ABSTRACT
The year 1066 is perhaps one of the most recognizable dates in English history, as it describes the beginning of a new political, linguistic, and cultural era in England. While periodization encapsulates historical narratives into meaningful compartments that seamlessly transition from one episode to another, time and history are much messier and more difficult to categorize equitably. White, Western thinkers have framed dominant strands of periodization, most often with a colonial mindset that prevents today’s students of history from understanding complex historical narratives in a more global sense. While frequently taught and learned as both natural and obvious, the framework of “the Middle Ages” itself is a construct emerging from and anchored in Western perspectives, which center European cultures as the foundation of human progress and civilization. Kathleen Davis’ work on periodization highlights how Eurocentrism (and British colonialism especially) has shaped world history and historiography, and how a more globalized understanding of “Middle Ages” operates in two conflicting ways. A more global perspective of the Middle Ages attempts to see the world operating in unison while still anchoring time within a Eurocentric framework.
