The 3 phases of the Middle Ages (characteristics and most important events)

The Middle Ages is one of the longest periods in history and one of the most important in the history of Western civilization. The Middle Ages spans almost a thousand years, ten centuries in which many events occurred that marked the course of the West.

Contrary to what many believe, the Middle Ages was a very rich period in a cultural sense, a time that far from being plunged into absolute darkness, it developed culture, philosophy and, to a much lesser extent, science.

There are several the phases of the Middle Ages historians have agreed to divide it, and then we will find out which ones they are about.

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The main phases of the Middle Ages

When we speak of the Middle Ages we are referring to a period in the history of Europe that spans from the 5th to the 15th century. This period of almost a thousand years began with the fall of the Roman Empire around AD 476. C., while its end was reached during the fifteenth century, having several years proposed as the definitive date of the end of the Middle Ages: the invention from the printing press of Johannes Gutemberg (1440), the fall of the Byzantine Empire (1453) and the European discovery of America by Christopher Columbus (1492).

Whichever one is considered to mark the end of the European Middle Ages, all these events were coupled with two historical events that marked the last century of this period: the end of the Hundred Years War (1337-1453) and the popularization of the invention of Gutemberg. With the arrival of peace after a 116-year war and the mass manufacture of books, favoring the transmission of ideas more easily, a process of political, social and economic change began in the Old Continent.

The concept of the Middle Ages was created by the European humanists of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, who believed that the age in which they lived was a revival of Greco-Roman antiquity: the Renaissance. The thinkers of those centuries divided known history into three periods: the classical period, idealized and seen as perfect, the medieval period, the intermediate period and which they saw as dark and decadent, and the modern age, their time in which humanist and Renaissance ideas conquered the continent.

But despite the fact that he has been saying since the Renaissance that the Middle Ages was a period full of darkness and ignorance, the truth is that it is more of a myth. The truth is that, Although the Medieval Age was not splendid, there was a lot of cultural, philosophical and, although to a lesser extent, scientific activity. We have proof of this in medieval figures such as Tomás de Aquino, Guillermina de Bohemia, Ramon Llull and Guillermo de Ockham.

Traditionally the Middle Ages was divided into two major stages: the High Middle Ages and the Low Middle Ages. However, and given its great extension in time, it has recently been decided to introduce a new stage called the Early Middle Ages. Let's see in depth what are the most remarkable aspects of each stage.

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Early Middle Ages

Many historians claim that the transition between Classical Antiquity and the Middle Ages developed gradually and over an extended period of time. Thus, some experts consider that the last phase of Antiquity (Late Antiquity) and the first of the Middle Ages (Early Middle Ages) overlap, marking the end of Classical Greece and Rome to begin Christian Europe.

This first part of the Middle Ages began at the end of the 5th century, continuing until the 7th century. It was during these three centuries that the Germanic tribes, who until recently had been held in check by the Roman hosts, began to invade the territories of the Roman Empire, causing the Germanic and Latin cultures to establish contact and mix shyly.

With the passage of time and due to the pressures of the barbarian tribes, the Western Roman Empire disintegrates and its place is occupied by several barbarian kingdoms. In some areas of Europe purely Germanic kingdoms appeared, as is the case of the Saxon kingdoms, while in other places the Romano-Germanic ones appeared, such as the Visigothic Kingdom in the Iberian Peninsula.

It is in this Early Middle Ages that A new power appears on the continent, which recalls the power that the then already extinct Rome had: the Carolingian Empire. This state arose thanks to the fact that the Frankish king Pepin III controlled with the help of papal power the two great kingdoms existing at that time, which were under Merovingian hands. He inherited the throne from his son Charlemagne (800), who managed to unify much of the western part of the continent both culturally and politically.

However, while central Europe was ruled by Germanic forces, other regions began to fall to the invasion of non-European peoples. It is at this time that the great Muslim invasion took place, a period in which the Arab peoples, after expanding throughout North Africa, crossed the Mediterranean and conquered a large part of the Iberian Peninsula, the Italica and the Balkans. Islamic rule in Spain began in 711, lasting up to eight centuries and exerting great influence on local Christian cultures.

As far as culture is concerned, it is in the Early Middle Ages when monastic life arises, the majority artistic movement being the Romanesque. The monasteries achieved a monopoly on culture, sheltering within their walls classic books rescued from oblivion and the passage of time.. The monks were literate people, men of faith who, in addition to praying, also copied documents by hand, making sure to that many classical knowledge survived but that they guarded with great care, especially those suspected of being blasphemous.

It is at this stage that the Roman slave production system is abandoned to give way to feudalism, a system that would mark all of medieval Europe economically and socially.

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High Middle Ages

The High Middle Ages goes from the 9th to the 11th century. It is during those two centuries that feudalism is definitively implanted in society, a system that was characterized by the work of the serfs of the gleba, peasants who lived on the lands of feudal lords. These serfs were not slaves, although they and their descendants could not leave the lands where they were born, but they had the right to exploit their lord's property in exchange for paying tribute.

Politically, the High Middle Ages stands out because power began to decentralize. Although some monarchs held a position of great power in their kingdoms, on many occasions they were forced to share their powers with great lords belonging to the nobility. Large states disintegrate, as was the case with the Carolingian Empire, leading to the creation of small kingdoms, principalities, and states that were highly fragmented internally.

These centuries are considered to be relatively prosperous. High medieval Europe enjoyed a great demographic increase thanks to improved crops and the new political and social organization. The field was more worked and better cared for, which is why the peasantry's diet improved and their Life expectancy grew, although moderately, going from about 30 years to between 35-45 depending on the zone.

At the end of the High Middle Ages occurred one of the most important events in western history: the Crusades (1095-1291). Throughout this period the Papacy even called up to nine military expeditions to fight the Muslims in the Eastern Mediterranean, who had occupied the holy city of Jerusalem and where the Holy Sepulcher of Jesus Christ was located. Volunteers from all parts of Europe joined these campaigns, motivated by their faith and wanting to achieve glory.

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Middle Ages

The late Middle Ages is the last medieval phase. It began in the early 12th century and ended throughout the 15th century, either with the invention of the Gutemberg printing press (1440), the fall of the Byzantine Empire (1453) or the discovery of America (1492). Whatever particular event is preferred to indicate the end of the Middle Ages, all of them represented a great change in the mentality and knowledge of the time, ending the thought itself medieval.

During the Early and High Middle Ages, the field was socially and economically the most important. Nevertheless, From the 12th century on, cities resurfaced, becoming places where new economic activities were carried out, including the unions (p. g., crafts) and commerce. This will bring about the emergence of a new social class, the bourgeoisie, and will also start the slow decline of the feudal system to give way to an economic system that we might well call as proto-capitalist.

Another of the events that marked this last period of the Middle Ages was the Black Death pandemic, with peaks of highest incidence between 1347 and 1353. According to experts, the appearance of this infectious disease killed between 25 and 50 million people in Europe, a disaster of titanic proportions if we take into account that at that time the Old Continent had barely 80 million persons. After the pandemic, the European population was reduced to about 30 million.

But added to the demographic disaster of the pandemic, the climatic changes that occurred in the Middle Ages produced very poor harvests which caused it to break out. a strong crisis at all levels in the 14th century.

At the beginning of the 15th century and with the crisis still present, the Hundred Years War (1337-1453) broke out in which France and England fought but, with the passage of time, they would cause almost all of Europe to declare war. The war ended with the French victory, a fundamental event for the strengthening of the nation and in which the peasant Joan of Arc participated.

The Catholic Church went through a severe crisis during this stage. The corruption that corroded his entire hierarchy, selling indulgences and committing all kinds of abuses, sins and vices were open secrets, which led to the emergence of currents that wanted to recover the most Christian values cigars. With the passage of time Protestantism, the Church of England and other similar ones would emerge, creeds that disobeyed Rome and that evidenced the loss of influence and power of the Pope.

Both the end of the Hundred Years War and the appearance of the Gutenberg printing press (1440), which is considered to have started at the end of the Middle Ages. With the arrival of peace, the continent began to prosper moderately and, added to the fact that the transmission of ideas had become much easier thanks to the printing of books was more efficient and faster a cultural revolution began that would give way to the next cultural-artistic period in the history of Europe: the Renaissance and the beginning of the Age Modern