They were generally narrated through Christian or religious symbols and metaphors. Medieval literature is well known, especially with regard to chivalric cycles, in which the adventures of Christian warriors were told in a vast world, full of magic and mysteries. This is the final stretch of the Middle Ages. Also called The Secular Crisis, it spans the last two centuries of the Middle Ages and witnessed the destabilization of medieval society as a result of prolonged war conflicts, as well as the emergence of future modern values, such as the crisis of scholasticism. It is considered a peak moment of medieval culture, with the optimal climatic period providing the necessary heat for more tolerable winters and more abundant harvests. It spans from the 11th to the 13th centuries, when the city was born and the expulsion of Islam from various parts of Europe began to occur, such as the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily or the Near East. The late Middle Ages in turn comprise two stages: At this stage the early bourgeoisie emerged as a new social class, which promoted the changes necessary for the emergence of capitalism and the end of the Middle Ages. The properly feudal stage of the Middle Ages, marked by the appearance of the Black Death (1348) that claimed millions of lives in Europe and reduced its population by half. Low Middle Ages (11th to 15th centuries). It ended with the proper beginning of feudal institutions, the rise in the East of the Macedonian dynasty, and the decline of the Abbasid Caliphate. Christianity was consolidated in Europe and spread to new territories, while Jerusalem passed into Muslim hands. It began with the fall of the Roman Empire. Early or High Middle Ages (5th to 10th centuries).The Middle Ages is commonly divided into two stages: See also Revolution - Concept, Classification and Examples Stages of the Middle Ages However, in the Middle Ages massive epidemics, military invasions and superstition aboundedAlthough in the latter it is possible that Christianity classified as ignorance or superstition any vestige of previous pagan religions. The diversity of what happened over a thousand years does not allow a too homogeneous reading. For instance, the ancient slave mode of production was replaced by the feudal mode of production. It was a long period of deep but slow transformations. Usually, faith prevailed over reason or understanding. However, these supernatural beings were part of the current imaginary at the time, in which local traditions and beliefs clashed with the dominant Christian religion. Although much of it is shown romantically in contemporary fiction, there never was magic, no species other than human (elves, orcs, goblins, etc.), or dragons. The Middle Ages It is the time of the knights errant, of the Catholic kings and kingdoms, and of the long wars rural for religious reasons. The consideration that the history of Europe is the history of the world is a biased, Eurocentric and discriminatory historical criterion. However, medieval life was far from being immovable or serene, but it was the scene of numerous human displacements, abundant wars and new political forms, mainly in the border cultures to the European one, like Muslim Arab or Eastern Christianity (Byzantium).Įspecially important was the clash between Christian and Islamic civilizations, with reciprocal attempts at conquest such as the Muslim expansion from the 7th to the 15th century or the numerous Christian Crusades.įinally, it should be noted that the Middle Ages, as a historical period, cannot be fully applied to civilizations other than the Western one, such as China, India or Japan, flourishing during that same period. During this period, society embraced a feudal order, essentially rural or peasant, and Christian dogmatism ruled the culture. The Middle Ages receives its name from being the transition between the Ancient Age and the Modern Age.
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