The Early Modern Period and Why It Matters

Periodisation is arbitrary, yet necessary; a contradiction at the heart of historical study.

Although history flows like an unbroken river, historians divide it into distinct pools such as ancient, medieval, early modern, and modern. The boundaries between eras blur upon close inspection, revealing more of a spectrum than the discrete blocks of time that society assigns to them. These periods are typically defined by historians as they analyse past eras, which often results in significant debate surrounding the accuracy of periodisation. Different perspectives lead to varying definitions of when a specific historical period begins and ends. Periodisation is not universal, and there is not always a distinct change in characteristics that separates the end of one era from the beginning of another. However, these temporal categories have proved to be a critical cognitive tool that help orient society in relation to the past and the understanding of historical developments in their context. Despite the subjective nature of structuring time into phases, it is a fundamental historical methodology at the heart of society. As we explore the early modern period on this site, we acknowledge that our chosen time frame of 1500 - 1800 represents not a hermetically sealed era but rather a useful lens through which to examine transformative shifts in human experience, thought, and creation.

The division of European history into Antiquity, the Middle Ages and the Modern Era, can be traced back to Leonardo Bruni, an Italian historian, who wrote Historiae Florentini populi in the mid-1400's. The tripartite categorisation that Bruni developed had been used by historians for almost five-hundred years before the term "early modern" was introduced by Lynn Thorndike. Despite Thorndike's introduction of "early modern" as a subdivision of modernity in 1926, it did not become popularised amongst historians until the 1990s. At this time, the parameters of early modern were being heavily debated as scholars offered differing viewpoints on the defining characteristics of the era. There is also significant debate around the relevance of the early modern distinction to civilisations outside of Europe. Does the definition of the early modern period and the proposed timeline of 1500 - 1800 prove meaningful for China's Ming/Qing dynasties or Mughal India? Historians like Randolph Starn acknowledge the limitations and equivocations that the early modern designation comes with, and argue that the term was an Anglo-American categorisation of European history as Europeans themselves had no need for the "early modern."

While many historians may still grapple with this interpretation, within Europe and most western thought, 1500 - 1800 has been established as the early modern era. Why did Lynn Thorndike and other historians alike feel the need to distinguish this period from medieval and modern periodisation? The early modern period, as we now know it, is filled with transformative ideas like the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment, and society-altering events that neither belonged to the medieval world or the newly industrial modern period. We can argue about this, and many will, but it seems undeniable that between 1500 and 1800 there were distinctive events and ideas that merit special attention. Events such as the emergence of nation-states, capitalism, colonialism, and global trade networks that formed the foundations of our current global order. Intellectual revolutions and religious evolutions and in some countries, a complete reorganisation of societal structures.

So, despite how arbitrary and subjective periodisation may seem, it has turned out to be one of the most significant historical tools. The Early Modern designation highlights the pivotal transition period that serves as an essential bridge for understanding how society moved from medieval to modern worldviews and systems within just a few hundred years. The point of this blog is to explore these revolutionary ideas, the cultural transformations, and profound social shifts that made this period a crucible for the modern world.

On a personal note, the early modern era is a point in time that I have been drawn to since I was a young girl. In particular, I find the history of gender, politics, femininity, and sex to be consequential during this period and I am sure that will be evident in many of the posts.