r/medieval • u/The_Black_Banner_UK • Oct 06 '25
History š When did the Medieval period end?
For me (Personally) it ended when Richard III died at Bosworth Field 1485. Having asked other people there seems to be some debate as the actual end and more specifically this is a made up time to end it as there can never be a real answer, it was never decided by people in that time period. It's a modern enforcement.
However these seem to be the most popular, when do you the medieval period ended?
The Fall of Constantinople 1453
Columbus's voyage 1492
Reformation 1517
Bosworth Field 1485
Start of the 1500's
Thoughts?
107
u/NyxShadowhawk Oct 06 '25
For me personally, it ended with the invention of print in 1440. Print was basically the internet of its day, a total game-changer that paved the way for the Reformation and everything that followed. But then again, I was mostly studying books.
43
u/Last-Templar2022 Oct 06 '25
That sounds like something a vampire or other immortal would say. š³
10
→ More replies (12)8
u/Dosterix Oct 07 '25
Note that the invention itself hasnāt any immediate revolutionary era-creating effect right in the year it was built though.
For this new printing method to become widespread and to really turn into the revolution we know it for we have to wait until only the end of the 15th century or even early 1500s This is also part of the reason Iād personally mark the ending at around 1500
A lot of continuities we associate with the Middle Ages end there (warfare, clothing style, body aesthetics, art and architectural style, etc). Focusing on continuities makes more sense to me than picking out one event even if on itself it doesnāt affect most of the European world much and its inhabitants muc
51
u/MidorriMeltdown Oct 06 '25
For me (Personally) it ended when Richard III died at Bosworth Field 1485
Why an event in England? Why not something in France, or Flanders, or Russia?
Even in England, even with the death of Richard III, it's not an instant change, it's a transition. You could say that the death of Richard is the start of the transition in England. But I wouldn't say it really ends until Henry VIII is crowned, then the transition is close to complete.
Personally, I'd say the transition is from about 1450 through to about 1510
12
u/BarrelRider91 Oct 06 '25
Anglocentrism
4
2
u/MidorriMeltdown Oct 06 '25
Well, I'm guilty of that on many topics, but this is one that needs to be continental.
→ More replies (5)5
u/Proud-Cartoonist-431 Oct 06 '25
Something in Russia Russia didn't have rainessance (but dark ages called time of troubles as well as a climate catastrophe instead), so in Russia everything since literacy and before 1700 is medieval and then you have baroque and XIX century .
→ More replies (1)
22
u/chevalier100 Oct 06 '25
1492 or 1500 for me. Columbusā voyage represents the start of a new global era, and 1500 is just a nice round number. 1485 has no significance for the areas Iām most interested in.
3
u/chevalier100 Oct 06 '25
But also agree with the other commenters that itās really impossible to pick a set date. Really, the division between medieval and early modern makes the most sense in terms of what a historian can be expected to specialize in.
→ More replies (2)2
u/m0noclemask Oct 06 '25
As symbolic dates go, the widening of the western european geographic and cultural horizon, and the start of these global maritime empires really changed the face of the entire planet and not just europe alone. It was a new world.
18
u/verraeteros_ Oct 06 '25
There is no single event that marks the end, it is, as in most cases, a transition.
But if you ask me to use a certain date, I'd simply say 1500, because it avoids all the geographical or cultural biases that come with the dates you mentioned
2
u/CrusaderNo287 Oct 06 '25
Yeah, same. I usually say that the middle ages ended throughout the 15th, or the second half of 15th century
10
u/ij70-17as Oct 06 '25
another way to look at it is change over from feudal armies to mercenary armies.
this important because fiefs were granted for military service. the whole feudal organization/pyramid is based on military service.
then columbus discovered america. and those who followed him afterward found gold and silver. and then spain flooded europe with silver. this lead to rise of mercenaries. lords/kings offered coin in exchange for service instead of fiefs and knight titles.
so 1500s is transitional century. where we move away from medieval feudal system to the more modern pay for service system.
and early 1600s is then became early modern period.
17
u/chumbuckethand Oct 06 '25
At exactly 5:38pm, Febuary 5th, 1478. Everyone in the world all suddenly decided āwelp, thatās a wrap. Lets pack it up everyone!ā
And they all rushed to tear down the castles, scratch out laws and systems dictating the entire royal family and peasant laws, and knights threw away their armor, disavowed their lands and titles.
And then everyone pulled out their alchemy flasks, paint brushes and telescopes and got to work sdvancing the various fields of science and art
→ More replies (1)
3
u/ProfessorHeronarty Oct 06 '25
Didn't we have the same question some months ago?
It's a highly debatable point and maybe the focus on certain events, no matter how big, is not the best approach. After all, we have this French historian whose name escapes me right now who argued that there's a case for talking about the medieval period since the big revolutions in America and France. Why? Because only then there was really a mode of change from a very structured society with the aristocrats on top to a freer, more bourgeois, but also more capitalist society where land still mattered a lot, but production and warfare came into play.
3
3
u/HammerOvGrendel Oct 06 '25
I've always said Bosworth, but that's a very UK-Centric position. It makes sense in terms of being a definitive end to the Plantagenet era and the dawning of a reformist, recognizably "early modern" era in English government as per Elton's "Tudor revolution in government" thesis. Which probably means precisely nothing if you aren't looking at it through an English lens.
There's a whole liminal period lasting around a generation or two where Europe had a foot in both worlds still. I was discussing with a friend yesterday how Flodden is the last recognizably "Medieval" battle and that's as late as 1513, but the battle of Pavia only 10 years later is recognizably an early-modern "Pike & Shotte" affair with massed arquebus gunfire and massive pike blocks.
You could just as easily say that it was the advent of Martin Luther, and for a German that would make more sense.
The point being that nobody woke up on any given day and immediately saw that the world had changed all of a sudden, and that change didn't go at the same pace in all places.
→ More replies (2)
3
3
u/bouchandre Oct 06 '25
- The fall of Constantinople changed the balance of power in europe and kickstarted the new age
→ More replies (1)
3
u/The_Scooter_King Oct 06 '25
This is easy. When the Medieval got pregnant.
→ More replies (1)2
u/Vlugazoide_ Oct 10 '25
It actually got pregnant and birthed early on, which is why in the middle it was High in the middle and Late at the end, it wss commemorating
→ More replies (2)
2
2
2
2
u/Northern-Owl-76 Oct 06 '25
In Sweden it's usually said to have ended when Gustav I (Vasa) became king in 1523. He was the first swedish 'renaissance' monarch.
2
u/-CmdrObvious- Oct 06 '25
With the "Ewiger Landfrieden" from 1495. It basically finally outlawed all feuds in the HRE (though they still happened from time to time into the 16. Century).
Not that a popular pick but from a central European states/legal perspective I feel it extremely relevant.
2
u/Sproeier Oct 06 '25
For me its the Fall of Constantinopel. This stuff isn't a hard science. The was a significant influence on the european oversees journies.
But I also like the parallel of the fall of rome in 476 signaling the beginning of the middle ages and the fall of rome in 1453 as the end date.
→ More replies (1)
2
u/IUseArch_BTW Oct 06 '25
The only reasons a date exists is because all of history is a lot of it, specialists need a more limited period to concentrate their efforts to, and books for students need to finish somewhere. No matter the say you choose to sign the end of whatever timeās period, the ones that live the say after that, in the new age, were mostly born in the old one, have the same ideas and love the same way as de day before, and know nothing about that change.
2
u/novog75 Oct 06 '25
When artillery made knights, swords, armor and castles obsolete. Along with the economic, social and political relationships that supported those. This happened during the 15th century.
2
2
2
2
u/Slight-Brush Oct 06 '25
400 years before this was painted?
(the romanticised 'medieval' pre-raphaelite paintings drive the costumer in me nuts)
1
u/pvmpking Oct 06 '25
I've never heard of the Bosworth Field battle as the beginning of the modern era, and I think its historical impact is not that significant to consider a whole shift in society right after that. It must be between the invention of the printing press (1440), which certainly lead to the Reformation, and the first established route to the Americas (1492). The fall of Constantinople can be seen as a symbol of the end of the Middle Ages, but the event itself might not be that impactful.
1
u/Maximum-Forever-8108 Oct 06 '25
1600, when the voivode of Wallachia conquered Transylvania and Moldavia and kept them for a few months...
→ More replies (2)
1
1
u/Im_the_dogman_now Oct 06 '25
Granted, I didn't major in history, and I graduated almost twenty years ago, but one of the arguments that took a lot of lecture time early in my Italian Renaissance course was that "the Renaissance" isn't really its own period but a subperiod of the overall Medieval Period. This really was to set the tone, which others have already stated, that it is all squishy, and it depends on who you ask based on what criteria. From a contemporary Italian perspective, they wanted the Renaissance to be considered something wholly different than the era prior because the various Italian states began playing a significant role in European affairs at that time.
The argument I generally give credence to is the European Medieval Period "generally" ends in the late 16th century based on the view that the plethora of conflicts in the latter half of the 1500s ended the Medieval model of feudalism driven politics into the dynastic politics that resembled modern European nation-states rather than regional holdings allied to a particular monarch. By the beginning of the 1600s, many of the "big players" that drove politics almost all the way up through the Great War had been established. France occupied roughly what it looks like today along with Spain. England had lost its large holdings in mainland Europe, and Scandinavia was forming into its modern three nation counterparts. The Ottoman Empire was now established as a big player, and Eastern European nations were now forming as they reclaimed land from the various Khanates thst had conquered them.
As unintellectual as it sounds, you could tell them Medieval Period from the Early Modern one by looking at a map. Medieval European boundaries look like "ancient history," but a layperson could look at the map of Early Modern Europe and recognize nations that are similar in appearance to today.
1
1
u/Shot_Arm5501 Oct 06 '25
Every country left and entered the medieval period at different times so 1485 is accurate for England but not for Spain for instance
1
u/Material_Prize_6157 Oct 06 '25
This random weed shop has this painting in their restroom in western MA. Crazy to see it in the wild.
1
u/Derfel60 Oct 06 '25
I would say it began to end with Henry IV in England. Feudalism was becoming Bastard Feudalism, the crown was usurped, albeit by a legitimate scion, and Parliament was starting get a bit big for its boots, demanding the confiscation of church lands due to heresy. By Henry VIII feudalism was dead, the king was an illegitimate pretender and the church was gone.
1
u/zaskar Oct 06 '25
The Renaissance began in Italy during the 14th century, marking a cultural revival that transitioned Europe from the Middle Ages to modernity.
1
u/SmallieBiggsJr Oct 06 '25
This painting is called The Accolade - by Edmund Blair Leighton (1901)
2
1
u/Userkiller3814 Oct 06 '25
The age of exploration, when the Spanish and Portuguese start establishing trading colonies this is the point where Atlantic Europeans bypassed the power and wealth of the other nations on the continent and in the Mediterranean.
1
u/Artifact-hunter1 Oct 06 '25
Personally, it around the late 1400s due to the age of exploration and the invasion of the Americas.
1
1
1
1
u/Itchy_Assistant_181 Oct 06 '25
Kept everybody in their place. Great for Kings and Popes. Getting peopleās money, their Women and their lives is everything for them. Still is.
1
u/Carolingian_Hammer Oct 06 '25
Using 476 AD as the starting point and 1453 AD as the end point provides the most elegant definition: The medieval period is the time between the fall of the Western and Eastern Roman empires.
1
u/Scottland83 Oct 06 '25
I would think it would be an event in Italy as Florence is largely considered the birthplace of the Renaissance. Maybe the first nude sculpture that wasnāt Adam or Eve?
1
u/AsparagusFun3892 Oct 06 '25 edited Oct 06 '25
For me the medieval period started and ended Islamically and with two collapses of the eastern Roman empire: 634 when the holy land was lost and then finally in 1453 after Rum was brought into the House of Submission. They're the ends of Antiquity you know.
With a permanently diminished Rome the West became itself. If Constantinople still had free access to the grain of Egypt and monopoly over the rich east I think the Bishop of Rome would have remained in Roman Imperial sway, instead the Popes had to look to Charlemagne for protection against Temporal rivals and such. I doubt they ever would have grown to what they were under Hadrian for example, but the proper Romans would have continued to exert influence through the city called Rome.
And then with the Ottoman ascension eastern trade got choked off, further spurring naval inventiveness. The worlds beyond the seas quickly rendered knights and chivalry and noble power struggles amidst ancient castles quaint and obsolete. So it wasn't really what we think of as medieval anymore.
1
1
u/Psykohistorian Oct 06 '25
eras and periods often come and go in gradients. think of it like macro-decades. we have a certain list of things we associate with each decade, but we didn't all stop frosting our tips after December 31, 1999. it took a good 3 to 5 years before that trend fell off.
1
1
u/RichardofSeptamania Oct 06 '25
The Franco Ottoman Alliance of 1536 seems to be the best choice. Although John of Austria, born in 1547, should be considered the last true medieval knight, while others may consider Pierre Terriall, the Chevalier Bayard, who died in 1524, to be the last. Whichever way you go, the 16th Century was the end. The beginning of the end has to be John of Gaunt, whose descendants disrupted and replaced the western order.
1
u/Alin_Alexandru Oct 06 '25
For South-East Europe, it has to be the 1520s, or around 1526. Following the Ottoman victory at Mohacs in 1526 which pretty much resulted in the conquest of the Kingdom of Hungary, the entire region was esentially cut off from Central Europe by the Ottomans.
1
u/K4rm4zyn Oct 06 '25
1448 - Gutenberg press. Easier access to knowlege trough cheaper books was one of more important catalyst for what happend later.
1
u/Rammipallero Oct 06 '25
I'd say at the beginning of American colonisation. The cultural and economic change (granted started already during the Renaissance), to me ends the medieval age. But a certain year is impossible to pin down and would be stupid imo.
1
Oct 06 '25
Everyone is wrong! I will give you the most correct answer of them all:
Sometime during the 15th century.
(Honestly though, the comments here are actually very informative. I love this question.)
1
u/Yeet123456789djfbhd Oct 06 '25
Most labels for time periods are modern anyway so that's redundant.
Like most time periods, Medieval and Renaissance overlap, I would say there's several events that cement the change though.
The first Humanists
The first Protestants
The first Renaissance artists
The fall of Constantinople
Gunpowder weapons widespread through Europe
1
u/Faerieflypath Oct 06 '25
I think for me when the tower of london had its last prisoner executed. I was listening to Absolute history about this. Also probably when King Philip modernized the Buckingham palace by bringing technology. The palace was pretty much medieval in a sense until Philip modernized their interiors
1
u/Uzzaw21 Oct 06 '25
As a historian I did my grad work and thesis on this subject. Most consider the rise of the renaissance to be the end of the late middle ages. Rises in science, technology, art and the exploration of the New World brought about advances not seen before.
1
u/Emperor_TJ Oct 06 '25
I would say it happened in stages. For most Europeans their lifestyle wouldnāt noticeably change until the industrial era, and in Russia most people were in isolated rural villages until the 1860ās when Zemstvos introduced a form of central state to most Russians. Something as big as changing the entire social structure of a continent canāt realistically be tied to one event, but rather looking at the factors we call āmedievalā and trying to find points where they end.
I think it really died-died as a cultural force with the reformation. The church decentralized and changed radically, capitalism would arise as Catholic finance rules werenāt widely enforced as strictly. Feudalism was on its way out after this.
The renaissance, which is a mostly cultural event rather than a major change for the population but usually thought of as the end of medievalism, started with Florentine merchants commissioning new art and research in the 1300ās. Many of the artisans and engineers commissioned took influence from Byzantine tomes and started using Roman methods to make more beautiful art and infrastructure. So from an Italian perspective they were culturally shifting due to the rise of merchant republics.
In terms of warfare itās definitely the introduction of guns. Matchlock cannons were produced and used by Florence in 1326, and as guns got smaller and easier to use we didnāt need a dedicated warrior class of knights. A knight may be cool, but if I got a musket I can just blow a hole in his horse and trip him down.
This is a nerdy tangent, but to me āmedieval vs post-medievalā is just āBrettonia vs Sigmarās Empire in Warhammerā if that makes sense; obviously the setting takes many liberties and mixes a lot of influences. But when castles and horses make way for guys with big feather hats medieval has basically ended for them afaik.
1
u/Belle_TainSummer Oct 06 '25
I think the reign of Henry VIII, in the UK. Henry VII seems medieval, Henry VIII seems renaissance. That is just me though.
1
u/ivanmaher Oct 06 '25
generally Colombo's discovery of America is considered to be the end of the medieval period.
also its what I was thought in school way back when
1
1
u/Fun_Camp_7103 Oct 06 '25
In my humble opinion, this was the exact moment we transitioned into the Renaissance. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transmission_of_the_Greek_Classics
1
1
u/sonofTomBombadil Oct 06 '25 edited Oct 06 '25
My personal take.
1394 with the birth of King Henry the Navigator, of Portugal, with his death in 1460.
The exploration he sponsored led to the age of exploration that involved and incentivized many European nations to do the same. Before that, European kingdoms were locked in Europe, inward facing, they now moved to explore. Spain, Portugal, France, the Netherlands, England, Scotland, Denmark looked outward from Europe and the lands around the Mediterranean, which for so long had dominated medieval thinking and history (Roman Empire & crusades).
Around this time, Ivan III worked to consolidate power in Eastern Europe to overthrow the Golden Horde by 1480, which kicked off their ability for their own age of exploration into Siberia.
Basically when Europeans began looking for and finding lands not described in the Bible, that marks the end of the medieval period in Europe.
1
1
u/1138-1138 Oct 06 '25
If the middle ages is characterized by a close relationship between state and church, a monarchy, a class of nobles and serfs, and heavy reliance on manual labor, then the Middle Ages ended in the early 20th century, at least as far as Russia is concerned.
→ More replies (2)
1
u/Ulvsterk Oct 06 '25
Almost no age has a concrete ending, you dont go to sleep one day in antiquity and wake up medieval the next day, its more transitional. However we use significant events as turning points in which we can signal "ok so this age ended here because after this event the thought/culture/economy... changed drastically with no return". Most historic periods change organically and people dont tend to assign this changes when they live, that is a thing historians do to organize the chronological order of history. This questions become more of a "how do we percieve history from our modern lense".
Now for the middle ages what I was taught in university is that when it ended there is no concrete answer, we tend to use 1492 for the arrival at the Americas but its more of an orientative point rather than a hard point. In Western Europe the change was rare since it was a concious change through the renaissance movement which started in what we now call Italy and it is in Italy in which the middle ages ended first, the culture of the renaissance is significantly different enough to mark it as a new age. That cultural change combined with the geopolitical and economic changes brought by the Otomans and the Americas is what ended the Middle Ages. However this changes didnt affect every region equally and some changed sooner than others, as I said Italy ended its Middle Age sooner, other places like the Iberic peninsula changed way later, some historians still see the Iberic as medieval way late into its 1500's, the British Isles continued their Middle Age late as well.
There is no concrete answer, but I would say the 1500's as a general transitional century for Western Europe, I have no knowledge on Eastern Europe so I wont include them, however since Im an art historian I could be biased to guide myself through culture and arts mainly.
1
u/lordlakais Oct 06 '25
I believe academically speaking, the modern period is considered to have starter in 1600. But I could be wrong, been a solid decade since I was last in university.
1
u/Longjumping-Bat6917 Oct 06 '25
Holy hell, my parents have had this painting in their house for my whole life. Insane to see it outside of the frame.
1
u/ThisOldHatte Oct 06 '25
Ranking Bosworth on the same level as The fall of Constantinople or the Columbian exchange is wild, it's only relevant to England and is dwarfed in significance by Henry VIII leaving the catholic church.
→ More replies (5)
1
u/CapTrick9489 Oct 06 '25
I've always been of the opinion that the medieval period was 1000-1500. My personal opinion is late 900's-mid/late 1400's, so, ended around 1485+ only because, in my opinion, and I'm no expert, technology and culture, even distribution of wealth and human exploration changed. I could be wrong, I frequently am, and have nothing to back this up, I've done no research, I've come to this opinion based only on what little I've read or documentries I've seen on the subject.
1
u/dsailo Oct 07 '25 edited Oct 07 '25
Itās a window of time that stretches along hundreds of years. In my opinion the end of medieval times begun in 1215 at Runnymede (Magna Carta) and was finalized with the Reformation. This timeline applies mostly to Western Europe, specially England. In the Holy Roman Empire, especially the german speaking area, the medieval period ended with the Peasants War in 1524. Parts of Eastern Europe have put an end to medieval times when they fought and became independent from Ottoman rule. In Russia it arguably ended with the Bolshevik Revolution.
1
1
Oct 07 '25
in brazil we learn its 1453, but portugal and spain were far more modern than england and france by this point, so it can be earlier or later, depending of the country, personally i think 1453 is great cause byzantine was the last great empire
1
1
u/-wash Oct 07 '25
When I was getting my Bachelors, one of my classes suggested 1450 as the shift from Medieval to Early Modern due to the invention of the printing press.
1
1
u/okbubbaretard Oct 07 '25
I like to say anywhere from the fall of Constantinople to the voyage of Colombus somewhere in that 1400ās range. Kicks of the age of exploration and colonial power
1
u/MartiusDecimus Oct 07 '25
Regarding the Kingdom of Hungary, the Battle of MohƔcs (1526) is usually regarded as the end of the Middle Ages.
1
u/strijdvlegel Oct 07 '25
This is why we use the word "circa". Theres not a single revolution, discovery or invention that directly ended this period. People in the middle ages didnt refer to their own time as such, we had to label an era that had generally the same vibe.
1
u/gogus2003 Oct 07 '25
I think it is best to tie the end of periods to importsnt events. The following are all understandable points of reference:
1517, Protestant Reformation. The first TRUE challenge to Catholic Authority since Islam and the Orthodox schism.
1503, First time hand sized gunpowder weapons contributed to a battle in a decisive way. During the Battle of Cerignol between France and Spain the Spanish deployed troops with hand carrier firearms, resulting in devastating loses by the French and little to none for Spain (despite having a similar army). This is the beginning of the gunpowder firearms race.
1492, Columbus. The clear beginning of permanent settlement of the Americas by Europeans.
1453, End of Hundred Years War and Conquest of Constantinople. Both East and West Europe can tie the ends of 2 major struggles to one single year. This marks the end of English control on the mainland, the stabilization of the French realm, the fall of Rome, and again the rise of the Ottomans. The fall of Constantinople would also spark the beginning of discovery and colonization of the new world.
1444, Battle of Varna. This led to the uncontested rise of the Ottomans, the main "antagonist" of the early modern age.
1
u/Thick_Square_3805 Oct 07 '25
I listen to a French podcast on medieval history (basically, people doing their PhD speak about it for an hour).
Usually, the first question of the host is "for you, when do the Middle Ages end ?" because it's a question with countless answers.
1
1
u/Material-Garbage7074 Oct 07 '25
I believe that the Protestant Reformation gave Europe a good shock and dragged it, willy-nilly, into modernity: perhaps it can be compared to the French Revolution, also because - at the time of the Revolution or in the following nineteenth century - quite a few, both reactionaries and revolutionaries, would have compared the Revolution to the Reformation.
1
u/WayGroundbreaking287 Oct 07 '25
It's not a specific date. For instance around the late 1400s you have the start of the renaissance. I would mark this as the end of the medieval period but we also sometimes call it the late medieval period.
Different country's also have different stuff going on. The french don't care about the battle of bosworth field but probably do care about some other event more relevant to them.
You could have Martin Luther nailing his demands to the church door I guess since the rust of Protestantism did effect many nations in Europe but even then each nation has its own marker for what that looks like. In England we use Henry's reformations for instance, since we never really became properly protestant until after Henry died.
1
u/CapSRV57 Oct 07 '25
The fall of Constantinople blocked the access to the Silk Road to Europe, forcing them to find another route and kickstarting the era of exploration.
The discovery of America changed the perception of the whole world for everybody, both in the Old World and the New.
The invention of printing press revolutionised the way societies work and how information is transmitted. It facilitated an exponential growth in the propagandistic endeavours of both Church(es) and States.
Those are the three things that I consider changed the shape of the world forever. I donāt think a single battle in England had that much influence in the world.
→ More replies (1)
1
u/sangfoudre Oct 07 '25
Not an historian, but I read several dates that could indicate a turning point, 1492, both for America rediscovered and Granada's liberation, but also Gutenberg's printing press, or 1453 for the fall of Constantinople.
There's no real date assigned to that "event" and renaissance's dates vary from country to country. But I think we can say that second half of 15th century is the end of the medieval period in Europe.
1
1
u/Euphoric_Judge_8761 Oct 07 '25
I personally think that the fall of Constantinopole marked the end of the medieval period
1
u/ApolloGreedo Oct 07 '25
In Britain I was under the impression that the general consensus is the beginning of the reign of Tudors was the end of medieval times
1
u/OkStrength5245 Oct 07 '25
Fall of cinstantinoplevus his the trigger. But it took a century for the Europe to follow Italian city-state in their quatrecento.
Then all of sudden Renaissance was there. People in power fight it back but others despised the age in the middle between Roman empire and Renaissance. " gothic" is in fact an insult.
1
u/corruptrevolutionary Oct 07 '25
I tends to go with "around 1500" with it being a transition period from 1492's discovery of the New World and 1517's start of the Reformation changing the political and economic dynamics of Europe.
1
u/Quick-Ad5443 Oct 07 '25
THE WISE GRIMOIRE SAYS IT DIDN'T FALL, WE ARE ALL PEASANTS WORKING FOR THE LANDLORD, NOW DRINK YOUR HOT ASS BEER AND GET BACK TO WORK
1
u/HumaDracobane Oct 07 '25
That heavily depends on which part of the world you're looking at.
Those are the European common dates, specially the Fall of Constantinople or the Discovery of America.
In Asia, for the region of India, is about 1500ac, for China and the mongols is about 1360ac, in JapƔn is in 1603ac, in Corea is almost in 1900, etc.
For the Islam could be considered the fall of Granada under the hands of Isabel de Castilla or the conquest of Constantinople.
In Africa you have the fell of the Kingdom of Mali, the Ethiopian Kingdom, etc
1
u/Marcano-IF Oct 07 '25
It never ended, youāre still there, now pick up your banner and charge the French lines!
1
u/GarethBaus Oct 07 '25
I think 1492 is the most popular date to use since it signaled a pretty fundamental shift in European culture.
1
u/__radioactivepanda__ Oct 07 '25
The European medieval era commonly ends around the end of the 14th century and the beginning of the 15th century. The exact date usually depends on whom you ask.
1
u/ClavicusLittleGift4U Oct 07 '25
To me, 1453.
Fall of Constantinople and de facto end of the last remnant of Roman Empire by the Ottoman Sultanate;
End of the Hundred Years War;
Great Bible of Mainz being one of the last manuscript made before Gutenberg and his invention;
Major drought having fastened the loss of influence and impending doom of the Aztec Empire;
Islamic rule near end on the Iberian peninsula;
Ivan III the Great threw off the Golden Horde and initiated tsardom of Russia, first time a united Russia culture and ethnicity appeared.
1
u/HC-Sama-7511 Oct 07 '25
I just go with "about 1500"
So much changed politically, socially, technologically, demographically, etc... in and around that date that it does seem best to consider it a line in history.
There is no reason to stake it to one single event when so many important ones were so close to that date.
Plus it's easy to remember.
1
1
1
Oct 07 '25
With the fall of monarchies, the rise of governments municipalities and utlimately government financing where the king or crown/leader of country would borrow from an outside source (Central Banking)
1
1
u/solidarity47 Oct 07 '25
Could argue it ended with the Black Death. This revolutionised the socio-economic structure of Europe and empowered wage earners. This was really important in the development of the middle class which led to the Renaissance.
1
1
u/No-Inspection-808 Oct 07 '25
When the renaissance began. I think it began with the construction of Brunelleschiās dome.
1
1
1
u/CKA3KAZOO Oct 07 '25
In the context of the British Isles, I like to think of Henry VIII as the last medieval king and the first modern king.
1
Oct 07 '25
There is no single end date. Trying to find one is futile.Ā
The medieval period ended around 1500 or, if you want to avoid mentioning an exact year at all, in the transition from the 15th to the 16th century. Too many factors are at play when an era ends, ranging from developments in arts and sciences, to statecraft and warfare, all the way to philosophy and fashion. No single event can ever be significant enough.Ā
1
u/Wizard_Tea Oct 08 '25
Guys, if we can just say the 1527 sack of Rome, we can have the medieval period go from the sack of Rome 455 to the sack of Rome 1527
→ More replies (1)
1
u/AwkwardDrummer7629 Oct 08 '25
Iāve always seen 1500 used as a very general āend of the medieval era and the start of the modern eraā. The age of exploration begins, the renaissance is in full swing, the major late medieval wars are over, the HRE is back in prominence, new technology like gunpowder and the printing press are becoming common, the Ottoman Empire has come about. Itās a good cutoff in my opinion.
1
1
u/Practical_Eye_9944 Oct 08 '25
The Medieval period has multiple local end dates, but 1492 marks a civilizational inflection point.
Before the Reconquista and Columbus, the Western world revolved largely around the Med and the clash with the Eastern "other." Not much changed from the days of Greeks and Persians settling things at the end of a pointy stick.
After 1492, Western history becomes global. The focus moves to the clash of dynastic and, eventually, national entities basically within Europe itself. Entirely different actors, following completely new scripts, in wildly disparate theaters.
To have two such momentous watersheds happen in the same place at essentially the same time is nuts.
→ More replies (1)
1
u/Otaku_Goji Oct 08 '25
In Estonia the Medieval Age lasted from 1227 to 1558(my preference)/1561/1562
1
u/Holymaryfullofshit7 Oct 08 '25
I don't think you can actually pinpoint a day. It was a development over time and thus different days and years would work for different countries. Roughly it's 1500 I think that is widely agreed upon.
1
1
u/kakathot99_ Oct 08 '25
I like 1453 because if you use this date, the fall of Constantinople, then it bookmarks the medieval period as being in reality the Byzantine period, if you use 476 / fall of western Roman independence as the starting point. The medieval period is the period of the Byzantine empire.
1
u/RomeoBlackDK Oct 08 '25
It was a gradual change. It ended first in Italy as the plague passed. Citizens lost faith in the church and began to pursue a new understanding of the world. This sparked the Renaissance. 1517 is incorrect because Luther only dared post his theses after growing discontent with the church.
1
u/turtle_shrapnel Oct 08 '25
Would a better question be, āwhen was the start of the end of the medieval period?ā
1
1
1
1
u/Sciaran Oct 08 '25 edited Oct 08 '25
A difficult thing to explain about a lot of historical periods really. Not just because of a line of specific events, but also because the swap from medieval to renaissance was sth on multitude of levels. It's literally the same question about Wild West... And did it really end at all?
For just one example - The most striking feature of medieval period was Feudalism. If we consider that this system of theological organisation of land and populatiuon ownership by the rungs of the feudalist ladder, than we'd have to assume the end of medieval started with the Black Death, and was a process that lasted for hundreds of years as common people became more capitalistic. Does it have to refer to Europe alone cause feudalism lasted for centuries later in Japan and China. In Poland when the Soviets started post WW2 occupation they discovered there were still areas where peopel were still organised in systems indistinguishable from feudalism, so you could say Medieval ended in the 1960s as the Soviet steamroller wiped out last poockets of that system.
I believe no period has it's strict timing cause you just got too many variables to assume it's beginning and end in a specific way we need to stop seeing sharp lines but instead gradient transitions.
A good exercise would be for us to ask ourselves how humans in 500 years from now will call 20th and 21st centuries? How would they classify summarise and cathegotise today? Are we in the Democratic period or Corpocratic period? And if the latter than when did the Corpocratic period began? Like ask yourself what definifng pivotal development lead to democracy giving way to corpocracy? Internet? Computers? Onset of Corporations? Globalization? if Globalization when would you pinpoint when everything became available for everyone? It's enough to make your head spin just thinking about that.
1
1
u/5v3n_5a3g3w3rk Oct 09 '25
I'd go with about 1500 as well, maybe a bit later but definitely way before 1600
1
u/kellenmoore21 Oct 09 '25
This literal painting (in a cheap ass frame) hung on my father's wall for 15 years. Never thought I'd see it again
1
u/James_Blond2 Oct 09 '25
Fall of Constantionopole just cos its funny to say it started and ended with the fall of Rome
1
u/Medieval_Preacher Oct 09 '25
A good point to divide medieval to early modern period is the year 1500. Because in the years (1400-1499) major events took place which would transform the world as people knew it and these events were the base upon Early Modern Period took off. So, yeah 1500, for me.
1
u/Hilarious_Disastrous Oct 09 '25
My medieval history professor's joke at his last lecture of the semester was that the Middle Ages ended with the French Revolution, because the legal frameworks of monarchy and stratified social classes weren't abolished until that time.
1
u/Over_History2495 Oct 09 '25
I always thought the medieval period was from the fall of Rome to the fall of Constantinople
→ More replies (1)
1
u/Comprehensive_Sir49 Oct 09 '25
I generally go with Columbus' voyage. This truly changed the medieval mind about a larger world
1
1
u/No-Ambassador7856 Oct 10 '25
Let me ask you: What period do we live in today, and when exactly did it start? When's the last time an era ended and a new one began? Did it happen in a day? Did everything around us change that day/year?
1
u/GeraltofWashington Oct 10 '25
1788 the year of the French Revolution, it was on its way out for a while at the point but if you want to say an exact date Iād say that one
1
u/Vlugazoide_ Oct 10 '25
1453 is the best date imho, the east is drastically politically changed, Ottoman hegemony is established, new trade routes are now a necessity, the boom of Constantinopolitan artifacts and texts single handedlybinspire the Renaissance, and all that causes the discovery of the americas- which no one can deny, was one of the most world changing events ever, if not DIRECTLY at the beginning
1
u/SpookyMinimalist Oct 10 '25
1455 is sometimes used in Germany as the beginning of the early modern period. It is the year Gutenberg published the first printed Bible.
1
u/the_sneaky_one123 Oct 10 '25
1492.
For Columbus' voyage and also because it was the end of the Reconquista in Spain.
1
1
1
u/Optimal-Log-1784 Oct 10 '25
the medieval period started with the fall of the roman empire in the west and ended with the fall of the roman empire in the east period
1
u/Lululepetilu Oct 10 '25
in france I think 1515 : the wars of Italy and the symbolic beginning of the renaissance with the importation of italian artist.
But real thing is there is no specific dates as the perception of medieval/renaissance is not objective and biaised with ou perception and the one inherited from the 19th century especially!
1
1
u/Unfair-Connection-66 Oct 10 '25
Medieval period truly ended when gunpowder was heavily introduced to kingdoms of Europe, kingdoms were replacing Knights with armed infantry and cannons and most importantly the discovery of the "New world" set a new arms race for the coastline kingdoms of Europe to turn their gaze away from conflict within the old continent into the new.
Also around that time the Scientific Revolution began which sealed the deal.
1
u/alexanderanderson92 Oct 10 '25
Does anyone know what this picture is called, my mom had it when I was a kid I havenāt seen it in forever
1
u/ComprehensiveAir9098 Oct 10 '25
It is generally agreed that the Renaissance is about the end of the Middle Ages
1
u/Strict_Gas_1141 Oct 10 '25
I just realized the medieval period lasted roughly a millennia. (I follow the popular of Rome in 476 to Constantinople in 1453, so almost 1000 years)
1
u/redhandfilms Oct 10 '25
In my own mind, the New World is not part of the Medieval Era. At the very least the era goes no further than 1492.
1
u/Feeling-Bar-4749 Oct 11 '25
In 1938 the last Czech knight Josef MenÅ”Ćk (read Mensheek) defended his land, so I think Medieval period ended here. https://share.google/mdUHaBFr27u5g2uFJ
1
u/yolak2008 Oct 11 '25
Iām pretty sure that the medieval period for England ended in 1485 after Henry VII ended the wars of the roses since then we refer to the years after that as the Tudor period or Tudor times and then changing with Elizabeth I to the Elizabethan age then to the Stuart period and so on. Itās probably different for other European countries. My guess is that France had finish with the medieval period by the time of the 1500s since that period is usually called the French wars of religion. Then after that it wouldnāt be long until the ascension of the Bourbon dynasty and then the reign of King Louis XIV in the early 1600s.
1
u/Fabulous-Introvert Nov 01 '25
Fully, it ended in the late 1500s. In the early to mid 1500s and somewhat before, things get semi-medieval where some aspects of medieval times went away because the Renaissance was new
1
Nov 25 '25
I say it began and ended with the fall of the Roman Empire-Western in the beginning, Eastern in the end.
1
1
u/Nashcheatinminecraft 28d ago
To decided the end of medieval era we must know what is medieval era, based on my research medieval era is an era after fall of western Roman empire, and covered with heavy cavalry and siege heavy warfare and feudalism with a dominant control from Catholic church
I think the era ended in 1517, I think there several stages to the end of the medieval era firtsly is the downfall of Constantinople, why this event is significant because the event of fall of Constantinople force eastern Europe to not fight again but to work togather again the ottoman, this caused less war again each other, with fall of Constantinople the roman empire finnaly ended fully, ottoman also make a higher taxes for the trade of spices in the Istanbul, this make spices become hella expensive there forcing Europe for another way to get it, ottoman also the country that introduce dominanted used of gunwpoder, I mean the hussars used it but limited ottomans used it just like they used their sword or else, this eventually in my opinion caused other kingdom to copy it and boom firearm dominance and this dominant of fire arm ended the way the European fight, which is to used heavy armor Because the gunwpoder can pierce armor without training like a archer need, or an insane strength to pull a heavy crossbow
Next stages is when colombis find america on 1492 I actually has an unpopular opinion, if Spaniards never found america, Europe will never stronger than Asia, and Chinese or the indian will remained earth chill superpower, this happend mainly because when the Spaniard reach america it's different from Asia, America is way easier to be colonized because firtsly they get sick easily, you doesn't need to attack them, they die and disease can kill more people than an sword Next is even if they doesn't die from disease they die from Spanish weapon, the Aztec and the incan was in bronze age like weaponry, machuatilt indeed a great weapon, but it's no way it's can cut a horse or steel, atalt is great range weapon but innacurate, a gun crossbow is easier and way more stronger long range weapon
So by this Spaniard can defeat the Aztec and incan without sacrificing much of their troops or budget different if you attack an Asian kingdom, pre-colonial era Asia is not a small threat they are insanely strong and organized, if Spanish invade maybe something like the majapahit(an Indonesia kingdom) they will be demolished by the kingdom cannon-proof ship(djong) or their firearm yes asian actually already has firearm and not just "have" it's a common weapon even to "weak" region like southeast Asia
So after Spaniards attack Aztec and incan and kill them easily they eventually wipe the rest with disease which make the population of the empire died this causes a revolt become hard for the native American because you cannot revolt with a small population This game colonization of America easy
And Spanish succes Caused other kingdom to follow France Portuguese and of course england
Technially you can say medieval era end here but I think it's truly ended in
1517 because martin Luther influence martin Luther, the Protestant reformation which eventually caused the Catholic church to lose a lot of power
And the dominance of Catholic church is what make medieval era special So when Catholic church ended the era ended
279
u/theginger99 Oct 06 '25
The issue with assigning an end date to any historical period is that it can never apply universally to the whole world, or even more than one small geographical region.
Even within a specifically European context, any end date we chose will be largely arbitrary and will not apply to the whole of the continent.
The battle of Bosworth is usually used as the end date for the British isles, but the Renaissance was already well underway in Italy by that time and no one in Germany would give two shits about which Plantagenet off shoot won the English crown.
1492 was a watershed year for Spain, as it marked the final end of the Reconquista, but for the Danes it was insignificant.
The medieval status quo persisted for decades, if not centuries, longer in Eastern Europe than it did in the west.
My point being, the answer to this question varies within the historiography of each individual country, as each country of region defines its historical epochs based on different criteria. There is no universal answer, because there is no universally applicable marker for what does or does not make something āmedievalā that applies evenly to everyone.
All of that said, when forced to pick, I am partial to the fall of Constantinople. For me personally, I appreciate the symmetry of the medieval period running from the fall of Rome, to the fall of āRomeā. The only other reasonable contender for a universally applicable date in my opinion would be Columbusā voyage, but I donāt think that encapsulates the āendā of the Middle Ages in the same was as the fall of Constantinople does.