Editing History of Europe (section)

==Post-classical and medieval Europe==
{{Main|Middle Ages|Medieval demography}}

The Middle Ages are commonly dated from the [[fall of the Western Roman Empire]] (or by some scholars, before that) in the 5th century to the beginning of the [[early modern period]] in the 16th century marked by the rise of [[nation state]]s, the division of Western Christianity in the [[Reformation]], the rise of [[humanism]] in the [[Italian Renaissance]], and the beginnings of European overseas expansion which allowed for the [[Columbian Exchange]].<ref>Susan Wise Bauer, ''The History of the Medieval World: From the Conversion of Constantine to the First Crusade'' (2010)</ref><ref>* {{cite book|editor=Kelly Boyd|title=Encyclopedia of Historians and Historical Writing vol 2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0121vD9STIMC&pg=PA793|year=1999|publisher=Taylor & Francis|pages=791–94|isbn=978-1-884964-33-6}}</ref>

===Byzantium===
{{Main|Byzantine Empire}}
[[File:Hagia Sophia Southwestern entrance mosaics 2.jpg|thumb|[[Constantine I]] and [[Justinian I]] offering their fealty to the Virgin Mary inside the [[Hagia Sophia]]|262x262px]]

Many consider Emperor [[Constantine I]] (reigned 306–337) to be the first "[[Byzantine emperor]]". It was he who moved the imperial capital in 324 from [[Nicomedia]] to [[Byzantium]], which re-founded as Constantinople, or Nova Roma ("[[New Rome]]").<ref>Fletcher, Banister, "[[Sir Banister Fletcher's A History of Architecture]]", Architectural Press; 20 edition (1996), {{ISBN|978-0-7506-2267-7}}, p. 172</ref> The city of [[Ancient Rome|Rome]] itself had not served as the capital since the reign of [[Diocletian]] (284–305). Some date the beginnings of the Empire to the reign of [[Theodosius I]] (379–395) and Christianity's official supplanting of the pagan [[Religion in ancient Rome|Roman religion]], or following his death in 395, when the empire was split into two parts, with capitals in Rome and Constantinople. Others place it yet later in 476, when [[Romulus Augustulus]], traditionally considered the last western emperor, was deposed, thus leaving sole imperial authority with the emperor in the [[Greek East]]. Others point to the reorganisation of the empire in the time of [[Heraclius]] (c. 620) when Latin titles and usages were officially replaced with Greek versions. In any case, the changeover was gradual and by 330, when Constantine inaugurated his new capital, the process of hellenization and increasing [[Christianisation]] was already under way. The Empire is generally considered to have ended after the [[fall of Constantinople]] to the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman Turks]] in 1453. The [[Plague of Justinian]] was a [[pandemic]] that afflicted the Byzantine Empire, including its capital [[Constantinople]], in the years 541–542. It is estimated that the Plague of Justinian killed as many as 100 million people.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://dpalm.med.uth.tmc.edu/courses/BT2003/BTstudents2003_files/Plague2003.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061218044248/http://dpalm.med.uth.tmc.edu/courses/BT2003/BTstudents2003_files/Plague2003.htm|title=The History of the Bubonic Plague|archive-date=18 December 2006}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www3.niaid.nih.gov/news/newsreleases/1996/plague.htm|title=Scientists Identify Genes Critical to Transmission of Bubonic Plague|publisher=.niaid.nih.gov|access-date=31 January 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071007012619/http://www3.niaid.nih.gov/news/newsreleases/1996/plague.htm|archive-date=7 October 2007}}</ref> It caused [[Medieval demography|Europe's population]] to drop by around 50% between 541 and 700.<ref>{{cite web|author=Ralph R. Frerichs|url=http://www.ph.ucla.edu/EPI/bioter/anempiresepidemic.html|title=An Empire's Epidemic|publisher=Ph.ucla.edu|access-date=31 January 2010|archive-date=13 December 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081213013158/http://www.ph.ucla.edu/EPI/bioter/anempiresepidemic.html|url-status=live}}</ref> It also may have contributed to the success of the [[Early Muslim conquests|Muslim conquests]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.justiniansflea.com/events.htm|title=Justinian's Flea|publisher=Justiniansflea.com|access-date=31 January 2010|archive-date=25 January 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100125010502/http://www.justiniansflea.com/events.htm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/01/04/arts/idbriefs5H.php|title=The Great Arab Conquests|work=International Herald Tribune|date=29 March 2009|access-date=31 January 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090202191807/http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/01/04/arts/idbriefs5H.php|archive-date=2 February 2009}}</ref> During most of its existence, the Byzantine Empire was one of the most powerful economic, cultural, and military forces in Europe, and [[Constantinople]] was one of the largest and wealthiest cities in Europe.<ref>{{Harvnb|Laiou|Morisson|2007|pp=130–131}}; {{Harvnb|Pounds|1979|p=124}}.</ref>

===Early Middle Ages===
{{Main|Early Middle Ages|Early Muslim conquests}}
The Early Middle Ages span roughly five centuries from 500 to 1000.<ref>Events used to mark the period's beginning include the sack of Rome by the [[Goths]] (410), the deposition of the last western [[Roman emperor]] (476), the [[Battle of Tolbiac]] (496) and the [[Gothic War (535–554)|Gothic War]] (535–552). Particular events taken to mark its end include the founding of the [[Holy Roman Empire]] by [[Otto I the Great]] (962), the [[East–West Schism|Great Schism]] (1054) and the [[Norman conquest of England]] (1066).</ref>
[[File:Europe 814.svg|thumb|upright=1.2|Europe in the [[Early Middle Ages]]]]
In the East and [[Southeast Europe|Southeast]] of Europe new dominant states formed: the [[Avar Khaganate]] (567–after 822), [[Old Great Bulgaria]] (632–668), the [[Khazars|Khazar Khaganate]] (c. 650–969) and [[First Bulgarian Empire|Danube Bulgaria]] (founded by [[Asparuh of Bulgaria|Asparuh]] in 680) were constantly rivaling the hegemony of the Byzantine Empire.

From the 7th century Byzantine history was greatly affected by the rise of Islam and the [[Caliphates]]. Muslim [[Arabs]] first invaded historically Roman territory under [[Abū Bakr]], first Caliph of the [[Rashidun Caliphate]], who entered [[Roman Syria]] and [[Roman Mesopotamia]]. As the Byzantines and neighboring [[Sasanids]] were severely weakened by the time, amongst the most important reason(s) being the protracted, centuries-lasting and frequent [[Byzantine–Sasanian wars]], which included the climactic [[Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628]], under [[Umar]], the second Caliph, the Muslims entirely toppled the [[Sasanian Empire|Sasanid Persian Empire]], and decisively conquered Syria and Mesopotamia, as well as [[Roman Palestine]], [[Roman Egypt]], and parts of [[Asia Minor]] and [[Africa Province|Roman North Africa]]. In the mid 7th century AD, following the [[Muslim conquest of Persia]], Islam penetrated into the [[Caucasus]] region, of which parts [[Russo-Persian Wars|would later]] permanently become part of Russia.<ref>{{cite book|quote=(..) It is difficult to establish exactly when Islam first appeared in Russia because the lands that Islam penetrated early in its expansion were not part of Russia at the time, but were later incorporated into the expanding Russian Empire. Islam reached the Caucasus region in the middle of the seventh century as part of the Arab [[Muslim conquest of Persia|conquest]] of the Iranian Sassanian Empire.|title=Islam in Russia: The Politics of Identity and Security|first=Shireen|last=Hunter|publisher=M.E. Sharpe|date=2004|page=3|display-authors=etal}}</ref> This trend, which included the conquests by the invading Muslim forces and by that the spread of Islam as well continued under Umar's successors and under the [[Umayyad Caliphate]], which conquered the rest of Mediterranean North Africa and most of the [[Visigothic Kingdom|Iberian Peninsula]]. Over the next centuries Muslim forces were able to take further European territory, including [[Cyprus in the Middle Ages|Cyprus]], Malta, [[Emirate of Crete|Crete]], and [[history of Islam in southern Italy|Sicily and parts of southern Italy]].<ref>Kennedy, Hugh (1995). "The Muslims in Europe". In McKitterick, Rosamund, ''The New Cambridge Medieval History: c. 500 – c. 700'', pp. 249–72. Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|0-521-36292-X}}.</ref>

The Muslim conquest of Hispania began when the [[Moors]] invaded the Christian [[Visigoths|Visigothic]] kingdom of [[Iberian peninsula|Hispania]] in 711, under the Berber general [[Tariq ibn Ziyad]]. They landed at [[Gibraltar]] on 30 April and worked their way northward. Tariq's forces were joined the next year by those of his Arab superior, [[Musa ibn Nusair]]. During the eight-year campaign most of the [[Iberian Peninsula]] was brought under Muslim rule – save for small areas in the northwest ([[Asturias]]) and largely [[Basque people|Basque]] regions in the [[Pyrenees]]. In 711, [[Visigothic]] [[Hispania]] was weakened because it was immersed in a serious internal crisis caused by a war of succession to the throne. The Muslims took advantage of the crisis within the [[Hispania|Hispano]]-[[Visigothic]] society to carry out their conquests. This territory, under the Arab name [[Al-Andalus]], became part of the expanding [[Umayyad]] empire.

The [[Siege of Constantinople (717–718)|second siege of Constantinople]] (717) ended unsuccessfully after the intervention of [[Tervel of Bulgaria]] and weakened the [[Umayyad]] dynasty and reduced their prestige. In 722 [[Don Pelayo]] formed an army of 300 [[Astures|Astur]] soldiers, to confront Munuza's Muslim troops. In the [[battle of Covadonga]], the Astures defeated the Arab-Moors, who decided to retire. The Christian victory marked the beginning of the [[Reconquista]] and the establishment of the [[Kingdom of Asturias]], whose first sovereign was Don Pelayo. The conquerors intended to continue their expansion in Europe and move northeast across the Pyrenees, but were defeated by the [[Frankish Empire|Frankish]] leader [[Charles Martel]] at the [[Battle of Tours|Battle of Poitiers]] in 732. The Umayyads were overthrown in 750 by the '[[Abbāsids]],<ref>Joseph F. O´Callaghan, ''Reconquest and crusade in Medieval Spain'' (2002)</ref> and, in 756, the Umayyads established an [[Emirate of Córdoba|independent emirate]] in the Iberian Peninsula.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Oxford Illustrated History of Medieval Europe|editor=George Holmes|isbn=978-0-19-820073-4|publisher=Oxford University Press|page=[https://archive.org/details/oxfordillustrate00holm/page/371 371]|year=1988|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/oxfordillustrate00holm/page/371}}</ref>

====Feudal Christendom====
{{Main|Holy Roman Empire|Charlemagne|Christendom|Caliphate of Córdoba|First Bulgarian Empire|Medieval England|Medieval Hungary|Medieval Poland|Kievan Rus'}}
[[File:Europe 1000.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|Europe in 1000, with most European states already formed]]The [[Holy Roman Empire]] emerged around 800, as Charlemagne, King of the [[Franks]] and part of the [[Carolingian dynasty]], was crowned by the pope as emperor. His empire based in modern France, the [[Low Countries]] and Germany expanded into modern Hungary, Italy, [[Bohemia]], Lower Saxony and Spain. He and his father received substantial help from an alliance with the Pope, who wanted help against the [[Lombards]].<ref>Michael Frassetto, ''Early Medieval World, The: From the Fall of Rome to the Time of Charlemagne'' (2013)</ref> His death marked the beginning of the end of the dynasty, which collapsed entirely by 888. The fragmentation of power led to semi-autonomy in the region, and has been defined as a critical starting point for the formation of [[state (polity)|states]] in Europe.<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1146/annurev-polisci-050718-032628|title=Beyond War and Contracts: The Medieval and Religious Roots of the European State|year=2020|last1=Grzymala-Busse|first1=Anna|journal=Annual Review of Political Science|volume=23|pages=19–36|doi-access=free}}</ref>

To the east, [[Bulgaria]] was established in 681 and became the first [[Slavic peoples|Slavic]] country.{{citation needed|date=June 2021}} The powerful Bulgarian Empire was the main rival of Byzantium for control of the Balkans for centuries and from the 9th century became the cultural centre of Slavic Europe. The [[First Bulgarian Empire|Empire]] created the [[Cyrillic script]] during the 9th century AD, at the [[Preslav Literary School]], and experienced the [[Golden Age of medieval Bulgarian culture|Golden Age]] of Bulgarian cultural prosperity during the reign of emperor [[Simeon I of Bulgaria|Simeon I the Great]] (893–927). Two states, [[Great Moravia]] and [[Kievan Rus']], emerged among the Slavic peoples respectively in the 9th century. In the late 9th and 10th centuries, northern and western Europe felt the burgeoning power and influence of the [[Viking]]s who raided, traded, conquered and settled swiftly and efficiently with their advanced seagoing vessels such as the [[longship]]s. The [[Viking]]s had left a [[Culture|cultural]] influence on the [[Anglo-Saxons]] and [[Franks]] as well as the [[Scottish people|Scots]].<ref>Michael G. Lamoureux, "The influence of Vikings on European culture".</ref> The [[Invasion#Magyar invasions of Europe|Hungarians]] pillaged mainland Europe, the [[Pechenegs]] raided Bulgaria, Rus States and the [[Arab]] states. In the 10th century independent kingdoms were established in Central Europe including Poland and the newly settled [[Kingdom of Hungary]]. The [[Kingdom of Croatia (925–1102)|Kingdom of Croatia]] also appeared in the Balkans. The subsequent period, ending around 1000, saw the further growth of [[feudalism]], which weakened the Holy Roman Empire.

In eastern Europe, [[Volga Bulgaria]] became an Islamic state in 921, after [[Almış I]] converted to Islam under the missionary efforts of [[Ahmad ibn Fadlan]].<ref>Gerald Mako, "The Islamization of the Volga Bulghars: A Question Reconsidered", Archivum Eurasiae Medii Aevi 18, 2011, 199–223.</ref>

[[Slavery in medieval Europe|Slavery in the early medieval period]] had mostly died out in western Europe by about the year 1000 AD, replaced by [[serfdom]]. It lingered longer in England and in peripheral areas linked to the Muslim world, where slavery continued to flourish. Church rules suppressed slavery of Christians. Most historians argue the transition was quite abrupt around 1000, but some see a gradual transition from about 300 to 1000.<ref>[[Seymour Drescher]] and Stanley L. Engerman, eds. ''A Historical Guide to World Slavery'' (1998) pp. 197–200</ref>

===High Middle Ages===
{{Main|High Middle Ages}}
[[File:First.Crusade.Map.jpg|thumb|Europe in 1097, as the [[First Crusade]] to the [[Holy Land]] commences]]

In 1054, the [[East–West Schism]] occurred between the two remaining Christian seats in [[Catholic Church|Rome]] and [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Constantinople]] (modern Istanbul).

The High Middle Ages of the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries show a [[Medieval demography|rapidly increasing population]] of Europe, which caused great social and political change from the preceding era. By 1250, the robust population increase greatly benefited the economy, reaching levels it would not see again in some areas until the 19th century.<ref>John H. Mundy, ''Europe in the high Middle Ages, 1150–1309'' (1973) [https://archive.org/details/europeinhighmidd00mund online]</ref>

From about the year 1000 onwards, Western Europe saw the last of the barbarian invasions and became more politically organized. The [[Viking]]s had settled in Britain, Ireland, France and elsewhere, whilst Norse Christian kingdoms were developing in their Scandinavian homelands. The [[Hungarian people|Magyars]] had ceased their expansion in the 10th century, and by the year 1000, the Roman Catholic [[Apostolic Kingdom]] of Hungary was recognised in central Europe. With the brief exception of the [[Mongol invasion of Europe|Mongol invasions]], major barbarian incursions ceased.

Bulgarian sovereignty was re-established with the [[Uprising of Asen and Peter|anti-Byzantine uprising of the Bulgarians and Vlachs]] in 1185. The crusaders invaded the Byzantine Empire, captured Constantinople in 1204 and established their [[Latin Empire]]. [[Kaloyan of Bulgaria]] defeated [[Baldwin I, Latin Emperor|Baldwin I]], [[Latin Emperor of Constantinople]], in the [[Battle of Adrianople (1205)|Battle of Adrianople]] on 14 April 1205. The reign of [[Ivan Asen II of Bulgaria]] led to maximum territorial expansion and that of [[Ivan Alexander of Bulgaria]] to a [[Architecture of the Tarnovo Artistic School|Second Golden Age of Bulgarian culture]]. The Byzantine Empire was fully re-established in 1261.

In the 11th century, populations north of the [[Alps]] began to settle new lands. Vast forests and marshes of Europe were cleared and cultivated. At the same time settlements moved beyond the traditional boundaries of the [[Frankish Empire]] to new frontiers in Europe, beyond the [[Elbe]] river, tripling the size of Germany in the process. Crusaders founded [[Crusader states|European colonies]] in the [[Levant]], the majority of the [[Reconquista|Iberian Peninsula was conquered]] from the Muslims, and the [[Normans]] colonised southern Italy, all part of the major population increase and resettlement pattern.

The High Middle Ages produced many different forms of intellectual, spiritual and [[Medieval art|artistic works]]. The most famous are the great cathedrals as expressions of [[Gothic architecture]], which evolved from [[Romanesque architecture]]. This age saw the rise of modern nation-states in Western Europe and the ascent of the famous Italian [[city-state]]s, such as [[Florence]] and [[Venice]]. The influential popes of the Catholic Church called volunteer armies from across Europe to a series of [[Crusades]] against the [[Seljuq dynasty|Seljuq Turks]], who occupied the [[Holy Land]]. The rediscovery of the works of [[Aristotle]] led [[Thomas Aquinas]] and other thinkers to develop the philosophy of [[Scholasticism]].

====Holy wars====
{{Main|Crusades|Reconquista}}
[[File:SiegeofAntioch.jpeg|thumb|The [[Siege of Antioch]], from a medieval miniature painting, during the [[First Crusade]]]]

After the [[East–West Schism]], [[Western Christianity]] was adopted by the newly created kingdoms of Central Europe: [[Poland]], Hungary and [[Bohemia]]. The Roman Catholic Church developed as a major power, leading to conflicts between the Pope and emperor. The geographic reach of the Roman Catholic Church expanded enormously due to the conversions of pagan kings (Scandinavia, [[Lithuania]], Poland, Hungary), the Christian [[Reconquista]] of [[Al-Andalus]], and the Crusades. Most of Europe was Roman Catholic in the 15th century.

Early signs of the rebirth of civilization in western Europe began to appear in the 11th century as trade started again in Italy, leading to the economic and cultural growth of independent [[city-state]]s such as [[Venice#History|Venice]] and [[History of Florence|Florence]]; at the same time, nation-states began to take form in places such as France, England, Spain, and Portugal, although the process of their formation (usually marked by rivalry between the monarchy, the aristocratic feudal lords and the church) actually took several centuries. These new nation-states began writing in their own cultural vernaculars, instead of the traditional [[Latin]]. Notable figures of this movement would include [[Dante Alighieri]] and [[Christine de Pizan]]. The [[Holy Roman Empire]], essentially based in Germany and Italy, further fragmented into a myriad of feudal principalities or small city states, whose subjection to the emperor was only formal.

The 14th century, when the [[Mongol Empire]] came to power, is often called the ''Age of the Mongols''. Mongol armies [[Mongol invasions and conquests|expanded westward]] under the command of [[Batu Khan]]. Their western conquests included almost all of [[Kievan Rus']] (save [[Novgorod]], which became a vassal),<ref>{{cite web|url=https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/citd/RussianHeritage/4.PEAS/4.L/12.III.5.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20110427075859/https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/citd/RussianHeritage/4.PEAS/4.L/12.III.5.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=27 April 2011|title=The Destruction of Kiev|publisher=Tspace.library.utoronto.ca|access-date=17 May 2012}}</ref> and the [[Kipchak-Cuman Confederation]]. [[Second Bulgarian Empire|Bulgaria]], Hungary, and Poland managed to remain sovereign states. Mongolian records indicate that Batu Khan was planning a complete conquest of the remaining European powers, beginning with a winter attack on Austria, Italy and Germany, when he was recalled to [[Mongolia]] upon the death of Great Khan [[Ögedei Khan|Ögedei]]. Most historians believe only his death prevented the complete conquest of Europe.{{Citation needed|date=January 2009}} The areas of Eastern Europe and most of Central Asia that were under direct Mongol rule became known as the [[Golden Horde]]. Under [[Uzbeg Khan]], Islam became the official religion of the region in the early 14th century.<ref>"[https://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9037242/Golden-Horde Golden Horde] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080529001039/http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9037242/Golden-Horde |date=29 May 2008 }}", in ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]'', 2007.</ref> The invading Mongols, together with their mostly Turkic subjects, were known as [[Tatar people|Tatars]]. In Russia, the Tatars ruled the various states of the Rus' through vassalage for over 300 years.

[[File:Chrzest Litwy 1387 Matejko.JPG|thumb|''[[Christianization of Lithuania#Christianization by Jogaila and Vytautas|Christianization of Lithuania in 1387]]'', oil on canvas by [[Jan Matejko]], 1889, [[Royal Castle in Warsaw]]]]
In the Northern Europe, [[Konrad of Masovia]] gave [[Chełmno]] to the [[Teutonic Knights]] in 1226 as a base for a Crusade against the [[Old Prussians]] and [[Grand Duchy of Lithuania]]. The [[Livonian Brothers of the Sword]] were defeated by the Lithuanians, so in 1237 Gregory IX merged the remainder of the order into the Teutonic Order as the [[Livonian Order]]. By the middle of the century, the Teutonic Knights completed their conquest of the Prussians before converting the Lithuanians in the subsequent decades. The order also came into conflict with the Eastern Orthodox Church of the [[Pskov Republic|Pskov]] and [[Novgorod Republic]]s. In 1240 the Orthodox Novgorod army defeated the Catholic Swedes in the [[Battle of the Neva]], and, two years later, they defeated the Livonian Order in the [[Battle on the Ice]]. The [[Union of Krewo]] in 1386, bringing two major changes in the history of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania: [[Christianization of Lithuania|conversion to Catholicism]] and establishment of a [[dynastic union]] between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the [[Crown of the Kingdom of Poland]] marked both the greatest territorial expansion of the Grand Duchy and the defeat of the Teutonic Knights in the [[Battle of Grunwald]] in 1410.

===Late Middle Ages===
{{Main|Late Middle Ages|Lex mercatoria|Hundred Years' War|Fall of Constantinople|Crisis of the Late Middle Ages|Consulate of the Sea}}
[[File:Bubonic plague-en.svg|thumb|right|The spread of the "Black Death" from 1347 to 1351 through Europe]]

The Late Middle Ages spanned around the 14th and late 15th centuries.<ref>Wallace K. Ferguson, ''Europe in transition, 1300–1520'' (1962) [https://archive.org/details/europeintransiti00ferg online].</ref> Around 1300, centuries of European prosperity and growth came to a halt. A series of famines and plagues, such as the [[Great Famine of 1315–1317]] and the [[Black Death]], killed people in a matter of days, reducing the population of some areas by half as many survivors fled. [[Mark Kishlansky|Kishlansky]] reports:
:The Black Death touched every aspect of life, hastening a process of social, economic, and cultural transformation already underway.... Fields were abandoned, workplaces stood idle, international trade was suspended. Traditional bonds of kinship, village, and even religion were broken amid the horrors of death, flight, and failed expectations. "People cared no more for dead men than we care for dead goats," wrote one survivor.<ref>Mark Kishlansky et al. ''Civilization in the West: Volume 1 to 1715'' (5th ed. 2003) p. 316</ref>

Depopulation caused labor to become scarcer; the survivors were better paid and peasants could drop some of the burdens of feudalism. There was also social unrest; France and England experienced serious peasant risings including the [[Jacquerie]] and the [[Peasants' Revolt]]. The unity of the Catholic Church was shattered by the [[Western Schism|Great Schism]]. Collectively these events have been called the [[Crisis of the Late Middle Ages]].<ref>Cantor, p. 480.</ref>

Beginning in the 14th century, the [[Baltic Sea]] became one of the most important [[trade route]]s. The [[Hanseatic League]], an alliance of trading cities, facilitated the absorption of vast areas of Poland, [[Lithuania]], and [[Terra Mariana|Livonia]] into trade with other European countries. This fed the growth of powerful states in this part of Europe including Poland–Lithuania, Hungary, Bohemia, and Muscovy later on. The conventional end of the [[Middle Ages]] is usually associated with the fall of the city of [[Constantinople]] and of the Byzantine Empire to the [[Ottoman Turks]] in 1453. The Turks made the city the capital of their [[Ottoman Empire]], which lasted until 1922 and included Egypt, Syria, and most of the Balkans. The [[Ottoman wars in Europe]] marked an essential part of the history of the continent.

[[File:Holy Roman Empire at the Golden Bull of 1356.png|thumb|The [[Holy Roman Empire]] was a limited elective monarchy composed of hundreds of [[List of states in the Holy Roman Empire|state-like entities]].]]

A key 15th-century development was the [[Global spread of the printing press|advent of the movable type of printing press]] circa 1439 in Mainz,<ref name=body /> building upon the impetus provided by the [[History of paper|prior introduction of paper]] from China via the Arabs in the High Middle Ages.<ref name=books>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9opxcMjv4TUC&q=1439&pg=PA1|title=The Coming of the Book: The Impact of Printing 1450–1800|first1=Lucien|last1=Febvre|first2=Henri-Jean|year=1997|publisher=Verso|isbn=1859841082|last2=Martin|pages=29–30|access-date=21 December 2020|archive-date=27 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230427155348/https://books.google.com/books?id=9opxcMjv4TUC&q=1439&pg=PA1|url-status=live}}</ref> The adoption of the technology across the continent at dazzling speed for the remaining part of the 15th century would usher a revolution and by 1500 over 200 cities in Europe had presses that printed between 8 and 20&nbsp;million books.<ref name=body>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f_y3w4cQmq8C&pg=PA165|page=165|title=The Body in History: Europe from the Palaeolithic to the Futur|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|year=2013|first1=John|last1=Robb|last2=Harris|first2=Oliver J.|isbn=9780521195287|access-date=21 December 2020|archive-date=27 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230427165349/https://books.google.com/books?id=f_y3w4cQmq8C&pg=PA165|url-status=live}}</ref>