What caused the "end" to the Middle Ages?

Question

Some major causes are from the Black Death, feudalism&manorialism, hundred Years war, and the deline of Church's power. However which one seems to have the biggest contribution to the end of the Middle Ages?

Answer 1

Well, the so-called 'Renaissance' in the 15th-16th centuries is generally considered to be the end of the Middle Ages.

This was the age when people became obsessed with classical culture and learning, and believed that classical styles in art, architecture, literature etc were the only ones worth imitating.  The heavy Baroque style of architecture replaced the exquisite Gothic style.

This was a time when centralised powers were greatly strengthened and consolidated, and kings and other rulers greatly increased their power and influence.  Standards of living for the common people generally declined.  Enclosures meant that many people were thrown off the lands they and their families had worked for centuries, and became homeless.  The destruction of the monasteries in England led to great hardship for the common people, who had looked to the monasteries for education, care when sick and old etc.

Answer 2

The re-emergence of town life that brought with it the rise of a middle class began to bring down the feudal society. When you couple that with the Crusades that whetted Europe's appetite for foreign goods that brought on an age of exploration and discovery, the Middle Ages crumbled.

Answer 3

The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.  The BLACK DEATH invalidated locality consensus and authority.  The chains of PRE-MODERN  bondage to religious DOGMATISM were loosed when half of all  leadership effectively died from SICKNESS UNTO DEATH.  This VOID in the machinations of quelling creative thought (derived from antiquitous Egyptian NILE VALLEY COMPLACENCY engeandered and preserved by Arian (DIASPORA) mythological tradition) was filled with NEWFOUND freedom for the actualization of passionate creativity.

     The puissant printing press stamped its seal of approval for the release of exponentially effulgent anti-propoganda (dissillusioned fourteenth century catholicism).  Under the guise of protestant revelation, helenistic rationale (after its own DARK AGE) lifted its veil of mysticism.  This is to say that the freedom offered by The Logos, after His millenium in the "simmering pot", let loose the hounds who chase the fox which symbolizes the GLORY of our ETERNAL NOW.

    EVOLUTIONARY DESIGN THEORY will suggest the affect of dialectic intellectualisation and etherialacrtiy (my word) of polarity with respect to the synchronicity and individuational authenticity of self in the world.

In summary, I will only say that Heisenberg's uncertainty principle suggests that we will see only what we will see and to demand that what we see is what we see is an outward expression of our inability to see.

  Thank you for this opportunity to serve:)

Answer 4

It was the inventions which allowed us humans to move to the whatever came after the middle ages.

With the likes of likes of Elizabethan or Victorian times it was as the monarch changed.

Iron age was when people used iron rather than wood or flint for tools.

Answer 5

The end of the Middle Ages was heralded by the beginning of the renaissance, which came after the collapse of feudalism.  After feudalism had collapsed, there was much greater freedom and this allowed the development of the discoveries and other acheivements made during the renaissance.  The reasons why feudalism collapsed, and the Renaissance sprang up in its place are:

The Peasants' Revolts

From the 13th century onwards, there were  several revolts dotted around Europe.  The notable example is the Peasants Revolt of 1381 in Britain, which, led by Jack Straw and John Ball,  very nearly succeeded. Although most revolts were unsuccessful, it showed to the lords and kings that the peasants had the capability to uprise against them.  To appease the peasants, in the case of the 1381 revolt at least,  the king did actually abolish the “poll tax” that the peasants were protesting against, and some lords began to comply to the wishes for better conditions and pay that were put to them by the peasants, who were more confident and sure of their position after seeing how they had almost toppled the system.  I think that as they gained more rights, feudalism began to break down.

Development of Towns

From the 1100s, some lords began to free their village for a fee.  The new town could have a law court, mayor and better trade. As towns became successful, the king encouraged lords to set their villages/manors free.  Eventually I think it was not possible to sustain a manor as the serfs themselves migrated to towns where their safety was assured for the one year and one day that was required for them to be set free.  This led directly to the breakdown of feudalism because each new town meant that one manor was gone.  In towns, the collective power of the people meant that many more research and developsments could be made.  

Development of Trade

As manors began to produce excess goods, extensive trade occurred after AD 1000.  Particularly after the Crusades, nobles wanted new goods that had been revealed.   To facilitate this trade, a new social class, merchants, appeared.  Guilds also appeared for many professions that further helped trade by setting rules and standards.  With this need for trade, towns began to develop as they provided a central location for exchanging goods at a market.  Towns directly replaced feudalism, thus contributing to its collapse.  The new wealthy merchant class, trying to show off their affluence, then began to sponsor art, leading to many artistic advancements and the rediscovery of Greek and Roman artistic techniques that happened during the Renaissance.  

The Black Death

The Black Death killed approximately 20,000,000 Europeans, a third of the population.  This led to a work shortage and meant that peasants had more bargaining power.  Because, if the lords refused to lift wages or improve working conditions, and the peasants in turn refused to work, who could the lords turn to to the job otherwise?  Peasants became richer and freer, eventually abandoning their manors and moving to towns.  Peasants also lost some faith in the Catholic Church, because it had failed to protect everyone from the Black Death.  They began to be not so bound to the Church's conventions, and some people, eg. Luther, even broke away from the Church entirely and developed a large following.  The Church lost its stranglehold on the people.

Peace

After the Crusades, there was actually a period of relative peace.  This meant that wealthy people, rather than spending time on wartime pursuits, developed their reading and literary skills etc., developing their cultural awareness and encouraging/funding the work of scientists, doctors, artists and inventors.  The period of peace also meant that people could spend more money and time sending people to explore the New World.

The Invention of the printing press

The invention of the printing press caused a large increase in the amount of literature and books.  Education became easier to attain and people became smarter.

The most influential thing that ended the Middle Ages, in my opinion would, have been the Black Death, as it led to a whole line of other things happening that stopped the Middle Ages.  There is also evidence behind, because the Middle Ages effectively ended later in places like Russia, which were not nearly as affected by the Black Death as other places.  

Hope this helps

Frederick :-)

Answer 6

I'd say 2:

Black Death: its after math forced significant changes

Explorations: this includes the exploration of the new world & the re-exploration of the old one. It improved economy & cultural exchange among European countries.

Answer 7

Plague and feudalism characterized the middle ages; they did not contribute to their end.  If not for the actual causes of the end of the middle ages, feudalism would have continued indefinitely.  The decline of the Church's power was a not a cause, but a consequence of the end of the middle ages.  

The actual end of the middle ages came about as a result of the rise of small city-states, the rise of an educated, free-thinking merchant class, and the re-introduction of certain political and economic concepts that came into Western Europe as a result of the fall of Constantinople.  

Of those, it was the increasing wealth and prestige of the merchant class that contributed most to making the enlightenment and reformation possible.

Answer 8

The Renaissance marked the end of the Middle Ages, it was caused by inventions and discoveries like heliocentricity, the discovery of the Americas and other trade routes, which went against the beliefs of Christianity, and weakened the power of the Church (as did the wars of religion.)

In the meantime, Latin was no longer the official languages of certain European countries, making literatiure available to everyone. (look up Humanism in the 14 and 1500s.) Books were published placing man at the center of human interest (replacing God) and the philosophy of the day was that man was perfectable though education and knowledge.

The rulers of most European countries played a big role in the spread of humanism, like Francois Ier and Charles Quint in France, supporters of the arts (built many castles and welcomed Leonardo Da Vinci to France) Francois Ier and his sister were avid writers themselves.

Printing press was invented, making literature more available. The post was quicker, which helped communication between countries. A lot of importance was placed on peace and community. (Read Utopia by Thomas More, or extracts from Gargantua, by Rabelais, Montaigne, or Erasmus)

Philosophers also began theorizing on the ideal ruler (Machiavelli, Montaigne, etc.)

I hope this helps, even though it's not near thorough.

Answer 9

I'd say the Fall of Constantinople. It ended the 1,000 year Byzantine Empire.

Answer 10

1.New technology and philsophy from Islam World and Asia

<Gunpowder, Compass, Aristotle's philosophy that was conserved in Arab world, and many others>

2.Commerce throughout Europe gave birth to new social system, and made the old ruling class(landlords, church...) lose their power

<it will eventually spread to the whole world>

3.Failure of crusades

4.the Black Death

<Funny thing is, this disease was also spread from Asia>

All events were extremely important

--------------------------------------...

Hundred Years War? Yes it changed France and Britain, but It didn't do much to the rest of Europe. Those two weren't even major powers at the time.

Answer 11

I would probably say that it was primarily the decline of the Church's power.

It was a time of turmoil. Mediaeval Scholasticism was giving way to the Humanism of Erasmus and Thomas More. Martin Luther had posted his 95 Theses. In some countries at war, the people still considered it a time of peace because it wasn't a civil war.

The Renaissance was a rebirth, not only of the knowledge of ancient Greece and Rome, but also of the mindset -- one which was more open to new ideas and inventions.

It was an increasingly literate population in Europe -- which reduced the hold that the Church had on the people because they could read the Bible for themselves and arrive at their own conclusions. John Knox established the "ragged schools" in Scotland, for example, to teach any boy who wanted it, to read and write.

The development of rag paper mills spread from China, through the Middle East into North Africa (10th to 12th centuries) and, from there, into Europe -- 1102 in Sicily and 1151 in Spain -- and from these two, it spread north fairly quickly. This made the writing 'paper' cheaper and more available to the average person (as opposed to the costly vellum). Later, the printing presses in Europe (Gutenberg in Germany and Caxton in England) spread the new ideas quickly.

Answer 12

Menopause.

Answer 13

June's answer is best - The rise of the towns.

You lived in a town a certain length of time, you were free of your feudal bonds.  

The other cause was the renewal of contact with the southern Mediterranean.  One at a time, various states decided it was ok for Christians to trade with Muslims, (Amalfi, Italy, was first; around 1000 AD  This renewed contact led Europeans to discover Classical works, previously thought long-lost.  This led to the change in outlook that was the Rennaisance - people became more humanist, individualist.

(Sorry, can't count the causes you mention as signalling the end of the Middle Ages...the Black Death and Hundred Years war were both catastrophic, but the feudal system went back into order afterwards.

'Feudalism and manorialism' were not causes of decline, but THE essential components of the middle ages.  I don't know what would make you think there was a decline in church power - Unless you're thinking of the Reformation, which happened about a century after the Middle Ages ended.)

Answer 14

The Renaissance.