I will come back with an example response to my own question. Ian I hope you are enjoying the beach. I am taking in a few days myself. MZ
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Middle Ages...So What?
So what are the big themes that can be harvested from your research (the three research questions)? In history we of course want to make meaning out of the evidence. What ideas from the Middle Ages might shape a European Renaissance? What ideas might be questioned, reassessed and perhaps not survive? So let's set some parameters from responses...(I want them to be candid and supported...approx 1 paragraph or so).
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5 comments:
The biggest theme I pulled away from the reading was the extreme, nearly suffocating impact of religion in Europe. The church had more power than the government, as exemplified by Pope Boniface's triumph over the king of France and the publication of the Unam Sanctam to prove it. The papacy achieved such power through creating a subservient relationship with the public by enstilling them with fear. Dante's Divine comedy summed up Europe's extreme fear of damnation. History proves that such a ruling style is initially successful (Adolf Hitler, Joeseph Stalin, Saddam Hussein),however history also proves that the same approach is also destined for eventual failure. I assume that the the people behind the European Renaissance questioned the church's supreme control and began to give more influence to the government, and perhaps, eventually, the people. Europe, by the time of the renaissance, was most likely tired of being beaten into religious submission and ready to revolt against the power's that had oppressed them.
Like kate said, the church's grasp over the european people drove them to fear damnation. They were shown the punishment and terror which would await them should they disobey the church. The Renaissance represented a time where the monarchy began to gain more control over their own country. The people strayed from the church and began to become more free.
I agree with kate and ariel with the church's domination of the people. What immediately came to my mind was how the pilgrims came to America to avoid persecution... Now that's why we study European history!! But anywho, slowly in the renaissance (re-birth) period, people felt a renewed freedom and began to pull away from the Church.
Through the three research questions, a definite theme was able to develop, reveling what Middle Aged ideas led to shape European renaissance. The main idea coming through is certainly the challenge of church/papal authority. Considering how centered Middle Age life was around the church and the amount of corruption present at the church at that moment, it was only natural for the people to begin to deny that authority, leading to movements such as the Lutheran Revolution and the formation of the Anglican Church, respectively for spiritual and political motives.
First class responses...I think you are seeing some of the seeds that were planted for secularization, Renaissance. Indeed this is a slow process and the lights never suddenly went on in Europe. Moreover in today's scholarship the carryover of the Middle Ages into the "Renaissance" is clarified by Norman Davies " The professionals like to spotlight magic, vagrancy, disease, or the decimination of colonial populations. ....The World of Renaissance and Reformation was also the world of divination, astrology, miracles, conjuration, witchcraft, necromancy, folk cures, ghosts omens, and fairies." In other words...the supernatural world was widely embraced.
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