The Medieval European Synthesis

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The Medieval European Synthesis
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Fusion of the Early Middle Ages5th-11th centuries

• Fall of Rome
• Celtic Influences
• Norse-Germanic Influences
• Spread of Christianity throughout Europe
• Islamic Influences
• Feudalism
• Empires and Kingdoms

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The Celts

• Called Galatai or Keltoi by Greeks, Galli
  (Gauls) by Romans
• Omnia Galli tres partes divisus est Julius
  Caesar
• Migrated throughout Europe from 1st millenium
  bce-1st c. bce
• Fierce warriors
• went naked, painted blue, into battle
• known for wild challenges Furor battle fury
• used war chariots, javelins and lancia battle
  lances
• head-hunters
• believed in re-incarnation

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Celtic Migrations
Hallstatt
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Celtic Influences

• Decorative
• Animal motifs
• Arabesques
• Religious
• Scholarship
• Monasticism
• Literary
• Epics and folklore
• Sovranty Love-Political Triangle
• King-Queen-Suitor/Challenger
• Arthur-Guinevere-Lancelot

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Gundestrup Cauldron1st c. bcesilver overlaid
with gold
Cernunnos God of the Beasts
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Celtic Christianity

• Christianity was introduced into the British
  Isles in late 1st century or early 2nd c. with
  Roman soldiers
• Cultic religion existing alongside other cults
  both indigenous and brought in by the Romans,
  such as the cult of Mithras.
• The new faith rapidly gained adherents

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St. Patrick (389?-461?)

• Apostle of Ireland, Christian prelate.
• Born in Scotland -- kidnapped at 16 by Irish
  pirates and sold in Ireland as a slave. He passed
  his captivity as a herdsman
• Saw visions in which he was urged to escape, and
  after six years of slavery he did so,
• Ordained as a deacon, then priest and finally as
  a bishop.
• Pope Celestine then sent him back to Ireland to
  preach the gospel.

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Syncretism St. Bridgit

• Patrick carried Christianity to the Irish by
  transforming their sacred groves, wells, and
  mounds into centers of worship for the new faith.
  
• He also adopted the ancient Celtic deities into
  the new faith, demoting them to saints
• Brigit,the goddess of healing and fertility
  became St. Bridgit in the new faith.

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The Irish Church

• Elements of Eastern Christianity
• emphasis on monasticism
• organizational structure of abbots and
  monasteries versus bishops and parish churches
• ascetic holiness and pilgrimage
• The abbeys' and monasteries' success in
  teaching
• Generations of scholars who not only copied
  Christian material but also transcribed the myths
  of the Ulster and Finian cycles, the Brehon laws,
  and other Celtic documents
• Survival of Christianity in the British Isles
  despite conquest by the pagan Angles and Saxons.
• Sent missionaries to England and scholars to
  courts, such as Charlemagnes, throughout Europe

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The Book of Kells
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Fall of Rome Rise of Germanic Tribes

• 330 Constantine moved the capitol of the Roman
  Empire to Constantinople
• 402 Honorius moved capitol of the Western
  Empire from Rome to Ravenna
• 410 Visigoths sacked Rome
• 455 Vandals sacked Rome and took control of N.
  Africa and Spain
• 5th c. Waves of Angles, Saxons and Jutes
  invaded Britain and Burgundians controlled much
  of France
• 476 Goths seized Rome Odoacer became Emperor

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VölkerwanderrungGermanic Migrations
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Germanic Comitatus or Kinship Groups

• König, eorlas und thanes kings, nobles and
  warriors
• Mutual loyalty -- warriors fight for king, king
  is generous to warriors
• Originally a socially egalitarian setup, during
  the third and fourth centuries AD, became
  socially stratified
• Basis for feudal loyalty
• Ideal and philosophy expressed in oral epics
  like Beowulf and The Song of Roland

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Charlemagne 768-814

• Otherwise known as Charles the Great, or Charles
  the First
• Eldest son born of Pepin the Short and his wife
  Bertrada
• Possessed many qualities of greatness imposing
  physical stature, warrior prowess, piety,
  generosity, intelligence, devotion to family and
  friends, and joy for life.
• A hero in his own time who became a legendary
  figure

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CHARLEMAGNE

• Expanded the Frankish empire by fighting more
  than 50 campaigns defeated the Lombards Moors
  Saxons, Slavs Danes Avars in Bavaria, etc.
• By 805 the Frankish kingdom included all of
  continental Europe except Spain, Scandinavia,
  southern Italy, and Slavic fringes in the East
• Established marches (strongly fortified areas)
  mainly to check the Muslims in Northern Spain
  --deliberately persecuted non-Christians
• 800 Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne as Holy
  Roman Emperor, Charlemagne's motto becomes
  Renavatio romani imperi (Revival of the Roman
  Empire)

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Charlemagnes Empire
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CAROLINGIAN RENAISSANCE

• Charlemagne was a strong supporter of education
• Assembled scholars and learned men at court in
  Aachen
• Most noted was Alcuin (c. 735-804) who was
  Charlemagne's chief advisor on religious and
  educational matters prepared official documents
  and exempla
• The scholars copied books and built up libraries
  used "Carolingian minuscule" saved the thoughts
  and writings of the ancients
• Worked on educating priests
• Limited illiteracy
• Preserved Latin culture
  in West

Carolingian MS.
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Aachen Cathedralearly Romanesque
architectureca. 792-805
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Illuminated Manuscripts

• . The word illuminated' comes from a usage of
  the Latin word illuminare -- adorn'.
• The decorations are of three main types
• miniatures or small pictures, into the text or
  occupying the whole page or part of the border
• initial letters either containing scenes
  (historiated initials) or with elaborate
  decoration
• Books written by hand, decorated with paintings
• borders, which may consist of miniatures,
  occasionally illustrative, or more often are
  composed of decorative motifs.

Sacramentary--Use of Saint-Denis,9thc.
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Coronation Ordinal of 1250 Paris

• The oldest known iconographic cycle showing the
  coronation of a French king in the cathedral of
  Rheims, virtually as it would be staged until
  1825.
• The archbishop of Rheims, assisted by the abbots
  of Saint-Remi of Rheims and of Saint-Denis,
  officiated in the presence of the peers of the
  realm.

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Viking Conquests
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• I've been with sword and,spearslippery with
  bright bloodwhere kites wheeled. And how wellwe
  violent Vikings clashed!Redflames ate up men's
  roofs,raging we killed and killedand skewered
  bodies sprawledsleepy in town gateways.

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Viking Runes
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Viking Art
Scene taken from the stone Smiss I, found in
Stenkyrka parish. Dated 700-800 AD.
8th c. Bronze keys
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Sigurd the Dragon-Slayer12th c. door carvings
Sigurd slays the dragon Fafnir and grills and
eats his heart
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The Normans

• Vikings, or Norsemen, who settled in northern
  France (or the Frankish kingdom), together with
  their descendants
• A Viking named Rollo emerged as the leader among
  the new settlers.
• 911 the Frankish king Charles III the Simple
  ceded Rollo the land around the mouth of the
  Seine and what is now the city of Rouen
• The Normans founded the duchy of Normandy and
  sent out expeditions of conquest and colonization
  to southern Italy and Sicily and to England,
  Wales, Scotland, and Ireland.

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Feudalism

• Social system of rights and duties based on land
  tenure and personal relationships
• land is held in fief by vassals who owe military
  services to
• lords to whom they are bound by personal loyalty.
  
• Feudalism is a form of civilization that
  flourishes especially in a closed agricultural
  economy
• Those who fulfill official duties, whether civil
  or military, do so because of personal and freely
  accepted links with their overlord not because
  of patriotism
• Public authority becomes fragmented and
  decentralized.

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Social Classes
SECULAR KING NOBLES KNIGHTS MERCHANTSPROFESSI
ONALSCRAFTSMEN PEASANTS freemen serfs
ECCLESIASTICAL POPE CARDINALS BISHOPS
ABBOTS PRIESTS MONKS SUMMONERS
FRIARS PARDONERS NUNS PEASANTS lay brothers
and sisters serfs
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Norman Conquest

• 1066 Contest for the English crown
• Harold, Earl of Wessex Anglo-Saxon claimant
• Harald Hardrada of Norway
• William Duke of Normandy
• Battle of Stamford Bridge Harold defeated
  Hardrada's army which invaded using over 300
  ships so many were killed that only 25 ships
  were needed to transport the survivors home.
• Battle of Hastings William led Norman forces
  against the English. Harold Killed in battle
  William seized the throne
• William the Conqueror

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Norman Castles
Tower of London
Motte and Bailey Castle
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Crusades 1095-15th c.

• Holy Wars"-- against various enemies of the
  Church
• Initially non-Christians Moslems and pagans
• At first the object of the Crusades was to
  recover the Holy Places (in what are now Israel
  and Jordan) from the Moslems, who had seized them
  in the 7th Century.
• Later Crusades were preached against Christian
  heretics, and even against orthodox Christians
  who happened to have political disputes with the
  current pope.

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Crusade Period
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Chivalry

• Chivalry was a peculiarity of the practice of
  war in medieval Europe.
• The feudal knight was supposed to be devout,
  honest, selfless, just, brave, honorable,
  obedient, kind, charitable, generous, and kind to
  women.
• complex rituals and rules

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European Universities

• Evolved from medieval schools known as studia
  generalia
• Places of study open to students throughout
  Europe.
• Efforts to educate clerks and monks beyond the
  level of the cathedral and monastic schools.
• Earliest Western universities
• Salerno, Italy-- 9th c. -- famous medical school
  that drew students from all over Europe
• Bologna, Italy-- 11thc. --a widely respected
  school of canon and civil law
• University of Paris --mid 12th c.-- noted for
  its teaching of theology and as a model for other
  universities in N. Europe
• Oxford University in England--end of the 12th
  century.

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Course of Study

• Core curriculum based on the seven liberal arts
• Trivium grammar, logic, rhetoric,
• Quadrivium geometry, arithmetic, astronomy, and
  music.
• Students then proceeded to study under one of the
  professional faculties of medicine, law, and
  theology.
• Final examinations were grueling, and many
  students failed.

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Christian Mysticism

• Visionary literature
• Visions
• Dreams
• Reflection of an individuals intuitive and
  direct knowledge of God autobiographical
• Subject to review and confirmation by Church
  authorities
• Those who did not adhere to Church doctrine were
  considered heretics and often prosecuted.

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Discipline of Christian Mysticism

• Mystics typically received visions or knowledge
  of God by practicing
• Prayer oral praying, meditation, contemplation
• Self denial asceticism, fasting, etc.
• Charity almsgiving, service to others
• Visions often came in times of personal crisis or
  illness

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Major Medieval Christian Mystics

• St. Symeon the New Theologian (9491022)
• Saint Anselm (10331109)
• Hugh of Saint Victor (10961141)
• Richard of St. Victor (? 1173)
• Hildegard of Bingen (10981179)
• St. Francis of Assisi (11811226)
• St. Clare of Assisi (11941253)
• St. Anthony of Padua (11951231)
• Beatrice of Nazareth (1200-1268)
• Mechthild of Magdeburg (12101279)
• St. Bonaventure of Bagnoregio (12211274)
• Angela of Foligno (12481309)

• Gertrude the Great (12561301)
• Marguerite Porete (?1310)
• Meister Eckhart (c. 12601327/8)
• John of Ruysbroeck (12931381)
• St. Gregory Palamas (12961359)
• Johannes Tauler (13001361)
• Henry Suso (13001366)
• St. Bridget of Sweden (13021373)
• St. Julian of Norwich (1342c.1416)
• St. Catherine of Sienna (13471380)
• William Langland (?1385/6)
• Margery Kempe (c.13731438)
• Thomas à Kempis (13801471)
• St. Ignatius of Loyola (14911556)