The 4 differences between the High Middle Ages and the Low Middle Ages

A summary to learn how to distinguish between the High Middle Ages and the Low Middle Ages

The Middle Ages is one of the longest periods in Western history, ranging from the 5th century AD to the mid-15th century and therefore lasting almost 1000 years.

It is for this reason that, given the length of this historical period, historians have divided it into two sub-periods with different economic, social and cultural characteristics: the High Middle Ages and the Late Middle Ages.

We will now take a closer look at what are the differences between the High Middle Ages and the Low Middle Ages..

High and Low Middle Ages: what are they?

The Middle Ages is a very long period in the history of Western civilization. It is during this stage of history that Europe is forming several cultures that, several centuries later, will determine the form and type of society of the states that can be found today in the Old Continent.

Historians consider that the Middle Ages began with the fall of the Roman Empire in 467 A.D., putting an end once and for all to Classical Antiquity, starring Rome, Greece and Greece.The Classical Antiquity, starring Rome, Greece and Egypt along with other civilizations such as the Carthaginians, came to an end once and for all. With the end of the classical world, the Middle Ages began, which can be divided into two sub-periods: the High Middle Ages and the Low Middle Ages.

The High Middle Ages began in the 5th century AD and lasted until the 11th century AD, while its successor, the Late Middle Ages, began in the 11th century AD and ended in the 15th century AD. These two historical periods have very different characteristicsWe will now take a closer look at the contexts in which they occurred.

High Middle Ages

The High Middle Ages is the sub-period of European history that spans from the fall of the Western Roman from the fall of the Western Roman Empire until about the year 1000 AD.The High Middle Ages is the time of an important economic and cultural revival in the Old World.

The main protagonist states during the High Middle Ages were three empires that "shared" the European territories, confronting each other in wars to take the other's lands: the Byzantine Empire, the Umayyad Caliphate and the Carolingian Empire.

The Roman Empire disintegrated due to multiple factors, although the main ones were the siegeThe Roman Empire disintegrated due to multiple factors, although the main ones were the siege of the Germanic peoples, the weakening and barbarization of the Roman army and multiple social revolts within the empire motivated by famines and the devaluation of the currency. Faced with this situation, the all-powerful Rome fell like a house of cards, fragmenting into several kingdoms, mostly Roman Catholic with a Roman-Germanic base.

This marked the beginning of the High Middle Ages, characterized by a period of great instability. Piracy was practiced, plundering by Slavs, Normans, Hungarians and Saracens was a daily occurrence and people did not feel safe in the cities, so they were abandoning them to take refuge in the countryside.

The differences between rich and poor were accentuated and feudalism appeared.. The richest lords could afford to own land, making others work for them in exchange for protection. These landowners were very powerful in their lands, acting almost like tyrants, and played a leading role in the decentralization of power in the newly created Christian kingdoms, something that contrasted with how they were governed in Ancient Rome.

The nobles gave land to their vassals through a synalagmatic contract, which obliged both parties to contribute with some service, such as giving protection to the vassal or benefiting the landowning lord economically and politically.

The Catholic Church began to acquire great power, which increased over the years. The high clergy is a highly privileged social group, sometimes more so than the nobility itself.. It is also a very cultured group, which will be the ones who will contribute and monopolize the cultural creation at the beginning of the Middle Ages, building monasteries, abbeys, churches and cathedrals and transforming them into centers of cultural production.

Late Middle Ages

The Late Middle Ages succeeded the High Middle Ages. This period spans from the beginning of the 11th century AD. until the Renaissance, well into the 15th century, with the discovery of America by Columbus in 1492.The discovery of America by Columbus in 1492, although the conquest of Constantinople by the Ottomans in 1453 has also been proposed as the end of this period. Feudalism continued to play an important role in the organization of society, and the Catholic Church exercised supreme power over Western Christendom.

During this period, new social classes new social classes arose, especially the bourgeoisie.. The bourgeois were not nobles, but people without privileges within medieval society but who, thanks to their professions being craftsmen, blacksmiths and others, worked for wages on their own, without serving any feudal lord and having a certain purchasing power.

Although there was no freedom of thought, little by little great scientific discoveries were made. Many disciplines, such as mathematics, history, astronomy and philosophy developed their bodies of knowledge, laying the foundations for the Renaissance at the end of the late Middle Ages. In addition, the first universities were founded, with nearly 50 being built throughout Europe between the 13th and 16th centuries.

Differences between the High and Low Middle Ages

Having seen a little of what these two sub-periods of the Middle Ages were like, let's see what the main differences between them are.

Political differences

During the High Middle Ages the figure of the king or emperor was that of a head of state with limited powers. The power of the monarchy was in the hands not only of the monarch, but also of the high nobility and the clergy who possessed lands in which they exercised an almost tyrannical power.

However, beyond the eleventh century and into the late Middle Ages, little by little the figure of the king is reinforced, positioning himself as the maximum ruler over all his territories and showing his power over nobility and clergy. and showing his power over the nobility and the clergy. As time went by, great monarchies were formed all over Europe, parliaments arose and various nobles, clergy and bourgeoisie claimed a greater right to self-government, obtaining privileges as a way of acquiring vassal rights.

As far as conflicts are concerned, in the early Middle Ages the main cause of war were the invasions of peoples such as the Slavs, Normans and such as the Slavs, Normans, Muslims and Germans, endangering the power of the new Christian monarchies or changing their ethnic composition.

On the other hand, during the Late Middle Ages, the main conflicts that can be observed are the ReconquestThe Iberian War, carried out by several Iberian kingdoms to "recover" the southern territories governed by the Umayyad Caliphate and its successors, as well as the Hundred Years' War.

Among the most important conflicts during the Late Middle Ages we can highlight the Reconquest carried out in the Iberian Peninsula in order to make the Christians recover the lands taken by the Muslims several centuries ago and the Hundred Years' War.

2. Economic differences

In the High Middle Ages, the economic base was in the rural world, based on agriculture and agriculture.The economic base was based on subsistence agriculture and livestock raising. To a lesser extent, some manufactures were manufactured. It was not possible to speak of trade as such, but rather of barter, since coins were rarely used.

The situation changed in the late Middle Ages. Although the economy continued to be mainly rural, little by little, the cities began to develop more and more, becoming new economic centers.. At the same time, there was an increase in agricultural and livestock production, thanks to the introduction of new cultivation techniques.

The improvements in the field implied an increase in production, which benefited the creation of a trade that was no longer only at a local level and carried out by means of barter, but over long distances. Now trade was a very lively activity, holding fairs to sell distant products and encouraging the creation of banking. As a result, currency gained prominence as a means of managing transactions.

3. Social differences

During the High Middle Ages, feudalism had a great importance as an organizing system of society.. During this period society was divided into several estates, among which two had privileges, the nobility and the clergy, while the rest were not so fortunate, being the group of peasants, artisans and serfs.

The nobles and the clergy had as their most outstanding right, besides many others, the right to own large tracts of land and to profit from them. They made the non-privileged classes, mainly the serfs of the glebe, work from sunrise to sunset. The nobles and clerics could be subject to vassal relations with other nobles and clerics, having to respect treaties by which their lord offered them protection in exchange for economic, political and military benefits.

Although feudalism remained the organizing system of late medieval society, it began to collapse after the eleventh century.. This is due to the emergence of the bourgeoisie as a non-privileged but wealthy class. By possessing important economic resources, they could exercise certain power within society, without the need to hold noble titles, although they were still below the nobles and clerics.

Due to improvements in agriculture and livestock, there was a demographic increase. This implied a change in the vassal relations and in the treatment of the serfs of the glebe, since the nobles could not have so many people in their lands. The serfs of the glebe were so because an ancestor of theirs had agreed with a landowner to work on his land in exchange for protection, an obligation from which they could never be freed unless the landowner renounced it, which happened at this time due to the lack of space.

4. Cultural differences

In the High Middle Ages, the Greco-Roman culture was still slightly in force.The Latin language, although it gradually deteriorated and gave rise to several cultures, all of them sharing the Romanesque artistic style. Latin begins to evolve, especially among the lower classes, who could neither read nor write, creating a transitional language between Classical Latin and the Romance languages: Medieval Latin.

The European continent was not culturally homogeneous during the early medieval period. In addition to Christians, both Catholic and Orthodox, there were Muslims living in the lands conquered by the Umayyad Caliphate. In the Iberian Peninsula the Muslims conquered most of their territory, creating Al-Andalus, which reached as far as the Cantabrian coast, the kingdom of Asturias being the last Christian stronghold in the peninsula.

Culture was monopolized by the clergy, who in their cathedrals, churches, abbeys and monasteries worked writing books in Latin, the liturgical language. Although the population continued to speak medieval Latin, it was heavily mixed with words from the languages of the Basques, Slavs, Celts, Muslims and other peoples who had invaded the Christian kingdoms. Although the Romance languages did not yet exist as such, they were being formed.

During the late Middle Ages the Christian kingdoms were gradually occupying the Muslim territories, "recovering" their lands and "recovering" their lands.They "recovered" their lands and expanded not only the Christian faith, but also their languages. Latin evolved so much that, from the 10th-11th centuries onwards, its speakers could no longer understand each other from kingdom to kingdom. It is during this period that Romance languages such as Castilian, Galician-Portuguese, Catalan, Navarrese-Aragonese, Asturleonese, Occitan, French and Italian are considered to have been born.

Although the clergy played an important role in the creation and transmission of culture, among the more secular classes, especially among the bourgeoisie, there was a greater interest in education. This is when the first universities began to be founded as new centers of education. and, although Latin continued to be the language of culture, there began to be a greater interest in the vernacular languages, both Romance and Germanic. In terms of art, the predominant style was Gothic.

Bibliographical references:

• Anderson, P. (1979). Transitions from Antiquity to Feudalism. Madrid: Siglo XXI. ISBN 84-323-0355-0.
• Duby, G. (1976). Warriors and Peasants. Early development of the European economy (500-1200). Trotta. ISBN 84-323-0229-5.
• Fourquin, G. (1977). Lordship and feudalism in the Middle Ages. Madrid: EDAF. ISBN 84-7166-347-3.
• Le Goff, J. (2007). The Middle Ages explained to young people. Barcelona: Paidos. ISBN 978-844-93-1988-4.