Middle Ages Dbq

The Middle Ages, from 500 to 1400, was a mixing pot of events that were good, bad, and ugly, but there’s plenty of room for interpretation for what the middle ages were. For example, it could be called the Age of Faith because the church was extremely powerful. When the church called for people to go on the crusades, all of Europe obeyed and supported them, almost out of fear (Document 9). There’s four possible labels for the Middle Ages: the Age of Faith, the Dark Ages, the Age of Feudalism, or the Golden Age. The most accurate are the Age of Faith, the Dark Ages, and the Age of Feudalism.

The church in Europe had an enormous influence over Europeans, it nearly controlled their lives. The Church actually set aside days which the people cant

kill, called the Truce of God (Document 5), which is ridiculous because that’s almost all they did, but all they wanted was to promote peace. The church also created a law, called Canon's Law, where if the king would violate it, the whole kingdom would be denied sacraments, or interdicted. One king was so sorry that when he got interdicted that he stayed in a crypt for three days and nights, naked. One thing that was contradictory was how only popes and people within the church were educated, mainly because everyone was either farming, killing (knights) or being a merchant. Some people were devout that they renounced almost every aspect of their life like family, friends, and their own will to “accept all hardships of the monastic life” (Document 8). to display their power and money, the church would build huge, grand Gothic Cathedrals (Document 10).
Another accurate label for the Middle Ages could be the Dark Age, mainly because there wasn’t any major advances. There also wasn’t any learning, all of the records were destroyed. Something that really put Europe back was the Black Death. So many people were dying from the black death that everything started going downhill. Even the church started losing power because they couldn’t come up with an answer to the black death so people started losing faith. Another happening that really set the Europeans back was invasions. The moors invaded Europe that development wasn’t even in the question, they were to busy rebuilding their churches, schools, and fields. The moors left with captives, and pretty much anything they could get their hands on. The villagers and citizens were so terrified that trading came to a sudden halt and everyone was in hiding (Document 1). The Northmen also invaded Europe but during the ninth century. They also took people, goods, and burned down a town (Document 3). When the Northmen invaded it wasn’t as bad as the last one, but damage was still done
This last label isn’t as accurate but is more than the Golden Age because no major advances were made. The Age of Feudalism could also be used to label the Middle Ages because it played a major role in how Europeans lived. It was basically their society. Feudalism consisted of lords, knights, merchants, and peasants, (Document 2) and was very similar to the caste system because it had levels of societies.