B. The Mendicants, cont.
3) The Medieval Renaissance—the Cathedrals
 By the 1200s, Europe was experiencing another cultural renaissance, which was the
main reason historians call AD 1100-1300 the “High Middle Ages”.
 In architecture, the great gothic cathedrals with its stained glass and sculptures united
communities and guild-crafts in building a “grand house for God”. Everyone—
stonemasons, carpenters, glassworkers, artists—contributed.
 In the growing cities of the High Middle Ages, then, these cathedrals were the center for
religious administration; hence, the bishops would reside in the cathedrals as well as his
group of priests, scholars, and administrators known as the cathedral chapter.
 The trade with the East that resulted from the Crusades brought with it more than silk
and spices. It also brought manuscripts that were previously unknown to the monastic
scriptorium.
 Arab scholars like Avicenna and Averoes had previously translated and commented on
the works of major Greek philosophers—Socrates, Plato, and especially Aristotle—which
were virtually lost in the Barbarian and Viking invasions.
 These texts, however, were now being brought back to Western Europe from the
Middle East, Persia, and Islamic Spain.
 These three elements—the growth of cities, the rise of the cathedrals, and the
reintroduction of the Greek philosophers—led to the development of another essential
institution of the High Middle Ages: the University.
4) Establishment of the Universities
 Most of these priceless Arab texts came in through port cities that were centers of
trade.
 Some managed to get to Benedictine monasteries and their scriptoria for studying and
copying, but most remained in cathedral chapters.
 Because these texts were more readily available in the cathedral chapters, and because
the monasteries were still centered in rural areas, schools developed around these
cathedrals. These would be known as the medieval universities
 These schools were organized like the medieval guild system; teachers earned a
master’s or a doctor’s license, and students received degrees to recognize the steps
they achieved in the learning process.
 University students studied what was known as the 7 Liberal Arts—logic, literature,
mathematics, medicine, law, theology, and philosophy.
 Classes were done by lectures from teachers, who would be paid a fee by each student,
but students only attended lectures they wanted. So, if a teacher had a good
reputation, he would get many students and their fees; a bad teacher was soon out of
work.
 Exams were oral, and usually took the form of providing reasons why the student
agreed or disagreed with a teacher.
 By the end of the 13th century, there were about a dozen universities in Europe, with the
most famous being Paris (philosophy & theology), Bologna (law & medicine), Salerno
(medicine), and Oxford (logic & literature).
 The papacy supported universities for two reasons: it provided and education to a
growing number of people, and it gave intellectual training for the Church’s clerics.
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One of the main types of clerics that took advantage of the universities were the
Mendicant Orders—the Dominicans to preach to heretics and the Franciscans to preach
to the urban communities. Many became famous and canonized saints.
Famous University Mendicants
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a) St. Albertus Magnus
A German, Albertus studied in the University of Padua and became a Dominican. He
gained his license, became a teacher in Cologne and Paris, and eventually became a
bishop.
With the Arabic manuscripts, he became an expert on natural sciences such as biology,
astronomy, physics, chemistry, and geography.
His main area of expertise was philosophy and theology, where he mastered the logic of
Aristotle.
Albertus’ main claim to fame, however, was as the friend and teacher of the Church’s
greatest theologian—St. Thomas Aquinas.
b) St. Thomas Aquinas
Born in Aquino near Naples, Thomas received elementary education at Monte Cassino
the original Benedictine monastery built by St. Benedict himself.
He became a Dominican and later studied in Paris under Albertus. He was also ordained
a priest and gained his license as a teacher in the university of Paris.
He was at first nicknamed the “Dumb Ox” because of his girth and taciturnity. His goal
became harmonizing faith and natural reason.
His fame as a teacher grew; when Pope Urban IV instituted the new feast of Corpus
Christi, it was Thomas who wrote the feast’s hymns such as Lauda Sion, Pange Lingua,
and Adoro Te.
Thomas turned down Urban IV’s offer to make Thomas the Archbishop of his hometown
Naples. Instead, he focused on writing treatises, in which he merged the philosophy of
Aristotle with the theology of the Bible and Church Fathers.
He wrote three of them at the same time: a Commentary on St. Matthew’s Gospel, the
Contra Errores Graecorum (debating the beliefs of the Byzantine Empire and the
Orthodox Church) and the Summa Contra Gentiles (debating the beliefs of Judaism and
Islam).
His greatest work was the Summa Theologiae, a summary and guide of Catholic
theology and philosophy.
Because of his works, the “Dumb Ox” is also known as the “Angelic Doctor”.
c) St. Bonaventura
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An Italian, Bonaventura became a Franciscan and studied at the University of Paris. He
too received his license and wound up a teacher in the same university.
He eventually became the Superior General of the entire Franciscan Order, and he
managed to heal a split which had developed among the Franciscans. He also became a
bishop and later a Cardinal.
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The focus of his work was to make theology a guide of spiritual life for ordinary
Christians.
While he respected Thomas Aquinas, Bonaventura felt that Thomas was merging
Aristotle too closely with the Bible, which led to some very heady debates between the
two.
Bonaventura’s last contribution was as a leader of the Council of Lyons, which
attempted to heal the Great Eastern Schism.
d) Roger Bacon
An English Franciscan, Roger studied in Paris and Oxford.
While he did study the writings of the Arab and Greek manuscripts, he realized that
their methods were more suited for philosophy and theology than for his area of
interest—math and physics.
He is credited as an early proponent of the “scientific method”; instead of deducing
from accepted premises, Roger preferred to arrive to scientific knowledge through
gathering evidence from experimentation.
His research on lenses and light refraction was later used in the development of
spectacles, and he discussed the concept of the possibility of airplanes.
Assignment [5 marks each]
1) Explain the Mendicants’ relationship with the cathedrals, the new manuscripts, and the
universities.
2) Think question—do you think the achievements of Albertus, Aquinas, Bonaventura, and
Bacon would have been possible in the rural Benedictine monasteries?
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