What Even IS Medieval History?
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- Опубліковано 27 жов 2023
- The terms "medieval" and "middle ages" mean a lot of different things to different people. Whether good or bad, medieval is a concept that is used often without much thought. But what do these terms actually mean? Where did they come from? And what do I mean when I say that I'm a "medievalist?"
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#medievalhistory #medieval #middleages #history #educational #europeanhistory #antiquity #renaissance #rome #historiography
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Still loving the quality of your videos. So well-presented, scholarly and nicely illustrated. If it is your goal, I hope that your subscribership increases by leaps and bounds. Thank you.
That is indeed what I'm going for with this channel. Thank you for the kind words!
Well summarised. I'm a historian (MA degree in Antiquity but also heavily into Medieval History) and to me, the strict divide into periods always hit me as wrong. Unless you're talking about revolutionary acts, things in history are always gradual developments instead of sudden ends and new beginnings. When the Middle Ages started and ended and if we can even still conciously use the term Middle ages is really debatable. I usually try to refer to a century rather than an alleged era. I'd say 'a 14th century church with 16th century additions' instead of 'a Medieval church with Renaissance additions'. Or I might go with things like 'the Tudor era' because those have clear starts and ends, but don't necessarily have a lot in common other than the ruling monarch being of the same dynasty. England under Henry VII was very different from England at the time of Elizabeth's death.
I feel the same. I often use eras for the sake of communicating, but I try to avoid thinking too much in a way that boxes me in, especially when the labels come with baggage.
As someone who studies the Late Middle Ages, I always found the division of History a bit absurd, as it creates an idea that it was a hard-line break between one period or another, when -- at least when it comes to the Middle Ages and Early Modern Period -- History changes progressively (in the neutral meaning of the word) and the difference between the last centuries of the Middle Ages and the first centuries of the Modern Era are quite low compared to, for example, the Late Middle Ages compared to even the early High Middle Ages or the Early Modern Period to our Contemporary History.
To put it simply. The Renaissance were the rebirth of very little. They were the continuation of the processes found in the Middle Ages.
Great work, thank you for sharing your knowledge 🤲
If we flip the dates that encompass the dark age it's practically a mirror image:
1200-550 BCE which is also a period described as the dark ages for it's lack of literature following the Bronze Age collapse.
Historians / archaeologists of the ancient world seem to really be picking away at the idea of the Bronze Age Collapse entirely as far as I'm aware. Certainly the amount of sources we have from certain regions isnt very high, but for other places [Assyria, say], there's not really much of a break or collapse to speak of.
@@Sean.Cordes
I think the Assyrian Empire kind of withdrew North away from Anatolia and the Lavant to survive
Just discovered your channel, and I'm loving it!
Good video. Always happy to see historiography discussed and elaborated on.
Read this and thought it applies to your video
“All told, the origin of the illusion expressed by Pascal is simply this: the people of the West, starting from the Renaissance, took to considering themselves exclusively as the heirs and carriers-on of Greco-Roman antiquity, and to misunderstanding or ignoring all the rest; that is what we call the 'classical prejudice. The humanity that Pascal speaks of begins with the Greeks, continues with the Romans, and then there is a discontinuity in its existence corresponding to the Middle Ages, in which he can only see, like all the people of the seventeenth century, a period of sleep; then at last comes the Renaissance, that is, the awakening of this humanity, which, from then on, is to be composed of all the European peoples together. It is a grotesque error, and one that indicates a strangely limited mental horizon, consisting, as it does, in taking the part for the whole.”
- Rene Guenon East and West
I feel like the conclusion is that “Middle Ages” was a term that more or less arbitrarily designated a massive length of time as one period and it almost serves no use for us anymore 😭 still super interesting hearing about all the world changing events that happened during this period in various locations though. Love the videos btw
This was really interesting. It makes me think about how I've used "eras" as more concrete dates for things like calendars. And while that's a useful tool, it might be fun to experiment with muddying the waters and letting eras change in shifty, ambiguous ways. It might also be worth considering how the people of my stories view their own history.
Thank you for making me think about this
Like most things, it's a continuum. My favourite word at the moment.
Love your videos something I’ve been thinking about is how did the medieval law differ to modern law.
Also I got a fun medieval fact for you volcanoes were thought to be portals to Hell, their rumbling the faint noise of condemned souls.
The French idyl of "Aucassin et Nicolette" (c. 1230) contains the old joke that surely all the most interesting people were in Hell.
That question about law would make a good video. I'll add it to the list.
Also I love the volcano fact. I think I've heard that somewhere
@@studiumhistoriaeI very often see laypeople naively assume, e.g. in RPGs, that medieval laws were similar to modern laws.
For instance that a lot of things are “illegal”, such as prostitution, or even more so recreational drugs! Why would they be illegal? And if illegal, who enforced it? I’m sure prostitution was in fact illegal in some times and places, but in many others it was legal and regulated. I’ve even come across the notion that some brothels were run by clergy! Drugs are even more absurd. Why would rarely used exotic stuff like opium or cannabis be illegal? It might make some sense if they can be used as effecient poisons, but even then I’m skeptical. The focus would be on using a poison, not on buying, owning or making it…
@@peterknutsen3070 one of my favorite facts is that prostitution was often seen as a necessary evil since it was better that a man fornicate with a prostitute than a decent woman
Very interesting.
Good video, again not something I ever really thought about. But makes you think.
It’s when art looks like it reverts compared to antiquity
You wouldn't be the only person to look at it that way. But even then it's not always clear cut. I've seen 3rd century art that looks quite "medieval" and 9th century art that looks incredibly life-like. I've come to really appreciate the stylization of medieval art, but since naturalism and realism are quite sought after and praised in today's art, a lot of people would see that as a significant turning point.
Well stated.
I've never heard Byzantine pronounced as "Bizz-an-teen". Interesting.
I’d drop the word absolutely
what do you think about using the term post-classical instead of medieval?
To me post-classical is both medieval and modern. Some people do use it more for medieval or even early medieval, which does work but I do like medieval more.
What's gonna come after Modernity? (I don't really consider "Post-Modern" legitimate).
Depends of the next world changing event
To me the medieval times describe the European civilization when it was not enlightened, because it did not know the difference between fact and fiction, subjective and objective, and its world view was entirely anecdotal. The invention of the printing press was the beginning of its end, democratizing the access to and publishing of information, allowing the education of everyone by everyone. The resulting empirical world view, the differentiation between fact and fiction with the scientific method through empirical evidence (the differentiation between subjective and objective), embedded in the culture of enlightenment, sparked many of the inventions which dominate our life today, like the Internet or now Generative AI (which is the next evolutionary step in the democratization of processing of information, as the printing press was, and will have the same impact on our lives). The medieval times could be called the "teenager years" of our modern society today, because the age of enlightenment made us culturally into adults, as before even the adults made up their world like little children do today and never became "grown ups".
... and BTW the "medieval" mindset with its entirely anecdotal world view is also the main driving force for the (geo) political conflicts we have today. Because the empirical world view and the anecdotal world view are not fully compatible with each other and both threaten each other. The US is in the midst of this conflict, because it culturally still has not fully answered the question in which world view it wants to live. Its constitutionally granted "freedom of speech" and "pursuit of happiness" are two values emphasizing the anecdotal world view, as being able to make up the world in your mind as you wish to be happy, is the medieval way of living your life as a human being in this world.