After the fall of Rome in 476 CE, Europe began to decline socially, politically and culturally. The Early Middle Ages lasted between 500 CE to 1100 CE with Emperor Charlemagne in charge. Emperor Charlemagne was a political leader and was also the King of Franks. His name in French meant “King Charles”. The Dark Ages best describes the Early Middle Ages - the era between 500 CE to 1100 CE. Europe had a decline in social, political, and cultural aspects in Europe. Therefore, peoples’ daily lives were cruel and full of poverty, full of invasions, lack of education and technology.
The social aspect of peoples lives during the Early Middle Ages was best labeled as the Dark Ages. First, people that lived in the village had many problems with their house. The floor was made out of dirt, the roof was made out of straw material, and the walls were made out of gum. Since straws weren’t inflammable; while they were cooking, the sparks of fire can set the straw roof on fire and cause it to burn down. Also, since there was no chimneys and the windows were small, the house was always full of smoke. Next, the population gradually decreased because of increasing natural causes and human destruction. There were famines and plagues, which gave a big impact on the population. There were also many floods and storms, which caused farming to become more difficult and when farmers can’t farm, their families basically die. Finally, according to A World Lit Only By Fire, “Although homicides were twice as frequent as deaths by accident, English coroners’ records show that only one of every hundred murders was ever brought to justice” (Manchester 6). This showed that people living in the Early Middle Ages had a hard time living because of hars...
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... to live as comfortably because of where they lived, what was coming, and when the changes were being made. Because nothing was sanitized, people were not immuned to get sick even within their own homes. Most people were afraid to leave their homes because it was dangerous outside and it’s mainly caused by the invasions from either the Vikings, the Magyars, or the Muslims. During the Early Middle Ages, people did not have a structured education because intelligence was not as important or valued. Inventions often took a large amount of time to finalize and when it gets finalize, some families don’t live far enough to see it. Some families had faith that a new invention would help them live, but when it didn’t, families died. Based on the negative impacts on the daily lives of people in the Early Middle Ages, it is described and labeled today as the Dark Ages.
The European middle ages lasted from the 5th century to the 15th century, which started the fall of the Western Roman Empire and moved to the Renaissance and the Age of Discovery. The classical antiquity, the medieval period, and the modern period were the divisions to the early, high, and late middle ages. The gothic awakening was in England during the 1750s, caused by the medieval forms. Medieval Europe was awakening from a feudal war and ignorance. The new way of learning was spread in the western society. In the gothic awakening age, towns and kingdoms flourished and built churches across Europe.
“Feudalism was a political, economic, and social system in which nobles were granted the use of land that legally belonged to the king” (Doc. 1) "Social" life in the Middle Ages was the only kind of life people knew. Whether nobility, craftsperson or peasant your life was defined by your family, your community and those around you (OI). “The Church protected the Kings and Queens (OI).” “The King is above Nobles, Nobles above Knights, and the Knights are above serfs (Doc.1).” “ Nobles provides money and knights. Knights provide protection and military service (Doc. 1).” Social network, your village and your local nobility, was your family (OI).” “From the moment of its baptism a few days after birth, a child entered into a life of service to God and God’s Church (Doc.3).” “Every Person was required to live by the Church’s laws and to pay heavy taxes to support the Church (Doc.3).” “In return for this, they were shown the way to everlasting life and happiness after lives that were often short and hard (Doc. 3).” In conclusion, this is what it was like in the Middle Ages from a social
Many different classes of people existed in the Middle Ages. Each class had a certain and very different way of life than the other. Peasants in the Middle Ages had extremely difficult lives. Domestic life for the peasants during the Middle Ages was endured with many hardships and sacrifices, but in the end they were just everyday citizens doing what they had to in order to survive.
With the decline of the Western Roman empire Western Europe was a disjointed land that had no true unifying structure till the rise of Christianity. In Roman antiquity people used the State or empire of Rome to define themselves and give them a sense of unity despite having a diverse group of people within the empire. When Western Rome fell this belief based on a Roman cultural identity disappeared and no longer were people able to identify themselves with any particular group as they once have. The Christian religion was able to fill this vacuum by having the people associate themselves to a religion instead of a given state or cultural group. During Medieval Europe Christianity became the unifying force that would define what it meant to be European. Christianity gave political leaders legitimacy by showing that they have been favored by the gods. The clergyman that recorded the histories surrounding the kings of the Medieval Europe also provided a link to the Roman Empire to give the Kings a link to Roman empire of antiquity. Christianity became the center of the cultural life in western Europe and created a new social elite in Europe which would dominate literacy and knowledge within Europe for centuries. Christianity provided Europe with an escape from the disorder of the Medieval ages and give them a spiritual outlet for their fears and desires for a better life, whether in the physical life or in the spiritual world after death.
The Medieval Times for Europe, from the 400 AD till 1400 AD, are often labeled as “The Dark Ages”. This time period has begun after a turning point known as Fall of Rome. It caused Rome to divide into two well-known civilizations: Medieval Europe, Islam, and The Byzantine Empire. Also, Medieval Europe led to a well known utopian period of “rebirth” identified as the Renaissance. The time period between 400 CE and 1400 CE wasn’t a “Dark Age” for Europe because of progress in academic success, blossom in architecture, and religious unity along with government. It wasn’t a cultural decay or decline because of the legendary time period it led to.
Norman Davies, a leading English historian, wrote, “There is an air of immobility about many descriptions of the medieval world” (Davies 291). However, these descriptions he refers to do not capture the true essence of the Middle Ages of Europe, which were a continuation and a formation. They were a continuation of old Rome in race, language, institutions, law, literature, arts, and in cultures independent of Rome. Nevertheless, the Middle Ages were not merely a continuation; they were the formation of our world. Many modern-day historians argue that the so-called Dark Ages were a period of ascent rather than of descent, that with the withering of the pagan classic civilization came the first budding of a new culture that was to develop into our modern civilization. James M. Powell, a prominent historian, agreed with this argument concerning the untold progress of this age. Powell believed that the Medieval Ages was a multi-faceted period of time in which the roots of modern civilization began to emerge, and that it was. This time period was critical because, although it seemed to be a dark age, seeds were being planted for future generations such as ours. These seeds have sprouted and have given us templates to work with regarding issues of centralization, the economy, scholasticism, education, expressions of art, and religion.
In the year 476 A.D., Rome officially fell as the greatest and most thriving empire at the time. The time period following this downfall was called the Middle Ages, more infamously recalled as the Dark Ages; but were these years truly as dark as historians say? These medieval times lasted for approximately one thousand years, could such a long time period have been all that dreadful? The answer will soon become clear. The Middle Ages deserved to have the alias of the Dark Ages because there were several severe illnesses, the monarchs were cruel, and the crusades brought the death of many.
Within popular discourse, the historical period of the Middle Ages is synonymous with the term “Dark Ages”: how did this particular equation come about? The immediate connotations of the Dark Ages are clearly negative: they suggest oppression, ignorance and a period of motionless in human development. The reason behind this description of the Middle Ages is arguably the result of a contrast to the subsequent periods of the Renaissance and the Enlightenment: the Renaissance itself signals a “new birth”, whereas the Enlightenment clearly evokes images of a new insight and vision wielded by humanity. Accordingly, the negative values ascribed to the Middle Ages are the result of this historical period’s difference to the Renaissance. Such an account, namely, judges the Middle Ages from an entirely different world-view.
Man was lonely during the Middle Ages. Life was very harsh and everyone worked except the king. The usual life expectancy was 35. People lived in small farming communities. Everyone lived in constant fear of being raided by foreign invaders such as the Vikings. When they were not worrying about being invaded they were scared of plague and other living conditions. Man's position in the world was unknown. Knowledge, wealth, and governing body had to be recreated. Cities were far and few between and much less populated and developed like today's cities. The Middle Ages was a religious age. Man clung to God as creator. People painstakingly built churches. Religion was what was the most important to people for a long time, and to be excommunicated was horrible.
The bird-like beak contained spices and vinegar-soaked cloth to mask the stench of death and decay.” And in the dark ages there was a lot of civil wars and invasions and to prove that (Doc 7) states “The barbarians have broken through the ramparts [defensive wall]. The Saracen [Moors] invasions have spread in successive waves over the South. The Hungarians [Magyars] swarm over the Eastern provinces….they sacked town and village, and laid waste in the fields. They burned the churches and then departed with a crowd of captives….There is no longer any trade, only unceasing terror….The peasant has abandoned his ravaged fields to avoid the violence of anarchy. The people have gone to cower [crouch down in fear] in the depths of the forests or in inaccessible regions, or have taken refuge in the high mountains….Society has no longer any government.” In the Dark ages life was hard as (Doc 2) states “The Manor was the economic side of feudalism. The manor was a mostly self-sufficient system in which the lord’s land (granted by the king) was farmed by his serfs (bound to the land). The manor included not just farmers, but also artisans who provided for the needs of the manor, a chapel, forest for hunting, and pastureland for farm
Without modern technology social life in the Middle Ages was define by your family, community and those around you regardless of what kind of skills or field you were in. The majority of people did not live in large cities like our society do today. There were limited social contact except with their village or family which was their community network. I think their society was a little dull comparing to today’s society, because they had a daily standard routine not saying our society doesn’t have a routine as well, but it just seems just a little more interesting.
The Dark Ages is a name given to Europe during A.D. 500-1400. According to historian Frantz Funck-Brentano from document one, the conditions in Europe were really bad. There was no trade going on, only unceasing terror. This was happening because the Saracen invasions and the Hungarians were swarming over the Eastern provinces. European churches were burned down and then departed with a crowd of captives. In the years 842-846, Anglo-Saxon tells us there was a great slaughter in London, Quentaxic and Rochester. The Northmen stole goods and burned the town Dordrecht in 846 evidenced in document three.
Imagine having to bury your own children. How awful would that be? The Middle Ages were a brutal time that included the bubonic plague, many wars and other horrible things. This period is considered to be one of religion and the Catholic Church, but this was overshadowed by chaos and confusion. Although the Middle Ages is often known as the age of faith, a more appropriate title for the time period would be The Dark Ages because of the black death, wars and the collapse of government.
People in the Dark Ages were engulfed in the shadow of greatness of their predecessors, which 18th-century English historian Edward Gibbon called “barbarism and religion,” (History). Life in Europe during the Dark Ages were quite simple, as there was no efforts in unifying Europe, and the Catholic church was the only real body of power in Europe at this time. European societies were governed by feudalism, in which the king gives land to the nobles, while peasants worked on the land to live there in return. Little is actually known about this era, in that nothing significant was recorded, announcing it a “dark’ era. There was little to nothing significant about this time period in Europe, other than strong Catholic authority. A shift begins during this time period
In the Medieval Period, life was either very great or very bad, according to your class. Only 2 classes existed during this time: the nobles, such as kings and knights who lived inside the castle, or the peasants, such as working-class people who lived in often unspeakable conditions. The peasants treated the nobles with the utmost respect, for if they didn’t, then the nobles could have them beheaded. (Sanders, p 34). The nobles were almost always the ones who owned land, and the peasants worked on this land in exchange for a small portion of it, in a sense, rented out in exchange for the labor. Peasants often worked 16-hour days as long as they could see into the nighttime and got very bad nourishment. The noble was not interested in the health of the peasants working on his land, as there was a significant supply of others who were very willing to take his or her place.