20 tidbits about the middle ages

Introduction History in and of itself can be considered a single event since an event can be defined as “a thing that happens, especially one of importance.” Epochs are the components that history is made of. One of the most essential and fascinating eras are the middle ages, for it laid the groundwork for the modern world. The middle ages have many intriguing facts and nuances that occurred in different places in time that are worth to mention as follows: 1. It was divided into different periods Being an age that lasted centuries, it makes sense that historians would divide it into separate periods. The first period was the early middle ages. Some referred to as the dark ages, which consisted of the years between the 5th and 19th centuries. Then there were the high middle ages, which lasted from 1000 to 1250, and finally, there were the late middle ages, which lasted from 1250 to 1500. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_Ages#Late_Middle_Ages 2. You might be descended from a medieval monarch… and peasant. In recent years there has been a rising industry of discovering ancestry with companies such as 23andMe and ancestry charging absurdly high prices for them to analyze a piece of DNA. However, genetics is a complicated field, and many experts question the validity of these companies’ claims. They agree with these companies that if people go far back enough, they will find that their common ancestors lived during the medieval ages and consisted of monarchs, along with peasants. Many experts believe that all Europeans alive today are descended from 80% of Europeans alive in the ninth century. The 20% of Europeans from that time that doesn’t have descendants in the modern-day died before they could have descendants or their family lines died out. Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15Uce4fG4R0 http://nautil.us/issue/56/perspective/youre-descended-from-royalty-and-so-is-everybody-else 3. Rome could have reunited (briefly) After saving the Church from the Lombards, Charlemagne, king of the Franks, was crowned Rome’s emperor. However, during that time, another state claimed to be the rightful successor of Rome, Byzantium, which was under the leadership of Irene of Athens. With the leaders of both Roman successor states being of opposite sexes, it made sense that the logical thing to do to end the disputes and reunite the empire was by having the two be married. This possibility was on the table for quite some time. However, due to a mix of personal and political reasons, the marriage never occurred, and both empires remained separate. Source: https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/irene-athens-c-752-803 4. Many modern states were fragmented Due to political instability, constant warfare, and a lack of communication and development, many nation-states that come to mind when most think of Europe were disunited. They hardly had the levels of cohesion their modern counterparts do. In France, the country was divided into multiple different small duchies and kingdoms for roughly 300 years. A similar story can be told about Germany; however, its period of the division was nearly twice as long and only came to an end after the industrial revolution. Another major nation that had a similar period of disunity was Russia, which lasted around as long as Frances but was also coupled with conquest by the Mongols so fun. Source: http://oer2go.org/mods/en-boundless-static/www.boundless.com/world-history/concepts/fragmentation-of-the-holy-roman-empire-0-17658/index.html https://www.britannica.com/place/France/The-emergence-of-France https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kleinstaaterei https://www.ancient.eu/Kievan_Rus/ https://www.departments.bucknell.edu/russian/Site-prior-to-Easyweb-migration/chrono.html#:~:text=The%20chronology%20has%20been%20divided,(1991%20to%20the%20present). 5. The Holy Roman Empire was more German than Roman This really requires a mere google search, but the so-called successor state of Rome consisted of Germany, and as mentioned before, it was hardly an empire, being disunited and all. Source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Roman_Empire 6. The worst year ever happened during that time period Many historians and scientists agree that the year 536 was the worst year to be alive in human history. This was primarily environmental, for, during that year, a volcano had erupted in modern-day Iceland, resulting in a fog throughout the old world. The freezing of temperatures caused by the smoke of the volcano killed many across the globe. Source: https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/11/why-536-was-worst-year-be-alive 7. Islam actually had the upper hand on Christianity In the modern world, many in the west looked down on the countries and peoples in the Muslim world. However, during a handful of centuries in the middle ages, it was the other way around. For some time, the Islamic world eclipsed Europe in most metrics and was essentially the center of the in-world in a similar manner to how Europe is today. Source: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-hccc-worldcivilization/chapter/the-islamic-golden-age/ 8. There was a mini-Ice age Similar to the eruption of 536, the mini-ice age was a period where global temperatures shifted. However, unlike the eruption of 536, this was a much longer-lasting century and varying in severity. Experts believe his period lasted up until 1850 and affected many important events in history. Source: https://www.google.ca/amp/s/www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/04/01/how-the-little-ice-age-changed-history/amp 9. Vikings found America centuries before Columbus Thanks to archival and physical evidence, many historians believe that it was the Vikings who were the first Europeans to set foot on North America with Leif Eriksson being credited as the man who discovered it, with there being a holiday celebrated in his honor. Now the reason the Norse didn’t colonize the Americas is due to the previously mentioned mini-ice age, which made it hard for the Norse to sustain a settlement in not only the Americas but also their previous colony of Greenland. Source: https://www.google.ca/amp/s/www.history.com/.amp/news/the-viking-explorer-who-beat-columbus-to-america 10. There were many revolts near its end As the time period was coming to a close, there was an increasing amount of revolts among the peasants. Among the reasons were because of the conditions caused by the mini-ice age but also because of unfair taxation and general tensions between classes. Additionally, there was also a strong sentiment that the unequal feudal system was against the will of God. Tragically the vast majority of these rebellions were suppressed. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_peasant_revolts https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popular_revolts_in_late-medieval_Europe 11. There was communism within feudalism As alluded to above, some beliefs and practices during this time period influenced movements and ideologies that persist today. Throughout Europe, many towns were organized as communes where the inhabitants lived in mutual aid and defense. Now no two communes were the same, with some being more equal than others. However, forms of democracy were used in a decent amount of communes. Theses traditions went on to be a source of inspiration for the anarchist-communist philosopher Peter Kropotkin. Source: https://www.historyextra.com/period/medieval/middle-ages-facts-what-customs-writers-knights-serfs-marriage-travel/ https://www.cs.mcgill.ca/~rwest/wikispeedia/wpcd/wp/m/Medieval_commune.htm 12. People of the middle ages had different sleeping habits In our day and age, sleeping 8 hours straight a night is seen as a healthy amount of sleep. However, things were different; sleep was divided into two sections. First, an individual would sleep three to four hours, and then they’d wake up for two or three hours then sleep for another three hours. Additionally, the science claims that doing this has the same repercussions on someone’s health as the regular 8 hours. Source: http://slumberwise.com/science/your-ancestors-didnt-sleep-like-you/ 13. The first universities were built around that time Though regarded as a time of intellectual dimness, many essential institutions were founded during its duration that would have a pivotal role in creating many significant innovations. One such institution would be the universities. With the first one being established in 1088 in Bologna. Source: https://dailyhistory.org/How_did_universities_develop%3F 14. Modern Alberta might have a larger GDP than the world throughout most of the middle ages and even before that Calculating the GDP of previous societies is a rather tricky feat, and there isn’t any consensus on the exact numbers. However, what is agreed upon is that economic output in the middle ages and ages prior was minuscule compared to today’s. With estimates varying between 200 to 400 billion dollars. Source: https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/world-gdp-over-the-last-two-millennia https://www.visualcapitalist.com/2000-years-economic-history-one-chart/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_regions_by_past_GDP_(PPP)#World 15. France once tried to ally with the Mongols A talk about the middle ages would not be complete without mentioning the crusades. During these long and complicated wars, many bizarre things occurred. One such event was when France attempted to ally with the Mongols. Initially, things were rocky between the two. Though there were brief periods of cooperation between the two, the alliance ultimately fell flat. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franco-Mongol_alliance 16 Animals were put on trial As superstitious as the middle ages, many bizarre practices were commonplace, such as placing animal trials. As the name suggests, it was the idea of putting animals on trial. Still, there are only 85 recorded instances in all fairness, so people weren’t that diluted back then. Source:https://www.livescience.com/12-bizarre-medieval-trends.html 17. Byzantium was a mere generation away from the discovery of the Americas Considered by many to be the final remnant of the Roman empire, Byzantium was reduced to a mere city until being conquered by the Ottoman Turks in 1453. Roughly a generation later, Columbus sailed the ocean blue and found the Americas, meaning that Byzantium was still to some extent in living memory during that time. Source: https://www.history.com/topics/ancient-middle-east/byzantine-empire#:~:text=On%20May%2029%2C%201453%2C%20after,era%20for%20the%20Byzantine%20Empire. 18. Authors often weren’t authors Many medieval ‘authors’ didn’t write their books but instead had scribes write out their thoughts. This was because the writing was seen as something that exclusively pertained to people like Monks. Thus, individuals sought out monks to write their thoughts. Source: https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/medieval-world/medieval-book/making-medieval-book/a/the-work-of-the-scribe 19. The first-ever work of alternate history was made during its final years The alternate history is a literary genre about taking events and having them go differently. It can be argued that the first work of alternate history was published in the tail end of the late middle ages. Tirant lo Blanch is a book published in 1490 that’s about a knight who essentially saves Byzantium from the Ottomans. Compared to most other things, this seems relatively minor. Still, it does put things into perspective and remind us that people have been asking what if question relating to the past for centuries. Also, alternate history is my favorite genre. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tirant_lo_Blanch 20. This period contained the two longest wars in recorded history To end things with a bang, let’s talk about how the two most prolonged conflicts recorded in human history occurred during this time. The aptly named “hundred years war” lasted 116 years, while the nearly thousand years long Reconquista lasted 781 years. One could also lump the crusades into this list but what separates them from the other two conflicts is that there were constant changes in the nations involved. Interestingly enough, the countries that came out of these conflicts would shape Europe and world history in the centuries that would follow the age. Source: https://www.ancient.eu/Hundred_Years ‘_War/ https://www.ancient.eu/Reconquista/