The History Book Club discussion

This thread lists and itemizes all books read, discussed and completed as part of the Medieval History Series listings.



The European Middle Ages (or Medieval Time) is roughly 1000 year span of time from the end of the Roman Empire (in the West) to the beginning of the Renaissance.

It starts roughly in 476 and it continues on for a thousand years as we get into the 14th and 15th centuries. It is the time period that connects the world of Rome and Europe during antiquity and it connects it to the world that begins to emerge in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries specifically The Europe of the Age of Exploration, and the Europe of the Renaissance.

The Middle Ages or Medieval History is roughly divided into three major sections, the early Middle Ages, from the fall of of the Western Roman Empire to about the year 1000. The next time period is the high Middle Ages which was the high point for the Middle Ages in Europe which goes from about the year 1000 to the year 1300, and then the late Middle Ages which gets us to the 15th century and it's considered to be not that pleasant of a time to live in Europe.

You have to consider what Europe looked like after the fall of the Western Roman Empire which was about 476 when Odoacer takes over Rome and in 493. So if you look at a map you will see that the Eastern Roman Empire is still there at that period of time but the Western Roman Empire is now fragmented among many Germanic kingdoms, you have the Visigoths, you have the Franks, you have the Kingdom of Odoacer.

With the fall of Rome, we are entering into the early Middle Ages. Also remember that Justinian's reign was from 527 to 565 and the Eastern Roman Empire which is considered the Roman Empire has as its capital - Constantinople under Justinian and during this period it has a little bit of a last hurrah and is able to recapture the Italian peninsula so it's able to recapture some of the territory that was formally part of the Western Roman Empire, and some of the territory also in North Africa.

But for the most part Western Europe stays under the control of various Germanic kingdoms.

So here we have fast forwarded to the year 814 which would be around a major event that occurred - specifically Charlemagne (King of the Franks) was crowned - Holy Roman Emperor. Charlemagne had conquered Northern Italy, modern day France, much of what we consider modern day Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Belgium.

Charlemagne is really one of the defining figures of the Middle Ages, especially the early Middle Ages. He was able to unify much of Western Europe. A lot of our ideas about kings and castles and knights begin to emerge around the time of Charlemagne. This notion of being a Holy Roman Emperor comes about because he's able to provide protection to the Pope. The Pope indicated that he would say that Charlemagne had continued the legacy of the Roman Empire.

The title of Holy Roman Emperor does not continue on with Charlemagne's descendants, but when we get to 962, Otto, who is a German king is crowned Holy Roman Emperor again and we continue to have Holy Roman Emperors all the way until 1806.

Another early feature of the Early Middle Ages is that Islam in the 7th and 8th centuries (around 814) comes out of Arabia and is able to conquer much of the Middle East, Persia, and North Africa, and much of what we consider today to be modern day Spain. In Spain you can see the Caliphate of Cordova, the Abbassids as well in the East who also controlled much of what is North Africa.

1054 saw the Great Schism or East - West Schism between the Latin Church centered at Rome and the Eastern Greeks Church centered at Constantinople - one becomes the Roman Catholic Church and the other the Eastern Orthodox Church.

You can already see some interesting things going on at this point - the Holy Roman Empire under Charlemagne is now fragmented, the Western third is now the Kingdom of France; the Eastern 2/3rds are still considered the Roman Germanic Empire or the Holy Roman Empire. And even though it looks fairly unified - over different periods of time - it really is still a bunch of fragmented Germanic kingdoms nominally under the Holy Roman Empire and then there are some periods where it is more unified under a stronger Holy Roman Emperor.

During this time period, the Byzantine territory was continually beginning to lose territory and you can see the Muslim empires in this case - the Seljuk Turks are able to take even more territory.

One of the things that the High Middle Ages is most known for around 1196 - is the Crusades. You can see how the Seljuk Turks are able to take much of Anatolia, much of the peninsula of the Byzantine Empire and the West decides to send what will eventually be called Crusaders to help regain land from the Muslims at the very end of the 11th century. There are multiple crusades that occur over roughly the next 200 years. The Crusaders were trying to regain land from the Muslims and especially the Holy Land. When the Crusaders are able to regain some of the land, they don't give it back to the Byzantines - they actually set up what are known as Crusader Kingdoms. So you had the East-West Schism and the Crusades which are further expanding the division between east and west.

This becomes significant in 1204 when the Crusaders themselves sack Constantinople. They actually take Constantinople from the Byzantines. This causes a point of no return. The Byzantines are eventually able to take Constantinople back but that is really the beginning of the end for the Byzantine Empire.

Now even though the high Middle Ages are known for all of this conflict - and tension between east and west - The Great Schism and even though it is known for the Crusades (mostly unsuccessful and horrifying) - the high Middle Ages were considered a high point for the Middle Ages. Farming technology coupled with better weather actually significantly increased agricultural productivity at this time.

Roughly in the year 1300, historians consider ourselves moving into the late Middle Ages. By the late Middle Ages - Europe is starting to resemble the Europe that we know in later periods once we get into the Renaissance and the Age of Exploration.

By this time, much of the Iberian Peninsula has been reclaimed from Muslim rule although you still had Muslim rule in Granada. Most of the Byzantine Empire has now been taken over by the Ottomans, save Constantinople. Constantinople eventually falls in 1453 ending the Byzantine Empire formally. 1204 was the sack of Constantinople. 1337 - 1453 was the Hundred Years' War occurring between France and England. The Black Death was in the late 1340s (1347) killing around 50 million people which is roughly 60% of the population at the time.

The late Middle Ages is known for being not that pleasant of a time to live in Europe. It was also a time of famine, the weather cycles got worse and even before the Black Death you had a significant famine occurring in the 14th century.

As we get into the end of the 15th century and especially into the 16th century, historians consider that to be the end of the Middle Ages and we start getting into the Age of Exploration and the Renaissance."

Key Events of the Middle Ages or Medieval Times included key events like the Great Schism, Crusades, and the Black Death.



We will cross reference where the threads for the discussion are housed in all spots.

This thread will also list the books completed, those currently being discussed, as well as though planned for discussion as part of the Medieval History Series.

This thread will also show the results of all polls and will identify new polls that relate to the Medieval History Series

Beginners Guide to the Middle Ages:
https://www.khanacademy.org/humanitie...

Source for the above: Khan Academy

The following book was read, discussed and completed by the History Book Club as part of the Medieval History Series. It also belongs to the World History and World Non Fiction Series.

by Judith Herrin

The discussion threads for this book are housed in this folder.