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

These are the most important stages of the Middle Ages, and the events that made it evolve.

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 took place 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 developed culture, philosophy and, to a much lesser extent, science.

There are several phases of the Middle Ages that historians have agreed to divide it and below we will discover which ones they are.

The main phases of the Middle Ages

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

Whichever event is considered to mark the end of the European Middle Ages, all these events came together 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 Gutenberg's invention. With the arrival of peace after a 116-year war and the mass production 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 European humanists of the 14th and 15th centuries, who believed that the era 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 era, idealized and seen as perfect; the medieval era, the period in between and which they saw as dark and decadent; and the modern age, their time when humanist and Renaissance ideas conquered the continent.

But despite the fact that people have 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 reality is that, Although the Middle Ages were not splendorous, there was a lot of cultural, philosophical and, to a lesser extent, scientific activity.. Proof of this can be found in medieval figures such as Thomas Aquinas, William of Bohemia, Ramon Llull and William of Ockham.

Traditionally, the Middle Ages were divided into two great stages: the High Middle Ages and the Late Middle Ages. However, given its great extension in time, it has recently been decided to introduce a new stage called the Early Middle Ages. Let's take a closer look at the most outstanding aspects of each stage.

Early Middle Ages

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

This first part of the Middle Ages began at the end of the 5th century and lasted until the 7th century. It was during these three centuries that the Germanic tribes, which until recently had been kept at bay by the Roman armies, began to invade the territories of the Roman Empire, causing the Germanic and Latin cultures to establish contact and to mix timidly.

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

It was in this early Middle Ages that a new power appeared on the continent, reminiscent of the power of the then a new power appeared on the continent, reminiscent of the power of the then extinct Rome: the Carolingian Empire.. This state arose thanks to the Frankish king Pipino III who, with the help of the papal power, controlled the two great existing kingdoms of that time, which were under Merovingian hands. The throne was inherited by his son Charlemagne (800), who succeeded in unifying a large part of the western part of the continent both culturally and politically.

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

As far as culture is concerned, it was in the Early Middle Ages when monastic life arose, the main artistic movement being the Romanesque. The monasteries achieved the monopoly of culture, housing within its walls classical 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, ensuring that much classical knowledge survived but which they guarded with great care, especially those suspected of being blasphemous.

It is in this stage in which the system of Roman slave production is abandoned to give way to feudalism, system that would mark the whole medieval Europe in the economic and social.

High Middle Ages

The High Middle Ages go from the ninth century to the eleventh century. It is during these two centuries that feudalism is definitively implanted in society.This system was characterized by the work of serfs, 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 the properties of their lord in exchange for paying tribute.

Politically, the early Middle Ages were notable for the decentralization of power. Although some monarchs maintained 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. The great states disintegrated, as was the case of the Carolingian Empire, giving rise to the creation of small kingdoms, principalities and states that were very fragmented internally.

These centuries are considered to have been relatively prosperous. Early medieval Europe enjoyed a great demographic increase thanks to improved harvests and new political and social organization.. The countryside was better worked and better cared for, which is why the peasantry's diet improved and their life expectancy increased, albeit moderately, from about 30 years to between 35-45, depending on the area.

At the end of the High Middle Ages one of the most important events in Western history took place: the Crusades (1095-1291).. During this period, the Papacy summoned up to nine military expeditions to fight against the Muslims in the Eastern Mediterranean, who had occupied the holy city of Jerusalem and where the Holy Sepulcher of Jesus Christ was located. These campaigns were joined by volunteers from all parts of Europe, motivated by their faith and their desire for glory.

Late 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 printing press by Gutenberg (1440), the fall of the Byzantine Empire (1453) or the discovery of America (1492). Whichever specific event is preferred to indicate the end of the Middle Ages, all of them meant a great change in the mentality and knowledge of the time, putting an end to medieval thinking.

During the Early and High Middle Ages, the countryside was what socially and economically had the most weight. However, from the 12th century onwards, the cities resurged, becoming places where new economic activities were carried out, among them the guilds (guilds).including guilds (e.g., crafts) and trade. This will bring with it the emergence of a new social class, the bourgeoisie, and will also begin the slow decline of the feudal system to give way to an economic system that could be called proto-capitalist.

Another of the events that marked this last period of the Middle Ages was the black plague pandemicwith peaks in incidence between 1347 and 1353. According to experts, the appearance of this infectious disease caused the death of 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 people. After the pandemic, the European population was reduced to around 30 million.

But in addition to the demographic disaster of the pandemic, the climatic changes that occurred in the Middle Ages produced very poor harvests, which led to a severe crisis at all levels in Europe. 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 clashed but, with the passage of time, they would make almost all of Europe declare war on each other. 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 strong crisis during this period. The corruption that corroded its hierarchy, selling indulgences and committing all kinds of abuses, sins and vices were open secrets, which motivated the appearance of currents that wanted to recover the purest Christian values. With the passage of time, Protestantism, the Church of England and other similar creeds would emerge.These creeds disobeyed Rome and evidenced the loss of influence and power of the Pope.

Both the end of the Hundred Years' War and the appearance of Gutenberg's printing press (1440) are considered to be the beginning of 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 more efficient and rapid printing of books, 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 Modern Age.