Church and Culture
The only universal European institution was the church, and even there a fragmentation of authority was the rule; all the power within the church hierarchy was in the hands of the local bishops. The church basically saw itself as the spiritual community of Christian believers, in exile from God's kingdom, waiting in a hostile world for the day of deliverance. The most important members of this community were found outside the hierarchy of the church government in the monasteries that dotted Europe.
During the high Middle Ages, the Roman Catholic Church became organized into an elaborate hierarchy with the pope as the head in western Europe. He establish supreme power. Many innovations took place in the creative arts during the high Middle Ages. Literacy was no longer merely requirement among the clergy. New readings were addressed to a newly literate public that had both the time and the knowledge to enjoy the work.
Food
Meat preservation was by salting or smoking, or, most commonly and simply, by keeping the meat alive till needed. Salting was done by two methods. Dry-salting meant burying the meat in a bed of salt pounded to a powder with mortar and pestle. Brine-curing consisted of immersing the meat in a strong salt solution. Before cooking, the salted meat had to be soaked and rinsed.
In addition to roasting and stewing, meat might be pounded to a paste, mixed with other ingredients, and served as a kind of custard. A dish of this kind was blank manger, consisting of a paste of chicken blended with rice boiled in almond milk, seasoned with sugar, cooked until very thick, and garnished with fried almonds and anise. Another was mortrews, of fish or meat that was pounded, mixed with bread crumbs, stock, and eggs, and poached, producing a kind of quenelle, or dumpling. Both meat and fish were also made into pies, pasties, and fritters.
Popes in Medieval Times
The Popes of the Middle Ages became powerful and highly influential. This was the period of the Crusades where thousands of Medieval Christians, rich and poor, old and young, from all walks of life traveled nearly three thousand miles to the Holy Land. The Militant religious zeal of the popes and the promise of redemption from sins made the crusades popular. The Catholic church became the universal and unifying institution. However, n 1054 there was a split between the Eastern and Western Christian Churches which was prompted by arguments over the Crusades. This split was called the Great Schism. The religious fervor of the Popes in Medieval times transferred into medieval society. A centralized Catholic church was realized under Pope Innocent III in 1198. The church and the power of the Popes was eventually weakened by quarrels between church and state. The Hundred Years War and the Wars of the Roses led to the end of the Feudal system and the emergence of the modern nation state. The Medieval religious reformers of the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance culminated in the Protestant Reformation.
Inventions
The Middle Ages encompass one of the most exciting periods in English History. One of the most important historical events of the Medieval era was the crusades when the Christians of Europe travelled 3000 miles to fight in the eastern Holy lands. The crusaders experienced Eastern culture and lifestyle and brought back to Europe some inventions developed in this part of the world including silk, gunpowder, the compass and the astrolabe. Numerous nautical inventions in the Middle Ages were used for aids in exploration and enabled the voyages of the great explorers of the Renaissance period.
The Middle Ages inventions were numerous and major developments were made in the areas of:
Philosophy
Medieval philosophy came from a period when philosophy was under attack: the proponents of religious faith felt that the claims of the philosophers concerning the superiority of reason were false and this led to medieval philosophers such as Aquinas and Averroes having to defend the purpose and the existence of philosophy from first principles. Second, many of the texts, especially those of Judaeo-Muslim medieval philosophy, have a richness and complexity that texts of other periods simply lack – philosophy written as poetry, philosophical stories which make major points, etc. There are even major philosophical works – such as Maimonides’ Guide for the Perplexed – which admit of several wholly opposed interpretations. Third, and lastly, the relevance of various medieval projects to modern problems. The development of computers and the attempt to model events which happen in the world around us led to the development of a logical language capable of handling the various modal qualities describing time and possibility. This replicated the development of a similar language during the middle ages to discuss matters such as the Christian trinity, second coming of Jesus and resurrection of the dead. Knowledge of the medieval success would have greatly facilitated the modem reconstruction.
Science and Math
Science in the Middle Ages was dominated by theologian/philosophers who were as comfortable working on secular subjects as they were studying the scriptures. Thomas Bradwardine is a good example. While he was a master at the University of Oxford during the early fourteenth century, he made a breakthrough which challenged ancient Greek assumptions about how science should operate. Using the latest mathematical techniques, Bradwardine developed a formula that provided a universal description of motion. Aristotle had declared that since mathematics and physics were different subjects, you could not use one of them to prove something in the other. Bradwardine realised that this was a mistake. Mathematics is essential in all branches of science because nature obeys mathematical laws. This is one of the most fundamental tenets of modern science, restated by Galileo when he declared, “Science is written in this grand book… it is written in the language of mathematics.” Bradwardine himself left Oxford to pursue a successful career in the Church, which culminated with his appointment as Archbishop of Canterbury. Unfortunately, he had barely been enthroned when he died of the Black Death in 1349.
The High Middle Ages brought a huge increase in the study of mathematics and in the abilities of mathematicians because of the introduction of practices developed in Islamic countries in the East and introduced to Europe primarily through Spain. These included the use of Arabic numerals, which replaced the very clunky Roman system and remain in use today. Algebra was developed by Islamic people, as was algebraic geometry, from its rudimentary beginnings in Greece. These developments, and others, made it possible for Medieval mathematicians to do easily what Roman mathematicians had not dreamed of, and engineering developed as a result.
The only universal European institution was the church, and even there a fragmentation of authority was the rule; all the power within the church hierarchy was in the hands of the local bishops. The church basically saw itself as the spiritual community of Christian believers, in exile from God's kingdom, waiting in a hostile world for the day of deliverance. The most important members of this community were found outside the hierarchy of the church government in the monasteries that dotted Europe.
During the high Middle Ages, the Roman Catholic Church became organized into an elaborate hierarchy with the pope as the head in western Europe. He establish supreme power. Many innovations took place in the creative arts during the high Middle Ages. Literacy was no longer merely requirement among the clergy. New readings were addressed to a newly literate public that had both the time and the knowledge to enjoy the work.
Food
Meat preservation was by salting or smoking, or, most commonly and simply, by keeping the meat alive till needed. Salting was done by two methods. Dry-salting meant burying the meat in a bed of salt pounded to a powder with mortar and pestle. Brine-curing consisted of immersing the meat in a strong salt solution. Before cooking, the salted meat had to be soaked and rinsed.
In addition to roasting and stewing, meat might be pounded to a paste, mixed with other ingredients, and served as a kind of custard. A dish of this kind was blank manger, consisting of a paste of chicken blended with rice boiled in almond milk, seasoned with sugar, cooked until very thick, and garnished with fried almonds and anise. Another was mortrews, of fish or meat that was pounded, mixed with bread crumbs, stock, and eggs, and poached, producing a kind of quenelle, or dumpling. Both meat and fish were also made into pies, pasties, and fritters.
Popes in Medieval Times
The Popes of the Middle Ages became powerful and highly influential. This was the period of the Crusades where thousands of Medieval Christians, rich and poor, old and young, from all walks of life traveled nearly three thousand miles to the Holy Land. The Militant religious zeal of the popes and the promise of redemption from sins made the crusades popular. The Catholic church became the universal and unifying institution. However, n 1054 there was a split between the Eastern and Western Christian Churches which was prompted by arguments over the Crusades. This split was called the Great Schism. The religious fervor of the Popes in Medieval times transferred into medieval society. A centralized Catholic church was realized under Pope Innocent III in 1198. The church and the power of the Popes was eventually weakened by quarrels between church and state. The Hundred Years War and the Wars of the Roses led to the end of the Feudal system and the emergence of the modern nation state. The Medieval religious reformers of the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance culminated in the Protestant Reformation.
Inventions
The Middle Ages encompass one of the most exciting periods in English History. One of the most important historical events of the Medieval era was the crusades when the Christians of Europe travelled 3000 miles to fight in the eastern Holy lands. The crusaders experienced Eastern culture and lifestyle and brought back to Europe some inventions developed in this part of the world including silk, gunpowder, the compass and the astrolabe. Numerous nautical inventions in the Middle Ages were used for aids in exploration and enabled the voyages of the great explorers of the Renaissance period.
The Middle Ages inventions were numerous and major developments were made in the areas of:
- Middle Ages Weaponry - Different Armor and weapons were invented by the war like nations of Medieval Europe
- Siege Weapon Inventions - The Inventions were brought from the crusades and developed to suit Medieval siege warfare
- Nautical Inventions - A huge number of nautical inventions were made enabling the Age of Exploration
- Farming Inventions - Increased Medieval food production
- Clocks and Timekeeping inventions
- The Printing Press - probably the most important of the Middle Ages inventions
Philosophy
Medieval philosophy came from a period when philosophy was under attack: the proponents of religious faith felt that the claims of the philosophers concerning the superiority of reason were false and this led to medieval philosophers such as Aquinas and Averroes having to defend the purpose and the existence of philosophy from first principles. Second, many of the texts, especially those of Judaeo-Muslim medieval philosophy, have a richness and complexity that texts of other periods simply lack – philosophy written as poetry, philosophical stories which make major points, etc. There are even major philosophical works – such as Maimonides’ Guide for the Perplexed – which admit of several wholly opposed interpretations. Third, and lastly, the relevance of various medieval projects to modern problems. The development of computers and the attempt to model events which happen in the world around us led to the development of a logical language capable of handling the various modal qualities describing time and possibility. This replicated the development of a similar language during the middle ages to discuss matters such as the Christian trinity, second coming of Jesus and resurrection of the dead. Knowledge of the medieval success would have greatly facilitated the modem reconstruction.
Science and Math
Science in the Middle Ages was dominated by theologian/philosophers who were as comfortable working on secular subjects as they were studying the scriptures. Thomas Bradwardine is a good example. While he was a master at the University of Oxford during the early fourteenth century, he made a breakthrough which challenged ancient Greek assumptions about how science should operate. Using the latest mathematical techniques, Bradwardine developed a formula that provided a universal description of motion. Aristotle had declared that since mathematics and physics were different subjects, you could not use one of them to prove something in the other. Bradwardine realised that this was a mistake. Mathematics is essential in all branches of science because nature obeys mathematical laws. This is one of the most fundamental tenets of modern science, restated by Galileo when he declared, “Science is written in this grand book… it is written in the language of mathematics.” Bradwardine himself left Oxford to pursue a successful career in the Church, which culminated with his appointment as Archbishop of Canterbury. Unfortunately, he had barely been enthroned when he died of the Black Death in 1349.
The High Middle Ages brought a huge increase in the study of mathematics and in the abilities of mathematicians because of the introduction of practices developed in Islamic countries in the East and introduced to Europe primarily through Spain. These included the use of Arabic numerals, which replaced the very clunky Roman system and remain in use today. Algebra was developed by Islamic people, as was algebraic geometry, from its rudimentary beginnings in Greece. These developments, and others, made it possible for Medieval mathematicians to do easily what Roman mathematicians had not dreamed of, and engineering developed as a result.