Middle Ages

Middle Ages is the collective term for the centuries that intervened between the close of classic times and the dawn of the modern epoch. The term does not apply to Asiatic history, except in part, in the Orient. By general acceptance, the middle ages are considered to begin after the overthrow of the Western Empire of Rome in 476, and to terminate at the Reformation, in the first quarter of the 16th century, or even earlier, in the last half of the preceding century, when printing was invented, America discovered, and the Renaissance of Learning was called forth by the Greek refugees from Constantinople.