The high middle ages are generally recognized as comprising a period from approximately 1000 AD until approximately 1350 AD. During this period of time, most of Europe and the British Isles experienced a period of dynamic growth and recovery from incessant warfare. The purpose of this paper is to understand what led to this period of vibrant growth in civilization, what characterized it, what eventually brought about its decline, and whether there are any lessons that can be learned from these events applicable to the present day.
By 1000 AD, most of the barbarian warriors of the north had finally found places to settle down and raise families or had managed to found small, peaceful kingdoms of their own on their old homelands. The absence of war brought about a time of prosperity when societies were able to grow in population even as the population was able to focus on things other than war and protection. As a result, these societies coalesced into more organized units, comprised of city-states and nation-states, further broken down into highly organized feudal groups in which definite social roles were assigned.
During this period in time with its increased organization and decreased focus on war, individuals and groups were given more time to contemplate the world around them in a variety of ways. The church grew strong and educated its adherents within the monastic orders as a means of dispensing the word of God. Sciences and the arts flourished and schools were founded while trade and travel between nations increased, providing each population with even greater understandings and increasing the general knowledge base of all humanity.
This period of prosperity was brought to a rather sudden halt with a series of calamities that decimated entire populations and plunged the world into dark superstitions. The Great Famine of 1315-1317 caused innumerable deaths and was followed almost immediately by the Black Death, a plague brought about by death and decay. Together, these two events reduced the population of the continent by approximately half of its previous numbers. This misfortune led to a great deal of civil unrest, plunging the nations once again into some form of the warfare state and the Roman Catholic Church fell from within by a division of ideological viewpoints.
There are a number of things that can be learned from this series of events in our ancient history. The first of these is that, despite our high levels of learning and knowledge, scientifically and otherwise, there is always the possibility that something unforeseen might occur. Although populations were growing and that was a good thing, no one had considered the need to keep these numbers fed into the future, leading to the Great Famine.
As the modern world continues to urbanize all of the available countrysides, reducing available farmland, this again becomes a concerning issue. As individuals and nations fought for the available resources, the time for science and the arts declined, opening up the way for other detrimental effects. This can be seen to occur in recent events as well, such as the Iraq War in which nations fight for control of oil and in the spending of precious resources for little or no net gain at the expense of real science and progress.