Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a period of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The period followed the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476, and preceded the Early Modern Era. The discovery of America also happened in this period. The Middle Ages are one of the three major periods of European history: classical civilization, or Antiquity; the Middle Ages; and the modern period. The Middle Ages can be subdivided into three intervals, the Early Middle Ages (476-1000), the High Middle Ages (1000 1300), and the Late Middle Ages (13001453). The early part of the Middle Ages is often termed as the Dark Age for the reason that we dont have much knowledge about life and conditions during that time. The attack of Roman Empire and its destruction by the Barbarians in 455 AD marks the end of the ancient period and the beginning of the Middle Ages. It lasted up to the 11th century. The word Barbarian means uncultured. Later Middle Age witnessed a definite advance towards culture. During the eighth century Europe came to have feudal society. Trade and commerce had declined, and her cities lost their importance. For a time the Merovingian and Carolingian dynasties tried to unify western Europe.
THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE
French Emperor Charlamagne (768-814) built a large Roman empire after fighting not less than fifty battles with his enemies. On a Christmas day in 800 A.D., Pope Leo III crowned Charlamagne as the Emperor and thereby indicating he was the natural successor to the extinct Roman Empire. Thus the Holy Roman Empire had its beginning. It may be said that the relation between the Pope, the leader of spiritual power and the emperor, head of temporal power, came to be established on a sound footing.
Charlamagne, who belonged to Carolingian dynasty was the founder of the Holy Roman Empire. During the Seventh century Islam was founded by Mohammed, the Prophet. Islam united all the Arabs and further paved the way for their cultural advancement. Monasticism originated in Europe in the Middle Ages. Feudal System first emerged in Europe. The word feudalism originated from the word fief or fued which means land given to peasant. Feudalism began in France following the death of Emperor Charlamagne (814 A.D.) and spread to many parts of disturbed Europe. The structure of feudal relationship was like a pyramid. King was on top of the pyramid and slaves were at the bottom. Feudalism came to an end towards AD 1000 by the influence of Christianity. During the early Middle Ages and the Islamic Golden Age, Is-
lamic philosophy, science, and technology were more advanced than in Western Europe. The replacement of Roman numerals with the decimal number system and the invention of algebra allowed more advanced mathematics. Outstanding achievement in the High Middle Ages includes the Code of Justinian, the mathematics of Fibonacci and Oresme, the philosophy of Thomas Aquinas, the painting of Giotto, and the poetry of Dante and Chaucer. In the 12th and 13th centuries there occurred several wars between Christians and Muslims in Palestine. These battles are known as Crusades. The Crusades were a series of religiously sanctioned military campaigns waged by much of Latin Christian Europe, particularly the Franks of France and the Holy Roman Empire. The specific crusades to restore Christian control of the Holy Land were fought over a period of nearly 200 years, between 1095 and 1291. Other campaigns
in Spain and Eastern Europe continued into the 15th century. Crusades resulted in the spread of Islam to Europe. Between 1000 and 1300 A.D. Europe witnessed agricultural prosperity, growth of towns and universities, strong monarchies and the supremacy of the papal authority. Between 1300 and 1500 A.D. famous wars like the Hundred Years War and Ottoman invasions, famines and plague (the Black Death), and the decline of the papacy took place. A few intellectuals began to challenge the doctrines and practices of the Catholic church.
sal with hundreds came really univer be ch ur Ch ic ol th The Roman Ca pe. set up all over Euro e leader of of churches being me claimed to be th Ro of op sh bi e th e tim of st s the fir bishop of In the course ted that St. Peter wa no be ay m It . m the christendo heaven. rusted with keys of e barbarians, the Rome who was ent the invasions of th to e du e m Ro or ll in western Europe. With the fa super-government of le ro e th ay pl to pal authority over Church began -604) founded the Pa 40 (5 at re G e th ry rmany to spread Pope Grego ries to Britain and Ge na io iss m nt se d an great heights from temporal affairs d prestige reached an ity or th au l pa early fourteenth Christianity. Pa in 1073 A.D., to the II V y or eg Gr pe Po the accession of cent ury.
Medieval Church
and Papacy
The Byzantine empire
The Byzantine Empire was the product of the most fateful decision taken by the Roman Emperor Diocletian in 293 A.D., to divide his vast empire into two parts for administrative and military reasons. The Western Roman Empire ceased to exist, the eastern Roman Empire or Byzantine empire remained in existence for another thousand years i.e., up to 1453 A.D. It was under Justinian the Great (482-565 A.D.) that the empire attained the zenith of glory. He was a great general, brilliant administrator and a famous builder. Constantinople became the Queen of cities with a population of about a million and enjoying a most flourishing trade in the world. Constantine converted to Chris-
tianity in 312 A.D. He not only declared Christianity as the official religion in 325 A.D., but also dedicated Constantinople to the Virgin Mary. Guilds were the merchant organisations of Europe in the Middle Ages. The University of Italy founded in 825 A.D was the first University in Europe. Paris University was the first University in France. Oxford University was founded in 1163 AD and Cambridge in 1284 in England. Christianity was responsible for making the Barbarians a civilised people. The Monastery of Monte Casino was founded by St. Benedict. The word Catholic means Omnipresent. Pope was the head of Medieval Christian Church. St. Augustine, the bishop of Hippo (north Africa), wrote one of the most original works of the
time titled The City of God. During the 13th century two new kinds of wandering friars (monks)- Franciscans and Dominicans-began to travel all over Europe. The founders of these two orders were St. Francis of Assisi (1181-1226) and St. Dominic (1170- 1221) respectively. St. Augustine undertook the missionary work of converting the Anglo-Saxons in England. Earlier, St. Patrick had gone to Ireland to convert the Irish people to Christianity in 444 A.D. Pope Gregory II sent St. Boniface to Germany to carry on his missionary work. He founded the Carolingian Church and became a martyr at Frisia in 754 A.D. The silver jubilee celebrations of the Pope John Paul IIs Pontification has been one of the longest in the history of the Papacy celebrated in 2003. Pope John Paul II died on 2 April 2005. He belonged to Poland.
Pope Pius IX was the Pope who ruled the longest term (31 years) John Paul II is the Pope with second longest term (26 years). John Paul II was the first Pope to accept the Theory of Evolution by Charles Darwin. John Paul II visited India twice (1986, 1999) Crossing the Threshold of Hope Gift and MysteryRoman Tryptych Meditations Rise up Let us Go, Memory and Identity are the books written by Pope John Paul II. Joseph Ratzinger of Germany who came to be known as Benedict XVI became the 265th Pope after the death of John Paul II. Benedict XVI is the second oldest person (78) to become the Pope. Latin Language is considered as theVehicle of Medieval Culture.
The Chinese empire
Ming Dynasty (1368 to 1644) In 1368 the Chinese were successful in driving out the Mongol conquerors who had occupied their land for nearly a century. An inmate of a Buddhist monastery, Ming, was able to establish his control over China from 1368 to 1644 A.D. The rulers of his dynasty were able to recover partly the lost frontiers of old China. Their naval expeditions succeeded in establishing contacts with distant countries such as Cambodia, Cochin, Siam, Sumatra, Java and the islands near the African coasts. Influ-
r wa s a conflict The Hundred Years Wa nd lasting 116 years, between France and Engla s in this war that Joan from 1337 to 1453. It wa sant girl, obtained of Arc, a brave French pea at Orleans. She led victory over the English l important victothe French army to severa ars War, claiming ries during the Hundred Ye s indirectly responsidivine guidance, and wa the patron saints Charles VII. She is one of ble for the coronation of of France. way for further exploitation. ence of China overseas reached For Europe as a whole, the congreat heights. quest of Constantinople by the Turks in 1453 is commonly used It was during the time of the as the end date of the Middle Mings that the Europeans esAges. tablished their contacts with the Chinese. The Portuguese were The Late Middle Ages were a the first to step on the Chinese period initiated by calamities soil (1514). The Spaniards also and upheavals including the went there in 1575. In 1604 the Great Famine of 1315-1317. Dutch followed their example. The Black Death, a disease that The English reached the shores killed as much as a third of the of China in 1637. population in the mid-14th cenFollowing the footsteps of the tury. European merchants, the Chris- The High Middle Ages were tian missionaries reached the characterized by the urbanizashores of China to propagate tion of Europe, military expanChristianity. sion, and intellectual revival. Manchu Emperors (1644- The High Middle Ages saw an 1838) :- The most prominent explosion in population. Manchu Emperors were Kang The Late Middle Ages also witHsi (1661-1772) and Chien Lung nessed the rise of strong na(1736-1796). They encouraged tion-states, particularly the art, architecture, literature and Kingdom of England, the Kinglearning. Many outlying redom of France, and the Chrisgions of China such as Korea, tian kingdoms of the Iberian Mongolia, Tibet, Burma and Peninsula. Indo-China all came under their sway. Modern Age The Opium War (1839-42) which broke out between England and The Renaissance China resulted in a disastrous The literal meaning of Renaisdefeat of the latter and paved sance is rebirth or revival.
37-1453 Hundred Years' War (13
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly from the 14th to the 17th century. Beginning in Italy, and spreading to the rest of Europe by the 16th century, its influence affected literature, philosophy, art, politics, science, religion, and other aspects of intellectual inquiry. The capture of Constantinople by the Turks in 1453 was the cause of Renaissance in Europe. The new name of Constanti nople is Istambul. Renaissance was actually the rebirth of Classical Greeco-Roman literature and learning. The fall of the Byzantine Empire in 1453, accompanied by the closure of its schools of higher learning by the Ottoman Turks, brought many other Greek scholars to Italy and beyond, who brought with them Greek manuscripts, and knowledge of the classical Greek literature. The Renaissance emerged in Italy roughly between AD 1300 and AD 1550. Divine Comedy written by Dante was a classical work of the Renaissance period. The first great poet of the Renaissance Age was Dante. Divine Comedy reflected human love,
Leonardo da Vincis Vitruvian Man shows clearly the effect writers of Antiquity had on Renaissance thinkers. Based on the specifications in Vitruviuss De architectura around 1500 years before, Da Vinci tried to draw the perfectly proportioned man.
of the country and interest in natural phenomena. Humanism is considered as the heart and soul of Renaissance. Petrarch, an Italian poet is considered as the father of Humanism. The natural, the human, and the sensual were given precedence
The birth place of Renaissance movement was Italy. Italy is known as the Cradle of Renaissance
Monalisa by Leonardo da Vinci is a master piece of Renaissance and world art
over the ascatical, the super natural and the theological. The Germans attempted to connect Humanism and theology and to instill the spirit of reform into classical learning (Martin Luthers conflict with Papacy). Several important scholers like Erasmus were attracted to Paris. Chauser was a leader in the cultural revival in England. Niccolo Machiavelli wrote a book on politics named The Prince Machiavelli is known as Italian Kautilya and Kautilya is known as Indian Machiavelli. The Renaissance painters painted directly on plaster walls called frescoes. Madona and The School of Athens are the famous paintings of Raphael. St. Peters Basilica in Rome was built under the patronage of Pope Julius II and Pope Leo X It was designed by Michelangelo. The great composition
an Italian ro da Vinci was ie P r se di o rd ect, musiLeona scul ptor, archit r, te in pa h: at neer, inpolym m atician, engi he at m t, is nt ie ographer, cian, sc geologist, cart t, is om at an , nsidered ventor He is widel y co r. te ri w d an st botani of al l time. ea test pain ters gr e th of e on the st ate to be ea tly advanced gr he t, is nt ie sc As a om y, ci vil e fi elds of an at th in e dg le ow amics. of kn , and hydrodyn cs ti op g, in er engine a Lisa were n and The Mon ila M in co es fr a er other two outThe Last Supp o Da Vinci. The rd na eo L of s ting k and The the famous pain irgin of the Roc V he T e er w ngs Man. These standing painti e and Vitruvian nn A t in Sa ith ld w Virgin and Chi ce art. of es of Renaissan pl am ex fy th e m odel s are th e rson to iden ti pe t rs fi e th Da Vin ci was . arines and cars aeroplanes, subm
improperia by Palestrina has been sung in the Sistine Chapel on every Good Friday since 1560. The Praise of Folly was a satiristic work written by Erasmus. Erasmus is known as the prince among the humanists. Utopia was a famous work of Sir Thomas More portraying an ideal community on an imaginary island indicating the glaring abuses of his time. The technique of printing was first developed by the Chinese. Gutenbergs assistants Johann Last Judgement Fust and Peter Schoeffer estabMichelangelo, was an Italian Relished the first great printing naissance painter, sculptor, architect, house in 1455. poet, and engineer. His great works The first man to print a book in sculptor were the Statue of David, with movable types was John The Pieta, the Colossal Moses etc. Gutenburg in the German city of Michelangelos famous painting Mainz who brought out his first was the Last Judgement and Creproducts in 1454 A.D. ation of Adam. St. Peters Basilica Another significant invention in Rome was designed by was the invention of gunpowMichelangelo.
der which made possible the use of firearms. The use of gunpowder was known to the Chinese and the Arabs. Copernicus a Polish astronomer developed the theory of universe through his book Six Books concerning the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres. Montaigne (France) the forerunner of Voltaire earned the title of the first modern man. The Italian poets Aristo and Tasso had taken the crusades as their theme. Edmund Spencer (England) dedicated The Farie Queene to Queen Elizabeth. Crammers Books of Common Prayer and Tyndales translation of the New Testament into English were important factors in shaping English language. Calvins Institute of the Christian Religion and Loyolas Spiritual Exercises were important in the national literature of France and Spain. Descartes contributed the idea of doubt and doubt was the forerunner of a new age in science. Descartes worked out a practicable system of analytical geometry. Stevin advocated a decimal system of coinage, weights and measures. Kepler wrote a book titled On the Motion of Mars to establish the heliocentric theory. He formulated mathematical laws to support the theory of Copernicus. Friar Roger Bacon of the 13th century was the father of modern science. He invented spectacles, and a sort of telescope.
Francis Bacon of England (15611626) wrote a celebrated book known as Novum Organum in which he expounded the Inductive methods of science as contrasted with the Deductive method of medieval times. The foundations of modern Chemistry and Physics were laid by scientists like Torricelli, disciple of Galileo and the inventor of the barometer, Robert Hooker (1635-1703) and Robert Boyle (1627-1691) of Oxford whose researches led to the discovery of oxygen and to a more advanced atomic theory. In the field of medicine another Englishman William Harvey discovered the circulation of blood and his theory of blood circulation was published in 1628. Telescope was the great invention of the renaissance period.. It was a great landmark in the progress of astronomy. The first man to invent a telescope was Roger Bacon of the 13th century. Galileo Galilei an Italian scientist invented telescope in 1609. With the new astronomical knowledge, the old Julian Calender was reformed in 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII. This was called Gregorian Calender which is adopted by most of the countries. Another epoch-making invention was the Mariners Compass. It is magnetic mechanism by which sailors can find out the direction to steer the ship in the vast oceans. Isaac Newton was born in England in 1642. He published his
work The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy. The great dramatist Shakespeare who is popularly known as the Bard of Avon was born in AD 1564 and died in AD 1616. His great tragedies are Hamlet, Macbeth, Othello and KingLear. He wrote altogether 37 plays. In 1495 the Italian Renaissance arrived in France, imported by King Charles VIII after his invasion of Italy. In England, the Elizabethan era marked the beginning of the English Renaissance with the work of writers William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe, Edmund Spenser, Sir Thomas More, Francis Bacon, Sir Philip Sidney, John Milton, as well as great artists, architects and composers such as Thomas Tallis, John Taverner, and William Byrd. The 17th and 18th century in Europe is referred to as the Age of Enlightment. The major ideas of enlightment were contributed by Immanuel Kant, Jean Jacques Rousseau and Rudolph Stammler.
the Reformation in Switzerland Reformation in Switzerland was known as Calvinism. John Calvin was the most conspicuous leader of protestant ism in the 16th century. Puritanism is a cardinal doctrine of Calvinism. John Calvin sometimes called as the ''Protestant Pope''. Reformation movement in England was known as Anglicanism which was led by King Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth I. Counter-Reformation was a reformist movement within the Catholic Church to restore its universal authority. Ignatius Loyola formed a society of monks known as Jesuit order in Spain. Jesuit missionaries reached India for the first time during the period of Akbar the Great in 1580. In reality, the Reformation and the Counter Reformation ushered in period of religious persecutions and religious wars. Protestants were presecuted by
Reformation & Counter Reformation
The name Protestant was first applied by Martin Luther. Reformation was started in Germany by Martin Luther in 1517. This resulted in the formation of Protestant Religion. Ulrich Zwingli and John Calvin were the leaders of reformation in Switzerland. Ulrich Zwingli was the father of
John Wycliffe is known as the Morning Star of the Reformation. He was responsible for giving inspiration to translate Bible into English for the first time. He was the first man to openly voice his feelings against the Church.
Philip II in Spain and by Bloody \Mary in England. Catholic subjects were punished by their Protestant rulers in Germany. The Thirty Years War between Catholics and Protestants in Germany caused much bloodshed and havoc. With the onset of the Reformation, monarchy acquired more power as compared to the Church. Henry VIII under the pretext of the Reformation deprived the Pope of his powers. Reformation gave a great momentum to the spirit of nationalism, which had recently germinated in Europe. The tyranny of the Church came to an end and the Reformation brought about drastic changes in many fields
