Middle Ages
Further information: Latin Rite and Western ChristianityAfter the fall of the Roman Empire, many Europeans clung to the Latin identity, more specifically, in the sense of the Romans, as members of the Empire.
In the Byzantine Empire or East Roman Empire, and the broader Greek-Orthodox world, Latins was a synonym for all people who followed Roman Catholic Christianity. It was generally a negative characterization, especially after the 1054 schism. Latins is still used by the Orthodox church communities, but only in a theological context.
The Holy Roman Empire was founded after the fall of Rome but brandished the name of the Roman people and honoured the king with the title "King of the Romans". Despite this, the Holy Roman Empire was largely a Germanic affair with German kings, although its territory was considerably greater than present day Germany. At times, the Holy Roman Empire did not even include the city of Rome.
The term was later borrowed, in various variants, by several languages of the Middle East and southern Asia, sometimes referring to any European.
Read more about this topic: Latins
Famous quotes containing the words middle ages, middle and/or ages:
“What progress we are making. In the Middle Ages they would have burned me. Now they are content with burning my books.”
—Sigmund Freud (1856–1939)
“Reprehension is a kind of middle thing betwixt admonition and correction: it is sharpe admonition, but a milde correction. It is rather to be used because it may be a meanes to prevent strokes and blowes, especially in ingenuous and good natured children. [Blows are] the last remedy which a parent can use: a remedy which may doe good when nothing else can.”
—William Gouge, Puritan writer. As quoted in The Rise and Fall of Childhood by C. John Sommerville, ch. 11 (rev. 1990)
“Next time, to tarry,
While the Ages steal—
Slow tramp the Centuries,
And the Cycles wheel!”
—Emily Dickinson (1830–1886)