A brief history in medieval europe:

The Medieval times lasted from the fall of the Roman empire ( 476 CE) till the beginning of the 14th century.

 

The Black Plague:

WARNING DO NOT VISIT EUROPE FROM 1347 TO 1350

The black plague (the black death), scientifically called the bubonic plague, started infecting Europe in 1347 and ended in 1350. The plague spread across Europe like a fire and killed what some believe to be 20 million people,which was 30% of the population. The people who knew how to care for animals died. The people who knew how to tan hides into usable leather died. The people who knew how to card wool, spin that wool into yarn and weave that yarn into cloth died. The blacksmiths,knights, millers, groomsmen, falconers, innkeepers, tax collectors, kitchen workers, soldiers, cooks and bread makers all died.

The plague was mostly transmitted in cities where you could not prevent physical contact from other people who have the plague. The plague was also the main cause of the Renaissance period. Since there were more peasants than nobles,as many of the higher class people died, the peasants started to break out of the feudal system (see below).

 

The Crusades:

In 1095, the Pope Urban ordered the first crusade to get rid of the muslims that populated the “Holy Lands”, the pope said that if you fight you will go to heaven. There was a second crusade in 1147,and a third crusade in 1187, but this time King Richard the “lion heart” accompanied them. Sadly, the third crusade failed so they made a peace treaty with the King and the muslim leader Saladin. In 1202, a new pope called Pope Innocent  made a fourth crusade to the “holy lands”. But this crusade, like many others, achieved nothing.

 

The Feudal System:

 In the Medieval ages the feudal system was a social ranking system which everyone had to obey. On the top was the pope who you had to pay taxes to, in the second rank was the king, who didn't pay any taxes to the pope, and the third were the nobles who all had plots of land in the kingdom and protected the king when needed. The plots of land were called fiefs and manors which the nobles had total control over. This included having peasants to work and serve them and having knights to protect their castle. The fourth group were called vassals and knights (some of the vassals are knights), vassals protect the peasants (or serfs) from ambushes and other harms. The peasants (or serfs) were the lowest rank and were the only rank that worked. They had the poorest conditions to work in, being farmers and blacksmiths and such . Everyone in these ranks, with the exception of the king, payed some taxes to the higher rank like the peasants to the vassals, the vassals to the nobles, the nobles to the king and everyone to the pope.

 

The Church:

During the medieval times, Europe was split in two, the western side and the eastern side. The western side was Roman Catholic and the eastern was Greek Orthodox. Each had a capital, on the western side it was Rome and on the eastern side it was Constantinople.