The era of the Middle Ages is full of mysteries. And the farther it moves, the more it grows into fiction. How to understand, understand where the truth is, and where is the lie? Let us open the veil of mysterious centuries and dwell on interesting facts about the Middle Ages.
What is this period?
What is the Middle Ages? This is a period from 500 to 1500, although exact dates have not yet been set. What interesting facts about the Middle Ages in Europe are reported by modern historians? It is noteworthy that at that time there was no central authority or government. This was an intermediate time between the fall of the Roman Empire and the Renaissance. Asceticism became the official ideology in the early Middle Ages. During life, a person had to prepare himself for the afterlife and spend time in prayers and repentance. The influence of the church on social life was slightly weakened from 800 to 900.
Early Middle Ages. Interesting Facts
The early Middle Ages are a period from the 6th to 10th centuries. The second name of this stage is “late antiquity”, which speaks of a connection with the era of antiquity. That time later they began to call simply “dark ages”.
An interesting fact: the period of the Middle Ages was marked by the arrival of Germanic tribes in Western Europe, primarily Goths and vandals who did not know cities, European culture. Many of them were pagan tribes. Cities fell into decay, many were plundered, local residents fled. Trade declined: it became dangerous to transport goods and trade. At this time, the expansion of the Frankish state began, which reached its greatest strength under Charles the Great (768-814). Charlemagne conceived the idea of creating a new Roman Empire.
An interesting fact: in the empire of Charlemagne there was no capital. He traveled with his court from one estate to another. Feudal relations began to develop in the state. Free people forcibly turned into bonded. The power of large feudal lords living in their castles increased, they became sovereign masters of their lands. And after the fall of the Carolingian Empire, the lands were completely divided between lords and princes, which further strengthened the power of the feudal lords.
Locks
In the 12-16 centuries, any European state consisted of cities and feudal possessions. Large feudal lords lived in large castles, surrounded around by a moat and wall, capable of protecting from enemies. Indeed, at that time it was necessary to defend not only from an external enemy, but also from the attacks of a neighbor who claimed to fertile lands. The outer wall went into the ground for several meters, so that it was impossible to make a dig. Wall thickness reached 3 meters, height - up to 6 meters. On the walls above were made holes, loopholes, so that you could shoot from a bow and crossbow. Stone towers were built into the walls, from where observation was carried out.
There must have been a well inside the courtyard, the construction of which was very costly. But the feudal lords did not spare money for a source of water: it is not known how long the siege of the fortress could last. Some wells had a depth of 140 meters, as feudal castles were built on the hills.
Near the castle there was always a church and a tower - the highest part of the fortress. Observations of the surrounding area were made from here, and women and children hid here in the event of a siege breakthrough.
The weakest part of the walls was a wooden gate. To strengthen, they were protected by iron forged gratings. Some castles had double gates, because of which the enemy could fall into the trap between them.
Interesting facts about the castles of the Middle Ages:
- The castles were well adapted to protect the population, but it was very inconvenient to live in: the dampness and twilight were often inside, because the sun's rays could not enter through small windows, and poor air circulation.
- The most important pets in the fortress were cats and dogs. They saved the premises from the attack of rats.
- Practically in every castle secret passages were created in order to quietly move from one room to another.
- The siege of the castle sometimes lasted several months: the besieged sometimes surrendered only when the famine began.
- A bridge with a lifting structure passed through the moat, in the event of a siege, the bridge rose, and a wide moat prevented the enemy from coming close to the walls.
- Windsor Castle is one of the famous medieval castles in the world. After William the Conqueror became king of England, he built Windsor. Today, the castle is still used by the English queen.
Age of Chivalry
The history of medieval knights is rooted in the ancient world, but the real phenomenon became popular in the middle and late medieval times. Chivalry dates back to the Catholic Knightly Order. The first knights appeared among the Visigoths who lived in Italy and Spain. And by the end of the 12th century, almost all the nobles passed the rite of initiation into knights. Further interesting facts about knights of the Middle Ages will be presented.
Knight Rite
A remarkable fact: it turned out to be a knight was very expensive. It was necessary to buy armor, a horse, a servant. These were prerequisites. The ruler was to provide all these knights. He gave them plots of land that could be leased and with this money to buy everything necessary.
Another interesting fact about life in the Middle Ages: knighting took place after the execution of 20 years or 21 years in the presence of a ruler or lord, to whom the young man was obliged to serve. The rite of passage was borrowed from the ancient Romans. The senior approached the future knight, kneeling before him, and several times struck flat on the shoulder with his sword. The young man swore an oath of allegiance to God and his lord. After the horse was brought to the knight.
This ceremony was preceded by years of preparation for knights: starting from the age of eight, boys of noble origin were taught to use the sword, bow, horseback riding, and secular manners. Often they were given to study in the family of Lords, where the boys served as servants and at the same time studied various martial arts.
Knights - the elite of the state
Ideally, a knight should have been distinguished not only by a noble birth. They were supposed to be Christians, defenders of the church, models of courage and courage, bearers of honor and dignity. The knights spoke in the campaign of their master against another feudal lord, participated in the crusades as preachers of Christianity. In their free time from the war, tournaments were organized in which the knights considered it an honor. After all, it was an opportunity to demonstrate their military prowess.
And yet, many of the knights were considered notorious villains, robbing ordinary people, whom were treated with contempt. In France, under King Charles VI, the knights became the elite of the state. Basically they were the same aristocrats who appeared in public or at tournaments surrounded by an entire escort. But there were also poor “one-shield” knights who stood at the lowest level of the hierarchy. Each knight, except the king, obeyed his master.
A remarkable fact: if in the X, XI centuries everyone could become a knight, then already in the 12 century there were restrictions. Under King Louis VI, people from the lower classes were publicly deprived of this noble title, spurs were beaten off on a dunghill.
Crusades
In just two centuries, eight crusades were undertaken. Their goal was to protect the Christian world from enemies - Muslims, but in reality it all ended with robberies and robbery. In gratitude for participating in the campaigns, the knights received material rewards from the church, public respect and forgiveness for all sins. The most memorable was the third crusade, led by Emperor of Germany Frederick I, King of France Philip II and King of England Richard the Lionheart.
During the Crusades, Richard the Lionheart established himself as a great military leader and a worthy knight. He led the third crusade and proved himself a brave warrior.
Another famous medieval knight was El Cid, a Spanish nobleman who bravely fought against the Moors in Spain in the 11th century. He was called the winner by the people, and after his death he was turned into a national hero.
Military orders
Military orders played the role of a standing army, necessary to maintain order in the conquered lands. The most famous orders of chivalry: Teutonic, Order of the Templars, Order of the Hospitallers.
An interesting fact about the knights of the Middle Ages: the soldiers of the Teutonic Order fought with the Russian army, led by Alexander Nevsky on Lake Peipsi, and were defeated.
Secular chivalry
After the end of the Crusades, religion lost its influence on chivalry. During this period, the knights took part in the Hundred Years War between England and France.
Palace chivalry
Subsequently, the knights were palace servants and played a purely secular role: they took part in knightly tournaments, arranged fights because of a beautiful lady, and practiced ball games in secular manners.
Epidemics in the Middle Ages
Before them, people were powerless. The reasons for their spread were unsanitary conditions, dirt, poor food, hunger, and a high population density in cities. One of the worst epidemics is the plague. Let us dwell on interesting facts about the plague:
- In the Middle Ages, namely in 1348, the "black death" claimed the lives of almost 50 million people, that is, a third of the population of Europe. And in populated cities, the disease mowed more than half of the inhabitants. The streets are empty, the war has stopped.
- Doctors were powerless before this disease, did not know how to treat, who is its peddler. Blamed people, cats, dogs. And the disease was spread most often by rats.
- Not knowing the causes of the infection, people began to go to church, pray to God, donate the last money. Others, more superstitious, turned to magicians and sorcerers.
Such epidemics were repeated several times and completely changed the face of medieval cities. To prevent the disease, streets began to be washed, waste water appeared, residents began to provide clean water.
Interesting facts about the culture of the Middle Ages
It is interesting to know:
- When the first universities appeared: in the 12th century - Paris, in the 13th century - like Oxford and Cambridge in England, and then another 63 higher educational institutions.
- Another interesting fact about the Middle Ages: during this period free-thinking and cheerful poetry of the Vagantas (goliards), vagrant singers and musicians singing a carefree free life, develops. They took poetic rhymes from Latin literature: “Life in the world is good, since the soul is free, and the free soul is pleasing to the Lord!”
- Monuments of the heroic epic that were previously transmitted only verbally are recorded.
- It was in the Middle Ages that the cult of a beautiful lady arose. And it is associated with the development of courtly poetry and the work of troubadour poets.
- The first chivalric novels appear. Among the first courtly novels is the story of Tristan and Isolde.
- A new style appears in architecture - Gothic. The main buildings in this style were the cathedrals - large-scale structures of great height. They were distinguished by light and slender columns, carved walls decorated with sculpture, large windows with stained-glass windows from multi-colored mosaics. One of the brightest monuments of Gothic architecture was Notre Dame Cathedral in France.
- The era of the Late Middle Ages was marked by great geographical discoveries. Genoese Christopher Columbus made 4 voyages to the shores of South and Central America. But the territories he discovered were named after Amerigo Vespucci, who described the new lands and proved that these are separate continents. Another achievement of this time was the opening of the sea route to India. The Portuguese, led by Vasco da Gama, circled the Cape of Good Hope and reached the coast of India. And the Portuguese nobleman Fernand Magellan made the first trip around the world in 1519-1521.
The role of the church in the Middle Ages
The church in the Middle Ages gained great economic and political influence. Huge plots of land, monetary wealth were concentrated in her hands. All this gave her the opportunity to influence state power, subjugate culture, science, and spiritual life. Interesting facts about the church in the Middle Ages:
- The most sensational enterprises under the leadership of the church have gone down in history: crusades, witch hunts, inquisition.
- In 1054, the church was divided into two branches: Orthodox and Roman Catholic. The gap between them gradually widened.