Transcript Culture of the Middle Ages

Ian Grant
Grant Stouffer
 Faith dominated all aspects of life from architecture,
literature, art, and music
 Even wars and crusades were fought around faith and
religion
 People believed that joining crusades would make
them have better favor with god
 Most of the architecture was dedicated to Christian churches
 Gargoyles were put on buildings of a way to fend of demons
 Arches were very influential inside churches
 The arches not only could support a lot of way but they looked very
good inside the church and they were very symbolic with faith
 The warship area in the middle of the church was very wide open and
had massive stained glass in the front
 Religion was really incorporated into literature
 Each story that an author wrote was about different subject that had to
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do with religion
The three main authors that wrote religious stories during the Middle
Ages were Anselm of Canterbury, Thomas Aquinas, and Pierre Abélard
The type of writing was called Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its
influences and of the nature of religious truths
Some of the religious stories were used a inspiration to men in the army
 Religious art cam in many form from painted glass in churches, to
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decorated crossed, or even paintings
Most of the art was icon paintings, murals, and mosaics
The icons paintings were of Christ, the Virgin Mary, or the Saints
The murals were also of Christ but were on a much larger scale such as
the whole side of a was
Mosaics were decorative art of pictures and patterns made of colored
pieces of glass, marble or other materials on a bed of cement that
depicted Christ or religious patterns
 The religious music started in the church and was used to sooth the
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worshippers to add background to the stories told
The music in the churches consisted of mostly an early created piano
and a stringed instrument similar to a guitar
Once music caught on, lyrics were added to tell stories about Christ
and other Christian disciples
After music moved from the churches, household used it for their own
stories and other tales
Soldiers used music to pray before battles and to hope for good
outcomes
 Chivalry is the generic term for the knightly system of
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the Middle Ages and for virtues and qualities it
inspired in its followers
Expressed the ideals of knightly virtues, honor, and
courtly love
Expressed ideal moral and courteous behavior
Way of life for Christians
•Came from old French word chivalries meaning
“Knighthood”
 Introduced chivalrous conduct.
 Went beyond chivalry in combat.
 The song of Roland
 Known as “Charlemagne's Code of Chivalry”
 To fear God and maintain His
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Church
To serve the liege lord in valor and
faith
To protect the weak and defenseless
To give succor to widows and
orphans
To refrain from the wanton giving of
offence
To live by honor and for glory
To despise pecuniary reward
To fight for the welfare of all
To obey those placed in authority
• To guard the honor of fellow
knights
• To eschew unfairness, meanness
and deceit
• To keep faith
• At all times to speak the truth
• To persevere to the end in any
enterprise begun
• To respect the honor of women
• Never to refuse a challenge from
an equal
• Never to turn the back upon a
foe
 Religious, as well as secular work
 Written languages- Latin, Greek, and Old Church
Slavonic
 Many written things were anonymous, believed to be
not important because most stories were passed down
 Authors relied on allegory to convey the morals the
author had in mind while writing
 Beowulf- unknown
 Beowulf defeats a monster named Grendel who has
killed many men in Hrothgar’s kingdom
 The Song of Roland- unknown
 Brave warrior named Roland dies from Muslim army,
Charlemagne calls upon god for revenge and god kills all
of the Muslims.
 Inspires crusaders
 Divine comedy- Dante
 The Canterbury Tales- Chauser
 The dominant form of literature in the middle ages
 Catholic clerics were the most educated
 Many hymns survived until today
 Philosophical treatises attempting to reconcile the teachings of the Greek and
Roman pagan authors with the doctrines of the Church.
 Best known Jewish authors:
 Maimonides
 Rashi
 Non-religious literature
 Not as prevalent as the religious writings
 Many survive until today
 Subject of “courtly love” was very popular
 Used to describe foreign lands to people
 Used to explain and argue politics
 A troubadour was a composer and performer of Old Occitan
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lyric poetry during the Middle Ages
Since the word "troubadour" is etymologically masculine, a
female troubadour is usually called a trobairitz.
People became troubadours by going to a special troubadour
school
The troubadour school or tradition began in the 11th century in
Occitania, but it quickly spread through Italy, Spain, and even
Greece.
Occitania was a small region in Europe that encompasses where
France is now
 The theme of troubadour songs deal mainly with the
topics of chivalry and courtly love
 Many of the songs were humorous or vulgar satires
 The plot in the songs were meant to make people think
and they all had two meaning
 The songs were all supposed to be metaphoric
 The troubadour songs had three different styles and many
different genera’s but the canso genera was the most
popular
 A canso song had a first stanza called the exordium, where
the composer explains his purpose.
 The main body of usually drew out a variety of
relationships with the exordium.
 The canso ends with either a tornada or envoi that wraps up
the song and ends with the audience thinking.
 http://www.medieval-life.net/chivalry.htm
 http://www.middle-ages.org.uk/knights-code-of-chivalry.htm
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chivarly
 http://northstargallery.com/gargoyles/aboutgargoyles.htm
 http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/history-of-art/medieval-christian
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artworks.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_music
http://medievaleurope.mrdonn.org/literature.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_literature
http://csis.pace.edu/grendel/projf981e/story.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troubadour