The High Middle Ages - Corsicana ISD / Homepage · 2016-03-02 · the High Middle Ages A. Background 1. religious enthusiasm 2. burst of cultural activities 3. revival of classical

The High Middle

Ages

1000-1200

I. Background

A. Social Order

1. Transformation from

Early Middle Ages

a. Resurgence of

cities—

independent

political authorities

b. Agricultural

improvements—

windmills, horse

collar, mills

c. Population growth

d. Revival of trade—

return of Crusaders

2. Middle Class

a. Commercial class

b. Supported

monarchies that

supported them

c. Created centralized,

stabilized

administration

d. Began a

rudimentary

democracy

3. Feudal Monarchs &

Monarchies

a. Economic activity

resulting in need

for bureaucracy

b. England

1) William the

Conqueror

(1066-87)—

greater

centralized

government

2) Henry I & Henry

II—common

law, royal

council,

exchequer

(treasury)

c. France

1) Phillip Augustus (1180-1223)—strengthened legal system, tripled the size of France by taking back territories

2) Louis IX

(1215-

70)—

example

of

Medieval

Christian

virtue

4. Chivalry

a. Rigid class

system

b. Rule of clergy

c. Labor of serfs

d. Shift from

masculine

feudalism to

feminine ethics in

personal conduct

resulting from

power of women in

absence of men

e. Eleanor of

Aquitaine (1122-

1204)—codes of

etiquette, “courts

of love,” a

glossing over of

illicit love affairs

f. Service to women

which resulted in

loss of power

5. The Christian Church

a. Extreme power by

middle of 11th

century

b. Beginning of reform

movement to

address corruption

1) treatment of

bishoprics as

family property

2) marriage of

priests

3) “Investiture

conflict”—kings

appointing

senior clergy

6. St. Bernard of

Clairvaux (1090-1153)

and mysticism

a. Fanatic leader of Cult of Mary Magdalene

b. Four states of love toward union with God

c. Humanization of saints

d. Leader in growth of

Cistercian order

7. The Crusades

a. Reasons

1) safety of pilgrims traveling to Turk liberated holy lands

2) removal of troublesome nobles

b. First Crusade

1) call at Council of

Clermont (1095)

2) response of

thousands of

men, women, &

children

3) religious

enthusiasm

4) capture of

Jerusalem

through a

massacre

5) route through

Hungary,

Greece,

Constantinople,

Syria, Nicea,

Asia Minor,

Edessa, and

Antioch

6) resulting in a weak, indefensible control

c. Second Crusade—beginning in1147

1) quick defeat of European forces

2) loss of

enthusiasm for

quest

3) Muslim

conquest of

Jerusalem

under Saladin

Oct. 3, 1187

ending 83 year

Christian rule

d. Third Crusade

1) arranged by

Henry II,

Richard, Phillip

Augustus of

France, and

Frederick

Barbarossa of

Germany

2) beset with

disasters

3) major

accomplishment

was capture of

Acre after 2 year

siege

4) truce with

Saladin

arranged by

Richard to allow

pilgrims to visit

safely

II. Philosophy and Theology of

the High Middle Ages

A. Background

1. religious enthusiasm

2. burst of cultural

activities

3. revival of classical

studies

4. new “humanist”

element of devotion &

philosophy

5. new freedoms &

comforts

6. better recognition of

reason & revelation,

human & divine,

kingdom of heaven &

kingdom of Earth

B. Rise of universities

1. 12th century university

charters

a. Oxford

b. Salamanca in Spain

c. Bologna

2. unlike university today

a. No buildings or

classrooms

b. Instead guilds of

scholars &

teachers who

gathered where

they could

c. Created trained

curious minds

d. Rediscovery of

classical texts,

especially Aristotle

which had been

brought west with

the Muslims

e. Mathematical &

scientific material

from Muslims

f. Legal studies

g. Demand for cultural

& intellectual class

to build new

medieval society

C. Scholars

1. Abelard and Realism

a. Universals comprise the “Form of the Universe”

1. patterns in individual things

2. called a “moderate realist,” or a “conceptualist”

b. Religious views adopted by Thomas Aquinas and form part of Roman Catholic dogma

c. Believed that

philosophy should

define Christian

doctrine to make it

intelligible

d. Philosophers

should be able to

criticize theology

and reject beliefs

contrary to reason

e. Christian views

1) one way of life

among others

2) respect for

Socrates &

Plato

3) essence of

Christianity in

Christ’s life

4) Acts are good or

evil only as they

are intended

5) natural law of morality in every human conscience and founded by God

6) All acts which go against conscience are sinful

2. St. Thomas Aquinas

(1227-74) and

Aristotelianism

a. Student of Albertus

Magnus

b. Member of new

Dominican order of

preachers in youth

c. Sought to

reinterpret the

Christian system in

light of newly

discovered &

highly

controversial

Aristotle

d. Devout and

orthodox

e. Philosophy—open

to debate based on

reason

f. Theology—

restricted to

“content of faith”

and “revealed

truth” which is

beyond reason

g. Believed that

Aristotle had

inadvertently

proven the

existence of God

through his study

of the natural world

3. St. Francis of Assisi (1181(2)-1226)

a. Son of a cloth merchant

b. Learned Latin as a child

c. Soldier taken prisoner for one year in local war

d. Released because

of severe illness

e. Vision after

recovery

1) a new

knighthood

2) renunciation of

material goods

and family

3) life of poverty

f. Lay preacher with

disciples

g. Mission based on

Christ’s

commandment,

“Take no gold, nor

silver, nor money in

your belts, no bag

for your journey”

(Matthew 10:9-11)

h. April 16, 1209 Franciscan order sanctioned by Pope Innocent III

i. Vision of Christ in summer of 1224 which left stigmata—actual markings of crucifixion

j. Attempted to hide

his marks for the

remainder of his

life

k. Lived two more

years blind and in

constant pain

l. Canonized July 15,

1228

St.

Francis

of

Assisi

St.

Thomas

Aquinas

Abelard

III. Literature

A. Courtly romances

1. Long narratives of knights and ladies

2. Named mistakenly at later time because of supposed imitation of Roman literature

3. Chivalric and

sentimental

4. Legends of Troy

5. Celtic legends

6. King Arthur

a. First treatment from

Chrestien de

Troyes (1148-1190)

1) comparison of

Lancelot with

Christ which

borders on

sacrilege

2) troubling moral

neutrality of

adultery

b. Malory’s response

which bases fall of

Camelot on

adultery

B. Dante and the Divine Comedy

1. Dante Alighieri (1265-1331)—greatest poet of this age

a. Florentine aristocrat

b. Educated in classical & Christian works

c. Suffered political

exile when friends

lost power

d. Composed Comedy

while poverty

stricken

2. Divine Comedy

a. Allegorical

description of

heaven, hell, &

purgatory

b. Begins on Good

Friday 1300

c. Include Vergil as a

guide representing

reason & classical

culture in first two

parts

d. Shifts to Beatrice,

symbol of eternal

female,

spiritualized love,

divine revelation,

as guide in

Purgatory

e. Uses symbolic

numbers

f. Demonstrates

human need for

spiritual

illumination and

guidance

g. Represents

character of

Medieval society in

balancing

classicism &

Christianity

h. Elevated Italian to

level of Latin

IV. Gothic Style in Cathedral

Architecture

A. Inspiration

1. Civic pride

2. Spirituality

3. Symbol of dominance of Church

4. Extension of philosophy

B. Characteristics

1. upward-striving lines—suggestive of man’s attempt to escape Earth & enter kingdom of heaven

2. pointed arch—engineering development

a. To redistribute

tremendous weight

b. To increase sense

of height

3. larger clerestory

windows—to create

ethereal, mystic sense

4. more slender ribbing—

emphasizing space

rather than mass

5. flying buttresses—to

bear weight on the

outside and allow

greater empty height

inside

6. stained glass

windows—of utmost

importance in Gothic

cathedral; emphasizing

mystery

C. Examples

1. Suger and the Abbey Church of Saint-Denis

a. Suger

1) humble beginnings

2) entered abbey at 10

3) intense student

4) abbot (1122-

1151)

5) immersed in

controversy

with Peter

Abelard

b. Abbey Church of

Saint-Denis

1) background

a) shrine of the

apostle of

France

b) burial place of Pepin and Charles Martel

c) consecration site of Charlemagne and his father Pepin

d) chief memorial to Carolingian dynasty

2) Suger’sconstruction

a) intended as a spiritual center

b) trans-

formation of

Heavy

Romanesque

to lightness

of

architectural

form

c) windows

which

appear as

translucent

walls

d) open, clean

interior

space

e) luminosity

f) perfect

harmony

through

mathematical

proportion

g) reliance on

finest

craftsmen

from

throughout

Europe

h) no limit on

spending

i) dominant

theme of

Last Supper

3) representative

of age

a) old elements

emerging

into new

b) enclosure

breaking

forth into

space and

light

Flying

buttresses

Stained Glass

of Saint-Denis

2. Notre Dame

a. Highly symbolic

mathematical

design

b. Effect of drawing

eye inward &

slowly upward

3. Chartres

a. Built in stages from

Romanesque

period

b. Differing spires

because of fire

c. Stained glass

(Gothic) replacing

wall paintings

(Romanesque)

4. Amiens

a. Late Gothic

developments

b. Greater detail

focusing on space

rather than flat stone

5. Salisbury Cathedral

a. Tremendous space

1) almost caused

collapse of

cathedral

2) 55 years for

completion

3) additional 404

feet

4) highest in

England; 2nd

highest in

Europe

5) support added

in later ornate

period

b. Interior completed

at one time &

designed by one

architect

c. Reminiscent of

Romanesque

V. High Gothic Sculpture

A. Attitude

1. serene

2. idealistic

3. naturalistic

4. appreciative of life

5. benevolent rather than damning

6. symmetrical

7. figures less entrapped in material

8. secular in some cases

9. later work-emotional

B. Characteristics

1. human figure seen beneath fabric

2. figures with little connection to

structure

3. more life-like proportions

4. figures in subtle S –curves

5. subject was didactic (designed to

teach)

6. probably designed with

religious mathematical

symbolism as basis

VI. High Gothic Painting

A. Return of fresco painting

B. Continuation of manuscript

illumination

C. Characteristics

1. beginnings of three-dimensionality

2. mobility and life in figures

3. emphasis on “Gothic” space

4. spirituality

5. lyricism

6. new humanism

7. less crowded, frantic, tangled style

8. rich colors

9. dominated by Italian style

VII.Music

A. Center in Paris (12th & 13th centuries)

B. Style

1. more formal

2. increased textual complexity

C. Characteristics

1. shift from improvisational to

written, structures

“compositions”

2. shift in role to performer to

“reader”

3. establishments of rhythm,

harmony

4. replacement of monophony

with polyphony

5. Ars Antiqua/Ars Nova—rational

as opposed to emotional

D. Musical forms

1. organum—church music of multi-

lined melodies and voices

2. ballads and rondeaux—secular

music in vernacular; dancelike in

triple meter

3. motet

a. Most important new form

b. Church and secular

c. Plainsong melody in long held

notes in lower voice

d. More elaborate upper parts

(often singing nonreligious

words over the plainsong)

VIII. Theatre

A. Forms of church drama

1. trope

a. Earliest

b. Illustration of Mass

2. later forms

a. Mystery plays—Bible stories

b. Miracle plays—Lives of Saints

c. Morality plays—Didactic

allegories

B. Production

1. In churches

2. In town squares

3. In cycle form (about town)

4. actors

a. At first priests

b. Later laymen and boys

c. Occasionally women

5. stages

a. Mansion stage—decorated

stationary stage

b. Stages equipped with hell’s

mouth including devils,

smoke and monsters which

later years were comic

c. Pageant wagons

1) designed so that

audiences did not need

to move

2) like modern floats

3) some two stories tall

4) individual wagons for

individual sets

THE

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