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Historians generally have the Middle Ages start in 476 AD with what is called the fall of Rome. This is a date of convenience, especially since Rome did not fall in 476. What happened that year was the abdication of the last emperor of the Western Roman Empire, a six year old boy named Romulus. An application was made to the Roman Emperor of the East to take over the whole Roman Empire and reunite it.

There are other dates proposed. One is the date of the accession of Justin I as emperor of the East Roman Empire in 518 AD. And another is 410, when Rome was sacked for the first time in centuries.

Another view is that the Middle Ages started in 1000 AD, with the period of 476 to 1000 being the Dark Ages; this view is falling out of favor because it is based on misconceptions about the nature of the time. In fact, if you look up "Dark Ages" in Wikipedia, you find an article about the usage of the term, not the time period.

If I could change the way things are labeled, I would probably date the Middle ages from the establishment of Christianity as a state religion in 380 AD, because the nature of the Middle Ages reflected, more than anything else, the influence of the Church.

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14y ago

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