The Dark Ages: Early Medieval Europe and its Neighbours

The Dark Ages: Early Medieval Europe and its Neighbours

Introduction

Sometimes referred as the Dark Ages while sometimes identified as Late Antiquity, the era of early medieval partly covers the time period in which the Western Roman Empire as an entity of the government turned down and disappeared. Normally measured to last till the end of the earliest millennium, the Early Middle Ages observed the Iconoclastic Controversy, Viking raids, Carolingian Empire and the birth and quick expansion of Islam in Spain and Northern Africa (Ullmann, 2010).

Discussion

The Middle Ages indicate that period in the history of Europe that lasted for about thousand years. It pursued the phase of the classical antiquity which ended with the descent of the Western Roman Empire. Officially the latter came to an end to survive in 476 when Romulus Augustulus, the last Western Roman Emperor was depose by Germanic chieftain Odoacer. The descent of the Western Roman Empire was a consequence of an extended process. Dethroning of Romulus Augustulus officially marked an end for the empire that was in atrophies already and has not led to any important disturbance at the time. As a result alternative start dates were proposed by some historians for the Middle Ages regardless of the fact that they all have the same opinion that the Middle Ages followed the fall down of the Western Roman Empire. Few historians perceive the commencement of the Middle Ages in a number of events that occurred before the ousting of the last Western Roman Emperor, while the others give emphasis to the events that occurred later than the deposition of Romulus Augustulus in 476.

Few of the most familiar alternative start dates for the Middle Ages are linked with the following events:

313: Issue of Edicts of Milan which finished the affliction of Christians in the Roman Empire

375: Commencement of the Migration Period

378: Battle of Adrianople where the Visigoths unfalteringly crushed the Roman army and slay the Emperor Valens (378)

410: Sack of Rome by the Visigoths

480: Demise of Julius Nepos, the last de jure Western Roman Emperor

529: Closing of the very last pagan school in Athens

647: Muslim take-over of North Africa (647) (Moore, 2004).

No distinctive view is found among the historians regarding the end date for Middle Ages. It is frequently linked with Renaissance which was a cultural movement that began in Italy in the 14th century and stretched all over Europe in the mid 15th century. Though, few historians believe the extend of Renaissance as the closure of the Middle Ages and commencement of the early modern period, whereas the others observe it as a part of the Middle Ages (Shore, 2000).

Other than this, few historians relate the end date for the Middle Ages with any of the following events:

1445: Discovery of the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg (1445)

1453: Descend of Constantinople

1453: The closure of the Hundred Years War

1492: Discovery of the U.S. by Christopher Columbus

1492: The closure of Reconquista in the Iberian Peninsula

1494: ...