Krishnaveni U, The Middle Ages

THE MIDDLE AGES

In the history of Europe the middle ages were looked as a period of darkness, ignorance and superstition and it prolonged from fifth century to fifteenth century. It started from the fall of Roman Empire till the renaissance. The middle age is the period of Antiquity, medieval period. The term ‘middle age’ was brought by Italian humanistic thinkers who wished to put a boundary to the renaissance, rediscovery of classical thinkers from preceding era. The middle ages from the fall of Rome by the Germanic tribes in the fifth century to fifteenth century, so a change of various forms was in fact a development from the medieval period.

Petrarch an Italian scholar of fourteenth century believed that the dark ages was a period of intellectual darkness due to the loss of classical learning which he saw as light. Later historians took this idea and the term dark ages was transformed into Middle Ages. The middle ages were the time when the Christianity flourished in Europe. During this time the Roman Empire slowly fragmented into low political groups. Decrease in population, urbanisation, invasion continued in the early middle ages. This was a period when there was coming up of universities, establishment of law, reforms and birth of industries. Monasteries where found. The visual arts during this period made  own aesthetic values.

Byzantine Empire remained powerful as a major power. During the middle ages after AD 1000, the population raised as the trade flourished technically and there was increase in yield. Scholasticism, a philosophy that stressed merges of faith to reason. The theology of Thomas Aquinas, the painting of Giotto, the works of Dante and Chaucer, the expedition of Marco Polo are among the tremendous achievement of their period. The late middle ages were an age which experienced war, diseases, famine. By all these the population went down in Europe and in between 1347 and 1350, the Black Death killed around three third of Europe. There was civil strike, peasant revolt. In the late middle age there was a shift or change in culture and technological developments that transformed the Europe society and people.

THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES

A number factors paved way to the forming of Middle Ages: the coming up Christianity the social and political power Germanic tribes who put down Roman Empire, legacy of classical world and link with Islamic civilisation. The strongest force in the upcoming of medieval civilisation was Christianity. Early Christianity was having a large number belief and practices. Christian doctrines was not completely formalised in early Middle Ages and many Eastern churches were following unorthodox beliefs

After the collapse of Roman Empire the Church had to bring unity, order and guidance in many fields. Latin remained language of scholarship and law. It was monks who wrote books, transmitting ancient manuscripts and running school libraries etc. Another force that put down Western Roman Empire was the Germanic tribes, who were Scandinavians, Goths, and Anglo-Saxons etc. Roman Empire developed into the system of feudalism. In the Early Middle Ages, commerce and industry fell down and often there was spread of disease the famine.

In intellectual field heritage of classical thought and changing relations of developing Christian theology to this heritage was two important factors. In the early middle Ages, one of the rhetoricians of the fifth century, Martianus Capella was known for his seven liberal arts. As the theological content of Christianity, two approaches were put forward. One was to keep away from paganism and the other was to approve classical rhetoric and philosophy. Earlier the stress was laid on faith and revelation of reason. Theologian Clement believed that reason was important for knowing of scriptures and Greek philosophers anticipated on Christian god. While poetry and history were accepted, the church opposed drama and to visual arts for long time.

It is in works of Augustine a profound synthesis of classical and Christian notion happened. More than any other thinker, Augustine influenced the culture and tradition of Roman Catholic and Protestant thinking. Augustine regarded Plato as a great philosopher. Augustine categorised spiritual life into earthly and heavenly cities. Augustine is concerned to employ regulation that would guide the reader to look at passages of scripture literally or figuratively. Augustine’s new explanation for rhetoric is from his view on truth itself on the basis of good style. During the early Middle Ages church had prominent role.

THE LATER MIDDLE AGES

 The later Middle Ages, experienced progress in many levels, most importantly in economic field there was revival. During this period there was correct formation of feudalism. The society was mainly divided into two sections one was of upper class people like the clergymen and the other was the lower class that comprised of peasants , and a small section of middle class of merchants, traders etc.  By the later Middle Ages, many communities had flourished; many European cities like Venice, Florence, Milan, and Paris came up.

The intellectual streams like Neo- Platonism, scholasticism gave an upliftment in the field of education; there was a rise of cathedral schools and universities. The universities consisted of liberal arts, medicine, law etc. The seven liberal arts were arranged that is to be retained in the middle age. The first three were grammar, rhetoric and dialect which was known as “trivium” and the next four were arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy known as “quadruvium.” Among the seven liberal arts grammar was studied widely, as it was the study of both language and literature. The authors included Vergil, Donatus, Capella, Horace, Terence, Lucan, Cicero etc. Ancient Universities mostly taught grammar and rhetoric. It was in this age the notion of universities came up with various facilities. The coming up of philosophy and theology pushed literature somewhat to the margin.

Poetry can be considered as a part of philosophy or theology in the writings of Boccaccio and Pisan who gave humanistic change to the traditions. Poetry was a part of grammar with three kinds of treatise.  The three treatises are the commentary, the ars metrica and the accessus were the method of medieval humanism. The work of John of Salisbury says that the study of poetry belongs to grammar. John opines that a text should be analysed in a way in which the authors meaning should be kept as it is.  

The most literary criticism of the classical period, the works of Horace and Longinus was actually rhetoric which was put on poetry. Literature was seen as a form rather than a particular content. Scholasticism’s had a stress on logic examining of literature, which was a device for the manipulation of language. St. Thomas Aquinas was the greatest of scholastic philosophers of the Roman Catholic Church. His works portrayed defend of truth of Christianity who did approve the scriptures. After Aquinas thinkers began to emphasis on uniqueness than universal capabilities. They emphasised on art as creation rather than imitation.

Two medieval figures, Boccaccio and Pisan were main forerunners of renaissance humanism who advocated scholasticism. Christine was a strong humanistic thing in the medieval era. Pisan was a prominent female figure of the medieval ages. He tries to rewrite the history of women, its scope in past and future. There was a bridging or coming together of imagery and religion (scriptures) in the later middle ages.

CONCLUSION

The period between the fall of Roman Empire and Renaissance is a thousand year period which can be referred as Middle Ages. The early middle Ages were often called as dark because there was famine, hunger and diseases etc. The only positive thing during that period was belief in Christianity. Even though there were lots of problems in this era, the beginning of modern life had been begun during this time.  Education formally started during the Middle Ages around eleventh century.

During the middle ages some of the most marvellous work of art was written. Beowulf, Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, the poetry of Dante, etc were written during this period and these works are admired and read in the present also.  There were many wonderful works but they were all hand written as the printing press was not invented. While in the other parts, Muslims in the Middle East studied the works of ancient Greeks. Civilisation was happening in the other parts of the world. After 1450s there was tremendous change in Europe. It was by the coming up of the Renaissance. Renaissance is the beginning of modern history.

BIBLIOGRAPHY              

 

Habib, M.A.R. Literary Criticism from Plato to Present An Introduction. Oxford: Wiley-

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Abhrams, M H and Geoffrey Galt Harpham. A Glossary of Literary Terms. Wadsworth:

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Nagarajan, M S. English Literary Criticism and Theory. Hyderabad. Orient Black Swan Private Limited. 2006. Print.