What were the main features sociopolitically/culturally/etc that historians use to distinguish between the early, high and late Middle Ages?
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The general dividing lines are these:
The fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 400s marks the end of “Antiquity” and begins the early middle ages, which are often just referred to by some historians as “late antiquity”.
The Norman Invasion and the Crusades of the 1000s typically mark the transition from the early middle ages to the High Middle Ages.
The Late Middle Ages typically begins around 1300 with the Black Death and the Hundred Years’ War and ends with the expansion of the Renaissance out of Italy in the 1500s.
It is hard in a ELI5 structure to cover everything, but the main features that separate them all (and these are certainly debated) are basically levels of organization — politically, economically, and socially.
The Early Middle Ages are a time of fragmentation — the Roman empire is carved up amongst the German invaders and the vast Roman trading and social networks quickly fall apart without the empire to sustain them. Princes and kings try to organize greater political systems but the only one that really manages to stick around through constant in-fighting, viking raids, and economic turmoil is the Catholic Church. It takes Western Europe basically all of the coordination they can muster to keep the invading Moors out of France, and even then they have no ability to take back any part of Spain and won’t for hundreds of years.
By the 1000s, you can start to see the foundations of modern Europe. Places like “France” and “England” start to take on a familiar shape as political stability takes hold. Trade across the northern seas and the Mediterranean starts to grow more standardized and consistent — a small middle class of guildsmen and merchants starts to grow. European kingdoms are organized enough that when the Pope calls for a Crusade, these states can actually organize armies and send them hundreds of miles into the Levant. There’s a renewed interest in Greek and Roman sciences, backed by exposure to new ideas coming out of the Middle East. Everything is bigger and more organized than it was 200 years ago, if only moderately so.
By the 1300s, Europe is “developed” enough that it can withstand the massive upheavals about to hit it: the Black Death, peasant revolts, a religious schism, and prolonged war with the Turks. European kingdoms are much more stable political entities — the death of a king doesn’t threaten to topple the entire country and the systems of government can (mostly) sustain war or plague without completely falling apart. Countries as we might recognize them today start to exist — from Sweden to Spain to Hungary. Soon enough these countries will be organized enough to start fielding (and, most importantly, paying) standing armies, something basically unheard-of since the Roman times. Add in the printing press and you have set the stage for the Renaissance.
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