The Middle Ages: way of life and society

In short: In Europe the Middle Ages lasted roughly from the 5th to the 15th century. Society was divided into estates: clergy, nobility and peasants. Castles, monasteries and towns shaped the era.

In more detail: Most people lived as peasants in the countryside and were often tied to a landlord (feudal system).

In detail

• Estates: Those who prayed, who fought and who worked. Burghers in towns formed a separate stratum.
• Church: Shaped education, art and daily life. Monasteries preserved knowledge and copied manuscripts.
• Towns: Trade, guilds and markets; the Hanseatic League linked towns around the North and Baltic Seas.
• Emperor and Empire: The Holy Roman Empire under Charlemagne (crowned 800) and later emperors.
• Plague: The Black Death (about 1347–1353) killed a third or more of Europe’s population.
• Crusades: Military expeditions to the Holy Land (1096 to the 13th century).
• End: Printing, voyages of discovery and the Reformation usher in the modern era (buchdruck-und-reformation).