As a short answer to this question, I'd say something like 450 AD to
1501, more or less. The problem with setting up lines of demarcation
for the Middle Ages is that they are neither a movement, nor even a
period, as something more modern like the neo-classical period would be
called. A lot happens in 1000 years and not everyone has the same
experience in any given year. They don't begin or end at the same time
for all people. For early humanists, the Middle Ages are clearly over by
1400, but for the peasants in the fields outside the walls of the city,
they may not end until well into the 18th century. I think a lot of
people had a long Middle Ages, only to be herded off the farm and into a
factory.
As one poster has mentioned, medievalism is largely about the present.
We all know that the term Middle Ages was a humanist invention designed
to separate its users from the past. The time period is always already
other. The exact date of its end or beginning depends entirely on your
purposes. In hispanic literary studies there are medievalists who study
the early Renaissance in Castile in the first decades of the 15th
century and there are other medievalists who study popular ballads and
collect modern versions of them in the Spanish countryside even today
from "modern" informants. Articles about both type of texts show up in
Medieval journals.
"Rev. David G. Peters" wrote:
>
> We've recently been discussing where to draw the line as to what are and
> what are not topics appropriate to this mailing list. I am curious
> about the Reformers. For example, Martin Luther is sometimes considered
> a "late medieval" theologian. Sometimes he's considered an "early
> modern" theologian. Scholars differ as to the time frame of what
> constitutes "medieval studies." What do the scholars on this list
> consider to be the beginning and ending dates for the era which we are
> discussing here?
>
> -David Peters,
> Ph.D. student, Marquette University
>
> --
> Rev. David G. Peters,
> Pastor
> Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church
> Wisconsin Ev. Lutheran Synod
> 2908 S. Colony Ave.
> Union Grove, WI 53182-9564
> (262) 878-4156
> [log in to unmask]
--
Erik Ekman
Spanish Department
Drew University
Madison, NJ 07940
[log in to unmask]
http://www.users.drew.edu/~eekman/
Office: (973) 408-3780
Fax: (973) 408-3768
"I read a little bit, but not enough to hurt me none."
Louis Prima
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