Middle Ages Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ==Terminology and periodisation== [[File:Avignon, Palais des Papes by JM Rosier.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|alt=A large robust stone building with one large and two smaller towers|[[Palais des Papes]] ([[Avignon]], France)]] The Middle Ages is one of the three major periods in the most enduring scheme for analysing [[History of Europe|European history]]: [[Classical civilization|Antiquity]], the Middle Ages and the [[Modern history|modern period]].{{sfn|Power|2006|p=3}} The Italian [[Leonardo Bruni]] (d. 1444) was the first historian to use tripartite [[periodisation]] in 1442,{{sfn|Hankins|2001|pp=xvii–xviii}} and it became standard with the German historian [[Christoph Cellarius]] (d. 1707).{{refn|group=note|Medieval writers had divided history into periods such as the [[Six Ages of the World|Six Ages]] or the [[Four kingdoms of Daniel|Four Empires]], and considered their time to be the last before the [[Christian eschatology|end of the world]].{{sfn|Mommsen|1942|p=238}}}}{{sfn|Murray|2004|p=4}} The adjective medieval, meaning pertaining to the Middle Ages,{{sfn|Hornby|2005|p=955}} derives from {{lang|la|medium aevum}} ('middle age'), a [[Neo-Latin]] term first recorded in 1604.{{sfn|Onions|Friedrichsen|Burchfield|1994|p=566}} The Middle Ages customarily spans the period between around 500 and 1500 but both the start and end years are arbitrary.{{sfn|Fried|2015|p=viii}}{{sfn|Wickham|2016|p=1}}{{sfn|Rubin|2014|p=1}} A commonly given starting point, first used by Bruni, is 476—the year the last [[List of Western Roman Emperors|Western Roman Emperor]] was deposed.{{sfn|Hankins|2001|pp=xvii–xviii}}{{sfn|Rubin|2014|p=5}} As an alternative, the conversion of the Roman emperor [[Constantine the Great]] ({{reign|306|337}}) to Christianity is mentioned. There is no universally agreed-upon end date either; the most frequently used dates include 1453 (the [[Fall of Constantinople]]), 1492 ([[Christopher Columbus]]'s first voyage to the [[Americas]]), and 1517 (the start of the [[Reformation|Protestant Reformation]]).{{sfn|Davies|1996|pp=291–293}} Europe, as the historian [[Miri Rubin]] emphasises, "did not live to a single rhythm over this period": the [[Christianisation of Europe|Christianisation]], or conversion of Europe to [[Christianity]] happened in waves, and [[urbanization|(re)urbanisation]] began in different regions in different periods.{{sfn|Rubin|2014|p=1}} According to scholarly consensus, the period is characterised by the predominance of agriculture in the economy, the exploitation of the peasantry, the importance of [[Interpersonal relationship|interpersonal relations]]—violence, [[patronage]], kinship, and [[charisma]]—in power structures, slow interregional communication, and fragile state bureaucracy.{{sfn|Arnold|2021|pp=21, 132–134}} Historians from [[Romance languages|Romance language-speaking]] countries 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 period into three intervals: [[Early Middle Ages|Early]], [[High Middle Ages|High]], and [[Late Middle Ages]].{{sfn|Power|2006|p=304}} In the {{nowrap|19th century}}, the entire Middle Ages were often referred to as the [[Dark Ages (historiography)|Dark Ages]], but with the adoption of the three subdivisions in the early {{nowrap|20th century}}, use of the term was restricted to the Early Middle Ages.{{sfn|Mommsen|1942|p=226}} Historians who regard the Middle Ages as a [[Eurocentrism|Eurocentric]] concept tend to avoid its use for [[World history (field)|global history]], although studies on "[[Medieval India]]", "Muslim Middle Ages", and similar subjects are not exceptional.{{sfn|Holmes|Standen|2018|pp=15–16}}{{sfn|Heng|2021|pp=18–24}} Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page