Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Medieval |
MedievalAdjective1. Relating to or belonging to the Middle Ages; "Medieval scholars"; "Medieval times". 2. As if belonging to the Middle Ages; old-fashioned and unenlightened; "a medieval attitude toward dating". 3. Characteristic of the time of chivalry and knighthood in the Middle Ages; "chivalric rites"; "the knightly years". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "medieval" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1590. (references) |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Medieval weapons
Click to see all eras.
- Melée
- Club
- Mace
- Morning star
- Axe
- Knife
- Sword
- War hammer
- Polearms
- Lance
- Spear
- Pike
- Halberd
- Ranged
- Bow
- Crossbow
- Arquebus
- Cavalry
- Siege
- Battering ram
- Catapult
- Siege tower
- Trebuchet
- Greek fire
- Warships
- Galleon
- Armor
- Chainmail
- Gauntlet
- Shield
- Platemail
- Fortification
- Castle
- City wall
- Gate
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "List of medieval weapons."
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Medieval European music is music from the European middle ages, which is generally divided into two periods: the Ars Antiqua and the Ars Nova. Characteristics of the time are styles such as Plainsong, as well as basic polyphony in the later Ars Nova period.Music of the time is modal and difficult to listen to in an authentic way because of the modern ear's tendency to hear music in a diatonic context.
The early music period is marked by the gradual rise and refinement of polyphony and counterpoint. Mediaeval music begins with Gregorian chant; its written history in the earliest period is constrained by the need to develop musical notation, of which the neumes usually used to write Gregorian melodies are the earliest. Several versions were tried before a notation equal to the task of clearly displaying both the length and duration of the notes was devised.
Medieval composers
Much music from this period is anonymous. The following is a list of important composers whose names are known from the medieval period.
Chant
- Pope Gregory I
- Hildegard of Bingen
Early polyphony and organum
- Leonin
- Perotin
The tradition of the troubadors, trouvères, and minnesang
- Jehan de Lescurel
- Pierre des Molins
- Berenguier de Palou
- Giraut de Bornelh
- Peire Cardenal
- Raymond Lull
- Bernart de Ventadorn
- Jaufre Rudel
- Alfonso X of Castile
- Wolfram von Eschenbach
- Walther von der Vogelweide
The beginnings of complex polyphony
- Guillaume de Machaut
- Francesco Landini
- Borlet
- Solage
- François Andrieu
The mannered and complex style of Ars subtilior
- Anthonello de Caserta
- Matteo da Perugia
- Jacopo da Bologna
- Lorenzo da Firenze
Moving towards Renaissance music
- John Dunstable
- William Taverner
- Guillaume Dufay
- Gilles Binchois
See also
- Early music
- Classical music
- Music history
External Link
- The Schyoen Collection: Music (scans of medieval musical notation)
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Medieval European music."
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
The Middle Ages was the middle period in a schematic division of European history into three 'ages': Classical civilization, the Middle Ages, and Modern Civilization. It is commonly considered as having lasted from the end of the Western Roman Empire (5th century) until the rise of national monarchies and the beginnings of demographic and economic renewal after the Black Death, European overseas exploration and the cultural revival known as the Renaissance around the 15th century as well as the Protestant Reformation starting 1517.
(The corresponding adjective is spelt medieval in American English and sometimes mediaeval or mediæval in British English. It is sometimes misspelled as "mid-evil.")
As the Roman Empire changed its form and collapsed in the West, several Germanic and later Slavic peoples and the still-powerful regional noble families of the later Holy Roman Empire competed for power in different parts of Europe with one another and with the surviving eastern portion of the Roman Empire (commonly called the Byzantine Empire by modern Europeans).
The early part of the period is marked in western Europe by the greatly reduced power of centralised administration and the consequent alienation of government authority and responsibility for military organisation, taxation and law and order at successive levels to provincial and local lords supported directly from the proceeds of a portion of the territories over which they held military, political and judicial power. The later Middle Ages would see the regrowth of centralized power as countries came to be aware of their own national identities and strong rulers sought to expand the territory they organized under a central government. One well known version of this consolidation is known as the Albigensian Crusade.
This hierarchy of reciprocal obligations, known as feudalism or the feudal system, binding each man to serve his superior in return for the latter's protection made for a confusion of territorial sovereignty (as allegiances were subject to change over time, and were sometimes mutally contradictory), but the resulting ability of local arrangements to function in the absence of a strong royal power provided some resiliency in a political order distinguished by its lack of uniformity.
The spread of Christianity from the Mediterranean area and from Ireland and Scotland throughout Europe and the absence of any firm alternative ideological basis for power meant that ecclesiastics became deeply involved in government, and provided the basis for a first European "identity" in the form of a religion common to most of the continent from at least the 9th century until the separation of Orthodox Churches from the Catholic Church (1054).
An example of this identity at work is the period loosely identified as the Crusades, during which Popes, kings, and emperors tried to draw on Christian unity to defend Christendom from the aggression of some followers of Islam, which was spreading along Europe's southern and eastern borders. Muslims conquered Egypt, other parts of North Africa, Jerusalem, Spain, Sicily, and most of Anatolia (in modern Turkey), although they were turned back in western Europe by Christian armies at the Battle of Tours in France. Political unanimity in Europe was largely illusory, and the military support for most crusades was drawn from limited regions of Europe. Substantial areas of northern Europe also remained outside Christendom until the twelfth century or later.
Periodization
It is extremely difficult to decide when the Middle Ages ended, and in fact scholars assign different starting dates for the Renaissance in different parts of Europe. Most scholars who work in 15th century Italian history, for instance, consider themselves Renaissance or Early Modern historians, while anyone working on England in the early 15th century is considered a medievalist. Others choose specific events, such as the Turkish capture of Constantinople or the end of the Anglo-French Hundred Years' War (both 1453), or the fall of Muslim Spain or Columbus's voyage to America (both 1492), or the Protestant Reformation starting 1517 to mark the period's end.
Similar differences are now emerging in connection with the start of the period. Traditionally, the Middle Ages is said to begin when the West Roman Empire formally ceased to exist in 476 CE. However, that date is not important in itself, since the West Roman Empire had been very weak for some time, while Roman culture was to survive at least in Italy for yet a few decades or more. Today, some date the beginning of the Middle Ages to the division and Christanisation of the Roman Empire (4th century) while others, like Henri Pirenne see the period to the rise of Islam (7th century) as "late Classical".
The Middle Ages in the West are often subdivided into an early period (sometimes called the "Dark Ages", at least from the fifth to eighth centuries) of shifting polities, a relatively low level of economic activity and successful incursions by non-Christian peoples (Slavs, Arabs, Scandinavians, Magyars); a middle period (the High Middle Ages) of developed institutions of lordship and vassalage, castle-building and mounted warfare, and reviving urban and commercial life; and a later period of growing royal power, the rise of commercial interests and weakening customary ties of dependence, especially after the 14th-century plague.
Life in medieval Europe:
See also: medieval warfare, medieval fortification, medieval siege weaponry, medieval Inquisition, medieval European music, Pilgrimage, Romanesque Architecture
- Arts and Medieval cultural life
- medieval literature
- medieval poetry
- medieval dance
- medieval architecture and sculpture
- medieval European music
- the troubador
- medieval murals and paintings
- medieval tapestry, and handicraft
- medieval books, manuscripts, scribes and the art of making books
- medieval universities
- monastic orders
- Benedictines
- Carthusians
- Cistercians
- mendicant friars
- Dominicans
- Franciscans
- Carmelites
- the Plague and health of populations
- politics and religion
- Holy Roman Empire
- Crusades
- Papacy
- Medieval Inquisition
- Heresy e.g John Wyclif
- Alchemy
- everyday life in Middle Ages
- guilds of craftsmen
- Danse macabre
- medieval medicine
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Middle Ages."
Synonyms: MedievalSynonyms: chivalric (adj), gothic (adj), knightly (adj), mediaeval (adj). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Oldness | Prime; primitive, primeval, primigenous; paleolontological, paleontologic, paleoanthropological, paleoanthropic, paleolithic; primordial, primordinate; aboriginal; (beginning); diluvian, antediluvian; protohistoric; prehistoric; antebellum, colonial, precolumbian; patriarchal, preadamite; paleocrystic; fossil, paleozoolical, paleozoic, preglacial, antemundane; archaic, classic, medieval, Pre-Raphaelite, ancestral, black-letter. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Medieval |
| Specialty definitions using "medieval": ARMORER TECHNICIAN ♦ Black Book of the Admiralty ♦ diplomatics ♦ galactite ♦ Orphanages. (references) |
| Non-English Usage: "Medieval" is also a word in the following languages with English translations in parentheses. Portuguese (gothic, mediaeval, medieval), Romanian (mediaeval, medieval), Spanish (mediaeval, medieval). |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | But our courts continue to rely on medieval devices of torture (Sleepy Hollow; writing credit: Kevin Yagher) You killed Ted, you medieval dickweed (Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure; writing credit: Chris Matheson; Ed Solomon) The medieval philosophers were right (Fantastic Voyage; writing credit: Jerome Bixby; David Duncan) I Spent two solid weeks creating this medieval civilization for the grandup (The Lone Gunmen; writing credit: Madeline Bassett; Diane Dixon) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Medieval Theater: The Play of Abraham and Isaac (1974) Vida en un monasterio medieval (1969) El Castillo medieval (1969) La Ciudad medieval (1969) Barcelona medieval (1946) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books |
| ||
Periodicals | |||
Theater & Movies | |||
Music |
| ||
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Comets as portenders of death and destruction - from a Medieval manuscript. In: Himmels- und Natureerscheinungen in Einblattdrucken des XV. bis XVIII. by Wilhelm Hess, 1911. Call Number: QB41 .H37 1911. Credit: Treasures of the Library. |  | Veranda and doorway. Photograph by L.D. Andrew, May 1936. (Reproduction Number: HABS, GA,108-COLM,4-1) Begun in 1859 for the wealthy Scottish immigrant James A. Rankin but not completed until after the Civil War, this town house combines different building materials and details from a number of historical architectural styles. The ironwork shown here on the veranda is based on the Gothic architecture of medieval England and France. The Corinthian columns of the doorway behind it, on the other hand, call to mind the classical architecture of ancient Greece and Rome. The Rankin House is an excellent example of Eclecticism architecture, the term used to describe the mixing of different styles and materials in buildings. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | The Last "Medieval" Hospital. Credit: National Library of Medicine. |  | Medieval structures, Rue de l'Ecu, Beauvais, France. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Coat of arms flanked by men in medieval dress. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Girl in Medieval costume. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Man in medieval livery with slashed sleeves holding mace. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Dragon rearing up to reach medieval knight on ledge. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Turku (Abo), Finland--Tower of the medieval cathedral and statue of Peter Brahe [in foreground]. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Gorge with fort on cliff and medieval guard standing on rock; other soldiers emerging from trees on left] / / C.F.L. Aug. 1832. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
 |  |
| "Medieval Trogir" by Marc Habermacher Commentary: "Palace and mediterranean Sun in Trogir, Croatia." | "Medieval lady" by Radek Siechowicz Commentary: "Medieval lady." |
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers. | |
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Economic History | Benin | Benin was the seat of one of the great medieval African kingdoms called Dahomey. (references) |
Serbia and Montenegro | Milutin was also responsible for many of the brightest examples of Medieval Serbian architecture. (references) | |
India | The political map of ancient and medieval India was made up of myriad kingdoms with fluctuating boundaries. (references) | |
Women | Pakistan | There are an estimated 100,000 Bohra Muslims in the country; the Bohra observe a form of Shi'a Islam that was practiced in medieval Cairo. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Medieval" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 99.25% of the time. "Medieval" is used about 1,997 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 99.25% | 1,982 | 4,334 |
| Noun (proper) | 0.55% | 11 | 106,044 |
| Noun (singular) | 0.15% | 3 | 202,518 |
| Noun (common) | 0.05% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 1,997 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "medieval": medieval Greek ♦ medieval Latin ♦ medieval lyric poem ♦ medieval lyric poetry ♦ medieval mediaeval gothic ♦ medieval mode ♦ medieval Schoolman ♦ Medieval studies ♦ Medieval Warm Epoch ♦ Medieval Warm Period. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "medieval": medieval-style. | |
Ending with "medieval": late-medieval, mock-medieval, post-medieval. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day | Expression | Frequency per Day |
medieval times | 3,905 | medieval music | 142 |
medieval | 2,686 | medieval times dinner tournament | 125 |
medieval total war | 992 | medieval game | 124 |
medieval castle | 898 | medieval food | 115 |
medieval weapon | 647 | medieval times dinner | 111 |
medieval sword | 502 | medieval shield | 106 |
medieval times and restaurant | 501 | medieval clothes | 104 |
medieval costume | 493 | medieval manor | 97 |
medieval clothing | 485 | hair medieval style | 96 |
medieval armor | 444 | medieval wedding gown | 96 |
medieval knight | 434 | picture of medieval knight | 93 |
medieval art | 279 | medieval times toronto | 85 |
cheat medieval total war | 259 | medieval dragon | 84 |
medieval dress | 257 | medieval weaponry | 83 |
medieval wedding dress | 198 | medieval clipart | 83 |
medieval picture | 172 | medieval recipe | 82 |
medieval europe | 170 | medieval times dinner and theater | 81 |
medieval wedding | 154 | medieval times orlando | 81 |
medieval name | 152 | dallas medieval times | 78 |
medieval history | 146 | medieval castle picture | 78 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Translations for "medieval"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | mesjetar (gothic, mediaeval), i mesjetës. (various references) | |
Arabic | متعلق بالقرون الوسطى (middle ages). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | средновековен (mediaeval, middle ages). (various references) | |
Chinese | 中世纪 (mediaeval), 中世紀 (Middle Ages). (various references) | |
Czech | středovìký (mediaeval). (various references) | |
Danish | middelalderrute (medieval itinerary). (various references) | |
Dutch | middeleeuwse structuur (medieval framework), Middeleeuwenroute (medieval itinerary), mediaevistiek (Medieval studies), mediëvistiek (Medieval studies). (various references) | |
Farsi | قرون وسطی(mediaeval), قرون وسطاءی . (various references) | |
Finnish | keskiaikainen. (various references) | |
French | médiéval (mediaeval), du moyen âge (mediaeval). (various references) | |
German | mittelalterlich (mediaeval, mediaevally, medievally). (various references) | |
Greek | μεσαιωνικός, μεσαιονικόσ (mediaeval). (various references) | |
Hebrew | של ימי הבינים. (various references) | |
Hungarian | középkori (gothic, mediaeval). (various references) | |
Italian | medievale. (various references) | |
Korean | 중세 (mediaeval). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | edievalmay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | medievo, medieval (gothic, mediaeval), da idade média (mediaeval). (various references) | |
Romanian | medieval (mediaeval), din evul mediu. (various references) | |
Russian | средневековый (mediaeval). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | srednjevekovni (mediaeval, middle ages). (various references) | |
Spanish | medieval (mediaeval). (various references) | |
Swedish | medeltida (mediaeval, Middle Ages). (various references) | |
Turkish | ortaçağa ait (mediaeval), ortaçağ (mediaeval, middle ages). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | середньовічний (mediaeval). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | medium. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "medieval": medievalism, medievalisms, medievalist, medievalists, medievally, medievals. (additional references) | |
Words ending with "medieval": postmedieval, premedieval. (additional references) | |
| |
"Medieval" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: medauhalf, Medavoy, medeival, medeivel, medeval, medevial, mediaval, mediecal, medievally, medievel, medievil, Medioevo, medival, Melierax, Mendenall, mideival, midevil, midieval, midievel. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "medieval" (pronounced mudē"vul or mēdē"vul) |
| 4 | -ē" v u l | evil, primeval, retrieval, upheaval, weevil. |
| 3 | -v u l | anvil, approval, archival, arrival, arval, bedevil, bevel, carnival, civil, daredevil, devil, disapproval, dishevel, drivel, festival, gavel, gravel, grovel, hovel, survival, swivel, interval, larval, level, marvel, multilevel, naval, navel, novel, oval, Ravel, removal, revel, revival, rival, servile, shovel, shrivel, travel, uncivil, unravel. |
| 4 | -ē" v u l | evil, primeval, retrieval, upheaval, weevil. |
| 3 | -v u l | anvil, approval, archival, arrival, arval, bedevil, bevel, carnival, civil, daredevil, devil, disapproval, dishevel, drivel, festival, gavel, gravel, grovel, hovel, survival, swivel, interval, larval, level, marvel, multilevel, naval, navel, novel, oval, Ravel, removal, revel, revival, rival, servile, shovel, shrivel, travel, uncivil, unravel. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-d-e-e-i-l-m-v" | |
-1 letter: emailed, limeade. | |
-2 letters: aedile, delime, leaved, levied, mailed, mealie, mediae, medial, vailed, vealed, veiled, vialed. | |
-3 letters: adeem, ailed, aimed, alive, amide, deave, delve, devel, devil, eaved, edema, edile, elemi, elide, email, evade, ideal, lamed, laved, leave, lieve, limed, lived, maile, mavie, medal, media, valid. | |
-4 letters: aide, alee, alme, amid, amie, avid, dale, dame, deal. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-d-e-e-i-l-m-v" | |
+1 letter: mediaeval, medievals. | |
+2 letters: decemviral, mediaevals, medievally. | |
+3 letters: deliveryman, medievalism, medievalist, overclaimed, premedieval. | |
+4 letters: medievalisms, medievalists, meditatively, misevaluated, postmedieval, ventromedial, vermiculated. | |
+5 letters: overamplified. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Photo Album 8. Images: Digital Art | 9. Quotations: Non-fiction 10. Usage Frequency 11. Expressions 12. Expressions: Internet | 13. Translations: Modern 14. Translations: Ancient 15. Derivations 16. Rhymes | 17. Anagrams 18. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
