Middle Ages From Academic Kids The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three 'ages': the Classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times, beginning with the Renaissance. The Middle Ages of Western Europe are commonly dated from the end of the Western Roman Empire (5th century) until the rise of national monarchies, of European overseas exploration, the invention and diffusion of printing, and the humanist revival of the Renaissance in the 15th century in Italy, early 16th century in Northern Europe, as well as the Protestant Reformation starting in 1517. The Early Middle Ages As the authority of the Roman Empire dwindled in Western Europe, its territories were entered and settled by succeeding waves of "barbarian" tribal confederations, some of whom distrusted and rejected the classical culture of Rome, while others, like the Goths admired it and considered themselves the legatees and heirs of Rome. A new order
Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (also known as the Pre-Raphaelites) was a group of English painters, poets, and critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais and Dante Gabriel Rossetti. The three founders were joined by William Michael Rossetti, James Collinson, Frederic George Stephens and Thomas Woolner to form the seven-member "brotherhood". The group's intention was to reform art by rejecting what it considered the mechanistic approach first adopted by Mannerist artists who succeeded Raphael and Michelangelo. Beginnings[edit] Illustration by Holman Hunt of Thomas Woolner's poem "My Beautiful Lady", published in The Germ, 1850 Early doctrines[edit] The brotherhood's early doctrines were expressed in four declarations: First exhibitions and publications[edit] Public controversy[edit] Christ In the House of His Parents, by John Everett Millais, 1850 Later developments and influence[edit] After 1850, Hunt and Millais moved away from direct imitation of medieval art.
Dark Ages (historiography) The Dark Ages is a historical periodization used originally for the Middle Ages, which emphasizes the cultural and economic deterioration that supposedly occurred in Western Europe following the decline of the Roman Empire.[1][2] The label employs traditional light-versus-darkness imagery to contrast the "darkness" of the period with earlier and later periods of "light".[3] The period is characterized by a relative scarcity of historical and other written records at least for some areas of Europe, rendering it obscure to historians. The term "Dark Age" derives from the Latin saeculum obscurum, originally applied by Caesar Baronius in 1602 to a tumultuous period in the 10th and 11th centuries.[4] The term "Dark Ages" originally was intended to denote the entire period between the fall of Rome and the Renaissance; the term "Middle Ages" has a similar motivation, implying an intermediate period between Classical Antiquity and the Modern era.
Horses in the Middle Ages This 15th-century depiction of Charlemagne and Pope Adrian I shows a well-bred medieval horse with arched neck, refined head and elegant gait. Horses in the Middle Ages differed in size, build and breed from the modern horse, and were, on average, smaller. They were also more central to society than their modern counterparts, being essential for war, agriculture, and transport. Consequently, specific types of horse developed, many of which have no modern equivalent. Significant technological advances in equestrian equipment, often introduced from other cultures, allowed for significant changes in both warfare and agriculture. Consequently, the assumptions and theories developed by historians are not definitive, and debate still rages on many issues, such as the breeding or size of the horse, and a number of sources must be consulted in order to understand the breadth of the subject. Breeding[edit] This 15th-century battle scene shows the powerfully-built horses used in warfare. Notes[edit]
Gothic Revival architecture Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, Neo-Gothic or Jigsaw Gothic, and when used for school, college, and university buildings as Collegiate Gothic) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. Its popularity grew rapidly in the early 19th century, when increasingly serious and learned admirers of neo-Gothic styles sought to revive medieval Gothic architecture, in contrast to the neoclassical styles prevalent at the time. Gothic Revival architecture often has certain features,derived from the original Gothic architecture style, including decorative patterns, finals, scalloping, lancet windows, hood moldings and label stops. Relation to other cultural movements[edit] The Gothic Revival was paralleled and supported by "medievalism", which had its roots in "antiquarian' concerns with survivals and curiosities. Survival and revival[edit] A younger generation, taking Gothic architecture more seriously, provided the readership for J.
Crusades The Crusades were military campaigns sanctioned by the Latin Roman Catholic Church during the High Middle Ages through to the end of the Late Middle Ages. In 1095 Pope Urban II proclaimed the first crusade, with the stated goal of restoring Christian access to the holy places in and near Jerusalem. Many historians and some of those involved at the time, like Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, give equal precedence to other papal-sanctioned military campaigns undertaken for a variety of religious, economic, and political reasons, such as the Albigensian Crusade, the Aragonese Crusade, the Reconquista, and the Northern Crusades.[1] Following the first crusade there was an intermittent 200-year struggle for control of the Holy Land, with six more major crusades and numerous minor ones. In 1291, the conflict ended in failure with the fall of the last Christian stronghold in the Holy Land at Acre, after which Roman Catholic Europe mounted no further coherent response in the east. Terminology[edit]
Black Death Spread of the Black Death in Europe (1346–53) The Black Death is thought to have originated in the arid plains of central Asia, where it then travelled along the Silk Road, reaching the Crimea by 1343.[6] From there, it was most likely carried by Oriental rat fleas living on the black rats that were regular passengers on merchant ships. Spreading throughout the Mediterranean and Europe, the Black Death is estimated to have killed 30–60% of Europe's total population.[7] In total, the plague reduced the world population from an estimated 450 million down to 350–375 million in the 14th century. The aftermath of the plague created a series of religious, social, and economic upheavals, which had profound effects on the course of European history. It took 150 years for Europe's population to recover.[citation needed] The plague recurred occasionally in Europe until the 19th century. Chronology Origins of the disease European outbreak There appear to have been several introductions into Europe.
Romanticism Defining Romanticism[edit] Basic characteristics[edit] Defining the nature of Romanticism may be approached from the starting point of the primary importance of the free expression of the feelings of the artist. The importance the Romantics placed on untrammelled feeling is summed up in the remark of the German painter Caspar David Friedrich that "the artist's feeling is his law".[7] To William Wordsworth poetry should be "the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings".[8] In order to truly express these feelings, the content of the art must come from the imagination of the artist, with as little interference as possible from "artificial" rules dictating what a work should consist of. Not essential to Romanticism, but so widespread as to be normative, was a strong belief and interest in the importance of nature. However this is particularly in the effect of nature upon the artist when he is surrounded by it, preferably alone. The term[edit] The period[edit] Romantic literature[edit]
Age of Enlightenment The Age of Enlightenment (or simply the Enlightenment, or Age of Reason) is an era from the 1650s to the 1780s in which cultural and intellectual forces in Western Europe emphasized reason, analysis and individualism rather than traditional lines of authority. It was promoted by philosophes and local thinkers in urban coffeehouses, salons and masonic lodges. It challenged the authority of institutions that were deeply rooted in society, such as the Catholic Church; there was much talk of ways to reform society with toleration, science and skepticism. New ideas and beliefs spread around the continent and were fostered by an increase in literacy due to a departure from solely religious texts. Publications include Encyclopédie (1751–72) that was edited by Denis Diderot and (until 1759) Jean le Rond d'Alembert. Some 25,000 copies of the 35 volume encyclopedia were sold, half of them outside France. Use of the term[edit] If there is something you know, communicate it. Time span[edit]
Mongols The Mongols, or Mongolic peoples, are a Central and Northern Asian (Inner Asia) ethno-linguistic group. Although the largest Mongolic group consists of the inhabitants of Mongolia, they also live as minorities across Northern Asia, including in Russia, China, and many of the former Soviet Union states. Mongolic peoples belonging to the Buryat ethnic group live predominantly in what is now the autonomous Republic of Buryatia, Russia. In China, they live mainly either in Inner Mongolia or, less commonly, in Xinjiang. Mongolic peoples are bound together by a common culture and language, a group of related tongues known as Mongolic languages. Definition Broadly defined, the term includes the Mongols proper (also known as Khalkha), the Buryats, Oirats, Kalmyks and Southern Mongols. History In various times Mongolic peoples have been equated with the Scythians, the Magog and the Tungusic peoples. Xianbei Empire under Tanshihuai (141–181).