In the year 410, Alaric, king of the Visigoths, led his army to the gates of the city of Rome. The Visigoths, a German tribe, were seeking to peaceably settle within the frontiers of the Roman Empire. Alaric had come to ask the Roman authorities to...

800 Charlemagne is crowned emperor of the Romans by Pope Leo III, creating a linkage between spiritual and temporal powers. 813 Charlemagne requires all Christian altars to contain holy...

Contemporary feminist theory has allowed social and literary critics to observe and reconstruct the past through the lens of the woman, and more specifically, through that of the woman writer. Looking to the premodern eras of antiquity and the Middle...

524 Boethius writes the Consolation of Philosophy, which will be translated from Latin into every major medieval European language and become highly influential in medieval literature. 800...

The Roots of Medieval Religion and Philosophy. Traditionally, medieval Christianity is said to have begun in about the year 313, when Roman Emperor Constantine I extended legal tolerance to the Christian Church. From this beginning, the Christian...

The Middle Ages St. Augustine Most of what St. Augustine (354–430) had to say about language and meaning was said not for its own sake but in support or elucidation of some theological doctrine. Partly for that reason, perhaps, his semantic...

A Society of Orders. In the eleventh century Bishop Adalbero of Laon wrote a poem to King Robert of France that included the following lines: "Triple then is the house of God which is thought to be one: on Earth, some pray, others fight, still others...

Consent in Marriage. By the twelfth century, European civilization had been transformed from a tribal to a feudal system. One profound change during this process, which affected all aspects of society, was the assertion of the rights of the individual...

Emerging Stability. In Europe several centuries of unsettled conditions and regress followed closely upon the collapse of the Roman Imperial civilization (476) in the Mediterranean basin. The so-called Dark Ages (500-850) were a time of tribal...

754 The Abbey of Saint-Denis is begun; its cruciform (cross-shaped) plan imitates that of St. Peter's in Rome. c. 790 Construction begins on the abbey of St. Savior at Fulda; the church...

800 Charlemagne is crowned emperor of a realm that includes much of modern France, Germany, and Italy, creating the social structures necessary for the development of a system of fashion. c. 808...

768 Charlemagne becomes king of the Franks, and the Carolingian era begins; cultural policy encourages opulent artistic production. c. 776 Abbot Beatus of Liébana in Spain begins writing an...

The Middle Ages. The thoughts, beliefs, and values of medieval Europeans were dramatically different from those of modern people. Europeans living in postmedieval periods such as the Renaissance and the Enlightenment—as the names of those eras...

Clarification. Most historians interpret the fall of the Roman Empire in 476 as the date for the beginning of the formation of the Middle Ages, and they see the discovery of America in 1492 as the end of the Middle Ages. Although the time frame for this...

814 Emperor Charlemagne dies. Under his auspices, numerous innovative programs are undertaken that contribute, directly and indirectly, to the development of medieval theater and the preservation of ancient Roman plays....

Defining the Medieval "Arts." During the Middle Ages definitions of the arts were based on assumptions about their value and their production. In general, the arts required specific abilities and training, and ranged from manual crafts (such as...

The Times. In the early ninth century the Carolingian king Charlemagne formally expressed his wish to divide his realm among his sons after his death. His will was respected, and the first strong medieval European monarchy dissolved. During the six...

354 Augustine of Hippo, who successfully reconciles Neoplatonism and Christianity, is born. 525 Boethius, the "last of the Romans," whose book struggling with the problem of evil...

600 St. Gregory the Great, pope from 590 to 604, begins to establish a standardized Christian liturgy, including the plain-chant melodies ("Gregorian Chant"). Pope Gregory...

c. 1190 Troubadour Raimbaut de Vaqueiras composes the estampie "Kalenda Maya." This is the earliest known estampie melody. 1235 Roman de la Rose, a lengthy allegorical...

Modern Misconception. Most people assume that medieval Europeans had little knowledge of the world outside the boundaries of their homes. That was not the case. From the onset of the Middle Ages, Europeans of all classes and educations were interested...

Chinese alchemists have discovered how to make...

Era of Australopithecus, the first...

The Middle Ages form 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. The idea of such a periodisation is attributed to Flavio Biondo,...