The 4 Differences Between The Early Middle Ages And The Late Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is one of the longest periods in Western history, going from the 5th century AD. C. until the middle of the 15th century and, therefore, lasting almost 1000 years.
It is for this reason that, given how extensive this historical period is, historians have divided it into two subperiods with different economic, social and cultural characteristics: the Early Middle Ages and the Late Middle Ages.
Below we will see more in depth What are the differences between the high and low Middle Ages?
The Middle Ages is a very long period in the history of Western civilization. It is during this stage of History in which Europe forms several cultures that, several centuries later, will determine the form and type of society of the states that can be found today in the Old Continent.
Historians consider that The Middle Ages began with the fall of the Roman Empire in 467 AD. C., putting an end once and for all to Classical Antiquity, starring Rome, Greece and Egypt along with other civilizations such as the Carthaginian. With the end of the classical world began the Middle Ages, which can be differentiated into two subperiods: the high and low Middle Ages.
The Early Middle Ages begins in the 5th century AD. C. and will last until the 11th century AD, while its successor, the Late Middle Ages, will begin in the 11th century AD and end in the 15th century AD. c. These two historical periods present very different characteristics ; Below we will look a little more in depth at the contexts in which they occurred.
Early Middle Ages
The Early Middle Ages is the subperiod of European history that It spans from the fall of the Western Roman Empire to approximately the year 1000 at which time there was an important economic and cultural resurgence in the Old World.
The main protagonist states during the Early Middle Ages are three empires that “share” the European territories, fighting in wars to take their lands from each other: the Byzantine Empire, the Umayyad Caliphate and the Carolingian Empire.
The Roman Empire disintegrated due to multiple factors, although the main ones were the siege of the Germanic peoples, the weakening and barbarization of the Roman army and multiple social revolts within the empire motivated by famine and the devaluation of the currency. Faced with this situation, the all-powerful Rome fell like a house of cards, fragmenting into several kingdoms, mostly Catholic with a Romanesque-Germanic base.
In this way, the Early Middle Ages began, characterized by being a period of considerable instability. Piracy was practiced, looting perpetrated by Slavs, Normans, Hungarians and Saracens was a daily occurrence and people did not feel safe in the cities, so they abandoned them to take refuge in the countryside.
The differences between rich and poor are accentuated and feudalism appears The richest lords could afford to own land, making others work for them in exchange for providing them protection. These landowners were very powerful in their lands, acting almost like tyrants, and they led the decentralization of power in the newly created Christian kingdoms, something that contrasted with how Ancient Rome was governed.
The nobles gave land to their vassals through a synallagmatic contract, with which both parties were obliged to contribute with some service, such as giving protection to the vassal or economically and politically benefiting the landowner.
The Catholic Church begins to acquire very great power, which will increase as the years go by. The high clergy is a highly privileged social group, sometimes more than the nobility itself They are also a very cultured group, which is why they will be the ones who contribute and monopolize cultural creation in the early Middle Ages, building monasteries, abbeys, churches and cathedrals and transforming them into centers of cultural production.
Middle Ages
The Late Middle Ages succeed the Early Middle Ages. This period covers from the beginning of the 11th century AD until the Renaissance, already entering the 15th century with the discovery of America by Columbus in 1492, although the conquest of Constantinople by the Ottomans in 1453 has also been proposed as the final date of this period. Feudalism continues to have an important organizing function in society, and the Catholic Church exercises supreme power over Western Christianity.
During this time new social classes emerge, especially the bourgeoisie The bourgeoisie are not nobles, but people without privileges within medieval society but who, thanks to their professions as artisans, blacksmiths and others, work for pay for themselves, without serving any feudal lord and having a certain purchasing power.
Although there was no freedom of thought, little by little great scientific discoveries were made. Many disciplines, such as mathematics, history, astronomy and philosophy, are developing their bodies of knowledge, laying the foundations for the Renaissance to take place at the end of the Late Middle Ages. In addition, the first universities were founded, with around 50 being built throughout Europe between the 13th and 16th centuries.
Differences between the high and low Middle Ages
Seeing a little about what these two subperiods of the Middle Ages were like, let’s move on to see what the main differences between them are.
1. Political differences
During the Early Middle Ages the figure of the king or emperor was that of a head of state with limited powers. The power of the monarchy was in the hands not only of the monarch, but also of the high nobility and the clergy who owned lands in which they exercised almost tyrannical power.
However, after the 11th century and entering the Late Middle Ages, Little by little the figure of the king is being strengthened, positioning himself as the maximum ruler over all his territories and showing his power above the nobility and the clergy. As time went by, great monarchies were formed throughout Europe, parliaments arose and various nobles, clerics and bourgeoisie claimed a greater right to self-government, obtaining charters as a way of acquiring vassallic rights.
Regarding conflicts, In the Early Middle Ages the main reason for war was the invasions of towns such as the Slavs, Normans, Muslims and Germans, putting the power of the new Christian monarchies at risk or changing their ethnic composition.
Instead, During the Late Middle Ages the main conflicts that can be observed are the Reconquista carried out by several Iberian kingdoms to “recover” the southern territories governed by the Umayyad Caliphate and its successors, in addition to the Hundred Years’ War.
Among the most notable conflicts during the Late Middle Ages we can highlight the Reconquest carried out in the Iberian Peninsula in order to make the Christians recover the lands taken by the Muslims several centuries ago and the Hundred Years’ War.
2. Economic differences
In the Early Middle Ages the economic base was in the rural world, based on agriculture and subsistence livestock. To a lesser extent, some manufactures were manufactured. One could not speak of trade per se, but rather of barter since coins were very rarely used.
The situation changes in the Late Middle Ages. Although the economy remained primarily rural, Little by little, greater development began to occur in the cities, becoming new economic centers At the same time, there was an increase in agricultural and livestock production, thanks to the introduction of new farming techniques.
Improvements in the countryside implied an increase in production, which benefited the creation of a trade that was no longer only local and carried out through barter, but also long distance. Now commerce was a very lively activity, holding fairs to sell distant products and promoting the creation of banking. Due to this, the currency was gaining prominence as an element to manage transactions.
3. Social differences
During the Early Middle Ages, feudalism had great importance as an organizing system of society During this period, society was divided into several classes, among which two held privileges, the nobility and the clergy, while the rest were not so lucky, being the group of peasants, artisans and serfs.
The most notable right of nobles and clerics, in addition to many others, is being able to own large areas of land and profit from it. In them they made the non-privileged classes work from dawn to dusk, mainly the serfs. Nobles and clerics could be subject to vassal relations with other nobles and clerics, having to respect treaties by which their lord provided them protection in exchange for economic, political and military benefits.
Although feudalism continues to be the organizing system of late medieval society, it began to founder after the 11th century This is due to the emergence of the bourgeoisie as a non-privileged but wealthy class. By possessing important economic resources, they could exercise certain power within society, without the need to hold noble titles, although they were still below the nobles and clerics.
Due to improvements in agriculture and livestock, there was a demographic increase. This implied a change in vassal relations and in the treatment of serfs, since the nobles could not have so many people on their lands. The serfs were so because an ancestor of theirs had agreed with a landowner to work on his land in exchange for protection, an obligation from which he could never be released unless the landowner renounced it, which happened at this time due to to the lack of space.
4. Cultural differences
In the Early Middle Ages, Greco-Roman culture is still slightly in force, although little by little it deteriorates and gives rise to several cultures, all of them sharing the Romanesque artistic style. Latin begins to evolve, especially among the lower classes, who did not know how to read or write, creating transitional languages between classical Latin and Romance languages: medieval Latin.
The European continent is not culturally homogeneous during the early medieval period. In addition to there being Christians, both Catholic and Orthodox, there are Muslims who live in the lands conquered by the Umayyad Caliphate. In the Iberian Peninsula, the Muslims conquered most of their territory, creating Al-Andalus, which reached the Cantabrian coast, with the kingdom of Asturias being the last Christian stronghold on the peninsula.
Culture was monopolized by the clerics, who in their cathedrals, churches, abbeys and monasteries worked writing books in Latin, the liturgical language. The population, although they continued to speak medieval Latin, was very mixed with words from the languages of the Basques, Slavs, Celts, Muslims and other peoples who had been invading the Christian kingdoms. Although Romance languages did not yet exist properly speaking, they were being formed.
During the Late Middle Ages, Christian kingdoms gradually occupied Muslim territories, “recovering” their lands and expanding not only the Christian faith, but also their languages. Latin evolved so much that, from the 10th to 11th centuries, its speakers no longer understood each other between kingdom and kingdom. It is at this time that Romance languages such as Spanish, Galician-Portuguese, Catalan, Navarrese-Aragonese, Asturias-Leonese, Occitan, French and Italian are considered to have been born.
Although the clerics played an important role in the creation and transmission of culture, among the more secular classes, especially the bourgeoisie, there is a greater interest in education. This is when the first universities begin to be founded as new training centers and, although Latin continued to be the cultural language in them, there began to be greater interest in the vernacular languages, both Romance and Germanic. In terms of art, the predominant style was Gothic.
