Typisch Mittelalter? (original) (raw)

Coined by Italian humanists in an attempt to bridge the gap between the Greco-Roman ('classical') and the early modern periods (the 'Renaissance'), the 'Middle Ages' have suffered from a bad press and often appear in colloquial language as a synonym of anything dark, backward,and genuinely negative. More significantly, the definition of the term 'Middle Ages' is rooted in a Eurocentric and Christianity-centric approach to history, even though it is also commonly used in the context of some non-Christian cultures. The first section of this paper discusses the term in general, some aspects of its history, and some of its pitfalls. Amongst these are: derogatory depictions of the Middle Ages being grounded in positivist approaches to the development of civilizations; historical watersheds often perceived as suitable starting or ending points for periodization shed light on the period as a whole, especially if the watershed is a catastrophe; material evide...