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People use the phrase “Middle Ages” to describe Europe between the fall of Rome in 476 CE and the beginning of the Renaissance in the 14th century.
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The Middle Ages began in 476 with the disintegration of the Western Roman Empire. -
The Muslim conquest of Persia, also known as the Arab conquest of Iran, was carried out by the Rashidun Caliphate from 633 to 654 AD and led to the fall of the Sassanid Empire as well as the eventual decline of the Zoroastrian religion. -
Feudalism was the leading way of political and economic life in the Medieval era. Monarchs, like kings and queens, maintained control and power by the support of other powerful people called lords.
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The reason for this change is still debated among historians. One cause could be the fact that Pope Sergius IV had sent the Patriarch of Constantinople a profession of faith containing the Filioque and this would have caused misunderstanding on the part of the Patriarch. -
At the Battle of Hastings, Duke William of Normandy defeats Harold Godwinson and establishes his rule over England. A meeting between Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV and Pope Gregory VII, considered one of the most dramatic moments in the Middle Ages and in relations between church and state. -
Monophonic chant: Monophonic singing, which is based on a single unison melodic line, was popular from the very beginning of the Medieval era. In civilizations spanning from Rome to Spain to Ireland, somber religious chants—called plainchant or plainsong—dominated the early Medieval period -
Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire, fell to the hands of the invading Ottoman Empire on May 29, 1453. This day, many believe, marks the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the 15th-century Renaissance.