Chapter 9 Section 4 Notes

Section 4 Notes

The sons of wealthy townspeople got educated in order to attain jobs in the Church or royal governments

The first 4 universities in Europe were in Salerno, Bologna, Paris, and London (Oxford University)

A typical day for students:

5 a.m.---Wake up and prayers

Classes till 10a.m. then first meal of the day (beef and soup mixed with oatmeal)

Afternoon classes till 5p.m. then light supper

Study till bedtime

Would any of you want this schedule???

Typical University class:

Classes were held in rented rooms or choir lofts

Students sat for hours on hard benches listening to lectures (expected to memorize what they heard)

7 areas of courses---arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, music, grammar, rhetoric, logic

Oral exam to show mastery

During the Medieval time period, it took a student anywhere from 3-6 years to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree…is this any different from today’s time frame???

Women were greatly affected by not being able to attend the universities---they could not become doctors, lawyers, administrators, church officials, or professors

One woman who was an exception was Christine de Pizan---excellent writer who promoted women’s rights

The translation of Greek works from Arabic into Latin set off a revolution in the world of learning

Christian scholars became known as scholastics and created Scholasticism

Scholasticism---used reason to support Christian beliefs

Thomas Aquinas---scholastic author who wrote Summa Theologica

Aquinas brought Christian faith and Greek philosophy together because he believed that faith and reason existed in harmony and that both led to the same truth that God ruled over an orderly universe

During the Middle Ages, science made little progress because most scholars believed that all true knowledge must fit with Church teachings

Vernacular---everyday language of ordinary people

Think about our vernacular here in the Coal Region (we basically speak our own language!!!)

Coal Speak

Scholars and the Church used Latin in writing documents…however now written works began to appear in vernacular which enabled more people to read epics

Epics---long, narrative poems

Two very famous epics of this time period---”Song of Roland” and “Poem of the Cid”

“Song of Roland”---praises the courage of one of Charlemagne’s knights who died fighting the Muslims in Spain (sacrifices his life out of a sense of honor)

“Poem of the Cid”---Christian lord who battles Muslims in Spain

Dante Alighieri---famed Italian poet who wrote the Divine Comedies

Most famous part is Inferno

“Abandon all hope, ye that enter here”

As he approaches hell, Dante talks with people from history who tell how they earned a place in hell

Key Idea---people’s actions in life will determine their fate in the afterlife

Geoffrey Chaucer---author of the Canterbury Tales

Follows a band of English pilgrims traveling to Thomas Becket’s tomb

Knight, plowman, merchant, miller, monk, nun, and the five-times-widowed “wife of Bath”

Each character tells a story---funny, romantic, bawdy

Towering stone cathedrals served as symbols of wealth and religious devotion

Romanesque churches often looked like fortresses with thick walls and towers

Because of the immense weight of the roof of these churches, architects feared putting in windows that would weaken the walls so the insides of these Romanesque churches were dark and gloomy

Eventually, a new type of architecture emerged: Gothic

Gothic-style churches had “flying buttresses” that supported the roofs and allowed builders to construct higher walls and leave space for huge stained-glass windows

Prime example---Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris

Stained-glass windows served two purposes: they helped light up a church and they helped to educate people

Educated people by having pictures depicting the life of Jesus, a biblical event, or other religious themes

Helped people understand because most were illiterate

In the 1300s and 1400s, the Gothic style was applied to paintings and illumination

Illumination---artistic decoration of books

This work was usually done by monks, nuns, and other skilled artisans