Over the course of reading about the history of Western Civilization, the evolution of Western Individualism, Liberalism (in the Classical sense), Law, etc., I've come to think the Middle Ages have gotten a bad rap. Some say this first began with Petrarch's description of the period following the collapse of the Western Roman Empire as the "Dark Ages", and while there's a lot not to like about that time, as with other times there was a lot to appreciate about the Middle Ages and most of all the accomplishments of the people who lived during that time. Thus, I guess it's no surprise that a growing number of historians and scholars have dispensed with Petrarch's chauvinism and begun reassessing the Medieval Era in a more positive light. What impresses me the most are the obstacles ordinary people overcame as they built a new world out of the ashes of the old. How, with what we would consider primitive tools and a lot of hard work, they launched the Medieval Agricultural Revolution and the Commercial Revolution that followed, both of which revived urban life in much of the West. How "common" people rose up against their feudal overlords, established a level of freedom and local autonomy in their communities and relit the beacon of democracy in the communes, burghs and boroughs of Europe. There are also the stories of how common foot soldiers with their longbows, halberds, primitive firearms and war wagons rendered the once invincible Medieval knight obsolete on the battlefield, and helped elevate the lower and middle classes in a way not altogether dissimilar from what the Ancient Greek farmer turned hoplite accomplished during his own time, which gave impetus to the reforms of Solon, Cleisthenes and Ephialtes. It was also during the Middle Ages that many of our great universities were founded at Bologna, Paris, Salamanca, Oxford and elsewhere, and became great centers of learning. It was here where legal scholars studied Justinian's Corpus Juris Civilis and Gratian's Decretum and began formulating new forms of law and rights doctrines that would evolve into the ones we are familiar with today. All of this began during the Middle Ages, not the Renaissance and Enlightenment, and it's perhaps here where modern scholars have developed a greater appreciation for this much maligned and underappreciated era. Given the conditions of their time, I've come to marvel at what our ancestors accomplished and how they laid the foundations for the Modern World out of the ruins of the Ancient World. I'll add more to this post later but in the meantime I'll yield the floor to anyone and everyone who'd like to share their own thoughts on the Middle Ages and the reassessment of this era in recent decades...
It can be helpful to remember that the time period of the Middle Ages can be divided up into the Dark Age and the early part of the Renaissance. The start of the Renaissance coincides with the fall of Byzantium, the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire. This might seem like a strange thing, a paradox, until one realizes the historical context, one of the major reasons why Europe was in the Dark Age. It had to do with the expansion of Islam, piracy and slave raiders, and trade being cut off in the Mediterranean. The Golden Age of Islam came at Europe's expense. When Byzantium fell, it was Eastern Europe that then got the brunt of the Islamic invasion, and the West experienced a relative reprieve, with Venice taking hegemony over European trade. The Islamic world was gradually consolidated into the Ottoman Empire, meanwhile. It seems that trying to hold together a large and far-flung empire actually contributed to helping to hold the Islamic World off from further conquest. The energies of the Ottoman Empire became consumed with holding their empire together. Although the Venetians still had to fight them off.
And obviously we can't really talk about the Middle Ages without talking about Charlemagne. Although that was far before the Renaissance, Charlemagne's empire can be considered a very early renaissance, of sorts. The first major civilization of barbarians from the north, and in many ways the start of modern Europe, the foundation for the nation-states of France and Germany, and the political power of the Catholic Pope. Christianity played an important role in the Middle Ages. Might have helped prevent more conflict than there would have otherwise been at this disunified time, and allowed several different European states to coexist side by side. If we look historically, it may also have acted as a unifying force and helped ward off Islam and Islamic invasion. The English King Henry VIII's breakaway from the Catholic Church, together with the beginning of the Reformation, also about marked the time of the end of the Middle Ages.
I don't know. I collect British and ancient Roman coins. Both civilizations were noted for their brutality. There were constant, never ending wars and the standards for dealing with criminals and political opponents were brutal. As for numismatic art, here is a comparison. An Athenian tetradrachm - I don't collect these in any detail. I only have it because it's attractive. The is from circa 400 BC. A run of the mill Roman emperor's coin (Macrinus 217 to 218 AD) from the third century. Richard I penny (Richard the Lion Heart from Robin Hood fame), 1189 to 1199. These pieces were issued in Henry II's name, who was Richard's father. The British coins didn't get much better until the late 1480s. And a Groat (4 pence) of Henry VI, 1422 to 1461, deposed, returned, ruled until he was murdered in 1471.
