Books: Medieval Horizons - Why The Middle Ages Matter

 (Drivebycuriosity) - The collapse of the Roman Empire destroyed Europe`s civilization and caused about 1,000 years of economical & cultural darkness, known as the Middle Ages. Betweem around 1400 through 1600 Europe`s civilization started slowly to recover, the period is known as the Renaissance ( wikipedia). The term means revival or rebirth of civilization & economy.

Ian Mortimer challenges the common view in his book: "Medieval Horizons - Why The Middle Ages Matter" ( amazon). The historian focuses on the period 1,000 to 1,600 and claims that in this time span a lot changes happened that lifted the living standard of almost everyone. Unfortunately he did not separate the Middle Ages from the Renaissance: "The way we live today is largely the result of social developments that took place between the eleventh century and the sixteenth". But Mortimer acknowledges that more changes happened closer to the year 1600, generally called the Renaissance. So, the title of the book is a misnomer.

Mortimer admits that the progress had been accelerating all the time and became much faster close to the year 1600. "What is particularly interesting is that these changes were happening so rapidly that people were conscious of how much better off they were compared to their forefathers. In 1577 (!) the clergyman William Harrison declared that oldm men in his village had noticed great improvements over the course of their lifetime". The acceleration phenomena is well known and there exists already a rich literature about accelerating advances in technology & culture (accelerationwatch ).

I have another problem with the book: Mortimer did not connect the changes and he failed to analyze them. His book is merely an itemization of historical tidbits. For instance:

"Medieval kings were almost constantly on the move. In the eleventh century, like all great lords, they had to shift between their many estates for the sustenance of their households. But monarchs also had to counter military threads".

"What ultimately restrained King`s power to go to war, was that armies were costly. As markets multiplied and money became ever more important in the thirteenth century, the ability to go to war was limited by financial constraints. In England, this means that kings had to secure a grant of extraordinary taxation by Parliament to carry on a protracted military campaign".

"At least three expeditions circumnavigated the globe in the sixteenth century. Ferdinand Magellan´s in 1519-22, Francis Drake`s in 1577-80 and Thomases Cavendish`s in 1585-8". They happened certainly late in the Renaissance, and not in the Middle Ages as Mortimer claims.

"Whereas the word "inn" is not found in English before 1000 and probably only the largest towns had an inn in the twelfth century, by 1577 there were more than 3,000 such establishments in England".

 

               What Mortimer Overlooked

Unfortunately Mortimer overlooked the innovations that really define the Renaissance and still matter (found in the book "An Empire Of Wealth - Rise Of The American Economy 1607-2000" my review ):

- the invention of the printing press in the Renaissance reduced the cost of books, and thus of knowledge. Cheap information fostered the rise of science and (early) technology,  it promoted trade and helped managing corporations.

-  the creation of full-rigged ships made long  passages across oceans possible and supported America´s immigration.

-  the initiation of double-entry booking made accounting easier and more reliable. It became much easier to detect errors and helped to invest in complicated & distant enterprises. It also helped to keep track of how these investment are doing.

- the launch of the joint-stock company, the precursor of today`s stock market listed companies,  limited the risk an individual investor had to take and made it possible to amass big sums to invest in distant places like the American colonies. New York, Virginia and the New England colonies were not founded by the English state; they were founded by profit-seeking companies.

If you are interested into Middle Ages & Renaissance you could find better books. For instance Peter Ackroyd´s "The History of England from Its Earliest Beginnings to the Tudors" (my review ).