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My Goal for week 3
Exploring the history of book in Europe during the early
middle ages (dark middle ages) till the beginning of the
Renaissance age.
My target questions:
How was the literacy and cultural life in Europe at that
time?
How did the church manage the education as the only
educational
institute ?
What was the affect of the literacy on the birth of printing
machine
in Europe?
References
Olmert, Michael (1992) The Smithsonian book of books.-
Washington, D.C :
the Smithsonian books. 319p.
Katz, Bill(1995)Dahls history of the book.-3 rd., English ed..-
New Jersey.
309p.
The dark ages (2009) retrieved on 09/ 17/ 2009 from:
http://www.history.com/marquee.do?
content_type=Marquee_Generic&content_type_id=54711&display_order=1&marquee_id=53127
History of education (2009) retrieved on 09/ 17/ 2009 from:
http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/refpages/RefArticle.aspx?
refid=761561415&pn=2
Summary
The Dark Ages, otherwise known as the Early Middle Ages, was a
period in
European history from the collapse of Roman political control in
the West
traditionally set in the 5th centuryto about the late 11th
century. The term
implied a suspension of time and, especially, a suspension of
progressa
period of cultural stagnation.
By the end of the 5th century the culmination of several
long-term trends
most notably a severe economic dislocation and the invasions
and
settlement of the various Germanic tribes within the borders of
the Western
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Empirehad changed the face of Rome. For the next 300 years
western
Europe remained essentially a primitive culture, even though one
uniquely
superimposed on the complex, elaborate culture of the Roman
Empire, which
was never entirely lost or forgotten.
The only universal European institution was the church, besides
suchadministrative measures, the cultural memory of Rome persisted.
By the 9th
century, with the rise to power of the Carolingians, the
beginnings of a new
European unity based on the Roman legacy may be found, for
Charlemagne's political power depended on educational reforms
that used
materials, methods, and aims from the Roman past.
Cultural activity during the early middle ages consisted
primarily in
appropriating and systematizing the knowledge of the past. At
the center of
any learned activity stood the Bible, all secular learning was
regarded as
mere preparation for understanding the holy text.
The majority of people in Europe were illiterates, they dont
read or write,
literary belonged to the upper classes, and the particular
reason was the
high cost of books. Western society and education were heavily
shaped by
Christianity, particularly the Roman Catholic Church. The Church
operated
parish, chapel, and monastery schools at the elementary level.
Schools in
monasteries and cathedrals offered secondary education. Much of
the
teaching in these schools was directed at learning Latin, the
old Roman
language used by the church in its ceremonies and teachings. The
church
provided some limited opportunities for the education of women
in religious
communities or convents. Convents had libraries and schools to
help prepare
nuns to follow the religious rules of their communities.
Merchant and craft
guilds also maintained some schools that provided basic
education and
training in specific crafts. Knights received training in
military tactics and the
code of chivalry. The rebirth of learning began in Europe in the
14th century
and reached its height in the 15th century. Scholars became more
interested
in the humanist featuresthat is, the secular or worldly rather
than the
religious aspectsof the Greek and Latin classics. Humanist
educators found
their models of literary style in the classics, that revolution
in educationchange the history of book in Europe, the middle class
attained a cultural
social and economic level that made it possible for them to own
books,
theses books were different than the book collections in the
churches, they
were written in national language of the country not in Latin,
and they were
not religious books, but had different subjects ( law, medical
and herb,
poetical literature, that revolution paved the road for the
printing machine
