Middle Ages

XXth century

1 October 2020

XIXth century

1 October 2020

XVIIIth century

1 October 2020

XVIIth Century

1 October 2020

Renaissance

31 March 2021

Middle Ages

1 October 2020

The Middle Ages are long. They stretch from the end of the Roman Empire (around 5th century) until the fall of Constantinople or the discovery of America by the West in 1492. In other words, a thousand years.

France is essentially rural. The life is regulated by the works flowing from the seasons.

While our imaginations often see this period as a sad and unhappy era for mankind, there were actually many periods of radiance in the Middle Ages. In particular from the 11th to the 13th century, when the Romanesque and Gothic churches were born.

But an infernal trio regularly weighs on people’s lives: war, famine, epidemic. The population of a city can decrease by half in ten years – then regenerate quickly. More than at any other time, the men and women of the Middle Ages stood on a ridge line, the tipping point to death never far away.

Although the Middle Ages may seem long ago, they have left a lasting mark on our culture. It is notably the time when a certain idea of love was to be developed in the West and to irrigate minds right up to the present day: love-passion . That is to say, a love full of obstacles, an embrace that is desired for a very long time. And that must be earned by proof of bravery!

The french language in the Middle Ages

Although it has undergone many influences throughout its history, French is directly descended from Latin. But after the fall of the Roman Empire, throughout the Middle Ages, the Low-Latin spoken by the inhabitants of France was transformed into a language very far removed from Latin. Already in 813, in Tours, a synod of bishops met to discuss the theme: let us be careful to speak the language of our flock in our sermons, not Latin.

Moreover, the printing press does not yet exist. Books were rare, reserved for the sacred, and paper was very expensive. The language of the time was essentially oral, with significant regional variations.

Literature in the Middle Ages was therefore largely intended to be recited, or sung, or performed. Hence the troubadours and the representations of the “mysteries“.