When were the Middle Ages? - Medievalists.net

"Medieval historians have debated for generations about when the Middle Ages began and ended. Was there a single year that launched the medieval period-and another that closed it? This debate is not ending soon, because "the Middle Ages" is not a natural boundary in the past so much as a label historians use to describe a long stretch of change. Different starting and ending dates make sense depending on what you think matters most: politics and empires, religion, economic life, or cultural and intellectual developments."

"The idea that a 'Middle Ages' existed goes back to the seventeenth century, when some writers mentioned the term (or its Latin equivalent, medium aevum). In devising this label, they framed the period as a disappointing era between the Roman Empire and their own present day, which they saw as a 'Renaissance' or new golden age. In that older view, the Middle Ages were often portrayed as a time with no learning, no culture, and no progress in civilisation."

Debate continues over precise beginning and end years for the Middle Ages because the period constitutes a label for a long stretch of change rather than a natural boundary. Different dates suit different emphases: political and imperial transformations, religious developments, economic shifts, or cultural and intellectual changes. The label originated in the seventeenth century to describe an interim age between Rome and a perceived Renaissance, often depicted negatively as lacking learning and progress. Modern scholarship rejects that blanket negativism while retaining the term as a convenient framework for centuries between antiquity and the modern era. Suggested starting markers include Constantine's conversion and the Edict of Milan in 312.

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