Medieval Europe

First, one could say that the term "Dark Ages" is one applied to the time period from the Renaissance to the medieval period. Most contemporary scholars see the term as misleading at best. Instead,...

The main form of organization of medieval society was known as "feudalism." Within this system, people were divided into three "estates", the nobility, the clergy, and commoners. Society in this...

In medieval Europe, the Roman Catholic Church was the most powerful church, and its power was formidable and far-reaching. Church leaders controlled almost all aspects of medieval life, and the...

As others have mentioned, feudalism began as a response to the break up of the Roman empire. While the Romans were in charge, the vast expanse of the empire was one of the safest places in the...

In regard to medieval feudalism, trade and commercial endeavors were highly discouraged in order to maintain the status quo. Serfs were particularly confined to their fates, destined to work for...

The Crusades also opened a world unknown to most crusaders to that point. In many ways, the Middle East at that time was more developed than Europe. Medicine and architecture, for instance, were...

A knight began his training at a very early age, usually around seven years old. The first step in this training was to become a page. At this level, the young knight-in-training was to master...

The Cluny reform movement was a religious reform movement. It began in Cluny, France in 910. There were a variety of reasons for the decline of Western monasticism. Poverty, invasions, and the...

Pope Urban II launched the First Crusade in 1095 in order to rid the Holy Land of Seljuk Turk influence and claim it for Christendom. This was considered quite important in the Catholic Church; in...

Medieval Christians believed that all humans were tainted with the Original Sin: Adam and Eve's fall from God's grace. Salvation could be achieved by going through a three-part process: contrition,...

The impetus towards establishment of universities began in the Carolingian Renaissance. While Latin was the official language of the church, it was not the native language of the rising northern...

In Medieval England, education was really only something that the rich had access to because education had to be paid for and peasants were not able to afford the cost. In 1066, William I conquered...

Great question! Alfred the Great was really important to the development of English identity, and is often remembered as a great English king—even though he wasn't really a king of England, because...

The Dark Ages are also known as the Middle Ages; the term "Dark Ages" is seen as somewhat pejorative in that it implies a time of barbarity and intellectual darkness. The period extends from...

Of course, medieval times lasted for centuries. This means that there was some variation in urban environments over time. In addition, there were medieval cities in many different places. This,...

Historically, King John has one of the worst reputations of any medieval monarch. During his reign, England lost her lands in France, was heavily in debt and placed under Interdict by the pope....

The Crusades occurred between the eleventh and fourteenth centuries. There were religious, political, and economic reasons for them. But religious reasons were paramount. Crusaders had different...

The crusaders' motives were mixed. Many of them genuinely believed that they were doing God's work by wresting the Holy Land back from the Saracens. Others were less idealistic, seeing the crusades...

Europe, China, and the Middle East differed in a number of ways during the medieval period. Two important differences were in religion and governance. While Europe, China, and the Middle East...

Of course there were many things that characterized the Medieval Period. The two that might distinguish the period the most are the dominance of the Catholic Church and the institution of...

The Middle Ages in Europe was the timeframe from the 5th to the 15th centuries, also referred to as the Medieval period. During this era, there was a strict set of structural norms that dominated...

Saint Jerome (c. 340–420) and Saint Augustine (354–430) were born into a rapidly changing world. Emperor Constantine I (c. 280–337) had been the first Christian ruler of the Roman Empire, but the...

The medieval period is an extremely expansive length of time in European history (roughly 600–1500 CE), and farming techniques differed from century to century. Therefore, it is difficult to make...

No, the dark ages were not a period of time where there was no invention and no art. I agree with the above post that any new cultural movement is likely to refer to what came before as the dark...

In the early years of the 10th century, the Benedictine order and other branches of monasticism had become corrupted by political and social conditions such as encroachments by Viking raiders,...

It could be argued that the rise of Western Europe doesn't really begin until the Renaissance which is several hundred years after 1000 C.E. The emergence of Western Europe is directly tied to the...

During the middle ages, the Catholic Church began to become more and more involved in secular government. They began to play a large role, especially in organizing government participation in the...

During the Medieval Period in Europe, most countries (or kingdoms) functioned under a system of social stratification known as feudalism. The feudal system was favored because it was considered to...

With the late fifteenth century you'd be looking at Europe during the Renaissance and the Age of Exploration. In any case, there's an additional degree of difficulty when factoring in the sheer...

Medieval Europe was dominated by wars and conquests and the economy, predominantly agricultural, constantly suffered. Although historians struggle to define the beginning and end of the The Middle...

The Crusades were quite instrumental in changing Europe. As the Crusades ultimately failed in the ultimate goal—the taking of the Holy Land, many monarchs did not blindly follow Vatican orders....

The Middle Ages spanned a one-thousand year period, from 500 to 1500, and were a time of great change and upheaval. In terms of our social evolution, some of the most important concepts were born...

First, one must describe feudalism: this was a practice where nobles would give the king labor and military loyalty in return for land and favor. This was a very stratified society with the king...

The Marburg Colloquy took place at Marburg Castle in Marburg, Germany from October 1 to October 4, 529. Philip I of Hesse called the gathering together in hopes of uniting the factions of the...

In medieval times, the majority of schooling was provided through religious organizations, such as monasteries and convents, and all areas of higher education (colleges and universities) were...

In the Early Middle Ages, the Roman Empire conquered and moved across Europe, and this movement is considered to be the foundation of modern European civilization today. In 1066, the Norman...

The Church was one of the most important institutions in Medieval society. Its sphere of influence was not just religious; the Church also played a key role in society as a whole. First, the Church...

Spices, first encountered by Europeans during the Crusades, profoundly affected European cuisines. Prior to soldiers returning home from the Crusades with spices, European foods were bland and...

The "medieval" (pronounced "MED-E-VAL, not MIDevil or MEDevil) period, also frequently called the "middle ages," is typically defined as the years 500 AD to 1400 AD. The medieval period begins with...

The reasons the Roman Catholic Church was so important in the Middle Ages are both practical and spiritual. On a spiritual level, it was the established church of western Europe, and because of the...

Long before Shakespeare’s romances and tragedies, the people of Medieval England were enjoying a very different kind of performance. Historians call them “mystery plays,” but they are not the kinds...

During the Middle Ages, typically accepted to fall between 476 AD and 1453 AD, the Roman Catholic church in particular gained power, as it became highly organized and served to meet not only...

While medieval military technology spans a wide range of weaponry, some of the most well known and important devices include ranged weapons such as longbows, crossbows, and pole arms such as...