when did the early middle ages start and end
Early Middle Ages The Early Middle Ages or Early Medieval Period, typically regarded as lasting from the 6th century to the 10th century CE, marked the start of the Middle Ages of European history. The Early Middle Ages followed the decline of the Western Roman Empire and preceded the High Middle Ages (c. 10th to 13th centuries). The Early Middle Ages overlap with Late Antiquity. The term "Late Antiquity" is used to emphasize elements of continuity with the Roman Empire, while "Early Middle Ages" is used to emphasize developments characteristic of the later medieval period.
Late Middle Ages Modern historiography on the period has reached a consensus between the two extremes of innovation and crisis. It is now generally acknowledged that conditions were vastly different north and south of the Alps, and the term "Late Middle Ages" is often avoided entirely within Italian historiography.[13] The term "Renaissance" is still considered useful for describing certain intellectual, cultural, or artistic developments, but not as the defining feature of an entire European historical epoch.[14] The period from the early 14th century up until – and sometimes including – the 16th century, is rather seen as characterized by other trends: demographic and economic decline followed by recovery, the end of western religious unity and the subsequent emergence of the nation state, and the expansion of European influence onto the rest of the world.[14]
Middle Ages Medieval writers divided history into periods such as the "Six Ages" or the "Four Empires", and considered their time to be the last before the end of the world.[2] When referring to their own times, they spoke of them as being "modern".[3] In the 1330s, the humanist and poet Petrarch referred to pre-Christian times as antiqua (or "ancient") and to the Christian period as nova (or "new").[4] Leonardo Bruni was the first historian to use tripartite periodisation in his History of the Florentine People (1442).[5] Bruni and later historians argued that Italy had recovered since Petrarch's time, and therefore added a third period to Petrarch's two. The "Middle Ages" first appears in Latin in 1469 as media tempestas or "middle season".[6] In early usage, there were many variants, including medium aevum, or "middle age", first recorded in 1604,[7] and media saecula, or "middle ages", first recorded in 1625.[8] The alternative term "medieval" (or occasionally "mediaeval"[9] or "mediÃ¦val")[10] derives from medium aevum.[9] Tripartite periodisation became standard after the German 17th-century historian Christoph Cellarius divided history into three periods: Ancient, Medieval, and Modern.[8]
Alonso Álvarez de Pineda