Message on the topic of medieval culture. Report: Medieval European culture
European culture as such began to take shape precisely at the moment when the cultural tradition of antiquity ceased (was it?) and precisely in the same geographical region. In many ways, medieval culture was determined by the very concept of Christianity, which was a form that met the cultural and ideological needs of society. The origins of European culture were the Church Fathers, who laid the foundations of Catholicism, since in the era of the Middle Ages, culture was predominantly religious in color. Moreover, for a long time only the clergy were the most educated layer of Europe. The Church could not pass through those elements of secular education that she inherited from antiquity and without which Christianity itself, assimilated from antiquity, would have remained simply incomprehensible. The Bible and the writings of church writers were available to the Western Middle Ages only in Latin. The first attempt to bring together all the elements of ancient knowledge, which the church considered necessary to use for its own purposes, was made as early as the 5th century. African writer Marcian Capella. In his book On the Marriage of Philology and Mercury, he gave a summary of those subjects that formed the basis of education in the ancient school and were known as the "seven liberal arts", i.e. grammar, rhetoric, dialectics, geometry, arithmetic, astronomy and music. In the VI century. Boethius and Cassiodorus divided these seven arts into 2 parts - trivium - (crossroads of three paths of knowledge) - grammar, rhetoric, dialectics and quadrivium - the rest. Trivium was considered the first stage of education, quadrivium - the highest. In this form, these items were included in all medieval textbooks and survived until the 15th century. Rhetoric was considered by representatives of the Christian church as a subject that teaches church eloquence, dialectics (or rather, formal logic) as a servant of theology, helping to defeat heretics in a dispute; arithmetic - as a subject that facilitates the religious and mystical interpretation of numbers found in scripture; geometry - a description of the earth (“And here are the deserted deserts (in Ethiopia), and the inhuman faces of monstrous tribes. Some are without a nose, the whole face is even and flat ... Others have their mouths fused, and through a small hole they suck food with an oat ear ... But the Mauritanian Ethiopians , they have four eyes, and this is for the sake of marksmanship." "In the Ganges there is a worm that has two claws, with which it grabs an elephant and dives with it under water."); music was needed for church hymns; astronomy made it possible to determine the dates of church holidays. According to the teachings of the church, the earth is a disk floating in water, and the sky is a vault supported by four pillars, the center of the earth is Jerusalem. The greatest attention was paid to grammar - the queen of sciences. On the images, the grammar was shown in the form of a queen with a bunch of rods in her left hand, and with a knife for erasing texts - in her right. Corporal punishment flourished in medieval schools. A French monk wrote a grammar manual called "Take Care of Your Back". The expressions "to be in training" and "to walk under the rod" were synonymous. The works of ancient authors, studied during the passage of the trivium, were curtailed as the churchmen considered it necessary. They did the same with works for the quadrivium. Therefore, many works of ancient authors were irretrievably lost in the early Middle Ages. They could write on them (palimpsest). In the early Middle Ages, authors appeared whose works were also later laid the foundation for medieval education. Master of Offices of the Ostrogothic king Severinus Boethius (480-525). His treatises on arithmetic, music, writings on logic and theology, translations of the logical works of Aristotle became the basis of medieval philology and education. He is sometimes called the father of scholasticism. He was accused, thrown into prison, where he wrote the treatise "Consolation of Philosophy" before the execution. Quaestor and master of offices of the Ostrogothic king Flavius Cassiodorus (490-585) - wanted to create the first university, but failed. His work "Varii". In his estate he founded the monastery Vivarium = cultural center, school, scriptorium, library, which became a model for Benedictine monasteries. Visigothic Spain gave the world an enlightener - Isidore of Seville (570-636) - the first medieval encyclopedist. "Etymology" - 20 books, collected everything that has survived from antiquity. In the second half of the 7th c. the cultural life of Western Europe fell into decline, except for Ireland, where the centers of education were glimmering in the monasteries, from there this education went around the world - Trouble the Venerable "Ecclesiastical History of the Angles", Alcuin and others. But in the early Middle Ages, chronicles begin to appear - "Getica" by Jordan, "The History of the Kings of the Goths, Vandals and Sueves" by Isidore of Seville, "History of the Lombards" by Paul Deacon, "History of the Franks" by Gregory of Tours. The rise of Western European culture dates back to the reign of Charlemagne, which is why the Carolingian Renaissance got its name. Under Charlemagne, various lists of the Bible were compared and its single canonical text was established for the entire Carolingian state. The liturgy was reformed and became uniform according to the Roman model. Around 787, a "Capitulary on the Sciences" appeared, according to which schools were to be created in all dioceses, at each monastery, where not only clerics studied, but also the children of the laity. A writing reform was also carried out - minuscules and majuscules. There are textbooks. The center of education is the court academy in Aachen. Alcuin was discharged from Britain. His most famous student is the encyclopedist Hraban Maurus. The flourishing of education did not last long. And in the IX century. the abbot of Ferrier, Servat Lupe († 862), wrote, “It is an unheard-of thing for anyone in our time to move from grammar to rhetoric, and then in order to other sciences.”
As cities developed, they experienced an ever-increasing need for educated, primarily literate people. This need gave rise to new, non-church schools, which differed both in their program and in the composition of the students. These schools were a special phenomenon in the intellectual life of medieval society. A specific feature of the non-church school of the XII century. was that it was a private school, i.e. a school that was not maintained by the church, and whose masters existed at the expense of fees collected from students. Especially many such schools arose in Northern France. The most famous schools in the middle of the XII century. were the Parisian schools of Guillaume de Conche and Pierre Abelard. Guillaume, a grammarian and dialectician, was famous for the thoroughness of his lectures and his love for ancient authors. Being a follower of Democritus and Epicurus, Guillaume tried to explain to his students the doctrine of Democritus about atoms and sought to find a natural explanation for all natural phenomena, denying supernatural explanations. Guillaume's treatises attracted the attention of the church and were condemned by it. One of the brightest representatives of urban culture was Abelard (1079-1142), who belonged to the knighthood by birth, but became first a wandering schoolboy, and then a master of liberal arts. He founded one non-church school after another. Was extremely popular. But the church is not honored because of its philosophical views. He entered into a dispute with the head of the cathedral school of Paris, Guillaume of Champeau, on the issue of the so-called. "universals" or general concepts. The dispute was over the question of whether general concepts have real existence, or whether they are just simple names for a number of individual phenomena. Medieval nominalists considered general concepts - universals - as words or names (nomina), arising only on the basis of reality (universalia post rem). Medieval realists considered universals from a purely idealistic point of view, as certain things (res) that exist before the real world and independently of the latter (universalia ante rem). Abelard - stood in positions close to nominalism (conceptualist), Guillaume of Champeaux - a realist. Abelard was condemned at the Council of Sens in 1140. He himself burned one of his best treatises. Classes with Eloise led to castration and sending both to a monastery, where the brethren did not like him and intrigued against him.
In the XII century. in the West, a higher school begins to take shape - a university (from Latin universitas - a set). So the associations of teachers and students were called. The first university in Europe was considered Bologna, which arose at the end of the 11th century. on the basis of the Bologna school, where Irnerius, a well-known expert on Roman law, taught. Gradually, the Bologna school turned into a "universal" (stadium generale), and then into a university. The oldest uni in Europe was the uni in Salerno, which arose from the Salerno Medical School (811-1811). A typical medieval university was Paris, which received the first royal charter with the legalization of its rights in 1200. The University of Paris united both students and teachers. Those who served it (booksellers, scribes, messengers, pharmacists and even innkeepers) were also considered members of the university. All university teachers united in special organizations - faculties (from Latin - facultas - ability, that is, the ability to teach a particular subject). Subsequently, the faculty began to be understood as the department of the university where a certain branch of knowledge was taught. The University of Paris had 4 faculties - artistic, where seven liberal arts (septem artes liberalis) were studied (grammar, rhetoric, dialectics, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, music) and 3 senior ones - medical, theological, legal, to which students were accepted only after graduation from the Faculty of Arts. Those. artistic faculty - provided an educational base, after which it was possible to study further. Only those persons who had academic degrees of bachelor, master, doctor could be teachers. They chose their own head - the dean. Students (from the word studere - to work hard) united in corporations of the community, province, nation. There were 4 nations in the Parisian uni - Norman, English, Picardy, Gallic. At the head of each nation was an elected person - the procurator, and all 4 nations elected the head of the uni - the rector. Uni was subordinate to the Chancellor of Notre Dame Cathedral and to the Pope. All students and teachers of the clergy, took a vow of celibacy, wore a dark dress. True, physicians (doctors of medicine) were allowed to marry. Faculties sharply differed from each other in their numbers. The most numerous was the artistic faculty, the completion of which gave the student a bachelor of arts degree and the right to teach the latter outside the walls of uni. (A degree earned at one uni was not immediately recognized at others. The first departure from this discrimination was made at Toulouse, when a papal bull of 1233 granted everyone who received a degree there the right to teach everywhere. The first incidents related to the award of academic degrees also belong to this time. Thus, the Parisian uni, which was on bad terms with the Dominican order for five years, denied Thomas Aquinas a doctorate.) Therefore, they sought to obtain a license to teach at uni and become a master of liberal arts. In second place was the legal one. Only one third of all those who entered uni left with a bachelor's degree, and only 1/16 with a master's degree, all the rest left uni, content with the knowledge that they had acquired in the lower faculty. To become a bachelor, master, doctor (for the first time the degree of doctor was awarded in 1130 in Bologna), it was necessary to make a speech and participate in a debate in front of worthy people who tested the knowledge of the candidate. Then it was necessary to arrange a feast. "The Feast of Aristotle". Learned for a long time. It cost a lot. Therefore, in the letters: “I appeal to your parental soul and beg you not to leave me in a difficult situation. After all, you yourself will be pleased if I successfully complete my studies in order to return to my homeland with glory. Do not refuse to send money with the bearer of this letter, as well as shoes and stockings. Education - lecture, disputes. During the lectures, the teacher (who came to the scholars) (both the city and the scholars themselves paid salaries to teachers) read and commented on the books that were studied at one or another faculty. The participants in the disputes achieved great skill. So, Duns Scott, participating in a dispute organized by the Paris uni, listened to 200 objections, repeated them from memory and then consistently refuted them. The topic - theses - arguments was brought to the debate. The respondent and the opponent participated. It was necessary to follow the speech, not to allow indecent expressions. The entertainment was a dispute about anything (disputatio de quodlibet). At the theological faculty, the main debate took place during Great Lent. Having endured the Lenten dispute, he received the title of bachelor and the right to wear a red kamilavka. In the Parisian uni, the degree of doctor (a symbol of doctoral dignity - takes, a book, a ring) was first awarded in 1231. Training sessions were designed for a whole academic year, only from the end of the 15th century. there was a division into semesters - a large ordinary study period - (magnus ordinaries) - from October (St. Remy's Day - October 1 (15), or as in Paris uni at three higher faculties from mid-September to Easter, with a short break for Christmas, and a small ordinary study period (ordinarius parvas) - from Easter to July 25 (St. Jacob). Classes began at about five in the morning and lasted four hours, then there were evening classes. Lectures were ordinary and extraordinary. The differences are in what books, when and how they were read. During ordinary lectures, listeners could not interrupt the lecturer with words, questions, but during extraordinary lectures, this was allowed. At the Paris Uni, dictation was forbidden, it was assumed that the lecturer should present the material fluently and without a cheat sheet. If this was not observed, then a fine followed - they could be suspended from teaching for 1 year, in case of relapse - for 2, 4 years. Repetition of the text was also not allowed, except for particularly difficult passages. From the 14th century uni received the epithet alma mater (as the Romans called the mother of the gods Cybele). Textbooks - grammar was studied according to the short course of Donatus, then according to Priscian, rhetoric was taught according to Cicero, dialectic according to Aristotle, Boethius, Augustine, etc., doctors - Galen, Hippocrates, jurists - their own authorities.
Colleges were built to accommodate students. Although the students rented apartments from the townspeople, there was a rule that the townspeople were not to raise their rent arbitrarily. The first to take care of the life of students was Robert de Sorbonne, the confessor and doctor of the French King Louis IX. There was a specialization uni Salerno, Montpellier - medicine, Bologna - law, about the theological faculty of Paris - "here they can unravel all the knots." Therefore, students often continued to listen to a course of lectures on a particular discipline at different uni from the most famous teachers, passing a kind of internship. Therefore, there were vagants and goliards, wandering students. Authors of student poetry. The most famous collection of works of the Vagantes of the 13th century. "Carmina Burana", compiled by an unknown amateur from southern Bavaria, consisting of over 200 works of predominantly Vagant origin. They are arranged in sequence - moral satirical poems, love poems, vagabonds, drinking songs, religious hymns and liturgical dramas. Those who nevertheless completed their studies and received a doctorate degree were awaited by honor and recognition at best, a good position at court and in society, and at worst - how it will turn out. In the Middle Ages, there were doctors who received epithets for their scholarship - Francis of Assisi (Giovanni Francesco (del Moricone) (1181-1226) - Doctor of the Mariinsky (Marianus), i.e. dedicated his work to the Virgin Mary; Albert the Great, Cologne (1198 and 1206 -1280) - comprehensive doctor (Universalis); Roger Bacon (1214-1294) - amazing doctor (Mirabilis); Henry of Ghent (1217-1293) - triumphant (Solemnis); Bonaventure (Giovanni Fidanza) (1221-1274) - seraphic (seraphicus); Aquinas (1225-1274) - angelic (angelicus); Raymond Lull (1235-1315) - enlightened (illuminatus); Egidius of Rome (1257-1316) - the most thorough (fundatissimus); John Duns Scott (1266-1308) - refined (subtilis); William of Ockham (1285-1349) - invincible (invicibilis); John Karl Gerson (1363-1429) - the most Christian (christianissimus); Dionysius the Carthusian (1402-1471) - enthusiastic (extaticus) (Shevelenko A.Ya. Doctor Mariinsky and Doctor Comprehensive // VI, 1994, No. 9, p. 170. Members of the uni corporation had their privileges are beyond the jurisdiction of the city authorities, are exempt from mutual guarantee for debt obligations, and have the right to secession. Although sholars often get into fights with the townspeople, they are judged by uni authorities.
Medieval university science was called scholasticism or "school science" (from Latin schola - school). Its characteristic feature was the desire to rely on authorities and complete disregard for experience. The ability to freely operate with the concepts of formal logic was considered the main thing among the scholastics. The positive in the activities of the scholastic logicians was that they introduced into all uni programs the obligatory study of a number of ancient authors, tried to pose and solve important problems of knowledge and familiarized Western Europe with the works of Arab scientists. In the XII century. Ibn-Roshd (1126-1198) (Averroes) taught in Cordoba, whose teaching was developed in the teachings of Amory of Bensky († 1204), David of Dinan, Siger of Brabant (killed in prison).
An important part of medieval culture is epic tales, which can be considered as a collective memory and keeper of history. At first, the epic was sung by jugglers, spiermans. Later they were written down, in addition, the heroic epic became an integral part of chivalric culture. Epic works are based on real events, but with a touch of fantasy. The record of the Anglo-Saxon epic "Beowulf" dates back to 1000. We are talking about Beowulf (the nephew of the ruler of the Geats), who, together with his 14 comrades, offered his services to the ruler of Denmark Hrodgar, who decided to build a huge banquet hall, but the noise interfered with the monster Grendel, who every evening appeared in the hall and destroyed several of Hrothgar's comrades. Beowulf managed to defeat Grendel in battle, and he crawled away to die in his swamp. But the next evening, a new monster appeared - Grendel's mother, who decided to avenge her son. Approaching the swamp, the knights saw snakes, dragons, water nixes, Beowulf sank into the pool to the bottom and defeated her (Beowulf's sword - Hrunting). Beowulf returned home, became a good king. But soon Beowulf's possessions began to be visited by snakes. The serpent guarded the treasures in the cave for 300 years, and after a certain man stole a goblet from him, the serpent decided to take revenge on people. Beowulf (aged) went to fight the serpent to secure his country. The serpent was killed, but Beowulf also died, having received a mortal wound.
The Scandinavian sagas consist of 12 songs of the Elder Edda, composed in the ancient North Germanic (Scandinavian) dialect. According to the content, the songs are divided into legends about gods and legends about heroes. Some songs describe the concepts of the ancient Scandinavians about the universe and about all 9 worlds, the constituent parts of the universe. One of the songs tells how the god Frey wooed the giant's daughter Gerda. In the other, how the god Heimdal descended to earth to establish estates and establish mutual relations between people. It tells about episodes of wandering through the land of Odin, about Ases (bright gods), Jotungs (giants), the death of Ases and the whole world is predicted, about dwarfs, about Valkyries. Songs about heroes tell about two clans - the Velzungs and the Niflungs. In the XIII century. Snorri Sturluson's "Younger Edda" appeared - manuals on how to compose skaldic tales. The ancient Scandinavian tales of the Edda about the Niflungs, their treasure, Sigurd about his struggle with Fafnir, about Gudrun and Brunhilde were not exclusively Scandinavian tales. They belonged to all the Germanic tribes and a little later these legends became the basis for the poem in the Middle German language "Nibelungenlied". But unlike the Edda, in the Nibelungenlied there is a god and religious rites are observed. Brunnhilde is a girl of wondrous beauty. Siegfried is the son of the Dutch kings. The Abelungs and Nibelungs perish in the battle, the treasure was not found (Hagen did not say). The "Song of Roland" is based on the battle in Ronceval with the Basques, "The Song of My Sid" is based on episodes of the reconquista. The stories were extremely popular, everyone knew.
A separate page of medieval culture was knightly culture. It developed by the XI-XII centuries. The creator and bearer is the knighthood. It is based on the code of conduct of the ideal knight. Loyalty, courage, nobility, good breeding, etc. One of the sources of the Western European knightly (courtly - the term was introduced by Gaston Paris (1839-1903) to refer to the form of relations between a man and a woman that develops among the masters) of the novel was the Celtic epic about King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. (The story of Tristan and Isolde). In chivalric culture, a cult of the lady arises, which is a necessary element of courtesy. From the end of the XI century. in Provence, the poetry of the troubadours flourishes, in the north of France - the trouvères, in Germany - the minnesingers. The most famous authors of chivalric novels were Chretien de Troy, Wolfram von Eschschenbach, Hartmann von Aue (knight) (1170-1210) (“Poor Henry”), a participant in the III crusade. In 1575, Michel Nostradamus' brother Jean published the biographies of troubadours, which could be people of noble birth, for example. Thibaut of Champagne, and grandfather of Eleanor of Aquitaine.
From the 11th century Cities are becoming centers of cultural life. The genres of urban literature are fables, schwanks, farces, honeycombs. There is also a satirical epic - "The Romance of the Fox". The main character - Fox Renard (a wealthy citizen) defeats the Wolf Isengrin, Bear Brenn, deceives Leo Noble, Donkey Baudouin. By the XIII century. refers to the birth of urban theatrical art. City games - "The Game of Robin and Marion", etc. Then secular plays appear. Adam de Al (from Arras, nicknamed "The Hunchback" (1238-1286), who lived in Paris in 1262-1263, at the court of Count d "Artois (from 1272) and Charles of Anjou (from 1283) was the author of the first secular plays in the folk language "Games under the foliage", "Games about Robin and Marion". "The game about Robin and Marion" was one of the most famous. The characters are Marion (peysanka), Robin (peyzan), Knight. Marion says that she is in love with Robin, who bought her a scarlet dress and a belt, and that he is wooing her. Then the Knight returns from the tournament and tries to seduce her. Marion does not give in, and then Robin appears, and they coo nicely Games were popular - pastorals - scenes between a knight and a shepherdess, a shepherd and a shepherdess. Sample - the poems of Thibaut Champagne "King of Navarre": "These days, Thibault narrates, I met a shepherdess between the grove and the garden, who sang, her song began like this : “when love attracts me.” Hearing this, I went to her and said: “dear, God bless you, have a good day.” To this she answered me with a bow. She was sweet, fresh, ruddy, that I wanted to talk to her again. "Honey, I'm looking for your love. I will give you a luxurious headdress!” "Knights are great deceivers, my shepherd Perrin is dearer to me than rich scoffers." "Beauty, don't say that. Knights are very worthy people. Only knights and people of the highest circle can have a girlfriend according to their desire. And the shepherd's love is worth nothing. Let's go..." “Sir, I swear by the Mother of God, you were wasting your words. The knights are greater deceivers than the traitor Ganelon. I'd rather go back to Perrin, who is waiting for me and loves me with all his honest heart. And you, sir, stop talking." I realized that the shepherdess wanted to slip away from me. I asked her for a long time and in vain, when I hugged her, the shepherdess shouted: "Perinet, treason." They responded from the forest, and I left her. Seeing that I was leaving, she mockingly shouted to me: “Ah yes, a brave knight!” (La Barthe. Conversations ... S.168-169).
An indispensable attribute of urban culture were processions who could arrange for any occasion. In England, as in other countries of Europe, processions of corporations were widespread, the solemn entry of the Lord Mayor of London into the City.
From the processions in Italian cities, as well as in other European countries, arose trionfo - i.e. a costumed procession, partly on foot, partly on carts, which, being originally ecclesiastical, gradually acquired a secular meaning. Processions for the feast of Corpus Christi and carnival processions here stylistically merge, and the solemn entrances of sovereigns soon adjoin this style.
Carnival - arranged in the week preceding Great Lent, at Shrove Tuesday - either on Broad Thursday or Fat Tuesday. First carnesciale (meat-eater), carnevale. It got its name either from carrus navalis - ship, wagon, carne vale - meat eater, flesh. An exceptional urban phenomenon. It acquired a variety of forms by the 15th century. It included processions, games, acrobatic and sports shows, masks. Perhaps masks are an exclusive attribute of the Venetian carnival. The first mention of masks is found in a Senate decree of 1268. It was a ban on wearing masks when organizing certain categories of games, but the Venetians ... In 1339, the decree was repeated. Then came the mask-making workshops. Over the years, the carnival has become violent, lush, fun. The opening carnival was accompanied by a church service and performances by the authorities. So-called entertainment companies appear. Compagnie delle Calze, whose members wore symbolic emblems adorned with pearls and precious stones, ladies wore them on their sleeves, men wore them on stockings. In the XV century. the carnival becomes diverse - fortune-tellers, astrologers, soothsayers, sellers of all-healing ointments, ointments, insect repellents, against female infertility, against bullets, against edged weapons. Then, as an addition to the carnival, and then as an independent component, comedy del arte (comedia delle arte) appeared, i.e. folk comedy. There were over 100 masks. 2 quartets - northern - Pantalone (a Venetian with his own dialect, an old man - a merchant, rich, stingy, sick, frail, sneezes, coughs, considers himself smarter than everyone, but most often becomes the object of tricks, ladies' man, a merchant who got old), Doctor (Bolognese scientist, pours, misinterpreting Latin quotes, lawyer, sometimes a doctor (an attribute in this case is klyster), likes to drink, ladies' man, the most complex mask is comedy), Brighella (smart servant, complex and responsible mask, since it is he who sets up the intrigue), Harlequin = Truffaldino (stupid servant, often receives beaters), (both come from Bergamo, the homeland of Italian fools); southern - Coviello (southern parallel of Brighella), Pulcinella (south parallel of Harlequin - consistently stupid), Scaramuccia (boastful warrior, coward), Tartaglia (appeared in Naples around 1610 - Tartaglia according to it. stutterer, the character of the Spanish servants, preventing people from living ), + Captain (a parody of the Spaniards), Lovers (ladies - 1. imperious, proud, 2. soft, gentle, submissive; gentlemen - 1. cheeky, optimist; 2. timid, modest. speak the correct literary language), Fantesca (Serveta = Colombina - maid, Goldoni - Mirandolina), etc. Masks = roles.
Since laughter was banished from official life, that is why "holidays of fools", which were held on the New Year, the day of innocent babies, Epiphany, Ivanov's day. There were few such holidays. What could make you laugh? Buffon tricks = lazzi (lazzi = l "atto, action, i.e. buffon trick. Lazzi with a fly - Zanni makes a gesture with his hand, as if catching a fly in the air, then with facial expressions shows that he cuts off his wings, legs and throws it into or a pasta lazzi - a plate of pasta that is eaten either with the hands or with the mouth. The actors are tied with their backs, one bends down, eats;
In many cities citizens organized quarters for public performances. These include the representation of hell on the stage and barges that stood on the Arno (Florence) (05/01/1304), during which the Alla Karaya bridge collapsed under the audience. One of the specific features of performances in Italy was the use of machines - they carried out the ascent into the air and descent. Florentines already in the 14th century. slandered when the trick did not go smoothly. Well-known artists took part in organizing the holidays. For example, Brunelleschi invents for the feast of the Annunciation in Piazza San Felice an apparatus depicting a celestial globe framed by two garlands of angels, from which Gabriel descended to earth in an almond-shaped car. Chekka also develops arrangements for such celebrations. The most solemn holiday was the feast of the Body of Christ. It was magnificently celebrated in 1480 in Viterbo. The holiday was organized by Pope Pius II. Here is the suffering Christ, surrounded by boy angels; The Last Supper, where Thomas Aquinas was also present, the struggle of the Archangel Michael with demons, a spring gushing with wine, the Holy Sepulcher, the scene of the Resurrection, in the cathedral square - the tomb of Mary, which, after a solemn mass and blessing, opened, and the Mother of God in a host of angels soared with singing into paradise, where Christ laid a crown on her and led her to the eternal Father. Rodrigo Borgia (Alexander VI) arranged similar holidays, but he was distinguished by his addiction to cannon cannonades. S. Infessura wrote about the holiday that Pietro Riario arranged in 1473 in Rome on the occasion of the passage of Eleanor of Aragon, the bride of Prince Ercole of Ferrara. There were also mysteries, and pantomimes on mythological themes - Orpheus surrounded by beasts, Perseus and Andromeda, Ceres, who was dragged by a dragon, Bacchus, Ariadne with a panther, there was a ballet of love couples from prehistoric times, flocks of nymphs, all this was interrupted by the invasion of centaur robbers, whom Hercules defeated. all the festivities in the niches, on the columns stood people depicting statues, while they recited and sang.In the halls of Riario there was a boy completely covered with gilding, spraying water from a fountain.Vasari in the "Biography of Pontormo" told how such a child in 1513 on one Florentine holiday died due to overvoltage or gilding. The boy represented the "golden age." In Venice, the arrival of the princess from the house of d "Est e (1491) was celebrated with a solemn reception with "Bucentaur", a rowing competition and a pantomime "Meleagr" in the Doge's Palace. In Milan, the festivities of the duke and other nobles were handled by Leonardo da Vinci. One of his machines represented on a huge scale the celestial system and all its movement, whenever one of the planets approached the bride of the young duke, Isabella, the corresponding god appeared from the ball and sang the poems of the court poet Bellinchoni (1489). From Vasari it is known what automata Leonardo invented to greet the French king, who entered Milan as a conqueror.
In addition, there were holidays that were celebrated only in one city or another. For example, in Rome, races were held: donkeys, horses, buffaloes, old people, young men, Jews. Paleo (on horseback) was held in Siena. In Venice - regattas, betrothal of the Doge with the sea. Torchlight processions are popular. So, in 1459, after the Congress of Mantua, Pius II in Rome was waiting with torches, the participants in the torch procession formed a ring near his palace.
City entertainment - walks around the city, in the park, "sports" - fisticuffs, various competitions, in England - curling, etc. Trips to the resort, visits to drinking establishments, in the Nordic countries and the Netherlands - skating visits on occasion (and without?).
Religious holidays. 4 holiday cycles - Christmas (winter), (Shrovetide), Easter (spring), Trinity (summer), Mother of God days (autumn), or December birth, April crucifixion, June ascension, August death of the Virgin and her September birth.
Winter holidays started on November 11 - St. Martin, or Martin's day - the time of pouring new wine, slaughtering livestock. Expression - Martin's pig, Martin's goose. The illness of St. Martina - to be drunk. The day of hiring workers, settlement with the owners, the day of rent. They ate and drank (Grimmelshausen - St. Martin's Day - then with us, the Germans, they begin to feast and gossip until Shrovetide. Then many, both officers and townspeople, began to invite me to visit to taste Martin's goose), had fun. In the Netherlands there was a game of a cat - they put the cat in a barrel, which they tied on a tree, and tried to get it out with sticks. In Italy, on Martyn's Day, they ate pasta, pork, poultry, sweet pretzels and drank new wine.
November 25 is the day of St. Catherine and the Christmas period began. Christmas was preceded by the "dead weeks" of Advent (4 Sundays before Christmas (candles are lit before Christmas, every Sunday a candle).
December 6 - St. Nicholas, in the Netherlands, on this day, children (good and small) are given gifts, put in a stocking (bad and grown-up put coals). Later St. Nicholas turned into Santa Claus (1822). The prototype of Santa Claus was the Bishop of the city of Mir Nikolay Mirlikisky, who lived in the 4th century, who first gave gifts to three sisters who dreamed of getting married, but did not have a dowry (he threw a purse with money to each, the youngest - the purse fell into a stocking, which she hung to dry at the hearth after washing).
December 25 - Christmas. Roman proverb "Christmas (spend) with your own, and Easter where she finds you." Then Christmas time came until January 6 (until the day of the Three Kings. Bean King. (They put a bean or some inedible object in the pie, who got the wrong piece, that was the Bean King, fulfilling all desires). The first 12 days of the new year were determined all year, January 1 - January, February 2, etc. "Whoever counts coins on the first day of the year counts them all year. " On January 1-6, Befana walks around Italy either on a donkey, or it is brought by stars and distributes gifts to children.The custom of putting up a Christmas tree for Christmas came from Germany.It was first put up in the 16th century (after the Reformation) in Strasbourg on the day of commemoration of Adam and Eve on December 24. A fir tree was placed in the room, decorated with red apples, personifying the tree of good and evil , or a triangular pyramid, on the shelves of which were gifts, and the top was decorated with the Star of Bethlehem.(Champagne began to be drunk in 1668) On New Year's Eve - in Italy they throw old furniture out of the window, at midnight - whoever eats the most grapes, the most will be prosperous all year made from lentils (reminiscent of coins), eggs; in Spain they eat a grape and make a wish; in England, when midnight strikes, they open the back door of the house, letting out the old year, and with the last blow, open the front door, letting in the new year. They drink punch - grape wine, vodka (rum), tea, sugar, lemon juice (2 alcoholic components for 3 non-alcoholic ones), boiled in a silver saucepan.
January 17 - St. Anthony, blessed domestic animals, lit bonfires - “the fires of St. Anthony" - cleansing property, the extinct smut was kept as a remedy for lightning.
End of winter - Candlemas on February 2. - In Italy, the holiday of Candelora. (candles). Believe me, the bear comes out of the lair on the candelora to see what the weather is like. If cloudy makes 3 jumps - winter is over, if it is clear, it returns back to the den, saying that it will be cold for another 40 days. The culmination of the holiday is the consecration of candles.
Spring - On March 14, a ceremony called mamuralia was held in Rome - a man dressed in the skin of "old Mars" was expelled from the city with sticks.
March 15 - the feast of Anna Perena - the goddess of the moon or water. At this time, they organized a carnival. Carts (carrus navalis - (chariot - ship), carne vale - long live the flesh), processions, masks, games. The last Thursday (Tuesday) before the carnival is Fat Thursday, the peak of the holiday. Lent began with Ash Wednesday following Fat Tuesday.
Palm Sunday, Easter.
April 30 - (Walpurgis Night - witches' sabbath) a night walk in the forest behind a tree. In all countries of Western Europe, there was a custom to celebrate the "day of the renewal of nature" - May 1. The youth went out of town to "bring May". They returned with flowers, fragrant herbs, leaves, which decorated the doors and windows of houses. In France and Belgium, the houses of lovers were decorated with flowering rosehip branches. This was called "planting May." In the Middle Ages, a special “May trip” was arranged at the courts of the lords, with the May count or May king at the head of the cavalcade. On the May holidays, young people led round dances and sang. They built a may tree, from the top of which they hung gifts (ham, sausages, sweets, poultry, etc.). The holiday ended with a competition, which of the guys will climb the tree faster. The winner is May King + May Queen.
Summer cycle holidays began with the feast of the Body of the Lord (Corpus Domini) was celebrated on Thursday after Trinity Sunday. Introduced by Pope Urban IV on 09/08/1264 in memory of the Bolsena miracle (when during the service in one of the churches in the city of Bolsena, the blood of Christ appeared on the wafer). The ritual of the holiday is the procession. They decorated the city with carpets and flowers, pavements were decorated with carpets of fresh flowers. Holiday - demonstrations of carpets.
June 24 - St. John the Baptist. Fires were lit. On the eve of the holiday, they were guessing. At night, they put 2 beans under the pillow - black and white, in the morning they took them out at random, if they pulled out a black one, the girl would marry within a year, if the white one did not. They also wondered about the prosperity of the future husband. If they pulled out peeled beans - poor, if unpeeled - rich. June 24 is the day of Florence, as St. Giovanni is the patron saint of the city. So, just like every city has its own heavenly patron, in whose honor a holiday was necessarily arranged.
August 15 - Assumption of the Virgin. In Italy, "buon Ferragosto" - good August holidays. The season ended with a big summer holiday. Piazza Navina was flooded in Rome. Arranged competitions - paleo (palio) competition of riders. Dante wrote about a similar competition near Verona, the winner got a green cloth, the last - a rooster. They fired from a crossbow.
From August to October, holidays began throughout the Mediterranean dedicated to harvesting - grapes, picking figs, ripening foliage on mulberry trees (Murcia). The grape harvest season is a time of revelry, fun and folly.
Autumn. A wine fair was held in Seville from 5 to 15 October. On the third Sunday of October in Germany, fairs began in many lands, they made the so-called. kirbaum was like a Maypole, + lunch.
(October 30 - Halloween in English-speaking countries), preceded November 1 - All Saints' Day. Introduced in 610, first fell on May 13, in the 9th century. rescheduled for November 1st.
November 2 is the day of remembrance of all the dead. November 1 was spent in the church, November 2 - in the cemetery, and then they had a meal. (In Italy, beans are a funeral food.)
There were schoolchildren's annual holidays. They were celebrated either on St. Nicholas, or on the day of innocent babies (December 27). On this day, in all major cathedrals, a boy was chosen as a bishop, who led the religious feast and delivered a sermon. The second holiday of schoolchildren is Penitential Tuesday (on Maslenitsa week) on this day, students brought fighting cocks and staged cockfights. On the same day they played ball.
In addition, all areas of Europe had their own local patronal holidays. In the Germanic, Dutch countries, it was called kermes (kirmes).
The transition from the slave system to the feudal system was accompanied by fundamental changes in the spiritual life of Western European society. The ancient, mostly secular culture was replaced by the medieval culture, which was characterized by the dominance of religious views. The decisive influence on its formation was, on the one hand, Christianity inherited from the old world, on the other hand, the cultural heritage of the barbarian peoples who crushed Rome. The ideological leadership of the church, which tried to subordinate the entire spiritual life of society to Christian doctrine, determined the image of the culture of medieval Western Europe.
This feature of medieval culture led to its controversial assessment in subsequent centuries. Humanists and Enlightenment Historians of the 18th century. (Voltaire and others) treated the culture of the Middle Ages, the "dark night of Christianity" with disdain. In contrast to them, the reactionary romantics of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. marked the beginning of the idealization of medieval culture, in which they saw a manifestation of higher morality.
The apology of medieval culture and the role that the church played in its development is also characteristic of modern bourgeois Catholic historiography and the philosophy of neo-Thomism, which is trying to revive the teachings of the 13th century Catholic philosopher. Thomas Aquinas and proclaims this doctrine the highest achievement of philosophical thought.
Soviet scientists believe that the leadership of the church throughout the spiritual life of society hampered the development of the culture of the Middle Ages. At the same time, from the point of view of Marxist historians, the Middle Ages also contributed to the history of human culture. In the Middle Ages, many new peoples were involved in the sphere of cultural development, the national culture of modern European countries was born, rich literature in national languages was formed, wonderful examples of fine arts and architecture were created. Dressed in a religious form due to historical conditions, human thought and artistic creativity continued to develop. Their slow growth during the Middle Ages created the conditions for the subsequent rise of natural-scientific and philosophical thought, literature and art.
The Decline of Culture in the Late Roman Empire and the Early Middle Ages
The end of the Roman Empire and the beginning of the Middle Ages were marked by a general decline in culture. The barbarians destroyed many cities that were the center of cultural life, roads, irrigation facilities, monuments of ancient art, and libraries. However, the temporary decline of culture was determined not only by these destructions, but by profound shifts in the socio-economic development of Western Europe: its agrarianization, widespread disruption of economic, political and cultural ties, and the transition to subsistence farming. The consequence of these phenomena was the extreme limited horizons of the people of that time, their lack of an objective need to expand their knowledge. The peasants, who everywhere constituted the majority of the population, acutely felt their daily dependence on the surrounding nature, saw in it an uncontrollable formidable force. This created the ground for all sorts of superstitions, magic, and at the same time for the stability of religious feelings and mindsets. Therefore, "the outlook of the Middle Ages was predominantly theological."
The signs of the decline of ancient culture were outlined long before the fall of the Roman Empire. The literature of the late empire became characterized by a tendency to stylization and refined allegorical form to the detriment of content. Philosophy fell into decay, and with it the rudiments of scientific knowledge. Many works of ancient philosophers and writers have been forgotten.
The deep crisis of late antique society contributed to the strengthening of the role of Christianity, which becomes in the 4th century. state religion and exerts an ever greater influence on the ideological life of society. Barbarian invasions of the 5th-6th centuries. contributed to the further degeneration of ancient culture. Schools that existed in the 5th century, during the 6th century. closed everywhere, literacy became a rarity. The classical is being replaced by the so-called vulgar "barbarian", or folk, Latin, which had many local dialects. The scope of Roman law was drastically reduced. Along with it, customary law, fixed in barbarian truths, extends.
The decline of culture in the early Middle Ages was explained to a large extent by the peculiarities of the church-feudal ideology that was taking shape in Western Europe, the bearer of which was the Catholic Church.
Church monopoly on intellectual education
The dominance of religious ideas in all strata of society contributed to the establishment of a church "monopoly on intellectual education" for many centuries. Having subjugated the system of primary education (schools at that time existed only at monasteries), the church established control over the entire spiritual life of the emerging feudal society. In social terms, the spiritual dictatorship of the church expressed the special role that the church played in medieval society as the most general synthesis and the most general sanction ~ of the existing feudal system. Possessing a strong organization and established doctrine in times of political decentralization, the church also had powerful means of propaganda.
The establishment of the monopoly of the church in the field of culture contributed to the subordination of all areas of knowledge to the church-feudal ideology. “... Church dogma was the starting point and basis of all thinking. Jurisprudence, natural science, philosophy - all the content of these sciences was brought into line with the teachings of the church.
The Church claimed to speak on behalf of the whole society, but objectively it expressed the interests of the ruling class and strenuously planted such features of the worldview that could help smooth out social contradictions. These features left their mark on the entire medieval culture (until the 13th century). According to the church worldview, the earthly “sinful” temporary life and the material nature of man were opposed to the eternal “other worldly” existence. As an ideal of behavior that provides afterlife bliss, the church preached humility, asceticism, strict observance of church rites, and submission to the masters.
Spiritual hymns, liturgical plays, stories about the life and miraculous deeds of saints and martyrs, popular in the early Middle Ages, had a great emotional impact on a deeply and sincerely religious medieval person. In the Lives, the saint was endowed with character traits that the church wanted to instill in the believer (patience, firmness in faith, etc.). He was consistently and persistently inspired by the idea of the futility of human daring in the face of inevitable fate. So the masses were led away from the real problems of life.
The growth of the influence of Christianity was impossible without the spread of writing, necessary for Christian worship, based on church books. The correspondence of such books was carried out in the scriptoria organized at the monasteries - writing workshops. Their model was the monastery of Vivarium (Southern Italy), headed by Cassiodorus (c. 480-573), one of the first medieval Christian writers.
Handwritten books (codexes) were made from parchment - specially processed calf or sheep skin. It took about 300 sheepskins to make one large-format Bible, and it took two to three years to write it. Therefore, books were of great value and were produced in small quantities. The purpose of the rewriting of books is well defined in the words of Cassiodorus: "The monks fight with pen and ink against the insidious machinations of the devil and inflict as many wounds on him as they rewrite the words of the Lord."
Scriptoria and monastic schools were at that time the only centers of education in Europe, which contributed to the strengthening of the spiritual monopoly of the church.
The attitude of the church to the ancient heritage. Education in the early Middle Ages
Christianity was formed in the ideological struggle with ancient culture. Christian theologians saw a particular danger in ancient philosophy. One of the "fathers of the church" - Tertullian (c. 155-222) stated: "Philosophers are the patriarchs of heresy." The contemptuous attitude towards reason and the priority of faith found expression in the then popular saying: "I believe because it is absurd." One of the most zealous promoters of Christianity in the VI century. - Pope Gregory I was the inspirer of a real campaign against "worldly science", contrasting it with the "knowledge of the unknowing" and "wisdom of the unlearned" bestowed from above.
However, the church was forced to take for itself something from the ancient heritage. Without its individual elements, the very Christian doctrine, which had developed even before the fall of the Roman Empire, would have become incomprehensible. Rejecting ancient philosophy in words, many theologians of the early Middle Ages, brought up in the traditions of ancient culture, widely used late Roman philosophy - neoplatonism (for example, Augustine) in developing the dogmas of faith.
In the works of individual church leaders, even the idea was expressed of the possibility of using some individual elements of ancient culture, if this helps to strengthen the Christian faith. At the beginning of the 5th century Socrates Scholast wrote: “The enemy is much easier to overcome when his own weapon is turned against him. We cannot do this unless we ourselves master the weapons of our opponents, being careful in acquiring this skill so as not to be influenced by their views.
The desire to harmonize the Christian ideology with the traditions of ancient culture was manifested in the activities of Boethius (480-525) - a philosopher, poet, politician of the Ostrogothic kingdom. In his treatise On the Consolation of Philosophy, information about Ptolemy's astronomy, the mechanics of Archimedes, the geometry of Euclid, the music of Pythagoras, and the logic of Aristotle has been preserved.
The church was forced to use certain elements of the secular knowledge of antiquity when organizing church and monastic schools, necessary for the education of the clergy. But the ancient heritage was perceived only in the depleted form in which it existed in the late Roman Empire, was used unilaterally and carefully agreed with Christian dogmas. The first attempt to bring together the elements of ancient knowledge, adapting them to the needs of the church, was made as early as the 5th century. Marcian Capella. In the book On the Marriage of Philology and Mercury, he gave a summary of those subjects that formed the basis of education in the ancient school and were known as the "seven liberal arts." In the VI century. Boethius and Cassiodorus divided these "seven arts" into two levels of education: the lowest - the so-called trivium: grammar, rhetoric and dialectics - and the highest - the "quadrivium": geometry, arithmetic, astronomy and music. This classification survived until the 15th century. In schools, later at universities, rhetoric was taught according to Cicero, dialectic - according to Aristotle. The writings of Pythagoras and Euclid formed the basis of the study of arithmetic and geometry, Ptolemy - the basis of astronomy. However, in the early Middle Ages, the teaching of the “seven free arts” was completely subordinated to the goals of educating the clergy, whose representatives required modest knowledge: knowledge of prayers, the ability to read Latin, familiarity with the order of church services, elementary information on arithmetic. The Church was not interested in expanding this circle of knowledge. Therefore, rhetoric was considered by the church only as a subject useful in the preparation of sermons and the preparation of church and state documents; dialectics, which was then understood as formal logic, as a system of evidence that serves to substantiate the dogmas of faith; arithmetic - as the sum of the necessary practical knowledge for counting and for the religious and mystical interpretation of numbers.
Above all sciences, the authority of the Holy Scriptures and the "fathers of the church" was placed. Historical works of this era, written by Gregory of Tours, Isidore of Seville, Bede the Venerable, and others, were imbued with a church worldview that justifies the existing unjust system of society.
In accordance with the Christian dogma, the Universe (cosmos) was considered as a creation of God, created from nothing and doomed to perish at the time set by God. Thus, the most important achievement of ancient philosophy was discarded - the Aristotelian idea of the eternity of the world. The geocentric doctrine of the structure of the Universe, created in the ancient world by Aristotle and Ptolemy, was also adapted to Christian dogma. The Universe was represented as a system of concentric spheres in the center of which the motionless Earth was located. The Sun, the Moon, five planets (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn) revolved around it; then followed the sphere of the fixed stars (Zodiac) and the crystal sky, identified with the prime mover. On the highest floor of the universe was the seat of God and angels. The picture of the world also included hell, symbolizing the "sinfulness" of the earth, and paradise, where, according to church teaching, the souls of virtuous Christians ended up after death.
Geographical representations were no less fantastic. Jerusalem was considered the center of the earth. In the East (which was depicted on the maps at the top), a mountain was placed, where, according to legend, there was once an earthly paradise and from which four rivers flowed: the Tigris, Euphrates, Ganges and Nile.
The dominance of the church-religious worldview had a particularly negative effect on the study of nature and man. According to the teachings of the church, God and his creation - nature, including man, are inseparable. Each material object was considered as a symbol of the innermost and ideal world, as a manifestation of God's wisdom. The subject of the science of nature was the disclosure of these symbols - "the invisible causes of visible things." Such symbolism, implanted by the church, led to the rejection of the study of the true connections of things with the help of experience. He left an imprint on the entire medieval culture. It was believed that words explain the nature of things. In the form of an etymological interpretation of the meaning and origin of words, it was written in the 6th century. the first encyclopedia of the Middle Ages - "Etymology" by Isidore of Seville (560 - 636) - a collection of knowledge of that time in grammar, history, geography, cosmology, anthropology and theology. Isidore of Seville made extensive use of the works of Greco-Roman authors, but interpreted them in accordance with Christian doctrine. This book became the main source of early medieval education.
Symbolism left its mark on the entire medieval culture. The direct realistic perception of the world in the art and literature of this period was often clothed in the form of symbols and allegories.
Spiritual culture of the masses
The triumph of the church in the field of culture and ideology was fixed in the process of acute struggle.
The dominant feudal-church culture was opposed by folk culture - the worldview and artistic creativity of the masses. Folk culture had its roots in pre-feudal antiquity and was associated with the barbarian cultural heritage, pagan myths, beliefs, legends and festivals of the Celts, Germans, Slavs and other barbarian peoples. These traditions, preserved in the peasant environment throughout the Middle Ages, were also permeated with religious feelings and ideas, but of a different - pagan kind: they were alien to the gloomy asceticism of Christianity, its distrust of wildlife. Ordinary people saw in her not only a formidable force, but also a source of life's blessings and earthly joys. Their worldview was characterized by naive realism. An important role in the spiritual life of the common people was played by folk songs, dances and oral poetry, which openly opposed church music and the culture of the ruling class as a whole. Forms of nameless folk art, folklore were extremely diverse. These are fairy tales, legends, various lyrical songs - love, drinking, labor, shepherd's; choral tunes; ritual songs - wedding, funeral, etc., dating back to ancient pre-feudal customs.
Survivals of pagan ideas and beliefs, as well as the "customs of the ancestors" associated with them, to a large extent determined the spiritual life of the masses. Reviving in new historical conditions and often on a new ethnic basis, folk cultural traditions later influenced almost all written medieval fiction.
A large place in the folk art of the early Middle Ages, when culture was not yet differentiated socially, was occupied by heroic songs and tales of military campaigns, battles and battles, glorifying the valor of leaders and heroes. Sometimes originating among the military squad, they were then popularized by folk performers and subjected to appropriate processing in terms of folk ideals. Folk tales were the original basis of major epic works of the Western European Middle Ages. The folk basis manifested itself with great fullness in the early medieval epic of England, Ireland and the Scandinavian countries, where, due to the slowness of the process of feudalization, a significant layer of free peasantry existed for a long time and remnants of paganism were preserved. In the folk poetry of these countries, echoes of Celtic and German legends and traditions were alive, in which the power of the people's poetic imagination was especially clearly manifested.
The most typical in this respect are the Irish sagas, which tell about the hero Cuchulain, the protector of the weak and the oppressed. A significant monument of the Scandinavian epic is the Old Norse "Elder Edda" - a collection of songs, the earliest of which date back to the 9th century. It contains legends about the gods, in the form of prescriptions of which worldly folk wisdom is clothed, and heroic songs that tell about distant events of the era of "migration of peoples". The Icelandic sagas tell of true historical events, such as the discovery of Greenland and North America by the Icelanders.
Oral folk art formed the basis of the Anglo-Saxon epic poem about the legendary hero Beowulf (the poem "Beowulf"), written in the Anglo-Saxon language at the beginning of the 10th century. The poem glorifies the struggle and victory of Beowulf over the bloodthirsty monster Grendel and other feats.
The mimes and histrions were the spokesmen and carriers of the musical and poetic creativity of the masses, and from the 11th century, the so-called jugglers in France, huglars in Spain, spielmans in Germany, etc. They wandered all over Europe, earning their daily bread with performances before the people : they sang folk songs, played various instruments, played small skits, took trained animals with them, showed acrobatic numbers and tricks. Communicating daily with the people, these people easily perceived popular heresies and quickly spread them throughout Europe. The church was tolerant of the performers of heroic songs, but severely persecuted the carriers of playful folk art, since the performances of the latter often had a pronounced anti-church character.
Being unable to eradicate folk culture, the church tried to subordinate it to its influence: timed dances and songs associated with pagan festivities and beliefs to church holidays, canonized local “saints”, into whom folk fantasy turned the heroes of ancient myths or pagan gods. Even in the sermons, elements of folk legends, fairy tales, and parables were included in order to extract from them teachings for believers. However, using partly folk art, the church constantly struggled with its manifestations both among the laity and among the clergy, since, in its inner essence, the folk culture of the Middle Ages always expressed a spontaneous protest against the feudal-church ideology.
Art
Popular barbarian traditions largely determined the originality of art in the early Middle Ages. It has lost the sophistication and perfection of the art forms of antiquity and many of its valuable qualities: the sculpture and the image of a person in general have almost completely disappeared, the skills of stone processing have been lost. Only in Southern Europe did late antique traditions survive, in particular stone architecture and the art of mosaics. In the center and in the northern regions of Western Europe, wooden architecture prevailed, samples of which, with rare exceptions, have not been preserved.
Barbaric tastes and attitudes, the cult of physical strength, showing off wealth, but at the same time a lively direct feeling for the material - that was what was characteristic of the art of the early Middle Ages. These features manifested themselves in jewelry and book business. Crowns, scabbards, buckles, necklaces, rings, bracelets were decorated with precious stones in a gold setting and complex ornamentation, in which geometric, but especially "animal" and plant motifs predominated. For all its primitivism, barbarian art was full of great internal dynamism. His main pictorial medium was color. Bright objects created a sense of materiality, corresponding to the barbaric sensual vision and perception of the world, far from Christian church asceticism.
With the completion of the Christianization of Western Europe in the 7th century. Anthropomorphic art is being revived, in the center of which was the image in the human form of God and saints.
"Carolingian Revival"
At the end of the VIII - beginning of the IX century. under Charlemagne in the Carolingian state, there is a certain rise in feudal-church culture, which has received the name "Carolingian Renaissance" in historiography. For the administration of the vast power of the Carodings, cadres of officials and judges who had a well-known educational background were needed. Charlemagne could find such people among the clergy - the only literate segment of the population at that time, although the cultural level of the clergy was low.
The so-called "Capitulary of the Sciences" (c. 787) ordered the opening of schools for monks and clerics at every monastery and episcopal chair. An attempt was made to organize the education of the laity (in the capitulary of 802). The training program in the newly created schools did not differ much from the program of the former church schools. They were faced with the task, as the decree of the Châlons Church Council of 813 says, to educate such people "who could be of particular importance among the common people and whose science could be opposed not only to various heresies, but also to the tricks of the Antichrist."
Charlemagne also invited educated people from other countries: from Italy - Paul the Deacon, from Spain - the Goth Theodulf, from England - Alcuin, who played a particularly large role in the Carolingian Renaissance. The emperor created at court something like a literary circle, which received the name "Palace Academy". Its members were Karl himself and his large family, the most prominent spiritual and secular dignitaries, teachers and students of the court school opened in Aachen.
The Academy read and interpreted the works of not only ecclesiastical, but also ancient authors, as well as the writings of the members of the circle. Each member of the Academy chose an ancient or biblical pseudonym for himself: Charles was called "David", Alcuin was called "Flaccus", etc. Manuscripts with the works of Roman writers were brought from Italy.
Annals are written in a number of monasteries. Interest in agricultural technology is growing: the agrotechnical treatises of antiquity are being rewritten, new works on agriculture appear (for example, Walafrid Strabo's poem "The Book of Gardening"). Imitating the Byzantine emperors, Karl ordered the construction of stone palaces and churches in Aachen, Boris and other cities. These buildings mostly copied Byzantine architecture, but were much more modest in size. With the imperfection of the building art of the Franks, almost all the buildings erected under Charles perished. Only the chapel in Aachen has survived to our time.
The events of Charlemagne revived the cultural life of the Frankish state. The circle of educated people has expanded. Lay people were admitted to church schools. In the monastic scriptoriums, along with works of Christian literature, the works of many Roman authors began to be copied.
During the ninth century The collection of such manuscripts has increased significantly. The total number of codices that have come down to us from this century exceeds 7000. The vast majority of manuscripts, according to which the works of ancient authors are now published, belong precisely to the 9th century. The external design of manuscripts has also improved significantly. A clear letter was established almost everywhere - the Carolingian minuscule; manuscripts were decorated with miniatures and headpieces.
Works of Carolingian writers - Paul the Deacon, Alcuin. 1 Eingard, who wrote the biography of the emperor "The Life of Charlemagne", contributed to the development of medieval Latin literature. After two "dark ages", the "Carolingian Renaissance" put forward the idea of the benefits of education, including secular knowledge. However, it cannot be considered a genuine cultural renaissance; it was reduced only to external imitation of some Roman models, mainly in form.
During the Carolingian Renaissance, ecclesiastical-feudal political ideas were further developed. Even in the early Middle Ages, in the writings of church leaders, 0 in legislative acts, the class division of society was justified and perpetuated. Later, the idea of the need for cooperation between estates became widespread. It was most clearly formulated by Bishop Lana - Adalberon (end of the 10th - beginning of the 11th century): "... some pray, others fight, others work, and together they are three estates and they cannot stand isolation." A number of treatises developed the position of the king as a servant of God (minister dei) on earth, to whom his subjects must obey, even if he is unjust.
The cultural and social boundaries of the "Carolingian Renaissance" were narrow and defined only by the fact that they met the needs of a small group of courtiers and high-ranking culprits. And during the period of the Carolingian Renaissance, the church-religious worldview remained dominant.
The "Carolingian Renaissance" ended with the collapse of the Carolingian empire. Shortly after the death of Charlemagne, many schools ceased to exist. Since 817, it was forbidden to teach in church and monastery schools those who were not preparing for a clergy. The only original thinker of the ninth century who rose above the level of contemporary theology was the Irishman John Scotus Eriugena. Knowing Greek well, he studied the works of the Greek Neoplatonists and translated them into Latin. Under their influence, in his main work "On the Division of Nature", Euriugena, contrary to the official church doctrine, leaned towards pantheism. For Eriugen, the Christian faith was the basis of all knowledge, but he believed that religion should not hamper the freedom of reason. Eriugena asserted the superiority of reason over the authority of the Church Fathers. His writings were later condemned as heretical.
By the end of the ninth century in most European countries, a new decline in culture began, covering the 10th - the first half of the 11th century. Only in Germany at the court of the German emperors of the Saxo dynasty - the Ottons - at the end of the 10th century. cultural life was more active: literary activity continued, construction was carried out, manuscripts were copied. Schools were opened at some cathedrals. In one of the Episcopal schools in Reims, the "liberal arts" were taught from 980 by the learned monk Herbert, the future Pope Sylvester II. He introduced Europe to Arabic numerals, the abacus counting board, which facilitated arithmetic, and the astrolabe, an astronomical instrument. In general, the results of the so-called "Ottonian" revival, as well as the "Carolingian", for all their limitations, contributed to the further development of early medieval culture. However, they failed to lay the foundations for a broader and more stable rise.
MOSCOW OPEN SOCIAL UNIVERSITY
FINANCIAL AND ECONOMIC FACULTY
ABSTRACT
Theme: Culture of the Middle Ages
Completed by a 2nd year student:
Bondareva L.V.
Supervisor:
Professor Semin V.P.
MOSCOW 2007
Introduction.
1. Early Middle Ages.
2. High (classical) Middle Ages.
2.1 The birth of “urban culture”.
2.2 Sermons as a layer of folk culture.
3. Late Middle Ages.
Conclusion.
Bibliography.
Introduction.
Culturologists call the Middle Ages a long period in the history of Western Europe between Antiquity and New Time. This period covers more than a millennium from the 5th to the 15th centuries.
Within the millennium, it is customary to distinguish at least three periods: the Early Middle Ages, from the beginning of the era to 900 or 1000 years (up to the 10th - 11th centuries);
High (Classical) Middle Ages - from the X-XI centuries to about the XIV century;
Late Middle Ages, XIV-XV centuries.
Some authors, in the context of the Middle Ages, also consider the so-called transitional period from the Middle Ages to the New Age (XVI-XVII centuries), however, it seems more reasonable to consider the period of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation as a separate period of history and culture, which had a great influence on the further formation of the cultural consciousness of the masses .
The folk culture of this era is a new and almost unexplored topic in science. The ideologists of feudal society managed not only to push the people away from the means of fixing their thoughts and moods, but also to deprive researchers of subsequent times of the opportunity to restore the main features of their spiritual life. “Great mute”, “great absent”, “people without archives and without faces” - this is how modern historians call the people in an era when direct access to the means of written fixation of cultural values was closed to them.
The folk culture of the Middle Ages was unlucky in science. Usually when
they talk about it, mention, at the most, the remains of the ancient world and the epic, the remnants of paganism. In those comparatively rare cases when a modern specialist turns to the folk religiosity of the Middle Ages, he does not find any other characteristics for it as “naive”, “primitive”, “uncouth”, “rough”, “superficial”, “paralogical”, “childish ”; it is the religion of the “people-child”, filled with superstition and oriented towards the fabulous and fabulous.
The criteria for such value judgments are taken from the “high” religion of the enlightened, and it is from their position that they judge the consciousness and emotional life of common people, without setting themselves the task of examining it “from the inside”, guided by its own logic.
Early Middle Ages.
The early Middle Ages was a time when turbulent and very important processes took place in Europe, such as the invasion of the barbarians, which ended with the fall of the Roman Empire. Barbarians settled on the lands of the former empire, assimilated with its population, creating a new community of Western Europe.
At the same time, the new Western Europeans, as a rule, adopted Christianity, which by the end of the existence of Rome became its state religion. Christianity in its various forms supplanted pagan beliefs, and this process only accelerated after the fall of the empire. This is the second most important historical process that determined the face of the early Middle Ages in Western Europe.
The third significant process was the formation on the territory of the former Roman Empire of new state formations created by the same “barbarians”. Tribal leaders proclaimed themselves kings, dukes, counts, constantly at war with each other and subjugating weaker neighbors. A characteristic feature of life in the early Middle Ages was constant wars, robberies and raids, which significantly slowed down economic and cultural development.
In the period of the early Middle Ages, the ideological positions of the feudal lords and peasants had not yet taken shape, and the peasantry, which was only being born as a special class of society, in terms of worldview was dissolved in broader and more indefinite layers.
The bulk of the population of Europe at that time were rural residents, whose lifestyle was completely subordinated to routine, and their horizons were extremely limited. Conservatism is an integral feature of this environment.
The peasantry and its life are almost not reflected at all in the social picture of the world, as it was thought at that time, and this fact in itself is very symptomatic. Society, agrarian in nature, built on the exploitation and subjugation of large sections of the rural population, as if allowed itself to ideologically ignore its own majority.
A paradox: the common people, above all the peasantry, despised and ignored by the ruling class, at the same time, in a certain sense, dominated the spiritual life of the early Middle Ages. Rural life, with its unhurried regularity and periodic change of production seasons, was the main regulator of the social rhythm of society (, p. 63)
2. High (classical) Middle Ages.
During the classical or high Middle Ages, Western Europe began to overcome difficulties and revive. Since the 10th century, state structures have been enlarged, which made it possible to raise larger armies and, to some extent, to stop raids and robberies. Missionaries brought Christianity to the countries of Scandinavia, Poland, Bohemia, Hungary, so that these states also entered the orbit of Western culture.
The relative stability that followed made it possible for cities and the economy to rapidly expand. Life began to change for the better, the cities flourished their own culture and spiritual life. A big role in this was played by the same church, which also developed, improved its teaching and organization.
On the basis of the artistic traditions of Ancient Rome and the former barbarian tribes, Romanesque, and later brilliant Gothic art arose, and not only architecture and literature developed, but also other types of art - painting, theater, music, sculpture ... It was during this era that masterpieces were created Literature "Song of Roland", "The Romance of the Rose".
The so-called chivalric literature arises and develops. One of the most famous works - the greatest monument of the French folk heroic epic - "The Song of Roland". In the XII century. chivalric novels appear. Among the most popular was a verse novel about the British King Arthur.
An important monument of German folk literature of the 12th-13th centuries is the “Song of the Nibelungs”, which tells about the invasion of the Huns on the Burgundian kingdom at the beginning of the 5th century. The Nibelungenlied is based on ancient German legends.
A significant phenomenon in the literature of France in the XII-XIII centuries were the vagantes and their poetry. Vagantes (from lat. vagantes - wandering) were called wandering poets. A feature of their work was the constant criticism of the Catholic Church and the clergy for greed, hypocrisy and ignorance. The Church, in turn, persecuted the Vagantes.
The most important monument of English literature of the 13th century is the famous "Ballads of Robin Hood", which to this day remains one of the most famous heroes of world literature.
2.1 The birth of “urban culture”.
During this period, the so-called "urban literature" was rapidly developing, which was characterized by a realistic depiction of urban everyday life of various segments of the urban population, as well as the appearance of satirical works. Representatives of urban literature in Italy were Cecco Angiolieri, Guido Orlandi (end of the 13th century).
The development of urban literature testified to a new phenomenon in the cultural life of Western European society - urban culture, which played a very important role in the development of Western civilization as a whole. The essence of urban culture was reduced to the constant strengthening of secular elements in all spheres of human existence.
Urban culture originated in France in the 11th-12th centuries. During this period, it was represented, in particular, by the work of “jugglers”, who performed in city squares as actors, acrobats, animal trainers, musicians and singers. They performed at fairs, folk festivals, weddings, christenings, etc. and were very popular with the people.
From about the middle of the 12th century, theatrical actions moved from under the church vaults to the square, and the actions were no longer played in Latin, but in French. The role of the actors is no longer the clergy, but the townspeople, the plots of the plays become more and more secular, until they turn into scenes from everyday city life, often flavored with a good portion of satire. At the same time, theatrical art was developing in England.
A new and extremely important phenomenon, testifying to the deepening of the process of development of urban culture, was the creation of non-church schools in the cities - these were private schools that were not financially dependent on the church. The teachers of these schools lived on the light of fees levied on students and anyone who could afford to pay for education could educate their children in them. Since that time, there has been a rapid spread of literacy among the urban population.
2.2 Sermons as a layer of folk culture.
The European medieval society was very religious and the power of the clergy over the minds was extremely great. The teaching of the church was the starting point of all thinking, all sciences - jurisprudence, natural science, philosophy, logic - everything was brought into line with Christianity. The clergy were the only educated class, and it was the church that for a long time determined the policy in the field of education. The entire cultural life of European society of this period was largely determined by Christianity.
An important layer in the formation of folk culture during the classical Middle Ages was sermons.
The bulk of society remained illiterate. In order for the thoughts of the social and spiritual elite to become the dominant thoughts of all parishioners, they had to be “translated” into a language accessible to all people. This is what the preachers did. Parish priests, monks, and missionaries had to explain to the people the basic principles of theology, instil the principles of Christian behavior and eradicate the wrong way of thinking.
The sermon assumed as its listener any person - literate and illiterate, noble and commoner, city dweller and peasant, rich and poor.
The most famous preachers built their sermons in such a way as to hold the attention of the public for a long time and convey to it the ideas of church teaching in the form of simple examples.
Some used for this the so-called "examples" (exempla) - short stories written in the form of parables on everyday topics.
These “examples” are one of the early literary genres and are of particular interest for a more complete understanding of the worldview of ordinary believers. "Example" was one of the most effective means of didactic influence on parishioners.
In these “cases from life”, the original world of medieval man is visible, with his ideas about saints and evil spirits as real participants in a person’s daily life.
However, the most famous preachers, such as Berthold of Regenburg (XIII century), did not use "Examples" in their sermons, building them mainly on biblical texts. This preacher built his sermons in the form of dialogues, addressed appeals and statements to a certain part of the audience or professional categories. He widely used the method of enumeration, riddles and other techniques that made his sermons small performances. (, p. 265)
The ministers of the church, as a rule, did not introduce any original ideas and statements into their sermons, this was not expected of them, and the parishioners would be unable to appreciate this. The audience received satisfaction just from listening to familiar and well-known things.
3. Late Middle Ages.
The late Middle Ages continued the processes of formation of European culture, which began in the period of the classics. However, their course was far from smooth. In the XIV-XV centuries, Western Europe repeatedly experienced a great famine. Numerous epidemics, especially plagues, brought innumerable human casualties. The development of culture was greatly slowed down by the Hundred Years War.
During these periods, uncertainty and fear dominated the masses. The economic upswing is replaced by long periods of recession and stagnation. In the masses, complexes of fear of death and the afterlife were intensified, fears of evil spirits were intensifying.
At the end of the Middle Ages, in the minds of the common people, Satan is transformed from a generally not terrible and sometimes funny devil into an omnipotent ruler of dark forces, who at the end of earthly history will act as the Antichrist.
Another reason for fears is hunger, as a result of low yields and several years of droughts.
The sources of fear are best highlighted in the prayer of a peasant of that time: “Deliver us, Lord, from plague, famine and war.” (, p. 330)
The dominance of oral culture has powerfully contributed to the multiplication of superstitions, fears and collective panics.
However, in the end, the cities were reborn, people who survived pestilence and war got the opportunity to arrange their lives better than in previous eras. Conditions arose for a new upsurge in spiritual life, science, philosophy, and art. This rise necessarily led to the so-called Renaissance or Renaissance.
Conclusion.
So. now you can draw a conclusion on my essay which is called "Culture of the Middle Ages". It can be seen from the work that since in the Middle Ages, a complex of ideas about the world, beliefs, mental attitudes and a system of behavior, which could conditionally be called “folk culture” or “folk religiosity”, in one way or another was the property of all members of society (, p. 356 ).
The thinking of the Middle Ages was predominantly theological.
The medieval church, wary and suspicious of the customs, faith and religious practices of the common people, experienced their influence. As an example, one can cite the sanctioning by the church of the cult of saints in its popular interpretation.
The magical approach to nature extended to Christian rites, belief in miracles was ubiquitous.
The entire cultural life of European society of this period was largely determined by Christianity.
The European medieval society was very religious and the power of the clergy over the minds was extremely great. The teaching of the church was the starting point of all thinking, all sciences - jurisprudence, natural science, philosophy, logic - everything was brought into line with Christianity. The higher clergy were the only educated class, but the medieval European, including the upper strata of society, was illiterate. The level of literacy even of priests in parishes was appallingly low. Only towards the end of the 15th century did the church realize the need to have educated personnel and began to open theological seminaries.
Mass mediaeval culture is a bookless, “pre-Gutenberg” culture. She relied not on the printed word, but on oral sermons and exhortations. It existed through the mind of an illiterate person. It was a culture of prayers, fairy tales, myths and magic spells. The “translation” of the thoughts of the social and spiritual elite into a language accessible to all people was sermons, which represent a significant layer of medieval culture. Parish priests, monks, and missionaries had to explain to the people the basic principles of theology, instil the principles of Christian behavior and eradicate the wrong way of thinking. A special literature was created that popularly expounded the foundations of Christian teaching, giving the flock models to follow. This literature was mainly intended for priests to use in their daily activities.
Medieval Test >> Culture and art
Formation medieval culture………………3 Stages in development medieval European culture…………………………………………………………………3 Christianity is the core culture Middle Ages……………………..…………………………………4 Literature and art Middle Ages…………….4-6 Romance...
During the Middle Ages, there is a special influence of the Christian Church on the formation of the mentality and worldview of Europeans. Instead of a meager and hard life, religion offered people a system of knowledge about the world and the laws that operate in it. That is why medieval culture is completely and completely imbued with Christian ideas and ideals, which considered the earthly life of a person as a preparatory stage for the impending immortality, but in a different dimension. People identified the world with a kind of arena in which heavenly and hellish forces fought, good and evil.
Medieval culture reflects the history of the struggle between the state and the church, their interaction and the realization of divine goals.
Architecture
In the 10-12 centuries in Western European countries, it dominates which is rightfully considered the first canon of medieval architecture.
Secular buildings are massive, they are characterized by narrow window openings and high towers. Typical features of Romanesque architectural structures are domed structures and semicircular arches. Bulky buildings symbolized the power of the Christian god.
Particular attention during this period was paid to the monastic buildings, as they combined the dwelling of the monks, the chapel, the prayer room, workshops and the library. The main element of the composition is a high tower. Massive reliefs decorating the facade walls and portals were the main element of the temple decor.
Medieval culture is characterized by the emergence of another style in architecture. It is called gothic. This style shifts the cultural center from secluded monasteries to crowded urban areas. At the same time, the cathedral is considered the main spiritual building. The first temple buildings are distinguished by slender columns, carried upwards, elongated windows, painted stained-glass windows and “roses” above the entrance. From the inside and outside, they were decorated with reliefs, statues, paintings, emphasizing the main feature of the style - the upward trend.
Sculpture
Metal processing is used primarily for the production
Culturologists call the Middle Ages a long period in the history of Western Europe between Antiquity and New Time. This period covers more than a millennium from the 5th to the 15th centuries.
folk culture of this era is a new and almost unexplored topic in science. The ideologists of feudal society managed not only to push the people away from the means of fixing their thoughts and moods, but also to deprive researchers of subsequent times of the opportunity to restore the main features of their spiritual life. “Great mute”, “great absent”, “people without archives and without faces” - this is how modern historians call the people in an era when direct access to the means of written fixation of cultural values was closed to them. The folk culture of the Middle Ages was unlucky in science. Usually, when they talk about it, they mention at most the remains of the ancient world and the epic, the remnants of paganism.
Early Middle Ages - from the end of the 4th century. The Great Migration of Nations began. Wherever the dominance of Rome took deeper roots, "Romanization" captured all areas of culture: the dominant language was Latin, the dominant law - Roman law, the dominant religion - Christianity. The barbarian peoples who created their states on the ruins of the Roman Empire ended up either in a Roman or in a Romanized environment. However, it should be noted the crisis of the culture of the ancient world during the invasion of the barbarians.
High (classic) Middle Ages- at the first stage of late feudalism (XI-XII centuries), craft, trade, urban life were poorly developed. The feudal landowners reigned supreme. During the classical period, or High Middle Ages, Western Europe began to overcome difficulties and revive. The so-called chivalric literature arises and develops. One of the most famous works is the greatest monument of the French folk heroic epic - “The Song of Roland”. During this period, the so-called "urban literature" was rapidly developing, which was characterized by a realistic depiction of urban everyday life of various segments of the urban population, as well as the appearance of satirical works. Representatives of urban literature in Italy were Cecco Angiolieri, Guido Orlandi (end of the 13th century).
Late Middle Ages continued the processes of formation of European culture, which began in the period of the classics. During these periods, uncertainty and fear dominated the masses. The economic upswing is replaced by long periods of recession and stagnation.
In the Middle Ages, a complex of ideas about the world, beliefs, mental attitudes and behavior systems, which could be conditionally called "folk culture" or "folk religiosity" in one way or another was the property of all members of society. The medieval church, wary and suspicious of the customs, faith and religious practices of the common people, experienced their influence. The entire cultural life of European society of this period was largely determined by Christianity.
