Medieval

The Middle Ages form the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three "ages": the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages and Modern Times. more...

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The Middle Ages are commonly dated from the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century to the beginning of the Renaissance in the 15th century. These dates are approximate, and are based upon nuanced arguments; for other dating schemes and the reasoning behind them, see "periodisation issues", below.

The Middle Ages witnessed the first sustained urbanisation of northern and western Europe. Modern European states owe their origins to events unfolding in the Middle Ages; present European political boundaries are, in many regards, the result of the military and dynastic achievements in this tumultuous period.

Terminology

The Middle Ages are referred to as the "medieval period" or simply "medieval" (sometimes spelled "mediaeval" or, historically, "mediæval"). This spelling comes from the Latin medius (middle) and ævus (age).

Some early historians have described non-European countries as "medieval" when those countries show characteristics of "feudal" organization. The pre-Westernisation period in the history of Japan, and the pre-colonial period in developed parts of sub-Saharan Africa, are also sometimes termed "mediaeval." Modern historians are far more reluctant to try to fit the history of other regions to the European model, however, and these terms have fallen out of favour.

Origins: The later Roman Empire

The Roman empire reached its greatest territorial extent during the 2nd century. The following two centuries witnessed the slow decline of Roman control over its outlying territories. The Emperor Diocletian split the empire into separately administered eastern and western provinces in 285. Under his arrangement, the western Roman empire was governed from Ravenna by a lesser emperor, and the region was considered subordinate to the wealthier east. The division between east and west was encouraged by Constantine, who refounded the city of Byzantium as the new capital, Constantinople, in 330.

Military expenses increased steadily during the 4th century, even as Rome’s neighbours became restless and increasingly powerful. Tribes who previously had contact with the Romans as trading partners, rivals, or mercenaries had sought entrance to the empire and access to its wealth throughout the 4th century. Diocletian’s reforms had created a strong governmental bureaucracy, reformed taxation, and strengthened the army. These changes bought the Empire time, but these reforms demanded money. Rome’s declining revenue left it dangerously dependent on tax revenue. Future setbacks forced Rome to pour ever more wealth into its armies, spreading the empire’s wealth thinly into its border regions. In periods of expansion, this would not be a critical problem. The defeat in 378 at the Battle of Adrianople, however, destroyed much of the Roman army, leaving the western empire undefended. Without a strong army in the west, and with no promise of salvation coming from the emperor in Constantinople, the western Empire sought compromise.

Read more at Wikipedia.org