Modified: 2023-09-08 5:53 AM CDST
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Throughout the medieval period, evidence of earlier Roman civilization still stood. Early in the period, a belief that the world was in decline must have been universal. Later, however, as new towns grew, and great cathedrals and castles were built such feelings probably abated some. However, our notions of constant and universal progress would probably have been unrecognizable. Instead of progress, stasis was a hallmark of the period. But, some technological change did take place, slowly. For example, the invention of the chimney allowed for the heating of individual rooms and served to separate the classes from the great common rooms before, where all huddled overnight around the only fire. Town clocks were built, and changed forever perception of time. In the service of war, metallurgy advanced.
Older rewrite
The period covered by the term Middle Ages roughly falls from the fall of Rome (410) to the beginning of the Renaissance (circa 1450). Over the course of that millennium Europe underwent attack from tribes from Asia, Islamic armies, and Viking raiders; became thoroughly Christianized; recovered and relearned much of classic Greco-Roman knowledge; increased its population, urbanized, explored beyond its borders; and created a society friendly to scientific and technical progress.
Around the year 1000, things began to change, albeit slowly. Christian monks had, over hundreds of years, established monasteries. These, in turn, had functioned as the seeds for the founding, growth, and development of towns. Most of Europe had been Christianized, in many cases by force of arms. Sociologically, people began to think of themselves as members of a larger group, Christendom. Technical progress was underway as well. Stirrups made mounted warriors more formidable, animal-drawn metal plows increased agricultural production, and fireplaces changed living conditions. Intellectually, scholars worked to recover classical knowledge.
Latest rewrite
Rome slowly and finally fell between 410 and 600 CE. The Medieval Period followed for nearly 1000 years. Roman buildings and roads became ruins and newcomers from the East and North invaded repeatedly. Imagining the medieval mindset is difficult but stasis, not progress, likely dominated. Haltingly, a few new techologies emerged: the chimney, the plow, the town clock, and improved metallurgy. By the year 1000 some classic works of Plato had been rediscovered, monasteries served as the seeds for new towns, and most of Europe had moved from paganism to some form of Christianity. The population increased and became more urban, although the new towns and cities, small and fetid, still depended on walls and armed men to protect them. Near the end of the Medieval Period Europeans began to think of themselves differently. They saw themselves as a group united by religion but separated by geography and language. Most were unaware that a great change was about to take place, one that would propel them and their successors around the world. The Renaissance and the age of European exploration was about to be born.