Summary
What Do Battles for Jerusalem and a French Restaurant Have to do with the First Americans?
Highlights
The Middle Ages and Social Order
The Middle Ages were defined by a lack of centralized power, leading to political discord. Inhabitants sought security in walled cities under the protection of feudal lords and knights, rarely traveling far from home.
The Role of the Church
Amidst the era's instability, the Christian Church stood as a unified institution. Monastic scholars played a vital role in preserving knowledge by transcribing religious and secular manuscripts.
The Impact of the Black Death
Beginning in the 1340s, the bubonic plague and other respiratory diseases, collectively known as the Black Death, decimated Europe's population, claiming nearly one-third of its people and erasing entire villages.
Transition to the Renaissance
Following the devastation, high birth rates and agricultural abundance allowed the population to rebound. By 1450, European society had rejuvenated and was prepared for a period of significant transformation.
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Original text
What Do Battles for Jerusalem and a French Restaurant Have to do with the First Americans?
The fall of the Roman Empire (476 CE) and the beginning of the European Renaissance in the late 14th century roughly bookend the period we call the Middle Ages. Without a dominant centralized power or overarching cultural hub, Europe experienced political and military discord during this time. Its inhabitants retreated into walled cities, fearing marauding pillagers including Vikings, Mongols, Arabs, and Magyars. In return for protection, they submitted to powerful lords and their armies of knights. In their brief, hard lives, few people traveled more than ten miles from the places they were born.
The Christian Church remained intact, however, and emerged from the period as a unified and powerful institution. Priests, tucked away in monasteries, kept knowledge alive by collecting and copying religious and secular manuscripts, often adding beautiful drawings or artwork.
Social and economic devastation arrived in the 1340s, however, when Genoese merchants returning from the Black Sea unwittingly brought with them a rat-borne and highly contagious disease, known as the bubonic plague. In a few short years, it had killed many millions, about one-third of Europe’s population. A different strain, spread by airborne germs, also killed many more. Together these two were collectively called the Black Death. Entire villages disappeared.
A high birth rate, however, coupled with bountiful harvests meant that the population grew during the next century. By 1450, a newly rejuvenated European society was on the brink of tremendous change.