Reading_Notes_Chapter_9
Chapter 9: The Renaissance of the Twelfth Century
This is a brief but very important chapter for understanding the medieval world view. The
authors refer to the period (1050-1250) as a Renaissance, based upon a couple of classic books
on the subject, largely because it seems that some of the revivals of the Carolingian Renaissance
are taken to higher and more widely influential levels. These are reforms of education, religion,
and politics, of course. But the summary at the end of the chapter hits on a lot of the really
enduring changes: reemergence of autobiography, interiority, vernacular literature, romantic or
so-called courtly love, new theory of ethics, greater developments in science. But we also think
of the rise of Gothic art and architecture, of this period, the rise of the universities in Europe, and
the romance tales of King Arthur.
Changes in philosophy, p. 212-213: The authors quote Pope Sylvester II in the year 985 as an
expression of a renewed interest in logic and rhetoric as important tools or disciplines for the
busy person of state affairs with the implication that to get further into the knowledge of these
disciplines requires greater attention to Cicero and Aristotle.
Sylvester was also interested in developing the math disciplines of the quadrivium. In fact, he is
given credit for advancing the use of the abacus.
Philosophy of Universals, p. 213-214: The philosophy of universals is a strange bit of lore to
modern students, but it can get you very specifically into the medieval mindset and then back out
again. As I say, it seems odd to us, but the question is whether or not the genus or universal
category of a thing – chairness, tableness, dog in general versus your dog in particular – has an
independent existence. The Neoplatonists, like Porphyry, and Augustinians believed that God
was first, and the forms of existence next, and particular things last. Therefore, universals not
only have an existence but it’s a higher form that ours and is more real, hence Realism, because
it is closer to God.
The above position is sometimes called extreme realism or philosophical realism or Realism.
Understanding it can be helpful for explaining why the Middle Ages seem to fall into allegory so
much and numerology. The use of important biblical numbers like three, five, seven and images
takes on greater importance if you accept the fact that a universal thing (like a number) or shape
(like a triangle) is actually more real and a specific thing.
The adjustment to this theory using Aristotle is called moderate realism or conceptualism and the
notion there is that the universal is real but joined with the specific thing. So if universals are
forms that shape reality, they in-form the material thing; they are information – like DNA.
Finally, the philosophy of Nominalism holds that universals have no reality but are just tools to
help up think and talk about things.
Anselm’s ontological argument, p. 215: One of the great medieval philosophers is Anselm and
in the world of philosophy he is studies for quite a lot, but in the general world he is known for
the ontological argument for the existence of God. In fact, if you happen upon a chapter in a
book about arguments for the existence of God, Anselm’s will always be included. It’s a bit
more subtle and interesting that it appears on page 215. Here is a Princeton web site that opens
up the argument a little bit.
http://www.princeton.edu/~grosen/puc/phi203/ontological.html
There is also a long history of critiques and revisions of this argument which you may find
interesting.
Abelard, p. 216-219: I am skipping over Peter Abelard here for the sake of brevity, but he is a
very interesting figure, something of a young rebel, minor rock star as a philosophy teacher. Go
figure. His love affair with Eloise or Heloise is very interesting and the letters between the two
go some distance toward furthering the development of the concept of courtly, passionate
romantic love during this period.
Here is an image of them as red hot lovers:
Here is a more modern image:
This image is from a movie produced in 1988 called
Stealing Heaven about their love affair. I remember it as a bit on raunchy side, but pretty good
representation of the medieval university setting. (If any one finds a cheap copy, I will buy it
from you; I trying to start a collection of medieval subject movies.)
Abelard has a very important place in the development of philosophy. His famous sic et non
method, that we might translate as Yes and No or Pro and Con was very important influence on
everyone after him including Thomas Aquinas, the best philosopher of the period according to
many.
The Rebirth of Aristotle in the West, p. 219-220.
The really big news in philosophy was the reintroduction or injection of Aristotle. As you
recall, Boethius is famous in the early part of the period for translating some small portions of
Aristotle’s logic, but in the second half of the 12th century, nearly all of his writing were
translated into Latin. A lot of these came from Arabic holdings in Spain. (As an aside, the
Arabic or Islamic influence in Spain was very fruitful on many cultural levels. The Muslim
philosophers Avicenna and Averroes are mentioned here and are both serious philosophers in
their own right.)
p. 220: An important point here is that as the totality of Aristotle was getting absorbed, so also
were other technical and scientific words. Euclid (geometry), Ptolemy (astronomy), and Galen
(medicine) are always cited here.
The shift in focus to Aristotle from Plato and the incorporation of other Greek and Arabic
science texts led to a much greater emphasis on the importance of sense perception as a means of
obtaining knowledge. This shift is a shift toward what we consider science today.
The idea of the summa, a word that translates as summary or summation or “highest” as in
summa cum laude, but it also takes the meaning of synthesis. In the case of the theological
summa, the idea is to present the greatest and most complete presentation of Christian
philosophy. So Thomas Aquinas Summa Theologica is the finest production of this period, and
you book tells you it became in later years, THE doctrine of the Catholic church. If you study
Catholic theology today, it will be Thomistic.
If you look at the sample article on page 222, you can see that if borrows from Abelard’s sic et
non method, and it provides very good summaries of both sides of the argument and then
synthetic summaries that are mini-philosophical arguments in themselves.
The authors make the case on page 223 that the summa is characterized by a comprehensive
organization; everything must be connected and relate and in so doing there is a kind of mirror of
God’s created world. Other great philosophical works may be similarly comprehensive, but the
summa reveals its organization, its outline, its frame.
The relationship between the Summa and the Gothic, p. 224-228: This combination of
comprehensiveness and revealed structure is paralleled in another great summa of the Middle
Ages, probably the one that most people know best, the Gothic cathedral.
The floor plan of the cathedral is symbolic in every way; the imagery in the stained glass relates
Old and New Testament narratives together that present the major truths of Christianity and that
are connected through typology. But there are lots of other images in sculpture and glass that
relate to seasons, zodiac, local figures, saints.
Also the structure is revealed: the load bearing columns are exposed and made part of the art of
the cathedral. The famous flying buttresses of Notre Dame de Paris make a great example of
this. It’s bit like extending the roof joists of your house out to your yard.
Another aspect of Gothic art is its sensuality and greater sense of realism. The Gothic aesthetic,
to me, is a balancing of abstract symbols and realistic representations. The authors argue that
this is a result of the rebirth of Aristotle.
Look at the two pictures on page 227, one 11th century and one 13th century and you can see at a
glance the greater realism of Gothic art.
The Gothic aesthetic is not only applied to architecture, and the sculpture and stained glass, but
also the paintings, manuscript illumination, poems, and plays of the period. In particular Dante’s
Divine Comedy is often considered a Gothic work.
The Rise of Universities, p. 230
(We are skipping over the development of law, particularly canon law of the Church based upon
the Roman model of Justinian and as promulgated by Gratian’s book the Decretum can be seen
as another influence of Aristotle. The rediscovery of the Justinian Code in this period is quite
important for the development of civil law.)
Another major development of this period is the university. As your text says, the teachers and
students at the major intellectual centers in cities – Paris, Oxford, Bologna, Cambridge, Prague –
formed communes or guilds just as had been done by other craftsmen and tradesmen in order to
protect them. These corporations were called “universitas” and thus the university is first a
teacher and student union.
The northern universities focused on the trivium and quadrivium as well as theology; the
southern universities focused more on law and medicine.
Obviously much of the apparatus of the modern university takes its inspiration from the medieval
model – degrees, use of Latin, robes, public ceremonies, core curricula – and the universities of
Oxford, Cambridge, and Paris are still considered among the very best in the world in a lot of
fields, not every field, but quite a few.
New Developments in Literature, p 231-236: Some of the best literature of the medieval period
is developed during this time. This is the time for medieval romances in vernacular languages
and for love poetry in the vernacular as well. The great Arthurian stories are created during this
period.
Marie de France, p. 231: Marie was a figure of some prominence but we don’t know
exactly who she was, yet she wrote in Anglo-Norman French some of the best short romances, in
verse, that we have. Two have Arthurian themes, but all of them have aristocratic or courtly love
as part of their subject matter. The subject of love was taken very seriously.
Epic to Romance, p. 232: The notion of the shift in sensibility from epic to romance,
from Song of Roland to Lancelot, parallels a shift in sentiment from Romanesque to Gothic and
outlines a change in interest from the battlefield to the bedroom, from physical battle to spiritual
battle. The role of women becomes huge; the emphasis on interiority is likewise greatly
enhanced. This emphasis on the interior or subjectivity is often cited as evidence for the notion
that the 12th century is time of the “birth of the individual.” These points are summarized on
page 232, second para.
Another point the authors make is that in the Gothic there is a “uniformity of elegance”
so that even the bad guys have a certain beauty and eloquence about them.
Concept of translatio studii, p. 234: The romances were about Arthur often but they
were also about the Trojan War and about Charlemagne and other figures. But one concept that
becomes quite important in the Renaissance is the notion of translatio studii a cultural translation
of past cultural importance to the present. A quotation from Chretien on page 234 demonstrates
this idea. There you will read how chivalry passed from Greece, to Rome, and now France.
Interiority, p. 234-235: The interiority theme is picked up again and some examples of
interior monologue are offered up, a passage from Roland and from Lancelot are used to
demonstrate. The authors make the connection, often made, between this renewed sensibility
and the changes in spirituality coming from the monasteries, particularly as expressed by the
Cistercian monk Bernard of Clairvaux.
Courtly love lyrics, p. 235-236: This section closes with a brief discussion of lyric
poetry. The lyric poetry that developed in the 11th century in southern France, in Provencal the
language of the area has been given credit for actually inventing the concept of Romantic love in
the West that we assume today. This argument has been often refuted, but there is no doubt that
the focus on love and elaboration of its importance, love of one person for another mind you, not
theoretical love, gets some of its finest expressions in literature here, and much of what we take
for Romantic literature is full of motifs and assumptions that can be traced back to this period.
It is in the lyrics of the troubadours and their followers that the notion of the lady in the poem is
addressed as a Lord, or goddess, and the long suffering male lover pleads and begs and performs
all manner of feats in order to win his Lady’s “grace” or “pity” or “favor.” There were a set of
female poets who wrote in this vein about men; they were called the trobairitz and they are very
frank in their expression of love. Wikipedia’s article on them is not bad, if you are interested.