In the medieval period, most people could not read and write. The poor did not have access to school and the nobles did not need to be literate to be gentlemen and collect taxes from serfs. Who studied and wrote books was the clergy, especially the monks.
The development of commerce and urban life brought about a cultural revolution. The growth of the urban stimulated intellectual life. The owners of towns (merchants and craftsmen), the so-called bourgeois, began a struggle against the old culture of monasteries (religious schools in rural towns).
In this century, for these reasons there was the triumph of a new institution: the University. Just as these bourgeois created their associations (Guildas and Corporations), they joined together and created the University (a kind of corporation of culture).
In order to free themselves from the strong power of the bishops, the bourgeois sought the support of the Pope who, in this time (13th century), it was trying to impose its power on the local Churches dominated by the bishops.
It emerged in cities such as Oxford (England – this university founded in the 12th century, is still one of the most important in the world), Paris (France) and Bologna (Italy).
These universities were protected by the church, great feudal lords, and wealthy city dwellers. University professors were chosen from among the clergy. St. Thomas Aquinas became, as a university professor, the most important figure in thirteenth-century thought.
The universities studied Medicine, Law, Theology (study of the Bible and rational ideas about the Christian religion), philosophy. The natural sciences were not very developed and in Universities what the Greeks and Arabs had already taught were practically repeated. At the University, the problems of the time were not studied. In it, men were prepared to know the past and live their present without criticizing it.
The students of these universities were the sons of nobles from all over Europe. Universities, therefore, formed only people from the feudal elite. All studies, medicine, law, arts, sciences, letters and theology, were done in Latin. Language was not a problem for them, as they all spoke and wrote in Latin.
The teaching method was called scholasticism. Students studied the text of a great author from the past. For example, the Greeks Plato and Aristotle, interpreted by the masters of the Medieval Church, such as Saint Augustine and Saint Thomas Aquinas. Students and their teachers commented on the text and debated it. However, in these debates, no one questioned what the great authors said. Their authority was absolute. That is why, centuries later, scholasticism was accused of being a form of dogmatic study, that is, narrow-minded.
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Most important of all, the universities presented a great new feature: little by little, intellectual life was no longer totally linked to the Church. Thought was acquiring autonomy from the clergy.
The arts (architecture, sculpture and painting) became an expression of the dominance of urban life over rural life.
Although it took advantage of the Romanesque construction, the architecture left us beautiful and bold Gothic churches, full of light, unlike the Romanesque ones, full of shadows.
The Romanesque-style churches were built in stone, while the private dwellings were in wood or brick. The interior was colorful and the walls and ceiling were painted in a variety of colors, with embroidered tapestries used in the decoration. The plan of the churches was that of the basilicas, consisting of a central nave and two wings or lateral naves, but other formats also existed.
The decorative element and sculpture in Romanesque churches often had monsters as their theme, given the influence of Celtic and Germanic mythology. Sculpture also eschewed Romanesque themes (including death) and took life as a model, using mainly flora and fauna. The second medieval style, Gothic did not take root in Italy.
The name of the Gothic style is due to the Italian Vassari, who considered it barbarian, that is, from the Goths. The use of warheads and flying buttresses allowed for a great interior lightness: since the domes are supported by these arches that were inside the building, the columns could be slender and elegant, and the walls, no longer supporting the weight of the ceiling, could be torn apart to allow for illumination, and thus appeared to the art of stained glass.
In Gothic chairs, the decorative elements are different from Romanesque churches. Animals disappear, replaced by stylizations of plants; in this art, essentially aristocratic, it becomes common to the figure of a knight and life-size sculptures in the sarcophagi of the great characters.
The saints continued to be carved; however, his physiognomy was no longer so holy, being more real and more human. Personal traits are faithfully copied, or at best slightly stylized, but they remain easily recognizable and are in many cases remarkable psychological portraits. The man finally emerged from within the stone: he was a noble and dignified figure, rising from the rubble left by the barbarian invasions, having gone through a long period of nine centuries of conquests and wins.
Text written by Professor Patrícia Barboza da Silva, licensed by the Federal University of Rio Grande Foundation – FURG.
Columnist Brazil School
Bibliographic reference
- FERREIRA, José Roberto Martins, History. São Paulo: FTD; 1997.
- MORAES, José Geraldo. Path of Civilizations. São Paulo: Current. 1994.
Middle Ages - History - Brazil School
