Education and the Arts in the High Middle Ages

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Education and the Arts in the High Middle Ages
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Medieval Universities

• The church wanted a higher educated clergy
• The government needed highly literate men for
  representative bodies
• With an education better job opportunities were
  available to you
• Academic Guilds the first universities with
  charters
• Ex Oxford
• Generally speaking, women were exempt/left out of
  educational opportunities

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A Knowledge Explosion

• Texts from other areas-Middle East, Greece, and
  Spain were translated and seeped into Western
  Europe
• This set off a revolution of learning
• Philosophy
• Europeans felt challenged by the Greeks
• Scholasticism the use of reason to support
  Christian beliefs Thomas Aquinas
• Science and Math-Slowly integrated into European
  culture greatly influenced by Spain Byzantine
  Empire Rome and the Middle East

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Literature

• Languages
• Latin used by the church, nobility, and the
  educated
• Vernacular used by uneducated people
• Heroic Epics
• Ex Song of Roland- glorified Charlemagne and
  his knights
• Dantes Divine Comedy
• Takes reader on a journey to an imaginary hell,
  purgatory, and heaven
• Journey summarizes Christian ethics-life
  determines afterlife
• Canterbury Tales Geoffrey Chaucer
• Tale is a compilation of stories that portrays
  Medieval life

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Architecture

• Known for its towering stone cathedrals that
  symbolized wealth and religious devotion
• Romanesque Inspired by Rome
• Thick walls and towers
• A lot of stone
• Little to no windows
• Gothic
• Typically limestone
• Stone supports outside the church
• High walls and Stained glass windows

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A Time of Crisis

• 3 main dilemmas
• The Black Death
• Upheaval in the Church
• Many years of war

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The Black Death

• Fatal disease called The Bubonic Plague that
  originated at the Black Sea and spread by trade
• 1 in 3 died
• Rats and fleas infested trading ships paving the
  way to an epidemic-outbreak of disease
• Widespread crop failures brought famine and
  starvation prior to the plague
• After the plague hit, war ensued and Europe was
  deep in crisis
• Plague brought terror and bewilderment that led
  to social upheaval
• Economic effects Production decreased and the
  cost of labor soared, leading to inflation

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Upheaval in the Church

• 3 main causes
• Church was unable to produce leadership in such
  desperate times
• There was a drastic split within the Catholic
  Church due to decades of 2-3 popes claiming to
  be the true vicar of Christ
• Heresies Popular preachers challenged the
  Churches power
• Ex Wycliffe insisted that the Bible was the
  source of Christian truth not the church he is a
  Christian martyr that was burned at the stake

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The Hundred Years War

• 1337-1453
• England v. France (victor)
• Causes
• Land
• Economic rivalry
• Growing sense of national pride
• Joan of Arc
• Felt led by God to lead the French in battle
• Led several French victories
• Burned at the stake by the English
• Later declared a saint

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