Just curious, how would people in medieval ages call their era? I'm sure they wouldn't call their era a "middle age" in those days!
Native speaker’s answer
Rebecca
Indeed they did not! The idea of having a single name for a particular period of time usually comes after that period is over. Today, we have instant global communication, so we're able to talk about events and time periods and agree on definitions for them. Back then, people would not be able to communicate over such long distances, so they would define their own time period based on what topics were relevant to them at the time they were alive. People in Southern or Western Europe during the 5th century could have defined their era as "after the fall of Rome" or as the "era of the Goths/Vandals/Germans". Others might have defined it depending on what major conflict was happening around them or who was Pope at the time for Catholic countries. Sadly, there is no good direct answer. It depends, and it's difficult to know since sources from the time usually focused on the present "now" more than anything. Most people did not think to define their era, and those who did focused on current events important to their country or community.
