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Like many European concepts the Middle Ages is one which eventually reached all parts of the world, shaping how people think about Europe and its people. The ‘Middle Ages’ is in reality an awkward term with which to explore the centuries between 500 and 1500. It suggests that this was a time of arrested motion, a time between two other important epochs that define its middleness. Those who coined the term Middle Ages possessed a tremendous sense of their own worth and good fortune as members of a later age. Media aetat, that is, Middle Age. These were men of politics and letters who fostered a style consciously engaged with the study of classical texts and ideas, with humanism, as they called it. They celebrated their times and their cities, and above all each other. Leaders, preachers, and public intellectuals often announce the dawning of a new age. These are not idle statements, but nor are they claims that historians need accept at face value. Humanists like Bruni were proclaiming a particular style of Italian civic living, which enabled artists, poets, architects, and history writers to refine their skills within courts and cities, with Tuscany as their epicenter. They were privileged communicators of the cultural treasure that had been Rome’s, a culture lost with the demise of Roman institutions, often marked by the removal of the last western Roman emperor in 476. Such men came to be known as humanists, intrepid raiders of the treasures of antiquity, hitherto obscured to generations of people living in the ‘Middle Age’. This self-awareness was displayed with bravura in the poetry and letters they wrote to classical rhythms, and within palaces inspired by the buildings of ancient Rome. When the first history of the period’s great artists was written by Giorgio Vasari, he saw the rebirth of classical standards as a welcome change after the ‘Gothic’ age with its soaring pinnacles and pointed arches.

like many European Concepts the Middle Ages is one which eventually reached all parts of the world shaping how people think about Europe and its people the Middle Ages is in reality an awkward term with which to explore the centuries between 500 and 1500 it suggest that this was a time of Arrested motion a time between two other important epics that Define its middleness those who coined the term Middle Ages possessed a tremendous sense of their own worth and good fortune as members of a later age media I taught that is middle age these were men of politics and letters who fostered a style consciously engaged with the study of classical texts and ideas with humanism as they called it they celebrated their times and their cities and above all each other leaders preachers and public intellectuals often announce the dawning of a new age these are not Idol statements but nor are they claims that historians need accept at face value humanists like bruny were proclaiming a particular style of Italian Civic living which enabled artists poets Architects and history writers to refine their skills within courts and cities with Tuscany as their epicenter they were privileged communicators of the cultural treasure that had been rames a culture lost with the demise of Roman institutions often marked by the removal of the last Western Roman emperor in 476 such men came to be known as humanists Intrepid Raiders of the treasures of antiquity hither to to obscured to generations of people living in the middle age this self-awareness was displayed with brva in the poetry and letters they wrote to classical rhythms and within palaces inspired by the buildings of ancient Rome when the first history of the period’s great artist was written by Georgio vizari he saw the rebirth of classical standards as a welcome change after the gothic age with its soaring Pinnacles and pointed arches the humanists sensed they were witnesses to the rebirth of classical ideas and practices that had been corrupted during the middling period hence the term Renaissance used since to describe their passionate interests in the culture of antiquity the men who coined Renaissance were also convinced that Italy was unique in the Excellence of its scholars in reality Scholars and readers from all over Europe participated in the Italian literary culture widely available thanks to the recently invented print so let us set aside the Middle Ages and Renaissance As historically descriptive terms and note the recurring utility of the Middle Ages as a point of reference for people and places in different times the way we think about Europe between 500 1500 is not only marked by the terms Middle Ages and Renaissance it is also influenced by the availability across the globe of traces of later revivals Appropriations and introductions of aspects of the medieval into public life the aesthetic values of premodern Europe were appreciated in a particularly intense manner in the 19th century this was for summer reaction against the 18th century Enlightenment whose thinkers emphasized the importance of Reason in guiding human Affairs and considered earlier times as barbarous Adventures under barbarous names 19th century medievalism sought in that past the values of community and of spirituality Guided by religious faith those who opposed the French Revolution and its bloody aftermath often celebrated the qualities of the old European order the ancient regime as enduring forms of European life to be cherished or restored in France Madame Dall a romantic novelist and commentator on the French Revolution celebrated the Germanic roots of European civilization in the aesthetic of the Middle Ages similarly historian Thomas Carlile in his past and present of 1843 advocated a new post-christian gospel of work inspired by what he perceived as the ethos of cooperation and labor in medieval monasteries in the decades which saw the explosion of industry and the coming of Railways to large parts of Europe and with them both opportunity and human Misery the medieval past offered an image of a world lost a more manageable society which lived at a Humane pace and on a more human scale the designer and social thinker William Morris sought to capture the qualities of craft labor in his emulation of medieval carving and painting his was not a yearning for Catholic religion but for Village Life where granaries were the true cathedrals of the people there was a notable Revival in Catholic activism and building throughout Europe too when liberal constitutions and reforms removed centuries old limitations from Catholic citizens as in England with the Emancipation Act of 1829 new cultural forces came into play and so a Catholic convert like Augustus pugan son of a French immigr had his hands full with commissions for Catholic Cathedrals chapels and seminaries in England Ireland and even as far as Australia the Oxford movement combined the enthusiasm for medieval values with a call for religious reform and the introduction of rituals that the Reformation had dismantled in France Catholic Worship abolished during the French Revolution of 1789 was soon restored subsequently the French State sought not to destroy the ancient Catholic Heritage but to restore it as part of the nation’s history large projects financed by the state rebuilt Gothic buildings most famously the Cathedral of notredame in Paris with its Pinnacles statues and gargoyles medieval Revival was not only a reaction against Republican or Democratic politics or the product of Catholic patronage it also echoed the desires of those who fostered National identities and their expression in nation states nations were understood as being bound by language history and landscape and intellectuals associated with what has been called romantic nationalism sought the roots for 19th Century National identities in the past composer Richard Vagner identified the essence of germanness in the ancient heroic narratives which were turned into a poetic cycle in the late 12th century the nibbling and late in France the architect and conserver Eugene Violet L duok led the preservation of medieval abies and Cathedrals destroyed During the Revolution as part of a National Heritage for every nation needed a clear sense of its past the novels of Walter Scott were widely known throughout Europe they used medieval settings as a frame for the exploration of Courage Ingenuity and ideals of sharc masculinity in England the present was seen as linked to an Anglo-Saxon past through an unbroken tradition of Law and nationhood when the design for rebuilding the houses of Parliament was sought through public competition in 1836 the gothic vision of pugin triumphed inside and out the legislative home of English democracy in an age of Reform and industry was associated with the age of Magna Carta for all these reasons the Middle Ages form a point of reference from which we moderns fashion our identities and conduct our pmics hence the many complexions it can assume the medieval has been associated in turn with socialism and Arch conservatism with the cohesion of Trades unions and the bombast of Royal ceremony the medieval can serve to animate the identity of oppressed minorities but also the fantasies of expansion and Empire building it is a legacy and an opportunity it offers inspiring examples alongside ones to be avoided at all cost the Middle Ages is always with us the achievements of the 15th century so celebrated by humanists were the continuation of a much longer tradition which led Europeans to confront the classical cultures of Greece and Rome Antiquity gave rise to diverse religions philosophies Styles and art and governance in republics and Empires and between roughly 500 and 1500 this intellectual Heritage was explored through reading copying and commentary as they probed that Heritage Europeans also imprinted their own stamp upon Latin poetry and Pros Greek medicine and political Theory and on music and architecture too all spheres of European life were imprinted by a Roman lore appropriated to varying degrees of imitation and adaptation a living classical tradition endured above all in the Spheres of governance and religion the late antique Roman Empire was a Christian poity this resulted from the process launched by Emperor Constantine who embraced Christianity in 312 and made the religion lit within the Empire those who followed embedded Christianity into imperial life until it became the official religion by the end of the 4th Century contact with ethnic groups at and near its borders had always been a feature of the dynamic Roman Empire urw neighbors indeed enemies ultimately joined the Roman World some even became Emperors in the second and 3DD centuries during the fifth century Germanic groups were accommodated with Bing rights or allocated land for settlement and sometimes shares and tax revenue at the beginning of our period the traditional Roman Elite continued to serve under Germanic rulers they were educated in the curriculum of the Arts a rigorous education in logic composition and public speaking alongside training in computation and science they brought these skills to the important offices of Bishops and governors from the end of the Third Century the Roman Empire was in fact managed as two large and interconnected entities East and West the western part saw in 476 the deposition of the last Roman Emperor ramulus Augustus by a military leader odoacer who led a Federation of Germanic people and who thus became king of Italy this change is often used to Mark the end of the Roman Empire it is in fact but a stage in the long process by which Germanic groups were incorporated into the Roman armies garrisoned its borders settled on state lands and ultimately also claimed political rule odoacer was soon replaced by theodoric King of the ostrogoths as ruler of Italy in 497 Emperor anastasius recognized theodoric and sent to him the regalia of office theodoric built his capital in Ravena as a new Rome he appointed Court poets who could celebrate his achievements in the Roman Imperial style and maintained the circulation of Roman gold coins he saw saw himself as a Christian King within a Roman tradition similarly after Clovis King of the Franks converted to Christianity in 496 and established Regional hegemony by defeating the vizos in 508 he too received the Roman title of conso from the same Emperor through diplomatic contacts with Constantinople and interaction with local Roman Elites Barbarian kings learned how to rule in Roman style a Roman Civic culture had for centuries animated life in the Imperial province vast Investments were made from the Imperial coffers in public works and Military defenses when these declined in the fourth and fifth centuries so did the number of City dwellers in Italy Gaul and Spain but the teaching of Latin continued as did the training of public servants from among the traditional Elite of senatorial families Roman law was practiced and people still walked streets laid out in the unmistakable grid of Roman urban planning public spaces and practices like aqueducts hippodrom temples and gladiatorial games were transformed to fit a Christian Society the pantheon and Rome was turned into a church in 609 dedicated to the Virgin Mary and All Saints the kings of the ostrogoths vandals Franks burgundians and Visigoths were Roman barbarians leaders who cherished what romanas had to offer and so while many have described this period as one of Decline and fall of the Roman Empire a concept popularized by Edward Gibbon and his bestseller the decline and fall of the Roman Empire this period of change is better considered as one of transformation that is to say that adaptation rather than destruction characterized the fate of the Roman Legacy and this resulted from intensive interaction between peoples as The Barbarians became romanized a hybrid culture emerged an early 6th Century food and health book composed by the Greek physician anthemus for theoderic the great king of the Franks suly acknowledged the Frank Customs while aiming to instill Roman values anthemus accepted that Highborn barbarians preferred to drink beer and Mead but also recommended the importance of Decor in handling and preparation of food and consumption of moderate portions this etiquette stands in contrast to contemporary descriptions of Barbarian male sociability sidonius apollinaris son of a Gallow Roman senatorial family Diplomat poet and then Bishop of Claremont described the burgundians as wreaking of G and onion and his Giants who spoke an unintelligible tongue and who groomed their hair with rancid butter the continuity of ideas and practices in public administration and economic life was facilitated by the existence of a sole emperor in Constantinople Emperor Justinian attempted to reestablish a sole Imperial Authority around the Mediterranean in regions that for a century had been ruled by Barbarian successor States He also extended the Empire eastwards with triumphs over the Persian assassinates and the Armenians his success in battles at Sea and on land was matched by ambitious campaigns of construction Court historian procopius lovingly describes edifices in Constantinople and in the Holy Land building projects through which the imprint of the Christian Empire was felt even more far-reaching for the lives of individuals and communities were Justinian’s legislative efforts he commissioned a compendium of Imperial law Justinian Code updating theodosius T laws of 400 1 38 a digest of learned opinions on questions arising from legal practice and a law text book with helpful commentaries the institutions under Justinian theological controversies on the nature of Christ animated eastern and western Bishops alike as one Christian Commonwealth soon after in 568 the Lombard conquest of large parts of Northern and Central Italy diminished such contacts gold coins now carried the portraits of Kings rather than emperors coins issued in late 6th Century Province still retain the Imperial shape though they were lighter in weight coins facilitated trade in luxury goods that were still available throughout the old Roman provinces not least in the new Royal courts and for ritual use in churches and Cathedrals coins eased the collection of taxes by a cadr of Administrators officials who still carried Roman titles and who were paid by Barbarian kings from the public purse the Mediterranean Empire that Justinian had sought to revive was soon transformed by the Advent of a new force in world history Islam born in the Arabian Peninsula Islam arose from the convergence of diverse Traditions including Judaism and Christianity it was an exciting new religious ideology which mobilized kinship groups into military action first in the peninsula and then beyond the fragmented and battered Byzantine Empire which had seen loss of territory and income in the decades following Justinian offered easy pickings a decade after the death of Muhammad in 637 Jerusalem was taken by caleff Umar the crowning of his conquest of Byzantine Syria and Palestine next he mobilized an army which entered Egypt in 639 and brought it into the fold of the emergent Amad caliphate with its capital in Damascus Muslim Conquest was led by Arab armies but these were locally reinforced by converts to Islam by defeated Byzantine garrisons and by alliances with local groups such as bedwin in the Sinai and berbers in North Africa these developments soon had dramatic implications for Europeans the Mediterranean Islands southern France and Italy suffered from raids and by 711 large parts of Iberia were conquered by a Muslim Army from North Africa Muslim armies soon crossed the Pyrenees into the GAC province of septimania 2 Roman visigothic cities like Barcelona and narbon were taken but progressed deeper into Gaul was halted this border of Christian slm Muslim rule in Southwest Europe was held for a generation until the Franks reclaimed narbon in 759 many of the old Roman provinces now lived under Muslim rule in Iberia Visigoths converted in large numbers to Islam as did some Jews and a great number of Christians and Gothic identity has left a faint echo in the Arabic name Alti the mental map of Christianity was shifting even though the Pyrenees were for centuries a Mara with inter ment violent encounters alen Dallas exerted vast cultural influence upon the rest of Europe the shape of Europe was thus dramatically affected by these conquests they created an Iberia and Southwest Gula culture so diverse and alliances so unexpected as to challenge our concept of medieval Europe Iberia also saw the coexistence of Jews Muslims and Christians in a manner which has come to be known as conviven within a sphere of Arabic culture we will return to this Legacy for Europe in a later chapter another important concept was born in these parts by the 11th century knights from Francia received Papal Blessing when they joined the efforts to conquer lands ruled by Muslims and thus to join what came to be known as the Reconquista the balance of political power in Christian Europe now shifted northwards away from the dangerous Mediterranean there the maravan Franks gained prominence through conquest and consolidation of their administration of vast lands which reached from Denmark to Saxony to Lombardy Court ritual and art emulated the sole source of Imperial Majesty but as the Frankish Kingdom prospered a rivalry developed between the two polities in a period of particular turmoil in the Byzantine Empire theologians and corders in the Frankish Court even challenged the Empire’s leadership in religious matters during the rule of Emperor Irene they pinned the libery carolini in 794 this track discussed and extoled the role of imag in Christian worship a pmic against the iconoclastic austerities which had recently been adopted by three successive Byzantine emperors political hegemony received religious endorsement in Rome on Christmas Day 800 when Charles the great king of the Franks had himself crowned by the pope as Emperor beyond the old Roman provinces the Roman Legacy was developing into something new while Roman cities and law were densely available in Italy Gaul and Spain they were less visible and accessible in northern Europe yet romanas in the 7th or 8th century was invested in other ideas and practices the language of religion ritual and learning was Latin and churchmen were best placed to teach its uses classical learning was favored because it was extremely useful for communication and governance so for example the rhetorica ADH herum a textbook on rhetoric composed in the ’90s BCE remained one of the most widely used manuals for any holder of public public office in church or state every Monastery had a copy every Cathedral and every Court similarly the book of medical recipes materials of Medicine by dioscorides an army surgeon from Asia Minor was one of the most popular books well into the 16th century it was cherished for its diagnostic insights and for the Botanical cures it offered a Lively engagement with the classical tradition characterized many areas of life in these centuries books written in Antiquity were copied but also annotated medieval users added glosses and even practical illustrations to books of medicine and geography history and poetry these Traditions were appreciated for their benefits tested against contemporary needs Charlamagne explored the possibilities of Christian culture and Roman education in his court at aen he assembled a formidable group of Scholars and administrators who made tangible the idea of Christian European rule Emperors were greater than Kings they LED Christian Life and extended it to New peoples they legislated and determined in issues of Faith Emperors had at their disposal not only unique regalia but incomes rights and rituals of court in the 10th Century a Saxon Dynasty established itself as heir to the Holy Roman Empire between 936 and 10:24 the etonians reinforced their claims to ascendancy by arranging marriages with the Byzantine Imperial family and by promoting Enterprises of Conquest Court art and architecture fittingly they were also great patrons of monasteries and their learning the Byzantine Empire was experiencing vast change as its territories were depleted by Muslim extension into Syria North Africa southern Italy and Sicily but an arena for expansion existed to its North and Northwest among the bulgars poles and the people of Russ Christianity was brought by Greek missionaries like the saintly Brothers Cil and Methodius to Moravia and panonia Byzantine culture spread through church rights conveyed in the new alphabet which the missionaries helped to devise and which developed into the cerlic alphabet still used today throughout Eastern Europe and parts of Asia the Byzantine Empire was battered by the movement of peoples like the cukes from Central Asia in the 10th and 11th centuries the nomadic cukes converted to Islam and became a dynamic military force in pursuit of Conquest for their new faith the waning of Byzantine religious solidarity and influence in the west was marked from 1054 by the Schism between Greek and Latin Bishops over the Theology of the Trinity the history of the Byzantine Empire will be told in the very short introduction to Byzantium for all the challenges it faced the Byzantine Empire could still be an important Ally in European Enterprises when an armed pilgrimage left Europe in 1096 with the aim of offering help to the Christians of the East and regaining access for Christians to to the Holy Land its leaders expected that help would be forthcoming from the Byzantine Empire Emperor alexio the first comminos was in fact alarmed by this assumption his daughter and biographer Anna com describes with Amusement the arrival of the contingents from the West each expecting to be received in style and supported while this transformation of the Mediterranean and G was underway change also characterized the British Isles Scandinavia and Central Europe following the withdrawal of Roman forces around 400 throughout the fifth century angles Saxons frians and some Franks migrated and settled in Southern and Eastern England often penetrating further Inland though the rivers us Trent and N the Germanic settlers sought agricultural land and often displaced native Celtic communities forced to move further west and North this period was to be remembered and recreated in later centuries in the Traditions associated with Arthur King of the Britains who was revived in the 12th century and would remain thereafter the epitome of a chivalrous Christian King Southern England became a region of active Mission 600 with the arrival of the delegation sent by Pope Gregory I like elsewhere in Europe conversion was led by rulers animated by charismatic missionaries and often bolstered by Christian Queens throughout the British Isles the influences of holy men from Ireland was felt the life of St Columba written a century after his death by the monk ad dominin describes the holy man at work from the island of Iona off the west coast of Scotland admonishing Chieftains prophesying the results of battles exorcising demons and confronting magicians with his own cures Irish influence affected the style of religious life often at odds with Roman from Christian frania abis berus sent books and Relics to these new Christians in time the term Christendom was coined by an English writer and figures from the British Isles became iconic Christian leaders the north umbrian monk historian beid whose history of the church was highly appreciated throughout Europe or Alin of York who spent much of his life in Charlemagne’s Court leading reform of education and acting as Diplomat between England and the continent this integrated northern European World Christian and increasingly organized around dynastic rule was about to be devastated by violent disruption raids by Norsemen first attested in 789 9 several decades of violent contact followed first of the more exposed outposts like the monastic islands of lindar or Iona the north of England East Midlands and parts of East Anglia as well as Northern parts of frania were all affected by the mid 9th century a period of settlement and consolidation was underway and York and Dublin became important Norris trading centers ultimately after Decades of dislocation enduring forms of cohabitation emerged the Norse leader Rollo paid homage to the king of France in 911 for the terrain of Normandy in Wessex the Viking Challenge had prompted the enhancement of administration and defense under King Alfred Christian ideas and practices were now disseminated to those who joined the European Commonwealth as a package of religious teaching liturgy law and letters these processes were mutual and reciprocal magars Bohemians and Norse people Contin to live in kinship groups with their intricate patterns of mutual protection immersed in a heroic ethos they were choosing to join the Christian world with its big idea salvation offered by a suffering God for them the figure of Christ was that of a hero who had triumphed over death by the year 1,000 the European population had begun to grow and for some 300 years food production grew too more than matching the demand this meant that some people from every rural community could move to towns and cities and develop specialized skills safeen the knowledge that food would be available there for purchase Urban growth occurred both in existing Urban centers and in thousands of New Towns this process has left its mark on European place names which announc their newness Newville noot new town castl moovo or new Kirin cities became hubs of cultural activity alongside the traditional rural cultural strongholds monasteries and aristocratic households resources enthusiasm and talent were now invested in new institutions of religion and learning and that is why a century ago the American historian Charles Homer H Haskins called the period the Renaissance of the 12th century members of the social Elite enriched by the agricultural boom founded monasteries where their families past present and future would be commemorated in prayer towns people supported schools for training in scribal arts law and Medicine conquests led to waves of Bill building like that following the Norman Conquest in England or when territories were conquered for Christian rule in Iberia dynasts marked their unique Destinies and Prestige projects like the Abbey of St Dennis north of Paris for the cape Dion Dynasty or the rebuilding of the Church of the Holy Seiler in the Crusader founded kingdom of Jerusalem while much classical learning was well established in Europe some classical lore became available to Europeans only in the 12th and 13th centuries through a two-step process of transmission in the seventh and 8th centuries Greek learning was translated into Arabic following the Muslim conquests and the establishment of a court in Bagdad after 1100 a great deal of translation took place from Arabic into Latin led by Scholars from Muslim Spain like Peter alony Peter was born a Jew and converted to Christianity in 1106 he translated from Arabic and Persian moral and ethical Tales wrote on astronomy and composed pical works against Judaism he moved between the Spheres of learning in Hebrew Arabic and Latin Peter traveled widely and his books were copied and enthusiastically received the 12th and 13th centuries saw a remarkable consolidation of political units and increased European integration population growth went hand inhand with the development of cities diversification of trade and expansion in the territories of Christian Europe an elite educated in Latin served Kings and popes Bishops and princes a system of Parish brought all Europeans into the reach of ecclesiastical instruction ritual and discipline some parts of Europe became perennial War zones the Scottish borders the shifting Christian or Muslim Frontiers in Iberia and the near East and the Baltic region where Crusades against pagans were waged violence within polies was increasingly tracked down and contained by Royal administrations of Justice supported by local magistrates and with the participation of local communities all this was underpinned by law codes and Customs newly codified and disseminated in the 1140s authoritative texts of church law were assembled into the decrum a concordance of the Christian legal tradition which aimed to harmonize apparent contradictions it was followed in each Century by new Collections and commentaries a shared legal Heritage for European Church courts kingdoms produce their own codes but also allowed other spheres of jurisdiction like those of landlords On Their Manners and town councils over their Market markets and citizens legal expertise developed in hubs of commercial activity like the Italian cities and some groups regulated their own Affairs like Jews and Muslims in Spain and foreign merchants in Venice dynastic Ambitions caused monarchs to build effective bureaucracies for the management of their finances in peace and War and for the delivery of Justice occasionally resources had to be mustered in Desperate attempts to defend territories as the rulers of Poland Hungary and Russ did in the early 1240s against Mongol attacks but dynastic Ambitions also led to expensive Wars of Conquest like Charles of andw seizure of Sicily in the 1260s Edward I’s conquest and settlement of Wales two decades later or the Hundred Years War between England and France the later 13th century also saw a decline in the rate of growth and ultimately the marks of famine and economic vulnerability in many regions the price of food stuffs Rose and the size of peasants landholding shrank under population pressure in some regions cash crops had displaced food crops so the balance of humans animals and food became increasingly precarious around 1300 the little Ice Age set in and its wet and cold meant that the extent of European land suitable for cultivation decreased considerably the famine which ravaged Northwest Europe and the great Calamity of the Black Death put all the arrangements we have been surveying to a deadly test unprecedented flooding and fiercely cold Winters from autumn 1314 meant that agricultural yields were down however integrated the European economy had become it failed to provide food where it was needed this failure was exacerbated by the tendency of landlords to hoard food stuffs and thus speculate just as the next Generations were beginning to recover and population to grow again the Black Death the disease had spread across Central Asia over the preceding decades reaching Europe by vessels that traded between the Black Sea and Italy in 134 7 this disease was initially born by fleas that had fed on Infected rats and then passed the disease on to humans infected humans developed pules on their bodies especially around the lymph nodes and a high fever they usually died within 10 days a pneumonic version had a swifter effect with death coming even more quickly while mortality rates differed across European regions and settlements it is estimated that close to half of the population perished nor did it stop there as the plague return in the 1360s and 1370s and in many areas in the 15th century too the world was truly turned upside down as disease loss and bereavement affected all Europeans the population did not reach early 14th century levels again until well into the 16th so many of the assumptions about the European economy had to be rethought labor was in great demand but less food was required to feed the depleted population rulers attempted to intervene and direct the response by legislating the changes away with fixed wages and restricted worker Mobility it is not surprising therefore that the later 14th and 15th centuries saw a great deal of urban and rural unrest all over Europe landlords sought to move from the labor intensive cultivation of aable lands to more diverse activities such as mining pasture and Fisheries cities became more aware of the responsibilities they had in maintaining Public Health through care for urban spaces Europe an invented new ways of commemorating their many dead they also became more impatient with those deemed to be lazy and without settled Abode or regular employment the undeserving poor Europe continued to change in shape and population size in the later centuries of our period the Baltic region became part of Europe following the conquest of Leonia by the tonic order in the 13th century and its settlement by german-speaking colonists the greek-speaking Byzantine Empire was conquered by the Ottomans in 14 53 and Christian rulers conquered large parts of Allen Dallas a process which ended with the fall of Granada in 1492 Europeans of many ethnicities and religious affiliations confronted the Mongols in Hungary Austria and Poland Crusaders continued to imagine the conquest of North Africa and the reconquest of the Holy Land one group Came Upon the Canary Islands in the late 14th century and established vestigial rule there with Papal Blessing throughout these later centuries Europeans lived abroad in enclaves and trading stations in Alexandria Damascus Constantinople Korum and Jerusalem along the trade routes pilgrims traveled too as did curious Scholars and wouldbe missionaries by the end of our period the Eastern Mediterranean was ruled by the ottoman Dynasty into the West explorations of the coast of Africa were encouraged and financed by the kings of Portugal it is common to end this period in 1492 with Columbus Journey which saw his arrival in the Indies yet Columbus seems far more to belong to the traditions of European travel cartography and Royal patronage of trade infused with a sense of Christian Mission the Middle Ages what remains of this concept of middleness not much