The Middle Ages

The middle ages were a time of darkness and death. I disagree and agree with the term “dark ages” describing the middle ages because they weren’t just a time of death and darkness, but advancement as well.

Early Middle Ages

In the early middle ages, Rome began to fall. The cities infrastructures started to decay and break apart and since Rome lacked a strong leadership there was no one there to tell someone to repair them. Rome’s borders changed day after day and people wandered into neighboring countries which brought confusion and war. People lived in very local villages and had their own religions which made most people superstitious of life.

Feudalism was Rome’s main type of government in the early middle ages. Feudalism consisted of a king that ruled lords and those lords ruled lesser lords with ruled serfs. The king hired the lords and lesser lords to control land but it was a very confusing process. Lords were always attacking each other to increase their wealth and property. The confusing part was that if a lesser lord died, no one would be controlling the land that he controlled. The king would have to then control that land till he could find a replacement but then, a lord would control the king.

High Middle Ages

Stronger monarchies made it possible to act quickly when needed. They created stability, trade, and protection throughout Rome. Eventually, a middle class was created. The middle class was significant because it made up most of Rome’s population and instead of bartering and working to live on land, people worked for money.

The crusades were religious missions to get people to convert to Christianity. Over the years of people traveling from country to country the demand for eastern good had risen. Cultural diffusion, advances in medicine, optics, and the reintroduction to Greek ideas were all caused by the crusades.

Late Middle Ages

The black death of 1347 killed 1/3 of the European population. You may think this is a bad thing but in fact, it was very helpful to European society. The huge loss of workers caused wages to raise considerable high and the huge loss of people in general caused others to question their faith. People started looking towards science to answer their questions.

The Magna Carta set limits on the power of the king or, in other words, bound him by law. The kings could no longer do whatever they wanted. They had to abide by rules which led to different types of governments today. The Magna Carta was a very significant document.