The Middle Ages of European history lasted from the 5th to the 15th century. It began with the collapse of the Western Roman Empire and barbarian invaders formed new kingdoms. The Franks, under the Carolingian dynasty, established an empire covering much of Western Europe; the Carolingian Empire endured until the 9th century. During the High Middle Ages, which began after AD 1000, the population of Europe increased as technological and agricultural innovations allowed trade to flourish and crop yields to increase. Western European Christians attempted to regain control of the Holy Land in the Crusades. Intellectual life was marked by scholasticism and the founding of universities. The philosophy of Thomas Aquinas, the paintings of Giotto, the poetry of Dante and Chaucer, the travels of Marco Polo, and the architecture of Gothic cathedrals are among the outstanding achievements of this period. The Late Middle Ages was marked by famine, plague, and war; between 1347 and 1350, the Black Death killed about a third of Europeans. Cultural and technological developments transformed European society, leading to the early modern period.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_Ages
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1309:
Reconquista: Forces of the Kingdom of Castile captured Gibraltar from the Emirate of Granada, although they would lose control of it 24 years later. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Siege_of_Gibraltar
1848:
Switzerland became a federal state with the adoption of a new constitution. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switzerland
1933:
Hungarian-American physicist Leó Szilárd conceived of the idea of the nuclear chain reaction while waiting for a traffic light in Bloomsbury, London. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le%C3%B3_Szil%C3%A1rd
1942:
A U-boat sank RMS Laconia with a torpedo off the coast of West Africa and attempted to rescue the passengers, which included some 80 civilians, 160 Polish and 268 British soldiers and about 1800 Italian POWs. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laconia_incident
1983:
The clandestine group Boricua Popular Army staged a bank robbery in West Hartford, Connecticut, US, making off with $7 million in the largest cash theft in U.S. history at the time. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boricua_Popular_Army
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
vocable: 1. A word or utterance, especially with reference to its form rather than its meaning. 2. A syllable or sound without specific meaning, used together with or in place of actual words in a song. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/vocable
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
It all goes so fast, and character makes the difference when it's close. --Jesse Owens https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jesse_Owens