THE CIVILIZATION OF THE MIDDLE AGES
WHAT THE ENGLISH OWED TO THEIR EUROPEAN NEIGHBORS. If the English
succeeded better than other Europeans in learning how to govern
themselves, one reason was that the Channel protected them from attack,
and they could quarrel with their king without running much risk that
their enemies in other countries would take advantage of the quarrel to
seize their lands or attempt to conquer them.
The French were not so well placed. France also was not united like
England, and whole districts called counties or duchies were almost
independent of the king, being ruled by their counts and dukes. In
France it would not have been wise for the people to quarrel with the
king, for he was their natural protector against cruel lords. Germany
and Italy were even more divided, with not only counties and duchies,
but also cities nearly as independent as the ancient cities of Greece.
The Europeans on the Continent did many things which the English were
doing, and some of these were so well done that the English were ready
to accept these Europeans as their teachers. The memory of what the
Greeks and the Romans had done remained longer in southern France and
Italy because so many buildings were still standing which reminded
Frenchmen and Italians of the people who built them.
[Illustration: A MONK COPYING MANUSCRIPT BOOKS]
CLASSES OF PEOPLE. The people of Europe, as well as of England,
were divided into two classes, nobles and peasants. The clergy seemed to
form another class because there were so many of them. Besides the
parish priests and the bishops there were thousands of monks, who were
persons who chose to dwell together in monasteries under the rule of an
abbot or a prior, rather than live among ordinary people where men were
so often tempted to do wrong or were so likely to be wronged by others.
The monks worked on the farms of the monasteries, or studied in the
libraries, or prayed and fasted. For a long time the men who knew how to
read were nearly always monks or priests. Outside of the monasteries or
the bishops' houses there were few books.
THE NOBLES. The nobles were either knights, barons, counts, or
dukes. In England there were also earls. Many mediaeval nobles ruled
like kings, but over a smaller territory. They gained their power
because they were rich in land and could support many men who were ready
to follow them in battle, or because in the constant wars they proved
themselves able to keep anything they took, whether it was a hilltop or
a town. Timid and peaceable people were often glad to put themselves
under the protection of such a fighter, who saved them from being robbed
by other fighting nobles.
In this way the nobles served a good purpose until the kings, who were
at first only very successful nobles, were able to bring nobles as well
as peasants under their own rule and to compel every one to obey the
same laws. After this the nobles became what we call an aristocracy,
proud of their family history, generally living in better houses and
owning more land than their neighbors, but with little power
over others.
[Illustration: PLAN OF A MEDIAEVAL CASTLE 1. The Donjon-keep. 2.
Chapel. 3. Stables. 4. Inner Court. 5. Outer Court. 6. Outworks. 7.
Mount, where justice was executed. 8. Soldiers' Lodgings]
[Illustration: PIERREFONDS--ONE OF THE GREAT CASTLES OF FRANCE]
CASTLES. For safety, kings and nobles in the Middle Ages were
obliged to build strong stone forts or fortified houses called castles.
They were often placed on a hilltop or on an island or in a spot where
approach to the walls could be made difficult by a broad canal, or moat,
filled with water. At different places along the walls were towers, and
within the outer ring of walls a great tower, or keep, which was hard to
capture even after the rest of the castle had been entered by the enemy.
These castles were gloomy places to live in until, centuries later,
their inner walls were pierced with windows. Many are still standing,
others are interesting heaps of ruins.
KNIGHTHOOD. The lords of the castles were occupied mostly in
hunting or fighting. They fought to keep other lords from interfering
with them or to win for themselves more lands and power. They hunted
that they might have meat for their tables. In later times, when it was
not so necessary to kill animals for food, they hunted as a sport.
Fighting also ceased to be the chief occupation, although the nobles
were expected to accompany the king in his wars.
From boyhood the sons of nobles, unless they entered the Church as
priests or monks, were taught the art of fighting. A boy was sent to the
castle of another lord, where he served as a page, waiting on the lord
at table or running errands. He was trained to ride a horse boldly and
to be skilful with the sword and the lance. When his education was
finished he was usually made a knight, an event which took place with
many interesting ceremonies.
The young man bathed, as a sign that he was pure. The weapons and arms
for his use were blessed by a priest and laid on the altar of the
church, and near them he knelt and prayed all night. In the final
ceremony a sword was girded upon him and he received a slight blow on
the neck from the sword of some knight, or perhaps of the king. His
armor covered him from head to foot in metal, and sometimes his horse
was also covered with metal plates. When he was fully armed, he was
expected to show his skill to the lords and ladies who were present.
THE DUTIES OF A KNIGHT. The duties of the knight were to defend the
weak, to protect women from wrong, to be faithful to his lord and king,
and to be courteous even to an enemy. A knight true to these duties was
called "chivalrous," a word which means very much what we mean by the
word "gentlemanly." There were many wicked knights, but we must not
forget that the good knights taught courtesy, faithfulness in keeping
promises, respect for women, courage, self-sacrifice, and honor.
[Illustration: A Knight in Armor Thirteenth century]
THE PEASANTS. Most of the people were peasants or townsmen. There
were few towns, because many had been burned by the barbarian tribes
which broke into the Roman Empire, or had been destroyed in the later
wars. The peasants were crowded in villages close to the walls of some
castle or monastery. They paid dearly for the protection which the lord
of the castle or the abbot of the monastery gave them, for they were
obliged to work on his lands three days or more each week, and to bring
him eggs, chickens, and a little money several times a year. They also
gave him a part of their harvest.
THE TOWNSMEN. At first the towns belonged to lords, or abbots, or
bishops, but many towns drove out their lords and ruled themselves or
received officers from the king. When they ruled themselves, their towns
were called communes. The citizens agreed that whenever the town bell
was rung they would gather together. Any one who was absent was fined.
For them "eternal vigilance was the price of liberty." Some of the
belfries of these mediaeval towns are still standing, and remind the
citizens of to-day of the struggles of the early days.
[Illustration: VIEW OF CARCASSONNE This is an ancient city in
France founded by the Romans]
The men of each occupation or trade were organized into societies or
guilds, with masters, journeymen, and apprentices. There were guilds of
goldsmiths, ironmongers, and fishmongers, that is, workers in gold and
iron and sellers of fish. The merchants also had their guilds. In many
towns no one was allowed to work at a trade or sell merchandise who was
not a member of a guild.
OLD CITIES WHICH STILL EXIST. Many of the towns which grew up in
the Middle Ages are now the great cities of England and Europe. Their
citizens can look back a thousand years and more over the history of
their city, can point to churches, to town halls, and sometimes to
private houses, that have stood all this time. They can often show the
remains of mediaeval walls or broad streets where once these walls
stood, and the moats that surrounded them. The traveler in York or
London, in Paris, in Nuremburg, in Florence, or in Rome eagerly searches
for the relics about which so many interesting stories of the past
are told.
VENICE AND GENOA. One of the most fascinating of these old cities
is Venice, built upon low-lying islands two miles from the shore of
Italy and protected by a sand bar from the waters of the Adriatic.
Venice was founded by men and women who fled from a Roman city on the
mainland which was ruined by the barbarians in the fifth century after
Christ. In many places piles had to be driven into the loose sands to
furnish a foundation for houses. The Venetians did not try to keep out
the water but used it as streets, and instead of driving in wagons they
went about in boats. They grew rich in trade on the sea, as the Greeks
had done in those same waters hundreds of years before.
Farther down the coast of Italy were the cities Brindisi and Taranto,
the Brundusium and Tarentum of the Romans. Across the peninsula to the
west was another trading city called Genoa, which was the birthplace
of Columbus.
MODERN LANGUAGES. While the people of mediaeval times were building
city walls and towers to protect themselves they were also doing other
things. Almost without knowing it they formed the languages which we now
speak and write--English, German, French, Italian, and Spanish.
The English and German languages are closely related because the
forefathers of the English emigrated to England from Germany, taking
their language with them. This older language was gradually changed, but
it still remained like German. Dutch is another language like both
English and German.
There are many words in these languages borrowed from other peoples.
Englishmen, because of their long union with western France, borrowed
many words from the French. The French did not invent these words, for
the French language grew out of the Latin language which the French
learned from the Romans.
HOW MODERN LANGUAGES WERE FORMED. In English we have two sets of
words and phrases: one is used in writing books or speeches, the other
in conversation. When the Gauls learned Latin, the language of Rome,
most of them learned the words used in conversation and did not learn
the words of Roman books. Before long spoken words differed so much from
the older written words that only scholars understood that the two had
belonged to the same language. This new language was French. In the same
way Italian and Spanish grew out of the ordinary Latin spoken in Italy
and Spain.
When men began to write books in the new languages, the changes went on
more slowly because the use of words in books kept the spelling the
same. Men wrote less in Latin, but it was still used in the religious
services of the Church and in the schools and universities.
[Illustration: VENICE AND THE GRAND CANAL]
SCHOOLS IN THE MIDDLE AGES. In the Middle Ages most boys and girls
did not go to school. Education was principally for those who expected
to become priests or monks. The schools were in the monasteries or in
the houses or palaces of the bishops. The students were taught a little
Latin grammar, to write or speak Latin, and to debate. They also learned
arithmetic; enough astronomy to reckon the days on which the festivals
of the Church should come; and music, so much as was then known of it.
Printing had not been invented, so there were no text-books for them to
study, and written books or manuscripts were too costly. Students
listened to the teacher as he read from his manuscripts and copied the
words or tried to remember them.
THE BEGINNING OF UNIVERSITIES. If students remained in the schools
after these things had been learned, they studied the laws of the
Romans, or the practise of medicine, or the religious questions which
are called theology. Some teachers talked in such an interesting way
about such questions that hundreds of students came to listen. Like
other kinds of workers, who were organized in societies or guilds, the
teachers and students formed a guild called a university. The teachers
were the master-workmen, and the students were the apprentices.
WHERE THE STUDENTS LIVED. In the beginning the universities had no
buildings of their own, and the teachers taught in hired halls, the
students boarding wherever they could find lodgings. Partly to help
students who were too poor to pay for good lodgings, and partly to bring
the students under the direct rule of teachers, colleges were built.
These were not separate institutions like the American colleges, but
simply houses for residence, although later some teaching was done
in them.
SOME FAMOUS UNIVERSITIES. The oldest university was in Bologna in
Italy, and teachers began to explain the laws of the Romans to its
students eight hundred years ago. The University of Paris was called the
greatest university in the Middle Ages. Its students numbered sometimes
between six and seven thousand. About the same time the English
universities of Oxford and Cambridge were formed, and there, many years
later, a large number of the men who settled in America were educated.
THE WISDOM OF THE ARABS. Students in these universities obtained
several of the writings of the Greeks through the Arabs, the followers
of Mohammed, who had conquered most of Spain. Long before Europeans
thought of founding universities the Arabs had flourishing schools and
universities in Spain. The capital of the Mohammedan Empire was first at
Bagdad on the Euphrates, where once ruled Haroun-al-Raschid, the hero of
the tales of the Arabian Nights.
[Illustration: VIEW OF NEW COLLEGE, OXFORD Built in the
fourteenth century]
WHAT EUROPEANS BORROWED FROM THE ARABS. The Arabs had learned much
of geography and mathematics from the Greeks, and they also found out
much for themselves. The numerals which we use are Arabic; and algebra,
one of our principal studies in mathematics, was thought out by the
Arabs. Their learned men were deeply interested in the books of
Aristotle, an ancient Greek, who had been a teacher of Alexander the
Great. They translated his books into Arabic, and Christian students in
Spain translated the Arabic into Latin. The great scholars at the
University of Paris believed that Aristotle reasoned better than other
thinkers, and took as their model the methods of reasoning found in this
Latin translation of an Arabic translation of what Aristotle had
written in Greek.
[Illustration: THE ALCAZAR AT SEVILLE Built by the Moors in the
twelfth century. Note the elaborate decoration of the Moorish
architecture.]
BUILDERS IN THE MIDDLE AGES. The Greeks and the Romans had been
great builders, but the men of the Middle Ages succeeded in building
churches, town halls, and palaces or castles which equaled in grandeur
and beauty the best that the ancient builders had made. The large
churches or cathedrals seem wonderful because their builders were able
to place masses of stone high in the air and to cover immense spaces
with beautiful vaulted roofs. Builders nowadays imitate, but not often,
if ever, equal them. Fortunately the original buildings are still
standing in many English and European cities: in Canterbury, Durham, and
Winchester; in Paris, Chartres, and Rheims; in Cologne, Erfurt, and
Strasbourg; in Barcelona and Toledo; in Milan, Venice, and Rome.
[Illustration: NOTRE DAME IN PARIS View from the rear,
showing the arches and buttresses]
CHURCH BUILDING. The Italians began by building churches like Roman
basilicas. Roman arches and domes, supported by heavy walls, were also
used north of the Alps, and the method of building was named Romanesque,
or in England, Norman. The architects or builders of western France
discovered a way of roofing over just as large spaces without using such
heavy walls, so that the interior could be lighted by larger windows.
Instead of having rounded arches they used pointed arches. The walls
between the windows were strengthened by masses of stone called
buttresses. The peak of the roof of these cathedrals was sometimes more
than one hundred and fifty feet above the floor. The glass of the
windows showed in beautiful colors scenes from the Bible or from lives
of sainted men and women. The outer walls, especially the western front,
the doorways and the towers, were richly carved and adorned with
statues, and often with the figures of strange birds and beasts which
lived only in the imagination of the builders. This method of building
was named Gothic, and it was used not only for churches but for town
halls and private houses. Architects use similar methods of
building nowadays.
[Illustration: THE CATHEDRAL AT AMIENS A typical Gothic
interior.]
THE RENAISSANCE. Men who could build and adorn great churches and
town halls and who were eager to study in the new universities should be
called civilized. The barbarous days were gone, but men still had much
to learn from the ancient Greeks and Romans. Many of the ancient
buildings were in ruins, the statues half buried or broken, the
paintings destroyed, and the books lost. Men began to search for what
was left of these things and to study them carefully to learn what the
Graeco-Roman world had been like. After a while students could think of
nothing else, and tried to imitate, if they could not surpass, what the
Romans and the Greeks had done. The age in which men were first
interested in these things is called the Renaissance or "rebirth,"
because men were so unlike what they had been that they seemed born
again. With the beginning of the Renaissance the Middle Ages came to
an end.
[Illustration: ST. PETER'S AT ROME]
PETRARCH. One of the earliest of these "new" men was Petrarch, an
Italian poet who lived in the fourteenth century, a hundred years before
Columbus. He wished above all things to read, copy, and possess the
writings of the Romans, and especially of Cicero, an orator and writer
who lived in the days of Julius Caesar. Petrarch and his friends
searched for the manuscripts of Roman authors which had been preserved,
hidden away in monastery libraries.
The same love of Roman books seized others, and princes spent large sums
of money in collecting and copying ancient writings. At this time a
beginning of the great libraries of Europe was made, Petrarch tried to
learn Greek, but could find no one in Italy able to teach him.
GREEK BOOKS BROUGHT AGAIN TO ITALY. Shortly after Petrarch died
some Greeks came from Constantinople seeking the aid of the pope and the
kings of the West in an attempt to drive back the Turks, who had already
crossed into Europe and settled in the lands which they now occupy.
Unless help should be sent to Constantinople, the city would certainly
fall into their hands. With these Greeks was one of those men who still
loved to read the writings of the ancient authors. He was persuaded to
remain a few years in Florence and other Italian cities and teach Greek
to the eager Italian scholars. He was also persuaded to write a grammar
of the Greek language, in order that after he had returned to
Constantinople others might be able to continue his teaching.
Collectors of books now searched for Greek writings as eagerly as they
had searched for Latin writings. Merchants sent their agents to
Constantinople to buy books. One traveler and scholar brought back to
Italy over two hundred. Soon Italy was the land to which students from
Germany, France, and England went to learn Greek and to obtain copies of
Greek books. It was fortunate that so many books had been brought from
Constantinople, for at last, in 1453, the Turks captured that city and
no place in the East was left where the books of the Greeks were studied
as they had been at Constantinople.
[Illustration: A PRINTING OFFICE IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY]
THE INVENTION OF PRINTING. After collectors of Greek and Roman
writings had made several good libraries, partly by purchase, partly by
copying manuscripts belonging to others, a great invention was made
which enabled these writings to be spread far and wide and placed in the
hands of every student. This invention was the method of printing with
movable types. It is not quite certain who made the invention, although
John Gutenberg, of Mainz, in Germany, has generally been called the
inventor. Probably several men thought of the method at about the same
time, that is, about 1450.
DIFFERENT KINDS OF TYPE. In forming their type the German printers
imitated the lettering made by copyists with a quill. Their type is
called Gothic, and it is still widely used in German books. The Italian
printers made their letters more round and simple in shape, imitating
the handwriting of the best Italian copyists. This is the Roman type, in
which many European peoples, as also the English and the Americans,
print their books. The Italians also prepared a kind of lettering which,
because they were the inventors, is named _italic_.
THE ALDINE PRESS. One of the most famous printers of this early
time was a Venetian named Aldus Manutius or Manucci. He gathered about
him a number of Greeks and planned to print all the Greek manuscripts
that had been discovered. This he did in beautiful type, imitated from
the handwriting of one of his Greek friends. He sold the books for a
price per volume about equal to our fifty cents, so that few scholars
were too poor to buy.
SOME EARLY PRINTED BOOKS. Another great printer was the Englishman
William Caxton, who learned the art in the Netherlands. Among the books
he printed was Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. The first book printed by
Gutenberg was the Bible in Latin. Early in the sixteenth century,
through the labors of a Dutch scholar, Erasmus, and of his printer, the
German Froben, the New Testament in Greek was printed.
ARCHITECTURE AND SCULPTURE. The artists and the architects of this
time began to imitate the buildings they found or that they unearthed.
They used round arches and domes more than the pointed arches and
vaulted roofs of the Gothic builders. Sculptors pictured in stone the
stories of the Greek and Roman gods and heroes. Statues long buried in
ancient ruins were dug up, and great artists like the Italian Michel
Angelo studied them and rivaled them in the beautiful statues they cut.
On every hand men's minds were awakened by what they saw of the work of
the founders of the civilized world.
[Illustration: FACSIMILE OF PART OF CAXTON'S AENEID (REDUCED)
With the same in modern type]
QUESTIONS
1. Why did the memory of the Greeks and Romans remain longer in
France and Italy than in Germany and England?
2. What different classes of people were there in the Middle Ages?
What was the difference between a parish priest and a monk?
3. How did the nobles gain a living? Were they useful? In what sorts
of houses did they live? Describe a castle. What was the "keep"?
4. How were the sons of nobles trained? What was a page? How was a
young man made a knight? What were the duties of a knight?
5. Were the farmers or peasants prosperous and happy in the Middle
Ages? How did the townsmen learn to protect themselves? What was a
guild? Why are many Europeans proud of their cities?
6. Why is Venice especially interesting? Why do we remember Genoa?
7. From what language did French, Italian, and Spanish grow? How
were the changes made in the old language? Where did the English get
their language? Was it just like the English we speak?
8. What did the boys study in the Middle Ages? What did the word
"university" mean then? Name two or three universities founded then
which still exist. What did the Arabs teach Christian students?
9. What sort of buildings did men in the Middle Ages especially like
to build? Are these buildings still standing? Why do we admire these
great churches?
10. What do we call the time when men began to study once more Roman
and Greek books, and began to imitate the ways of living and
thinking common in the Graeco-Roman world? Who was the first of
these "new" men? Where especially did men search for Greek books?
11. What invention helped men spread far and wide this new
knowledge? How do the Germans come to have "Gothic" type? Where do
we get our Roman and _italic_ type? What books did the Venetian
printer Aldus print? Name a famous English and a famous
German printer.
12. What besides ancient books did the men of the Renaissance like
to study and imitate?
EXERCISES
1. Find out what titles of noblemen are used now in different
European countries. In what country are men often knighted? Why are
they knighted? What title shows that a man is a knight?
2. Collect pictures of armor and of castles, especially of castles
still standing. Collect pictures of old town walls.
3. Collect pictures of Venice and Genoa, especially from advertising
folders.
4. Find the names of several large American universities. Do the
students live in "colleges" as students did in the Middle Ages?
5. Tell one or two stories from the Arabian Nights. Collect pictures
of Arabian costumes and of Arabian buildings in Spain, or Africa,
or Asia.
6. Collect pictures of English and European cathedrals. Find
pictures of churches in America which resemble them.
REVIEW
_How ancient civilization was preserved_
1. What ruined so many ancient cities?
2. Who tried to preserve the memory of what the Greeks and the
Romans had done?
3. What language did the churchmen continue to use?
4. How did the missionaries help?
5. How did Alfred teach the English some of the things the Romans
had known?
6. What did the Arabs teach the Christians which the Greeks had
known?
7. What was studied at Bologna? How did the universities help in
preserving the ancient knowledge?
8. What did Petrarch do to find lost books? What did other men of
Petrarch's time do?
9. What help came from the invention of printing?
10. From what besides books did the men of the Renaissance learn
about the Greeks and the Romans?
[Illustration: HUSBANDMAN AND COUNTRY WOMAN OF FIFTEENTH
CENTURY]