A message on the topic of culture of the early Middle Ages. The main features of medieval culture and its achievements. General characteristics of medieval culture

During the Middle Ages, there was a special influence of the Christian Church on the formation of the mentality and worldview of Europeans. Instead of a meager and difficult life, religion offered people a system of knowledge about the world and the laws operating in it. That is why medieval culture was completely imbued with Christian ideas and ideals, which considered human earthly life as a preparatory stage for the upcoming immortality, but in a different dimension. People identified the world with a kind of arena in which heavenly and hellish forces, good and evil, confronted each other.

Medieval culture reflects the history of the struggle between the state and the church, their interaction and the implementation of divine goals.

Architecture

In the 10th-12th centuries in Western European countries, which is rightfully considered the first canon of medieval architecture, prevailed.

Secular buildings are massive, 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.

During this period, special attention was paid to monastery buildings, as they combined the monks’ home, chapel, prayer room, workshops and library. The main element of the composition is a high tower. Massive reliefs decorating facade walls and portals were the main element of 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 city neighborhoods. At the same time, the cathedral is considered the main spiritual building. The first temple buildings are distinguished by slender columns that soar upward, elongated windows, painted stained glass windows and “roses” above the entrance. Inside and out, they were decorated with reliefs, statues, and paintings, emphasizing the main feature of the style - upward direction.

Sculpture

Metal processing is used primarily for manufacturing

Culturologists call the Middle Ages a long period in the history of Western Europe between Antiquity and Modern Times. This period spans more than a millennium from the 5th to the 15th centuries.

Folk culture 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 recording their thoughts and moods, but also to deprive researchers of subsequent times of the opportunity to restore the main features of their spiritual life. “The great dumb”, “the great absentee”, “people without archives and without faces” - this is what modern historians call the people in an era when direct access to the means of recording cultural values ​​in writing was denied. The folk culture of the Middle Ages was unlucky in science. Usually, when they talk about it, they mention at most the remnants of the ancient world and epic, the remnants of paganism.

Early Middle Ages - from the end of the 4th century. The “great migration of peoples” began. Wherever the rule of Rome took deeper roots, “Romanization” captured all areas of culture: the dominant language was Latin, the dominant law was Roman law, the dominant religion was Christianity. The barbarian peoples who created their states in the ruins of the Roman Empire found themselves either in a Roman or Romanized environment. However, it should be noted the crisis of the culture of the ancient world during the period of the barbarian invasion.

High (classical) Middle Ages- at the first stage of late feudalism (XI-XII centuries), crafts, trade, and city life were poorly developed. Feudal landowners reigned supreme. During the classical period, or high Middle Ages, Western Europe began to overcome difficulties and revive. The so-called knightly literature emerges 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” rapidly developed, which was characterized by a realistic depiction of the 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 and Guido Orlandi (late 13th century).

Late Middle Ages continued the processes of formation of European culture that began during the classical period. During these periods, uncertainty and fear ruled the masses. Economic growth is followed by long periods of recession and stagnation.

In the Middle Ages, a complex of ideas about the world, beliefs, mental attitudes and systems of behavior, which could conventionally be called “folk culture” or “folk religiosity,” was in one way or another the property of all members of society. The medieval church, wary and suspicious of the customs, faith and religious practices of the common people, was influenced by them. The entire cultural life of European society of this period was largely determined by Christianity.

Abstract on the topic: Culture of the Middle Ages

Introduction

The Middle Ages... When we think about them, the walls of knightly castles and huge Gothic cathedrals grow before our mental gaze, we remember the crusades and strife, the fires of the Inquisition and feudal tournaments - the whole textbook set of signs of the era. But these are external signs, a kind of scenery against which people act. What are they? What was their way of seeing the world, what guided their behavior? If we try to restore the spiritual appearance of the people of the Middle Ages - the mental, cultural foundation by which they lived, it turns out that this time is almost completely absorbed by the thick shadow cast on it by classical antiquity, on the one hand, and the Renaissance, on the other. How many misconceptions and prejudices are associated with this era? The concept of “Middle Ages”, which arose several centuries ago to designate the period separating Greco-Roman antiquity from modern times, and from the very beginning carried a critical, derogatory assessment - a failure, a break in the cultural history of Europe - has not lost this content to this day . When talking about backwardness, lack of culture, lack of rights, they resort to the expression “medieval”. “The Middle Ages” is almost a synonym for everything gloomy and reactionary. Its early period is called the “dark ages.”

General characteristics of medieval culture

The civilization of the European Middle Ages is a qualitatively unique whole, which is the next stage in the development of European civilization after Antiquity. The transition from the Ancient World to the Middle Ages was associated with a decline in the level of civilization: the population dropped sharply (from 120 million people during the heyday of the Roman Empire to 50 million people by the beginning of the 6th century), cities fell into decay, trade froze , the primitive state system replaced the developed Roman statehood, universal literacy was replaced by illiteracy of the majority of the population. But at the same time, the Middle Ages cannot be considered as some kind of failure in the development of European civilization. During this period, all European peoples (French, Spanish, Italians, English, etc.) were formed, the main European languages ​​(English, Italian, French, etc.) were formed, and national states were formed, the borders of which generally coincide with modern ones. Many values ​​that are perceived in our time as universal, ideas that we take for granted, originate in the Middle Ages (the idea of ​​​​the value of human life, the idea that an ugly body is not an obstacle to spiritual perfection, attention to the inner world of man, the belief in the impossibility of appearing naked in public places, the idea of ​​love as a complex and multifaceted feeling, and much more). Modern civilization itself arose as a result of the internal restructuring of medieval civilization and in this sense is its direct heir.

As a result of barbarian conquests, dozens of barbarian kingdoms were formed on the territory of the Western Roman Empire. The Visigoths in 419 founded a kingdom in southern Gaul with its center in Toulouse. At the end of the 5th and beginning of the 6th century, the Visigothic kingdom spread to the Pyrenees and Spain. Its capital was moved to the city of Toledo. At the beginning of the 5th century. The Suevi and Vandals invaded the Iberian Peninsula. The Suevi captured the northwest, the Vandals lived for some time in the south - in modern Andalusia (originally called Vandalusia), and then founded a kingdom in North Africa with its capital on the site of ancient Carthage. In the middle of the 5th century. In the southeast of modern France, the Kingdom of Burgundy was formed with its center in Lyon. The kingdom of the Franks arose in Northern Gaul in 486. Its capital was in Paris. In 493, the Ostrogoths captured Italy. Their king Theodoric reigned for more than 30 years as "King of the Goths and Italics." The capital of the state was the city of Ravenna. After the death of Theodoric, Byzantium conquered Ostrogothic Italy (555), but its dominance was short-lived. In 568 Northern Italy was captured by the Lombards. The capital of the new state was the city of Pavia. On the territory of Britain by the end of the 6th century. Seven barbarian kingdoms were formed. The states created by the Germanic tribes constantly fought among themselves, their borders were unstable, and the existence of most of them was short-lived.

In all the barbarian kingdoms, the Germans constituted a minority of the population (from 2-3% in Ostrogothic Italy and Visigothic Spain to 20-30% in the state of the Franks). Since, as a result of successful campaigns of conquest, the Franks subsequently settled over a significant part of the territory of the former Western Roman Empire, the share of Germanic peoples on average increased slightly, but the concentration of Franks in Northern Gaul decreased. It follows that the history of medieval Western Europe is the history primarily of the same peoples who inhabited it in antiquity. However, the social and government system in the conquered territories changed significantly. In the V-VI centuries. Germanic and late Roman institutions coexisted within the barbarian kingdoms. In all states, the lands of the Roman nobility were confiscated - on a larger or smaller scale. On average, property redistribution affected from 1/3 to 2/3 of land. Large land holdings were distributed by kings to their warriors, who immediately transferred the slaves remaining in Roman villas to the position of dependent peasants, equating them with colons. Small plots were received by ordinary German community members. Initially the community retained ownership of the land. Thus, on the territory of the barbarian kingdoms, large fiefdoms of the new German landowners coexisted, in which former Roman colons and slaves, who had turned into serfs, worked (often by origin, the indigenous inhabitants of these places, who were once converted into slavery for debts, since abolition in Rome debt slavery persisted in the provinces), Roman villas where former landowners continued to farm using late Roman methods, and settlements of free peasant communities, both Germanic and indigenous. The political system was also characterized by eclecticism.

Roman city committees continued to exist in the cities, which were now subordinate to the barbarian king. In rural areas, people's assemblies of armed community members functioned. The Roman tax system remained, although taxes were reduced and went to the king. In barbarian states, two systems of legal proceedings coexisted. German law-barbarian “truth” (for the Germans) and Roman law (for the Romans and the local population) were in effect. There were two types of ships. On the territory of a number of barbarian states, a synthesis of late Roman and Germanic institutions began, but this process, which resulted in the formation of Western European medieval civilization, unfolded fully within the state of the Franks, which in the 8th - early 9th centuries. turned into a vast empire (in 800 Charlemagne was crowned in Rome by the pope as “emperor of the Romans”).

The empire united the territories of modern France, a significant part of future Germany and Italy, a small region of Spain, as well as a number of other lands. Soon after the death of Charlemagne, this supranational entity disintegrated. The Verdun division of the empire (843) laid the foundation for three modern states: France, Italy and Germany, although their borders then did not coincide with the present ones. The formation of medieval European civilization also took place in the territories of England and Scandinavia. In each region of Western Europe, the designated process had its own characteristics and proceeded at different rates. In the future France, where Roman and barbarian elements were balanced, the pace was fastest. And France became a classic country of the medieval West. In Italy, where Roman institutions prevailed over barbarian ones, in the territories of Germany and England, characterized by the prevalence of barbarian principles, as well as in Scandinavia, where there was no synthesis at all (Scandinavia never belonged to Rome), medieval civilization developed more slowly and had slightly different forms.

The role of religion in medieval culture

The Catholic Church and the Christian religion of the Roman Catholic model played a huge role. The religiosity of the population strengthened the role of the church in society, and the economic, political and cultural activities of the clergy helped maintain the religiosity of the population in a canonized form. The Catholic Church was a tightly organized, well-disciplined hierarchical structure headed by a high priest, the Pope. Since it was a supranational organization, the pope had the opportunity, through archbishops, bishops, middle and lower white clergy, as well as monasteries, to be aware of everything that was happening in the Catholic world and to carry out his line through the same institutions. As a result of the union of secular and spiritual power, which arose as a result of the Franks’ adoption of Christianity immediately in the Catholic version, the Frankish kings, and then the sovereigns of other countries, made rich land grants to the church. Therefore, the church soon became a major landowner: it owned one third of all cultivated land in Western Europe. By engaging in usurious transactions and managing the estates in its possessions, the Catholic Church represented a real economic force, which was one of the reasons for its power.

For a long time, the church had a monopoly in the fields of education and culture. In the monasteries, ancient manuscripts were preserved and copied, and ancient philosophers, especially the idol of the Middle Ages, Aristotle, commented on the needs of theology. Schools were originally only located at monasteries; medieval universities were, as a rule, associated with the church. The monopoly of the Catholic Church in the field of culture led to the fact that the entire medieval culture was of a religious nature, and all sciences were subordinated to and imbued with theology. The church acted as a preacher of Christian morality, trying to instill Christian standards of behavior throughout society. She spoke out against endless strife, called on the warring parties not to offend civilians and to observe certain rules in relation to each other. The clergy cared for the elderly, the sick and orphans. All this supported the authority of the church in the eyes of the population. Economic power, a monopoly on education, moral authority, and a branched hierarchical structure contributed to the fact that the Catholic Church sought to play a leading role in society, to place itself above secular power. The struggle between the state and the church took place with varying degrees of success. Reaching a maximum in the XII-XIII centuries. the power of the church subsequently began to decline and ultimately royal power prevailed. The final blow to the secular claims of the papacy was dealt by the Reformation.

The socio-political system that established itself in Europe in the Middle Ages is usually called feudalism in historical science. This word comes from the name of the land ownership that a representative of the ruling class received for military service. This possession was called a fief. Not all historians believe that the term feudalism is appropriate, since the concept underlying it is not capable of expressing the specifics of Central European civilization. In addition, there was no consensus on the essence of feudalism. Some historians see it in a system of vassalage, others in political fragmentation, and still others in a specific mode of production. Nevertheless, the concepts of feudal system, feudal lord, feudal-dependent peasantry have firmly entered into historical science. Therefore, we will try to characterize feudalism as a socio-political system characteristic of European medieval civilization.

A characteristic feature of feudalism is feudal ownership of land. Firstly, it was alienated from the main manufacturer. Secondly, it was conditional, thirdly, hierarchical in nature. Fourthly, it was connected with political power. The alienation of the main producers from land ownership was manifested in the fact that the land on which the peasant worked was the property of large landowners - feudal lords. The peasant had it in use. For this, he was obliged to either work on the master's field several days a week or pay quitrent - in kind or in cash. Therefore, the exploitation of peasants was of an economic nature. Non-economic coercion - the personal dependence of the peasants on the feudal lords - played the role of an additional means. This system of relations arose with the formation of two main classes of medieval society: feudal lords (secular and spiritual) and the feudal-dependent peasantry.

Feudal ownership of land was conditional, since the feud was considered granted for service. Over time, it turned into a hereditary possession, but formally it could be taken away for non-compliance with the vassal agreement. The hierarchical nature of property was expressed in the fact that it was, as it were, distributed among a large group of feudal lords from top to bottom, so no one had complete private ownership of land. The trend in the development of forms of ownership in the Middle Ages was that the feud gradually became full private property, and dependent peasants, turning into free ones (as a result of the redemption of personal dependence), acquired some ownership rights to their land plot, receiving the right to sell it subject to payment feudal lord special tax. The combination of feudal property with political power was manifested in the fact that the main economic, judicial and political unit in the Middle Ages was a large feudal estate - seigneury. The reason for this was the weakness of the central government under the dominance of subsistence farming. At the same time, in medieval Europe, a certain number of allodist peasants remained - full private owners. There were especially many of them in Germany and Southern Italy.

Subsistence farming is an essential feature of feudalism, although not as characteristic as forms of ownership, since subsistence farming, in which nothing is bought or sold, existed both in the Ancient East and in Antiquity. In medieval Europe, subsistence farming existed until about the 13th century, when it began to transform into a commodity-money economy under the influence of urban growth.

Many researchers consider the monopolization of military affairs by the ruling class to be one of the most important signs of feudalism. War was the destiny of knights. This concept, which initially meant simply a warrior, eventually came to mean the privileged class of medieval society, spreading to all secular feudal lords. However, it should be noted that where allodist peasants existed, they, as a rule, had the right to bear arms. Participation in the crusades of dependent peasants also shows the non-absolute nature of this feature of feudalism.

The feudal state, as a rule, was characterized by the weakness of the central government and the dispersion of political functions. On the territory of a feudal state there was often a number of virtually independent principalities and free cities. In these small state formations, dictatorial power sometimes existed, since there was no one to resist the large landowner within a small territorial unit.

A characteristic phenomenon of medieval European civilization, starting from the 11th century, were cities. The question of the relationship between feudalism and cities is debatable. Cities gradually destroyed the natural character of the feudal economy, contributed to the liberation of peasants from serfdom, and contributed to the emergence of a new psychology and ideology. At the same time, the life of the medieval city was based on the principles characteristic of medieval society. The cities were located on the lands of feudal lords, so initially the population of the cities was in feudal dependence on the lords, although it was weaker than the dependence of the peasants. The medieval city was also based on such a principle as corporatism. The townspeople were organized into workshops and guilds, within which egalitarian tendencies operated. The city itself was also a corporation. This became especially clear after the liberation from the power of the feudal lords, when cities received self-government and urban rights. But precisely because the medieval city was a corporation, after liberation it acquired some features that made it similar to the city of antiquity. The population consisted of full-fledged burghers and non-members of corporations: beggars, day laborers, and visitors. The transformation of a number of medieval cities into city-states (as was the case in ancient civilization) also shows the opposition of cities to the feudal system. As commodity-money relations developed, central state power began to rely on cities. Therefore, cities helped to overcome feudal fragmentation - a characteristic feature of feudalism. Ultimately, the restructuring of medieval civilization took place precisely thanks to cities.

Medieval European civilization was also characterized by feudal-Catholic expansion. Its most common cause was the economic rise of the 11th-13th centuries, which caused an increase in population, which began to lack food and land (population growth outpaced the possibilities of economic development). The main directions of this expansion were the crusades in the Middle East, the annexation of southern France to the French kingdom, the Reconquista (liberation of Spain from the Arabs), the crusaders' campaigns in the Baltic states and the Slavic lands. In principle, expansion is not a specific feature of medieval European civilization. This feature was characteristic of Ancient Rome, Ancient Greece (Greek colonization), and many states of the Ancient East.

The medieval European's picture of the world is unique. It contains such features characteristic of ancient Eastern man as the simultaneous coexistence of the past, present and future, the reality and objectivity of the other world, orientation towards the afterlife and otherworldly divine justice. And at the same time, through the permeation of the Christian religion, this picture of the world is organically inherent in the idea of ​​progress, the directional movement of human history from the Fall to the establishment of the thousand-year (eternal) kingdom of God on earth. The idea of ​​progress was not in the ancient consciousness; it was focused on the endless repetition of the same forms, and at the level of public consciousness this was the cause of the death of ancient civilization. In medieval European civilization, the idea of ​​progress shaped the focus on novelty, when the development of cities and all the changes associated with it made change necessary.

The internal restructuring of this civilization (within the Middle Ages) began in the 12th century. The growth of cities, their successes in the fight against the lords, the destruction of the natural economy as a result of the development of commodity-money relations, the gradual weakening, and then (14-15 centuries) the almost universal cessation of the personal dependence of the peasantry associated with the development of a money economy in the countryside, weakening influence of the Catholic Church on society and the state as a consequence of the strengthening of royal power based on cities, the decreasing impact of Catholicism on consciousness as a result of its rationalization (the reason is the development of theology as a science based on logical thinking), the emergence of secular knightly and urban literature, art, music - all this gradually destroyed medieval society, contributing to the accumulation of new elements, something that did not fit into the stable medieval social system. The 13th century is considered a turning point. But the formation of a new society occurred extremely slowly. The Renaissance, brought to life by the further development of trends of the 12-13th centuries, supplemented by the emergence of early bourgeois relations, represents a transitional period. The great geographical discoveries, which sharply expanded the sphere of influence of European civilization, accelerated its transition to a new quality. Therefore, many historians consider the end of the 15th century as the border between the Middle Ages and the New Age.

Conclusion

It is possible to understand the culture of the past only with a strictly historical approach, only by measuring it with the yardstick that corresponds to it. There is no single scale under which all civilizations and eras could be fitted, because there is no person equal to himself in all these eras.

Bibliography

1. Bakhtin M. M. The work of Francois Rabelais and folk culture of the Middle Ages.
2. Gurevich A. Ya. Categories of medieval culture.
3. Gurevich A. Ya. Kharitonov D. E. History of the Middle Ages.
4. Kulakov A.E. Religions of the world Theory and history of world culture (Western Europe).
5. Yastrebitskaya A.P. Western Europe of the 11th-13th centuries: era, life, costume.

Introduction

Christian consciousness is the basis of medieval mentality

Scientific culture in the Middle Ages

Artistic culture of medieval Europe

Medieval music and theater

Conclusion

Bibliography

INTRODUCTION

Culturologists call the Middle Ages a long period in the history of Western Europe between Antiquity and Modern Times. This period covers more than a millennium from the 5th to the 15th centuries.

Within the thousand-year period of the Middle Ages, it is customary to distinguish at least three periods. This:

Early Middle Ages, from the beginning of the era to 900 or 1000 (until the X - XI centuries);

High (Classical) Middle Ages. From the X-XI centuries to approximately the XIV century;

Late Middle Ages, XIV and XV centuries.

The Early Middle Ages was a time when turbulent and very important processes took place in Europe. First of all, these are the invasions of the so-called barbarians (from the Latin barba - beard), who, already from the 2nd century AD, constantly attacked the Roman Empire and settled on the lands of its provinces. These invasions ended with the fall of Rome.

New Western Europeans, as a rule, adopted Christianity , which in Rome towards the end of its existence was the state religion. Christianity in its various forms gradually replaced pagan beliefs throughout the Roman Empire, and this process did not stop 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 of new state entities on the territory of the former Roman Empire , created by the same “barbarians”. Numerous Frankish, Germanic, Gothic and other tribes were in fact not so wild. Most of them already had the beginnings of statehood, mastered crafts, including agriculture and metallurgy, and were organized on the principles of military democracy. Tribal leaders began to proclaim themselves kings, dukes, etc., constantly fighting with each other and subjugating their weaker neighbors. At Christmas 800, the Frankish king Charlemagne was crowned Catholic in Rome and as Emperor of the entire European west. Later (900) the Holy Roman Empire broke up into countless duchies, counties, margraviates, bishoprics, abbeys and other fiefs. Their rulers behaved like completely sovereign masters, not considering it necessary to obey any emperors or kings. However, the processes of formation of state entities continued in subsequent periods. A characteristic feature of life in the early Middle Ages was the constant looting and devastation to which the inhabitants of the Holy Roman Empire were subjected. And these robberies and raids significantly slowed down economic and cultural development.

During the classical, or high, Middle Ages, Western Europe began to overcome these difficulties and revive. Since the 10th century, cooperation under the laws of feudalism made it possible to create larger state structures and gather fairly strong armies. Thanks to this, it was possible to stop the invasions, significantly limit robberies, and then gradually go on the offensive. In 1024, the Crusaders took the Eastern Roman Empire from the Byzantines, and in 1099 they captured the Holy Land from the Muslims. True, in 1291 both were lost again. However, the Moors were expelled from Spain forever. Eventually Western Christians gained dominance over the Mediterranean Sea and it. islands. Numerous missionaries brought Christianity to the kingdoms of Scandinavia, Poland, Bohemia, and Hungary, so that these states entered the orbit of Western culture.

The relative stability that ensued provided the opportunity for rapid growth of cities and the pan-European economy. Life in Western Europe changed greatly, society quickly lost its barbaric features, and spiritual life flourished in the cities. In general, European society has become much richer and more civilized than during the ancient Roman Empire. An outstanding role in this was played by the Christian 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 then brilliant Gothic art arose, and along with architecture and literature, all other types of it developed - theater, music, sculpture, painting, literature. It was during this era that, for example, such literary masterpieces as “The Song of Roland” and “The Romance of the Rose” were created. Of particular importance was the fact that during this period Western European scientists had the opportunity to read the works of ancient Greek and Hellenistic philosophers, primarily Aristotle. On this basis, the great philosophical system of the Middle Ages, scholasticism, arose and grew.

The later Middle Ages continued the processes of formation of European culture that began during the classical period. However, their progress was far from smooth. In the 14th and 15th centuries, Western Europe repeatedly experienced great famines. Numerous epidemics, especially the bubonic plague (“Black Death”), also brought inexhaustible human casualties. The Hundred Years' War greatly slowed down the development of culture. However, eventually the cities were revived, crafts, agriculture and trade were established. People who survived pestilence and war were given the opportunity to organize their lives better than in previous eras. The feudal nobility, the aristocrats, began to build magnificent palaces for themselves, both on their estates and in cities, instead of castles. The new rich from the “low” classes imitated them in this, creating everyday comfort and an appropriate lifestyle. Conditions arose for a new upsurge in spiritual life, science, philosophy, and art, especially in Northern Italy. This rise necessarily led to the so-called Renaissance or Renaissance.

Christian consciousness is the basis of medieval mentality

The most important feature of medieval culture is the special role of Christian doctrine and the Christian church. In the conditions of the general decline of culture immediately after the destruction of the Roman Empire, only the church for many centuries remained the only social institution common to all countries, tribes and states of Europe. The church was the dominant political institution, but even more significant was the influence that the church had directly on the consciousness of the population. In conditions of difficult and meager life, against the backdrop of extremely limited and most often unreliable knowledge about the world, Christianity offered people a coherent system of knowledge about the world, about its structure, about the forces and laws operating in it. Let's add to this the emotional appeal of Christianity with its warmth, universally significant preaching of love and understandable norms of social coexistence (Decalogue), with the romantic elation and ecstasy of the plot about the redemptive sacrifice, and finally, with the affirmation of the equality of all people without exception in the highest authority, so that to at least approximately assess the contribution of Christianity to the worldview, to the worldview of medieval Europeans.

This picture of the world, which completely determined the mentality of believing villagers and townspeople, was based mainly on images and interpretations of the Bible. Researchers note that in the Middle Ages, the starting point for explaining the world was the complete, unconditional opposition of God and nature, Heaven and Earth, soul and body.

The medieval European was, of course, a deeply religious person. In his mind, the world was seen as a kind of arena of confrontation between the forces of heaven and hell, good and evil. At the same time, the consciousness of people was deeply magical, everyone was absolutely confident in the possibility of miracles and perceived everything that the Bible reported literally. As S. Averintsev aptly put it, the Bible was read and listened to in the Middle Ages in much the same way as we read the latest newspapers today.

In the most general terms, the world was then seen in accordance with some hierarchical logic, as a symmetrical diagram, reminiscent of two pyramids folded at the base. The top of one of them, the top one, is God. Below are the tiers or levels of sacred characters: first the Apostles, those closest to God, then the figures who gradually move away from God and approach the earthly level - archangels, angels and similar heavenly beings. At some level, people are included in this hierarchy: first the pope and cardinals, then clerics at lower levels, and below them ordinary laypeople. Then animals are placed even further from God and closer to the earth, then plants and then the earth itself, already completely inanimate. And then there is a kind of mirror reflection of the upper, earthly and heavenly hierarchy, but again in a different dimension and with a “minus” sign, in a seemingly underground world, with increasing evil and proximity to Satan. He is placed at the top of this second, chthonic pyramid, acting as a being symmetrical to God, as if repeating him with the opposite sign (reflecting like a mirror). If God is the personification of Good and Love, then Satan is his opposite, the embodiment of Evil and Hatred.

Medieval Europeans, including the highest strata of society, right up to kings and emperors, were illiterate. The level of literacy and education even of the clergy in the parishes was terribly low. Only towards the end of the 15th century did the church realize the need to have educated personnel, began to open theological seminaries, etc. The level of education of parishioners was generally minimal. The masses of the laity listened to semi-literate priests. At the same time, the Bible itself was forbidden for ordinary lay people; its texts were considered too complex and inaccessible for the direct perception of ordinary parishioners. Only clergy were allowed to interpret it. However, their education and literacy were, as has been said, very low. Mass medieval culture is a bookless, “Do-Gutenberg” culture. She relied not on the printed word, but on oral sermons and exhortations. It existed through the consciousness of an illiterate person. It was a culture of prayers, fairy tales, myths, and magic spells.

At the same time, the meaning of the word, written and especially sounded, in medieval culture was unusually great. Prayers, perceived functionally as spells, sermons, biblical stories, magical formulas - all this also shaped the medieval mentality. People are accustomed to intensely peering into the surrounding reality, perceiving it as a kind of text, as a system of symbols containing a certain higher meaning. These symbols-words had to be able to recognize and extract divine meaning from them. This, in particular, explains many of the features of medieval artistic culture, designed for the perception in space of just such a deeply religious and symbolic, verbally armed mentality. Even painting there was primarily a revealed word, like the Bible itself. The word was universal, approached everything, explained everything, was hidden behind all phenomena as their hidden meaning. Therefore, for the medieval consciousness, the medieval mentality, culture first of all expressed the meanings, the soul of a person, brought a person closer to God, as if transported to another world, to a space different from earthly existence. And this space looked the way it was described in the Bible, the lives of saints, the writings of the church fathers and the sermons of priests. Accordingly, the behavior of the medieval European and all his activities were determined.

Scientific culture in the Middle Ages

The Christian Church in the Middle Ages was completely indifferent to Greek and generally to pagan science and philosophy. The main problem that the church fathers tried to solve was to master the knowledge of the “pagans”, while defining the boundaries between reason and faith. Christianity was forced to compete with the minds of pagans, such as the Hellenists, Romans, and with Jewish learning. But in this competition it had to remain strictly on a biblical basis. We may recall here that many church fathers had an education in the field of classical philosophy, which was essentially non-Christian. The church fathers were well aware that the many rational and mystical systems contained in the works of pagan philosophers would greatly complicate the development of traditional Christian thinking and consciousness.

A partial solution to this problem was proposed in the 5th century by St. Augustine. However, the chaos that ensued in Europe as a result of the invasion of Germanic tribes and the decline of the Western Roman Empire pushed back serious debate about the role and acceptability of pagan rational science in Christian society for seven centuries, and only in the 10th-11th centuries, after the Arab conquest of Spain and Sicily, was interest in the development of ancient history revived heritage. For the same reason, Christian culture was now capable of accepting the original works of Islamic scholars. The result was an important movement that involved collecting Greek and Arabic manuscripts, translating them into Latin, and commenting on them. The West received in this way not only the complete body of Aristotle's works, but also the works of Euclid and Ptolemy.

Universities, which appeared in Europe from the 12th century, became centers of scientific research, helping to establish the unquestioned scientific authority of Aristotle. In the middle of the 13th century, Thomas Aquinas carried out a synthesis of Aristotelian philosophy and Christian doctrine. He emphasized the harmony of reason and faith, thereby strengthening the foundations of natural theology. But the Thomist synthesis did not remain without a response challenge. In 1277, after the death of Aquinas, the Archbishop of Paris declared 219 of Thomas's statements contained in his writings unsuitable. As a result, the nominalist doctrine was developed (W. Ockham). Nominalism, which sought to separate science from theology, became a cornerstone in the redefinition of the fields of science and theology later in the 17th century. More complete information about the philosophical culture of the European Middle Ages should be given in a philosophy course. During the 13th and 14th centuries, European scientists seriously praised the fundamental foundations of Aristotelian methodology and physics. English Franciscans Robert Grosseteste and Roger Bacon introduced mathematical and experimental methods into the field of science, and contributed to discussions about vision and the nature of light and color. Their Oxford followers introduced quantitative, reasoning and physical approaches through their studies of accelerated motion. Across the Channel, in Paris, Jean Buridan and others began the concept of momentum, while introducing a series of bold ideas into astronomy that opened the door to the pantheism of Nicholas of Cusa.

Alchemy occupied an important place in the scientific culture of the European Middle Ages. Alchemy was devoted primarily to the search for a substance that could transform ordinary metals into gold or silver and serve as a means of endlessly prolonging human life. Although its aims and means were highly questionable and often illusory, alchemy was in many respects the forerunner of modern science, especially chemistry. The first reliable works of European alchemy that have come down to us belong to the English monk Roger Bacon and the German philosopher Albertus Magnus. They both believed in the possibility of transmutation of lower metals into gold. This idea captured the imagination and greed of many people throughout the Middle Ages. They believed that gold was the most perfect metal, and that lower metals were less perfect than gold. Therefore they tried to make or invent a substance called the philosopher's stone, which is more perfect than gold, and therefore can be used to improve the lower metals to the level of gold. Roger Bacon believed that gold, dissolved in aqua regia, was the elixir of life. Albertus Magnus was the greatest practical chemist of his time. The Russian scientist V.L. Rabinovich made a brilliant analysis of alchemy and showed that it was a typical product of medieval culture, combining a magical and mythological vision of the world with sober practicality and an experimental approach.

Perhaps the most paradoxical result of medieval scientific culture is the emergence of new principles of knowledge and learning on the basis of scholastic methods and irrational Christian dogmatics. Trying to find a harmony of faith and reason, to combine irrational dogmas and experimental methods, thinkers in monasteries and theological schools gradually created a fundamentally new way of organizing thinking - disciplinary. The most developed form of theoretical thinking of that time was theology.

It was theologians, discussing the problems of synthesis of pagan rational philosophy and Christian biblical principles, who found those forms of activity and knowledge transfer that turned out to be most effective and necessary for the emergence and development of modern science: the principles of teaching, evaluation, recognition of truth, which are used in science today. “The dissertation, defense, debate, title, citation network, scientific apparatus, explanation with contemporaries using supports - references to predecessors, priority, ban on repetition-plagiarism - all this appeared in the process of reproduction of spiritual personnel, where the vow of celibacy forced the use of “foreign” "For the spiritual profession, the younger generations."

The theology of medieval Europe, in search of a new explanation of the world, began for the first time to focus not on the simple reproduction of already known knowledge, but on the creation of new conceptual schemes that could unite such different, practically incompatible systems of knowledge. This ultimately led to the emergence of a new paradigm of thinking - forms, procedures, attitudes, ideas, assessments, with the help of which participants in discussions achieve mutual understanding. M.K. Petrov called this new paradigm disciplinary (Ibid.). He showed that medieval Western European theology acquired all the characteristic features of future scientific disciplines. These include “a basic set of disciplinary rules, procedures, requirements for a completed product, and methods for reproducing disciplinary personnel.” The pinnacle of these methods of personnel reproduction has become the university, a system in which all of the listed findings flourish and work. The university as a principle, as a specialized organization can be considered the greatest invention of the Middle Ages.

Artistic culture of medieval Europe.

Roman style.

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. The architecture of the 5th-8th centuries is usually simple, with the exception of buildings in Ravenna, (Italy), erected 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. Round or polygonal cathedral churches, borrowed from Byzantine architecture, were built during the Pre-Romanesque period;

later they were erected in Aquitaine in southwestern France and Scandinavia. 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), directly inspired by the Cathedral of San Vitalo. One of the creations of Carolingian architects was the westwork, a multi-story entrance facade flanked by bell towers, which began to be added to Christian basilicas. Westworks were the prototypes of the facades of giant Romanesque and Gothic cathedrals.

Important buildings were also designed in the monastic style. Monasteries, a characteristic religious and social phenomenon of that era, required huge buildings that combined both monks’ homes and chapels, rooms for prayers and services, libraries, and workshops. Elaborate pre-Romanesque monastic complexes were erected at St. Gall (Switzerland), on the island of Reichenau (German side of Lake Constance) and at Monte Cassino (Italy) by Benedictine monks.

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.

Sculpture. Most Romanesque sculptures were integrated into church architecture and served both structural, constructive and aesthetic purposes. Therefore, it is difficult to talk about Romanesque sculpture without touching on church architecture. Small-sized sculpture of the pre-Roman era made of bone, bronze, and gold was made under the influence of Byzantine models. Other elements of numerous local styles were borrowed from the crafts of the Middle East, known for imported illuminated manuscripts, bone carvings, gold objects, ceramics, and textiles. Also important were motifs derived from the arts of migrating peoples, such as grotesque figures, images of monsters, and intertwined geometric patterns, especially in areas north of the Alps. Large-scale stone sculptural decorations only became common in Europe in the 12th century. In the French Romanesque cathedrals of Provence, Burgundy, and Aquitaine, many figures were placed on the facades, and statues on the columns emphasized the vertical supporting elements.

Painting. Existing examples of Romanesque painting include decorations of architectural monuments, such as columns with abstract designs, as well as wall decorations with images of hanging fabrics. Pictorial compositions, in particular narrative scenes based on biblical subjects and from the lives of saints, were also depicted on wide surfaces of the walls. In these compositions, which largely follow Byzantine painting and mosaics, the figures are stylized and flat, so that they are perceived more as symbols than as realistic representations. Mosaic, just like painting, was essentially a Byzantine technique and was widely used in the architectural design of Italian Romanesque churches, especially St. Mark's Basilica (Venice) and the Sicilian churches at Cefalu and Montreal.

decorative arts . 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.

Regional schools of manuscript illustration in southern and eastern Europe developed different specific styles, as can be seen, for example, in the copy of the Apocalypse of Beata (Paris, National Library), made in the mid-11th century at the monastery of Saint-Sever in northern France. At the beginning of the 12th century, the illustration of manuscripts in the northern countries acquired common features, just as the same thing happened at that time with sculpture. In Italy, Byzantine influence continued to dominate in both miniature painting, wall paintings, and mosaics.

Pre-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. Other metalwork from this period is early Celtic filigree jewelry and silver objects; late products of German goldsmiths and silver items inspired by imported Byzantine metal products, as well as wonderful enamels, especially cloisonné and champlevé, made in the areas of the Moselle and Rhine rivers. Two famous metalworkers were Roger of Gelmar-Schausen, a German known for his bronze work, and the French enameller Godefroy de Clare.

The most famous example of Romanesque textile work is the 11th century embroidery called the Bayeux Tapestry. Other examples survive, such as ecclesiastical vestments and drapery, but the most valuable textiles in Romanesque Europe were imported from the Byzantine Empire, Spain and the Middle East and are not the product of local craftsmen.

Gothic art and architecture

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. Later use of the term "Gothic" was limited to the period of the late, high or classical Middle Ages, immediately following the Romanesque. Currently, the Gothic period is considered one of the most outstanding in the history of European artistic culture.

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. Although early Gothic churches allowed for a wide variety of forms, the construction of a series of great cathedrals in northern France, beginning in the second half of the 12th century, took full advantage of the new Gothic vault. Cathedral architects discovered that external thrust forces from vaults were now concentrated in narrow areas at the joints of the ribs, and could therefore be easily counteracted by buttresses and external flying buttresses. 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.

Sculpture. Following Romanesque traditions, in numerous niches on the facades of French Gothic cathedrals, a huge number of figures carved from stone were placed as decorations, personifying the dogmas and beliefs of the Catholic Church. Gothic sculpture in the 12th and early 13th centuries was predominantly architectural in nature. The largest and most important figures were placed in the openings on both sides of the entrance. Because they were attached to columns, they were known as column statues. Along with columnar statues, free-standing monumental statues were widespread, an art form unknown in Western Europe since Roman times. The earliest that have come down to us are the column statues in the western portal of Chartres Cathedral. They were still in the old pre-Gothic cathedral and date from around 1155. The slender, cylindrical figures follow the shape of the columns to which they were attached. They are executed in a cool, austere, linear Romanesque style, which nevertheless gives the figures an impressive character of purposeful spirituality.

From 1180, Romanesque stylization began to transition into a new one, when the statues acquired a sense of grace, sinuousness and freedom of movement. This so-called classical style culminates in the first decades of the 13th century in the large series of sculptures on the portals of the north and south transepts of Chartres Cathedral.

The emergence of naturalism. Beginning around 1210 on the Coronation Portal of Notre Dame Cathedral and after 1225 on the West Portal of Amiens Cathedral, the ripple effect of classical surface design begins to give way to more formal volumes. The statues of the Reims Cathedral and in the interior of the Sainte-Chapelle Cathedral have exaggerated smiles, emphatically almond-shaped eyes, curls arranged in bunches on small heads and mannered poses produce a paradoxical impression of a synthesis of naturalistic forms, delicate affectation and subtle spirituality.

Medieval music and theater

Medieval music is predominantly spiritual in nature and is a necessary component of the Catholic Mass. At the same time, already in the early Middle Ages, secular music began to take shape.

The first important form of secular music were the songs of the troubadours in the Provençal language. Beginning in the 11th century, the songs of the troubadours remained influential in many other countries for more than 200 years, especially in northern France. The pinnacle of troubadour art was reached around 1200 by Bernard de Ventadorn, Giraud de Bornel Folke de Marseille. Bernard is famous for his three texts about unrequited love. Some of the poetic forms anticipate the 14th century ballad with its three stanzas of 7 or 8 lines. Others talk about the crusaders or discuss some love trivia. Pastorals in numerous stanzas convey banal stories about knights and shepherdesses. Dance songs, such as rondo and virelai, are also in their repertoire. All this monophonic music could sometimes have accompaniment on a string or wind instrument. This was the case until the 14th century, when secular music became polyphonic.

Medieval theater. In an ironic twist of history, theater in the form of liturgical drama was revived in Europe by the Roman Catholic Church. As the church sought ways to expand its influence, it often adapted pagan and folk festivals, many of which contained theatrical elements. In the 10th century, many church holidays provided the opportunity for dramatization: generally speaking, the Mass itself is nothing more than a drama.

Certain holidays were famous for their theatricality, such as the procession to church on Palm Sunday. Antiphonal or question-and-answer songs, chants, masses and canonical chorales are dialogues. In the 9th century, antiphonal chimes, known as tropes, were included in the complex musical elements of the mass. The Three-Part Paths (dialogue between the three Marys and the angels at the tomb of Christ) by an unknown author from about 925 are considered the source of liturgical drama. In 970, a record of instructions or manuals for this small drama appeared, including elements of costume and gestures.

Religious drama or miracle plays. Over the next two hundred years, liturgical drama slowly developed, incorporating various biblical stories acted out by priests or choir boys. At first, ecclesiastical vestments and existing architectural details of churches were used as costumes and decorations, but soon more ceremonial decoration details were invented. As liturgical drama developed, it presented many biblical themes in succession, typically depicting scenes from the creation of the world to the crucifixion of Christ. These plays were called differently - passions (Passion), miracles (Miracles), holy plays. Appropriate decorations rose around the church nave, usually with heaven in the altar and a Hellmouth - an elaborate monster's head with a gaping mouth, representing the entrance to hell - at the opposite end of the nave. Therefore, all scenes of the play could be presented simultaneously, and the participants in the action moved around the church from one place to another depending on the scenes.

The plays were apparently episodic, spanning periods of literally thousands of years, moving the action to a variety of locations, and presenting the setting and spirit of different times, as well as allegories. Unlike ancient Greek tragedy, which clearly focused on creating the preconditions and conditions for catharsis, medieval drama did not always show conflict and tension. Its purpose was to dramatize the salvation of the human race.

Although the church supported early liturgical drama in its didactic quality, entertainment and showmanship increased and began to predominate, and the church began to express suspicion of drama. Not wanting to lose the beneficial effects of the theater, the church compromised by removing dramatic performances from the walls of the church churches themselves. The same material design began to be recreated in the market squares of cities. While maintaining its religious content and orientation, the drama became much more secular in its production character.

Medieval secular drama. In the 14th century, theatrical productions were associated with the feast of Corpus Christi and developed into cycles that included up to 40 plays. Some scholars believe that these cycles developed independently, although simultaneously with liturgical drama. They were presented to the community over an entire four to five year period. Each production could last one or two days and was staged once a month. The production of each play was financed by some workshop or trade guild, and usually they tried to somehow connect the specialization of the workshop with the subject of the play - for example, a shipbuilding workshop could stage a play about Noah. Since the performers were often illiterate amateurs, the anonymous authors of the plays tended to write in easy-to-remember, primitive verse. In accordance with the medieval worldview, historical accuracy was often ignored, and the logic of cause-and-effect relationships was not always respected.

Realism was used selectively in productions. The plays are full of anachronisms, references to purely local circumstances known only to contemporaries; only minimal attention was paid to the realities of time and place. The costumes, furnishings and utensils were entirely modern (medieval European). Something could be depicted with extreme precision - there are reports of actors almost dying due to too realistic execution of a crucifixion or hanging, and of actors who literally burned to death while playing the devil. On the other hand, the episode of the retreat of the waters of the Red Sea could be indicated by simply throwing a red cloth over the pursuing Egyptians as a sign that the sea had swallowed them up.

The free mixture of the real and the symbolic did not hinder medieval perception. Spectacles and folk plays were performed wherever possible, and the hellmouth was usually a favorite object of effort for the masters of mechanical wonders and pyrotechnicians. Despite the religious content of the cycles, they increasingly became entertainment. Three main forms of production were used. In England, carnival floats were the most common. The earlier ecclesiastical settings gave way to elaborate traveling scenes, such as small modern ships that moved from place to place in the city. Spectators gathered in each such place: the performers worked on platforms of carts, or on stages built on the streets. They did the same in Spain. In France, synchronized productions were used - various sets were raised one after another on the sides of a long, raised platform in front of the assembled spectators. Finally, again in England, plays were sometimes staged "in the round" - on a circular stage, with the scenery placed around the circumference of the arena and the audience sitting or standing between the scenery.

Moral plays. During the same period folk plays, secular farces and pastorals, mostly by anonymous authors, appeared, which stubbornly preserved the character of worldly entertainment. All this influenced the evolution of morality plays in the 15th century. Although written on themes of Christian theology with corresponding characters, morality plays were not like cycles, since they did not present episodes from the Bible. They were allegorical, self-contained dramas and were performed by professionals such as minstrels or jugglers. Plays such as Everyman usually dealt with the life path of an individual. The allegorical characters included such figures as Death, Gluttony, Good Deeds and other vices and virtues.

These plays are in some places difficult and boring for modern perception: the rhymes of the poems are repeated, improvised in nature, the plays are two to three times longer than Shakespeare's dramas, and the moral is stated in a straightforward and didactic manner. However, the performers, by incorporating music and action into the performances and using the comic capabilities of numerous characters of vices and demons, created a form of folk drama.

Conclusion

So, the Middle Ages in Western Europe were a time of intense spiritual life, a complex and difficult search for ideological constructs that could synthesize the historical experience and knowledge of the 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 reconcile faith and reason, building a picture of the world on the basis of 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, a new economy, and prepared people's consciousness for the use of mechanical devices and technology. Contrary to the opinion of the thinkers of the Italian Renaissance, the Middle Ages left us with the most important achievements of spiritual culture, including the institutions of scientific knowledge and education. Among them, we should mention, first of all, the university as a principle. In addition, a new paradigm of thinking arose, a disciplinary structure of knowledge without which modern science would have been impossible, people were able to think and understand the world much more effectively than before. Even the fantastic recipes of alchemists played a role in this process of improving the spiritual means of thinking and the general level of culture.

The image proposed by M.K. Petrov could not be more successful: he compared medieval culture to scaffolding. It is impossible to build a building without them. But when the building is completed, the scaffolding is removed, and one can only guess what it looked like and how it was constructed. Medieval culture in relation to our modern culture played precisely the role of such forests:

Without it, Western culture would not have arisen, although medieval culture itself was largely unlike it. Therefore, we must understand the historical reason for such a strange name for this long and important era in the development of European culture.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Gurevich A. Ya. Medieval world; culture of the silent majority. M., 1990.

Petrov M.K. Social and cultural foundations of the development of modern science. M., 1992.

Radugin A.A. Culturology: textbook. M., 1999.

Middle Ages - This is a unique period in the history of Europe and all of humanity, the origin of which is associated with a powerful psychological shock caused by the fall of the “eternal city” - Rome. An empire that seemed to stretch across space and time, which seemed to contemporaries the embodiment of civilization, culture and prosperity, suddenly sank into oblivion. It seemed that the very foundations of the universe had collapsed, even the barbarians, who were undermining the foundations of the empire with their incessant raids, refused to believe what had happened: it is known that many barbarian kingdoms, but due to inertia, continued to mint Roman coins for many years and even decades after the fall of Rome, not wanting to recognize the collapse of the empire . The subsequent centuries were marked by attempts to revive the former greatness of the disappeared power - perhaps, it is from this point of view that states that aspired to great power (of course, in the limited sense in which this is applicable to the Middle Ages), “pan-European” status should be considered: empire Charlemagne (the creation of which, culturally, entailed the short period of the Carolingian Renaissance of the late 8th - first half of the 9th centuries) and, in part, the Holy Roman Empire.

A man of the Middle Ages, having ceased to focus on ancient culture and civilization - that bright torch that shone for him through the centuries - began to perceive the world as a center of chaos, as the dominance of forces hostile to him, and that is why, trying to protect himself and his loved ones from the surrounding nightmare, he turned his attention to religion, to zealous service to the Lord, which seemed to be the only salvation from the misfortunes of the new world. Could it have been different? How can one not believe in the wrath of higher powers punishing humanity, if the entire surrounding reality was literally collapsing before our eyes: a sharp cold snap, constant raids of barbarians, the Great Migration of Peoples, devastating epidemics of plague, cholera and smallpox; the seizure of the Holy Sepulcher by “infidels”; constant and ever-increasing fear of attack from the Moors, Vikings (Normans), and later - the Mongols and Turks... All this forced the medieval man to zealously and fervently believe, giving all of himself, his entire personality to the power of the church, the papacy and the Holy Inquisition, going on distant and dangerous Crusades or joining numerous monastic and knightly orders.

The Great Migration of Peoples is the conventional name for a set of ethnic movements in Europe in the 4th-7th centuries. Germans, Slavs, Sarmatians and other tribes on the territory of the Roman Empire.

(Large encyclopedic dictionary)

The feeling of vulnerability often bordered on mass psychosis, skillfully used for their own purposes by the feudal lords and the church - and it was no coincidence that gold from all over Europe flowed in wide streams to papal Rome, allowing them to maintain a perfectly streamlined bureaucratic and diplomatic apparatus, which for many centuries was a model of both efficiency and deceit. The papacy fearlessly challenged secular power (for example, fighting with it for church investiture - the right to independently appoint and ordain bishops and other representatives of the clergy and spiritual hierarchs) - and in this matter it had someone to rely on: numerous feudal knights who perceived themselves a single pan-European class and proudly bore the title of “army of Christ”, with much greater pleasure they obeyed the distant Pope than their own kings. In addition, numerous monastic (Benedictines, Carmelites, Franciscans, Augustinians, etc.) and spiritual-knightly (for example, Hospitallers and Templars) orders were a reliable support for the papal throne, concentrating in their hands significant material and intellectual resources, which allowed them become genuine centers of medieval culture and education. It is also important to note that throughout a significant part of the Middle Ages, it was the Church that was the largest landowner and feudal lord, which, in combination with church taxes (for example, church tithes), served as a solid basis for the financial well-being of the spiritual authorities.

The combined effect of the above factors largely determined such a historical and cultural phenomenon of the European Middle Ages as the dominance of spiritual power over secular power, which lasted for more than two centuries: from the end of the 11th to the beginning of the 14th centuries. And a vivid embodiment of this superiority of spiritual power was the notorious “humiliation at Canossa,” when the all-powerful Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV in 1077 was forced to humbly and repentantly kiss the hand of Pope Gregory VII, humbly begging for saving forgiveness. Subsequently, the balance of power changed, and secular power took convincing revenge for its own humiliations (remember, for example, the historical episode known as the Avignon Captivity of the Popes), but the confrontation between the church and the kings was never completed until the end of the Middle Ages, thus becoming the most important distinguishing feature of the era in question.

The basis of the socio-economic and hierarchical structure of medieval European society was feudalism. Subsistence farming and the severance of ancient trade and economic ties turned the feudal lord's castle into a closed and absolutely independent economic system, which did not require the supreme royal power at all. It was on this basis that feudal fragmentation was formed, breaking the previously relatively monolithic map of the European region, consisting of large barbarian kingdoms, into a great many tiny and absolutely independent feudal units, intertwined with each other by hundreds of dynastic threads and vassal-seigneurial ties. Serfdom and the personal dependence of the peasants on the feudal lord strengthened the economic well-being and independence of knightly castles and at the same time doomed the poor, half-starved peasants to a powerless, miserable existence. The church did not lag behind in greed - it is enough to mention that it was one of the largest feudal lords of the Middle Ages, concentrating untold wealth in its hands.

Feudalism is a specific socio-political economic structure, traditional for the European Middle Ages and characterized by the presence of two social classes - feudal lords (landowners) and peasants economically dependent on them.

Over the centuries, feudalism increasingly became a brake on the socio-economic development of Europe, holding back the formation of bourgeois-capitalist relations, the growth of manufacturing production and the formation of a market for free labor and capital. The creation of powerful centralized states and vast colonial empires objectively contradicted the preservation of feudal rights and privileges, and in this regard, the later Middle Ages present a picture of the progressive strengthening of the power of the king while weakening the economic and political power of the feudal lords. However, these trends are still more characteristic of the Renaissance and the beginning of the New Age, while the Middle Ages are strongly associated with the unshakable dominance of feudalism, subsistence farming and the vassal-seigneurial hierarchy.

Self-study question

What is the phenomenon of medieval city law? What do you think is the role of the burghers, guilds and guilds in the evolution of the socio-economic structure of medieval European society?

European culture of the Middle Ages - just like

and other spheres of public life - bears a pronounced imprint of the dominance of the religious worldview (visual evidence of which can be seen in the brilliant paintings of Hieronymus Bosch, a Dutch artist of a somewhat later era), in the depths of which not only medieval mysticism and scholasticism developed (a religious and philosophical movement characterized by a synthesis Christian dogmas with rationalistic elements and interest in formal logical constructions in the spirit of Aristotle), but also the entire artistic culture of European civilization (Fig. 2.1).

Rice. 2.1.

The process of “secularization” of European culture and, in particular, philosophy, the tendency to strengthen its secular principle is characteristic exclusively of the era of the late Middle Ages, or Proto-Renaissance, illuminated by the first rays of the Renaissance. It is no coincidence that the authoritative British mathematician and thinker Bertrand Russell in his “History of Western Philosophy” notes: “Up until the 14th century, churchmen had a real monopoly in the field of philosophy, and philosophy was accordingly written from the point of view of the church.”

Moreover, almost all the major thinkers of the Middle Ages came from the clergy and, quite logically, built their own philosophical doctrines in strict accordance with the religious, theological worldview. In this context, it is worth highlighting the most prominent theologians who made a huge contribution to the development of medieval philosophical thought: St. Augustine (who, although he lived in the 4th - first half of the 5th centuries, i.e. during the period of Antiquity, before the fall of Rome, however in spirit can rightfully be classified as a medieval thinker), Boethius, John Scotus Eriugena, Meister Eckhart, Pierre

Abelard, Thomas Aquinas, Marsilius of Padua, William of Ockham and Jean Buridan.

The Middle Ages were characterized by a consistent change of two artistic styles, represented in sculpture, painting, decorative and applied arts and even fashion, but most clearly manifested themselves in architecture: Romanesque and Gothic. Perhaps, if the Romanesque style, which combined ancient artistic forms with some later elements, was primarily a tribute to a bygone great era, then Gothic, with its upward direction and striking geometry of space, can be called a true artistic symbol of medieval Europe (Fig. 2.2) .

Romanesque style is a style of architecture and art of the early Middle Ages, characterized by the preservation of many of the main features of the Roman architectural style (round arches, barrel vaults, leaf ornaments) combined with a number of new artistic details.

Gothic is a period in the development of medieval art in Western, Central and partly Eastern Europe from the 11th-12th to the 15th-16th centuries, which replaced the Romanesque style.

Rice. 2.2. Gothic cathedral in Cologne (Germany). Date of construction: 1248

Medieval literature was also based primarily on religious tradition and on mystical experiences and worldviews. At the same time, one cannot fail to mention the so-called knightly literature, which reflected the spiritual culture and creative searches of the feudal class. In many ways, it was the romance of knightly tournaments, campaigns and heroic epics, combined with love lyrics and the plot of the struggle for the heart of a beloved, that would subsequently form the basis of European romanticism of the New Age (Fig. 2.3.).

Rice. 2.3.

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Tristan and Isolde are the heroes of a medieval chivalric romance of the 12th century, the original of which has not survived to this day. The tale of the love of Tristan and Isolde had a huge influence on subsequent European literature and art

Fairly speaking about the sharp drop in the cultural level of Europe during the Middle Ages, about the temporary loss of the overwhelming part of the ancient heritage, about the extinction of previously great centers of human civilization, one should not go to the other extreme and completely ignore the Europeans’ remaining desire for the light of knowledge, for the realization of their inner creative freedom and creative potential. The most striking manifestation of this kind of tendency can be called the appearance in the 11th-12th centuries. the first European universities: Bologna (1088) (Fig. 2.4), Oxford (1096) and Paris (1160), and a little later, in the first quarter of the 13th century. - Cambridge (1209), Salamanca (1218), Padua (1222) and Neapolitan (1224).

Rice. 2.4.

Within the walls of universities, where the entire intellectual life of the classical and late Middle Ages was concentrated, the so-called seven liberal arts the tradition of studying which dates back to Antiquity. The seven liberal arts were conventionally divided into two groups: trivium(grammar, logic (dialectics) and rhetoric, i.e. primary, basic humanitarian disciplines necessary to comprehend deeper knowledge) and quadrivium(arithmetic, geometry, astronomy and music).

Thus, despite the general degradation of socio-economic and cultural life characteristic of the Middle Ages, life still glimmered in the depths of European society. The ancient heritage was carefully preserved within the walls of monasteries and universities, and the brighter the dawn of the Renaissance, the bolder and more fearless the creative forces manifested themselves, ready to challenge the ossified, moribund feudal structure of society. The Middle Ages were drawing to a close, and Europe was preparing for the great hour of liberation. However, even from the standpoint of modernity, it seems impossible to fully answer the question of whether the phenomenon of the Middle Ages was an inevitable, natural stage in the evolution of European civilization, necessary for the successful assimilation of ancient experience, or whether it was, as the humanists of the Renaissance believed, a period of comprehensive cultural and civilizational decline , when European society, having lost the guiding thread of reason, left the path of development and progress.

• Subsequently, when the futility of hopes for restoring the previous world order became more than obvious, and the need to adapt to new historical realities was more urgent than ever, the name of this interstate entity was changed to the Holy Roman Empire of the German nation.
• Vassalage is a medieval system of hierarchical relations between feudal lords, which consisted in the fact that the vassal received from his lord (suzerain) a fief (i.e., conditional land ownership or, much less often, a fixed income) and on this basis was obliged to bear certain duties in his favor, primarily military service. Often, vassals transferred part of the land received from the overlord into the possession of their own vassals, as a result, the so-called feudal ladder arose, and in some countries (primarily in France) the principle was in force: “The vassal of my vassal is not my vassal” .
• Russell B. History of Western Philosophy. pp. 384-385.