[Spider_Girl_Lover]

Lol ok i have looked and looked, but i cant find a site about the medieval history starting!! So, anyone know the dates??

[Mrs Faithorn]

The answer to your question is trickier than it seems since there is not a hard and fast answer. It's not like 'Medieval history began on January 1st of a particular year.'

However, if you are working at a 14-16 year old level and just need a simple answer then as far as British History is concerned I think it's pretty safe to say that the Medieval period began in 1066 with the Norman Conquest (and ended in 1485 with Henry VII's victory at the battle of Bosworth).

I hope that helps, but if you have any more questions do post again.

[MrJohnDClare]

Mrs Faithhorn is absolutely right.

Most historians begin 'medieval history' when the Roman Empire collapsed in 476 ad, though you will find that some British historians start it when the Romans left Britain in 407 ad.

You will find that some historians approximate their starting date, also, to 400 ad or 450 ad!

The period beginning in 1066 - which is when British schoolchildren think of 'the Middle Ages' as starting - is properly called 'the High Middle Ages'.

Does it interest you to learn that 'the middle ages' is a propaganda term? It was invented in the Renaissance by a guy called Flavio Biondo (1392-1463).
The people in the Renaissance had learned how to paint, and they had found out a few things, and they were SOOO pleased with themselves. They thought they were SOOO much superior to the previous lot. They had to admit that the Greeks and the Romans were pretty good too, however (I mean, all those fabulous ruins!), so Flavio came up with this notion of 'the middle ages' as 'the time in between' the fabulous Ancients and the marvellous moderns. The middle ages, he said, were a time of stagnation and ignorance - quite unlike his wonderful 'modern times'.

Nowadays, historians realise that the Middle Ages were not quite the time of stupidity and stagnation people used to think they were, but the term stuck.

(Isn't there a song: 'Stuck in the Middle with You'?)

The date for the END of the Middle Ages is almost always accepted as 1453 (the fall of Constaninople to the Turks) or sometimes 1492 (Columbus discovered America) but, in fact, 'the Renaissance' started happening LONG before that (some historians say as early as 1200).