Research Summary

The middle ages of Europe, Asia, and Africa were and are sometimes referred to as the
Golden Age or The Medieval Time Period as known as the more famous of the names. This is
thought to be a time period of knights and wars, kings and queens, balls and castles, countries
and alliances; which is true but that wasnt all that happened in this well-known era. The middle
ages werent as glamorous thought to be, they were full of plague, war, destruction, innovation,
and creation. In order to build the nations that would rise to power or crumble under the feet of
another, it would take the push and pull of cause and impact of great disaster, great occurrences,
and great achievements.
The middle ages of Europe went through ups and downs such as the spread of
Christianity and the fall of the Roman Empire, the Franks spreading culture and the barbarians
invading the European empires, and the rise of the Great leader Charlemagne and the spread of
the well-known plague, the Black Death. First we talk about the spread of Christianity; the
spread of Christianity mainly depended on two things, the Pax Romana and the Edict of Milan.
The Pax Romana was a period of peace and minimal military expansion by the Roman
government. In this period there was a strong, stable economic stand point for the Roman
Empire. Next came the Edict of Milan; the Edict of Milan was a letter that was signed by
Constantine and Lincinius, it proclaimed that religious toleration for Christians, the period of the
Edict of Milan came after the persecution of Christians by the emperor Diocletian ended in 313.
The overall spread of Christianity happened as Europe gradually emerged from the destruction of
the Roman Empire; the church became one of the only things left from the empire. Gregory 1 the
Great played a strong role in the establishment of the church. The people that succeeded Gregory
continued to expand the churchs influence in both social and political aspects of the era in the
8th century English missionaries influenced the French to adopt a system of papal government.
Eventually in the 9th century feudalism saw the fall of the churchs power, this power was
absorbed by secular local rulers and kings. Around 493 the church regained its power when the
Ostrogoth Papacy (Popes, Dioceses, etc...) rose to power and became a great political
power. Next we talk about the Frankish Empire that would eventually play a great role in the rise
of a middle aged Europe. The Frankish Empire was made up of Germanic speaking tribes, who
invaded the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century. Dominating present-day northern
France, Belgium, and western Germany, the Franks established the most powerful
Christian kingdom of early medieval Western Europe. The name France (Francia) is derived
from their name. The Frankish people belonged to two dynasties, the Merovingian dynasty and
the Carolingian dynasty, these dynasties believed in Christianity. An important figure for the
Franks was Charles Martel; Martel was would conduct a civil war that culminated in the Battle
of Soissons against King Chilperic and the Duke of Aquitaine, Odo the Great. Victorious,
Charles was able to gain recognition for his titles as mayor of the palace and Duke and Prince of
the Franks. Over the next five years he consolidated power as well as conquered Bavaria and
Alemmania. With the Frankish lands secured, Charles next began to prepare for an anticipated

attack from the Muslim Omayyads to the south. The Battle of Tours was fought on October 10,
732 between forces under the Frankish leader Charles Martel and a massive invading Islamic
army led by Emir Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi Abd al Rahman, near the city of Tours, France. In
the Battle of Tours Charles earned his nickname 'Martel' meaning hammer, Charles would
continue to drive the infidels from France for many years. Charlemagne was a great medieval
emperor of most of Western Europe, in 771 Charlemagne became the king of the Franks, he
made it his mission to unite all of the German people under one nation. The Black Death was a
plague that came by sea in October of 1347; the Black Death killed 75-200 million people
including the crew members on the trading ships that brought the plague over. The Justinian
Code was a collection of laws and legal interpretations developed under the sponsorship of the
Byzantine emperor Justinian 1. Strictly speaking, the works did not constitute a new legal
code. The Magna Carta (The Great Charter) limited the fines which could be imposed on
villains, so as not to deprive them of their livelihood, kept all free men free, exchanged land for
soldiers from barons, had the habeas corpus principle, and set new taxes.
The Middle Ages of Asia and Africa were eventful and more along the lines of our fiction
stories. There were squabbles over religion, invasions for power, and inventions for wellbeing.
One great leader of the Mongols, a native or inhabitant of Mongolia; a Mongolian, known to the
world as Genghis Khan, established the largest land empire in all of history. Khan united the
nomadic tribes of the Mongolian plateau and he conquered huge chunks of central Asia and
China. At the peak of the empire, the Mongols controlled between 11 and 12 million contiguous
square miles, an area about the size of Africa. A squabble over religion was when the Christians
decided that they wanted the Holy Land back from the Muslim peoples; this led to the crusades
for religion, land, belief, and right. Next we talk about the fall of Kiev; the fall or decline of Kiev
had to do mostly with the economy after the trade routes changed after the first crusade. In 1222,
Batu Khan, descendent to Genghis Khan, began to invade cities in Europe, seeing as most of
Poland and Russia had already fallen, Batus Mongol army could conqueror anything they
decided to conqueror. This reign lasted for 20 years, when the death of the great Khan took
place, Batu was forced to pull from Europe and return home to see who the successor would be.
Next we go into the expansion of the Chinese territory, the Tang Empire was like the Han
Empire in land area, population, foreign trade, capital cities, and the beginning and end of the
empires. The land area of the Western Han Empire and the Tang Empire was about the same.
However, the Tang Empire didnt include the southern regions around Yunnan. This was the
territory of the Nanzhou Empire that had a capital near Dali. The Tang Empire expanded
westward into Central Asia. The spread of Buddhism depended mainly the Silk Road trading,
cultural diffusion, monarchies changing the faith of its people. Last but not least the inventions
of the Chinese are probably the most famous of this time period. The Chinese invented many
helpful materials that are used in everyday life all over the world such as, the Heavy Plough, the
Tidal Mills, the hourglass, tea, and an earthquake detector. Today these inventions have been
modified to improve with the economy but they still have that little bit of history.

Overall the middle ages was a time period of great triumphs and disastrous falls but
without these obstacles the world would not be like it is today. We owe a little gratitude to those
men and women who helped shape today, tomorrow, and even yesterday. Even if the middle
ages wasnt like the stories that we are told when we are children with dragons, knights, damsels
in distress, and riches beyond imagination; there was still a hint of adventure, bravery, and valor
that defended tradition, castles, kings, emperors, and ordinary people. So maybe the whole
medieval ages wasnt what you expected, it wasnt what I expected, but there are still some
characteristics that are just a tad-bit true.