Ch. 4 Sec. 2 Medieval Culture
Flowering of Medieval Culture due to:
• Expansion of trade
and commerce
• Rise of wealthy
class/bourgeoisie
• Importance of
education and the arts
Importance of Religion
• Cathedrals built to glorify god, art and the
people
• Took years to complete
• Expensive to build
• Dominated the skyline and life in towns and
cities
Architectural Types:
• Romanesque
– Early 1000’s
– Influenced by Roman
architecture
– Rounded arches and
domed roof
– Outside walls thick
– Small windows
• Gothic
– 1050 - 1300
– Tall, light, airy
– Flying butress support
weight of the roof
– Walls thin, higher and
windowed
– Tall arches
Romanesque
Gothic
Literature:
• Vernacular
– Languages of the regions developed
• British, German, Scandinavia based on German
• France, Italian, Spain strongly influenced by Latin
• Troubadours spread the use of vernacular languages
– Chanson de geste or a long narrative poem ‘Song of
Roland’
• Fables: humorous poems mocking nobles
• Dante ‘Divine Comedy’ (Dante and Virgil
talk to great historical figures such as
Homer about Hell, Purgatory and Heaven)
written in Italian vernacular so it could be
read by many
• G. Chaucer ‘Canterbury Tales’, talks about
lives of ordinary people!
Centers of Learning:
• Churches, monastaries, Cathedrals
• Towns attracted scholars
– Universities: group of scholars and students
– Eventually came under the control of the
church
– Had to obtain official charters
– Often officials were members of the church
• Student interests
protected
• Excluded women
• Trained for positions
in the church and
universities
• Few comforts, cold,
few manuscripts
Revival of Classical Knowledge
• Roman Law
• Aristotle’s system of knowledge relied on
‘reason’. This conflicted with the teachings of the
church which were based on faith.
• ‘Scholasticism’ – used reason and logic to support
Christian beliefs.
– Thomas Aquinas - ability to reason was a gift of God ;
if differences exist its caused by mistaken reasoning.
Science and Technology
• Church was the authority, no scientific
reasoning
• Arabic numerals, lead to new mathematics
• Plow windmill, clock flying butress, glass
• Roger Bacon: noted importance of
experiments
Medieval Medicine
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•
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Relied on folk medicine
Traditional remedies
Superstition
Christian beliefs
Evil spirits
pilgrimages