The information on the wind band in the medieval period of Western Europe is sketchy at best. Written examples of music from this time are at a premium, and even less is written of instrumental music. But from humble beginnings comes an interesting story of how wind music fit into the society of the time.
The middle Ages in Europe had very little to recommend. It was a time of poverty, famine, and feudal servitude for the mass population - and if these weren't enough, at various times war and plague ravaged the land. But it was also a time of new beginning as the populace struggled to emerge from what has been referred to as the Dark Ages. The concept of individual rights and limited monarchy saw light in documents such as the Magna Charta. And while one might question the political motives behind the Catholic Church sending "Crusaders" from across Europe to rescue Palestine from Islam, the consequence was the exposure of Western Europe to a part of the world from which it had long been isolated. This was the era of Romanesque and Gothic architecture best exemplified in the great Cathedrals of Europe. It was also a period of great literature including Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, Boccaccio's The Decameron, Dante's Comedy, and the writings of Hildegard of Bingen. Furthermore, the increasing popularity of Scholastic philosophy had no greater representative than Thomas Aquinas.