The Middle AgesNot the Dark Ages

A.D. 400 - 1300

Middle Age Themes

The search or quest:

a religious tradition

a literary tradition

Search for answers to

religious, political, and social questions

Middle Age Themes

Examples of search/ quest theme:

knight in search of the Holy Grail

hunt for the mythical unicorn

pursuit of salvation in paradise

e.g. Dante in The Inferno

Knight of medieval

France

14th century

manuscript

Middle Ages Oreo Cookie

3) Top layer: Renaissance (rebirth)

of classic Greece and Rome

2) Historical filling: Middle Ages

(not the Dark Ages)

1) Bottom layer: Roman empire’s

Latin civilization

Christianity and Latin

A.D. 353:

Christianity becomes the official

religion of the Empire

Latin adopted as official language

of western Church

Latin CultureDivision develops:

1) learned culture -Latin of the clerics (until 1960’s)

2) popular culture -vernacular of the commoners

Latin Culture

Two divisions fused in:

Dante’s Divine Comedy as

Virgil (Latin poet) acts as

Dante’s guide on a

vernacular odyssey

Germanic Contribution

Mass migration of German tribes brings:

tribal structure that evolves into

feudal system of government

i.e. vassals, kings, knights,

and code of chivalry

lasts 400 years

Germanic Contribution

Greatest German contribution

to pop culture:

new poetic form, i.e. epic poetry

long, narrative, heroic, oral verses

not refined or literary

e.g. The Nibelungenlied

Germanic Contribution

Oral Germanic epics:

performed for courage before battle

descendants of this ancient

Germanic tradition:

French Song of Roland (1100)

Spanish Poem of the Cid (1150)

Song of Roland opening lines

Charles the King, our Emperor, the Great

Has been in Spain for seven full years,

Has conquered the high land down to the sea.

There is no castle that stands against him now,

No wall, no citadel to break down . . .

El Cid

1040 –

1099

Muslim Threat

A.D. 711 - 732:

Muslims or Moors conquer Spain

Struggle between Christianity and Islam:

one of most important forces

in medieval Europe

Rulers of the Middle Ages

Charles the Great (742 – 814)

King of the Franks (Germanic)

Charlemagne

Pope Leo III crowns Charles

Holy Roman Emperor

on Christmas Day in 800 A.D.

Charlemagne

Bronze statue

Charlemagne

One of most famous rulers of Middle Ages:

1) established feudal system

of government

2) extended power

of Christian Church

Charlemagne

King of the Franks

(768-814)

Charlemagne

Europe in need of:

unity and/or stability

Charlemagne’s patronage:

provides motivation for more than war

Image of Charlemagne

CharlemagneMiddle Age accomplishments:

1) monks refine the writing system- more accurate copies of MS

2) Latin grammar standardized- stabilized Latin documents

3) writing in vernacular language also- everyday spoken language

Vernacular WritingSlow movement:

begins in late 11th century

French poets begin writing verse in

Provencal, a French Romance language

poetry of troubadors sings of love

theme of poetry: courtly love

People everywhere begin to write poetry

in their own languages

Crusades (1099 – 1291) 1095: Pope Urban II sermon

one of most effective orations in history

1 year later: Christian kings respond

and organize first Crusade

Purpose: to regain the Holy Land

from the Saracens/ Moors/ Arabs

End of Middle Ages

Europe by end of Crusades (1291):

1) bourgeoisie (merchant class)

new middle class becomes

important and dominant

2) underprivileged majority

poverty and plague

everyday fact of life

End of Middle Ages

Europe by 1300:

more than 14 universities

e.g. University of Bologna

(law and rhetoric)

University of Paris

(theology and philosophy)

Controversy

Conflict of interest:

papacy (powerful and international church)

versus

secular (various kingdoms)

Controversy

One of most famous victims:

Dante Alighieri (1265 – 1321)

greatest writer of Middle Ages

1302: exiled from Florence

for opposing the pope in politics

1307: recurring theme in Inferno

(part 1 of The Divine Comedy)

Underprivileged Majority

Who spoke for them?

Francois Villon (1431 – 1463)

Parisian poet

convicted criminal and

consort of thieves

described dark and seamy side

of life in medieval cities

Transformation

Medieval life is transformed:

1300: underway in Italy

1500: Europe immersed in new period,

the Renaissance