How did the fall of Constantinople help end the Middle Ages?

Question

How did the fall of Constantinople help end the Middle Ages?

Answer 1

I cannot agree with Christopher B when he states that European trade routes with the east ended with the fall of Constantinople. I would suggest that the Europeans trading with the Levant and the East still continued but had become more difficult.

After the fall of Constantinople the two main trading communities of western Europe, Venice and Genoa, still held trading rights with the Turks although the cost had increased as the Turks increased the customs duties on any of the luxury items that were brought from the east and which were further traded to the west. It is also certain that the fall of Constantinople brought about the decline of Venice as a maritime power but trade directly to the east did not cease after 1453.

The other point about Columbus is not strictly true although his main aim of his first voyage was to find a westward sea passage to the east, however, it was the Portuguese who were the first to look for an alternative route to the riches of the east. There aims in looking to find this alternative route was possibly because they as many other western European States at that time wanted to by-pass the Venitian and Genoese strangle hold on this trade.

With the advent of these maritime adventures came the dawn of a new era in human history, the Age of Exploration.

As to whether cannon was responsible for the end of the middle ages is another debateable point as there are accounts of the use of primitive cannon being used during the Hundred Years War. Plus the cannon used at the seige of Constantinople were sold to the Turks by an Italian who had initially offered his services as a manufacturer of cannon to the Byzantines but they refused his offer so he sold out to the highest bidder, in this instant the Turks.

What I will agree is that the middle ages were virtually at an end by the time Constantinople fell. As to when the middle ages ended; I give you a quote by the philosopher Plutach who is supposed to have stated in 1350:

                    "Here I stand with one foot in the past and one foot in     the future."

Answer 2

do you mean begin the middle ages?

Answer 3

Because it marked the end of the political independence  

Answer 4

It didn't.  The point is that history does not arrange itself into convenient packages, but we all instinctively think it ought to.

The Middle Ages did not end on any particular day; rather they died away gradually over a century or so, giving way to the Renaissance.

It is generally accepted that this change took place during the fifteenth century, so the fall of Constantinople (1453) provides a convenient date.

I have seen English textbooks date the end of the Middle Ages to the Battle of Bosworth (1485).

It is worth remembering that everyone who ever lived, in whatever century, thought they were living in Modern Times.  

Answer 5

I'm not quite sure, but... Constantinople was a pretty big city and everything, with lots of influence... so, maybe you should see things that way.  

Answer 6

Although the fall of Constantinople was not the only factor that brought an end to the Middle Ages (I would argue that the Middle Ages were already over), it did have a significant impact.

The most basic answer to your question is that it cut off the European trade routes East. Its no coincidence that Columbus tried to reach the East by sailing around the globe a mere forty years after the fall of Constantinople. The Turks had cut the West off from that region, thus prompting European traders to exploration for alternate routes, which brought them into contact with new lands and new peoples, including the New World.  

Also, it gave the European powers a external force to concentrate their aggression toward. Instead of fighting each other, they had to ally (as they did during the Crusades) against the Turks. Just after capturing Constantinople, Mehmet invaded Italy and died just short of taking Rome. The Western powers were thus frightened for their own survival and formed several "Holy Leagues" to combat the Turkish expansion. As a result, the West grew in power, and eventually equaled and surpassed the East for the first time since the begining of the Middle Ages.

Finally, the cannons that Mehmet used to breach the walls of Constantinople were symbolic, if nothing else, of a major change that would break the traditional system of the Middle Ages. The walls of Constantinople were thought to be impregnable, but Mehmet easily demolished them with his cannons, Canons and guns had reached a level of sophistication that made them incredibly useful. No longer could a knight's armor or a castle wall offer protection. The entire military system of the Middle Ages was turned on its head, and so the feudal system that had developed to support it became redundant.