EDUCATION, ARCHITECTURE, AND ART IN MIDDLE AGES EUROPE

Western CivilizationUniversity High School

2011-12

MEDIEVAL EDUCATION Middle Ages Politics

Reminder: large empires giving way to smaller, localized power need for more/better-

educated political leaders rise of education & universities

EARLY MIDDLE AGES: EDUCATION wealthy sons:

(sometimes) got basics of reading/writing (esp. in Latin) typically a religious

education peasant sons: needed

permission of lord of manor education skilled job

(church, trade) leaving manor

limited # of serfs allowed education

HIGH MIDDLE AGES: EDUCATION movement from monasteries schools attached to

cathedrals in large cities Italy = earliest universities (Bologna, Salerno) “universitas magistrorum et scholarium” (“universal

society of teachers and students”)

HIGH MIDDLE AGES: EDUCATION university education limited to wealthy males

students = low-level clergy members (so they must be boys!)

university = many years (so they must be wealthy!)

HIGH MIDDLE AGES: EDUCATION end of 15th century: 80+ universities in

Europe developed curriculum, length of time of

study, exam style, etc.

ENTHUSIASM FOR EDUCATION! Scholastics: earliest

university professors (“schoolmen”) Scholasticism: the attempt

to provide rational explanations for faith-based beliefs

re-emergence of ancient thinkers Aristotle direct

observation of nature; knowledge = explanation of causes

groundwork for modern scientific disciplines

THE LIFE OF A MIDDLE AGES STUDENT

studied from notes (own, or friend’s) books very expensive,

rare 3-5 years of university

most school time spent listening to lectures, debating

challenging oral exams passing license to teach

(“master”, “doctor”)

“Students did not spend all their time listening to lectures or debating, however. Much information about medieval students concerns what we might call their ‘extracurricular’ activities: university regulations forbade them to throw rocks at professors; sermons talked about students’ breaking and entering, raping local women, attacking town residents, or disturbing church services; court records discussed their engaging in drunken brawls and riots or stabbing each other in fights and duels.”

THE LIFE OF A MIDDLE AGES STUDENT (MCKAY, PG. 349)

THE LIFE OF A MIDDLE AGES STUDENT (MCKAY, PG. 349) “The money sent by parents or patrons was

often not sufficient for all expenses, so students augmented this by begging, thieving, or doing odd jobs. They also delayed finishing their studies because life as a student could be very pleasant, without the responsibilities that came with becoming fully adult. Student life was also described by those who know it best – students themselves – in poems, usually anonymous, that celebrated the joys of Venus (the goddess of love), Bacchus (the god of wine), and Decius (the god of dice).”

MIDDLE AGES ARCHITECTURE & ART architecture = dominant form

of Middle Ages art explosion of religious

architecture France alone from 1180 –

1270: tens of thousands of churches 500 abbey churches 80 cathedrals

cathedral: church of a bishop, from which he runs his diocese

Fun Fact! more stone quarried in

medieval France (churches) than in ancient Egypt (pyramids)

CHURCH ARCHITECTURE early Middle Ages: cross-shaped churches

(earliest = wood) nave: long part of the cross

where the congregation sits typically lined with columns

CHURCH ARCHITECTURE transept: arms of the cross

separates nave (and the people) from the altar

CHURCH ARCHITECTURE apse: semicircular end of

the church typically has altar, where

clergy sits

CHURCH ARCHITECTURE choir: area of church beyond transept

sometimes site of altar, clergy, singing the service

VERTICAL GROWTH IN MEDIEVAL CHURCHES TOO… began making vaulted ceilings of stone (Romanesque

architecture 10th – 12th centuries) heavy ceilings (lots of downward/outward force) walls needed

to be thick & sturdy small windows dark & gloomy

led to increased use of bright paint, murals, sculptures, tapestries, etc.

FROM ROMANESQUE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE 12th century: transition to Gothic

architecture bigger, more grandiose and open

cathedrals with better weight distribution

FROM ROMANESQUE TO GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE better weight distribution

ceilings made of stone ribs with plaster between much lighter! smaller walls needed, more windows (stained glass)

ribs came to pointed arches flying buttresses: arched

stone supports on the outside of a building that bear some of the building’s weight

BUILDING A CATHEDRAL paid for by donations, royalty often took generations to build

(multiple architectural influences?)

everything was religiously symbolic altar, apse pointed East (to

Jerusalem) West end faced setting sun

art = Last Judgment North side (least sunlight)

art = events from Old Testament (living in darkness)

South side (most sunlight) art = events from New Testament (illumination from Jesus, Gospels)

CLOSURE Discuss with a partner the following

questions: Why do you suppose the dominant art

form in the middle ages was architecture? In addition, why was art in the Middle Ages

focused on Christian topics/themes?

FEUDALISM ACTIVITY Step 1: Draw a role

1 King 4 Nobles 28 Serfs Step 2: Organize classroom into 4

manors, with a Noble in charge of each. All 4 Nobles answer to the King.

Step 3: Distribute money (M&Ms) and banks (plastic cups) to everyone.

FEUDALISM ACTIVITY Step 4: Get to work!

Serfs must plant crops to earn money 1 piece of paper per tile (elbows only!) go back

to desk and make a checkmark Step 5: Get paid!

Serfs get 4 M&Ms for each crop planted. Serfs may keep 1 of those 4 M&Ms. The other

3 go to their Noble. For each 3 M&Ms that a Noble receives, 2

must go to the King.

FEUDALISM ACTIVITY DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. How many M&Ms did everyone end up with?

2. Is feudalism a fair system? 3. Why do you think that feudalism

worked? 4. What need would the nobles and

king have for all that food and material?