Renaissance of the 12th Century

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Renaissance of the 12th Century
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• Was it all darkness and ignorance?

No!
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Advances of the 12th Century

• Trade
• Hanseatic League
• Venice (Silk Road)
• Marco Polo
• Philosophy
• Scholasticism
• Made ancient philosophy compatible with Church
  doctrine
• Late 12th century -- rediscovery of the works of
  Aristotle

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Advances of the 12th Century

• Science
• Search for Facts
• Rediscovery of ancient knowledge
• Technology
• Gunpowder
• Improved Ships (led to Age of Exploration)
• Navigational tools (Astrolabe reintroduced via
  Muslims)
• Windmills

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Scholasticism

• Support church doctrine through study, reason,
  and logic.
• Opposed mysticism and the simple view of the
  world as a struggle of good vs. evil.
• Thomas Aquinas -- away from Augustinian view and
  more toward Aristotelianism
• Tabula rasa Aquinas said the mind at birth is
  "blank slate. Man is given the ability to think
  and recognize ideas through a divine spark.

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Thomas Aquinas

• 13th Century
• Summa Theologica
• Summary of main theological teachings
• Influential. Consulted after Bible on religious
  questions.
• "Five Ways" arguments for the existence of God.
• Aristotelian reasoning logical argument
• The intricate design and order of existent things
  and natural processes imply a Great Designer must
  exist. Therefore, proof for the existence of
  God.

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Important Points from Summa Theologica

• Theology is the greatest and most certain of all
  the sciences, since its source is from God, who
  is all-knowing.
• Unbelief is the greatest sin.
• The contemplative life is greater than the active
  life.
• If a person has a spell put on them to cause them
  to get married, that marriage is invalid.
• Natural desire is to understand the essence of
  something.
• Everyone is called to religious life children,
  women, men. Monks and Bishops live in a state of
  perfection.

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12th CenturyThe Arts and Architecture

• Romanesque
• Links Medieval architecture to that of Rome
• rounded arches
• Gothic
• Nothing to do with Goths
• Notre Dame
• Pointed arches
• Point to Heaven
• Gargoyles
• Highly decorated with statues inside and out

Romanesque
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Romanesque
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Early Gothic
Notre Dame 1163-1250
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Gothic
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Chartres Cathedral built between 1145 - 1220
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Venetian Gothic
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Gothic Art

• Main forms
• sculpture, panel painting, stained glass, fresco
  and illuminated manuscript
• Art becomes more human (again)
• Virgin Mary is shown with the characteristics
  desirable in an aristocratic woman
• Portraits and sculpture are less stiff and
  formal, more natural

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The Church

• Dominates all aspects of life
• Membership not optional
• Governs all life milestones birth, marriage,
  death
• Even cooking instructions used references such as
  boiling an egg during the length of time wherein
  you say a Miserere."

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Problems within the Church

• Avignon Papacy
• Background French king vs. HREmperor
• 1309-1377 Popes from France, not Roman. Popes
  reside in France.
• 1377 Popes move back to Rome, but rival faction
  stays in France

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French Popes and Persecution

• Cathars (Heretics)
• Physical world is evil
• Renounce anything associated with authority
• Enemies of French King and Pope
• Pope begins systematic persecution

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More Problems

• Great Schism
• 1378-1417
• Two rival Popes
• Council of Constance
• Church council trumps Popes authority
• No Pope may oppose council dictates
• Conciliar Movement
• Reform, 14th/15th Centuries
• Church is ultimate authority, not a secular
  leader
• Result? Church loses influence

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Man becomes more human

• Before the 12th century, man was becoming more
  Christian. Now, man was becoming less Christian
  and more human (individualism).
• Birth of Humanism
• People began to doubt that all men were born
  sinful and doomed to damnation
• But still deeply religious. Most desired personal
  and intense religious experience. The Age of
  Faith

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Church vs. Civil Justice

• Before based on Christian beliefs about divine
  law
• Will of God, Fate
• Other ideas
• Guilt crosses generations
• Only church can absolve sin
• 12th century real-world politics emphasis on
  secular law
• Revival of Roman law
• Review of church law
• Courts use witnesses and juries
• Precedent (Common Law)

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Desire for Knowledge

• Men and women, but only men are educated
• Love of knowledge for the sake of learning not
  for the Church or for the study of Law
• Universities increase
• Oxford, Paris,
  Bologna

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12th Century Scholars

• Read Latin classics
• Analyzed Roman law
• Read and commented on Church texts
• Traveled to Spain to learn from Muslim scholars
• Traveled to Constantinople to read lost Greek
  texts
• Revived science, philosophy, math, and medicine
• Result More thought, discussion about problems

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The Liberal Arts

• Trivium The Foundation
• Grammar, logic, rhetoric
• Quadrivium Fine-tuning
• Arithmetic AND Geometry, Music, Astronomy
• Classical Education not possible without
  recovery from Islamic and Byzantine scholars
• Post-graduate work philosophy and theology

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Ambition and Social Class

• Merchants motivated by profit.
• Increased trade increased profit
• Merchants worked cooperatively to share the risk
  and the profit (Hanseatic League)
• City States Guilds, Alliances
• Peasants motivated by status
• Crusades are a way to increase status
• When the rigid social structure begins to break
  down, peasants take advantage of this

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Ambition the Upper Classes

• Sons of nobility entered monasteries for the
  status whole family closer to God
• University increase in status. Knowledge
  Power
• Wealth was less important
  than personal freedom,
  titles, high office.

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So, how does the 12th Century compare to the
later Renaissance?

• The Middle Ages were not all about superstition
  and ignorance
• The 12th Century paved the way for the later
  renaissance of the 15th/16th centuries.
• There are more similarities than differences when
  comparing the Renaissance of the 12th Century
  with that of the 15th Century

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Summary of the 12th Century

• Original thinking
• Energetic pursuit of knowledge and wealth
• Study of Latin to improve writing and speaking
• Study of Logic to create clear thinking and
  reasoning
• Study of Aristotle master of logic