Late Middle Ages

The Late Middle Ages is a term used by historians to describe European history in the period of the 14th and 15th centuries (1300–1500 CE). The Late Middle Ages were preceded by the High Middle Ages, and followed by the Modern Era.

Related Topics:
European history - Period - 14th - 15th centuries - High Middle Ages - Modern Era

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Around 1300, centuries of European prosperity and growth came to a halt. A series of famines and plagues, such as the Great Famine of 1315-1317 and the Black Death, reduced the population perhaps by half. This was partly due to a climate change caused by the end of the Medieval Warm Period and the start of the Little Ice Age, partly a Malthusian catastrophe caused by overpopulation. Along with depopulation came social unrest and endemic warfare. France and England experienced serious peasant risings (the Jacquerie and the Peasants' Revolt), and the Hundred Years' War. The unity of the Catholic Church was shattered by the Great Schism.

Related Topics:
1300 - Europe - Great Famine of 1315-1317 - Black Death - Medieval Warm Period - Little Ice Age - Malthusian catastrophe - France - England - Jacquerie - Peasants' Revolt - Hundred Years' War - Catholic Church - Great Schism

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On the other hand, the 14th century was also a time of great progress within the arts and sciences. The rediscovery of ancient Greek and Roman texts led to what contemporaries termed the Renaissance ? the rebirth. This process had started already through contact with the Arabs during the Crusades, but accelerated with the capture of Constantinople by the Turks, when many Byzantine scholars had to seek refuge in the West, particularly Italy. Meanwhile, the invention of printing was to have great effect on European society. The facilitated dissemination of the printed word democratized learning and reduced the power of the Catholic Church. The result would eventually be the Protestant Reformation. The growth of the Ottoman Empire, culminating in the fall of Constantinople in 1453 (incidentally also the year counted as the end of the Hundred Years' War), cut off trading possibilities with the east. But Columbus?s discovery of America in 1492, and Vasco da Gama?s circumnavigation of Africa in 1498, opened up new trade routes, strengthening the economy and power of European nations.

Related Topics:
Greek - Roman - Renaissance - Arab - Crusades - Constantinople - Turks - Byzantine - Italy - Printing - Protestant Reformation - 1453 - Columbus - America - 1492 - Vasco da Gama - Africa - 1498

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All these developments taken together make it convenient to talk of an end to the Middle Ages, and the beginning of the modern world. It should be noted that the division will always be a somewhat artificial one, since ancient learning was never entirely absent from European society, and therefore there is a certain continuity between the Classical and the Modern age. Also, some historians, particularly in Italy, prefer not to speak of the Late Middle Ages at all, but rather see the 14th century Renaissance as a direct transition to the Modern Era.

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