When did the medieval period begin and end?

Answer 1

The short answer is this: The Middle Ages did not begin or end at exact dates. Some people try to give exact dates, but when you look closely at the reasoning behind the dates, they don't work.

The following explanation is probably much more detail than you want:

The date most commonly used for the beginning of the Middle Ages is probably September 4, 476, when Emperor Romulus Augustulus was deposed by Odoacer an event referred to as the fall of Rome because Romulus Augustulus is called the last Roman Emperor. The facts are a little different from this, not because it is entirely wrong, but because it is simplistic to the point of being misleading.

There are historians who like to say that when Rome fell almost nobody noticed, and certainly nobody thought of the event as the fall of Rome.

The important dates given in the process of the fall of Rome include the Battle of Adrianople, in 378, the death of Theodosius I, last Emperor of a united and complete Roman Empire, in 395, the sack of Rome by the Visigoths in 410, the sack of Rome by Vandals in 455, the death of Julius Nepos, last emperor of the West Roman Empire recognized by his co-emperor, in 480, and the death of Justinian in 565. It might be added that the Senate of the West Roman Empire continued to function until 603, when it is last recorded, but there is no record of its being dissolved.

It is also worthy of note that the East Roman Empire continued to function until 1453, and its fall is the commonest event given for the end of the Middle Ages. But the number of suggested dates for the end of the Middle Ages is probably almost as varied as what it is for the beginning.

If you really want specific dates for the Middle Ages, it is probably best to start by deciding what is meant by the term Middle Ages. If you mean a time of decline and decay of culture, none of these dates works; because good dates we might choose for this might include starting it with the beginning of the Crisis of the Third Century in 235 and ending it with the beginning of the Carolingian Renaissance in 715.

We might make the Middle Ages equal to the time of the Byzantine Empire, which assuredly fell in 1453, unless we count some of the holdout territories that continued to exist for a few years. But some historians date its beginning with Constantine's creation of Constantinople as the eastern capital in 330, others with the division of the Empire at the death of Theodosius I in 395, others with the rise of Justinian I to the imperial throne in 527, and others to the date that Heraclius took over the throne in 610, because he was the man who made Greek the language of the empire. The Byzantines never called it the Byzantine Empire. They always called it the Roman Empire.

Personally, I would choose to call the Middle Ages the Age of Faith, as others have before me. But I would date the beginning at 380, when Christianity was declared the state religion of the Roman Empire, and end it in 1517, when Martin Luther posted the 95 Theses.

My suggestion as to how to deal with your problem is this: Learn a whole bunch of history, and decide on your own dates. But if you wind up teaching history, use the dates 476 to 1453, unless history has changed between now and the time you are teaching, in which case, teach whatever is generally taught because otherwise your students will learn something later teachers will say is wrong.

Answer 2

410 to 1492

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The most commonly used dates are 476 to 1453.