Middle Ages, the period in European history from the collapse of Roman civilization in the 5th century CE to the period of the Renaissance (variously interpreted as beginning in the 13th, 14th, or 15th century, depending on the region of Europe and other factors). A brief treatment of the Middle Ages follows. For full treatment, see Europe, history of: The Middle Ages.

The term and its conventional meaning were introduced by Italian humanists with invidious intent. The humanists were engaged in a revival of Classical learning and culture, and the notion of a thousand-year period of darkness and ignorance separating them from the ancient Greek and Roman world served to highlight the humanists’ own work and ideals. It would seem unnecessary to observe that the men and women who lived during the thousand years or so preceding the Renaissance were not conscious of living in the Middle Ages. A few—Petrarch was the most conspicuous among them—felt that their lot was cast in a dark time, which had begun with the decline of the Roman Empire. Indeed, Petrarch would provide something of a founding statement for the humanists when he wrote, “For who can doubt that Rome would rise again instantly if she began to know herself?”

In a sense, the humanists invented the Middle Ages in order to distinguish themselves from it. They were making a gesture of their sense of freedom, and yet, at the same time, they were implicitly accepting the medieval conception of history as a series of well-defined ages within a limited framework of time. They did not speak of Augustine’s Six Ages of the World or believe in the chronology of Joachimite prophecy, but they nevertheless inherited a philosophy of history that began with the Garden of Eden and would end with the Second Coming of Christ. In such a scheme, the thousand years from the 5th to the 15th century might well be regarded as a distinct respectable period of history, which would stand out clearly in the providential pattern. Throughout European history, however, there has never been a complete breach with medieval institutions or modes of thought.

The sack of Rome by Alaric the Visigoth in 410 CE had enormous impact on the political structure and social climate of the Western world, for the Roman Empire had provided the basis of social cohesion for most of Europe. Although the Germanic tribes that forcibly migrated into southern and western Europe in the 5th century were ultimately converted to Christianity, they retained many of their customs and ways of life. The changes in forms of social organization they introduced rendered centralized government and cultural unity impossible. Many of the improvements in the quality of life introduced during the Roman Empire, such as a relatively efficient agriculture, extensive road networks, water-supply systems, and shipping routes, decayed substantially, as did artistic and scholarly endeavours.

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