close relationships with their siblings and frequently get together with them.

The world around us has many current issues that relate one way or another to family and consumer science. I recently read an article written by Joan R. McFadden and Kay T. Rawson Swan, entitled “Women During Midlife: Is It Transition or Crisis?”. The article talked about how women go through the different stages of menopause also known as mid-life crisis to some. With a mid-life crisis it is stated to involve a feeling of loneliness, a period of wanting to find one’s self in the world, a time to reinvent yourself, to live outside of a woman’s everyday life style, and to experience changes in health and family roles. For many women these statements are said to be true, but not all women are the same.

The Renaissance was the birth of a new time in the Middle Ages. The Renaissance marked a turning point in Middle Age politics by the building and developing of strong monarchs. These monarchs began reducing violence, establishing domestic order, and curbing unruly nobles.

The Medieval times were encompassed by years of both prosperity and conflict. During the first years of the Middle Ages, 8th century to 13th century, the Islamic Empire was at its peak, this time period was known as the Islamic Golden age. The Islamic empire didn’t have to worry about war or conflict, so it shifted its focus towards innovation, it flourished in various fields that included science, mathematics, astronomy, engineering, and medicine. This empire was home to one of the most influential surgeons and Physicians to ever live, Abulcasis Al- Zahrawi. He made huge breakthroughs in the medical field, which earned him the name “the father of modern medicine.” As the Golden age continued, innovations and breakthroughs didn’t seem to

The shift between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance was characterized by great socio-economic, political, and religious changes. Politically, the feudal system of the Middle Ages was exchanged for a more stable centralized republic/monarchy system that gave the people more freedom and input. Religiously, secularism became more important as stability gave people a chance to concern themselves with the “here and now” rather than simply the “hereafter.” Socially, there was a shift from dogma and unshakeable belief to humanism and the ability to interpret things for oneself. The Middle Ages began around 400 CE and lasted until 1400 CE while the Renaissance began around 1200 and continued until 1600. The 200 years that overlap between

The Christian religions rise to supremacy in the middle ages was the result of several factors. Christians had long been persecuted by the Roman Empire because the Romans felt that Christianity challenged and offended the Greco-Roman Gods and the Christians were prone to revolt against Roman rule. Christianity survived because it had many teachings that appealed to the downtrodden in Roman society, these teachings being that even though they were suffering they would gain equality and possibly superiority in the next life, Christianity gave them hope.

The Middle Ages have been notoriously described as the Dark Ages, where war was unceasing, disease ravaged populations, societal structures collapsed, and growth seemed nowhere to be found. However, this bleak outlook has discounted many of the advancements of this time period, which laid very important foundations to modern education and reason. The Middle Ages was a time of growth for society where universities were born, agricultural and population boomed, and foundations of reason and religion coexisted.

The Middle Ages was an era of invasions. It was a dark time in England and across Europe. Where Islam was taking over, the crusades had to take action against that and spread Christianity instead. Values and beliefs were driven from the church. On the other hand, Feudalism, which stands for “the power of the land” was taking over. All these incidents and more inspired the poets and writers to create literature that expressed what was happening in the Middle Ages. One of these productions was the “Song of Roland” it is one of the oldest epic poems that was written in France. In my view the following points taken from this magnificent poem, focus on the values of this era: church was spreading wrong conceptions against Islam in order to spread Christianity; rules and values in society were imposed by the church, when people where believers in god ; land owners are the most powerful in society, that lead to feudalism; one of the knights merits is complying to orders; noble knights fight alone when in need for help till the last breath; vicious sins like falsehood and betrayal are dammed by the kingdom.

The Middle Ages, often referred to as the Dark Ages, was regarded to be a time of despair, disease, and death. Just as the name the “Dark Ages” suggests, this period of European history seemed to be surrounded by darkness and hopelessness. Unfortunately, the majority of people only see this side of the Middle Ages when, in fact, the Middle Ages was a much more important era. Especially during the late Middle Ages, one can find a change in orthodox social structure, political instability mostly concerned with succession to the throne, and economic changes and how those changes went hand in hand with the change in society. After certain demographical changes and turning points such as the Hundred Years’ War, Europe began to transform

Aging is described as a sequential, irreversible, progressive, and non-pathological process of maturation in an organism and that translates to a gradual decline in the ability to perform activities optimally. Aging is an individual process that can be a period of stress for individuals especially following their retirement (Hiller & Barrow, 2015). The current study sought to understand the process and experience of aging from the perspective of elderly individuals. In discussing matters of aging and retirement, many assume that women are always eager to retire, and adjust well, as compared to their male counterparts (Bauger & Bongaardt, 2016). Many people assume that since women are generally made as homemakers, they are willing and happy to retire while men, whose nature is to be the main source of family income, find it hard to be out of work (Moody & Sasser, 2014). Indeed, there exists very little literature that sheds some light on this area, particularly on the attitudes of each gender towards retirement and process of aging. Given the significance of retirement to this life stage, the study sought to understand the emotions and views of individuals regarding their retirement through the lenses of (1) Physical health and wellbeing, (2) Friends, Family, and Community, (3) Work and leisure, (4) Finances and lifestyles, and (5) Living

This information in this paragraph talks about the life that the people in the middle ages live. They did not have the types of clothes that we have today. Now people for game they use electronic devices.Whatever the people ate it really depended on what was there level on the Feudalism Pyramid. Sometimes peasants did not have anything to eat because they were so poor and it was hard for them to afford food. In the other hand the people who were at the top of the pyramid also known as Royalty had a lot of food to eat. While the people at the top had good food like vegetables,wine,meat the people on the bottom did not have good food such as bread and sometimes water if they could find any for that one day.If people think about it it is like the book A long walk to water because in the Middle ages it was hard for them to get water just like in Africa.

There are many factors that led to the end of the medieval period and brought about the emergence of the Renaissance period, otherwise known as, “the age of rebirth.” Some of these factors would have a devastating impact on Europe, which we can still see to this very day. During the Medieval period, the feudal aristocracy and the Catholic Church emerged as the dominant political forces and were instrumental in imposing social and economic order on the people. Peasants were organized within the manorial system as serfs; the guild system dominated economic life and imposed its own wage, price, and production controls in the system. In religious life, the church reached its height of power and influence, not only the spiritual, but also the secular life of Europe. Europeans were feeling bold to launch an expansion of Western Christendom and sometime between the 11th and 13th centuries, this took place in the form of the Crusades in the Baltic border lands. However, the 14th century would be an era of multiple crises that would weaken and even destroy many of the medieval institutions of Europe that seemed the most durable, and in their place, pave the way for the development of modern Europe which we all see today. During the 11th and 13th centuries, Europe, organized strict feudal lines, finally experiencing the social and political organization necessary for successful agriculture and sufficient crop production. Since much of Europe had been forest and unsettled land after

The Middle Ages a period of three divisions in Western history. The Medieval period being at the center of the three divisions. A period which brought insecurities within the economic, judicial, social, and political spheres. Falling empires such as the Roman Empire increased the urge of society for protection, thus to also formed alliances in order for survival. One of the greatest and most dominant alliance among the empires became to be known as feudalism. The alliance in the feudal system organized the services and obligations; creating an amalgamation among the lower class peasants all the way to the upper class kings.