DECLINE PARADIGM in LATE MEDIEVAL EUROPEAN HISTORIOGRAPHY: A GENERAL EVALUATION WITH REGARD to SOCIO-ECONOMIC and POLITICAL HISTORIOGRAPHY

This study dwells on the perception and characterization of the concept of Late Medieval in European historiography. Medieval European history has been divided into three parts as a result of the institutionalization of medieval scholarship and the tendency of the historians to subdivide the medieval period into small pieces for making broad generalizations about their specific fields. While the standards of division change according to scholarly conventions and ideological motivations, the subdivision of the medieval into early, high and late medieval periods has been commonly accepted. Therefore, Late Medieval European history has been somewhat neglected through its identification with the concepts such as “crisis” and “transition”. This article will argue that the historians should rediscuss the Late Medieval within the scope of the concepts such as “crisis”, “transition” and “transformation”. In this sense, it suggests that Late Medieval period should be evaluated in continuity with High Middle Ages and Renaissance. On the one hand, such a general evaluation of the paradigm of Late Medieval Decline will provide us with a new approach to examine Medieval European history. On the other hand, it will be a modest contribution to a rethinking of historical periodization