Early Middle Ages Essay

High schools everywhere read Romeo and Juliet every year. It’s a part of our curriculum but should it be? The answer is no, it shouldn’t be. Teenages don’t want to read a story that was written over four hundred years ago and barely legible. Most kids like to read stories that they can relate to, not some unrealistic story about the fourteenth century. Also throughout the book there are sexual references that bring out the immaturity in people. The majority of people don’t find Romeo and Juliet interesting anymore, so why should we force them to read it?

The Middle Ages was an era that has been described with many different labels, which are all backed with various events. The period had both positive and negative cultural effects. This era brought many different achievements in the religious, political, literary, and architectural fields. Although many cultural advances were made, it did not come easily due to much conflict between countries and beliefs.

Many people cannot agree on whether the European Middle Ages were “Dark Ages” or an “Early Renaissance”. A Dark Age is a time during which a civilization undergoes a decline, while a Renaissance is a new period of growth or activity. Even though there is an equal amount of evidence for both the Dark Ages and the Early Renaissance, some pieces were more effective than others. The European Middle Ages were an Early Renaissance because citizens started to begin new lives as different roles, the feudal system was slowly being forgotten, and the Magna Carta was published.

The period of man’s history from 467 AD to 1000 AD is the most slandered. This period of time is known as the Early Middle Ages and is referred to as the Dark Ages by many religious followers. The term “Dark Ages” was coined by Petrarch, an Italian scholar, to call attention to the decline of Latin literature (Frater). Western Europe inhabitants who lived during the middle ages believed they were living at the end of time because the fall of the great civilizations of Greece and Rome. Living during this time was often difficult and short. Famine and war was very common. Despite these horrific things, there was also great progress at this time.

The transition from the Medieval period to the Early Modern period is marked by a few significant factors. These new discoveries were just the beginning of the potential of what the world would eventually become today. These events are the invention of the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg in 1450, the discovery of the New World in 1492 by Christopher Columbus, and the use and importance of gun powder. These new findings changed the way people lived and how they communicated with others.

The Middle Ages in Europe mark a roughly thousand year period of time, often thought as a dead period. However, it is far from that. The Middle Ages is rather a Golden Age because it made many advancements, withstood harsh conditions, and transmitted older civilizations’ ideas. This can be seen through both harsh documents and flourished documents.

The high Middle Ages brought a dynamic change in the creation of Europe. During that time there was a strong political and economic difference (distinction) between Western and Eastern Europe. In the West, there was the beginning of present day England and France and in the East there was the beginning of present day Italy and Germany. This divide because of reasons such as the advancement of commerce, religion and feudalism help explain why Italy and Germany, but not England and France were slow to unite politically after the Middle Ages.

Although the Middle Ages are mostly known as a dark period in Europe, progress was still made in the field of thinking. The rediscovery of Greek philosophy, the creation of universities, and crisis in the church directly led European societies to the Renaissance era, a time of rebirth.

Living in the medieval time period was not as glamorous as it is often portrayed; peasants and serfs led hard lives, however, kings, lords, and knights lived lavishly and at the expense of those under them. In this paper you will read about all of these lifestyles, as well as the castles in which these lords and kings lived in. Mainly castle designs, fortifications, and siege tactics will be revealed to you; yet there are several sections, dealing with the lifestyles of the above mentioned, leading up to that.

The Middle ages came after the fall of Rome, no single state or government united the people who lived on the European continent. Instead, the Catholic Church became the most powerful institution of the medieval period. Kings, queens and other leaders derived much of their power from their alliances with and protection of the Church. There were many different events that occurred during the middle ages that gave this time periods all of the different titles. The impacts on the middle ages were feudalism, dark ages, and most importantly faith.

The American Cyclopaedia uses the term “intellectual depression” to describe the history of ‘the Dark Ages’. Historians thought that this era was a time without education and had many deprivations but that was only in the beginning of that time. Historians

Alchemy (Early Chemistry) was another science closely related to medicine. Alchemy was the name given to this science in Latin Europe in the 12th century. It was a belief that the human body was closely related to the stars and the heavens. Over hundreds of years, the main goals of alchemists were to turn any metal into gold and discover an elixir which could cure all ills or lead to immortality. This magical elixir was called the philosopher’s stone. Alchemy was based on the belief that there are four basic elements – fire, earth, air and water – and three essentials – salt, sulfur and mercury. The metals gold, silver, copper, lead, iron, and tin were all known before the rise of alchemy. The liquid metal, mercury, and the burning rock, sulfur, were also known. Many processes with these elements were known to alchemists. The art of alchemy was heavily spiritual. Alchemists were the first to try out different ideas and experiment with different elements, but because of their intense metaphysical and spiritual beliefs, they didn’t develop modern day scientific methods.

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

Also called the middle ages, the medieval ages were influential in European history. It dates between the 5th and the 15th centuries of european history. The beginning of the period was marked by the collapse of Rome while its end was marked by the end of Renaissance. The Roman Empire’s fall bringing forth an idea of uniting Europe in what was called Christendom, this was based on the beliefs of the church. Features such as migration of people, invasions, population distribution, and deurbanization characterized this period. The medieval ages had three periods, which include the antiquity, the medieval periods, and the modern period, all of which exhibited different characteristics. The end of this period saw various challenges coming

The history of the modern world derives from thousands of years of human history. Embedded in its history are the many eras of man which have constructed our modern learning, art, beliefs, and order. The middle ages, although represented as “dark”, backwards, and idle, were in fact a bridge linking the classical and modern world. Medieval society may not have been in a sense glorious, but the era of itself was a prime foundation of the modern world’s newfound stability, a revival of the law and teachings from the classical era, a reinvestment and reform in the church, and a precursor to the golden age of art.