Medieval

[3shortplanks]

Are there any definitive dates to describe something as medieval? Medieval in some dictionaries relates to the middle ages of which the early middle ages start around the 5th century for example.

[jno]

I suppose a good range of dates would be 476, when Rome fell, to 1492, when America was discovered - though other dates for the end of the era would be those marking the start of the renaissance in Europe. 'Medieval' just means 'of the middle ages', so the two terms are the same. Some people speak of the earlier part of the Middle Ages as the Dark Ages, because comparatively little is known about them and civilisation was in some danger of vanishing altogether.

[jake-the-peg]

1485 is also commonly taken for the end. Battle of Bosworth, Tudor dynasty etc.

[reinganum]

The fall of Rome in the 5th century AD is normally taken as the start.
The end is taken by many historians to be 1453, when Constantinople (Byzantium) fell to the Turks.

However in England 1485 is a key date as already noted. But the great cultural revolution which was the Renaissance was well under way by then in Italy and elsewhere in Europe so Middle Ages probably over by then.