End of the Middle Ages Day – May 29, 2024

History of End of the Middle Ages Day

The Middle Ages — sometimes called the medieval period or Dark Ages — started in Europe with the fall of Rome in 476 A.D. Many historians referred to this period as the Dark Ages because they saw it as an era lacking in notable accomplishments in science, art, and politics — a period of darkness, poverty, and untapped potential.

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. Constantinople had been besieged for about two months by Ottoman emperor Sultan Mehmed II Fatih’s army. As of the twelfth century, the city was home to about 400,000 inhabitants, but military invasions had reduced its population to around 50,000 denizens by the 1450s. For fear of their lives, Byzantine scholars fled the fallen Constantinople and sought outside the old empire shelter. The study of Greek and Roman culture, languages, philosophies, and art was revived in Italy where the scholars settled, and this initiated the Renaissance.

While the Middle Ages was an era of monarchs and royal leaders, it was the Catholic Church that wielded the greatest influence by then. The Church expanded greatly, building massive monasteries and cathedrals in Romanesque and Gothic styles. Islamic empires were also thriving — especially in cities like Baghdad, Cairo, and Damascus where books and ancient texts were translated into Arabic. The Middle Ages was also the era of the Black Death, the bubonic plague which claimed the lives of about 20 million victims between 1347 and 1350. About 30% of the population of Europe was wiped out, with cities recording a larger death rate as the plague was easily transmitted between city-dwellers.