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! ===Western society=== {{see also|Early medieval European dress}} In Western Europe, values attached to [[Latin literature|Latin scholarship]] and [[Education in Ancient Rome|education]] mostly disappeared. While literacy remained important, it became a practical skill rather than a sign of elite status. By the late {{nowrap|6th century}}, the principal means of religious instruction had become music and art rather than the book.{{sfn|Brown|1989|pp=174–181}} Most intellectual efforts went towards imitating classical scholarship, but some [[Early medieval literature|original works]] were created. The writings of [[Sidonius Apollinaris]] (d. 489), [[Cassiodorus]] (d. {{circa|585}}), and [[Boethius]] (d. {{circa|525}}) were typical of the age.{{sfn|Brown|2001|pp=45–49}} Aristocratic culture focused on great feasts rather than on literary pursuits. Family ties within 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. Most feuds seem to have ended quickly with the payment of some sort of [[weregild|compensation]].{{sfn|Wickham|2009|pp=189–193}} Women took part in aristocratic society mainly in their roles as wives and mothers, with the role of mother of an underage ruler being especially prominent in Francia. In Anglo-Saxon society the lack of many child rulers meant a lesser role for women as queen mothers, but this was compensated for by the increased role played by [[abbess]]es of monasteries.{{sfn|Wickham|2009|pp=195–199}} Women's influence on politics was fragile, and early medieval authors tended to depict powerful women in a bad light.{{refn|group=note|Among the powerful women, the Arian Visigothic queen [[Goiswintha]] (d. 589) was a vehement but unsuccessful opponent of her people's conversion to Catholicism, and the Frankish queen [[Brunhilda of Austrasia]] (d. 613) was torn to pieces by horses at the age of 70.{{sfn|Wickham|2009|pp=116, 197}}}}{{sfn|Wickham|2009|pp=116, 195–197}} In Scandinavian societies, women were more respected: a [[Vikings|Viking]] woman could command ships,{{refn|group=note|In the {{nowrap|9th century}}, [[Aud the Deep-Minded (Ketilsdóttir)|Unn the Deep-Minded]] assumed the command of a [[knarr]] ship after her son died; the 10th-century "[[Birka grave Bj 581|Birka Warrior]]" was a woman interred with an axe, sword, quiver of arrows, and spears.{{sfn|Ramirez|2022|pp=97–98, 117–118}}}} act as a [[Seeress (Germanic)|seeress]], and demand a compensation from her husband for [[domestic violence]].{{sfn|Ramirez|2022|pp=113–118}} Women usually died at considerably younger age than men, primarily owing to [[maternal death|complications at childbirth]]. The disparity between the numbers of marriageable women and grown men led to the detailed regulation of legal institutions protecting women's interests, including their right to the {{lang|de|[[Morgengabe]]}} ('morning gift').{{sfn|Backman|2022|p=120}} Early medieval laws acknowledged a man's right to have long-term sexual relationships with women other than his wife, such as [[concubinage|concubines]], but women were expected to remain faithful. Clerics censured sexual unions outside marriage, and [[monogamy]] became also the norm of secular law in the {{nowrap|9th century}}.{{sfn|Bitel|2002|pp=180–182}} [[File:Frühmittelalterliches Dorf.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.3|alt=A group of wooden structures covered with shingles or thatch|Reconstruction of an early medieval peasant village in [[Bavaria]], [[Germany]]]] [[Landholding]] patterns were not uniform; some areas had greatly fragmented holdings, but in other areas large contiguous blocks of land were the norm. These differences allowed for a wide variety of peasant societies, some dominated by aristocratic landholders and others having a great deal of autonomy.{{sfn|Wickham|2009|pp=205–210}} Land settlement also varied greatly. Some peasants lived in large settlements that numbered as many as {{nowrap|700 inhabitants}}, others on isolated farms.{{sfn|Wickham|2009|pp=211–212}} As legislation made a clear distinction between free and unfree, there was no sharp break between the legal status of the free peasant and the aristocrat, and it was possible for a free peasant's family to rise into the aristocracy through military service.{{sfn|Wickham|2009|p=215}} Demand for slaves was covered through warring and raids. After the Anglo-Saxons' conversion to Christianity, slave hunters mainly targeted the pagan Slav tribes—hence the English word "slave" from {{lang|la|slavicus}}, the [[Medieval Latin]] term for Slavs.{{sfn|McCormick|2010|pp=733–744}} Christian ethics brought about significant changes in the position of slaves from the {{nowrap|7th–8th centuries}}, as they were no more regarded as their lords' property.{{sfn|Backman|2022|pp=119–120}} City life and culture was declining. Although the northern Italian cities remained inhabited, they contracted significantly in size.{{refn|group=note|Rome, for instance, shrank from a population of hundreds of thousands to around 30,000 by the end of the {{nowrap|6th century}}.{{sfn|Brown|2001|p=26}}}}{{sfn|Brown|2001|pp=24–26}} In Northern Europe, cities also shrank, while civic monuments and other public buildings were raided for building materials.{{sfn|Gies|Gies|1973|pp=3–4}} The Jewish communities survived in Spain, southern Gaul and Italy. The Visigothic kings made concentrated efforts to convert the [[Sephardic Jews|Hispanic Jews]] to Christianity but the Jewish community [[Golden age of Jewish culture in Spain|quickly regenerated]] after the [[Muslim conquest of Spain]].{{sfn|Chazan|2006|pp=77–78, 90–93, 116–117}} Whereas Muslim rulers employed Jewish courtiers,{{sfn|Chazan|2006|p=92}} Christian legislation forbade the Jews' appointment to government positions.{{sfn|McCormick|2010|p=649}} 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