History Main / TheHighMiddleAges

* LandOfOneCity/ MerchantCity : This was when the merchants were ariseing to form a third class to compete with the warriors and priesthood for power, often founding states of their own independant or semi-independant of the aristocracy, and even beating them on the battlefield.

* ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedI''

* ''Film/MarketaLazarova'' is set in 13th century Czechoslovakia.

* ''Disney/SleepingBeauty'': As quoted by Prince Philip: "After all, this ''is'' the fourteenth century."

Stretching roughly from about the Norman Conquest (''[[Literature/TenSixtySixAndAllThat 1066 and All That]]'') to the early 1300s, but most often imagined as about the 12th or 13th century, this is the era of UsefulNotes/TheCrusades, RobinHood, and fat, lecherous, [[ChurchMilitant irascible]], but good-hearted [[ChristianityIsCatholic friars]]. Also home to [[KnightInShiningArmor knights]], beautiful [[EverythingsBetterWithPrincesses princesses]] with [[TheLateMiddleAges anachronistic]] [[NiceHat hennins]], and tall, spire-tipped Gothic architecture (note that most versions of the story of KingArthur are depicted as if they were set in this era, though strictly speaking he belongs to [[DarkAgeEurope Late Antiquity]]). Expect to see a {{corrupt church}}man or two wandering the landscape [[BurnTheWitch burning witches]], heretics, and pretty much ''anyone'' who doesn’t agree with [[MedievalMorons him]].

In the Middle East, the Muslims had past their peak, and while they continued to remain the most important mathematical, astronomical, medicinal, and alchemical area of the world, other areas were starting to catch up. As the home of between a quarter and a third of the world's population at any one time since the cultivation of wheat, the Chinese region was home to a respectable myriad of thinkers and tinkerers despite the relative isolation caused by the natural barriers of the Himalayas and the Indochinese peninsula [[note]] Getting past this in the name of religious devotion being the point of the famed Ming Empire-era novel Literature/JourneyToTheWest [[/note]]. However, by the 1200s the (Southern) Song Empire and the Middle East were about equal in terms of sophisticated academic knowledge, and brutal wars against the European kingdoms and Mongols were devastating the Middle East and the Song respectively. From this time, the Middle East would change. The political, intellectual, and cosmopolitan center of the Muslim World moved West away from Persia and Mesopotamia and closer to the Levant and Turkey. Eventually, the Ottoman Empire would crawl its way to dominance over the Muslim world.\\

Speaking of UsefulNotes/TheCrusades, they lasted throughout this entire period, but particularly after the mid-1100's they start to draw a lot of attention away from continental Europe. Although some very important things happened during the Crusades (such as the always common succession wars or the signing of the Magna Carta in 1215) they tend to make up the popular fiction of the era. In truth, the Crusades were big, even involving several monarchs of the time, but there was always something going on back home. The High Middle Ages saw the rise of knights as a martial nobility, and it typically involved stereotypical knightly things such as chivalry and tournaments. The economy was also improving, mostly due to agricultural yields. This brought greater stability to Europe, and increased crop yields also meant more specialization for workers. Things like banks, corporations, and workers unions (guilds at the time) originated in this area, usually evolving from ideas gained from trade with the Muslim empires. It also meant more blacksmiths, carpenters, stonemasons, jewelers, and other non-subsistence based careers. This in turn meant more products to buy and sell, better building techniques and more organized construction efforts (such as proper castles and churches), and advances in agricultural tools. It also meant there was room for an intellectual revival, since people now had time to devote to studies and scholasticism. Secular studies were on the rise, particularly of ancient Greco-Roman works that were later immortalized in UsefulNotes/TheRenaissance. Universities even sprang up during this time, and all in all the world was becoming a more connected, advanced place. Things were on a stable recovery from TheLowMiddleAges.\\

And then the [[TheBlackDeath plague]] came. The virulent disease spread in Europe from 1346 to 1353, and it definitely hit Europe the hardest. Before its spread, the world was engulfed by the Mongol Empire, whose conquest entered the High Middle Ages in the running for "shittiest historical period ever". They added an estimated 70,000,000 dead on top of the 200,000,000 possible dead from the Black Death. The Mongols conquered an area spreading from the Sea of Japan to the Baltic Sea, sacking the city of Baghdad in one of the most destructive sieges in history and deliberating spreading the plague as a biological weapon. They even came close to conquering Europe, before being stopped for as of yet unknown reasons. It is rumored the Mongols had to return home to elect a successor, but this idealized view is often discounted in favor of more realistic scenarios. What is known is that the Mongol Empire spread the plague, both on purpose and on accident. Their uniting of Asia allowed easier travel through the whole continent, which meant an easier chance for the disease to spread. Trade galleys from the Middle East carried infected individuals to the Italian cities, and from there the disease disseminated on various trade routes. Europe suffered greater than most to the plague, as their understanding of medicine was far more limited than the rest of the world. This resulted in possibly over half the population dying from the disease. Only isolated areas far from trade routes, such as the Polish heartlands, were spared from the disease. '''Agnolo di Tura''' recounts the Black Death:

To add to this, the food surplus of before was strained due to global cooling, meaning famines erupted across Europe and elsewhere. Any attempts to halt the export of food or keep the economy from run-away inflation failed, and before long Europe's economy had completely collapsed. Many individuals turned to banditry to escape poverty and famine. Order gave way to chaos as the crown could no longer enforce its own laws. However, despite its far reaching effects, the Black Death did not completely reset the progress of the last two centuries. Europe would rise again, while the Mongol invasions had set the world back enough for Europe to catch up and even surpass them. But that is the story for [[TheLateMiddleAges another time.]] [[/folder]]

* The ''VideoGame/{{Europe1200}}'' and ''[[http://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php/board,167.0.html 1257 A.D.]]'' {{Game Mod}}s for ''VideoGame/MountAndBlade''.

The wildly unpopular King John saw many of his Barons rise up in revolt. Much of this came over disputes concerning the church, the appointment of bishops, the authority of the King over said bishops, and of course, taxes. King John himself was subject to HistoricalVillainUpgrade because the Baron's ultimately won and, of course, portrayed him incredibly negatively. The end of the war saw King John being forced to sign the Magna Carta, often hailed as the first document cementing modern Britain and reinvigorating democracy in Europe. However, the actual document was quite limited, with the most significant change being the appointment of 25 Barons (later to become the House of Lords) to levy taxes instead of giving the King that power, this forcing the King to go through Parliament to gain any new taxes. It was an incredibly small but crucial step in the formation of modern Britain. As should become evident in both the English and French revolutions half a millennium later, who controls the purse-strings ultimately can wedge their way into enough power to have the king beheaded.\\

* The High Middle Ages are probably the most popular era with the creative collective of the German magazin ''ComicBook/{{Mosaik}}'':

* Most TV and movie incarnations of ''RobinHood'' (usually in the reign of [[UsefulNotes/RichardTheLionHeart Richard I]], though most scholars now place him in the reigns of either Edward I or Edward II).

* The ''Literature/{{Brother Cadfael}}'' series.

* HistoricalDomainCharacter: Henry II of England, Eleanor of Aquitaine, and UsefulNotes/RichardTheLionHeart appear in a number of works set in this period.

Italy was fractured into numerous tiny states following the destruction of the Lombard Kingdom of Charlamagne. Northern Italy belonged to the UsefulNotes/HolyRomanEmpire, while the rest belonged to small, independent states (some of which were founded/conquered by--of all people--the Normans, who actually started arriving in southern Italy nearly 70 years before the conquest of England). A number of these states were city-states with economies focused on trade. These trading cities would establish vast commercial empires, being Europe's main link to the rest of the world after the split between the Church in Rome and the Church in Constantinople left relations between Catholic and Orthodox rulers less than warm.\\

!!Works set in this time period are

* ''Series/RobinOfSherwood'', which is cited as being one of the most faithfully accurate depictions of this era in television history.
* ''{{Galavant}}'' is set in the 13th century, specifically the year 1256, but it commits many anachronisms for [[RuleOfFunny comic effect]].

* ''Disney/SleepingBeauty'': As quoted by phillip: "After all, this ''is'' the fourteenth century."

* ''{{Galavant}}'' is set in the 13th century, specifically the year 1256 but it commits many anachronisms for [[RuleOfFunny comic effect]].

* The beginning of the English campaign of ''VideoGame/EmpireEarth'' is set during the Norman Conquest. It then reenact UsefulNotes/TheHundredYearsWar and UsefulNotes/TheNapoleonicWars.

* The ''VideoGame/{{Stronghold}}'' series (minus ''Legends'' and ''Crusader'') is set in an non-historical realistic High Middle Age England. ''Crusader'' is an heavily historically-based reenactement of the Crusades.

* The ''Videogame/{{Europe1200}}'' and ''[[http://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php/board,167.0.html 1257 A.D.]]'' {{Game Mod}}s for ''Videogame/MountAndBlade''.

-->"The mortality in Siena began in May. It was a cruel and horrible thing. . . . It seemed that almost everyone became stupefied seeing the pain. It is impossible for the human tongue to recount the awful truth. Indeed, one who did not see such horribleness can be called blessed. The victims died almost immediately. They would swell beneath the armpits and in the groin, and fall over while talking. Father abandoned child, wife husband, one brother another; for this illness seemed to strike through breath and sight. And so they died. None could be found to bury the dead for money or friendship. Members of a household brought their dead to a ditch as best they could, without priest, without divine offices. In many places in Siena great pits were dug and piled deep with the multitude of dead. And they died by the hundreds, both day and night, and all were thrown in those ditches and covered with earth. And as soon as those ditches were filled, more were dug. I, Agnolo di Tura . . . buried my five children with my own hands. . . . And so many died that all believed it was the end of the world."\\
\\

And then the [[TheBlackDeath plague]] came. The virulent disease spread in Europe from 1346 to 1353, and it definitely hit Europe the hardest. Before its spread, the world was engulfed by the Mongol Empire, whose conquest entered the High Middle Ages in the running for "shittiest historical period ever". They added an estimated 70,000,000 dead on top of the 200,000,000 possible dead from the Black Death. The Mongols conquered an area spreading from the Sea of Japan to the Baltic Sea, sacking the city of Baghdad in one of the most destructive sieges in history and deliberating spreading the plague as a biological weapon. They even came close to conquering Europe, before being stopped for as of yet unknown reasons. It is rumored the Mongols had to return home to elect a successor, but this idealized view is often discounted in favor of more realistic scenarios. What is known is that the Mongol Empire spread the plague, both on purpose and on accident. Their uniting of Asia allowed easier travel through the whole continent, which meant an easier chance for the disease to spread. Trade galleys from the Middle East carried infected individuals to the Italian cities, and from there the disease disseminated on various trade routes. Europe suffered greater than most to the plague, as their understanding of medicine was far more limited than the rest of the world. This resulted in possibly over half the population dying from the disease. Only isolated areas far from trade routes, such as the Polish heartlands, were spared from the disease. '''Agnolo di Tura''' recounts the Black Death:\\

->"The mortality in Siena began in May. It was a cruel and horrible thing. . . . It seemed that almost everyone became stupefied seeing the pain. It is impossible for the human tongue to recount the awful truth. Indeed, one who did not see such horribleness can be called blessed. The victims died almost immediately. They would swell beneath the armpits and in the groin, and fall over while talking. Father abandoned child, wife husband, one brother another; for this illness seemed to strike through breath and sight. And so they died. None could be found to bury the dead for money or friendship. Members of a household brought their dead to a ditch as best they could, without priest, without divine offices. In many places in Siena great pits were dug and piled deep with the multitude of dead. And they died by the hundreds, both day and night, and all were thrown in those ditches and covered with earth. And as soon as those ditches were filled, more were dug. I, Agnolo di Tura . . . buried my five children with my own hands. . . . And so many died that all believed it was the end of the world."\\
\\

Our story picks up where it left off, in 1066. [[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfNormandy The Normans]], a group of Frenchmen of partial Viking (primarily Danish) descent, conquered modern-day England from the ruling UsefulNotes/AngloSaxons. England had erupted into a succession crisis largely divided between the Vikings, who conquered the isles in the 800s, and the Anglo-Saxons, a group of slightly less Viking-ish but still pretty Viking-like peoples from Northern Germany.

Although the Anglo-Saxons won at the famous Battle of Stamford Bridge, William of Normandy saw the opportunity to further expand his lands. He invoked a claim to the throne of England, a country that had only been unified for less than 100 years by that point. He invaded and swiftly conquered England, defeating king Harold Godwinson, whose armies were battered from fighting the Danes.

The Normans would, for some time, find it hard to hold on to their new conquests, as they suffered internal strife for nearly 100 years before things finally settled down and the modern, still existing kingdom of England we know today started to take shape. However, the Normans instituted their own famous rule of law that is well renowned throughout history. For example, the Domesday Book was a preparatory census taking stock of the demographics of England to help the new-found Norman rulers understand the kingdom they had just inherited better. The hybrid of Anglo-Saxon and Norman law that obtained during the reign of Henry II became the foundation for one of the world's two great legal traditions, UsefulNotes/TheCommonLaw.

The Normans, being a duchy of France, also brought the inexorable tie between the Kingdom of France and the Kingdom of England. England would continue to expand under the rule of the Normans and other French dukes, pushing further and further into formerly Celtic territories like Cumbria and Wales. However, one of the most important events in English history occurred in 1215, when the First Baron's War erupted in England.

The wildly unpopular King John saw many of his Barons rise up in revolt. Much of this came over disputes concerning the church, the appointment of bishops, the authority of the King over said bishops, and of course, taxes. King John himself was subject to HistoricalVillainUpgrade because the Baron's ultimately won and, of course, portrayed him incredibly negatively. The end of the war saw King John being forced to sign the Magna Carta, often hailed as the first document cementing modern Britain and reinvigorating democracy in Europe. However, the actual document was quite limited, with the most significant change being the appointment of 25 Barons (later to become the House of Lords) to levy taxes instead of giving the King that power, this forcing the King to go through Parliament to gain any new taxes. It was an incredibly small but crucial step in the formation of modern Britain. As should become evident in both the English and French revolutions half a millennium later, who controls the purse-strings ultimately can wedge their way into enough power to have the king beheaded.

Elsewhere, in continental Europe, the superstates of the Carolingian Empire began to break down. Otto I's coronation by the Pope in 962 marked the end of East Francia and the birth of the UsefulNotes/HolyRomanEmpire, which at this time was at the peak of its power. From there, the Empire would enter into a complicated relationship with the church that would culminate in the issue of Investiture.

Officially, the Pope was above all monarchs in Western Europe, but since Otto's reign the Emperors had taken it upon themselves to appoint the various religious offices within Germany. Obviously, this made the Pope angry, and for the next few years or so internal turmoil erupted between those members of the Empire who supported the Church and those who supported the Emperor. This dividing factor would later be a drive for Protestantism in Germany, as many of the more secular princes would choose to leave the Catholic church.

In 1122, the Concordat of Worms was signed. It essentially admitted that the Pope held authority over the Emperor, and it also sparked the decline of the Emperor's power in favor of the princes. This was complete in the 1250s when Frederick II died and for years the Empire struggled to find an heir. Eventually, local loyalties to the church or to the princes replaced loyalties to the Emperor, and he became little more than a figurehead ruling over a collective confederacy of infighting states. Despite its weakness, the Empire would still remain a major force in Europe, and it would continue to be the largest of the European kingdoms.

Their neighbor, France, was shaping up a bit better. France hit a low point with the election of Hugh Capet, the first King of France from outside the Carolingian dynasty. At this point, France was extremely decentralized, and the King held little power. This began to change with the ascension of Louis VI, who started a trend of growing monarchical power that would continue in France all the way to the French Revolution. They tended to remain on the good side of the Papacy.

Italy was fractured into numerous tiny states following the destruction of the Lombard Kingdom of Charlamagne. Northern Italy belonged to the UsefulNotes/HolyRomanEmpire, while the rest belonged to small, independent states (some of which were founded/conquered by--of all people--the Normans, who actually started arriving in southern Italy nearly 70 years before the conquest of England). A number of these states were city-states with economies focused on trade. These trading cities would establish vast commercial empires, being Europe's main link to the rest of the world after the split between the Church in Rome and the Church in Constantinople left relations between Catholic and Orthodox rulers less than warm.

In Scandinavia, the former Vikings settled into more rigid, defined kingdoms and eventually Christianized. Norway entered a period of hundred year CivilWar, which eventually settled in 1240. The period from this point until 1319 is reckoned the Norwegian "Golden Age", with the mainland overseeing a North Sea empire stretching from Greenland to the Göta River and almost to the White Sea. During this period, premises were laid for the eventual unification of the three Scandinavian kingdoms. Denmark suffered internal strifes as well, and Sweden was the last of the kingdoms to be established under one dynasty. During this period, Sweden also gradually set up base in Finland.

The Poles formed their own kingdom after Slavs migrated into lands the Germans had abandoned in the Migration Period. Lithuania also formed as a duchy, and would remain one of the last pagan kingdoms in Europe, famously leading it to war with the Teutonic Order and the Livonian Order. Hungary formed much in the same way, uniting various Slavic tribes (although claiming decent from the Hunnic Empire of Attila, hence the name). The few remaining Christian Iberian kingdoms were starting to carve away slowly at Moorish Spain, but it wouldn't be until the Late Middle Ages that they managed to retake it all. Merchant republics like Venice and Genoa were growing in power. Although they owned very little land compared to their neighbors, they were immensely rich and powerful because they controlled the primary trade routes of Western Europe. The Kievian Rus also rose in prominence, but it dissolved into quarreling minor principalities and was later conquered by the Mongols.

The period also saw the final decline of Roman power from which there would not be a recovery. Although the Eastern Roman Empire had outlasted the Western half for hundreds of years, the rise of Islam brought a real challenge to its doorstep. Muslim conquests of Eastern Roman lands sparked the Crusades, which also marked a period of cooperation between the Eastern and Western churches. This all ended in 1204, when [[UsefulNotes/TheFallOfConstantinople Constantinople was sacked]] by a group of rogue Crusaders. This became the point of no return for the Roman Empire. Although it would survive for 200 years more, it was never able to regain its former glory.

In the Middle East, the Muslims had past their peak, and while they continued to remain the most important mathematical, astronomical, medicinal, and alchemical area of the world, other areas were starting to catch up. As the home of between a quarter and a third of the world's population at any one time since the cultivation of wheat, the Chinese region was home to a respectable myriad of thinkers and tinkerers despite the relative isolation caused by the natural barriers of the Himalayas and the Indochinese peninsula [[note]] Getting past this in the name of religious devotion being the point of the famed Ming Empire-era novel Literature/JourneyToTheWest [[/note]]. However, by the 1200s the (Southern) Song Empire and the Middle East were about equal in terms of sophisticated academic knowledge, and brutal wars against the European kingdoms and Mongols were devastating the Middle East and the Song respectively. From this time, the Middle East would change. The political, intellectual, and cosmopolitan center of the Muslim World moved West away from Persia and Mesopotamia and closer to the Levant and Turkey. Eventually, the Ottoman Empire would crawl its way to dominance over the Muslim world.

Speaking of UsefulNotes/TheCrusades, they lasted throughout this entire period, but particularly after the mid-1100's they start to draw a lot of attention away from continental Europe. Although some very important things happened during the Crusades (such as the always common succession wars or the signing of the Magna Carta in 1215) they tend to make up the popular fiction of the era. In truth, the Crusades were big, even involving several monarchs of the time, but there was always something going on back home. The High Middle Ages saw the rise of knights as a martial nobility, and it typically involved stereotypical knightly things such as chivalry and tournaments. The economy was also improving, mostly due to agricultural yields. This brought greater stability to Europe, and increased crop yields also meant more specialization for workers. Things like banks, corporations, and workers unions (guilds at the time) originated in this area, usually evolving from ideas gained from trade with the Muslim empires. It also meant more blacksmiths, carpenters, stonemasons, jewelers, and other non-subsistence based careers. This in turn meant more products to buy and sell, better building techniques and more organized construction efforts (such as proper castles and churches), and advances in agricultural tools. It also meant there was room for an intellectual revival, since people now had time to devote to studies and scholasticism. Secular studies were on the rise, particularly of ancient Greco-Roman works that were later immortalized in UsefulNotes/TheRenaissance. Universities even sprang up during this time, and all in all the world was becoming a more connected, advanced place. Things were on a stable recovery from TheLowMiddleAges.

And then the [[TheBlackDeath plague]] came. The virulent disease spread in Europe from 1346 to 1353, and it definitely hit Europe the hardest. Before its spread, the world was engulfed by the Mongol Empire, whose conquest entered the High Middle Ages in the running for "shittiest historical period ever". They added an estimated 70,000,000 dead on top of the 200,000,000 possible dead from the Black Death. The Mongols conquered an area spreading from the Sea of Japan to the Baltic Sea, sacking the city of Baghdad in one of the most destructive sieges in history and deliberating spreading the plague as a biological weapon. They even came close to conquering Europe, before being stopped for as of yet unknown reasons. It is rumored the Mongols had to return home to elect a successor, but this idealized view is often discounted in favor of more realistic scenarios. What is known is that the Mongol Empire spread the plague, both on purpose and on accident. Their uniting of Asia allowed easier travel through the whole continent, which meant an easier chance for the disease to spread. Trade galleys from the Middle East carried infected individuals to the Italian cities, and from there the disease disseminated on various trade routes. Europe suffered greater than most to the plague, as their understanding of medicine was far more limited than the rest of the world. This resulted in possibly over half the population dying from the disease. Only isolated areas far from trade routes, such as the Polish heartlands, were spared from the disease. '''Agnolo di Tura''' recounts the Black Death:

->"The mortality in Siena began in May. It was a cruel and horrible thing. . . . It seemed that almost everyone became stupefied seeing the pain. It is impossible for the human tongue to recount the awful truth. Indeed, one who did not see such horribleness can be called blessed. The victims died almost immediately. They would swell beneath the armpits and in the groin, and fall over while talking. Father abandoned child, wife husband, one brother another; for this illness seemed to strike through breath and sight. And so they died. None could be found to bury the dead for money or friendship. Members of a household brought their dead to a ditch as best they could, without priest, without divine offices. In many places in Siena great pits were dug and piled deep with the multitude of dead. And they died by the hundreds, both day and night, and all were thrown in those ditches and covered with earth. And as soon as those ditches were filled, more were dug. I, Agnolo di Tura . . . buried my five children with my own hands. . . . And so many died that all believed it was the end of the world."

* ''ThePillarsOfTheEarth'' is set during 'The Anarchy', the 12th-century English civil war between King Stephen and Empress Matilda.

Their neighbor, France, was shaping up a bit better. France hit a low point with the election of Hugh Capet, the first King of France from outside the Carolingian dynasty. At this point, France was extremely decentralized, and the King held little power. This began to change with the ascension of Louis IV, who started a trend of growing monarchical power that would continue in France all the way to the French Revolution. They tended to remain on the good side of the Papacy.

* ''Eleanor: Crown Jewel of Aquitaine, France'' from TheRoyalDiaries series.

* ParadoxInteractive's ''VideoGame/CrusaderKings'' FourX games. The base games both start at the very beginning of the Norman Conquest and run up through 1453, the historical fall of Constantinople, though expansions to the sequel extend the timeline back into DarkAgeEurope.

* ''Series/Galavant'' is set in the 13th century, specifically the year 1256.

* Creator/WilliamShakespeare’s ''Theatre/KingJohn, Theatre/RichardII, Theatre/HenryIV'' (Parts I and II), and ''Theatre/HenryV'' (strictly speaking, ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'', ''Theatre/{{Macbeth}}'', and ''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet'' should be, too, but they are very often performed in a [[UsefulNotes/TheRenaissance quasi-Elizabethan]] setting).

** ''Disney/SleepingBeauty'': As quoted by phillip: "After all, this ''is'' the fourteenth century."

* Dante's ''Literature/DivineComedy,'' sort of (Hell, Purgatory and Heaven are effectively other dimensions, but most of the characters Dante meets are his close contemporaries).

* Creator/WilliamShakespeare’s ''Theatre/KingJohn, Theatre/RichardII, Theatre/HenryIV'' (Parts I and II), and ''Theatre/HenryV'' (strictly speaking, ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'', ''Theatre/{{Macbeth}}'', and ''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet'' should be, too, but they are very often performed in a [[TheRenaissance quasi-Elizabethan]] setting).