SECTION IV. MATERIAL AND SPIRITUAL WORLD OF THE EUROPEAN MIDDLE AGES
The Christian Church played an important role in the history of the Middle Ages. During the period of the Great Migration of Peoples, the number of believers increased, and the church maintained the unity of Christians. The emergence of the state of the popes strengthened their authority and political influence in Western Europe, but caused discontent among the patriarchs of the Eastern Christian Church. Controversies between the popes and the patriarchs of Constantinople led to the first schism (schism) of Christianity in 1054.
The Christian Church significantly influenced the development of culture.
With the emergence and strengthening of cities in Western European countries, schools and universities began to appear everywhere. They became a reliable basis for the further development of culture, science and education. technical discoveries and improvements decisively entered the life of cities and villages. Among the city residents, an intelligentsia was formed - people who made a living with their intelligence and knowledge. They were ardent supporters of the ideas of humanism and the Renaissance - new trends in European culture that marked the beginning of the Modern Age.
§ 21. Scientific and technical achievements of the Middle Ages. Typography
The Middle Ages are sometimes called "dark" and "ignorant". It is believed that at this time the development of science and technology seemed to freeze. We will try to prove the fallacy of such statements.
Repeat: § 4, 13.
Equipment and transport.
In the development of technology, medieval Europe lagged behind the countries of the East for a long time. Tools, technical devices, and work skills remained the same. True, the peasants invented a collar that made it possible to use horses, which were tougher than bulls, to plow fields. The plow, shovel, rake and other tools with iron parts were passed down from generation to generation. The monks had to take care of the iron tools that belonged to the monastery. The abbot tried to trust them only to those monks “whose lifestyle and hands would ensure their safety.” The learned monk in his treatise stated: “In many ways, iron is more useful for humans than gold, although greedy souls thirst for gold more than iron.”
The most important engine in the Middle Ages remained the water wheel, which was mainly used as a mill. The water wheel, invented in the Roman Empire, was widely used in most European countries in the Middle Ages. For example, in England, during the 1086 census, the Domesday Book mentions 5,624 mills. In some cases, the water wheel was not simply lowered into a river or stream, but the water was directed through a trough so that it fell on the wheel blades (this made its operation more efficient). In the 11th century Europeans borrowed windmills from the Arabs of Spain.
Notable technical inventions were also made in construction, where they used lifting mechanisms and various devices necessary for the construction of cathedrals and palaces.
Vehicles have remained virtually unchanged compared to ancient times. The narrow and uneven medieval streets were dominated by pack transport (human porters, pack animals - donkeys, mules, horses). Where there were roads, various carts and carts were also used, which were constantly in need of repair. The overland journey was long and dangerous. Robbers often waylaid people on the roads.
Rice. 1. Wheeled transport of the Middle Ages
? What was the purpose of transport?
Rice. 2. Medieval sea ship
The bulk of cargo was transported along rivers and seas. Europeans learned to build simple and reliable rowing and sailing ships. Medieval ships did not move far from the coast and did not go far into the open sea. There were no accurate maps then; navigators navigated by the Sun and stars. In winter, many rivers turned into ice paths along which sleigh caravans moved.
Technical improvements and transportation enabled the gradual development of medieval society in Western Europe.
2. Technical devices in military affairs.
In the Middle Ages, military affairs and the defense of the state were completely subordinate to the feudal lords. Knights tried to reliably protect their bodies in battle. Therefore, protective armor (chain mail) was constantly improved, as well as weapons capable of hitting the enemy. Since the 11th century. In Europe, mechanical bows began to be used - crossbows. An arrow successfully fired from a crossbow would pierce a metal helmet or armor at a distance of 150 steps. In the 15th century crossbows threw arrows with heavy steel tips up to 350 meters. The Byzantines considered Western European crossbows to be diabolical weapons.
With the advent of castles and stone fortresses, the manufacture and use of complex siege engines, capable of destroying even “impregnable” fortifications, spread. For example, during the Crusades, knights successfully used large siege towers, which they moved to the walls of Antioch, Jerusalem and other cities of the Middle East. For a long time in Europe, ballistas and catapults were used, designed to destroy enemy fortifications, especially gates. The pinnacle of achievements of medieval mechanics was the trebuchet throwing machine, capable of throwing heavy stones (up to 350 kg) over long distances and destroying the walls of fortresses or sinking enemy ships.
Rice. 3. Medieval catapult. Modern drawing
Rice. 4. Trebuchet at the Chateau de Beau in France. Reconstruction
3. Beginning of scientific research.
In the Middle Ages, science developed slowly and imperceptibly. For a long time, scholasticism prevailed among scientists. Its supporters argued that the knowledge necessary for man is contained in the Bible. The task of science is to use logical reasoning and knowledge of the Bible to prove the truth of the teachings of the church. Experiences and experiments were considered harmful because human feelings are easily misled. For example, the unsurpassed orator and preacher Bernard of Clairvaux in the 12th century. argued that it is impossible to know faith and the world around us with reason.
The first to try to verify the truth of the statements of the church fathers was one of the founders of the University of Paris, Pierre Abelard (1079-1142). He went down in history as a thinker and teacher who sought to prove the superiority of reason over blind faith. Abelard taught “not to honor, but to read the sacred books.” He believed that “it is useless to speak if there is nothing to back up your words. No one can believe in what he has not previously understood.” Only in the XIII-XIV centuries. In Europe, the first works devoted to the study of the movement of celestial bodies, mechanics and optics appeared.
The eminent English naturalist Roger Bacon (1214-1294), who was called the “amazing doctor,” was a professor of theology at Oxford University and a Franciscan monk. He boldly opposed scholasticism and was a preacher of the exact sciences. The clergy accused Bacon of heresy and sentenced him to prison.
Rice. 5. Roger Bacon Statue in Oxford
Rice. 6. Johannes Gutenberg
Rice. 7. Page of the Bible published by I. Gutenberg
In the Middle Ages, the first steps were taken in the development of scientific research into the world around us, going beyond the limits of biblical postulates.
4. Typography.
Further spread of science and knowledge in the XIV-XV centuries. faced serious obstacles. There was a catastrophic shortage of books in Europe. In people's lives, purchasing a book was an important and rare event. To make books, they used a very expensive material - parchment (finely dressed calfskin). In monastery libraries, the most valuable copies of books were chained to the shelves with metal chains.
Only in the 11th century. In Spain, relatively inexpensive paper appeared, brought from the Arab East.
Long way to Europe
At the beginning of our era, a method of making paper was invented in China. In the 8th century The Arabs mastered this secret. For more than five centuries they had the exclusive right to sell paper in Europe. In the XII-XIV centuries. They learned to make paper in Spain, Italy, France, and Germany. Due to the growth in the number of schools and universities and the accumulation of new knowledge in the 14th century. Paper production in Europe is acquiring unprecedented proportions.
Johannes Gutenberg (1394-1468), a native of the German city of Mainz, is considered the inventor of printing in Europe. He knew natural sciences and theology well, and was fluent in Latin. The year of the invention of printing is considered to be 1445. The essence of the invention was that Gutenberg proposed using separate metal letters (types) for typing text, which were placed in the required order in special cells. The letters were hand-coated with paint and then pressed onto a sheet of paper in a press. The result was an imprint of a book page. On the machine created by Gutenberg, it was possible to make 100 impressions of one sheet in an hour. The first printed books were the Bible and the Psalter, published in Latin.
In the second half of the 15th century. In Western Europe it became possible to publish books in large quantities. Printing prepared a real breakthrough in science, education and culture in general.
Questions and tasks
1. What materials did the peasants use for their tools? 2. Why were iron tools highly valued in the economy of peasants and monasteries? 3. What achievements in medieval technology do you consider the most important? 4. Compare modern and medieval transport. 5. Why did the muscular strength of animals and people prevail in the economy? 6. In what areas of medieval life and economy did people achieve the greatest success in the use of machines and technical devices? 7. What means of transport from the Middle Ages are used in modern life? 8*. Why do you think the military technology of the Middle Ages was noticeably ahead of civilian technology? 9. Compare the views on science of Pierre Abelard and Bernard of Clairvaux. What made them different? 10. What is Roger Bacon's main scientific achievement? eleven*. Could printing have appeared in Europe in the 10th century? Explain your point of view. 12*. Why is Johannes Gutenberg's invention considered revolutionary? Give a detailed answer.
The great technical inventions made in the Middle Ages had a huge impact on all areas of economics and culture, and on the development of science. Among these inventions, the most significant were water and windmills, a marine compass, gunpowder, glasses, paper, and mechanical watches. Almost all of these inventions came to Europe from the East.
The water mill and water engine were described, as we have already noted, by Vitruvius, but it was only in the Middle Ages that they began to be widely used. The idea of a water drive (motor) was implemented first for grinding grain (actually for building mills), but then also for performing other work, for example in. cloth production, for drawing wire, for crushing ore. The use of the initially rotational motion of a wheel with a horizontal axis of rotation to carry out translational motion or rotation in other planes required the use of mechanisms that transform the motion. For this purpose, a lantern (finger) type gearing and a cranked lever were invented.
Windmills appeared in Europe at the beginning of the 12th century, but became widespread in the 15th century. The manufacture of mechanisms for water and windmills and their assembly required highly qualified craftsmen who had to have extensive knowledge not only in mechanics, but also in blacksmithing, hydraulic engineering and aerodynamics (in modern terminology).
Mechanical clocks appeared in medieval Europe primarily as tower clocks, used to indicate the time of worship. Before the invention of mechanical watches, a bell was used for this, which was struck by a sentry, which determined the time using an hourglass - every hour. Therefore, the terms “clock” and “watch” have the same origin. A mechanical clock on the tower of Westminster Abbey appeared in 1288. Later, mechanical tower clocks began to be used in France, Italy, and the German states. There is an opinion that mechanical watches were invented by mill masters, developing the idea of continuous and periodic movement of the mill drive. The main task in creating a clock mechanism was to ensure precision or constant speed of rotation of the gears. The manufacture of watches required high precision processing of parts, high precision assembly, selection of material for parts: The development of watch mechanisms was impossible without technical knowledge and mathematical calculations. The measurement of time has a direct connection with astronomy. Thus, watchmaking combined mechanics, astronomy, and mathematics in solving the practical problem of measuring time.
The compass, a device that uses the orientation of a natural magnet in a certain direction, was invented in China. The Chinese attributed the ability to orient natural magnets to the influence of stars. In the I - III centuries. The compass began to be used in China as a “pointer to the South.” How the compass got to Europe is still unknown. The beginning of its use by Europeans in navigation dates back to the 12th century. The use of a compass on ships was an important prerequisite for geographical discoveries. The property of the compass was first presented in detail by the French scientist Pierre da Maricourt (Peter Peregrine). In this regard, he described both the properties of magnets and the phenomenon of magnetic induction. The compass became the first working scientific model, on the basis of which the doctrine of attractions developed, right up to Newton's great theory.
Gunpowder was used in China already in the 6th century. in the manufacture of rockets and fireworks. Many European alchemists worked on discovering the secret of gunpowder, namely, how to prepare a mixture that burns without air. But luck smiled on the Freiburg monk Berthold Schwartz. Gunpowder began to play an important role in military affairs from the 14th century. only after the invention of the cannon, the ancestor of which was the “fire trumpet” of the Byzantines. Soon guns and muskets appeared behind the cannon.
The invention of gunpowder had more than just military consequences. The production of gunpowder and its explosion, the flight of a projectile from a cannon raised questions of a scientific and theoretical nature. This is primarily the study of combustion and explosion processes, issues related to the release and transfer of heat, issues of precision mechanics and technology related to the manufacture of gun barrels, issues of ballistics.
The cannon thus “organized” not only military training grounds, but also extensive “testing grounds” for scientific research.
Science needed paper “like air.” Invented in China in the 2nd century, it appeared in the 6th-7th centuries. in Japan, India, Central Asia, in the 8th century. - in the Arab East. Paper came to Europe through the Arabs in the 12th century. In Spain, for the first time in Europe, at the beginning of the 12th century. Paper production was organized, first from cotton, then from cheaper raw materials - from rags and textile waste. Following paper, which became an incomparably cheaper writing material than parchment, printing also appeared. The predecessor of book printing was woodcut (from the Greek “xylon” - felled tree and “grapho” - writing), that is, engraving on wood. Woodcuts could be used to reproduce printed texts. Chinese masters invented movable type at the beginning of the 11th century, but it appeared in Europe only in the 15th century. The role of printing in scientific progress and the dissemination of knowledge cannot be overestimated.
Glasses were invented in Italy. According to some sources, this invention dates back to 1299 and belongs to Silvino Armati. Others believe that glasses appeared in Italy no earlier than 1350. There is an opinion that the successes of enlightenment during the Renaissance were achieved largely thanks to the invention of glasses. Spectacle lenses became the basis for the creation of optical instruments such as microscopes and telescopes.
32) Science of the Renaissance (Features of the period)
If in the art of the Renaissance sensual physicality became the universal ideal and natural criterion, then in science this role was assigned to rational individuality. It was not individual knowledge or opinion, but the reliability of individuality itself that turned out to be the true basis of rational knowledge. Everything in the world can be questioned; only the fact of doubt itself is certain, which is direct evidence of the existence of reason. This self-justification of reason, accepted as the only true point of view, is rational individuality. The science of the Renaissance differed little from art, since it was the result of the personal creative search of the thinker. An artist is a seeker of true images, a thinker is a seeker of true ideas. The artist has a technique of depiction, the thinker has a technique of clarification, or a method of cognition. The thinker is able to penetrate beyond the sensory world into the plans of the Creator. And just as in the artist’s work the creation of the world continued on the basis of perfect images, so in the scientist’s work God’s plans for the world were revealed. It may seem strange, but the tradition of seeing pure reason as a means of comprehending God and his plans, which was adhered to by Renaissance scientists, developed in medieval mysticism. This tradition dates back to antiquity - in the teachings of the Pythagoreans, in the philosophy of Plato. What could have fueled Plato’s conviction that he was given the ability to comprehend the world of ideas, according to the model of which the world of things was created? An idea is the self-evidence of reason, taken without any images, itself acting as an instrument for creating and constructing images. The idea, which a mortal can comprehend with great difficulty, is at the same time the initial principle of the construction of being, and therefore must be the principle of the construction of true knowledge. This was the case with Plato, but M. Eckhart, whose opinion we have already cited, was also convinced that a thinker who knows God “without the help of an image” becomes identical with God. Renaissance scientists also believed that truths discovered by reason and not having visual expression were given, as it were, by God himself. On the one hand, scientists paid tribute to their time, when it was generally accepted that the highest truths could be established only by God. On the other hand, there was a kind of “heroism of consistency” in the appeal to God. After all, the logic of thinking required going beyond the limits of imagination, i.e. into the sphere of the unnamed, which still needed to be named and designated somehow. The knowledge of what cannot be visualized, what is unnatural from the point of view of earthly existence, only in modern times began to be called natural laws of nature, and Renaissance thinkers referred to God or to universal Reason. Although the consciousness of Renaissance scientists was a mixture of rationalism and mysticism, it should be noted that their God is not the Old Testament God who forbade Adam to eat the fruits of the “knowledge of good and evil.” It was this circumstance that served as the basis for the persecution of some scientists by the Inquisition. The Catholic Church opposed the teachings of Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543) on heliocentrism. The victim of persecution was the Italian philosopher Giordano Bruno (1548-1600). Galileo Gililei (1564-1642), who is usually considered one of the founders of modern science, was put on trial by the Inquisition. He shared the Renaissance idea of human self-creativity, one of the consequences of which was the scientific worldview. This idea was presented in the teachings of Nicholas of Cusa (1401-1464), one of the deepest thinkers of the Renaissance; According to him, the essence of the human personality is its expression of the universal, i.e. God. And the Italian philosopher Pico Della Mirandola (1463-1494), author of the famous “Speech on the Dignity of Man,” argued that if God is the creator of himself, then man must also create himself. The humanistic orientation of the Renaissance was manifested in the fact that the scientific worldview of the era was associated with the problem of human existence.
Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation
Federal Agency for Education State Educational Institution of Higher Professional Education
All-Russian Correspondence Financial and Economic Institute
Department of History of Economics, Cultural Policy
Test
Option No. 17
In cultural studies on the topic:
Cultural achievements of medieval Western Europe.
Teacher:
Work is done:
Faculty of Management and Marketing
Vladimir 2007
Plan. page
Introduction 3
1. Development of European culture in the early Middle Ages (5-11 centuries). Literature, art, architecture, Romanesque style 4
2. Culture of the classical Middle Ages (12-15th century). Literature, art, architecture, Gothic style. 7
3.Christian Church in Medieval Europe. eleven
Conclusion 15
References 17
Introduction
In historical science, the concept of “the Middle Ages” was strengthened after a return to ancient culture was proclaimed during the Renaissance. The “intermediate centuries” between antiquity and the Renaissance, with the light hand of Italian humanists, began to be called middle ages. The conventionality of such a concept is obvious, the huge duration of this period is indicative - more than a millennium, there is no doubt about the importance and versatility of the content of this stage in the history of mankind.
For humanists of the Renaissance and figures of the French Enlightenment, the concept of the Middle Ages was synonymous with savagery and gross ignorance, and the Middle Ages - a time of religious fanaticism and cultural decline. On the contrary, historians of the so-called “romantic” school of the early nineteenth century. They called the Middle Ages the “golden age” of humanity, sang the virtues of chivalric times and the flowering of cultural and Christian traditions.
In the Middle Ages, feudalism was established with a predominant rural community and a person’s dependence on it and the feudal lord. Material culture was determined by communal activities on the land and handicraft production in cities. Due to the fact that many European countries have self-determined and strengthened themselves, the entire European region - Spain, France, Holland, England and other countries - is becoming the center of cultural improvement. Christianity united their spiritual efforts, spreading and establishing itself in Europe and beyond. But the process of establishing statehood among the peoples of Europe was far from complete. Large and small wars arise, armed violence acts as both a factor and a brake on cultural development.
1. Development of European culture in the early Middle Ages (5-11 centuries). Literature, art, architecture, Romanesque style.
The basis of medieval culture was the interaction of two principles - the own culture of the “barbarian” peoples of Western Europe and the cultural traditions of the Western Roman Empire - law, science, art, Christianity. These traditions were adopted during the conquest of Rome by the “barbarians.” They influenced their own culture of the pagan tribal life of the Gauls, Goths, Saxons, Jutes and other tribes of Europe. The interaction of these principles gave a powerful impetus to the formation of Western European medieval culture itself. The essence of culture of any era is, first of all, expressed in a person’s ideas about himself, his goals, capabilities, interests.
The first independent, specifically European artistic style of medieval Europe was Romanesque, which characterized the art and architecture of Western Europe from about 1000 until the emergence of Gothic, in most regions until about the second half and end of the 12th century, and in some later. It arose as a result of the synthesis of the remains of the artistic culture of Rome and barbarian tribes. At first it was the proto-Romanesque style.
At the end of the Proto-Roman period, elements of the Romanesque style were mixed with Byzantine, with Middle Eastern, especially Syrian, which also came to Syria from Byzantium; with Germanic, with Celtic, with features of the styles of other northern tribes. Various combinations of these influences created a variety of local styles in Western Europe, which received the general name Romanesque, meaning “in the manner of the Romans.” Since the bulk of the surviving fundamentally important monuments of the Proto-Romanesque and Romanesque style are architectural structures: the various styles of this period are often distinguished by architectural schools.
Secular buildings of the Romanesque style are distinguished by their massive forms, narrow window openings, and significant height of the towers. The same features of massiveness are characteristic of temple buildings, which were covered with wall paintings - frescoes - on the inside, and brightly colored reliefs on the outside. The knight's castle, the monastery ensemble, and the church are the main types of Romanesque buildings that have survived to this day. Typical examples of Romanesque architecture are Notre Dame Cathedral in Poitiers, cathedrals in Toulouse, Orstval, Oxford, Winchester, etc.
The architecture of the 5th-8th centuries is usually simple, with the exception of buildings in Ravenna, Italy, built according to Byzantine rules. Buildings were often created from or decorated with elements taken from old Roman buildings. In many regions, this style was a continuation of early Christian art. The most famous and best-developed examples of this type are the Cathedral of San Vitalo of the Byzantine Emperor Justinian in Ravenna (526-548) and the octagonal palace chapel built between 792 and 805 by Charlemagne in Isle of Capelle (presently Aachen, Germany).
The outstanding achievement of the architects of the Romanesque period was the development of buildings with stone voltae (arched, supporting structures). The main reason for the development of stone arches was the need to replace the highly flammable wooden floors of pre-Romanesque buildings. The introduction of voltaic structures led to the general use of heavy walls and pillars.
An important element of the artistic culture of the Middle Ages was literary creativity. Oral poetry reaches a high level of development. Its best examples are the works of the heroic epic of England and Scandinavia. The largest work of the heroic epic of England “The Poem of Weowulf” ,
created around 700 and telling about the military exploits of the courageous, fair and fearless knight Beowulf. The monument to the Scandinavian epic - “Elder Eda” represents a collection of Old Norse and Old Icelandic songs and tales about heroes. These works were performed by singer-musicians.
A very important element of oral creativity is sagas ,
preserving the people's memory of actual historical events (“The Saga of Njal”, “The Saga of Egil”, “The Saga of Eric the Red”, etc.). Another major direction of artistic creativity is chivalric literature, which received widespread development during the Classical Middle Ages, in conditions of feudal fragmentation. Its hero was a feudal warrior performing feats. The most famous are “The Song of Roland” (France), the chivalric poetic novel “Tristan and Isolde” (Germany), “The Song of the Nibelungs” (Germany), “The Song of My Cid” and “Rodrigo” (Spain). Western European knightly literature also includes widespread knightly lyrical poetry, which glorified examples of loyalty to the lady of the heart, for whose sake the knights subjected themselves to all sorts of tests at the risk of their lives. Poets-singers who glorified knightly love in their songs were called minnesingers (singers of high love) in Germany, and troubadours in the south of France. ,
and in the north of the country - trouvères .
Proto-Roman artists reached the highest level in illustrating manuscripts. In England, an important school of manuscript illustration arose already in the 7th century at Holy Island (Lindisfarne). The works of this school, exhibited in the British Museum (London), are distinguished by the geometric interweaving of patterns in capital letters, frames, and they densely cover entire pages, which are called carpets. Drawings of capital letters are often enlivened by grotesque figures of people, birds, and monsters.
Pro-Romanesque and Romanesque metalworking, a widespread art form, was used primarily to create church utensils for religious rituals. Many of these works remain to this day in the treasuries of great cathedrals outside France; French cathedrals were looted during the French Revolution.
2. Culture of the classical Middle Ages (12-15th century). Literature, art, architecture, Gothic style .
In the period from the 12th to the 15th centuries, when cities and trade developed, when feudal warriors organized themselves into knightly orders And the crusades begin, a more magnificent and sophisticated culture develops at the courts of large feudal lords: knights learn music and poetry; Their military competitions - tournaments - are solemnly arranged. Here a new, knightly or courtly(court) literature. It is associated primarily with the custom of a knight worshiping his “lady.” Knightly lyrics express the love of a knight for a lady; The chivalric romance, now replacing the heroic epic, glorifies the exploits of the knight no longer in defense of the homeland or overlord, but in the glory of the lady. In order to win her love, knights undergo all sorts of, often fantastic, adventures in novels.
Courtly literature, designed for the tastes of the feudal class, is largely distinguished by artificiality and far-fetchedness. However, it has a progressive beginning: an affirmation of love that undermined the church’s ascetic ideology. Some themes and images from folk poetry penetrate into courtly literature. So, based on a folk tale, a poetic novel was created about Isolde, who mistakenly drank a love drink together, which bound them until their death with a great, irresistible love.
Throughout the Middle Ages, literary creativity continued among the broadest strata of the exploited people. Folk songs have reached us, which expressed the protest of the people, their feelings and aspirations in the era of feudal exploitation, poverty and ruinous wars. The folk songs of those countries where large peasant movements took place, such as, for example, in England in the 12th-15th centuries, are distinguished by their especially acute fighting content. on the basis of the rapid ruin of the peasantry; an extensive song heritage has been preserved here. Notable is the cycle of folk ballad songs dedicated to the legendary robber Robin Hood, the favorite hero of the English people. In his honor, the Scottish mountain villages still celebrate an annual holiday with mass celebrations and games. The ballads depict Robin Hood as a free shooter living in the forest with his squad. He is a defender of the poor, a threat to those in power - rich feudal lords, monks. A number of ballads tell of his struggle with sheriff(the highest local ruler) of the city of Nottingham, from whose hands he repeatedly rescues his comrades condemned to death. The image of Robin Hood - a fighter against feudal lords - is as vividly heroic as the images of warriors in the epic. Robin Hood has almost fabulous archery dexterity, strength and courage. At the call of his horn, a powerful and devoted squad, led by his closest friend John Little, obediently appears on horseback. Contrary to the church's preaching of asceticism, Robin Hood is shown as generous and cheerfully feasting. In this image, the dispossessed English peasantry expressed their dream of freedom and fullness of life.
The Romanesque style was replaced by a new style, the Gothic, as cities flourished and social relations improved. Religious and secular buildings, sculpture, colored glass, illuminated manuscripts, and other works of fine art began to be executed in this style in Europe during the second half of the Middle Ages. Gothic art originated in France around 1140, spread throughout Europe over the next century, and continued to exist in Western Europe throughout most of the 15th century, and in some regions of Europe into the 16th century. The word Gothic was originally used by writers of the Italian Renaissance as a derogatory label for all forms of architecture and art of the Middle Ages, which were considered comparable only to the works of the barbarian Goths. The main representative and exponent of the Gothic period was architecture. Although a huge number of Gothic monuments were secular, the Gothic style served primarily the church, the most powerful builder in the Middle Ages, which ensured the development of this new architecture for that time and achieved its fullest realization.
The aesthetic quality of Gothic architecture depends on its structural development: ribbed vaults became a characteristic feature of the Gothic style. Medieval churches had powerful stone vaults that were very heavy. They tried to open up and push out the walls. This could lead to the collapse of the building. Therefore, the walls must be thick and heavy enough to support such vaults. At the beginning of the 12th century, masons developed ribbed vaults, which included slender stone arches located diagonally, transversely and longitudinally. The new vault, which was thinner, lighter and more versatile (since it could have many sides), solved many architectural problems. Consequently, the thick walls of Romanesque architecture could be replaced by thinner ones that included extensive window openings, and interiors received illumination hitherto unparalleled. Therefore, a real revolution took place in the construction business.
With the advent of the Gothic vault, both the design, shape, and layout and interiors of cathedrals changed. Gothic cathedrals acquired a general character of lightness, upward aspiration, and became much more dynamic and expressive. The first of the great cathedrals was Notre Dame (begun in 1163). In 1194, the cathedral of Chartres was founded, which is considered the beginning of the High Gothic period. The culmination of this era was the Cathedral of Reims (begun in 1210). Rather cold and all-conquering in its finely balanced proportions, Reims Cathedral represents a moment of classical peace and serenity in the evolution of Gothic cathedrals. Openwork partitions, a characteristic feature of late Gothic architecture, were the invention of the first architect of Reims Cathedral. Fundamentally new interior solutions were found by the author of the cathedral in Bourges (begun in 1195). The influence of French Gothic quickly spread throughout Europe: Spain, Germany, England. In Italy it was not so strong.
The cathedrals of England were somewhat different, which were characterized by a large length and a peculiar intersection of pointed arches of the vaults. The most striking examples of the Gothic style in England are Westminster Abbey in London, Salisbury Cathedrals, etc.
The transition from Romanesque to Gothic in Germany was slower than in France and England. This explains the presence of a large number of eclectic style buildings. The lack of building stone, especially in the northern regions of Germany, gave rise to brick Gothic, which spread quite quickly throughout Europe. The first brick Gothic church was the church in Lübeck (13th century).
In the XIV century. a new technique arises - flaming Gothic, which was characterized by decorating the building with stone lace, i.e. the finest stone carvings. Masterpieces of flaming Gothic include the cathedrals in the cities of Ambray, Amiens, Alason, Conches, and Corby (France).
3.Christian Church in Medieval Europe.
The Middle Ages in Europe were defined by Christian culture. The Church sought to explain social relations on the model of the relationship between man and God. Submission, humility, obedience become the main values of public life, which are preached by the Christian clergy.
The role of the church in the life of Western European medieval society, which many historians call Christian society or the Christian world, was comprehensive: religion and the church filled the entire life of a person in the feudal era from birth to death. The church claimed to govern society and performed many functions that later became the property of the state. The medieval church was organized on strictly hierarchical principles. It was headed by the Roman high priest - the pope, who had his own state in Central Italy; archbishops and bishops in all European countries were subordinate to him. These were the largest feudal lords, possessing entire principalities and belonging to the top of feudal society. Having monopolized culture, science, and literacy in a society consisting mainly of warriors and peasants, the church had enormous resources that subordinated the man of the feudal era to it. Skillfully using these means, the church concentrated enormous power in its hands: kings and lords, needing its help, showered it with gifts and privileges, trying to buy its favor and assistance.
At the same time, the church pacified society: it sought to smooth out social conflicts, calling for mercy towards the oppressed and disadvantaged, for an end to lawlessness, and for the distribution of alms to the poor. Poverty was even given moral priority. The Church brought under its protection many peasants in need of protection, provided them with land for settlement, and encouraged the liberation of other people's slaves, who at the same time became dependent on it. In turbulent feudal times, people sought the protection of the monastery. The monastery was also the most demanding owner, preserving the most severe forms of feudal exploitation. The Church was the largest landowner in the feudal world and tirelessly increased its material wealth. Monasteries were among the first to switch to commodity farming, to production for the market, taking treasures and money for storage, and providing loans. Under the patronage of the church, in conjunction with church holidays, fairs and markets arise, pilgrimages to holy places merge with trade travel. Continuing to use economic power for its own purposes, the church in the 11th-13th centuries. in fact, he heads the trade and colonization movement of Europeans to the East (“crusades”), organizing huge monetary collections to finance them. After the cessation of the “campaigns,” these funds began to be used to strengthen the papal treasury. The church organization reached its highest power in the 12th-13th centuries, turning into a powerful financial organization with unlimited power over its structures and exceptional political influence. Taking a conservative position, the church taught that each member of society should live in accordance with his legal and property status and not seek to change it. The ideology of the three “estates,” which spread in Europe in the 10th century, put monks in first place, people devoted to prayer and standing above society. There was a gradual aristocratization of the clergy and monasticism. However, along with the official church doctrine in the Middle Ages, popular religiosity was widespread, going far beyond the framework of the church and Christian dogma. God was perceived as a mysterious force present in sacred places, the personification of goodness and justice. This popular religiosity was shared by the bulk of priests, with the exception of the church elite - learned bishops and abbots. Of great importance was the belief in intermediaries between God and people - angels and saints, in whom the laity were more attracted not by Christian virtues, but by the miracles they performed, perceived as proof of their power and holiness. However, one cannot fail to note the positive role of the church and Christian doctrine in the formation of Medieval civilization. The Church cared for the sick, the poor, orphans and the elderly. She controlled education and book production. The church, according to the modern historian Bishok, “was more than a patron of medieval culture, it was the medieval culture itself.” Thanks to the influence of Christianity, by the 9th century a fundamentally new understanding of family and marriage had established itself in medieval society; the familiar concept of “marriage” was absent in the late antique and ancient Germanic traditions, and there was no concept of “family” that is familiar to us then. In the early Middle Ages, marriages between close relatives were practiced; numerous marriage ties were common, which were also inferior to consanguineous ties. It was precisely this situation that the church struggled with: the problems of marriage, as one of the Christian sacraments, have become almost the main theme of many theological works since the 6th century. The fundamental achievement of the church of this period of history should be considered the creation of the marital unit as a normal form of family life that still exists today. Even technological progress in medieval Europe was associated, according to many scientists, with the spread of Christian doctrine and, as a consequence, with a change in man’s relationship with nature. We are talking, in particular, about the rejection of the pre-Christian system of prohibitions and taboos that held back the development of agriculture: nature has ceased to be an object of religious worship and a source of fear. The new economic situation, technological improvements and inventions contributed to a significant increase in living standards, very stable throughout several centuries of the feudal era.
4.Test
1) Christianity
3) Buddhism
4) Hinduism
5) Shintoism
6) Judaism
7) Jainism
Buddhism arose in the northeast of India in areas of pre-Brahmin culture. Buddhism quickly spread throughout India and reached its peak at the end of the 1st millennium BC - the beginning of the 1st millennium AD. Buddhism had a great influence on Hinduism, which was being revived from Brahmanism, but was supplanted by Hinduism by the 12th century AD. practically disappeared from India. The main reason for this was the opposition of the ideas of Buddhism to the caste system sanctified by Brahmanism. At the same time, starting from the 3rd century BC, it covered Southeast and Central Asia and partly Central Asia and Siberia.
Jainism
Hinduism
Answer: 3,4,7.
Conclusion
The Middle Ages were a time of intense spiritual life, complex and difficult searches for ideological constructs that could synthesize the historical experience and knowledge of previous millennia.
In this era, people were able to take a new path of cultural development, different from what they knew in previous times. Trying to try on faith and reason, building pictures of the world based on the knowledge available to them and with the help of Christian dogmatism, the culture of the Middle Ages created new artistic styles, a new urban way of life.
The Middle Ages cannot be considered a period of failure in the development of Western European culture from antiquity to modern times. It is also hardly possible to look at it as a period of a kind of stagnation. Despite all the contradictions of the cultural process, it is more legitimate to assert that it was at this time that the most important features of the Western European Christian type of culture took shape on the basis of the widespread spread of Christianity. During the period under review, the institution of the church and Christian doctrine occupied dominant positions in almost all spheres of the cultural life of medieval society. However, at the end of the era of the classical Middle Ages, a tendency towards secularization was clearly evident, primarily in the spiritual sphere based on the spread of humanistic ideas.
Thus, we can conclude that the Middle Ages were a natural and necessary stage in the development of Christian civilization. In Medieval European society, the human personality as a whole was valued higher than in Antiquity, if only because the medieval worldview, imbued with the spirit of Christianity, did not separate man from the world around him, due to his inclination towards a holistic vision of the world. Consequently, one cannot talk about the spiritual dictatorship of the church over medieval man, which supposedly hindered the development of personality. In Western Europe, the church usually played a stabilizing, conservative role, that is, it provided favorable conditions for personal development. It is impossible to imagine the spiritual quest of a medieval person outside the church. It was the knowledge of the world and God, inspired by church ideals, that gave birth to the colorful, diverse, living culture of the Middle Ages. It was the church that created universities and schools, encouraged theological debates and printing.
List of used literature:
1. Badaka A. N., Voynich I. E., Volchek N. M. and others. World history. Age of Enlightenment.
2.Vlasov V.G. Styles in art. St. Petersburg, 1996
3.Markova A.N. History of world culture. M.: UNITY, 2000
4.Darkevich V.P. Folk culture of the Middle Ages. Secular festive
life in art of the XI-XVI centuries. – M., 1988
5. Dobiash-Rozhdestvenskaya O.A. Culture of the Western European Middle Ages. – M., 1989
Addendum to the abstract:
Test:
Which of these religions are most widespread in India:
1) Christianity
3) Buddhism
4) Hinduism
5) Shintoism
6) Judaism
7) Jainism
Buddhism arose in the northeast of India in areas of pre-Brahmin culture. Buddhism quickly spread throughout India and reached its peak at the end of the 1st millennium BC - the beginning of the 1st millennium AD. Buddhism had a great influence on Hinduism, which was being revived from Brahmanism, but was supplanted by Hinduism by the 12th century AD. practically Buddhism to the caste system sanctified by Brahmanism. At the same time, he disappeared from India. The main reason for this was the contrast of ideas starting from the 3rd century BC, it covered Southeast and Central Asia and partly Central Asia and Siberia.
Around the same time (VI century BC) in India arose Jainism. His religious and philosophical treatises - sutras - contain the teaching of liberation from the bonds of samsara (reincarnation of souls).
At the end of the 1st millennium AD, as a result of the development of the Vedic religion, Brahmanism, and the process of further assimilation of popular beliefs, one of the largest religions in the world in terms of the number of followers was formed - Hinduism. It is based on the doctrine of reincarnation of souls (samsara), which occurs in accordance with the law of retribution (karma) for virtuous or bad behavior; veneration of the supreme gods or their incarnations; observance of caste household rules.
Answer: 3,4,7.
Literature:
Starting from the 12th century, a rich literature appeared in Western Europe in Latin and in national languages. Medieval literature is characterized by a variety of genres - this is the heroic epic, and chivalric literature, and the sunny poetry of troubadours and minnesingers, and the fables and poetry of vagantes.
The most important component of the emerging written culture was the heroic epic, recorded in the 12th – 12th centuries. In the heroic epic of Western Europe, there are two varieties: historical epic, and fantastic epic, closer to folklore.
The epic works of the 12th century were called “poems of deeds.” At first they were oral poems, performed, as a rule, by wandering singers and jugglers. The famous “Song of Roland”, “Song of My Sid”, in which the main ones are patriotic motives and purely “Knightly spirit”.
The concept of “knight” in Western Europe became synonymous with nobility and nobility and was contrasted, first of all, with the lower classes - peasants and townspeople. The growth of class self-awareness of knighthood strengthens their sharply negative attitude towards commoners. Their political ambitions also grew, their claims to place themselves on an unattainable and moral height.
Gradually in Europe, an image of an ideal knight and a code of knightly honor are emerging, according to which “a knight without fear or reproach” must come from a noble family, be a brave warrior, and constantly care about his glory. The knight was required to be courteous, to be able to play musical instruments and write poetry, and to follow the rules of “KUTUAZIA” - impeccable upbringing and behavior at court. A knight must be a devoted lover of his chosen “LADY”. Thus, the code of knightly honor of military squads is intertwined with the moral values of Christianity and the aesthetic norms of the feudal environment. Of course, the image of the ideal knight often diverges from reality, but still he played a big role in Western European medieval culture.
Within the framework of knightly culture in the 12th century, such literary genres as knightly romance and knightly poetry appeared. The term "novel" originally meant only a poetic text in the pictorial Romance language, as opposed to Latin, and then it came to be used to name a specific genre.
The first chivalric romances appeared in the Anglo-Norman cultural environment in 1066. Geoffrey of Monmouth is traditionally considered to be the originator of the legends about the exploits of King Arthur, about his glorious knights of the Round Table, and about their struggle with the Anglo-Saxons. The Arthurian romance series is based on the Celtic heroic epic. His heroes - Lancelot and Perceval, Palmerin - embodied the highest chivalric virtues. A common motif in chivalric romances, especially the Breton cycle, was the search for the Holy Grail - the cup in which, according to legend, the blood of the crucified Christ was collected. The Breton cycle of novels also includes “the beautiful story of Tristan and Isolde” - a poem about the eternal undying passion that flares up in the main characters after they mistakenly drink a love potion.
The largest representatives of the genre of the 11th century were the French project of Chrestien de Troyes. He even predicted the legends of the Arthurian cycle and embodied them in his “novels and poems.”
The works of Chrestien de Troyes “Erec and Enida”, Yvain, or the Knight of the Lion”, “Lacelot, or the Knight of the Cart”, etc. are among the best examples of courtly Western European literature. The plots of the works of K. De Troyes were processed by the authors of German chivalric novels, for example, Rartman Von Aue. His best work was « Poor Henry" is a short poetic story. Another famous author of knightly courtly novels was WOLFRAMPHONESCHENBACH, whose poem “Parsi-fal” (one of the knights of the Round Table) later inspired the great German composer R. Wagner. The chivalric romance reflected the growth of secular trends in literature, as well as an increased interest in human feelings and experiences. He passed on to subsequent eras the idea of what came to be called chivalry. The chivalric romance reflected the growth of secular trends in literature, as well as an increased interest in human experiences. He passed on to subsequent generations the idea of what came to be called chivalry.
Sunny French Provence became the birthplace of troubadour poetry, which arose at the courts of feudal lords. In this type of courtly poetry, the cult of the lady occupied a central place. Among the troubadours, knights of middle income predominated, but there were also representatives of the feudal nobility and people from the plebeian environment. The main features of poetry were elitism and intimacy, and love for a beautiful lady appeared in the form of a kind of religion or cultural action.
The most famous troubadours of the 22nd century were Bernard Deventarion, Herout de Bornel, and Bertrand de Born. The poetry of the Trouvères flourished in the north of France, the poetry of the Minnesingers flourished in Germany, and the poets of the “new voluptuous style” flourished in Italy.
Urban literature of the 12th–13th centuries was anti-feudal and anti-church. Urban poets sang the diligence, practical ingenuity, cunning and cunning of artisans and traders.
The most popular genre of urban literature was the poetic short story, fable or joke. All of these genres were characterized by realistic features, satirical sharpness, and a little rough humor. They ridiculed the rudeness and ignorance of the feudal lords, their greed and treachery. Another work of medieval literature has become widespread - “The Romance of the Rose”, which consists of two dissimilar and different parts. In the first part, various human qualities appear in the form of characters: reason, hypocrisy. The second part of the novel is satirical in nature and decisively attacks the feudal-church order, asserting the need for universal equality.
Another direction of urban culture of the Middle Ages was carnival - laughter theatrical art. The culture of laughter dominated the carnival and the work of folk traveling actors, jugglers, acrobats, and singers. The highest manifestation of folk square culture was the carnival.
The phenomenon of folk culture of laughter allows us to reconsider the cultural world of the Middle Ages and discover that the “dark” Middle Ages were characterized by a festively poetic perception of the world.
The principle of laughter in folk culture could not find responses in the church-feudal culture, which contrasted it with “holy sorrow.” The Church taught that laughter and fun corrupt the soul and are inherent only in evil spirits. They included traveling artists and buffoons, and shows with their participation were branded as “godless abomination.” In the eyes of the clergy, buffoons served demonic glory.
The poetry of vagants - wandering schoolchildren - is close to urban culture.
The poetry of the vagants, wandering throughout Europe in search of better teachers and a better life, was very daring, condemning the church and clergy and praising the joys of earthly and free life. In the poetry of the Vagants, two main themes were intertwined: love and satire. The poems are mostly anonymous; they are plebeian in essence and in this way they differ from the aristocratic creativity of the troubadours.
The Vagantes were persecuted and condemned by the Catholic Church.
One of the most famous heroes of medieval world literature was Robin Hood, the protagonist of numerous ballads and literary monuments of the 13th century.
Education.
In the V-IX centuries. All schools in Western European countries were in the hands of the church. The church drew up a curriculum and selected students. the main task monastic schools was defined as the education of church ministers. The Christian Church preserved and used elements of secular culture left over from the ancient education system: church schools taught disciplines inherited from antiquity: the “seven liberal arts” - grammar, rhetoric, dialectics with elements of logic, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy and music. At the same time, ancient texts were often destroyed, and expensive parchment was used to record monastic chronicles.
There were also secular schools, where young men were trained who were not intended for a church career. Many such schools were opened in the second half of the 9th century. in England. Children from noble families studied there, and were taught by teachers from continental Europe, who actively translated the works of ancient authors into English.
The level of teaching in different schools and different periods of the Middle Ages was not the same, and the degree of education of people also changed. After a certain rise in the VIII-IX centuries. more developed mental life in the 10th - early 11th centuries. noticeably slowed down. The clergy were illiterate and ignorance spread. Thus, it was believed that the Earth is like a wheel that flows around the ocean on all sides; The city of Jerusalem is located in the center of the Earth. The ancient idea of the spherical shape of the Earth was rejected: it was considered impossible that people on the opposite side of the Earth walk on their heads. Have fallen into disrepair scriptoria- workshops that existed at churches and monasteries, in which manuscripts were copied, as well as church and monastery libraries. There were few books and they were extremely expensive. For example, at the beginning of the 11th century. "Grammar" cost the same as a house with a plot. In some European countries, however, a high level of teaching has been maintained. So, in the X-XI centuries. Philosophy, mathematics, physics, astronomy, medicine, law, and Muslim theology were taught in higher schools in Spain. People came here to study from all the countries of Western Europe, as well as from the countries of Western and Central Asia.
In the 11th century in Italy, on the basis of the Bologna Law School, the first university(1088), which became the largest center for the study of Roman and canon law. Students and professors| united into universities (Latin universitas - association) in order to achieve independence from the city and have the right of self-government. The university was divided into community- associations of students from a particular country and faculties(lat. facultas-
opportunity), where they acquired this or that knowledge.
In England, the first university was opened in 1167 Oxford, then - university in Cambridge. The most prominent university scientist in England in the 13th century. was Roger Bacon(c. 1214-1292), who put forward reason and experience rather than church authorities as the main method of knowledge.
The largest and first of the universities in France was Paris Sorbonne(1160). It united four faculties: general education, medicine, law and theology. The Sorbonne was a recognized center of theology. Just like other large universities, students from all European countries flocked here. Teaching, as elsewhere in Western Europe, was conducted in Latin.
Medieval university science was called scholasticism(from the gr. scholastikos - schoolboy, scientist), i.e. school science. Its most characteristic features were the desire to rely on authorities, primarily church ones, underestimation of the role of experience as a method of knowledge, the combination of theological-dogmatic premises with rationalistic principles, and interest in formal-logical problems. The influence of the church on medieval universities was enormous.
For Byzantium The period of the early Middle Ages was also characterized by the strengthening of the position of the Christian Church in the field of education, which was expressed, for example, in the persecution of ancient philosophy. In the VI century. the famous one was closed Athens school, founded by Plato and existed for almost 1000 years. Ancient philosophy was replaced theology. However, in the middle of the 9th century. A higher school was created in Constantinople, where teaching was based on the ancient model. The most prominent representative of Byzantine culture of this time was Patriarch Photius(c. 810 or 820-890s), compiler "Myriobiblion"- a collection of reviews of 280 works of mainly ancient authors, the author of theological works.
In the IX-X centuries. there is an increase in natural science knowledge. Encyclopedias are being created in various branches of knowledge, containing a variety of information about Byzantine society and neighboring peoples, including the Eastern Slavs - the Rusaks. Surgery manuals and mathematics textbooks are being compiled. Along with the exact sciences, occu is becoming widespread. cultural sciences: alchemy, astrology, magic.
🙂 Greetings to regular and new readers of the “Ladies-Gentlemen” site! The article “Scientists of the Middle Ages and their discoveries: facts and videos” contains information about famous scientists in the fields of alchemy, medicine, and geography. The article will be useful for schoolchildren and history buffs.
Scientists of the Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is an era in history from the 5th to the 15th centuries. The medieval world was full of prejudice and ignorance. The Church jealously watched those who strived for knowledge, and literally persecuted them. Knowledge was considered useful if it brought one closer to knowledge of the Lord.
Medicine more often caused harm than good - you had to rely only on the strength of the body. People did not understand what the Earth looked like and came up with various fables about its structure.
But even in this ignorance there was room for an analogue to the modern scientist. Of course, such a concept did not exist, because no one yet had any idea about scientific methods. The main activity of philosophers was aimed at searching for the philosopher's stone, which would turn any metal into gold, and the elixir of life, which would give eternal youth.
Alchemy
Even 400 years before Newton’s work, the monk Roger Bacon conducted an experiment in which a beam directed through water was decomposed into a spectrum. The natural scientist came to the conclusion, as Newton later did, that the color white has an unchanging geometry. Roger Bacon wrote that mathematics is the key to other sciences.
Like most 13th-century alchemists, Bacon was one of the experimental philosophers searching for the philosopher's stone. Medieval alchemists were obsessed with gold for a reason. Gold is a very remarkable metal. First of all, it cannot be destroyed. Experimenters asked this question constantly.
Why does the variability of matter inherent in other substances not apply to gold? This metal can be heated, melted, given a new shape - it remains with unchanged qualities.
The study of gold became a search for perfection on earth. All manipulations with metal were not aimed at enrichment; alchemists did not strive for wealth, but to understand the secrets of shiny metal.
Numerous experiments made it possible to make a lot of discoveries. Alchemists discovered the technique of applying gilding. They obtained concentrated acids, discovered various distillation methods, and, in fact, laid the foundations of chemistry.
Famous alchemists of the Middle Ages:
- Albert the Great (1193-1280)
- Arnoldo de Villanova (1240-1311)
- Raymond Lull (1235-1314)
- Vasily Valentine (1394-1450)
- (1493-1541)
- Nicola Flamel (1330-1418)
- Bernardo, the Good Man of Treviso (1406-1490)
Church
No matter how much we scold the clergy, these people were the most educated for many centuries. They were the ones who pushed the boundaries of science, conducted scientific experiments, and took notes in church libraries.
In the 11th century, the monk of Malmesbury Abbey, Aylmer, attached a pair of wings to himself and jumped from a high tower. The aircraft carried him almost 200 meters before he hit the ground, breaking his legs.
Aylmer of Malmesbury - English Benedictine monk of the 11th century
During the treatment, he told the abbot that he knew what his mistake was. His flying invention is missing a tail. True, the abbot forbade further experiments, and controlled flights were postponed for 900 years.
But church ministers had the opportunity to make discoveries in other areas of human activity. The medieval church did not oppose itself to science; on the contrary, it wanted to use it.
The most perspicacious expressed their boldest thoughts. They assumed that humanity would have ships driven not by a hundred oarsmen, but by one person, carts that moved without any manpower, an aircraft that lifted a person from the ground and returned him back.
This is exactly what happened, and progress is delayed by humanity, perhaps due to the reluctance to objectively evaluate the past.
Medicine
Today people need one thing from medicine - to make us feel better. But medieval doctors had more ambitious goals. For starters, eternal life.
For example, Artefius is a philosopher who lived in the 12th century. He wrote a treatise on the art of prolonging human life, claiming that he himself lived for at least 1025 years. This charlatan boasted of his acquaintance with Christ, although at that time it turned out that he had already lived for more than 1200 years.
Alchemists believed that if they could turn the metal into perfect gold using the philosopher's stone, then they could use it as the elixir of eternal life and make humanity immortal. And although the elixir of eternal life was not found, there undoubtedly were experts in this field.
Doctors who lived 600-800 years before our time quite rightly believed that disease is not caused by external factors, but occurs when the body lacks health. Therefore, doctors tried to restore health with the help of diets and herbs.
There were entire pharmaceutical shops where there were a large number of medicinal drugs. At least 400 plants with various healing properties were mentioned in medical treatises.
The main advantage of medieval doctors is that they perceived the body as a single whole.
The most ancient scientist and doctor (Avicenna) (980-1037) worked for many years on his encyclopedia “The Canon of Medicine”, which absorbed the medical knowledge of the medieval East.
Mondino de Luzzi (1270 - 1326) - Italian anatomist and physician resumed the practice of public dissections of dead people for teaching students, which had been prohibited by the Catholic Church.
Alchemist, physician, philosopher, naturalist Paracelsus (1493-1541)
The famous healer and alchemist from Switzerland, Paracelsus (1493-1541), knew anatomy very well. In practice he had the skills of surgery and therapy. He criticized the ideas of ancient medicine and independently developed a classification of diseases.
Geography
People have long believed that the earth is flat. But it is known for sure that Robert Bacon wrote in his writings: “The rounding of the earth explains why, having climbed to a height, we see further.” The dissent of the church authorities hampered the development of many sciences, but geography suffered, perhaps, the most.
This is proven by maps found by archaeologists. Only sailors needed accurate maps, and they had them. We do not know who drew these maps and how the process of their creation went. Their accuracy amazes modern specialists.
Among the travelers of the Middle Ages, the Russian merchant Afanasy Nikitin (date of death 1475) should be noted. He traveled from the city of Tver to India! At that time this was incredible! His notes made during the journey are called “Walking across the Three Seas.”
The Italian merchant and traveler Marco Polo (1254 - 1344) was the first European to describe China. “The Book of Marco Polo” was one of the main sources for compiling a map of Asia.
The centuries, called the Middle Ages, occupy a different period in the history of each country. In general, as a rule, the period from the 5th to the 15th centuries is called this way, counting it from 476, when the Western Roman Empire fell.
The culture of Antiquity perished under the onslaught of barbarians. This is one of the reasons why the Middle Ages are so often called dark or gloomy. Along with the decline of the Roman Empire, the light of reason and the beauty of art disappeared. However, scientific discoveries and inventions in the Middle Ages are excellent proof that even in the most difficult times, humanity manages to preserve valuable knowledge and, moreover, develop it. This was partly facilitated by Christianity, but a large share of ancient developments was preserved thanks to Arab scientists.
Eastern Roman Empire
Science primarily developed in monasteries. After the fall of Rome, Byzantium became the repository of ancient wisdom, where by that time the Christian Church had already played a significant, including political, role. The libraries of the monasteries of Constantinople contained the works of outstanding thinkers of Greece and Rome. Bishop Leo, who worked in the 9th century, devoted a lot of time to mathematics. He was among the first scientists to use letters as mathematical symbols, which actually gives the right to call him one of the founders of algebra.
On the territory of the monasteries, scribes created copies of ancient works and commentaries on them. The mathematics that developed under their arches formed the basis of architecture and made it possible to build such an example of Byzantine art as the Church of Hagia Sophia.
There is reason to believe that the Byzantines created maps while traveling to China and India; they knew geography and zoology. However, today most of the information about the state of science in the Middle Ages on the territory of the Eastern Roman Empire is unknown to us. She is buried in the ruins of cities that were constantly subject to enemy attacks throughout the entire period of the existence of Byzantium.
Science in Arab countries
Much ancient knowledge was developed outside of Europe. which developed under the influence of ancient culture, actually saved knowledge not only from barbarians, but also from the church, which, although it favored the preservation of wisdom in monasteries, did not welcome all scientific works, trying to protect itself from the penetration of heresy. After some time, ancient knowledge, supplemented and revised, returned to Europe.
On the territory of the Arab Caliphate in the Middle Ages, a huge number of sciences developed: geography, philosophy, astronomy, mathematics, optics, natural science.
Numbers and planetary movements
Astronomy was largely based on Ptolemy's famous treatise "Almagest". It is interesting that the scientist’s work received such a name after it was translated into Arabic and then returned to Europe. Arab astronomers not only preserved Greek knowledge, but also increased it. Thus, they assumed that the Earth was a sphere, and were able to measure the arc of the meridian in order to calculate. Arab scientists gave names to many stars, thereby expanding the descriptions given in the Almagest. In addition, they built observatories in several large cities.
The medieval discoveries and inventions of the Arabs in the field of mathematics were also quite extensive. It is in Islamic states that algebra and trigonometry originate. Even the word “digit” is of Arabic origin (“sifr” means “zero”).
Trade relations
Many scientific discoveries and inventions in the Middle Ages were borrowed by the Arabs from the peoples with whom they constantly traded. Through Islamic countries, a compass, gunpowder, and paper came to Europe from India and China. The Arabs, in addition, compiled a description of the states through which they had to travel, as well as the peoples they met, including the Slavs.
Arab countries also became a source of cultural change. It is believed that this is where the fork was invented. From the territory it first came to Byzantium, and then to Western Europe.
Theological and secular science
Scientific discoveries and inventions in the Middle Ages in Christian Europe mainly appeared in monasteries. Until the 8th century, however, the knowledge that was given attention concerned sacred texts and truths. Secular sciences began to be taught in cathedral schools only during the reign of Charlemagne. Grammar and rhetoric, astronomy and logic, arithmetic and geometry, as well as music (the so-called) were initially available only to the nobility, but gradually education began to spread to all levels of society.
By the beginning of the 11th century, schools at monasteries began to transform into universities. Secular educational institutions appeared gradually in France, England, the Czech Republic, Spain, Portugal, and Poland.
A special contribution to the development of science was made by the mathematician Fibonacci, the natural scientist Vitellin, and the monk Roger Bacon. The latter, in particular, assumed that the speed of light has a finite value and adhered to a hypothesis close to the wave theory of its propagation.
The inexorable movement of progress
Technical discoveries and inventions in the 11th-15th centuries gave the world a lot, without which it would not have been possible to achieve the level of progress that is characteristic of humanity today. The mechanisms of water and windmills have become more advanced. The bell that measured time was replaced by a mechanical clock. In the 12th century, sailors began to use a compass for orientation. Gunpowder, invented in China back in the 6th century and brought by the Arabs, began to play a significant role in European military campaigns only in the 14th century, when the cannon was invented.
In the 12th century, Europeans also became acquainted with paper. Production opened, making it from various suitable materials. At the same time, woodcut (wood engraving) developed, which was gradually replaced by printing. Its appearance in European countries dates back to the 15th century.
The inventions and scientific discoveries of the 17th century, as well as all subsequent ones, are largely based on the achievements of medieval scientists. Alchemical searches, attempts to find the edge of the world, the desire to preserve the heritage of Antiquity made possible the progress of mankind during the Renaissance, and Scientific discoveries and inventions in the Middle Ages contributed to the formation of the world we know. Therefore, perhaps, it would be unfair to call this period of history hopelessly gloomy, remembering only the Inquisition and church dogmas of that time.