Late Middle Ages Europe and Mediterranean region

Europe and the Mediterranean region, ca. 1328 Western/Central Europe      Holy Roman Empire      France      Gascony      Bohemia      Poland      Mazovia      Wallachia      Hungary      Lithuania Eastern Europe      Teutonic Order      Golden Horde      G. Horde Vassals      Genovese Prov. Italian peninsula      2 Sicilies (Sicily)      2 Sicilies (Naples)      Papal states      Sardinia      Venice      Genoa Iberian peninsula      Aragon      Majorca      Portugal      Castille      Navarre      Granada Scandinavia      Denmark      Iceland (Nor.)      Norway      Sweden British Isles      England and Wales      Ireland      Scotland Balkans/Middle East      Achaia      Athens Duchy      Byzantine Empire      Mameluke Empire      Serbia      Sm. Turkic states      Venetian Crete      St. John Knights      Bulgary      Cyprus      Ilkhan Empire      Georgia      Trebizond North Africa      Marinids      Zayyanids      Hafsids

The Late Middle Ages was the period of European history generally comprising the 14th to the 16th century (c. 1300–1500). The Late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern era (and, in much of Europe, the Renaissance).

Around 1300, centuries of prosperity and growth in Europe came to a halt. A series of famines and plagues, such as the Great Famine of 1315–1317 and the Black Death, reduced the population to around half of what it was before the calamities.^[1] Along with depopulation came social unrest and endemic warfare. France and England experienced serious peasant uprisings: the Jacquerie, the Peasants' Revolt, as well as over a century of intermittent conflict in the Hundred Years' War. To add to the many problems of the period, the unity of the Catholic Church was shattered by the Western Schism. Collectively these events are sometimes called the Crisis of the Late Middle Ages.^[2]

Despite these crises, the 14th century was also a time of great progress within the arts and sciences. Following a renewed interest in ancient Greek and Roman texts that took root in the High Middle Ages, the Italian Renaissance began. The absorption of Latin texts had started before the 12th Century Renaissance through contact with Arabs during the Crusades, but the availability of important Greek texts accelerated with the capture of Constantinople by the Ottoman Turks, when many Byzantine scholars had to seek refuge in the West, particularly Italy.^[3]

Combined with this influx of classical ideas was the invention of printing which facilitated dissemination of the printed word and democratized learning. These two things would later lead to the Protestant Reformation. Toward the end of the period, an era of discovery began (Age of Discovery). The growth of the Ottoman Empire, culminating in the Fall of Constantinople in 1453, eroded the last remnants of the Byzantine Empire and cut off trading possibilities with the east. Europeans were forced to discover new trading routes, as was the case with Columbus’s travel to the Americas in 1492, and Vasco da Gama’s circumnavigation of India and Africa in 1498. Their discoveries strengthened the economy and power of European nations.

The changes brought about by these developments have caused many scholars to see it as leading to the end of the Middle Ages, and the beginning of modern history and early modern Europe. However, the division will always be a somewhat artificial one for scholars, since ancient learning was never entirely absent from European society. As such there was developmental continuity between the ancient age (via classical antiquity) and the modern age. Some historians, particularly in Italy, prefer not to speak of the late Middle Ages at all, but rather see the high period of the Middle Ages transitioning to the Renaissance and the modern era.

Historiography and periodization[link]

The term "Late Middle Ages" refers to one of the three periods of the Middle Ages, the others being the Early Middle Ages and the High Middle Ages. Leonardo Bruni was the first historian to use tripartite periodization in his History of the Florentine People (1442).^[4] Flavio Biondo used a similar framework in Decades of History from the Deterioration of the Roman Empire (1439–1453). Tripartite periodization became standard after the German historian Christoph Cellarius published Universal History Divided into an Ancient, Medieval, and New Period (1683).

For 18th century historians studying the 14th and 15th centuries, the central theme was the Renaissance, with its rediscovery of ancient learning and the emergence of an individual spirit.^[5] The heart of this rediscovery lies in Italy, where, in the words of Jacob Burckhardt: "Man became a spiritual individual and recognized himself as such" (The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy, 1860).^[6] This proposition was later challenged, and it was argued that the 12th century was a period of greater cultural achievement.^[7]

As economic and demographic methods were applied to the study of history, the trend was increasingly to see the late Middle Ages as a period of recession and crisis. Belgian historian Henri Pirenne introduced the now common subdivision of Early, High and Late Middle Ages in the years around World War I.^[8] Yet it was his Dutch colleague Johan Huizinga who was primarily responsible for popularising the pessimistic view of the Late Middle Ages, with his book The Autumn of the Middle Ages (1919).^[9] To Huizinga, whose research focused on France and the Low Countries rather than Italy, despair and decline were the main themes, not rebirth.^[10]

Modern historiography on the period has reached a consensus between the two extremes of innovation and crisis.^[10] It is now (generally) acknowledged that conditions were vastly different north and south of the Alps, and "Late Middle Ages" is often avoided entirely within Italian historiography.^[11] The term "Renaissance" is still considered useful for describing certain intellectual, cultural or artistic developments, but not as the defining feature of an entire European historical epoch.^[12] The period from the early 14th century up until – sometimes including – the 16th century, is rather seen as characterised by other trends: demographic and economic decline followed by recovery, the end of western religious unity and the subsequent emergence of the nation state, and the expansion of European influence onto the rest of the world.^[12]

History[link]

The limits of Christian Europe were still being defined in the 14th and 15th centuries. While the Grand Duchy of Moscow was beginning to repel the Mongols, and the Iberian kingdoms completed the Reconquista of the peninsula and turned their attention outwards, the Balkans fell under the dominance of the Ottoman Empire.^[13] Meanwhile, the remaining nations of the continent were locked in almost constant international or internal conflict.^[14]

The situation gradually led to the consolidation of central authority, and the emergence of the nation state.^[15] The financial demands of war necessitated higher levels of taxation, resulting in the emergence of representative bodies – most notably the English Parliament.^[16] The growth of secular authority was further aided by the decline of the papacy with the Western Schism, and the coming of the Protestant Revolution.^[17]

Northern Europe[link]

Main articles: Denmark, Norway, Sweden

After the failed union of Sweden and Norway of 1319–1365, the pan-Scandinavian Kalmar Union was instituted in 1397.^[18] The Swedes were reluctant members of the Danish-dominated union from the start. In an attempt to subdue the Swedes, King Christian II of Denmark had large numbers of the Swedish aristocracy killed in the Stockholm Bloodbath of 1520. Yet this measure only led to further hostilities, and Sweden broke away for good in 1523.^[19] Norway, on the other hand, became an inferior party of the union, and remained united with Denmark until 1814.^[20]

Iceland benefited from its relative isolation, and was the only Scandinavian country not struck by the Black Death.^[21] Meanwhile, the Norwegian colony on Greenland died out, probably under extreme weather conditions in the 15th century.^[22] These conditions might have been the effect of the Little Ice Age.^[23]

British Isles[link]

The death of Alexander III of Scotland in 1286 threw the country into a succession crisis, and the English king, Edward I, was brought in to arbitrate. When Edward claimed overlordship over Scotland, this led to the Wars of Scottish Independence.^[24] The English were eventually defeated, and the Scots were able to develop a stronger state under the Stewarts.^[25]

From 1337, England's attention was largely directed towards France in the Hundred Years' War.^[26] Henry V’s victory at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415 briefly paved the way for a unification of the two kingdoms, but his son Henry VI soon squandered all previous gains.^[27] The loss of France led to discontent at home, and almost immediately upon the end of the war in 1453, followed the dynastic struggles of the Wars of the Roses (c. 1455–1485), involving the rival dynasties of Lancaster and York.^[28]

The war ended in the accession of Henry VII of the Tudor family, who could continue the work started by the Yorkist kings of building a strong, centralized monarchy.^[29] While England's attention was thus directed elsewhere, the Hiberno-Norman lords in Ireland were becoming gradually more assimilated into Irish society, and the island was allowed to develop virtual independence under English overlordship.^[30]

Western Europe[link]

Main articles: France, Burgundy, Burgundian Netherlands

The French House of Valois, which followed the House of Capet in 1328, was at its outset virtually marginalized in its own country, first by the English invading forces of the Hundred Years' War, later by the powerful Duchy of Burgundy.^[31] The appearance of Joan of Arc on the scene changed the course of war in favour of the French, and the initiative was carried further by King Louis XI.^[32]

Meanwhile Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, met resistance in his attempts to consolidate his possessions, particularly from the Swiss Confederation formed in 1291.^[33] When Charles was killed in the Burgundian Wars at the Battle of Nancy in 1477, the Duchy of Burgundy was reclaimed by France.^[34] At the same time, the County of Burgundy and the wealthy Burgundian Netherlands came into the Holy Roman Empire under Habsburg control, setting up conflict for centuries to come.^[35]

Central Europe[link]

Main articles: Germany, Bohemia, Hungary, Poland, Lithuania

Bohemia prospered in the 14th century, and the Golden Bull of 1356 made the king of Bohemia first among the imperial electors, but the Hussite revolution threw the country into crisis.^[36] The Holy Roman Empire passed to the Habsburgs in 1438, where it remained until the Empire's dissolution in 1806.^[37] Yet in spite of the extensive territories held by the Habsburgs, the Empire itself remained fragmented, and much real power and influence lay with the individual principalities.^[38] Also financial institutions, such as the Hanseatic League and the Fugger family, held great power, both on an economic and a political level.^[39]

Louis the Great
Louis' lands and countries (1370s). Louis led successful campaigns from Lithuania to southern Italy.

The kingdom of Hungary experienced a golden age during the 14th century.^[40] In particular the reign of the Angevin kings Charles Robert (1308–42) and his son Louis the Great (1342–82) were marked by greatness.^[41] The country grew wealthy as the main European supplier of gold and silver.^[42] Louis the Great led successful campaigns from Lithuania to Southern Italy, From Poland to Northern Greece. He had the greatest military potential of the 14th century with his enormous armies.(Often over 100,000 men). Meanwhile Poland's attention was turned eastwards, as the union with Lithuania created an enormous entity in the region.^[43] The union, and the conversion of Lithuania, also marked the end of paganism in Europe.^[44]

However, Louis did not leave a son as heir after his death in 1382. Instead, he named as his heir the young prince Sigismund of Luxemburg who was 11 years old. The Hungarian nobility did not accept his claim, and the result was an internal war. Sigismund eventually achieved total control of Hungary, and established his court in Buda and Visegrád. Both palaces were rebuilt and improved, being considered between the richest of its time in Europe. Inheriting the throne of Bohemia and the Holy Roman Empire, Sigismund continued conducting his politics from Hungary, but being busy fighting the Hussites, and the Ottoman Empire which started to become an important menace to Europe in the beginning of the 15th century.

The King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary was known to hold the biggest army of mercenaries of his time (The Black Army of Hungary) which he used to conquer Bohemia, Austria and fight the Ottoman Empire's menace. However, the end of the glory of the Kingdom happened in the beginning of the 16th century, when the King Louis II of Hungary was killed in the battle of Mohács in 1526 against the Ottoman Empire. Then Hungary fell in a serious crisis and was invaded, ending not only its significance in central Europe, but its medieval time with it.

Eastern Europe[link]

The 13th century had seen the fall of the state of Kievan Rus', in the face of the Mongol invasion.^[45] In its place would eventually emerge the Grand Duchy of Moscow, which won a great victory against the Golden Horde at the Battle of Kulikovo in 1380.^[46] The victory did not end Tartar rule in the region, however, and its immediate beneficiary was Lithuania, which extended its influence eastwards.^[47]

It was under the reign of Ivan III, the Great (1462–1505), that Moscow finally became a major regional power, and the annexation of the vast Republic of Novgorod in 1478 laid the foundations for a Russian national state.^[48] After the Fall of Constantinople in 1453 the Russian princes started to see themselves as the heirs of the Byzantine Empire. They eventually took on the imperial title of Tsar, and Moscow was described as the Third Rome.^[49]

Balkans and Byzantines[link]

Main articles: Byzantine Empire, Bulgaria, Serbia, Albania

The Byzantine Empire had for a long time dominated the eastern Mediterranean in politics and culture.^[50] By the 14th century, however, it had almost entirely collapsed into a tributary state of the Ottoman Empire, centred on the city of Constantinople and a few enclaves in Greece.^[51] With the Fall of Constantinople in 1453, the Byzantine Empire was permanently extinguished.^[52]

The Bulgarian Empire was in decline by the 14th century, and the ascendancy of Serbia was marked by the Serbian victory over the Bulgarians in the Battle of Velbazhd in 1330.^[53] By 1346, the Serbian king Stefan Dušan had been proclaimed emperor.^[54] Yet Serbian dominance was short-lived; the Balkan coalitioned armies led by the Serbs were defeated by the Ottomans at the Battle of Kosovo in 1389, where most of the Serbian nobility were killed and the south of the country came under Ottoman occupation, like Bulgaria before it.^[55] Serbia fell in 1459, Bosnia in 1463 and Albania was finally conquered in 1479 a few years after the death of Skanderbeg. Belgrade (Hungarian domain) was the last Balkan city to fall under Ottoman rule in 1521. By the end of the medieval period, the entire Balkan peninsula was annexed by, or became vassals to, the Ottomans.^[55]

Southern Europe[link]

Main articles: Italy, Crown of Aragon, Spain, Portugal

Avignon was the seat of the papacy from 1309 to 1376.^[56] With the return of the Pope to Rome in 1378, the Papal State developed into a major secular power, culminating in the morally corrupt papacy of Alexander VI.^[57] Florence grew to prominence amongst the Italian city-states through financial business, and the dominant Medici family became important promoters of the Renaissance through their patronage of the arts.^[58] Also other city states in northern Italy expanded their territories and consolidated their power, primarily Milan and Venice.^[59] The War of the Sicilian Vespers had by the early 14th century divided southern Italy into an Aragon Kingdom of Sicily and an Anjou Kingdom of Naples.^[60] In 1442, the two kingdoms were effectively united under Aragonese control.^[61]

The 1469 marriage of Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon and 1479 death of John II of Aragon led to the creation of modern-day Spain.^[62] In 1492, Granada was captured from the Moors, thereby completing the Reconquista.^[63] Portugal had during the 15th century – particularly under Henry the Navigator – gradually explored the coast of Africa, and in 1498, Vasco da Gama found the sea route to India.^[64] The Spanish monarchs met the Portuguese challenge by financing Columbus’s attempt to find the western sea route to India, leading to the discovery of America in the same year as the capture of Granada.^[65]

Late Medieval European society[link]

Around 1300–1350 the Medieval Warm Period gave way to the Little Ice Age.^[66] The colder climate resulted in agricultural crises, the first of which is known as the Great Famine of 1315-1317.^[67] The demographic consequences of this famine, however, were not as severe as those of the plagues of the later century, particularly the Black Death.^[68] Estimates of the death rate caused by this epidemic range from one third to as much as sixty percent.^[69] By around 1420, the accumulated effect of recurring plagues and famines had reduced the population of Europe to perhaps no more than a third of what it was a century earlier.^[70] The effects of natural disasters were exacerbated by armed conflicts; this was particularly the case in France during the Hundred Years' War.^[71]

As the European population was severely reduced, land became more plentiful for the survivors, and labour consequently more expensive.^[72] Attempts by landowners to forcibly reduce wages, such as the English 1351 Statute of Laborers, were doomed to fail.^[73] These efforts resulted in nothing more than fostering resentment among the peasantry, leading to rebellions such as the French Jacquerie in 1358 and the English Peasants' Revolt in 1381.^[74] The long-term effect was the virtual end of serfdom in Western Europe.^[75] In Eastern Europe, on the other hand, landowners were able to exploit the situation to force the peasantry into even more repressive bondage.^[76]

The upheavals caused by the Black Death left certain minority groups particularly vulnerable, especially the Jews.^[77] The calamities were often blamed on this group, and anti-Jewish pogroms were carried out all over Europe; in February 1349, 2,000 Jews were murdered in Strasbourg.^[78] Also the state was guilty of discrimination against the Jews, as monarchs gave in to the demands of the people, the Jews were expelled from England in 1290, from France in 1306, from Spain in 1492 and from Portugal in 1497.^[79]

While the Jews were suffering persecution, one group that probably experienced increased empowerment in the Late Middle Ages was women. The great social changes of the period opened up new possibilities for women in the fields of commerce, learning and religion.^[80] Yet at the same time, women were also vulnerable to incrimination and persecution, as belief in witchcraft increased.^[80]

Up until the mid-14th century, Europe had experienced a steadily increasing urbanisation.^[81] Cities were of course also decimated by the Black Death, but the urban areas' role as centres of learning, commerce and government ensured continued growth.^[82] By 1500 Venice, Milan, Naples, Paris and Constantinople probably had more than 100,000 inhabitants.^[83] Twenty-two other cities were larger than 40,000; most of these were to be found in Italy and the Iberian peninsula, but there were also some in France, the Empire, the Low Countries plus London in England.^[83]

Military history[link]

Medieval warfare
Miniature of the Battle of Crécy (1346) Manuscript of Jean Froissart's Chronicles. The Hundred Years' War was the scene of many military innovations.

Through battles such as Courtrai (1302), Bannockburn (1314), and Morgarten (1315), it became clear to the great territorial princes of Europe that the military advantage of the feudal cavalry was lost, and that a well equipped infantry was preferable.^[84] Through the Welsh Wars the English became acquainted with, and adopted the highly efficient longbow.^[85] Once properly managed, this weapon gave them a great advantage over the French in the Hundred Years' War.^[86]

The introduction of gunpowder affected the conduct of war significantly.^[87] Though employed by the English as early as the Battle of Crécy in 1346, firearms initially had little effect in the field of battle.^[88] It was through the use of cannons as siege weapons that major change was brought about; the new methods would eventually change the architectural structure of fortifications.^[89]

Changes also took place within the recruitment and composition of armies. The use of the national or feudal levy was gradually replaced by paid troops of domestic retinues or foreign mercenaries.^[90] The practice was associated with Edward III of England and the condottieri of the Italian city-states.^[91] All over Europe, Swiss soldiers were in particularly high demand.^[92] At the same time, the period also saw the emergence of the first permanent armies. It was in Valois France, under the heavy demands of the Hundred Years' War, that the armed forces gradually assumed a permanent nature.^[93]

Parallel to the military developments emerged also a constantly more elaborate chivalric code of conduct for the warrior class.^[94] This new-found ethos can be seen as a response to the diminishing military role of the aristocracy, and gradually it became almost entirely detached from its military origin.^[95] The spirit of chivalry was given expression through the new (secular)^[96] type of chivalric orders; the first of which was the Order of St. George founded by Charles I of Hungary in 1325, the best known probably the English Order of the Garter, founded by Edward III in 1348.^[97]

Christian conflict and reform[link]

The Papal Schism[link]

The French crown's increasing dominance over the Papacy culminated in the transference of the Holy See to Avignon in 1309.^[98] When the Pope returned to Rome in 1377, this led to the election of different popes in Avignon and Rome, resulting in the Great Schism (1378–1417).^[99] The Schism divided Europe along political lines; while France, her ally Scotland and the Spanish kingdoms supported the Avignon Papacy, France's enemy England stood behind the Pope in Rome, together with Portugal, Scandinavia and most of the German princes.^[100]

At the Council of Constance (1414–1418), the Papacy was once more united in Rome.^[101] Even though the unity of the Western Church was to last for another hundred years, and though the Papacy was to experience greater material prosperity than ever before, the Great Schism had done irreparable damage.^[102] The internal struggles within the Church had impaired her claim to universal rule, and promoted anti-clericalism among the people and their rulers, paving the way for reform movements.^[103]

Protestant Reformation[link]

Though the many of the events were outside the traditional time-period of the Middle Ages, the end of the unity of the Western Church (the Protestant Reformation), was one of the distinguishing characteristics of the medieval period.^[12] The Catholic Church had long fought against heretic movements, in the Late Middle Ages, it started to experience demands for reform from within.^[104] The first of these came from the Oxford professor John Wyclif in England.^[105] Wycliffe held that the Bible should be the only authority in religious questions, and spoke out against transubstantiation, celibacy and indulgences.^[106] In spite of influential supporters among the English aristocracy, such as John of Gaunt, the movement was not allowed to survive. Though Wycliffe himself was left unmolested, his supporters, the Lollards, were eventually suppressed in England.^[107]

Richard II of England's marriage to Anne of Bohemia established contacts between the two nations and brought Lollard ideas to this part of Europe.^[108] The teachings of the Czech priest Jan Hus were based on those of John Wyclif, yet his followers, the Hussites, were to have a much greater political impact than the Lollards.^[109] Hus gained a great following in Bohemia, and in 1414, he was requested to appear at the Council of Constance, to defend his cause.^[110] When he was burned as a heretic in 1415, it caused a popular uprising in the Czech lands.^[111] The subsequent Hussite Wars fell apart due to internal quarrels, and did not result in religious or national independence for the Czechs, but both the Catholic Church and the German element within the country were weakened.^[112]

Martin Luther, a German monk, started the German Reformation by the posting of the 95 theses on the castle church of Wittenberg on October 31, 1517.^[113] The immediate provocation behind the act was Pope Leo X’s renewing the indulgence for the building of the new St. Peter's Basilica in 1514.^[114] Luther was challenged to recant his heresy at the Diet of Worms in 1521.^[115] When he refused, he was placed under the ban of the Empire by Charles V.^[116] Receiving the protection of Frederick the Wise, he was then able to translate the Bible into German.^[117]

To many secular rulers, the Protestant reformation was a welcome opportunity to expand their wealth and influence.^[118] The Catholic Church met the challenges of the reforming movements with what has been called the Catholic or Counter-Reformation.^[119] Europe became split into a northern Protestant and a southern Catholic part, resulting in the Religious Wars of the 16th and 17th centuries.^[120]

Trade and commerce[link]

Medieval Merchant Routes
Main trade routes of late medieval Europe.      Hansa      Venetian      Genoese      Venetian and Genoese      (stippled) Overland and river routes

The increasingly dominant position of the Ottoman Empire in the eastern Mediterranean presented an impediment to trade for the Christian nations of the west, who in turn started looking for alternatives.^[121] Portuguese and Spanish explorers found new trade routes – south of Africa to India, and across the Atlantic Ocean to America.^[122] As Genoese and Venetian merchants opened up direct sea routes with Flanders, the Champagne fairs lost much of their importance.^[123]

At the same time, English wool export shifted from raw wool to processed cloth, resulting in losses for the cloth manufacturers of the Low Countries.^[124] In the Baltic and North Sea, the Hanseatic League reached the peak of their power in the 14th century, but started going into decline in the fifteenth.^[125]

In the late 13th and early 14th centuries, a process took place – primarily in Italy but partly also in the Empire – that historians have termed a 'commercial revolution'.^[126] Among the innovations of the period were new forms of partnership and the issuing of insurance, both of which contributed to reducing the risk of commercial ventures; the bill of exchange and other forms of credit that circumvented the canonical laws for gentiles against usury, and eliminated the dangers of carrying bullion; and new forms of accounting, in particular double-entry bookkeeping, which allowed for better oversight and accuracy.^[127]

With the financial expansion, trading rights became more jealously guarded by the commercial elite. Towns saw the growing power of guilds, while on a national level special companies would be granted monopolies on particular trades, like the English wool Staple.^[128] The beneficiaries of these developments would accumulate immense wealth. Families like the Fuggers in Germany, the Medicis in Italy, the de la Poles in England, and individuals like Jacques Coeur in France would help finance the wars of kings, and achieve great political influence in the process.^[129]

Though there is no doubt that the demographic crisis of the 14th century caused a dramatic fall in production and commerce in absolute terms, there has been a vigorous historical debate over whether the decline was greater than the fall in population.^[130] While the older orthodoxy was that the artistic output of the Renaissance was a result of greater opulence, more recent studies have suggested that there might have been a so-called 'depression of the Renaissance'.^[131] In spite of convincing arguments for the case, the statistical evidence is simply too incomplete that a definite conclusion can be made.^[132]

Arts and sciences[link]

In the 14th century, the predominant academic trend of scholasticism was challenged by the humanist movement. Though primarily an attempt to revitalise the classical languages, the movement also led to innovations within the fields of science, art and literature, helped on by impulses from Byzantine scholars who had to seek refuge in the west after the Fall of Constantinople in 1453.^[133]

In science, classical authorities like Aristotle were challenged for the first time since antiquity. Within the arts, humanism took the form of the Renaissance. Though the 15th century Renaissance was a highly localised phenomenon – limited mostly to the city states of northern Italy – artistic developments were taking place also further north, particularly in the Netherlands.^[13]

Philosophy, science and technology[link]

European output of manuscripts 500–1500. The rising trend in medieval book production saw its continuation in the period.^[134]

The predominant school of thought in the 13th century was the Thomistic reconciliation of the teachings of Aristotle with Christian theology.^[135] The Condemnation of 1277, enacted at the University of Paris, placed restrictions on ideas that could be interpreted as heretical; restrictions that had implication for Aristotelian thought.^[136] An alternative was presented by William of Ockham, who insisted that the world of reason and the world of faith had to be kept apart. Ockham introduced the principle of parsimony – or Occam's razor – whereby a simple theory is preferred to a more complex one, and speculation on unobservable phenomena is avoided.^[137]

This new approach liberated scientific speculation from the dogmatic restraints of Aristotelian science, and paved the way for new approaches. Particularly within the field of theories of motion great advances were made, when such scholars as Jean Buridan, Nicole Oresme and the Oxford Calculators challenged the work of Aristotle.^[138] Buridan developed the theory of impetus as the cause of the motion of projectiles, which was an important step towards the modern concept of inertia.^[139] The works of these scholars anticipated the heliocentric worldview of Nicolaus Copernicus.^[140]

Certain technological inventions of the period – whether of Arab or Chinese origin, or unique European innovations – were to have great influence on political and social developments, in particular gunpowder, the printing press and the compass. The introduction of gunpowder to the field of battle affected not only military organisation, but helped advance the nation state. Gutenberg's movable type printing press made possible not only the Reformation, but also a dissemination of knowledge that would lead to a gradually more egalitarian society. The compass, along with other innovations such as the cross-staff, the mariner's astrolabe, and advances in shipbuilding, enabled the navigation of the World Oceans, and the early phases of colonialism.^[141] Other inventions had a greater impact on everyday life, such as eyeglasses and the weight-driven clock.^[142]

Visual arts and architecture[link]

Medieval art
Giotto’s Lamentation (The Mourning of Christ), Scrovegni Chapel. Giotto's three-dimensional and psychologically convincing characters were a precursor to the Renaissance.

A precursor to Renaissance art can be seen already in the early 14th century works of Giotto. Giotto was the first painter since antiquity to attempt the representation of a three-dimensional reality, and to endow his characters with true human emotions.^[143] The most important developments, however, came in 15th century Florence. The affluence of the merchant class allowed extensive patronage of the arts, and foremost among the patrons were the Medici.^[144]

The period saw several important technical innovations, like the principle of linear perspective found in the work of Masaccio, and later described by Brunelleschi.^[145] Greater realism was also achieved through the scientific study of anatomy, championed by artists like Donatello.^[146] This can be seen particularly well in his sculptures, inspired by the study of classical models.^[147] As the centre of the movement shifted to Rome, the period culminated in the High Renaissance masters da Vinci, Michelangelo and Raphael.^[148]

The ideas of the Italian Renaissance were slow to cross the Alps into northern Europe, but important artistic innovations were made also in the Low Countries.^[149] Though not – as previously believed – the inventor of oil painting, Jan van Eyck was a champion of the new medium, and used it to create works of great realism and minute detail.^[150] The two cultures influenced each other and learned from each other, but painting in the Netherlands remained more focused on textures and surfaces than the idealised compositions of Italy.^[151]

In northern European countries gothic architecture remained the norm, and the gothic cathedral was further elaborated.^[152] In Italy, on the other hand, architecture took a different direction, also here inspired by classical ideals. The crowning work of the period was the Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence, with Giotto's clock tower, Ghiberti's baptistery gates, and Brunelleschi's cathedral dome of unprecedented proportions.^[153]

Literature[link]

The most important development of late medieval literature was the ascendancy of the vernacular languages.^[154] The vernacular had been in use in France and England since the 11th century, where the most popular genres had been the chanson de geste, troubadour lyrics and romantic epics, or the romance.^[155] Though Italy was later in evolving a native literature in the vernacular language, it was here that the most important developments of the period were to come.^[156]

Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy, written in the early 14th century, merged a medieval world view with classical ideals.^[157] Another promoter of the Italian language was Boccaccio with his Decameron.^[158] The application of the vernacular did not entail a rejection of Latin, and both Dante and Boccaccio wrote prolifically in Latin as well as Italian, as would Petrarch later (whose Canzoniere also promoted the vernacular and whose contents are considered the first modern lyric poems).^[159] Together the three poets established the Tuscan dialect as the norm for the modern Italian language.^[160]

The new literary style spread rapidly, and in France influenced such writers as Eustache Deschamps and Guillaume de Machaut.^[161] In England Geoffrey Chaucer helped establish English as a literary language with his Canterbury Tales, which tales of everyday life were heavily influenced by Boccaccio.^[162] The spread of vernacular literature eventually reached as far as Bohemia, and the Baltic, Slavic and Byzantine worlds.^[163]

Music[link]

Music was an important part of both secular and spiritual culture, and in the universities it made up part of the quadrivium of the liberal arts.^[164] From the early 13th century, the dominant sacred musical form had been the motet; a composition with text in several parts.^[165] From the 1330s and onwards, emerged the polyphonic style, which was a more complex fusion of independent voices.^[166] Polyphony had been common in the secular music of the Provençal troubadours. Many of these had fallen victim to the 13th century Albigensian Crusade, but their influence reached the papal court at Avignon.^[167]

The main representatives of the new style, often referred to as ars nova as opposed to the ars antiqua, were the composers Philippe de Vitry and Guillaume de Machaut.^[168] In Italy, where the Provençal troubadours had also found refuge, the corresponding period goes under the name of trecento, and the leading composers were Giovanni da Cascia, Jacopo da Bologna and Francesco Landini.^[169]

Theatre[link]

In the British Isles, plays were produced in some 127 different towns during the Middle Ages. These vernacular Mystery plays were written in cycles of a large number of plays: York (48 plays), Chester (24), Wakefield (32) and Unknown (42). A larger number of plays survive from France and Germany in this period and some type of religious dramas were performed in nearly every European country in the Late Middle Ages. Many of these plays contained comedy, devils^{[disambiguation needed ]}, villains and clowns.^[170]

Morality plays emerged as a distinct dramatic form around 1400 and flourished until 1550. The most interesting morality play is The Castle of Perseverance which depicts mankind's progress from birth to death. However, the most famous morality play and perhaps best known medieval drama is Everyman. Everyman receives Death's summons, struggles to escape and finally resigns himself to necessity. Along the way, he is deserted by Kindred, Goods, and Fellowship^{[disambiguation needed ]} - only Good Deeds goes with him to the grave.

At the end of the Late Middle Ages, professional actors began to appear in England and Europe. Richard III and Henry VII both maintained small companies of professional actors. Their plays were performed in the Great Hall of a nobleman's residence, often with a raised platform at one end for the audience and a "screen" at the other for the actors. Also important were Mummers' plays, performed during the Christmas season, and court masques. These masques were especially popular during the reign of Henry VIII who had a House of Revels built and an Office of Revels established in 1545.^[171]

The end of medieval drama came about due to a number of factors, including the weakening power of the Catholic Church, the Protestant Reformation and the banning of religious plays in many countries. Elizabeth I forbid all religious plays in 1558 and the great cycle plays had been silenced by the 1580s. Similarly, religious plays were banned in the Netherlands in 1539, the Papal States in 1547 and in Paris in 1548. The abandonment of these plays destroyed the international theatre that had thereto existed and forced each country to develop its own form of drama. It also allowed dramatists to turn to secular subjects and the reviving interest in Greek and Roman theatre provided them with the perfect opportunity.^[172]

After the Middle Ages[link]

After the end of the late Middle Ages period, the Renaissance would spread unevenly over continental Europe from the southern European region. The intellectual transformation of the Renaissance is viewed as a bridge between the Middle Ages and the Modern era. Europeans would later begin an era of world discovery. Combined with the influx of classical ideas was the invention of printing which facilitated dissemination of the printed word and democratized learning. These two things would lead to the Protestant Reformation. Europeans also discovered new trading routes, as was the case with Columbus’s travel to the Americas in 1492, and Vasco da Gama’s circumnavigation of Africa and India in 1498. Their discoveries strengthened the economy and power of European nations.

The period 1300–1500 in Asia and North Africa[link]

Islamic world[link]

Mamluk Sultanate[link]

At the time of the fall of the Ayyubids, the Mamluk Sultanate rose to ruled Egypt. The Mamluks, Arabs and Kipchak Turks, were purchased but were not ordinary slaves. Mamluks were considered to be “true lords,” with social status above freeborn Egyptian Muslims. Mamluk regiments constituted the backbone of the late Ayyubid military. Each sultan and high-ranking amir had his private corps. The Bahri mamluks defeated the Louis IX's crusaders at the Battle of Al Mansurah. The Sultan proceeded to place his own entourage and Mu`azzamis mamluks in authority to the detriment of Bahri interests. Shhortly thereafter, a group of Bahris assassinated the Sultan. Following the death of the Sultan, a decade of instability ensued as various factions competed for control. The Ottoman Sultan of the Ottoman Empire conquered Syria at the end of the Middle Ages after defeating the Mamlukes at the Battle of Marj Dabiq near Aleppo. The Ottoman's campaign against the Mamlukes continued and they conquered Egypt following the Battle of Ridanieh, bringing an end to the Mamluk Sultanate.

Ottomans and Europe[link]

Ottomans and Europe
Saint John of Capistrano and the Hungarian armies fighting the Ottoman Empire at the Siege of Belgrade in 1456.
File:The wars of Matthias Corvinus of Hungary (1458-1490).png King Matthias Corvinus's Black Army Campaign.

In the end of the 15th century the Ottoman Empire advanced all over East Europe conquering eventually the Byzantine Empire and extending their control on the states of the Balkans. Hungary became eventually the last bastion of the Latin Christian world, and fought for the keeping its rule on his territories during two centuries. After the tragic death of the young King Vladislaus I of Hungary during the Battle of Varna in 1444 against the Ottomans, the Kingdom without monarch was placed in the hands of the count John Hunyadi, who became Hungary's regent-governor (1446–1453). Hunyadi was considered by the pope as one of the most relevant military figures of the 15th century (Pope Pius II awarded him with the title of Athleta Christi or Champion of Christ), because he was the only hope of keeping a resistance against the Ottomans in Central and West Europe.

Hunyadi succeeded during the Siege of Belgrade in 1456 against the Ottomans, which meant the biggest victory against that empire in decades. This battle became a real Crusade against the Muslims, as the peasants were motivated by the Franciscan monk Saint John of Capistrano, which came from Italy predicating the Holy War. The effect that it created in that time was one of the few main factors that helped achieving the victory. However the premature death of the Hungarian Lord left defenseless and in chaos that area of Europe.^[173] As an absolutely unusual event for the Middle Ages, Hunyadi's son, Matthias, was elected as King for Hungary by the nobility. For the first time, a member of an aristocratic family (and not from a royal family) was crowned.^[174]

The King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary (1458–1490) was one of the most prominent figures of this Age, as he directed campaigns to the west conquering Bohemia answering to the Pope's claim for help against the Hussite Protestants, and also for solving the political hostilities with the German emperor Frederick III of Habsburg he invaded his west domains. Matthew organized the Black Army, composed of mercenary soldiers that is considered until the date as the biggest army of its time. Using this powerful tool, the Hungarian king led wars against the Turkish armies and stopped the Ottomans during his reign. Though the Ottoman Empire grew in strength and, with end of the Black Army, Central Europe was defenseless after the death of Matthew. At the Battle of Mohács, the forces of the Ottoman Empire annihilated the Hungarian army, and in trying to escape Louis II of Hungary drowned in the Csele Creek. The leader of the Hungarian army, Pál Tomori, also died in the battle. This episode is considered to be one of the final ones of the Medieval Times.^[175]

Far East[link]

Chinese restoration[link]

Yuan coinage
Yuan coinage.

The Mongol Great Yuan Empire, founded by Kublai Khan, existed between the high and late Middle Ages. A division of the Mongol Empire and a imperial dynasty of China, the Yuan followed the Song Dynasty and preceded the Ming Dynasty. During his rule, Kublai Khan claimed the title of Great Khan, supreme Khan over the other Mongol khanates. This claim was only truly recognized by the Il-Khanids, who were nevertheless essentially self-governing. Although later emperors of the Yuan Dynasty were recognized by the three virtually independent western khanates as their nominal suzerains, they each continued their own separate developments.

The Empire of the Great Ming rule began in China during the mid-late Middle Ages, following the collapse of the Yuan Dynasty. The Ming was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic Han Chinese. Ming rule saw the construction of a vast navy and army. Although private maritime trade and official tribute missions from China had taken place in previous dynasties, the tributary fleet under the Muslim eunuch admiral Zheng He surpassed all others in size.

Forbidden City
Ming Dynasty painting

In the Ming Dynasty, there were enormous construction projects, including the restoration of the Grand Canal and the Great Wall and the establishment of the Forbidden City in Beijing. Society was fashioned to be self-sufficient rural communities in a rigid, immobile system that would have no need to engage with the commercial life and trade of urban centers. Rebuilding of China's agricultural base and strengthening of communication routes through the militarized courier system had the unintended effect of creating a vast agricultural surplus that could be sold at burgeoning markets located along courier routes.

Rural culture and commerce became influenced by urban trends. The upper echelons of society embodied in the scholarly gentry class were also affected by this new consumption-based culture. In a departure from tradition, merchant families began to produce examination candidates to become scholar-officials and adopted cultural traits and practices typical of the gentry. Parallel to this trend involving social class and commercial consumption were changes in social and political philosophy, bureaucracy and governmental institutions, and even arts and literature.

Japanese restoration[link]

The Kenmu restoration was a three year period of Japanese history between the Kamakura period and the Muromachi period. The political events included the restoration effort, but made with many and serious political errors, to bring the Imperial House and the nobility it represented back into power, thus restoring a civilian government after almost a century and a half of military rule. The attempted restoration ultimately failed and was replaced by the Ashikaga shogunate. This was to be the last time the Emperor had any power until the Meiji restoration in the modern era.

Beginning around the mid-late Middle Ages, the Muromachi period marks the governance of the Ashikaga shogunate. The first Muromachi shogun was established by Ashikaga Takauji, two years after the brief Kemmu restoration of imperial rule was brought to a close. The period ended with the last shogun, Ashikaga Yoshiaki, driven out of the capital in Kyoto by Oda Nobunaga. The early Muromachi period, or the Northern and Southern Court period, experienced continued resistance of the supporters of the Kemmu restoration. The end of the Muromachi period, or the Sengoku period, was a time of warring states. The Muromachi period has the two cultural phases, the medieval Kitayama and modern Higashiyama periods.

Timeline[link]

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 from: 1450 till: 1500 shift:(2,-7) text:(Early period)
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 from: 1300 till: 1400 text:Christianization
 from: 1400 till: 1500 text:Kalmar Union
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 from: 1300 till: 1500 text:Kingdom of England
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 from: 1300 till: 1475 text:Reconquista
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 from: 1475 till: 1500 text:Renaissance
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 from: 1300 till: 1400 text:Lithuania
 from: 1400 till: 1485 text:Moscow
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 from: 1300 till: 1450 text:Holy Roman Empire
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 from: 1389 till: 1500 text:Ottomans
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 from: 1300 till: 1500 shift:(-120,-7) text:Chagatai Khanate
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 from: 1300 till: 1368 text:Yuan
 from: 1368 till: 1500 text:Ming
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 from: 1300 till: 1392 text:Goryeo
 from: 1392 till: 1500 text:Joseon
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 from: 1300 till: 1500 text:Islamic empires
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 from: 1300 till: 1500 shift:(0,-4) text:Mississippian culture
 bar:C.Americas color:age
 from: 1300 till: 1500 shift:(0,-4) text:Late Postclassic
 bar:S.Americas color:age
 from: 1300 till: 1500 text:Classic

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Dates are approximate, consult particular article for details

         Middle Ages Themes      Other themes

14th century

15th century

Dante by Michelino

Peasants in fields Très Riches Heures. Joan of Arc (Hundred Years' War)

Charles I (Kingdom of Hungary) Jan Hus (Protestant Reformation)

See also[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Late Middle Ages

	Middle Ages portal
	History portal

• List of basic medieval history topics
• Timeline of the Middle Ages
• Church and state in medieval Europe
• History of the Jews in the Middle Ages
• Thirteen forty-five – In-depth treatment of the year

References[link]

Constructs such as ibid., loc. cit. and idem are discouraged by Wikipedia's style guide for footnotes, as they are easily broken. Please improve this article by replacing them with named references (quick guide), or an abbreviated title. (October 2011)

Sources[link]

General:

• The New Cambridge Medieval History, vol. 6: c. 1300 - c. 1415, (2000). Michael Jones (ed.), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-36290-3.
• The New Cambridge Medieval History, vol. 7: c. 1415 - c. 1500, (1998). Christopher Allmand (ed.), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-38296-3.
• Brady, Thomas A., Jr., Heiko A. Oberman, James D. Tracy (eds.) (1994). Handbook of European History, 1400–1600: Late Middle Ages, Renaissance and Reformation. Leiden, New York: E.J. Brill. ISBN 90-04-09762-7. 
• Cantor, Norman (1994). The Civilization of the Middle Ages. New York: Harper Perennial. ISBN 0-06-017033-6. 
• Hay, Denys (1988). Europe in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries (2nd ed.). London: Longman. ISBN 0-582-49179-7. 
• Hollister, C. Warren (2005). Medieval Europe: A Short History (10th ed.). McGraw-Hill Higher Education. ISBN 0-07-295515-5. http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0072346574/. 
• Holmes, George (ed.) (2001). The Oxford History of Medieval Europe (New ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-280133-3. 
• Keen, Maurice (1991). The Penguin History of Medieval Europe (New ed.). London: Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-013630-4. 
• Le Goff, Jacques (2005). The Birth of Europe: 400-1500. WileyBlackwell. ISBN 0-631-22888-8. 
• Waley, Daniel; Denley, Peter (2001). Later Medieval Europe: 1250-1520 (3rd ed.). London: Longman. ISBN 0-582-25831-6. 

Specific regions:

• Abulafia, David (1997). The Western Mediterranean Kingdoms: The Struggle for Dominion, 1200-1500. London: Longman. ISBN 0-582-07820-2. 
• Duby, Georges (1993). France in the Middle Ages, 987-1460: From Hugh Capet to Joan of Arc (New ed.). WileyBlackwell. ISBN 0-631-18945-9. 
• Fine, John V.A. (1994). The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest (Reprint ed.). Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. ISBN 0-472-08260-4. 
• Jacob, E.F. (1961). The Fifteenth Century: 1399–1485. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-821714-5. 
• McKisack, May (1959). The Fourteenth Century: 1307–1399. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-821712-9. 
• Mango, Cyril (ed.) (2002). The Oxford History of Byzantium. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-814098-3. 
• Martin, Janet (2007). Medieval Russia, 980–1584 (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-85916-6. 
• Najemy, John M. (ed.) (2004). Italy in the Age of the Renaissance: 1300-1550 (New ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-870040-7. 
• Reilly, Bernard F. (1993). The Medieval Spains. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-39741-3. 
• Wandycz, Piotr (2001). The Price of Freedom: A History of East Central Europe from the Middle Ages to the Present (2nd ed.). London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-25491-4. 

Society:

• Chazan, Robert (2006). The Jews of Medieval Western Christendom: 1000-1500. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-61664-6. 
• Herlihy, David (1985). Medieval Households. Cambridge, Massachusetts; London: Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-56375-1. 
• Herlihy, David (1968). Medieval Culture and Society. London: Macmillan. ISBN 0-88133-747-1. 
• Jordan, William Chester (1996). The Great Famine: Northern Europe in the Early Fourteenth Century. New Jersey: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-01134-6. 
• Klapisch-Zuber, Christiane (1994). A history of women in the West (New ed.). Cambridge, Mass.; London: Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-40368-1. 

The Black Death:

• Benedictow, Ole J. (2004). The Black Death 1346-1353: The Complete History. Woodbridge: Boydell Press. ISBN 0-85115-943-5. 
• Herlihy, David (1997). The Black Death and the transformation of the West. Cambridge, Mass.; London: Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-7509-3202-3. 
• Horrox, Rosemary (1994). The Black Death. Manchester: Manchester University Press. ISBN 0-7190-3497-3. 
• Ziegler, Philip (2003). The Black Death (New ed.). Sutton: Sutton Publishing Ltd.. ISBN 0-7509-3202-3. 

Warfare:

• Allmand, Christopher (1988). The Hundred Years War: England and France at War c.1300-c.1450. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-31923-4. 
• Contamine, Philippe (1984). War in the Middle Ages. Oxford: Blackwell. ISBN 0-631-13142-6. 
• Curry, Anne (1993). The Hundred Years War. Basingstoke: Macmillan. ISBN 0-333-53175-2. 
• Keen, Maurice (1984). Chivalry. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-03150-5. 
• Verbruggen, J. F. (1997). The Art of Warfare in Western Europe during the Middle Ages: From the Eighth Century to 1340 (2nd ed.). Woodbridge: Boydell Press. ISBN 0-85115-630-4. 

Economy:

• Cipolla, Carlo M. (1993). Before the Industrial Revolution: European Society and Economy 1000–1700 (3rd ed.). London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-09005-9. 
• Cipolla, Carlo M. (ed.) (1993). The Fontana Economic History of Europe, Volume 1: The Middle Ages (2nd ed.). New York: Fontana Books. ISBN 0-85527-159-0. 
• Postan, M.M. (2002). Mediaeval Trade and Finance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-52202-1. 
• Pounds, N.J.P. (1994). An Economic History of Medieval Europe (2nd ed.). London and New York: Longman. ISBN 0-582-21599-4. 

Religion:

• Kenny, Anthony (1985). Wyclif. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-287647-3. 
• MacCulloch, Diarmaid (2005). The Reformation. Penguin. ISBN 0-14-303538-X. 
• Ozment, Steven E. (1980). The Age of Reform, 1250-1550: An Intellectual and Religious History of Late Medieval and Reformation Europe. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-02477-0. 
• Smith, John H. (1970). The Great Schism, 1378. London: Hamilton. ISBN 0-241-01520-0. 
• Southern, R.W. (1970). Western society and the Church in the Middle Ages. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-020503-9. 

Arts and science:

• Brotton, Jerry (2006). The Renaissance: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-280163-5. 
• Burke, Peter (1998). The European Renaissance: Centres and Peripheries (2nd ed.). Oxford: Blackwell. ISBN 0-631-19845-8. 
• Curtius, Ernest Robert (1991). European Literature and the Latin Middle Ages (New ed.). New York: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-01899-5. 
• Grant, Edward (1996). The Foundations of Modern Science in the Middle Ages: Their Religious, Institutional, and Intellectual Contexts. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-56762-9. 
• Snyder, James (2004). Northern Renaissance Art: Painting, Sculpture, the Graphic Arts from 1350 to 1575 (2nd ed.). Prentice Hall. ISBN 0-13-189564-8. 
• Welch, Evelyn (2000). Art in Renaissance Italy, 1350-1500 (reprint ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-284279-X. 
• Wilson, David Fenwick (1990). Music of the Middle Ages. New York: Schirmer Books. ISBN 0-02-872951-X. 

Citations[link]

External links[link]

• Original sources
• Collection of links

Replica of the helmet found at Sutton Hoo, in the burial of an Anglo-Saxon leader, probably a king, about 620 in the Early Middle Ages^[1]

The Middle Ages (adjectival form: medieval, mediaeval or mediæval) is a period of European history encompassing the 5th to the 15th centuries. It is normally marked from the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, accepted as the end of Classical Antiquity, until the beginning of the Renaissance and Age of Discovery, which ushered in the Modern Era. It is thus the middle period of the traditional division of Western history into Classical, Medieval, and Modern. The Middle Ages is often split into two or three sub-divisions.

In the Early Middle Ages, depopulation, deurbanization, and barbarian invasion, all of which had begun in Late Antiquity, continued apace. The barbarian invaders formed their own new kingdoms in the remains of the Western Roman Empire. In the 7th century North Africa and the Middle East, once part of the eastern empire, became an Islamic Empire after conquest by Muhammad's successors. Although there were substantial changes in society and political structures, the break was not as extreme as once put forth by historians, with most of the new kingdoms incorporating as many of the existing Roman institutions as they could. Christianity expanded in western Europe and monasteries were founded. In the 7th and 8th centuries the Franks, under the Carolingian dynasty, established an empire covering much of western Europe; it lasted until the 9th century, when it succumbed to pressure from new invaders – the Vikings, Magyars, and Saracens.

During the High Middle Ages, which began after 1000, the population of Europe increased greatly as new technological and agricultural innovations allowed trade to flourish and crop yields to increase. Manorialism – the organization of peasants into villages that owed rents and labor service to nobles – and feudalism – a political structure whereby knights and lower-status nobles owed military service to their overlords in return for the right to rents from lands and manors – were two of the ways of organizing medieval society that developed during the High Middle Ages. Kingdoms became more centralized after the decentralizing effects of the breakup of the Carolingian Empire. The Crusades, which were first preached in 1095, were an attempt by western Christians to regain control of the Holy Land from the Muslims, and succeeded long enough to establish some Christian states in the Near East. Intellectual life was marked by scholasticism and the founding of universities, while the building of Gothic cathedrals was one of the outstanding artistic achievements of the age.

The Late Middle Ages were marked by a number of difficulties and calamities. Famine, plague and war decimated the population of western Europe; the Black Death alone killed approximately a third of the population between 1347 and 1350. Controversy, heresy, and schism within the Church was echoed by warfare between states as well as civil war and peasant revolts within kingdoms. A number of cultural and technological developments began to transform European society, bringing an end to the Middle Ages and signaling the start of the Early Modern period.

Etymology and periodization[link]

The Middle Ages is one of the three major periods in the most enduring scheme for analyzing European history: classical civilization, or Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the modern period.^[2] Leonardo Bruni was the first historian to use tripartite periodization in his History of the Florentine People (1442).^[3] The "Middle Ages" first appears in Latin in 1469 as media tempestas or "middle season". In early usage, there were many variants, including medium aevum, or "middle age", first recorded in 1604,^[4] and media scecula, or "middle ages", first recorded in 1625. Tripartite periodization became standard after the German historian Christoph Cellarius published Universal History Divided into an Ancient, Medieval, and New Period in 1683. English is the only major language that retains the plural form.^[5]

The most commonly given start date for the Middle Ages is 476,^[6] first used by Bruni.^[7][a] For Europe as a whole, 1500 is often considered to be the end of the Middle Ages,^[9] but there is no universally agreed upon end date;^[10] depending on the context, events such as Christopher Columbus's first voyage to the Americas in 1492, conquest of Constantinople by the Turks in 1453, or the Protestant Reformation in 1517 are sometimes used.^[11] In contrast, English historians often use the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 to mark the end of the period.^[12] For Spain, dates commonly used are the death of King Ferdinand II in 1516, the death of Queen Isabella I of Castile in 1504, or the conquest of Granada in 1492.^[13]

Historians in the Romance languages tend to divide the Middle Ages into two parts: an earlier "High" and later "Low" period. English-speaking historians, following their German counterparts, generally subdivide the Middle Ages into three intervals: "Early", "High" and "Late".^[2] Belgian historian Henri Pirenne and Dutch historian Johan Huizinga popularized the following subdivisions in the early 20th century: the Early Middle Ages from 476 to 1000, the High Middle Ages from 1000 to 1300, and the Late Middle Ages from 1300 to 1453. In the 19th century, the entire Middle Ages were often referred to as the "Dark Ages",^[14][b] but with the creation of these subdivisions use of this term was restricted to the Early Middle Ages, at least among historians.^[14]

Timeline[link]

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 from: 1400 till: 1500 text:Renaissance
 bar:Eurasia color:age
 from: 1237 till: 1240 text:Mongols
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Later Roman Empire[link]

The Roman Empire reached its greatest territorial extent during the 2nd century AD, with the following two centuries witnessing the slow decline of Roman control over its outlying territories.^[15] Economic issues, including inflation, and external pressures on the frontiers combined to make the 3rd century politically unstable, with a number of emperors coming to the throne only to be rapidly replaced by new usurpers.^[16] Military expenses increased steadily during the 3rd century, mainly in response to the need to defend against the renewed war with Sassanid Persia, which began in the middle of the 3rd century.^[17] The army doubled in size and various reforms in composition resulted in a new emphasis on cavalry and smaller units instead of the legion as the main tactical unit.^[18] The need for revenue led to increased taxes and a decline in numbers of the curial landowning class, and decreasing numbers of them willing to shoulder the burdens of holding office in their native towns.^[17] More bureaucrats were needed in the central administration to deal with the needs of the army, which led to complaints from civilians that there were more tax-collectors in the empire than tax-payers.^[18]

A late Roman statue depicting the four Tetrarchs, now in Venice

The Emperor Diocletian (r. 284–305) split the empire into separately administered eastern and western halves in 286; however, the empire was not considered divided by its inhabitants or rulers, as legal and administrative promulgations in one division were considered valid in the other.^[19][c] In 330, after a period of civil war, Constantine the Great (r. 306–337) refounded the city of Byzantium as the newly renamed eastern capital, Constantinople.^[20] Diocletian's reforms created a strong governmental bureaucracy, reformed taxation, and strengthened the army, which bought the empire time but did not completely resolve the problems it was facing: excessive taxation, a declining birthrate, and pressures on its frontiers amongst others.^[21] Civil war between rival emperors became common in the middle of the 4th century, diverting men from the empire's frontier forces and allowing the barbarians to encroach.^[22] But for much of the 4th century, Roman society had reached a new, stable form that differed from the earlier classical period in a number of significant ways - a widening gulf between the rich and poor as well as a decline in the vitality of the smaller towns.^[23] Another change was the conversion of the empire to Christianity, which occurred in a gradual process that lasted from the 2nd through the 5th centuries.^[24][25]

Map of the approximate political boundaries in Europe around 450

In 376, the Ostrogoths, fleeing from the Huns, received permission from the Roman emperor Valens (r. 364–378) to settle in the Roman province of Thracia. The settlement did not go smoothly, and when Roman officials mishandled the situation, the Ostrogoths began to raid and plunder Thracia. Valens, attempting to put down the disorder, was killed in battle with the Ostrogoths at the Battle of Adrianople on 9 August 378.^[26] Besides the barbarian threat from the north, internal divisions within the empire, especially within the Christian Church, caused troubles.^[27] In 400, the Visigoths invaded the Western Roman Empire and, although briefly forced back from Italy, in 410 they were able to sack the city of Rome.^[28] While the Visigoths were invading, in 406 the Alans, Vandals, and Suevi crossed into Gaul; over the next three years they spread across Gaul and in 409 crossed the Pyrenees Mountains into modern-day Spain.^[29] Other groups of barbarians took part in the movements of peoples in this time period. The Franks, Alemanni, and the Burgundians eventually all ended up in northern Gaul while the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes settled in Britain.^[30] In the 430s the Huns began invading the empire; their king Attila led invasions into the Balkans in 442 and 447, into Gaul in 451, and into Italy in 452.^[31] With Attila's death in 453, the Hunnic confederation he led fell apart.^[32] All of these invasions by the varied tribes totally rearranged the political and demographic face of what had been the Western Roman Empire.^[30]

By the end of the 5th century the western section of the empire was divided into smaller political units, ruled by the tribes that had invaded in the early part of the century.^[33] The last emperor of the west, Romulus Augustulus, was deposed in 476, which has led that year to be traditionally cited as the end of the Western Roman Empire.^[8][d] The Eastern Roman Empire, conventionally referred to as the "Byzantine Empire" after the fall of its western counterpart, had little ability to assert control over the lost western territories. Even though Byzantine emperors maintained a claim over the territory, and no barbarian king in the west dared to elevate himself to the position of Emperor of the West, Byzantine control of most of the West could not be sustained; the reconquest of the Italian peninsula and Mediterranean periphery by Justinian was the sole, and temporary, exception.^[34]

Early Middle Ages[link]

New societies[link]

Although the political structure in western Europe had changed, the divide is not as extensive as some historians have claimed. Although usually described as "invasions", they were not always just military expeditions but were mostly caused by the movement of peoples immigrating into the Empire. Such movements were aided by the refusal of the western Roman elites to either support the army or pay the taxes that would have allowed the military to suppress the migration.^[35] The emperors of the 5th century were often controlled by military strongmen such as Stilicho (d. 408), Ricimer (d. 472), Gundobad (d. 516), or Aspar (d. 471), and when the western emperors ceased, many of the kings who replaced them were from the same background as those military strongmen. Intermarriage between the new kings and the Roman elites was common.^[36] This led to a fusion of the Roman culture with the customs of the invading tribes, including the popular assemblies which allowed free male tribal members more say in political matters.^[37] Material artifacts left by the Romans and the invaders are often similar, with tribal items often being obviously modeled on Roman objects.^[38] Similarly, much of the intellectual culture of the new kingdoms was directly based on Roman intellectual traditions.^[39] An important difference was the gradual loss of tax revenue by the new polities. Many of the new political entities no longer provided their armies with tax revenues, instead allocating land or rents. This meant there was less need for large tax revenues and so the taxation systems decayed.^[40] Warfare was common between and within the kingdoms. Slavery declined as the supply declined, and society became more rural.^[41]

Coin of Theodoric

Between the 5th and 8th centuries, new peoples and powerful individuals filled the political void left by Roman centralized government.^[39] The Ostrogoths settled in Italy in the late 5th century under Theodoric (d. 526) and set up a kingdom marked by its cooperation between the Italians and the Ostrogoths, at least until the last years of Theodoric's reign.^[42] The Burgundians settled in Gaul, and after an earlier kingdom was destroyed by the Huns in 436, formed a new kingdom in the 440s between today's Geneva and Lyon. This grew to be a powerful kingdom in the late 5th and early 6th centuries.^[43] In northern Gaul, the Franks and Britons set up small kingdoms. The Frankish kingdom was centered in northeastern Gaul and the first king of whom much is known is Childeric, who died in 481.^[e] Under Childeric's son Clovis (r. 509–511), the Frankish kingdom expanded and converted to Christianity. The Britons, related to the natives of Britannia, settled in what is now Brittany, which took its name from their settlement.^[45] Other kingdoms were established by the Visigoths in Spain, the Suevi in northwestern Spain, and the Vandals in North Africa.^[43] In the 6th century, the Lombards settled in northern Italy, replacing the Ostrogothic kingdom with a grouping of duchies that occasionally selected a king to rule over all of them. By the late 6th century this arrangement had been replaced by a permanent monarchy.^[46]

With the invasions came new ethnic groups into parts of Europe, but the settlement was uneven, with some regions such as Spain having a larger settlement of new peoples than other places. Gaul's settlement was uneven, with the barbarians settling much thicker in the northeast than in the southwest. Slavonic peoples settled in central and eastern Europe and into the Balkan Peninsula. The settlement of peoples was accompanied by changes in languages. The Latin of the Western Roman Empire was gradually replaced by languages based on Latin but distinct. These changes from Latin to the new languages like French or Portuguese or Romanian took many centuries, however, and went through a number of stages. Greek remained the language of the Byzantine Empire, but the migrations of the Slavs added Slavonic languages to the mix.^[47]

Byzantine survival[link]

Mosaic showing Justinian with the bishop who ruled Byzantine Ravenna, bodyguards and courtiers

As western Europe witnessed the formation of new kingdoms, the eastern section of the Roman Empire remained intact and even enjoyed an economic revival that lasted into the early 7th century. There were fewer invasions of the eastern section of the Empire, with the majority occurring in the Balkans. Peace with Persia, the traditional enemy of Rome, lasted throughout most of the 5th century. The Eastern Empire was marked by closer relations between the political state and Christian church, with doctrinal matters assuming an importance in eastern politics that they did not have in western Europe. Legal developments included the codification of Roman law known as the Theodosian Code.^[48] Under the emperor Justinian (r. 527–565), a further compilation took place, known as the Corpus Juris Civilis.^[49] Justinian also oversaw the construction of the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople and the reconquest of North Africa from the Vandals and Italy from the Ostrogoths. The conquest of Italy was not completed, as a deadly outbreak of plague in 542 led to the rest of Justinian's reign concentrating on defensive measures rather than further conquests.^[50]

In the eastern empire the slow infiltration of the Balkans by the Slavs added a further complication. Although it began as a small invasion, by the late 540s Slavic tribes were in Thrace and Illyrium, and had defeated an imperial army near Adrianople in 551. In the 560s the Avars began to expand from their base on the north bank of the Danube River; by the end of the 6th century they were the dominant power in Central Europe and routinely able to force the eastern emperors to give tribute. They remained a strong power until 796.^[51] Further complications were the involvement of the emperor Maurice (r. 582–602) in Persian politics when he intervened in a succession dispute. This led to a period of peace but when Maurice was overthrown in turn, the Persians invaded and during the reign of the emperor Heraclius (r. 610–641) managed to control large chunks of the Empire, including Egypt, Syria, and Asia Minor. Heraclius was eventually able to secure a peace treaty with the Persians in 628 that restored the earlier boundaries of the Empire.^[52]

Western society[link]

Society in Western Europe changed with the new rulers. Some of the Roman elite families died out while others became more involved with Church than secular affairs. The older values of Latin classics scholarship and education mostly disappeared, and while literacy remained an important skill, it became a practical skill. In the 4th century, Jerome dreamed that God rebuked him for spending more time reading Cicero than the Bible. By the 6th century, Gregory of Tours had a similar dream, but instead of being chastised for reading Cicero, he was chastised for learning shorthand.^[53] By the late 6th century, the principal means of instruction in the Church ceased to be the book and was replaced with music and art.^[54] With laymen, a similar change took place, with the aristocratic culture focusing on great feasts held in halls. Clothing for the elites was richly embellished with jewels and gold. Lords and kings supported entourages of fighters who formed the backbone of the military forces of the time. Family ties between the elites were important, as were the virtues of loyalty, courage, and honour. These ties led to the prevalence of the feud in aristocratic society, examples of which included those related by Gregory of Tours that took place in Merovingian Gaul. Most feuds, however, seem to have ended quickly with the payment of some sort of compensation usually ending the feud.^[55] Women took part in aristocratic society mainly in terms of their functions as wives or mothers of men, with the role of mother of a ruler being especially prominent in Merovingian Gaul. In Anglo-Saxon society, the lack of many child rulers meant less role for women as queen mothers but this was compensated for by the increased role played by abbesses of monasteries. Only in Italy does it appear that women were considered as always under the protection and control of some male relative.^[56]

Peasant society is much less documented than the nobility. Most of the surviving information available to historians comes from archaeology; few detailed written records documenting peasant life remain from before the 9th century. Most the descriptions of the lower classes come from either law codes or writers from the upper classes.^[57] Landholding patterns in the West were not uniform, with some areas having greatly fragmented landholding patterns and other areas with a pattern of large, contiguous blocks of land being the norm. These differences allowed for a wide variety of peasant societies with some being dominated by aristocratic landholders and others having a great deal of autonomy.^[58] Land settlement also varied greatly. Some peasants lived in large settlements that numbered as many as 700 inhabitants. Others lived in small groups of a few families and still others lived on isolated farms spread over the countryside. There were also areas where the pattern was a mix of two or more of those systems.^[59] Unlike in the late Roman period, there was no sharp break between the legal status of the free peasant and the aristocrat, however, and it was possible for a free peasant's family to rise into the aristocracy over a number of generations through military service to a powerful lord.^[60]

Rise of Islam[link]

Religious beliefs in the eastern empire and Persia were in flux during the late 6th and early 7th centuries. Judaism was an active proselytising faith, and at least one Arab political leader converted to Judaism. Christianity had active missions competing with the Persian's Zoroastrianism in seeking converts, especially amongst residents of the Arabian peninsula. All strands came together with emergence of Islam in Arabia during the lifetime of Muhammad.^[61] After Muhammad's death in 632, Islamic forces went on to conquer much of the eastern Empire as well as Persia, starting with Syria in 634–635 and later as far as Egypt in 640–641, Persia between 637 and 642, North Africa in the later 7th century and the Iberian Peninsula in 711.^[62] By the middle of the 8th century, new trading patterns were emerging in the Mediterranean, with trade between the Franks and the Arabs replacing the old Roman patterns of trade. Franks traded timber, furs, swords and slaves to the Arabs in return for silks and other fabrics, spices, and precious metals.^[63]

Trade and economy[link]

The barbarian invasions of the 4th and 5th centuries caused disruption in trade networks around the Mediterranean. African trade goods disappear from the archeological record slowly, first disappearing from the interior of Europe and by the 7th century they are usually only found in a few cities such as Rome or Naples. By the end of the 7th century, under the impact of the Muslim conquests, African products are no longer found in Western Europe, and have been mostly replaced by local products. The replacement of trade goods with local products was a trend throughout the old Roman lands that happened in the Early Middle Ages. This was especially marked in the lands that did not lie on the Mediterranean, such as northern Gaul or Britain. What non-local goods that appear in the archeological record are usually luxury goods. In the northern parts of Europe, not only were the trade networks local, but those goods that were produced were simple, with little use of pottery or other complex products. Around the Mediterranean Sea, however, pottery remained prevalent and appears to have been traded over medium range networks and not just produced locally.^[64]

Church and monasticism[link]

An 11th-century illustration of Gregory the Great dictating to a secretary

Christianity was a major unifying factor between Eastern and western Europe before the Arab conquests, but the conquest of North Africa sundered maritime connections between the areas. Increasingly the Byzantine Church, which became the Orthodox Church, differed in language, practices, and liturgy from the western Church, which became the Catholic Church. The eastern church used Greek instead of the western Latin. Theological and political differences emerged, and by the early and middle 8th century issues such as iconoclasm, clerical marriage, and state control of the church had widened enough that the cultural and religious differences were greater than the similarities.^[65] The formal break came in 1054, when the papacy and the patriarchy of Constantinople clashed over papal supremacy and mutually excommunicated each other, which led to the division of Christianity into two churches – the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church.^[66]

The ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Empire survived the barbarian invasions in the west mostly intact, but the papacy was little regarded, with few of the western bishops looking to the bishop of Rome for religious or political leadership. Many of the popes prior to 750 were in any case more concerned with Byzantine affairs and eastern theological concerns. The register, or archived copies of the letters, of Pope Gregory the Great, (pope 590–604) survives, and of those more than 850 letters, the vast majority were concerned with affairs in Italy or Constantinople. The only part of western Europe where the papacy had influence was Britain, where Gregory had sent the Gregorian mission in 597 to convert the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity.^[67] Other missionary efforts were led by the Irish, who between the 5th and the 7th centuries were the most active missionaries in western Europe, with missionaries going first to England and Scotland and then later onto the continent. Irish missionaries, under such monks as Columba (d. 597) and Columbanus (d. 615), not only founded monasteries but also taught in Latin and Greek and were active authors of secular and religious works.^[68]

The Early Middle Ages witnessed the rise of monasticism in the West. The shape of European monasticism was determined by traditions and ideas that originated in the deserts of Egypt and Syria. The style of monasticism that focuses on community experience of the spiritual life, called cenobitism, was pioneered by Pachomius (d. 348) in the 4th century. Monastic ideals spread from Egypt to western Europe in the 5th and 6th centuries through hagiographical literature such as the Life of Anthony.^[69] Benedict of Nursia (d. 547) wrote the Benedictine Rule for Western monasticism during the 6th century, detailing the administrative and spiritual responsibilities of a community of monks led by an abbot.^[70] Monks and monasteries had a deep effect on the religious and political life of the Early Middle Ages, in various cases acting as land trusts for powerful families, centres of propaganda and royal support in newly conquered regions, bases for mission, and proselytization.^[71] In addition, they were the main and sometimes only outposts of education and literacy in a region. Many of the surviving manuscripts of the Roman classics were copied in monasteries in the early Middle Ages.^[72] Monks were also the authors of new works, including history, theology, and other subjects, which were written by authors such as Bede (d. 735), a native of northern England who wrote in the late 7th and early 8th century.^[73]

Carolingian Europe[link]

The Frankish kingdom in northern Gaul developed into kingdoms called Austrasia, Neustria, and Burgundy during the 6th and 7th centuries, under the Merovingians who were descended from Clovis. The 7th century was a tumultuous period of civil wars between Austrasia and Neustria.^[74] Such warfare was exploited by Pippin of Landen, the Mayor of the Palace who became the power behind the throne. Later members of his family line inherited the office, acting as advisors and regents. One of his descendents, Charles Martel (d. 741), won the Battle of Poitiers in 732, halting the advance of Muslim armies across the Pyrenees.^[75] Muslim armies had earlier conquered the Visigothic kingdom of Spain, after defeating the last Visigothic king Ruderic (d. 711 or 712) at the Battle of Guadalete in 711, finishing the conquest by 719.^[76] Across the English Channel in the British Isles, the island of Britain was divided into small states dominated by the kingdoms of Northumbria, Mercia, Wessex, and East Anglia, which were descended from the Anglo-Saxon invaders. Smaller kingdoms in present-day Wales and Scotland were still under the control of the original native British and Picts.^[77] Ireland was divided into even smaller political units, usually known as tribal kingdoms, which were under the control of kings. There were perhaps as many as 150 local kings in Ireland, of varying importance.^[78]

Charlemagne's palace chapel at Aachen, completed in 805^[79]

The Carolingian dynasty, as the successors to Charles Martel are known, officially took control of the kingdoms of Austrasia and Neustria in a coup of 753 led by Pippin III (r. 752–768). A contemporary chronicle claims that Pippin sought, and gained, authority for this coup from Pope Stephen II (pope 752–757). Pippin's takeover was reinforced with propaganda that portrayed the Merovingians as inept or cruel rulers and exalted the accomplishments of Charles Martel and circulated stories of the family's great piety. At the time of his death in 783, Pippin left his kingdom in the hands of his two sons, Charles (r. 768–814) and Carloman (r. 768–771). When Carloman died of natural causes, Charles blocked the succession of Carloman's minor son and installed himself as the king of the united Austrasia and Neustria. Charles, known to his contemporaries as Charles the Great or Charlemagne, embarked in 774 upon a program of systematic expansion that would unify a large portion of Europe, eventually controlling modern-day France, northern Italy, and Saxony. In the wars that lasted just beyond 800, he rewarded loyal allies with war booty and command over parcels of land.^[80]

The coronation of Charlemagne as emperor on Christmas Day 800 is regarded as a turning-point in medieval history, marking a return of the western Roman Empire, since the new emperor ruled over much of the area previously controlled by the western emperors.^[81] It also marks a change in Charlemagne's relationship with the Byzantine Empire, as the assumption of the imperial title by the Carolingians asserted their equivalency to the eastern empire.^[82] However, there were a number of differences between the newly established Carolingian Empire and both the older western Roman Empire and the concurrent Byzantine Empire. The Frankish lands were rural in character, with few cities, and what cities existed were very small. Farming techniques were not advanced, and most of the people were peasants settled on small farms. Little trade existed and much of that was with the northern realms of the British Isles and Scandinavia, in contrast to the older Roman Empire which had its trading networks centered on the Mediterranean.^[81] The administration of the empire was from an itinerant court that traveled with the emperor as well as through approximately 300 imperial officials called counts, who administered the counties which the empire had been divided into. Clergy and local bishops were used as imperial officials also, as well as the imperial officials called missi dominici, who served as roving inspectors and troubleshooters.^[83]

Carolingian Renaissance[link]

Charlemagne's court in Aachen was the centre of the cultural revival sometimes referred to as the "Carolingian Renaissance". The period saw an increase in literacy, developments in the arts, architecture and jurisprudence, as well as liturgical and scriptural studies. The English monk Alcuin (d. 804) was invited to Aachen, and brought the classical Latin education available in the monasteries of Northumbria. Charlemagne's chancery made use of a new script today known as Carolingian minuscule,^[f] allowing a common writing style that advanced communication across much of Europe. Charlemagne sponsored changes in church liturgy, imposing the Roman form of church service on his domains, as well as the Gregorian chant form of liturgical music in the churches. An important activity for scholars during this period was the copying, correcting, and dissemination of basic works on religious and secular topics, with the aim of encourage learning. New works on religious topics and schoolbooks were also produced.^[85]

Breakup of the Carolingian Empire[link]

Territorial divisions of the Carolingian Empire in 843 (Treaty of Verdun), 855, and 870 (Treaty of Meersen).

While Charlemagne planned to continue the Frankish tradition of dividing his kingdom between all his heirs, this ended when only one son, Louis the Pious (r. 814–840), was still alive by 813. That year, Charlemagne crowned Louis as his successor, and died in 814. Louis's long reign of 26 years was marked by numerous divisions of the empire among his sons and, after 829, numerous civil wars between various alliances of father and sons against other sons over the control of various parts of the empire. Eventually, Louis recognized his eldest son Lothair I (d. 855) as emperor and gave him Italy. Louis divided the rest of the empire between Lothair and Charles the Bald (d. 877), his youngest son. Lothair took East Francia, comprising both banks of the Rhine and eastwards, leaving Charles West Francia with the empire to the west of the Rhineland and the Alps. Louis the German (d. 876), the middle child, who had been rebellious to the last, was allowed to keep Bavaria under the suzerainty of his elder brother. The division was not undisputed. Pepin II of Aquitaine (d. after 864), the emperor's grandson, rebelled in a contest for Aquitaine, while Louis the German tried to annex all of East Francia. Louis died in 840, with the empire still in chaos.^[86]

A three-year civil war followed his death. By the Treaty of Verdun (843), a kingdom between the Rhine and Rhone rivers was created for Lothair to go with his lands in Italy, and his imperial title was recognized. Louis the German was in control of Bavaria and the eastern lands in modern-day Germany. Charles the Bald received the western Frankish lands, comprising most of modern-day France.^[86] Charlemagne's grandsons and great-grandsons divided their kingdoms between their descendants, eventually causing all internal cohesion to be lost.^[87]

The breakup of the Carolingian Empire was accompanied by the invasions, migrations, and raids of external foes. The Atlantic and northern shores were harassed by the Vikings, who also raided the British Isles and settled in both Britain and Ireland as well as the distant island of Iceland. A further settlement of Vikings was made in France in 911 under the chieftan Rollo (d. around 931), who received permission from the Frankish king Charles the Simple (r. 898–922) to settle in what became Normandy.^[88] The eastern parts of the Frankish kingdoms, especially Germany and Italy, were under constant Magyar assault until their great defeat at the Battle of the Lechfeld in 955.^[89] The breakup of the Abbasid dynasty meant that the Islamic world fragmented into a number of smaller political states, some of which began expanding into Italy and Sicily, as well as over the Pyrenees into the southern parts of the Frankish kingdoms.^[90]

New kingdoms and a revived Byzantium[link]

10th-century Ottonian ivory plaque depicting Christ receiving a church from Otto I

Efforts by local kings to fight back the invaders led to the formation of new political entities. In Britain, King Alfred the Great (r. 871–899) in the late 9th century came to a settlement with the Viking invaders, with Danish settlements in Northumbria, Mercia, and parts of East Anglia.^[91] By the middle of the 10th century, Alfred's successors had conquered Northumbria, and restored English control over most of the southern part of the island of Great Britain.^[92] In northern Britain, Kenneth mac Alpin (d. c. 860) united the Picts and the Scots into one kingdom.^[93] In the early 10th century, the Ottonian dynasty had established itself in Germany, and the Ottonians were engaged in driving back the Magyar invaders. Their efforts culminated in the coronation in 962 of Otto I (r. 936–973) as emperor.^[94] In 972, Otto secured the recognition of his title by the Byzantine Empire, and sealed the recognition with the marriage of his son Otto II to Theophanu, a daughter of the previous Byzantine Emperor Romanos II (r. 959–963).^[95] Italy was drawn into the Ottonian sphere by the late 10th century, after a period of instability.^[96] The western Frankish kingdom was more fragmented, and although a nominal king remained theoretically in charge, much of the political power had devolved to the local lords.^[97]

Missionary efforts to Scandinavia during the 9th and 10th centuries helped strengthen the growth of kingdoms there. Swedish, Danish, and Norwegian kingdoms gained power and territory in the course of the 9th and 10th centuries, and some of the kings converted to Christianity, although the process was not complete by 1000. Scandinavians also expanded and colonized throughout Europe. Besides the settlements in Ireland, England, and Normandy, further settlement took place in what became Russia as well as in Iceland. Swedish traders and raiders ranged down the rivers of the Russian steppe, and even attempted to seize Constantinople in 860 and in 907.^[98] Christian Spain, initially driven into a small section of the peninsula in the north, expanded slowly south during the 9th and 10th centuries, establishing the kingdoms of Asturias and León in the process.^[99]

In eastern Europe, Byzantium had revived its fortunes under the Emperor Basil I (r. 867–886) and his successors Leo VI (r. 886–912) and Constantine VII (r. 913–959), members of the Macedonian dynasty. Commerce revived and the emperors oversaw the extension of a uniform administration to all the provinces. The military was reorganized which allowed the emperors John I (r. 969–976) and Basil II (r. 976–1025) to expand the frontiers of the empire on all fronts. The imperial court was the centre of a revival of classical learning, a process known as the Macedonian Renaissance. Writers such as John Geometres composed new hymns, poems, and other works.^[100] Missionary efforts by both eastern and western clergy resulted in the conversion of the Moravians, Bulgars, Bohemians, Poles, Magyars, and the Slavic inhabitants of the Kievan Rus'. These conversions contributed to the founding of political states in the lands of those peoples – the states of Moravia, Bulgaria, Bohemia, Poland, Hungary, and the Kievan Rus'.^[101]