The Middle Ages harshly tested human perseverance, imagination, and survival. Living conditions were squalid for almost everyone except the ruling elite; most of the riches of Western culture were preserved in monasteries and on other continents. Then came widespread famines, prolonged wars, and plagues that marked Europe's late medieval period as one of the most harrowing times in recorded history.
Teofilo F. Ruiz
University of California at Los Angeles - Ph.D., Princeton University
