When were the Middle Ages?
Historians call the time between the ancient world and the modern world the Middle Ages or the medieval period. In Europe it runs from about 476 CE, when the last Western Roman emperor lost power, to about 1500.
- Early Middle Ages (c. 500–1000): new kingdoms, few towns, farming villages.
- High Middle Ages (c. 1000–1300): more people, trade and towns; big cathedrals; the crusades.
- Late Middle Ages (c. 1300–1500): famine, plague and wars, but also stronger kingdoms and new ideas.
Dates are rough guides. Change came slowly and differently in each region.
The early Middle Ages: migrations, Franks and Byzantium
From the 300s to the 500s, many peoples (often called Germanic peoples, such as Goths, Franks and Saxons) moved into the lands of the Western Roman Empire. The empire broke up into smaller kingdoms.
The Franks and Charlemagne
The Franks built the strongest kingdom in western Europe. Their king Clovis became Christian around 500. Later, Charlemagne united a large area and was crowned emperor by the Pope in 800. He supported schools and the copying of books. After his death the empire was split among his grandsons (Treaty of Verdun, 843).
The Byzantine Empire
In the east, the Roman Empire carried on as the Byzantine Empire, with its capital at Constantinople (today Istanbul). It had a strong emperor, Greek language, a written law code (the Code of Justinian) and the Orthodox Church. It built the great church of Hagia Sophia (537). It lasted until 1453. In 1054 the Christian Church split into the Catholic west and the Orthodox east.
Feudalism and the manor
With weak central government and frequent raids, people needed local protection. Feudalism was a system of land in return for loyalty and service.
- The king gave land (a fief) to great lords and bishops.
- Lords became the king's vassals: they swore loyalty and sent knights in war.
- Knights were trained soldiers on horseback who served a lord.
- Peasants farmed the land. Many were serfs: not slaves, but tied to the land; they could not leave without permission.
Life centred on the manor: the lord's estate with a big house or castle, a village, a church, a mill and open fields. Serfs worked the lord's fields some days a week and gave part of their crops; in return they got land of their own and protection.
Many people describe society as "three orders": those who pray (clergy), those who fight (nobles and knights) and those who work (peasants).
The Church, monks and the crusades
The Catholic Church, led by the Pope in Rome, was the most powerful institution in western Europe. It owned much land, collected a tax called the tithe (one tenth of produce), ran schools and hospitals, and set the calendar of festivals.
Monks and nuns lived in monasteries under strict rules, such as the Rule of Saint Benedict (c. 529): prayer, work and study. They copied books by hand and kept old learning alive.
The crusades (1096–1291) were a series of wars called by the Popes to control Jerusalem and nearby lands. They failed in the long run, but they increased contact and trade between Europe and the eastern Mediterranean world, bringing new goods and ideas.
Towns, kings and the late medieval crisis
Towns and trade
After about 1000, better ploughs and the three-field system grew more food, so the population rose. Trade revived, and towns grew. Craftsmen and merchants formed guilds, which set prices and trained apprentices. Some towns won charters of freedom from lords. Universities began, such as Bologna (1088), Paris and Oxford.
Stronger kingdoms
Kings slowly built stronger states with taxes, courts and paid armies. In England, the Magna Carta (1215) said the king too must follow the law; later, parliaments began to meet.
The crisis of the 1300s
- The Great Famine (1315–1317) after bad harvests.
- The Black Death (1347–1351), a plague that killed roughly one third of Europe's people.
- The Hundred Years' War between England and France (1337–1453).
With so few workers left, surviving peasants could demand higher wages, and serfdom weakened in the west. Peasant revolts broke out. Gunpowder made castles and knights less useful. The printing press (c. 1450) spread ideas fast. Together with the fall of Constantinople (1453), these changes opened the way to the Renaissance and the early modern age.
Key formulas and definitions
- Middle Ages: c. 476 – c. 1500 CE (Early 500–1000, High 1000–1300, Late 1300–1500)
- Fief: land given by a lord to a vassal in return for loyalty and service
- Vassal: a person who receives land and promises loyalty
- Serf: a peasant tied to the land of a manor
- Manor: a lord's estate with village, fields, mill and church
- Guild: an association of craftsmen or merchants in a town
- Tithe: one tenth of produce given to the Church
- Black Death: plague of 1347–1351 that killed about 1/3 of Europeans
Worked examples
1. Show the chain of cause and effect from the Black Death to the decline of serfdom.
Plague kills about 1/3 of people → fewer workers to farm → each worker is more valuable → peasants demand wages or move to other lords → lords cannot hold serfs as easily → serfdom weakens in western Europe.
2. A village had 300 people in 1340. If about one third died in the plague, about how many were left?
One third of 300 = 100. So about 300 − 100 = 200 people were left.
3. How many years did the Byzantine Empire last after the Western Roman Empire ended?
1453 − 476 = 977 years, nearly 1,000 years.
4. Give one way the crusades changed Europe even though they failed militarily.
They increased trade with the eastern Mediterranean. Goods like spices, silk and sugar became better known, which helped towns such as Venice and Genoa grow rich.
Common mistakes
- Calling the whole period the "Dark Ages". Learning continued in monasteries, Byzantium and, later, universities.
- Thinking serfs were slaves. Serfs could not be sold separately, had their own plots and some rights, but were tied to the land.
- Mixing up the Byzantine Empire with the Western Roman Empire. Byzantium was the eastern half that survived until 1453.
- Believing feudalism was the same everywhere. It differed from region to region and changed over time.