CULTURE IN THE MIDDLE AGE

(Napisao: gosp. Marko Marelić -  S. Francisco - USA)
--> Marko Marelić osobna stranica

Languages and Literatures The Latin Tongue has been a great carrier of civilization. In central and western Europe in the Middle Age every educated person not only spoke his local tongue, he also knew Latin.

Latin - An International Language Latin was a live language - it was used every day by every priest, monk, lawyer, doctor, teacher, and cultured gentlemen. Likewise, it was the language of books that were widely circulated in different countries; and it was the language of diplomacy - official business between one government and another.

Medieval Literature Classics of ancient days came down into the Middle Age clad in Latin, for example, the poems of Virgil, the liturgy of the Church, and the Vulgate, Jerome's version of the Bible. But much notable literature was produced in the Middle Age - most of that also was written in Latin. We can mention here only a few of the masterpieces.

In law there was Gratian's code of canon law, compiled at Bologna in the 12th century; also various editions of the civil law of Justinian, with commentaries from famous lawyers. In history, two great writers were Suger, a French abbot, and Otto of Freising, a German bishop, both from the 12th century. Suger wrote a narrative of his monastery, Saint Denis, and histories of the reigns of Louis VI and Louis VII. Otto wrote a world history and a justly celebrated biography of the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa.

Many beautiful hymns were produced: "Dies Irae," by Thomas of Celano, the biographer of Francis of Assisi; "Stabat Mater," by another Franciscan monk, who was a contemporary and critic of Pope Boniface VIII; "Tantum Ergo" and "O Salutaris Hostia," by Thomas Aquinas of the 13th century; and various devotional hymns, including "Jesus, the very thought of Thee" and "Jesus, Thou joy of loving hearts," by Bernard of Clairvaux, in the 12th century. Bernard's hymns have been translated into almost every modern language and are admired and loved by all kinds of Christians. It is worth remembering that these Latin hymns, unlike ancient poetry, were rhymed, and that our practice of rhyming poetry was developed in the Middle Age.

Greek Classics in Latin Dress Latin literature of the Middle Age was enriched by the translation of Greek and Arabic masterpieces. The great works of Aristotle were given to western Europe in part by translation of Greek into Latin, and in part by Greek into Arabic and Arabic into Latin. It was not until the 14th and 15th centuries that the study of Greek became a passion with scholars in western Europe. By that time Latin was declining in favor of the rising vernaculars.

The Vernacular Tongues The vernaculars were local languages or dialects spoken by the common people.

(1) In southern Europe there emerged the Romance or Romanic tongues: Italian in Italy; French in northern France; Provencal in southern France; Catalan in eastern Spain; Castilian in central Spain; Portuguese in Portugal; Rumanian in Rumania. These developed from the Latin (Roman) language.

(2) In northwestern Europe there appeared the Teutonic or Germanic tongues: German, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Dutch, etc. English may be regarded as a compound of Teutonic and Romanic elements.

(3) In east-central Europe Slavic languages took shape: Russian, Polish, Czech, and the South Slavs (Dalmatian-Croatian), etc.

(4) In the extreme west - Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and Brittany (the western point of France) - Celtic tongues survived.

All these four groups of languages - Celtic, Slavic, Tuetonic, and Romanic - together with Latin and Greek, were Aryan or Indo-European languages. The Magyars and the Finns spoke tongues belonging to another great language family - the Turaninan. But such a list is too simple. It does not tell the whole story. Actually, there were almost as many local dialects of English, French, German, and Italian as there were countries and cities in medieval Europe.

Vernacular Writings At first the scholars scorned the vernaculars, but gradually writings began to appear in them. For example, to increase the piety of the laity, priests and monks wrote prayer-books and translated parts of the Bible in the words of the common people. Kings and other rulers began to issue laws in the languages spoken by their subjects. And poets - of course there were poets - began to write down verses and plays, stories and songs. Some of these were old, some were new. "The childhood of all nations is spent in singing." If the Middle Age was not exactly a childhood of nations, it was certainly a childhood of languages and literatures. So a good deal of poetry was to be expected. The poems were mainly of two kinds - light lyrics about flowers and girls and love, and heroic epics about knights and fights.

Of the medieval lyrics, those of the French troubadours and the German minnesingers are the most famous. The troubadours of southern France wandered far and wide, composing and singing their songs in lordly castle and peasant village. In Germany, the most celebrated minnesinger was Walter von der Vogelweide (fo gel-vi da). Of the epics, the French "Song of Roland," the Spanish "Cid," and the German "Nibelungenlied" were widely popular. The singers of war songs, like the singers of love songs, wandered from place to place. In France they were called jongleurs, in Germany, meistersingers, in Dalmatia, sjor cantalo.

Romances and Plays Sometimes entertainers would tell stories in alternating song and recitation, and because the earliest of such stories were composed in a vernacular derived from Roman speech, they were termed "romances." The plays which were written in the Middle Age were chiefly religious in character and were often given in churches. They included mystery-plays, based on the Bible and church history; miracle-plays based on the lives of the saints; and morality-plays, used for moral teaching.

Tuscan Italian While the troubadours, the jongleurs, and the historians of France were fixing the French language in graceful accuracy, and the minnesingers, the meistersingers, and others were making German the handmaid of history and philosophy as well as of poetry, Francis of Assisi, Dante, and others were developing the dialect of Florence and Tuscany as literary Italian. Francis lived a life of poetry as well as of religion. His "Canticle of the Sun" is a lovely religious lyric. Dante (1265-1321), the great Florentine scholar and poet, used Italian for one of the great literary masterpieces of all time. His immortal "Divine Comedy" enshrines much of the art and thought of the Middle Age. Close after Dante came two other great Italian writers - Petrarch (1304-1374), with his polished sonnets, and Boccaccio (1313-1375), with his picturesque tales.

Mention should also be made of the great historian Marko Marulic, a Dalmatian Croat (1450-1524), a great poet, author, theologian, and linguist who studied in many different places in Europe, such as Spalato (Split), Venetia (Venice), and Padua in Italy. Besides his many great achievements, he produced a great work known as "DAVIDAS" which was widely recognized in the western world. The best of his epic poems was "JUDITH" which was published in 1521. The heroine of the book was a beautiful Jewess who lived in Apocrypha. When her town was besieged by Holofernes, the General of Nebuchadrezzar, she attended him in his tent and when he was drunk she killed him and cut off his head. Then her townspeople attacked the Assyrians and slaughtered them.

During the Middle Age, Portuguese and Spanish, as well as other vernaculars of western Europe, became literary languages. In Britain, Geoffrey Chaucer (1340-1400) gave better form to the English language and became the "Father of English poetry."

Summary At the beginning of the Middle Age - around the year 1000 - almost all literature in central and western Europe was Latin. At the close of the Middle Age around 1400 - most learned writing was still done in Latin, but popular literatures in French, Italian, Spanish, German, English, and other vernaculars were emerging. Many local dialects were still spoken, but they were being subordinated to national languages. All books were written and copied by hand.

EDUCATION

The Middle Age was marked by growth in education. Universities, monasteries, and cathedrals were leading educational institution. Many universities were established.

Place and Method In home and church everyone was taught religion. On the manor or in the town most young people were taught work by which to earn a living - the country boy farming, the city boy a trade or a craft. Girls were instructed by their mothers in cooking, sewing, and housekeeping. There were no general laws compelling boys and girls to go to school, and the majority did not go; but bishops maintained schools at their cathedrals, and almost every abbot had one at his monastery.

Purpose and Program The primary but not the only purpose of the cathedrals and monastic schools was to train young men for the priesthood or for a special religious life. The course of study included subjects other than religion. In fact, the bases of the course in these schools were the same "liberal arts" as had been taught in the schools of the ancient Roman Empire.

Trivium and Quadrivium The "liberal arts" were seven in number: three, called the Trivium, consisted of grammar, dialectic, and rhetoric; and four, called the Quadrivium, consisted of geometry, arithmetic, music, and astronomy. The scope of each was wider than its name might suggest. Grammar embraced the study of Latin language and literature. Dialectic was a stiff course in logic. Rhetoric covered the rudiments of law, as well as composition in prose and verse. Geometry included the study of Euclid, and in addition, geography and natural history. Arithmetic dealt with Roman numbers and with the calculation of the calendar. Music embraced the rules of the plain-song (Gregorian chant) of the Church, some theory of sound, and the study of harmony. Astronomy, besides dealing with the heavenly bodies, included some physics and chemistry. All these subjects were taught from textbooks, most of which had come down from ancient times.

Elementary Schools In addition to the cathedral and monastic schools - called grammar schools - many special elementary schools were provided by town gilds and feudal lords to teach reading and writing or singing. In such schools the instruction was usually in the vernacular rather than in Latin. Some girls received special education in schools attached to convents; and many girls, chiefly of the upper classes, learned reading, writing, and the keeping of accounts, as well as fine needlework, household duties and management, and such elementary surgery and medicine as served in cases of slight daily accidents and illnesses. Also, special education was often provided for young noblemen, with the aim of fitting them to be chivalrous knights, wise masters of men, and prudent managers of property. They were taught reading, writing, and arithmetic, the rules and customs of courtesy, knightly honor, and such courtly amusements as chess, lute-playing, singing, and verse-writing.

Outside the Schools Boys and girls in rural communities who did not attend any formal school were instructed orally by parish priests or neighboring monks in the doctrines and duties of their religion; while the pictures and statues with which the churches were adorned helped to give some knowledge of Bible history and church history. Many a medieval boy, poor, but of promising mind, was privately tutored by his parish priest; and the large funds at the disposal of the Church made it possible for ambitious poor boys to go on to the grammar schools and even to the universities. It is an interesting fact about the Middle Age that "poor scholars" greatly outnumbered rich scholars, and that some of the foremost writers, students, statesmen, even popes, began their careers as poor boys.

The Universities The finest flower of medieval education was the university. In ancient times there had been advanced schools, resembling colleges; but our modern universities are the direct outgrowth of the universities which were first established during the Middle Age. No medieval university was created in accordance with a plan laid out in advance. Each one was a natural growth out educational conditions and needs. In certain cities there were various groups of students, each gathered about its teacher. After a while it seemed desirable for the several groups in the same city to get together in some kind of central organization. At Bologna the students formed a union, or gild; at Paris, the teachers. All turned into one made the university. That is just about what the word university means - "all turned into one."

The University of Paris The groups of students and teachers were of different kinds, formed in different ways; and the unions of groups varied. At Paris, where the first university was formed, the arrangement was as follows: (1) An Undergraduate school of arts, which was much like a big cathedral school, giving the usual instruction in the seven liberal arts. (2) The graduate schools of theology, philosophy, law, and medicine.

The school of arts was presided over by an elected official called the Rector, and its students were divided, according to their place of birth, into groups called "nations." Each "nation" had its own proctor, dormitory, dining hall, chapel and tutors. Such "nations" developed into "colleges" like those which still exist in the universities of Oxford and Cambridge. Each graduate school was under a Dean, and was attended by students who had gone through the school of arts and hence were known as bachelors of arts.

Theology and Philosophy In the Middle Age theology was the most highly esteemed subject of study, so much so that it was called the "queen of the sciences." Next in honor came philosophy, and then law. Different universities emphasized different subjects. Paris stressed theology and philosophy; Bologna was the great law school; and Salerno, also in Italy, was famed for its school of medicine.

The Middle Age was rich in works of theology and philosophy. Peter Abelard's "Sic et Non" ("Yes and No") shocked many earnest Christians. Peter Lombard's "Sentences" (published about 1145) proposed answers to Abelard's questions and summed up the Church doctrines on the sacraments. Averroes (1126-1198), a Moslem, wrote extensively on Aristotle. Thomas Aquinas, a devout Christian scholar, in his writings endeavored to quiet some fears that Averroes had raised, and to show that religion and philosophy could be reconciled. Thomas Aquinas' most important work, the "Summa Theologiae," was the greatest intellectual achievement of the Middle Age.

Revival of Roman Law The study of Roman law was taken up anew in the Middle Age, at first at Bologna about 1100, and soon afterwards at other places. Its order and system appealed to many people in a time of disorder. It laid down broad and simple principles of justice. It provided for court settlement of all cases - the "Germanic Law" employed duels and other barbarous methods in which the people were losing confidence. The Roman law not only gave protection to every person on a basis of reason and justice, it also aided the kings and the commons to get rid of feudal lords and feudal war. Of course, this meant that Roman law favored monarchy as a form of government and aided in the building of national states. Roman law (the "Civil Law." lawyers call it) came to be adopted generally on the Continent. England, as we have seen, developed a system of her own. The United States today follows the English law - except the state of Louisiana, in which the old Roman law prevails. The Spaniards and the French planted the Roman law in Louisiana, just as they, with the Portuguese, planted it in Latin America (Mexico, Central America, the West Indies, and South America). Canon law (Church law) was also an important subject of study in medieval Europe.

STUDENTS AND STUDENT LIFE

Clouds of "Clerks" Multitudes of students attended the medieval universities. It has been said that as many as 50,000 were at Paris at one time, and 10,000 at Oxford. Though these figures are perhaps too large, it is certain that university life was popular. All university men, whether they actually became priests or not (and many did not, especially in the later Middle Age), were classed as "clerks," clergymen, and as such enjoyed special privileges. For example, they were exempt from state control, paid no taxes, and could be tried only in church courts. This is no doubt one reason why university life was so attractive to so many young fellows.

Student Life There were some students who were serious and some who were not so serious. Student life was naturally varied with pleasure and hardship - also adventure. It was customary for students to pass freely from country to country, attending one university after another. A year or two as Paris, a year at Oxford, then a year at Bologna, perhaps, gave opportunity for travel, sightseeing, begging, working, walking, riding, duckings in unbridged rivers, and being held up by robbers - for some students actually had money. Classes began shortly after daybreak, and classrooms were rarely heated - except by occasional arguments. Few students could afford books - most had to learn by listening and by taking notes. All had to know Latin, for Latin was the language of the universities. Athletics did not figure much, but there was some horseplay and hazing. Many hunted, fenced, or played ball, and there was much tramping. Some students made their living by singing their student songs and other lyrics from door to door. Gradually a distinctive costume - cap and gown - was evolved.

Summary At the beginning of the Middle Age schools were few and the number of illiterates was very great. At the end of the Middle Age schools were numerous; all the upper classes were literate; and a considerable percentage of ordinary men and women could read and write, though probably not a majority. The clergy, as a class, remained the best educated. They were the teachers; they contributed very much to the thought of the time; and they produced most of the scholarly writing. The finest flower of medieval education was the university.

SCIENCE

We have observed that theology, in the Middle Age, was called the "queen of the sciences." Nowadays, in speaking of science, we usually mean the natural science, such as physics, botany, and chemistry.

Handicaps of Science Natural science was not featured in education in the Middle Age as it is today. It was taught only incidentally in the grammar schools and universities, in connection with geometry, astronomy, or medicine, not as a group of subjects of first importance; and there were no scientific institutions with special equipment for such study. Several things stood in the way of natural science: (1) The absorbing interest in theology and philosophy; (2) The deductive method - the habit scholars had in those days of drawing conclusions about nature from what they believed or from what they found in books instead of going out and studying nature directly; (3) Magic and superstition.

Magic and Superstition The ancient Greeks and Romans had believed in magic and signs - the flight of birds, the words of oracles, days lucky and unlucky - and the Germans, Celts, Slavs, and other "barbarians" were even more superstitious. After centuries, when all these peoples were Christian, they could not or would not rid themselves of those old fears and faiths. They were not worse than many others, before and since, in regard to such things, but nevertheless they were handicapped by them. Belief that a certain day was unlucky often delayed a good work. Faith in a charm or ceremony for the curing of disease stood in the way of discovering a real cure. As long as a doctor thought that swallowing a certain kind of worm, whole, especially while saying the Lord's Prayer, was a good remedy for blindness - what could be expected?

The Deductive Method Deductions may be valid - we make them continually - but, as we have observed, medieval scientists depended on the deductive method too much. They reasoned too much from books and from their beliefs, and tested things too little in nature. If a statement in a book, or a belief, was taken to be true, and was true, a logical deduction from it was true, but too many propositions were accepted without test. Authority was overvalued. For example, many scholars of the Middle Age believed that it was impossible for Aristotle to make a mistake, and that therefore, a conclusion based on a statement by Aristotle was bound to be correct. Such procedure was no doubt safe in many cases, but it was not scientific. Neither was it scientific to rely too much on what seemed reasonable. For example, it seemed reasonable to believe that an iron ball would faster than a wooden ball, and it was believed so until somebody was scientific enough to test it.

Fruitful Errors But sometimes errors led to unexpected benefits. For example, men for a long time believed in the "philosopher's stone" and the "elixir of life." The former was supposed to turn whatever it touched into gold; the latter was supposed to prevent death. Medieval scientists made numberless experiments trying to find the philosopher's stone, and trying to compound the elixir of life. They failed; yet they found many things they were not looking for and made some important discoveries they had not dreamed of.

Scientific Progress Despite much ignorance and prejudice, and despite many errors and absurdities, the Middle Age did witness considerable progress in natural science.

Debt to Greeks and Arabs Medieval scholars learned almost everything the Greeks and Romans knew about nature. They had the writings of Aristotle on natural history, and from contact with Moslems in Spain and with Greeks and Arabs in Sicily they acquired all the ancient lore about astronomy, mathematics, medicine, and geography. Much of this was erroneous, but some of it was sound.

Alchemy and Astrology Some studies, learned from the ancients, which was not scientific, were gradually made into sciences. Such were astrology and alchemy. Astrology, ancient study of the stars, became astronomy; and alchemy, which was the study of chemicals and metals, chiefly in search of the philosopher's stone and the elixir of life, was developed into the science of chemistry. We perhaps should perhaps not say that astronomy and chemistry were put fully on scientific bases within the Middle Age, but much progress was made in that direction.

Surgery and Physics In some fields of science medieval scholars made important contributions - they added to the knowledge of previous ages. This was the case in medicine and surgery. It was also the case in certain branches of physics, notable dynamics and optics. Moreover, the knowledge of geography was considerably extended during the Middle Age.

Scientific Method In respect to the goal of science and real scientific method, certain medieval scholars presented ideas that were indeed revolutionary. They asserted that scientific students should observe nature, not merely follow books, and that science should be used for the practical purposes of human welfare. Adelard of Bath, an Englishman who lived early in the 12th century and traveled extensively in Spain, Italy, North Africa, and Asia Minor, set forth such views in his famous book, "Questions about Nature." He also translated Euclid's Geometry into Latin. Roger Bacon, another Englishman, who lived in the 13th century, declared that men should not follow Aristotle blindly, but should make experiments for themselves. Bacon was a Franciscan friar and a professor at Oxford and at Paris, and he had numerous disciples. Bacon was also something of a prophet. He said that in time, through applications of science, men would be able to fly, to ride in horseless carriages, and in ships without oars or sails, and to build bridges without supporting piers.

Science in the Universities Natural science became a subject of study in the universities. The University of Salerno grew up around the study of medicine, and other universities established schools of medicine. Astronomy was taught in every university school of liberal arts; likewise mathematics and physics. Roger Bacon did his scientific work in connection with the universities of Oxford and Paris.

Inventions In the field of applied science there were many new inventions and discoveries during the Middle Age. Algebra was taken over from the Arabs and applied usefully. With it came the so-called Arabic numerals, with which we are now so familiar. In architecture and building notable things were done. The beautiful Gothic style of architecture was invented. There were also such highly useful inventions as chimney flues, lead plumbing, glass windows, pipe-organs, and mechanical locks. New dyes were discovered. Cotton paper was first used. The mariner's compass with magnetic needle was devised and employed. Gunpowder was also a medieval discovery in Europe. By 1350 factories for making gunpowder were in existence in at least three German towns.

ART

Perhaps the richest flowering of medieval civilization was in the realm of art - in the making of beautiful things.

Christian Art Medieval art was, of course, mainly Christian art. The art of the early Christians had been chiefly an adaptation of the art of the pagan Greeks and Romans, but the art of the medieval Christians was largely original and distinctive. Already we have mentioned one important kind of medieval art - the medieval literary productions in Latin and in the vernacular languages. Some of those writings rank among the world's masterpieces. Medieval art also found wonderful expression in architecture, sculpture, painting, music, embroidery, tapestry, and various other forms.

Church Architecture The most impressive medieval achievements were in the art of building. New and beautiful types of buildings were created, chiefly in the construction of churches. In every diocese a cathedral was built for the bishop; every community of monks built a monastic church or abbey; and many a priest built a parish church which vied with abbeys and cathedrals in size and beauty. In erecting these buildings, the clergy were backed zealously by the people of the diocese, town, or parish. Rich men gave money, poor men gave labor, skilled architects drew plans; princes, craft gilds, and town councils worked together, with care and love for the splendid thing they were producing. Often one generation followed another before one of these great structures was completed. These churches were the outstanding and monumental expression of that age of Christian faith.

Romanesque Style Mainly, two types of architecture were employed in medieval churches, the Romanesque and the Gothic. The Romanesque was so called because it was a development of ancient Roman architecture, just as languages developed from the Roman (Latin) were called "Romance." The Romanesque grew up in Italy and spread in the 11th and 12th centuries to Germany, Normandy, and England. It was not merely an imitation; it was largely creative and new. The Romanesque church was usually in the form of a cross, with a long nave, short transepts, and a semicircular apse. The ceilings and doorways and small windows were crowned by round arches. Perhaps the most noteworthy example of Romanesque architecture is the cathedral at Pisa, with its famous leaning tower.

Gothic Style The Gothic type of church architecture originated in France in the 12th century, and was soon imitated throughout western Europe. The Gothic kept and emphasized the cruciform floor-plan, but differed from the Romanesque in other features. In place of round arches, the Gothic introduced pointed arches. It used pointed and ridged roofs instead of domes. A novel feature of the Gothic style was the "flying buttress." It was a heavy stone prop, half of a pointed arch, placed outside to strengthen the walls. By means of flying buttresses the walls could be made higher and thinner, and windows larger. Thanks to the pointed arch and the flying buttress, Gothic churches had height and grace, as well as massiveness and strength. Among the numerous exquisite examples of medieval Gothic architecture may be mentioned the cathedrals of Amiens, Chartres, Paris, and Rheims, of Milan, Toledo, Cologne, and York, the Sainte-Chapelle of Louis IX in Pairs, and Westminster Abbey in London.

Church Interiors The medieval churches, especially the Gothic, were richly ornamented with sculpture and painting, with tapestry and carved woodwork and stained-glass windows, all intended to instruct the people and inspire them with religious zeal and gratitude. In the daily service, the rich altars were all aglow with candles, shining amid flowers, crucifixes, and vessels of silver and gold. Over the main entrance was an immense circular window (rose window) beautiful with tracery and design in stained glass. Below the windows hung religious paintings, banners, and tapestries. The interior of the church was itself a prayer, and the exterior, with its pointed arches and lofty spires, was an invitation to prayer.

Other Uses of Gothic The Gothic style of building developed in and for churches, but it was used during the Middle Age for other structures - private residences, gild-houses, feudal castles, and royal palaces. These buildings also were often decorated with sculpture, painting, and tapestry.

Sculpture and Painting Medieval sculpture was sometimes crude and sometimes very fine. Some of it was intentionally humorous, and much of it was intended to teach religious lessons. Painting reached its highest medieval development in the work of Giotto (1266-1337, an Italian, a contemporary with Dante. Giotto's paintings are famous for their simplicity, for their light and clear coloring, and for the spiritual expression of its figures. His greatest paintings, that have been preserved, are his scenes from the life of Francis of Assisi. The Middle Age produced many other kinds of art - "illuminated" manuscripts, splendid vestments for the clergy, gay and beautiful clothing for lords and ladies, and exquisite furniture.

Music Music was advanced by the Church as well as by the troubadours. Guido, a Benedictine monk of the 11th century, started our system of musical notation, and for the first six notes of the scale he employed the first syllables of six lines of a Christian hymn in praise of John the Baptist - ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la. Pipe organs, similar to those of the ancient Greeks and Romans, were built and installed in medieval churches. The lute was improved upon by the troubadours, and a special system of musical notation was invented for it. Much of the plain-song of the Catholic and Episcopal churches of today, and many of our folksongs, are medieval in origin or form.

Summary When we take into account all the contributions of the Middle Age to our modern world - music, architecture, literature, law, medicine, as well as ideas and practices of government and diplomacy - we must conclude that many of the foundations of present-day civilization in Europe and America were laid in the era from the 11th to the 14th century.

Compiled by Marko Marelich
Retired Mechanical Engineer
San Francisco, California USA
Decembrer, 2005