Middle Ages

The term Middle Ages refers to the period between the decline of the Roman Empire, which began around 400 a.d., and the beginning of the Renaissance in Italy about 1400. Renaissance scholars, who sought to restore the glory of the ancient world, generally dismissed this period as insignificant. They developed the term "middle age" to reflect their view that true culture had disappeared with the fall of Rome and that the years between Roman civilization and their own was little more than a gap in the history of European culture. Yet though the scholars had little respect for the culture of the Middle Ages, it continued to have a great influence on their thinking.

The Italian writer Petrarch was one of the first authors to look back with longing toward the ancient world. He wrote of his desire to mix with the great men of antiquity* rather than the "thievish company" of his own day. Other humanist* writers echoed his call for a culture based on ancient literary and artistic models. The artist and writer Giorgio Vasari outlined three stages in the history of art: perfection in antiquity, decay after the 300s, and renewal in the late 1200s led by the Italian artist Giotto di Bondone.

Nonetheless, Renaissance thinkers drew much inspiration from the Middle Ages. Historians and legal scholars showed a keen interest in studying the medieval* period. Poets and writers also borrowed medieval tales and developed them into new stories. The epic* Orlando Furioso, by Italian author Ludovico Ariosto, was based on a medieval French poem called the Song of Roland. English playwright William Shakespeare based his famous tragedy Hamlet on a story from the 1100s. In the field of religious studies, Catholic scholars continued to follow the traditions of the Middle Ages, combining them with new critical techniques from the Renaissance. Most artists, by contrast, broke cleanly away from the methods of the Middle Ages. Negative views of medieval art persisted until the 1700s.

(See alsoArt; Humanism; Renaissance: Influence and Interpretations. )

* antiquity

era of the ancient Mediterranean cultures of Greece and Rome, ending around a.d. 400

* humanist

referring to a Renaissance cultural movement promoting the study of the humanities (the languages, literature, and history of ancient Greece and Rome) as a guide to living

* medieval

referring to the Middle Ages, a period that began around a.d. 400 and ended around 1400 in Italy and 1500 in the rest of Europe

* epic

long poem about the adventures of a hero