The Middle Ages 中世纪.ppt

1、The Middle Ages (476 1463),Chapter 5 pp.87 106,Question to consider ,During this class I want you to think about this question: Some view the Middle Ages as a period of limited civilisation, especially when compared with the Roman/Greek civilisations. Do you agree? Why? Why not?,Periodization,Dark A

2、ges: 500 1000 High Middle Ages: 1000 1250 Late Middle Ages: 1250 - 1500,Europe in 600AD,The Middle Ages,Part 1: The Dark Ages (AD 476 AD 1000) Began in AD 476 when there was no longer an emperor in Rome who still lived a relatively primitive (basic) lifestyle,Barbarians from the Latin barbarus meani

3、ng strange,The term Middle Ages,The term Middle Ages is a sweeping and often derogatory 贬义 term, first used by Renaissance 文艺复兴 scholars in the 1400s,The term Middle Ages,Idea of a thousand-year period of ignorance between the Greek/Roman civilisations and the enlightened 开明 Renaissance Inventing th

4、e Middle Ages to distinguish 区别 themselves from it and highlight their own superior 优越 culture Similar to how the Romans used the barbarians to highlight their own cultural achievements,Recap: what were the Middle Ages?,The Middle Ages: term used by Renaissance scholars to represent a period of dark

5、ness between the Greek/Roman civilisations and the Renaissance,The Dark Ages (476 1000) and a revival 振兴 of civilisation in the 2) High Middle Ages (1000 1463),1000 year period dominated by the Germanic barbarians,Civilisation in the Dark Ages (476 1000),Most historians argue that the development of

6、 European civilisation was limited or even regressed 倒退 during the Dark Ages.,Comparisons with the Roman Empire.,Unlike the Roman Empire with its one all-powerful emperor, Europe developed into small fiefdoms 封地; each governed by a local lord This division meant that knowledge spread slowly; as comm

7、unication was difficult and dangerous,Comparisons with the Roman Empire.,Many of the improvements introduced by the Romans deteriorated 衰败: roads, water-supplies, shipping routes. There were regular wars and invasions Significant knowledge was lost when the Roman empire collapsed they had trade rout

8、es all over Europe and as far as Central Asia As a culture they had technical skill and a spirit of adventure but also a lack of permanence 恒久 By 1200 AD they had been mostly defeated or subsumed 纳入 into other cultures,Recap: the Vikings 维京人,Did not create a social/political model; not a civilisatio

9、n in the same way as Rome/Greece,Descendants of Scandinavian barbarians: began to expand into Europe in 800AD,Famous for their ship-building and created a trade network through Europe Christianity initially struggled to survive However the barbarians were increasingly converted 皈依 by Christian missi

10、onaries 传教士: re-establishing Christianity as the major European religion a unifying force?,Was the Christian Church really a force for good?,Many argue that it had a negative and repressive 压制 influence It represented a society that was attempting to politically structure itself on a religious basis

11、 It controlled academic knowledge which was held by the monasteries 隐修院; there were no universities and very few common people could read or write,Charlemagne by AD 800 he had created the largest state in Europe after the fall of Rome But this unity began to break down after his death in 814,Recap: the early Middle Ages,Charlemagne and the Frankish Empire: short-term unity based around Christianity in Europe,Transitional period? People not wanting to change/question things,Religion as a unifying force but repressive espec