Medieval culture beginning. Main features of medieval culture and its achievements

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Education system. During the early Middle Ages, the need of Western European society for educated people was minimal. The church and state apparatus fully provided monastic and episcopal schools with competent personnel.

In the High Middle Ages, a new impetus for the development of the education system was given by the formation of the urban sector of the economy and the associated steady demand for a number of specialties - medicine, law. Only relatively large educational institutions with the appropriate intellectual potential could take on the task of training such specialists

Universities became such centers. The first of them was formed in 1119 in Bologna (Italy). Later, universities appeared in England (Oxford, second half of the 12th century), France (Paris, 1215).

The training of doctors, and at the highest level, took place within the walls of the Salerno Medical School (Italy).

The science. The early and beginning of the High Middle Ages in Western European science was marked by the dominance of speculative book knowledge based on the heritage of ancient civilization, which, however, was not taken in full.

About the creation of any new information scientific character can be spoken only from the beginning of the 13th century. Among the most notable scientists of the Western European Middle Ages, one should highlight Robert Grosseteste (1175 - 1253), who was one of the first to advocate the transition from speculative to experimental science. In his opinion, the process of studying nature goes through the following stages: 1) experience; 2) thesis-hypothesis; 3) deductive conclusion from the thesis-hypothesis of consequences; 4) practical verification of the latter. This line of transition to experimental natural science was continued by Grosseteste's student Roger Bacon (1214 - 1290).

Western European medieval history. One of the first historians of medieval Western Europe was Flavius Cassiodorus (c. 487 - 578), who wrote “The History of the Goths” in 12 books, which has come down to our time in a summary retelling of the Goth Jordanes, made in 551 (“On the Origin and Deeds of the Goths” ). Over time, histories of other Germanic peoples appeared: “History of the Franks” by Gregory of Tours (VI century), “History of the Kings of the Goths, Vandals and Sueves” by Isidore of Seville (VII century), “History of the Lombards” by Paul the Deacon, “Ecclesiastical History of the English People” » Troubles of the Venerable (VIII century). The most recent work was “The Acts of the Danes” by Saxo Grammar (12th century).

In addition to stories, the path of development of Western European medieval civilization was outlined in chronicles, which were written, as a rule, in Latin. The exception is the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, recorded at the end of the 9th century. in the vernacular and later translated into Latin.

A number of chronicles (for example, Otto of Freising, 12th century) described the entire history of mankind. They began with an account of the creation of the world, then followed the events of world history, contemporary events and paintings of the author Last Judgment. From the 13th century chronicles appear dedicated to the history of individual countries: the “Great French Chronicle”, the “Great Chronicle” of England, begun by Roger of Wendover (died 1236).

Architecture. The most characteristic architectural monuments of the Western European Middle Ages were knightly castles and cathedrals.

The first distinctive architectural style of the Western European Middle Ages, known as “Romanesque,” began to spread in the 10th century. It was based on the use of a system of simple volumes - cubes, parallelepipeds, prisms, cylinders. The walls of the buildings were very massive, with narrow windows that looked like loopholes.

In secular architecture, the Romanesque style is represented by a castle-fortress with a donjon, a central tower that served as a refuge for the feudal lord's family and his vassals in the event of an attack. Food and weapons warehouses and a prison were also located here.

In church architecture, the main monument was the three-nave basilica with a transept and a tower above the intersection of the central nave and transept.

In the 12th century. the formation of a new architectural style- Gothic. The technical basis of Gothic was the invention of a complex frame structure. The vault was now supported not only by the walls. Part of the load was distributed over relatively low but very massive buttresses connected to the walls with special arches. As a result, huge windows with stained glass appeared, filling the cathedral with light.

An essential element of a Gothic cathedral were two towers in the western part of the building. This probably reflected the ancient Germanic belief that after sunset demons came from the west. These towers were designed to protect people from them.

The symbolism of the Gothic cathedral gave medieval people a clear idea of the structure of the Universe, man’s place in it, and the social hierarchy.

Knightly culture. The formation of the knightly class entailed the creation of a whole layer of specific culture. Particular attention should be paid to tournaments known since the end of the 9th century. In the 11th century The first tournament rules were written down, and in the 13th century. knightly tournaments became a stable Western European tradition.

An integral part of knightly culture was heraldry, which went from identifying marks to distinguish its knights during the Crusades to a kind of identification card for a knight participating in a tournament, a language of symbols capable of conveying quite a large amount of information.

Numerous works were also associated with chivalry fiction different genres. These include epic works: “The Song of Roland” (France), “The Song of My Cid” (Spain), “The Song of the Nibelungs” (Germany), lyric poems, novels.

The most popular among the latter were the works that were part of the “Arthurian” cycle, associated with the name of the legendary King Arthur. In his castle Camelot there was a round table, above which one could see the inscription: “Strength is not justice, justice is strength.” Every year 12 knights gathered here and talked about their exploits over the past time.

Urban culture. The main literary works from the pens of urban authors, mostly anonymous, belong to the genre of poems, short stories of comic or satirical content, known in France as fabliau, in Germany as schwank. Works in which the main characters - peasants and a knight - were hidden under the masks of animals: the smart fox Rener and the stupid wolf Isengrim ("Romance of the Fox") were also very popular.

Theater. We can talk about the origins of medieval theater approximately from the 9th - 10th centuries, when first dialogues based on gospel texts, and then pantomimes, appeared in Catholic services. From the end of the 11th century. the transformation of these inserts into small everyday scenes began.

The first truly theatrical genre appeared in the 12th - 13th centuries. It was a mystery - a mass amateur performance on biblical themes with the participation of tens and even hundreds of people. Around the same time, the Miracle appeared - a theatrical production based on Christian legends about miracles. The French farces of the 14th - 15th centuries were filled with very witty, although often rude jokes.

Early humanism. Development of the urban sector of the economy during the period late Middle Ages(mainly in Italy) strengthened the secular principle in culture, defining an orientation towards the human creator.

The first representative of the new culture was Dante Alighieri (1265 - 1321), whose work not only crowns the medieval period of development of Western European culture, but also opens in it new page- Renaissance.

The figures of the Renaissance sought to place man at the center of attention, which gave the name to the entire movement - humanism (from the Latin humanus - human). The main features of determining a person’s value were not origin, wealth, but the desire for harmonious and comprehensive development of personality and creative activity. The figures of the Renaissance chose the culture of antiquity as a model for themselves. However, we were not and could not be talking about a simple resumption of the culture of one and a half thousand years of antiquity. In fact, the formation of a fundamentally new culture, aimed at the future, has begun.

Humanistic principles were most fully embodied in the works of Francesco Petrarch (1304 - 1374), Giovanni Boccaccio (1313 - 1375), Masaccio (1401 - 1428), Sandro Botticelli (1445 - 1510), Donatello (1386 - 1466).

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European culture as such began to take shape precisely at the moment when the cultural tradition of antiquity was stopped (or?) and precisely in the same geographical region. In many ways, medieval culture was determined by the very concept of Christianity, which was a form that met the cultural and ideological needs of society. At the origins of European culture were the church fathers, who laid the foundations of Catholicism, since in the Middle Ages culture was predominantly religious. Moreover, for a long time only the clergy was the most educated layer of Europe. The Church could not go through those elements of secular education that it inherited from antiquity and without which Christianity itself, adopted from antiquity, would simply remain incomprehensible. The Bible and the works of church writers were available to the Western Middle Ages only in Latin. The first attempt to bring together all the elements of ancient knowledge, which the church considered necessary to use for its own purposes, was made back in the 5th century. African writer Marcian Capella. In his book “On the Marriage of Philology and Mercury,” he gave a brief summary of those subjects that formed the basis of education in the ancient school and were known as the “seven liberal arts", i.e. grammar, rhetoric, dialectics, geometry, arithmetic, astronomy and music. In the VI century. Boethius and Cassiodorus divided these seven arts into 2 parts - the trivium - (the crossroads of the three paths of knowledge) - grammar, rhetoric, dialectic and quadrivium - the rest. The trivium was considered the first stage of education, the quadrivium the highest. In this form, these items were included in all medieval textbooks and were preserved until the 15th century. The rhetoric was considered by representatives christian church as a subject that teaches church eloquence, dialectics (or rather, formal logic) as a handmaiden of theology, helping to defeat heretics in dispute; arithmetic - as a subject that facilitates the religious and mystical interpretation of numbers found in the Holy Scriptures; geometry - description of the earth (“And here are the deserted deserts (in Ethiopia), and the inhuman faces of monstrous tribes. Some have no nose, the whole face is smooth and flat... Others have fused mouths, and through a small hole they suck food with an ear of oats... But the Moorish Ethiopians , have four eyes, and this is for the sake of accurate shooting." "In the Ganges there is a worm that has two claws, with which it grabs an elephant and dives with it under the water."); music was needed for church chants; astronomy made it possible to determine the dates of church holidays. According to the teachings of the church, the earth is a disk floating in water, and the sky is a vault supported by four pillars, the center of the earth is Jerusalem. The greatest attention was paid to grammar - the queen of sciences. In the images, the grammarian was shown in the form of a queen with a bunch of rods in her left hand, and with a knife for erasing texts in her right. Corporal punishment flourished in medieval schools. A French monk wrote a grammar manual called “Watch Your Back.” The expressions “being in training” and “walking under the rod” were synonymous. The works of ancient authors studied during the trivium were cut down as the clergy considered necessary. The same was done with works for the quadrivium. Therefore, many works of ancient authors were irretrievably lost in the early Middle Ages. They could have written on them (palimpsest). In the early Middle Ages, authors appeared whose works were also later used as the basis for medieval education. Master of the Office of the Ostrogothic King Severinus Boethius (480-525). His treatises on arithmetic, music, works on logic and theology, translations of Aristotle's logical works became the basis of medieval philology and education. He is sometimes called the father of scholasticism. He was accused and thrown into prison, where he wrote the treatise “Consolation of Philosophy” before his execution. Quaestor and Master of the Offices of the Ostrogothic King Flavius Cassiodorus (490-585) - wanted to create the first university, but failed. His work "Varii". On his estate he founded the monastery Vivarium = cultural center, school, scriptorium, library, which became a model for Benedictine monasteries. Visigothic Spain gave the world an educator - Isidore of Seville (570-636) - the first medieval encyclopedist. “Etymology” - 20 books, collected everything that has been preserved from antiquity. In the second half of the 7th century. the cultural life of Western Europe fell into decline, except for Ireland, where pockets of education glowed in the monasteries, from there this education went around the world - the Venerable Bede “Ecclesiastical History of the Angles”, Alcuin and others. But in the early Middle Ages, chronicles began to appear - “Getica” by Jordan, “The History of the Kings of the Goths, Vandals and Sueves” by Isidore of Seville, “The History of the Lombards” by Paul the Deacon, “The History of the Franks” by Gregory of Tours. The rise of Western European culture dates back to the reign of Charlemagne, hence the name Carolingian Renaissance. Under Charlemagne, various copies of the Bible were compared and its single canonical text was established for the entire Carolingian state. The liturgy was reformed and became uniform according to the Roman model. Around 787, the “Capitulary on Sciences” appeared, according to which schools were to be created in all dioceses, at every monastery, where not only clergy, but also children of lay people studied. A reform of the writing was also carried out - minuscules and majuscules. Textbooks appeared. The center of education is the court academy in Aachen. Alcuin was discharged from Britain. His most famous student is the encyclopedist Hraban the Maurus. The heyday of education did not last long. And in the 9th century. Ferrières abbot Servat Lupe († 862) wrote, “For anyone in our time to move from grammar to rhetoric, and then in order to other sciences is an unprecedented thing.”

As cities developed, they experienced an ever-increasing need for educated, especially literate, people. This need gave rise to new, non-church schools, which differed in both their program and student composition. These schools were a special phenomenon in the intellectual life of medieval society. A specific feature of the non-church school of the 12th century. was that it was a private school, i.e. a school which was not maintained by the church, and whose masters subsisted on fees collected from the students. Especially many such schools arose in Northern France. The most famous schools in the middle of the 12th century. there were the Parisian schools of Guillaume of Conches and Pierre Abelard. The grammarian and dialectician Guillaume was famous for the thoroughness of his lectures and his love for ancient authors. Being a follower of Democritus and Epicurus, Guillaume tried to explain to his students the teaching of Democritus about atoms and sought to find a natural explanation for all natural phenomena, denying supernatural explanations. Guillaume's treatises attracted the attention of the church and were condemned by it. One of the brightest representatives of urban culture was Abelard (1079-1142), who by birth belonged to the knighthood, but became first a wandering schoolboy and then a master of liberal arts. He founded one non-church school after another. Was extremely popular. But the church is not in honor because of its philosophical views. He entered into a dispute with the head of the cathedral school of Paris, Guillaume of Champeaux, on the issue of the so-called. "universals" or general concepts. The dispute centered around the question of whether general concepts real existence, or are they just simple names for a whole series of individual phenomena. Medieval nominalists considered general concepts - universals - words or names (nomina), arising only on the basis of reality (universalia post rem). Medieval realists viewed universals from a purely idealistic point of view, as certain things (res) existing before the real world and independently of the latter (universalia ante rem). Abelard took a position close to nominalism (conceptualist), Guillaume of Champeaux was a realist. Abelard was condemned at the Council of Sens in 1140. He himself burned one of his best treatises. His studies with Eloise led to emasculation and sending both of them to a monastery, where the brethren did not like him and intrigued against him.

In the 12th century. in the West is beginning to take shape graduate School – university (from Latin universitas – totality). This was the name given to associations of teachers and students. The first university in Europe was considered to be Bologna, which arose at the end of the 11th century. based on the Bolognese school, where the famous expert on Roman law Irnerius taught. Gradually, the Bologna school turned into a “general” school (stadium generale), and then into a university. The oldest uni in Europe was the uni of Salerno, which arose from the Salerno medical school (811-1811). A typical medieval university was the University of Paris, which received the first royal charter with the legalization of its rights in 1200. The University of Paris united both students and teachers. Those who were involved in its maintenance (booksellers, scribes, messengers, pharmacists and even innkeepers) were also considered members of the university. All university teachers were united in special organizations - faculties (from Latin - facultas - ability, i.e. the ability to teach a particular subject). Subsequently, the faculty began to be understood as that department of the university in which a certain branch of knowledge was taught. The University of Paris had 4 faculties - artistic, where the seven liberal arts (septem artes liberalis) were studied (grammar, rhetoric, dialectics, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, music) and 3 senior ones - medical, theological, legal, to which students were accepted only after graduating from the artistic faculty. Those. the artistic faculty provided an educational base, after which one could study further. Only those persons who had bachelor's, master's, and doctorate degrees could be teachers. They chose their head - the dean. Students (from the word studere - to study hard) united into community corporations, provinces, and nations. In the Parisian uni there were 4 nations - Norman, English, Picardy, Gallic. At the head of each nation was an elected person - the procurator, and all 4 nations elected the head of the uni - the rector. The Uni was subordinate to the Chancellor of Notre Dame Cathedral and the Pope. All students and teachers were clerics, took a vow of celibacy, and wore dark dresses. True, doctors (medical doctors) were allowed to marry. The faculties differed sharply from each other in their numbers. The most numerous was the artistic department, the completion of which gave the student a Bachelor of Arts degree and the right to teach the latter outside the walls of the uni. (A degree obtained at one uni was not immediately recognized at others. The first derogation from this discrimination was made in Toulouse - a papal bull of 1233. gave everyone who received a degree there the right to teach everywhere. The first incidents related to the awarding of academic degrees date back to this time. Thus, the Paris uni, which was on bad terms with the Dominican Order, denied Thomas Aquinas a doctorate for five years.) Therefore, they sought to obtain a license to teach at the uni and become a Master of Liberal Arts. The legal department was in second place in terms of number. Only one third of all applicants to uni left with a bachelor's degree, and only 1/16 with a master's degree, all the rest left uni, content with the knowledge they acquired at a lower faculty. To become a bachelor, master, or doctor (the doctorate was first awarded in 1130 in Bologna), one had to give a speech and take part in a debate before worthy people who tested the candidate’s knowledge. Then there was a party to be had. "Aristotle's Feast" We studied for a long time. It was expensive. Therefore, in the letters: “I appeal to your parental soul and beg you not to leave me in a difficult situation. After all, you yourself will be pleased if I successfully complete my studies in order to return to my homeland with glory. Do not refuse to send money, as well as shoes and stockings, with the bearer of this letter.” Training – lecture, debates. During the lectures, the teacher (who came to the scholars) (the teachers’ salaries were paid by both the city and the scholars themselves) read and commented on books that were studied in a particular department. Dispute participants reached great art. Thus, Duns Scott, participating in a dispute organized by the Paris Uni, listened to 200 objections, repeated them from memory and then consistently refuted them. The topic - theses - arguments was brought up for debate. The respondent and the opponent participated. It was necessary to monitor speech and avoid indecent expressions. The entertainment was a debate about anything (disputatio de quodlibet). At the theological faculty, the main debate took place during Lent. Those who survived the Lenten debate received the title of bachelor and the right to wear the red kamilavka. At the Paris Uni, the degree of doctor (a symbol of doctoral dignity - a beret, a book, a ring) was first awarded in 1231. Study sessions were designed for an entire academic year, only from the end of the 15th century. a division into semesters appeared - a large ordinary academic period - (magnus ordinaries) - from October (St. Remy's day - October 1 (15), or as at the Paris Uni in the three higher faculties from mid-September to Easter, with a short break for Christmas, and a small ordinary educational period (ordinarius parvas) - from Easter to July 25 (St. James). Classes began at about five in the morning and lasted about four hours, then there were evening classes. Lectures were ordinary and extraordinary. The differences are based on which books, when and how they were read. During ordinary lectures, listeners could not interrupt the lecturer with words or questions, but during extraordinary ones, this was allowed. At the Paris Uni, dictation was prohibited, it was assumed that the lecturer should present the material fluently and without a cheat sheet. If this was not observed, then followed by a fine - they could be suspended from teaching for 1 year, in case of relapse - for 2, 4 years. Repeating the text was also not allowed, with the exception of particularly difficult passages. From the 14th century, uni received the epithet alma mater (as the Romans called the mother of the gods Cybele) . Textbooks - grammar was studied using short course Donatus, then according to Priscian, rhetoric was taught according to Cicero, dialectics according to Aristotle, Boethius, Augustine, etc., physicians - Galen, Hippocrates, jurists - their own authorities.

Colleges began to be built to accommodate students. Although the students rented apartments from the townspeople, there was a rule that the townspeople were not to increase the rent arbitrarily. The first person to take care of the students' lives was Robert de Sorbonne, confessor and physician to the French king Louis IX. A specialization appeared at uni Salerno, Montpellier - medicine, Bologna - law, about the Faculty of Theology in Paris - “all the knots can be untangled here.” Therefore, students often continued to listen to a course of lectures on a particular discipline at different universities from the most famous teachers, undergoing a kind of internship. Therefore, vagantes and goliards, wandering students, appeared. Authors of student poetry. The most famous collection of works by 13th-century vagants. "Carmina Burana", composed by an unknown amateur from southern Bavaria, consisting of over 200 works, mainly of Vagant origin. They are arranged in sequence - moral-satirical poems, love poems, wandering songs, drinking songs, religious hymns and liturgical dramas. Those who did complete their studies and received a doctorate were expected to receive honor and recognition at best, a good position at court and in society, and at worst, whatever happens. In the Middle Ages there were doctors who received epithets for their learning - Francis of Assisi ( Giovanni Francesco(del Moricone) (1181-1226) – Doctor Mariinsky (Marianus), i.e. dedicated his activities to the Virgin Mary; Albert the Great, Cologne (1198 and 1206 -1280) – comprehensive doctor (Universalis); Roger Bacon (1214-1294) – Doctor Amazing (Mirabilis); Henry of Ghent (1217-1293) – triumphant (Solemnis); Bonaventura (Giovanni Fidanza) (1221-1274) – seraphic (seraphicus); Aquinas (1225-1274) – angelic (angelicus); Raymond Lullius (1235-1315) – enlightened (illuminatus); Aegidius of Rome (1257-1316) – most thorough (fundatissimus); John Duns Scott (1266-1308) – refined (subtilis); William of Ockham (1285-1349) – invincible (invicibilis); John Karl Gerson (1363-1429) – the most Christian (christianissimus); Dionysius the Carthusian (1402-1471) – enthusiastic (extaticus) (Shevelenko A.Ya. Doctor Mariinsky and Doctor Comprehensive // VI. 1994. No. 9. P. 170.). Members of the uni corporation had their own privileges - they were not subject to the jurisdiction of city authorities, were exempt from mutual responsibility for debt obligations, and had the right to secession. Although scholars often get into fights with townspeople, they are judged by their superiors.

Medieval university science was called scholasticism or " school science"(from Latin schola - school). Its characteristic feature was the desire to rely on authorities and a complete disregard for experience. Ability to use concepts fluently formal logic was considered the main thing among the scholastics. The positive thing about the activities of the scholastic logicians was that they introduced compulsory study of a number of ancient authors into all uni programs, tried to pose and solve important problems of knowledge, and introduced Western Europe to the works of Arab scientists. In the 12th century. in Cordoba Ibn Roshd (1126-1198) (Averroes) taught, whose teachings were developed in the teachings of Amaury of Ben († 1204), David of Dinan, Siger of Brabant (killed in prison).

An important part medieval culture are epic tales that can be considered as collective memory and the custodian of history. At first, the epic was sung by jugglers and shpilmans. Later they were recorded, in addition, heroic epic became an integral part of knightly culture. At the core epic works These are real events, but with a touch of the fantastic. The recording of the Anglo-Saxon epic "Beowulf" dates back to 1000. It is about Beowulf (nephew of the ruler of the Geats), who, together with his 14 comrades, offered his services to the ruler of Denmark Hrothgar, who decided to build a huge banquet hall, but the noise disturbed the monster Grendel, who every evening appeared in the hall and destroyed several of Hrothgar's comrades. Beowulf managed to defeat Grendel in battle, and he crawled away to die in his swamp. But the next evening a new monster appeared - Grendel's mother, who decided to avenge her son. Approaching the swamp, the knights saw snakes, dragons, water nixes, Beowulf sank into the pool to the bottom and defeated her (Beowulf's sword - Hrunting). Beowulf returned home and became a good king. But soon snakes began to visit Beowulf's possessions. The snake guarded the treasures in the cave for 300 years, and after a certain man stole a cup from him, the snake decided to take revenge on the people. Beowulf (now aged) went to fight the serpent to keep his country safe. The serpent was killed, but Beowulf also died, receiving a mortal wound.

The Scandinavian sagas consist of 12 songs from the Elder Edda, composed in the ancient North Germanic (Scandinavian) dialect. According to the content of the songs, they are divided into tales about gods and tales about heroes. Some songs set out the concepts of the ancient Scandinavians about the universe and all 9 worlds, the constituent parts of the universe. One of the songs tells how the god Frey wooed the giant's daughter Gerda. In another, how the god Heimdal came to earth to establish classes and establish mutual relations between people. It tells about episodes of Odin's wanderings through the land, about the Aesir (light gods), the Jotungs (giants), the death of the Aesir and the whole world is predicted, about dwarfs, about Valkyries. Songs about heroes tell about two families - the Welzungs and the Niflungs. In the 13th century. “The Younger Edda” by Snorri Sturluson appeared - a manual on how to compose skaldic tales. The ancient Scandinavian tales of the Edda about the Niflungs, their treasure, Sigurd about his fight with Fafnir, about Gudrun and Brünnhilde were not exclusively Scandinavian tales. They belonged to all Germanic tribes, and a little later these legends became the basis for the poem in Middle German “Songs of the Nibelungs”. But unlike the Edda, the Nibelungenlied has a god and religious rituals are observed. Brunnhilde is a girl of wondrous beauty. Sigfried is the son of the Dutch kings. The Abelungs and Nibelungs die in the battle, the treasure was not found (Hagen did not say). The Song of Roland is based on the battle in Roncesvalles with the Basques, while the Song of My Cid is based on episodes of the reconquista. The stories were extremely popular and everyone knew them.

A separate page of medieval culture was knightly culture. It took shape by the 11th-12th centuries. The creator and bearer is the knightly class. It is based on the code of conduct of the ideal knight. Loyalty, courage, nobility, good manners, etc. One of the sources of the Western European knightly (courtly - the term was coined by Gaston Paris (1839-1903) to denote the form of relations between a man and a woman that develops among gentlemen) was the Celtic epic about King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. (The story of Tristan and Isolde). In the knightly culture, the cult of the lady arises, constituting a necessary element of courtliness. From the end of the 11th century. the poetry of troubadours flourishes in Provence, the poetry of trouvères in the north of France, and the minnesingers in Germany. The most famous authors chivalric novels there were Chrétien de Troyes, Wolfram von Eschenbach, Hartmann von Aue (knight) (1170-1210) (“Poor Henry”), participant in the Third Crusade. In 1575, Michel Nostradamus's brother Jean published biographies of troubadours, who could also be people of noble origin, for example. Thibault of Champagne, and grandfather of Alienor of Aquitaine.

From the 11th century Cities become centers of cultural life. The genres of urban literature are fabliaux, schwanks, farces, and soti. A satirical epic is also taking shape - “The Romance of the Fox”. The main character, the Fox Renard (a wealthy townsman), defeats the Wolf Isengrin, the Bear Brenn, deceives the Lion Noble, the Donkey Baudouin. By the 13th century. refers to the origins of urban theatrical arts. City games - “The Game of Robin and Marion”, etc. Then secular plays appear. Adam de Al (from Arras, nicknamed “The Hunchback” (1238-1286), who lived in Paris in 1262-1263, at the court of Count d'Artois (from 1272) and Charles of Anjou (from 1283) was author of the first secular plays in the vernacular, “Games under the Leaves,” “Plays of Robin and Marion.” “Play of Robin and Marion” was one of the most famous. Characters– Marion (paisan), Robin (paisan), Knight. Marion says that she is in love with Robin, who bought her a scarlet dress and a belt, and that he is wooing her. Then the Knight returning from the tournament appears and tries to seduce her. Marion doesn't give in, and then Robin appears and they coo sweetly. Pastoral games were popular - scenes between a knight and a shepherdess, a shepherd and a shepherdess. An example is Thibaut of Champagne’s poem “The King of Navarre”: “These days, Thibaut narrates, I met between the grove and the garden a shepherdess who was singing, her song began like this: “When illness attracts me, love.” Hearing this, I went to her and said: “darling, God grant you, good day" To this she answered me with a bow. She was sweet, fresh, rosy, that I wanted to talk to her again. “Darling, I am looking for your love. I will give you a luxurious headdress!” “Knights are great deceivers, I prefer my shepherd Perren than rich scoffers.” “Beauty, don’t say that. Knights are very worthy people. Only knights and people of the highest circle can have a girlfriend according to their desire. And the love of a shepherd costs nothing. Let's go..." “Sir, by the Mother of God, you wasted your words. Knights are greater deceivers than the traitor Ganelon. I would rather return to Perren, who is waiting for me and loves me with all his honest heart. And you, sir, stop chatting.” I realized that the shepherdess wanted to get away from me. I asked her for a long time and in vain, but when I hugged her, the shepherdess screamed: “Perinet, treason.” They responded from the forest, and I left her. Seeing that I was leaving, she mockingly shouted to me: “Oh, brave knight!” (La Barthe. Conversations...P.168-169).

An indispensable attribute of urban culture were processions, which could be arranged for any reason. In England, as well as in other European countries, processions of corporations and the ceremonial entry of the Lord Mayor of London into the City were common.

From the processions in Italian cities, as well as in other European countries, trionfo arose - i.e. a costumed procession, partly on foot, partly on carts, which, being originally church-based, gradually acquired a secular meaning. Processions for the feast of Corpus Christi and carnival processions here stylistically merge, and the ceremonial entries of sovereigns soon join this style.

Carnival- was held in the week preceding Lent, on Maslenitsa - either on Broad Thursday or on Fat Tuesday. First carnesciale (meat eater), carnevale. It got its name either from carrus navalis - ship, cart, carne vale - meat eater, flesh. An exclusively urban phenomenon. It acquired a variety of forms by the 15th century. It included processions, games, acrobatic and sports displays, and masks. Perhaps masks are an attribute exclusively of the Venetian carnival. The first mention of masks is found in a Senate decree of 1268. It was a ban on wearing masks when organizing certain categories of games, but the Venetians... In 1339 the decree was repeated. Then workshops for mask manufacturers appeared. Over the years, the carnival has become wild, lush and fun. The opening carnival was accompanied by a church service and speeches from the authorities. So-called entertainment companies appear. Compagnie delle Calze, whose members wore symbolic emblems decorated with pearls and precious stones, ladies wore them on their sleeves, men wore them on their stockings. In the 15th century the carnival becomes diverse - fortune tellers, astrologers, soothsayers, sellers of all-healing ointments, ointments, insect repellents, against female infertility, against bullets, against bladed weapons. Then, as an addition to the carnival, and then as an independent component, the commedia delle arte appeared, i.e. folk comedy. There were over 100 masks. 2 quartets - northern - Pantalone (Venetian with his own dialect, old man - merchant, rich, stingy, sick, frail, sneezes, coughs, considers himself smarter than everyone else, but most often becomes the object of pranks, womanizer, merchant who has grown old), Doctor (Bolognese scientist, rants, misinterprets latin quotes, lawyer, sometimes a doctor (the attribute in this case is klystir), loves to drink, womanizer, the most complex mask is comedy), Brighella (a smart servant, a complex and responsible mask, since it is he who starts the intrigue), Harlequin = Truffaldino (stupid servant, often gets beaters), (both come from Bergamo, home of Italian fools); southern - Coviello (southern parallel of Brighella), Pulcinella (southern parallel of Harlequin - consistently stupid), Scaramuccia (boastful warrior, coward), Tartaglia (appeared in Naples around 1610 - Tartaglia in Italian. stutterer, the character of the Spanish servants, preventing people from living ), + Captain (a parody of the Spaniards), Lovers (ladies - 1. powerful, proud, 2. soft, gentle, submissive; gentlemen - 1. cheeky, optimistic; 2. timid, modest. speak the correct literary language), Fantesca (Serveta = Columbina - maid, in Goldoni - Mirandolina), etc. Masks = role.

Since laughter was banished from official life, that is why "Fool's Day", which were held on New Year's Day, the Day of the Innocent Infants, Epiphany, Midsummer's Day. There were few such holidays. What could cause laughter? Buffon tricks = lazzi (lazzi = l "atto, action, i.e. buffon trick. Lazzi with a fly - Zanni makes a gesture with his hand, as if catching a fly in the air, then with facial expressions shows that he tears off its wings, legs and throws it at mouth to yourself. Or lazzi with pasta - a plate of pasta, which is eaten either with the hands or with the mouth. The actors are tied with their backs, one bends over, eats; the second dangles his legs in the air.

In many cities the townspeople were organizing in neighborhoods for public performances. These include the performance of hell on stages and barges standing on the Arno (Florence) (05/1/1304), during which the Alla Caraya bridge collapsed under the audience. One of the specific features of the performances in Italy was the use of machines - they carried out ascent into the air and descent. Florentines already in the 14th century. maligned when the trick did not go smoothly. Famous artists took part in organizing the holidays. For example, Brunelleschi invents for the Feast of the Annunciation in Piazza San Felice an apparatus depicting a celestial globe framed by two garlands of angels, from which Gabriel descended to earth in an almond-shaped machine. Cecca also develops mechanisms for such celebrations. The most solemn holiday was the Feast of Corpus Christi. It was celebrated magnificently in 1480 in Viterbo. The holiday was organized by Pope Pius II. Here is the suffering Christ, surrounded by angelic boys; Last Supper, where Thomas Aquinas was present, the struggle of the Archangel Michael with demons, a spring gushing with wine, the Holy Sepulcher, the scene of the Resurrection, on the cathedral square - the tomb of Mary, which, after a solemn mass and blessing, was opened, and the Mother of God, in a host of angels, soared into heaven with singing , where Christ placed a crown on her and led her to the eternal Father. Rodrigo Borgia (Alexander VI) organized similar holidays, but he was distinguished by his passion for cannon cannonades. S. Infessura wrote about the holiday that Pietro Riario organized in 1473 in Rome on the occasion of the passage of Eleanor of Aragon, the bride of Prince Ercole of Ferrara. There were also mysteries, and pantomimes on mythological themes - Orpheus surrounded by animals, Perseus and Andromeda, Ceres, who was attracted by the dragon, Bacchus, Ariadne with a panther; there was a ballet of love couples of prehistoric times; flocks of nymphs, all this was interrupted by the invasion of robber centaurs, whom Hercules defeated. During all the festivities, in the niches and on the columns there were people depicting statues, while they recited and sang. In the halls of the Riario there was a boy completely covered with gold, spraying water from a fountain. Vasari in his “Biography of Pontormo” told how such a child in 1513 On one Florentine holiday he died due to overexertion or gilding. The boy represented the “golden age”. In Venice, the arrival of the princess from the house of d'Este (1491) was celebrated with a gala reception with the "Bucentaur", a rowing competition and the pantomime "Meleager" in the Doge's Palace. In Milan, Leonardo da Vinci took care of the festivities of the Duke and other nobles. One of his machines represented on a huge scale the celestial system and all its movements; whenever one of the planets approached the young Duke's bride, Isabella, the corresponding god appeared from the ball and sang the verses of the court poet Bellincioni (1489). From Vasari we know what kind of automata Leonardo invented to greet the French king, who was entering Milan as a conqueror.

In addition, there were holidays that were celebrated only in one city or another. For example, in Rome they organized running competitions: donkeys, horses, buffaloes, old men, young men, Jews. In Siena they organized a paleo (on horseback). In Venice - regattas, the betrothal of the Doge to the sea. Torchlight processions are popular. Thus, in 1459, after the Congress of Mantua, Pius II was waited in Rome with torches; participants in the torchlight procession formed a ring near his palace.

City entertainment - walks around the city, in the park, “sports” - fist fights, various competitions, in England - curling, etc. Trips to the resort, visits to drinking establishments, in the Nordic countries and the Netherlands - ice skating, visits for reasons (or not?).

Religious holidays. 4 holiday cycles - Yuletide (winter), (Maslenitsa), Easter (spring), Trinity (summer), Theotokos (autumn), or December birth, April crucifixion, June Ascension, August death of the Mother of God and her September birth.

Winter holidays began on November 11 - St. Martina, or Martin's Day, is the time of pouring new wine and slaughtering livestock. Expression - Martyn's pig, Martyn's goose. Disease of St. Martina - to be drunk. The day of hiring workers, settlement with owners, the day of rent payment. They ate and drank (Grimmelshausen - St. Martin's Day - then we, the Germans, begin to feast and revel until Maslenitsa. Then many, both officers and townspeople, began to invite me to visit Martin's goose), and had fun. In the Netherlands there was a game of cat - a cat was put in a barrel, which was tied to a tree, and they tried to get it out of there with sticks. In Italy, on Martin's day they ate pasta, pork, poultry, sweet pretzels and drank new wine.

November 25 was celebrated as St. Catherine and the Christmas period began. Christmas was preceded by the “dead weeks” of Advent (4 Sundays before Christmas (candles are lit before Christmas, a candle every Sunday).

December 6th – St. Nicholas, in the Netherlands on this day children (good and small) are given gifts and placed in stockings (bad and grown-up children are given coals). Later St. Nicholas turned into Santa Claus (1822). The prototype of Santa Claus was Bishop Nicholas of Myra, who lived in the 4th century, who first gave gifts to three sisters who dreamed of getting married, but did not have a dowry (he tossed a wallet with money to each, the youngest - the wallet ended up in a stocking, which she hung up to dry at the hearth after washing).

December 25 – Christmas. Roman proverb: “Spend Christmas with your own people, and Easter where she finds you.” Then Christmastide came until January 6 (until the day of the Three Kings. The Bean King. (A bean or some inedible object was placed in the pie; whoever got the wrong piece was the Bean King, who fulfilled all wishes). The first 12 days of the new year were determined all year, January 1 - January, 2 - February, etc. “Whoever counts coins on the first day of the year, counts them all year.” On January 1-6, Befana walks around Italy either on a donkey, or she is brought by the stars and gives gifts to children. The custom of putting up a Christmas tree for Christmas came from Germany. It was first erected in the 16th century (after the Reformation) in Strasbourg on the day of remembrance of Adam and Eve on December 24. A fir tree decorated with red apples was placed in the room, personifying the tree of good and evil , or a triangular pyramid, on the shelves of which gifts lay, and the top was decorated with the Star of Bethlehem.(Champagne began to be drunk in 1668.) On New Year's Day - in Italy they throw old furniture out of the window, at midnight - whoever eats the most grapes wins the most will be prosperous all year, food is prepared from lentils (resembles coins), eggs; in Spain - they eat a grape and make a wish; in England - when midnight strikes, they open the back door of the house, letting out the old year, and with the last blow, open the front door, letting in the new year. They drink punch - grape wine, vodka (rum), tea, sugar, lemon juice (2 alcoholic components for 3 non-alcoholic), boil in a silver pan.

January 17th – St. Anthony, blessed domestic animals, lit bonfires - “the fires of St. Anthony" - with cleansing properties, the extinct firebrand was kept as a remedy against lightning.

End of winter - Meeting on February 2. – In Italy it’s Candelora’s holiday. (candles). It is believed that on Candelora a bear crawls out of its den to see what the weather is like. If it is cloudy, it makes 3 jumps - winter is over; if it is clear, it returns back to the den, saying that it will be cold for another 40 days. The culmination of the holiday is the blessing of candles.

Spring - On March 14, a ceremony was held in Rome called mamuralia - a man dressed in the skin of “old Mars” was driven out of the city with sticks.

March 15 is the holiday of Anna Perena - the goddess of the Moon or water. At this time, a carnival was held. Carts (carrus navalis - (chariot - ship), carne vale - long live the flesh), processions, masks, games. The last Thursday (Tuesday) before the carnival is Fat Thursday, the apogee of the holiday. Lent began with Ash Wednesday, which followed Fat Tuesday.

Palm Sunday, Easter.

April 30 - (Walpurgis Night - Witches' Sabbath) night walk in the forest behind a tree. In all countries of Western Europe there was a custom to celebrate the “day of renewal of nature” - May 1st. Young people went out of town to “bring May.” They returned with flowers, fragrant herbs, and leaves that decorated the doors and windows of houses. In France and Belgium, the homes of lovers were decorated with flowering rosehip branches. This was called “planting May.” In the Middle Ages, at the courts of the lords, a special “May ride” was organized, with the May count or the May king at the head of the cavalcade. On the May holidays, young people led round dances and sang. They built a maypole, from the top of which gifts (ham, sausages, sweets, poultry, etc.) were hung. The holiday ended with a competition to see which of the guys could climb the tree the fastest. The winner is the King of May + Queen of May.

Summer cycle holidays began with the Feast of Corpus Domini and was celebrated on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday. Introduced by Pope Urban IV on September 8, 1264 in memory of the Bolsena miracle (when, during a service in one of the churches in Bolsena, the blood of Christ appeared on a wafer). The holiday ritual is a procession. The city was always decorated with carpets and flowers; the pavements were decorated with carpets of fresh flowers. Holiday - carpet demonstrations.

June 24 – St. Day John the Baptist. Fires were lit. On the eve of the holiday they told fortunes. At night they put 2 beans under the pillow - black and white, in the morning they took them out at random, if they pulled out a black one, the girl would get married within a year, if they took out a white one, not. They also wondered about the wealth of the future husband. If they pulled out peeled beans, they were poor; if they were unpeeled, they were rich. June 24 is the day of Florence, since St. Giovanni is the patron saint of the city. So, just like every city has its own heavenly patron, in whose honor a holiday was always held.

August 15 – Assumption of the Virgin Mary. In Italy, “buon Ferragosto” means good August holidays. The season ended with great summer holiday. In Rome, Navin Square was flooded with water. They organized a competition - a paleo (palio) horse racing competition. Dante wrote about a similar competition near Verona, the winner received green cloth, the last - a rooster. They shot from a crossbow.

From August to October, holidays began throughout the Mediterranean, dedicated to the harvesting of grapes, figs, and the ripening of leaves on mulberry trees (Murcia). The grape harvest season is a time of revelry, fun and extravagance.

Autumn. A wine fair was held in Seville from October 5 to 15. On the third Sunday of October in Germany, fairs began in many lands, where they held the so-called. kirbaum resembled a maypole, + lunch.

(October 30 - Halloween in English-speaking countries), preceded November 1 - All Saints' Day. Introduced in 610, it first fell on May 13, in the 9th century. postponed to November 1st.

November 2 is the day of remembrance of all the dead. November 1 was spent in the church, November 2 - in the cemetery, and then they had a meal. (In Italy, beans are a funeral food).

There were annual holidays for schoolchildren. They were celebrated either on St. Nicholas, or on the day of innocent babies (December 27). On this day, in all major cathedrals, a boy was elected bishop, who led the religious holiday and delivered a sermon. The second holiday of schoolchildren is Penitential Tuesday (during Maslenitsa week) on this day the students brought fighting cocks and had cockfights. On the same day they played ball.

In addition, all regions of Europe had their own local patronal holidays. In German and Dutch countries it was called kermes (kirmes).

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 3 periods:

Earlier 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;

Late Middle Ages, XIV and XV centuries.

The early Middle Ages was a time when turbulent and very important processes. First of all, this is a barbarian invasion. They ended with the fall of Rome. The second most important historical process is that the new Western Europeans, as a rule, adopted Christianity. The third significant process was the formation of new state formations on the territory of the former Roman Empire, created by the same barbarians.

High (Class.) Middle Ages - a period of European history that lasted from approximately 1000 to 1300. The era of the High Middle Ages replaced the Early Middle Ages and preceded the Late Middle Ages. The main characteristic trend of this period was the rapid increase in the population of Europe, which in turn led to dramatic changes in social, political and other spheres of life. The Late Middle Ages is a term used by historians to describe the period of European history between the 14th and 16th centuries.

The Late Middle Ages was preceded by the High Middle Ages, and the subsequent period is called the New Age. Historians differ sharply in defining the upper limit of the Late Middle Ages. If in Russian historical science While it is customary to define its end by the English Civil War, in Western European scholarship the end of the Middle Ages is usually associated with the beginning of the Church Reformation or the Age of Discovery. The Late Middle Ages is also called the Renaissance. This culture was associated with Christian beliefs and the church. This is the culture of the era of feudalism. Christianity was the intellectual dominant and the main system-forming element. The culture of the Middle Ages was heterogeneous. It can be divided into several levels – several subcultures. Christianity became the basis of the medieval picture of the world. The opposition of God and nature, heaven and earth, soul and body. Such mental traits as universalism, symbolism, and allegorism go back to the dualism of the world. A medieval person is a special type of person, a “piece of society,” who submits himself to the requirements of etiquette, custom, and tradition. Christianity affirms a different value system (consciousness of sin and inevitable afterlife punishment) and, therefore, a tendency to simple laughter. Man in the Middle Ages seemed to be a purely ambivalent creature: on the one hand, he is the crown of creation, the embodiment of the divine, created in the image and likeness of the supreme creator, on the other hand, he is the fruit of the temptations of the devil, a sinful creature. Man has constantly acted as an object of struggle, the focus of the confrontation between the highest alternative forces of the world - God and the devil. The meaning of human life is proclaimed to be the salvation of the soul. The fundamental virtue of a Christian is humility, self-denial, and submission to the will of God. Thus, Christianity determined the uniqueness of science, philosophy, art, law and morality. The most important feature of the culture of the Middle Ages is the nature of the relationship that developed with ancient culture. Sometimes the idea is asserted that the Middle Ages “inherits” the culture of antiquity, “preserves” its traditions and norms, etc. In general, we can say that medieval science only restored the knowledge that the ancient world had discovered. But in many respects: in the field of mathematics, astronomy, it only came close to ancient science, but never surpassed it. In many respects, ideology - religion, Christianity - acted as a brake on the development of science. Attempts to free ourselves from the influence of Christianity were made throughout the Middle Ages, especially during its decline, but these attempts were inconsistent. One of these attempts was the doctrine of the duality of truths: there are divine truths, the truths of Scripture, and there are scientific truths. But the highest truths are the truths of theology.

Renaissance culture.

Renaissance, or Renaissance, is an era in the cultural history of Europe, which replaced the culture of the Middle Ages and preceded the culture of modern times. The era of great discoveries. The approximate chronological framework of the era is XIV-XVI centuries. A distinctive feature of the Renaissance is the secular nature of culture and its anthropocentrism (that is, interest, first of all, in man and his activities). Interest in ancient culture appears, its “revival,” as it were, occurs - and this is how the term appeared. Renaissance culture originated in Italy. Chronologically Italian Renaissance It is customary to divide it into 4 stages:

Proto-Renaissance (pre-renaissance) – second half of the 13th-14th centuries.

Earlier Renaissance - XV century.

High Renaissance - end of the 15th century - first third of the 16th century,

Late Renaissance - end of the 16th century.

The Renaissance period in the Netherlands, Germany and France is usually identified as a separate stylistic direction, which has some differences with the Renaissance in Italy, and called the “Northern Renaissance”. It is delayed in relation to the Italian by a whole century and begins when Italy enters its highest stage of its development. It has more of a medieval worldview, religious feeling, symbolism, it is more conventional in form, more archaic, less familiar with antiquity. The philosophical basis was pantheism - without directly denying the existence of God, it dissolves him in nature, endows nature with divine attributes, such as eternity, infinity, limitlessness. The Middle Ages placed God at the center of its worldview and all spiritual life; it was, as they say, Theocentric; and the Renaissance, instead of God, put Man at the center, was, as they say, Anthropocentric. Hence the Renaissance is also called the era of Humanism. The spiritual culture of the masses during the Middle Ages was formed by the oral preaching of churchmen. Complete illiteracy reigned. The overwhelming majority of priests perceived the content of religious teachings by ear from their wise hierarchs and theologians, since they themselves were illiterate. In 1445, the German inventor Johann Gutenberg (1399-1468) created a printing press on which he printed the text of the Bible. The Church - both Orthodox and Catholic - cursed printing and burned printed Bibles along with their owners. It is no coincidence that the Middle Ages were nicknamed the centuries of darkness and obscurantism. The Renaissance contrasted medieval lack of culture and illiteracy with enlightenment. That is why the Renaissance is also called the Age of Enlightenment. Figures of the Enlightenment, in addition to the Bible, publish works ancient philosophers, courses of their lectures, write and distribute to national languages their works.

The Renaissance became famous for the flourishing of Realistic art, which replaced the iconographic, conventional and mystified art of the Middle Ages. The Renaissance gave humanity such painting geniuses as Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo, Botticelli; such writers as Boccaccio, Francois Rabelais, the poet Petrarch and other unsurpassed artists. And finally. The Renaissance was a culture of Optimism as opposed to the medieval culture of Pessimism. Thus, the Italian Renaissance is characterized by a desire to restore ancient culture, a desire for emancipation, liberation from church dogma, and secular education. In the Northern Renaissance, the main place was occupied by issues of religious improvement, renewal of the Catholic Church and its teachings. Northern humanism led to the Reformation and Protestantism.

6. Features of Medieval culture.

Culture of the Middle Ages.

The term "Middle" arose during the Renaissance. Time of decline. Conflicting culture.

Western European medieval culture spans more than a thousand years. The transition from antiquity to the Middle Ages was caused by the collapse of the Roman Empire and the great migration of peoples. With the fall of Western Roman history, the beginning of the Western Middle Ages emerged.

Formally, the Middle Ages arose from the collision of Roman history and barbarian history (Germanic beginning). Christianity became the spiritual basis. Medieval culture is the result of a complex contradictory principle of barbarian peoples.

INTRODUCTION

The Middle Ages (Middle Ages) - the era of dominance in Western and Central Europe of the feudal economic and political system and the Christian religious worldview, which came after the collapse of antiquity. Replaced by the Renaissance. Covers the period from the 4th to the 14th centuries. In some regions it persisted even at a much later time. The Middle Ages are conventionally divided into the Early Middle Ages (IV–1st half of the 10th century), the High Middle Ages (2nd half of the 10th–13th centuries) and the Late Middle Ages (XIV–XV centuries).

The beginning of the Middle Ages is most often considered to be the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476. However, some historians proposed to consider the beginning of the Middle Ages to be the Edict of Milan in 313, which meant the end of the persecution of Christianity in the Roman Empire. Christianity became the defining cultural movement for the eastern part of the Roman Empire - Byzantium, and after several centuries it began to dominate in the states of the barbarian tribes that formed on the territory of the Western Roman Empire.

There is no consensus among historians regarding the end of the Middle Ages. It was proposed to consider it as such: the fall of Constantinople (1453), the discovery of America (1492), the beginning of the Reformation (1517), the beginning of the English Revolution (1640) or the beginning of the Great French Revolution (1789).

The term “Middle Ages” (lat. medium ?vum) was first introduced by the Italian humanist Flavio Biondo in his work “Decades of History, Beginning with the Decline of the Roman Empire” (1483). Before Biondo, the dominant term for the period from the fall of the Western Roman Empire to the Renaissance was Petrarch's concept of the "Dark Ages", which in modern historiography refers to a narrower period of time.

In the narrow sense of the word, the term “Middle Ages” applies only to the Western European Middle Ages. In this case, this term implies a number of specific features of religious, economic and political life: the feudal system of land tenure (feudal landowners and semi-dependent peasants), the vassalage system (the relationship between feudal lord and vassal), the unconditional dominance of the Church in religious life, the political power of the Church ( the Inquisition, church courts, the existence of feudal bishops), the ideals of monasticism and chivalry (a combination of spiritual practice of ascetic self-improvement and altruistic service to society), the flourishing of medieval architecture - Romanesque and Gothic.

Many modern states arose precisely in the Middle Ages: England, Spain, Poland, Russia, France, etc.

1. CHRISTIAN CONSCIOUSNESS - THE BASIS OF THE MEDIEVAL MENTALITY

This picture of the world, which completely determined the mentality of believing villagers and city dwellers, 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 entire cultural life of European society of this period was largely determined by Christianity.

Monasticism played a huge role in the life of society at that time: monks took upon themselves the obligations of “leaving the world,” celibacy, and renunciation of property. However, already in the 6th century, monasteries turned into strong, often very rich centers, owning movable and immovable property. Many monasteries were centers of education and culture.

However, one should not think that the formation of the Christian religion in the countries of Western Europe went smoothly, without difficulties and confrontation in the minds of people with old pagan beliefs.

The population was traditionally committed to pagan cults, and sermons and descriptions of the lives of saints were not enough to convert them to the true faith. People were converted to a new religion with the help of state power. However, long after the official recognition of a single religion, the clergy had to fight persistent remnants of paganism among the peasantry.

The Church destroyed idols, forbade worshiping gods and making sacrifices, and organizing pagan holidays and rituals. Severe punishments were threatened for those who engaged in fortune telling, divination, spells, or simply believed in them.

The formation of the process of Christianization was one of the sources of sharp clashes, since the people often associated the concepts of popular freedom with the old faith, while the connection of the Christian Church with state power and oppression appeared quite clearly.

In the minds of the masses of the rural population, regardless of belief in certain gods, behavioral attitudes remained in which people felt directly included in the cycle of natural phenomena.

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.

In the most general terms, the world was then seen in accordance with a certain hierarchical ladder, 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 the clergy more low levels, below them are ordinary laymen. Then, even further from God and closer to the earth, animals are placed, 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, according to the increase in evil and proximity to Satan. He is placed at the top of this second, atonic 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 and 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, both 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.

2. EARLY MIDDLE AGES

The Early Middle Ages in Europe is the period from the end of the 4th century. until the middle of the 10th century. In general, the early Middle Ages were a time of deep decline in European civilization compared to the ancient era. This decline was expressed in the dominance of subsistence farming, in the decline of handicraft production and, accordingly, urban life, in the destruction of ancient culture under the onslaught of the unliterate pagan world. In Europe during this period, turbulent and very important processes took place, such as the barbarian invasion, which ended with the fall of the Roman Empire. Barbarians settled on the lands of the former empire, assimilated with its population, creating a new community of Western Europe.

At the same time, the new Western Europeans, as a rule, accepted Christianity, which by the end of Rome’s existence became its state religion. Christianity in its various forms replaced pagan beliefs, and this process only accelerated 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 formations on the territory of the former Roman Empire, created by the same “barbarians”. Tribal leaders proclaimed themselves kings, dukes, counts, constantly fighting with each other and subjugating their weaker neighbors.

A characteristic feature of life in the early Middle Ages were constant wars, robberies and raids, which significantly slowed down economic and cultural development.

During the early Middle Ages, the ideological positions of feudal lords and peasants had not yet taken shape, and the peasantry, just emerging as a special class of society, was dissolved in ideological terms into broader and more uncertain layers. The bulk of the population of Europe at that time were rural residents, whose lifestyle was completely subordinated to routine, and whose horizons were extremely limited. Conservatism is an integral feature of this environment.

In the period from V to X centuries. Against the background of a general lull in construction, architecture and fine arts, two striking phenomena stand out, important for subsequent events. This is the Merovingian period (V -VIII centuries) and the "Carolingian Renaissance" (VIII - IX centuries) on the territory of the Frankish state.

2.1. Merovingian art

Merovingian art is the conventional name for the art of the Merovingian state. It was based on the traditions of late antique, Halo-Roman art, as well as the art of barbarian peoples. The architecture of the Merovingian era, although it reflected the decline of construction technology caused by the collapse of the ancient world, at the same time prepared the ground for the flourishing of pre-Romanesque architecture during the Carolingian Renaissance. In the decorative and applied arts, late antique motifs were combined with elements of the “animal style” (the “animal style” of Eurasian art dates back to the Iron Age and combines various forms of veneration of the sacred beast and stylization of the image of various animals); Particularly widespread were flat-relief stone carvings (sarcophagi), baked clay reliefs for decorating churches, and the manufacture of church utensils and weapons, richly decorated with gold and silver inserts and precious stones. Book miniatures were widespread, in which the main attention was paid to the decoration of initials and frontispieces; at the same time, figurative motifs of an ornamental and decorative nature predominated; Bright, laconic color combinations were used in the coloring.

2.2. "Carolingian Renaissance"

"Carolingian Renaissance" is the conventional name for the era of the rise of early medieval culture in the empire of Charlemagne and the kingdoms of the Carolingian dynasty. The "Carolingian Renaissance" was expressed in the organization of new schools for the training of service and administrative personnel and the clergy, the attraction of educated figures to the royal court, attention to ancient literature and secular knowledge, and the flourishing of fine arts and architecture. In Carolingian art, which adopted both late antique solemnity and Byzantine imposingness, and local barbarian traditions, the foundations of European medieval artistic culture were formed.

From literary sources we know about the intensive construction of monastic complexes, fortifications, churches and residences during this period (among the surviving buildings are the centric chapel of the imperial residence in Aachen, the chapel-rotunda of St. Michael in Fulda, the church in Corvey, 822 - 885, the gatehouse building in Lorsch, around 774). Temples and palaces were decorated with multi-colored mosaics and frescoes.

3. HIGH MIDDLE AGES

During the classical, or high Middle Ages, Western Europe began to overcome difficulties and be reborn. Since the 10th century, state structures have been consolidated, which made it possible to assemble larger armies and, to some extent, stop raids and robberies. Missionaries brought Christianity to the countries of Scandinavia, Poland, Bohemia, and Hungary, so that these states also entered the orbit of Western culture.

The relative stability that ensued provided the opportunity for rapid growth of cities and economies. Life began to change for the better; cities began to have their own culture and spiritual life. The church played a big role in this, which also developed, improved its teaching and organization.

The economic and social rise after 1000 began with construction. As contemporaries said: “Europe has become covered with a new white dress of churches.” On the basis of the artistic traditions of Ancient Rome and the former barbarian tribes, Romanesque and later brilliant Gothic art arose, and not only architecture and literature developed, but also other types of art - painting, theater, music, sculpture.

At this time, feudal relations finally took shape, and the process of personality formation was already completed (XII century). The horizons of Europeans expanded significantly due to a number of circumstances (this is the era of the Crusades beyond Western Europe: acquaintance with the life of Muslims, the East, with a higher level of development). These new impressions enriched the Europeans, their horizons expanded as a result of the merchants’ travels (Marco Polo traveled to China and upon his return wrote a book introducing Chinese life and traditions). Expanding your horizons leads to the formation of a new worldview. Thanks to new acquaintances and impressions, people began to understand that earthly life is not aimless, it has great significance, the natural world is rich, interesting, does not create anything bad, it is divine, worthy of study. Therefore, science began to develop.

3.1 Literature

Features of the literature of this time:

1) The relationship between church and secular literature is decisively changing in favor of secular literature. New class trends are being formed and flourishing: knightly and urban literature.

2) The sphere of literary use of vernacular languages has expanded: in urban literature the vernacular language is preferred, even church literature turns to vernacular languages.

3) Literature acquires absolute independence in relation to folklore.

4) Drama emerges and successfully develops.

5) The genre of heroic epic continues to develop. A number of pearls of the heroic epic emerge: “The Song of Roland”, “The Song of My Sid”, “The Song of Nebelunga”.

3.1.1. Heroic epic.

The heroic epic is one of the most characteristic and popular genres of the European Middle Ages. In France, it existed in the form of poems called gestures, that is, songs about deeds and exploits. The thematic basis of the gesture is made up of real historical events, most of which date back to the 8th - 10th centuries. Probably, immediately after these events, traditions and legends about them arose. It is also possible that these legends originally existed in the form of short episodic songs or prose stories that developed in the pre-knight milieu. However, very early on, episodic tales went beyond this environment, spread among the masses and became the property of the entire society: not only the military class, but also the clergy, merchants, artisans, and peasants listened to them with equal enthusiasm.

Since these folk tales were originally intended for oral melodic performance by jugglers, the latter subjected them to intensive processing, which consisted of expanding the plots, cyclizing them, introducing inserted episodes, sometimes very large ones, conversational scenes, etc. As a result, short episodic songs became gradually the appearance of plot- and stylistically-organized poems is a gesture. Moreover, in the process of complex development, some of these poems were subjected to significant influence church ideology and, without exception, to the influence of knightly ideology. Since chivalry had high prestige for all levels of society, the heroic epic gained wide popularity. Unlike Latin poetry, which was practically intended only for clergy, gestures were created in French and were understandable to everyone. Originating from the early Middle Ages, the heroic epic took a classical form and experienced a period of active existence in the 12th, 13th and partly 14th centuries. Its written recording dates back to the same time.

Gestures are usually divided into three cycles:

1) the cycle of Guillaume d'Orange (otherwise: the cycle of Garin de Monglane - named after Guillaume's great-grandfather);

2) the cycle of “rebel barons” (otherwise: the Doon de Mayans cycle);

3) cycle of Charlemagne, King of France. The theme of the first cycle is the selfless service of loyal vassals from the Guillaume family to the weak, hesitant, often ungrateful king, who is constantly threatened by either internal or external enemies, driven only by love for the homeland.

The theme of the second cycle is the rebellion of proud and independent barons against the unjust king, as well as the brutal feuds of the barons among themselves. Finally, in the poems of the third cycle (“Pilgrimage of Charlemagne”, “Board of the Big Legs”, etc.) the sacred struggle of the Franks against the “pagans” - Muslims is glorified and the figure of Charlemagne is glorified, appearing as the focus of virtues and the stronghold of everything Christendom. The most remarkable poem of the royal cycle and the entire French epic is “The Song of Roland,” the recording of which dates back to the beginning of the 12th century.

Features of the heroic epic:

1) The epic was created in the conditions of the development of feudal relations.

2) The epic picture of the world reproduces feudal relations, idealizes a strong feudal state and reflects Christian beliefs and Christian ideals.

3) Regarding history, historical background is clearly visible, but at the same time it is idealized and exaggerated.

4) Bogatyrs are defenders of the state, the king, the independence of the country and the Christian faith. All this is interpreted in the epic as a national matter.

5) The epic is associated with a folk tale, with historical chronicles, and sometimes with a chivalric romance.

6) The epic was preserved in the countries of continental Europe (Germany, France).

3.1.2. Chivalric literature

Troubadour poetry, which emerged at the end of the 11th century, appears to have been strongly influenced by Arabic literature. In any case, the form of stanzas in the songs of the “first troubadour”, which is traditionally considered to be William IX of Aquitaine, is very similar to zajal - a new poetic form invented by the poet of Arab Spain Ibn Kuzman.

In addition, the poetry of the troubadours is famous for its sophisticated rhyming, and Arabic poetry was also distinguished by such rhyming. And the themes were in many ways common: especially popular, for example, the troubadours had the theme of “fin” amor” (ideal love), which appeared in Arab poetry back in the 10th century, and in the 11th century was developed in Arab Spain by Ibn Hazm in the famous philosophical treatise “The Necklace of the Dove”, in the chapter “On the Advantages of Chastity”: “The best thing a person can do in his love is to be chaste...”

The poetry of troubadours and the culture inherited from Ancient Rome had a significant influence: the deity Amor is very often found in the songs of South French poets, and Pyramus and Thisbe are mentioned in the song of Raimbaut de Vaqueiras.

And, of course, the poetry of the troubadours is replete with Christian motifs; William of Aquitaine addresses his later poem to God, and many songs even parody debates on religious topics: for example, the famous troubadours de Ussely argue about what is preferable, to be the husband or lover of a Lady. (Such “debates” on a variety of topics took shape in specific poetic forms - partimen and tenson.)

Thus, the poetry of the troubadours absorbed the spiritual and secular heritage of antiquity, Christian and Islamic philosophy and poetry. And the poetry of the troubadours became incredibly diverse. The word itself - troubadour (trobador) means “inventor, finder” (from “trobar” - “invent, find”). And indeed, the poets of Occitania were famous for their love of creating new poetic forms, skillful rhyming, wordplay and alliteration.

3.1.3. Urban literature of the Middle Ages

Urban literature developed simultaneously with knightly literature (from the end of the 11th century). XIII century - flourishing of urban literature. In the 13th century. chivalric literature begins to decline. The consequence of this is the beginning of crisis and degradation. And urban literature, unlike knightly literature, begins an intensive search for new ideas, values, new artistic possibilities for expressing these values. Urban literature is created by citizens. And in the cities in the Middle Ages lived, first of all, artisans and traders. People of intellectual work also live and work in the city: teachers, doctors, students. Representatives of the clergy class also live in cities and serve in cathedrals and monasteries. In addition, feudal lords who were left without castles are moving to cities.

In the city, classes meet and begin to interact. Due to the fact that in the city the line between feudal lords and classes is erased, development and cultural communication take place - all this becomes more natural. Therefore, literature absorbs the rich traditions of folklore (from peasants), traditions of church books, scholarship, elements of knightly aristocratic literature, traditions of culture and art of foreign countries, which were brought by trade people and merchants. Urban literature expressed the tastes and interests of the democratic 3rd estate, to which most of the townspeople belonged. Their interests were determined in society - they did not have privileges, but the townspeople had their own independence: economic and political. secular feudal lords wanted to take over the prosperity of the city. This struggle of the townspeople for independence determined the main ideological direction of urban literature - an anti-feudal orientation. The townspeople clearly saw many of the shortcomings of the feudal lords and the inequality between classes. This is expressed in urban literature in the form of satire. The townspeople, unlike the knights, did not try to idealize the surrounding reality. On the contrary, the world as illuminated by the townspeople is presented in a grotesque and satirical form. They deliberately exaggerate the negative: stupidity, super-stupidity, greed, super-greed.

Features of urban literature:

1) Urban literature is distinguished by its attention to everyday human life, to everyday life.

2) The pathos of urban literature is didactic and satirical (in contrast to knightly literature).

3) The style is also the opposite of chivalric literature. The townspeople do not strive for decoration or elegance of works; for them the most important thing is to convey the idea, to give a demonstrative example. Therefore, townspeople use not only poetic speech, but also prose. Style: everyday details, rough details, many words and expressions of craft, folk, slang origin.

4) The townspeople began to make the first prose retellings of chivalric romances. This is where prose literature begins.

5) The type of hero is very general. This is not an individualized ordinary person. This hero is shown in struggle: a clash with priests, feudal lords, where privilege is not on his side. Cunning, resourcefulness, life experience are the traits of a hero.

6) Genre and generic composition.

All 3 types develop in urban literature.

Lyric poetry is developing, non-competitive with knightly poetry; you will not find love experiences here. The creativity of the vagants, whose demands were much higher, due to their education, nevertheless had a synthesis on urban lyrics.

In the epic genre of literature, as opposed to voluminous knightly novels, the townspeople worked in the small genre of everyday, comic stories. The reason is also that the townspeople do not have time to work on voluminous works, and what is the point of talking about the little things in life for a long time, they should be depicted in short anecdotal stories. This is what attracted people's attention

In the urban environment, the dramatic genre of literature begins to develop and flourish. The dramatic family developed along two lines:

1. Church drama.

Goes back to class literature. The formation of dramaturgy as a literary genre. Some similarity with Greek drama: in the Dionysian cult all the elements of drama were created. In the same way, all the elements of drama converged in the Christian church service: poetry, song, dialogue between the priest and parishioners, the choir; priests' disguises, synthesis of various types of art (poetry, music, painting, sculpture, pantomime). All these elements of drama were in the Christian service - the liturgy. A push was needed that would force these elements to develop intensively. This meant that the church service was conducted in an incomprehensible Latin language. Therefore, the idea arises of accompanying a church service with pantomime, scenes related to the content of the church service. Such pantomimes were performed only by priests, then these inserted scenes acquired independence and breadth, they began to be performed before and after the service, then went beyond the walls of the temple, and performances were held in the market square. And outside the temple, a word in an understandable language could sound.

2. Secular farce theater, traveling theater.

Together with secular actors, elements of secular drama, everyday life and comic scenes penetrate into church drama. This is how the first and second dramatic traditions meet.

Drama genres:

A mystery is a dramatization of a certain episode of Holy Scripture, the mysteries are anonymous ("The Game of Adam", "The Mystery of the Passion of the Lord" - depicted the suffering and death of Christ).

Miracle - an image of miracles performed by saints or the Virgin Mary. This genre can be classified as a poetic genre. “The Miracle of Theophilus” is based on the plot of the relationship between man and evil spirits.

A farce is a small poetic comic scene on an everyday theme. In the center is an amazing, absurd incident. The earliest farces date back to the 13th century. Developed until the 17th century. The farce is staged in folk theaters and squares.

Morality. The main purpose is edification, a moral lesson to the audience in the form of an allegorical action. The main characters are allegorical figures (vice, virtue, power).

Urban literature in the Middle Ages turned out to be a very rich and diverse phenomenon. This variety of genres, the development of three types of literature, the versatility of style, the richness of traditions - all this provided this class direction with great opportunities and prospects. In addition to her, history itself was revealed to the townspeople. It was in the city in the Middle Ages that commodity-money relations, new to the feudal world, began to form, which would become the basis of the future capital world. It is in the depths of the third estate that the future bourgeoisie and intelligentsia will begin to form. The townspeople feel that the future is theirs and look confidently into the future. Therefore, in the 13th century, the century of intellectual education, science, broadening of horizons, urban development, the spiritual life of citizens will begin to change significantly.

Federal Agency for Education of the Russian Federation

State institution of higher education vocational education

"South Ural State University"

Culture medieval Europe

TEST

In the discipline (specialization) “Culturology”

Chelyabinsk 2014

Introduction

Periodization of the culture of the Middle Ages

Christianity as the basis of the worldview of the Middle Ages

The attitude of a medieval man

Medieval art. Romantic and Gothic style

Conclusion

Bibliography

Application

Introduction

The medieval culture of Western Europe is an era of great spiritual and sociocultural conquests in the history of all mankind. The Middle Ages spans from the 5th to the 17th centuries. The term “Middle Ages” was assigned to this period due to the fact that it occupies an intermediate place between Antiquity and Modern times.

The formation of medieval culture occurred as a result of a dramatic and contradictory process of the collision of two cultures - ancient and barbarian, accompanied, on the one hand, by violence, the destruction of ancient cities, the loss of the outstanding achievements of ancient culture, on the other hand, by the interaction and gradual merging of Roman and barbarian cultures.

Medieval culture differs from many previous and subsequent eras in the special tension of spiritual life, both in the sphere of the ideal, the proper, and in the field of the real, practical. Despite the strong discrepancy between the ideal and the real, the social and everyday life people in the Middle Ages was an attempt, a desire to embody Christian ideals in practical activities.

The spiritual life of the Middle Ages is usually described through the dominant religion of that time - Christianity. The picture of the world of Medieval culture is defined as God-centric. This is due to the fact that God is the absolute value.

The culture of the Middle Ages in Western Europe marked the beginning of a new direction in the history of civilization - the establishment of Christianity not only as a religious doctrine, but also as a new worldview and attitude, which significantly influenced all subsequent cultural eras.

Thanks to the spiritual and absolutely positive understanding of God, man acquires special significance in the religious picture of the world. Man, the image of God, the greatest value after God, occupies a dominant place on Earth. The main thing in a person is the soul. One of the outstanding achievements of the Christian religion is the gift of free will to man, that is, the right to choose between good and evil, God and the devil.

The culture of medieval Europe is the creation of new peoples who established their national existence again on the ruins of ancient civilization, but mainly in its specifically Roman aspect. Art, which arose in the Middle Ages and reached its greatest flowering during the Renaissance, marks an enormous contribution to the culture of all mankind.

Medieval culture, despite its apparent ease and “recognizability,” is quite complex. An extremely simplified and erroneous assessment of the Middle Ages as a dark millennium of general savagery, the decline of culture, the triumph of ignorance and all kinds of prejudices prevails. Less often - the idealization of this culture as a time of genuine triumph of nobility. It is clear that the reason for such categoricalness is both the complexity of the very problems of medieval culture and a superficial familiarity with this important stage development of European culture, which determines the relevance of the topic.

Purpose of the work: to show the features of medieval culture in Europe.

Reveal the specifics and uniqueness of medieval culture.

To study a characteristic feature of medieval culture - differentiation into socially opposite species. 3. Describe Christianity as the core of medieval culture.

1. Periodization of the culture of the Middle Ages

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. The thousand-year period of the Middle Ages is usually divided into at least three stages.

Early Middle Ages, (from X - XI centuries);

High (Classical) Middle Ages. From XI - XIV centuries;

Late Middle Ages, XIV - 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.

At the same time, the new Western Europeans, as a rule, accepted Christianity, which in Rome by 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 in the territory

of the former Roman Empire, new state formations created by the same “barbarians”. Numerous Frankish, Germanic, Gothic and other tribes were in fact not so wild. Most of them already had the rudiments 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

themselves 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 its islands. Numerous missionaries brought Christianity to the kingdoms of Scandinavia, Poland, Bohemia, Hungary, so that these states entered the orbit 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 XIV-XV 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 instead of castles, both on their estates and in cities. 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.

2. Christianity as the basis of the worldview of the Middle Ages

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. The emotional appeal of Christianity with its warmth, universally significant preaching of love and understandable norms of social coexistence, with the romantic elation and ecstasy of the plot about the redemptive sacrifice, and finally, with the statement of the equality of all people without exception in the highest authority, in order to at least approximately evaluate the contribution of Christianity into the worldview, into the picture of the world 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.

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, tonic 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.

only for clergy. However, both 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 precisely such a deeply religious and symbolic, verbally armed mentality. Even painting there was, first of all, a revealed word, like the Bible itself. The word was universal, approached everything, explained everything, was hidden behind all phenomena as their hidden meaning.

Thus, 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.

3. Attitude of a medieval person

Attitude is formed on the basis of attitude and understanding of the world. Attitude is a set of human values on certain life issues. Attitude has such characteristics as subjectivity and discreteness. The worldview of a human being is conceptually difficult to define, since, like any other relationship, it is “neither a thing nor a property, but that through which the properties of a thing receive their visibility.” World relations arise and are realized as a process and result of identifying various individual properties of an integral human being, his essential powers and their implementation in accordance with the specifics of the fragments of the World available to him. The peculiarity of the world relationship lies in its primary connection with the spheres of human existence. Therefore, it makes sense to highlight the somacentric worldview that is formed in a person who clearly gives priority to the realities of the natural sphere of his existence. Accordingly, if the social sphere plays a dominant role, then a person’s worldview will be person-centric, but if the spiritual sphere comes to the fore, then his worldview will certainly reveal a spiritual-centric character.

The attitude and vision of the world of a person in an agrarian society by nature changed much more slowly than the culture of educated people. It was changing, but the rhythms of change were completely different. It seems that the dynamics of the “top”, elite forms of spiritual life were far ahead of the changes “in depth”. The picture of the world of medieval man was not monolithic; it was differentiated depending on the position of one or another layer of society.

The Christian religion has determined the way of relating to the world in the West and in the East. Religious attitudes were organized by works of art. The concept of “world” for the Middle Ages was revealed exclusively as “God”. And the concept of “man” was revealed as “a believer in God,” namely, a “Christian.” The Middle Ages are the “golden age” of Christian self-awareness, an era when Christianity fully realized the necessary reunification of the human and absolute principles. In the Middle Ages, Christianity was not only a cult, but also a system of law, a political doctrine, a moral teaching, and a philosophy. Christ acted as the standard for medieval man; Every Christian was busy building Christ within himself.

The era of the early Middle Ages was marked by the process of active Christianization of the population. The entire space of human life was built as elements of cult, and cult in the broadest sense of the word: life was understood as constant service, constant contact with one’s master - the Lord God.

The medieval worldview was organized extremely harmoniously; Each type of activity was subject to a hierarchical order. The Church, as a mediator, played a dominant role in the relationship between the human and the divine. It was a system of standard intermediaries, organized in a hierarchy represented by a ladder. “Staircase” in the culture of the Middle Ages appears as a philosophical category. The staircase is a symbol of the descent of the Divine into the earthly world of human forms and the reverse, reciprocal ascent of man in his spirit. The difference in the religious models of Catholicism and Orthodoxy lies in the different dominant movement along this ladder.

The Renaissance era (the term was introduced in the 16th century by Giorgio Vasari) is a period in the cultural and ideological development of the countries of Western and Central Europe, transitional from medieval culture to the culture of modern times. The emergence of machine production, the improvement of tools and the continuing division of manufacturing labor, the spread of printing, and geographical discoveries - all this changed man's ideas about the world and about himself. Cheerful free-thinking is affirmed in the humanistic worldview of people. In the sciences, interest in the fate and capabilities of man will prevail, and in ethical concepts, his right to happiness is substantiated. The founder of Lutheranism M.L. King proclaims that all people are equally endowed with reason. Man begins to realize that he was not created for God, that in his actions he is free and great, that there are no barriers to his mind.

Scientists of this period considered their main task to be the restoration of ancient values. However, only that and in a way that was consonant with the new way of life and the intellectual atmosphere determined by it were “reborn”. In this regard, the ideal of the “universal man” was affirmed, which was believed not only by thinkers, but also by many rulers of Europe, who gathered outstanding minds of the era under their banners (for example, in Florence, at the Medici court, the sculptor and painter Michelangelo and the architect Alberti worked).

The new worldview was reflected in the desire to take a fresh look at the soul - the central link of any scientific system about man. At universities, at the first lectures, students asked teachers: “Tell me about the soul,” which was a kind of “litmus test”, a characteristic of the teacher’s ideological, scientific and pedagogical potential.

The problems of psychological research were also unique: man’s dependence on the constellation of stars; connection between the abundance of bile and mood; reflection of spiritual qualities in facial expression, etc. Drawing a conclusion from his observations, João Huart wrote in 1575 that body composition and appearance correspond with natural accuracy to the spiritual characteristics of each person. Such problems and conclusions reflected the need to liberate the science of the soul from previous medieval stereotypes.

Thus, the new era brought to life new ideas about the nature of man and his mental world, giving birth to titans in the power of thought, passion and character.

Differentiation of culture: culture of the clergy, aristocracy and the “silent majority”

culture medieval clergy

With the formation of centralized states and the formation of a new worldview, a new social culture, estates were formed that made up the structure of medieval society - the clergy, the nobility and the rest of the inhabitants, later called the “third estate”, “the people”.

The clergy was considered the highest class, it was divided into the white priesthood - and the black monasticism. He was in charge of “heavenly matters”, caring for faith and spiritual life. It was precisely this, especially monasticism, that most fully embodied Christian ideals and values. However, it was also far from unity, as evidenced by the differences in the understanding of Christianity between the orders that existed in monasticism. Benedict of Nursia - the founder of the Benedictine Order - opposed the extremes of hermitage, abstinence and asceticism, was quite tolerant of property and wealth, highly valued physical wealth, especially agriculture and gardening, believing that the monastic community should not only fully provide itself with everything necessary, but also help in this entire district, showing an example of active Christian charity. Some communities of this order highly valued education and encouraged not only physical, but also mental work, in particular the development of agronomic and medical knowledge.

On the contrary, Francis of Assisi - the founder of the Franciscan Order, the order of mendicant monks - called for extreme asceticism, preached complete, holy poverty, because the ownership of any property requires its protection, i.e. the use of force, and this contradicts the moral principles of Christianity. He saw the ideal of complete poverty and carelessness in the life of birds.

The second most important layer was the aristocracy, which acted mainly in the form of knighthood. The aristocracy was in charge of “earthly affairs”, and above all state tasks of preserving and strengthening peace, protecting the people from oppression, maintaining the faith and the Church, etc. Although the culture of this layer is closely related to Christianity, it differs significantly from the culture of the clergy.

Like monastic orders, there were knightly orders in the Middle Ages. One of the main tasks facing them was the struggle for faith, which more than once took the form of crusades. The knights also carried out other duties related to faith to one degree or another.

However, a significant part of knightly ideals, norms and values were secular in nature. For a knight, such virtues as strength, courage, generosity and nobility were considered mandatory. He had to strive for glory by performing feats of arms or achieving success in knightly tournaments. He was also required to have external physical beauty, which was at odds with the Christian disdain for the body. The main knightly virtues were honor, fidelity to duty and noble love for the Beautiful Lady. Love for a Lady presupposed refined aesthetic forms, but it was not at all platonic, which was also condemned by the Church and the clergy.

The lowest stratum of medieval society, the “silent majority,” was the third estate, which included peasants, artisans, and the merchant and usurious bourgeoisie. The culture of this class also had a unique originality that sharply distinguished it from the culture of the upper classes. It was in it that the elements of barbaric paganism and idolatry were preserved for the longest time.

Ordinary people were not too scrupulous in observing strict Christian frameworks; quite often they mixed the “divine” with the “human.” They knew how to sincerely and carefreely rejoice and have fun, giving themselves to this with all their soul and body. The common people created a special laughter culture, the originality of which was especially clearly manifested during national holidays and carnivals, when the seething streams of general fun, jokes and games, bursts of laughter leave no room for anything official, serious and lofty.

Thus, the dominance of religion did not make the culture completely homogeneous. On the contrary, one of the important features of medieval culture is precisely the emergence of very specific subcultures in it, caused by the strict division of society into three classes: the clergy, the feudal aristocracy and the third class of the “silent majority”.

Medieval art. Romantic and Gothic style

Along with religion, other areas of spiritual culture existed and developed in the Middle Ages, including philosophy and science. The highest medieval science was theology, or theology. It was theology that possessed the truth, which rested on Divine Revelation.

The beginning of the mature period of the Middle Ages, the 10th century, turned out to be extremely complex and difficult, which was caused by the invasions of the Hungarians, Saracens and especially the Normans. Therefore, the emerging new states experienced a deep crisis and decline. Art was in the same situation. However, by the end of the 10th century. the situation is gradually returning to normal, feudal relations finally win, and revival and growth are observed in all spheres of life, including art.

In the XI-XII centuries. The role of monasteries, which become the main centers of culture, increases significantly. It is under them that schools, libraries and book workshops are created. Monasteries are the main customers of works of art. Therefore, all the culture and art of these centuries is sometimes called monastic. In general, the stage of the new rise of art received the conventional name “Romanesque period”. It occurs in the 11th-12th centuries, although in Italy and Germany it also extends to the 13th century, and in France in the second half of the 12th century. Gothic already reigns supreme. During this period, architecture finally became the leading form of art - with a clear predominance of religious, church and temple buildings. It develops on the basis of the achievements of the Carolingians, being influenced by ancient and Byzantine architecture. The main type of building is the increasingly complex basilica.

The essence of the Romanesque style is geometricism, the dominance of vertical and horizontal lines, the simplest geometric figures in the presence of large planes. Arches are widely used in buildings, and windows and doors are made narrow. Appearance the buildings are distinguished by clarity and simplicity, majesty and severity, which are complemented by severity and sometimes gloom. Columns without stable orders are often used, which also perform a decorative rather than constructive function.

The Romanesque style was most widespread in France. Here, the most outstanding monuments of Romanesque architecture include the Church of Cluny from the 11th century, as well as the Church of Notre Dame du Port in Clermont-Ferrand from the 12th century. (Appendix 1). Both buildings successfully combine simplicity and grace, severity and splendor.

Secular architecture of the Romanesque style is clearly inferior to church architecture. Its shape is too simple and there are almost no decorative ornaments. Here the main type of building is a castle-fortress, which serves both as a home and a defensive shelter for the feudal knight. Most often this is a courtyard with a tower in the center. The appearance of such a structure looks warlike and wary, gloomy and threatening. An example of such a building is the castle of Chateau Gaillard on the Seine (XII century), which has reached us in ruins.

In Italy, a wonderful monument of Romanesque architecture is the cathedral ensemble in Pisa (XII-XIV centuries). It includes a grandiose five-nave basilica with a flat roof, the famous “Leaning Tower”, as well as a baptistery intended for baptism. All buildings of the ensemble are distinguished by their severity and harmony of forms. Another magnificent monument is the Church of Sant'Ambrogio in Milan, which has a simple yet impressive façade.

In Germany, Romanesque architecture develops under the influence of French and Italian. Its peak flourished in the 12th century. The most remarkable cathedrals were concentrated in the cities of the Middle Rhine: Worms. Mainz and Speyer. Despite all the differences, their appearance has many common features, and above all, the upward direction created by the high towers located on the western and eastern sides. The cathedral in Worms stands out in particular; it looks like a ship: in the center there is the largest tower, in the east it has a protruding semicircle of the apse, and in the western and eastern parts there are four more tall towers.

TO beginning of XIII V. The Romanesque period of medieval culture ends and gives way to the Gothic period. The term “Gothic” is also conventional. It arose during the Renaissance and expressed a rather contemptuous attitude towards Gothic as the culture and art of the Goths, i.e. barbarians.

Scientific and creative activity is moving from monasteries to secular workshops and universities, which already exist in almost all European countries. By this time, religion begins to gradually lose its dominant position. In all areas of social life, the role of the secular, rational principle is increasing. This process did not pass by art, in which two important features emerged - the increasing role of rationalistic elements and the strengthening of realistic tendencies. These features were most clearly manifested in the architecture of the Gothic style.

Gothic architecture represents an organic unity of two components - design and decor. The essence of the Gothic design is to create a special frame, or skeleton, that ensures the strength and stability of the building. If in Romanesque architecture the stability of a building depends on the massiveness of the walls, then in Gothic architecture it depends on the correct distribution of gravity forces. The Gothic design includes three main elements: 1) a vault on ribs (arches) of a lancet shape;

) a system of so-called flying buttresses (half-arches); 3) powerful buttresses.

The originality of the external forms of the Gothic structure lies in the use of towers with pointed spiers. As for the decor, it took the most various shapes. Since the walls in Gothic style ceased to be load-bearing, this made it possible to widely use windows and doors with stained glass windows, which allowed free access of light into the room. This circumstance was extremely important for Christianity, because it gives light a divine and mystical meaning. Colored stained glass windows evoke an exciting play of colored light in the interior of Gothic cathedrals. Along with stained glass windows, Gothic buildings were decorated with sculptures, reliefs, abstract geometric patterns, and floral patterns. To this should be added the skillful church utensils of the cathedral, beautiful items of applied art donated by wealthy townspeople. All this turned the Gothic cathedral into a place of genuine synthesis of all types and genres of art.

France became the cradle of Gothic. Here she was born in the second half of the 12th century. and then for three centuries it developed along the path of increasing lightness and decorativeness. In the 13th century. she has reached her true peak.

In the XIV century. the increase in decorativeness comes mainly due to the clarity and clarity of the constructive principle, which leads to the appearance of a “radiant” Gothic style. The 15th century gives birth to “flaming” Gothic, so named because some decorative motifs resemble flames.

Notre Dame Cathedral of Paris XII-XIII centuries. became a true masterpiece of early Gothic (Appendix 2). It is a five-nave basilica, which is distinguished by a rare proportionality of structural forms. The cathedral has two towers in the western part, decorated with stained glass windows, sculptures on the facades, and columns in the arcades. It also has amazing acoustics. What was achieved in the Cathedral of Notre Dame is developed by the cathedrals of Amiens and Reims (XIII century), as well as the Upper Church of Sainte-Chapelle (XIII century), which served as a church for the French kings and is distinguished by rare perfection of forms.

In Germany, Gothic style became widespread under the influence of France. One of the most famous monuments here is the Cologne Cathedral of the 13th - 15th centuries. (adj.2) . In general, he develops the concept of Amiens Cathedral. At the same time, thanks to the pointed towers, it most clearly and fully expresses the verticalism and skyward thrust of Gothic structures.

English Gothic also largely continues French models. Here, the recognized masterpieces are Westminster Abbey (XIII-XVI centuries), where the tomb of the English kings and prominent people of England is located: as well as the chapel of King's College in Cambridge (XV-XVI centuries), representing the late Gothic style.

Late Gothic, like the entire culture of the late Middle Ages, contains an ever-increasing number of features of the next era - the Renaissance. There is debate about the work of such artists as Jan van Eyck, K. Sluter and others: some authors attribute them to the Middle Ages, others to the Renaissance.

Conclusion

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 based on the knowledge available to them and with the help of Christian dogmatism, the culture of the Middle Ages created new art styles, a new urban way of life, a new economy, prepared the consciousness of people for the use of mechanical devices and technology. The Middle Ages left us major achievements spiritual culture, including institutions scientific knowledge and education. Among them we should mention, first of all, the university as a principle. In addition, a new paradigm of thinking has emerged, the disciplinary structure of knowledge without which would have been impossible modern science, people were able to think and understand the world much more effectively than before.

The culture of the Middle Ages, despite all the ambiguity of its content, occupies a worthy place in the history of world culture. The Renaissance gave the Middle Ages a very critical and harsh assessment. However, subsequent eras made significant amendments to this assessment. Romanticism of the 18th-19th centuries. drew his inspiration from medieval chivalry, seeing in it truly human ideals and values. Women of all subsequent eras, including ours, experience an inescapable nostalgia for real male knights, for knightly nobility, generosity and courtesy. Modern crisis spirituality encourages us to turn to the experience of the Middle Ages, to decide again and again eternal problem relationship between spirit and flesh.

Bibliography

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Belyaev I.A. Intentionality of a holistic world relationship // Bulletin of the Orenburg State University./ Belyaev I.A. 2007. No. 1. P. 29-35.

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Annex 1

Basilica of Our Lady of Clermont-Ferrand, 12th century. Cluny Abbey Cathedral of the 11th century.

Appendix 2

Early Gothic

Notre Dame Cathedral

(Nort-Dame de Paris) XIII century. Cologne Cathedral of the 13th century.

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