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The University High School Band
The History and Theory of Music

The Medieval Period

The Sainte-Chapelle, built by King Louis IX

"Nobody can understand the greatness of the thirteenth century, who does not realize that it was a great growth of new things produced by a living thing. In that sense it was really bolder and freer than what we call the Renaissance, which was a resurrection of old things discovered in a dead thing. Medievalism was not a Renaissance, but a Naissance. It did not model its temples upon the tombs or call up dead gods from Hades... it was followed at the Renaissance by a more antiquated architecture. In that sense, the Renaissance might be called the Relapse. Whatever may be said of the Gothic and the Gospel according to St. Thomas, they were not a Relapse. It was a new thrust like the titanic thrust of Gothic engineering, and its strength was in a God who makes all things new."

- G. K. Chesterton

Starting in the eighteenth century, many intellectuals began to divide European history into three epochs: the Roman Empire (which was good), the "Middle Ages" (which were bad), and the "Enlightenment" (their own time, which was good.) Besides being just a little condescending to a thousand years of history, this terminology is pretty misleading. However, the terms have stuck, and so we call the millennium from the 5th century until the 15th century the "Medieval Period." Despite many myths about these times, historians are now recognizing that this time was indeed a period of significant cultural advancement.

Improvements in agricultural technology, a time of relative peace, and a period of global warming resulted in a population boom throughout the 9th and 10th centuries. Parliaments and other representative bodies began to contest the authority of kings and pave the way for democracy. Monasteries and convents remained centers of learning, preserving the ancient writings of Greece and Rome. The Islamic world underwent a golden age. While Christian orthodoxy was firmly established in Europe, theological questions were debated freely and openly in the first universities, founded in the tenth century. Philosophy flourished and the groundwork was laid for modern science. Incredible feats of engineering produced the Romanesque and Gothic architecture that still dominates European skylines today.

Although most of Europe was briefly united under Charlemagne, the collapse of the Roman Empire caused most people to find local solutions for sustenance and protection. Populations gathered around fortified cities and castles where they could flee in an emergency, and farmers and craftsmen would share goods with wealthy nobles in exchange for protection. When this system became entrenched, it was known as feudalism. Despite political disunity, Europe did have a growing sense of spiritual unity under Christianity, and Europe during this time was often known as Christendom. However, western Christians looked increasingly to the Pope for leadership, while eastern Christians turned to the Byzantine Emperor and Patriarch of Constantinople, laying the ground for division.

The popular literature of this period includes romances, fanciful stories of epic heroes. Notable examples from the early Medieval Period include Thomas Mallory's "Le Mort d'Arthur" and the Old English epic "Beowulf." Later on, Geoffrey Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales" was popular in England. The masterpiece of Medieval literature was Dante Aleghri's "Divine Comedy," an Italian poem depicting a symbolic journey through hell, purgatory, and paradise.

Gallery

Oxford University
Maria Lach Abbey
Notre Dame Cathedral
Mont Saint-Michel Monastery

Open-Ended Question

What motivation would historians of the 18th and 19th centuries have for disparaging the time between the 5th and 15th centuries?