Chapter 10 The High Middle Ages: Scholastic Development and the Flowering of Culture

Scholastic Development

• Educational activities before 12th and 13th centuries happened in monasteries

• Increased in demand led to the rise of the universities

Scholasticism • Combined theological teachings with

philosophical methods • Produced some of the most important

works in Western History

Monastic Movement

• Devoted to poverty • Sought to restore

religious zeal”• Faith and love of

God leads to greater knowledge and understanding of Christ (not academics)

PART IThe Universities

Demand for Education Quickly Rose…

Results: • System needed reorganization • Apprenticeship - Guilds formed

Universities

• Formed in N. Europe • Corporation that

protected the educational and administrative interests of its members

• South: included protection of the quality of education

Origin of the Universities (North)• University of Paris• Three cathedral schools unified

(Palatine, Notre-Dame, Saint-Genevieve)• Growing population led to on-campus

housing and more courses

Origin of the Universities (South)• Lombard cities

grew • Demand for legal

instruction grew• University of

Bologna(Art of Composition)

• Center of Law (Canon/Roman)

Academic Coursework

• Studium generale(theology, philosophy, medicine, law)

• Trivium(Latin grammar, rhetoric, logic)

• Quadrivium (math, geometry, astronomy, music)

Academic Coursework

• Be fluent in Latin • “Bachelor of Arts”:

Could instruct others

• “Master of Arts”: master of their field

• “Doctor of Philosophy” : debated professors on the subjects they were studying

Founders

• Civil rulers? • Popes? • Who had the

authority to form a new University?

Solution• The state and Church worked together to

form the Universities

Pope’s Role • Support academic freedom;• Allowed clerics to leave their obligations to

attend school • Lay/clerical students exempted from taxes,

court, military service • Authorized masters to suspend lecture

during time of outrage• Intervened to protect scholars from civil

authority

Pope’s Role

• Endowment drawn from the revenue of the monasteries

• Intervened to secure payment of professors salary

University Students

• Unmarried men (12-15yrs)• International students • PhD: 30yrs old (Paris)• Celibacy • Married scholars lost positions

PART IIScholasticism

Scholasticism

Result of …• The

Crusades• Introduction

of Aristotle to the West

Methods and Mystery

Teaching technique: • Classic text read • Contradictory statements listed• Underline agreement revealed between

contradictions

Anslem of Laon • “Father of Scholasticism” • First to study/organize

beliefs of Christianity using reasoning

• Collected authoritative statements from the Church Fathers - matched them to the Bible

• Would debate with students over contradictions to find Truth

Peter Lombard Two Requirements for Scholastic Method:

• Questioning is the key to perceiving the Truth

• Differences in questioning can be resolved by determining the meaning of the terms used by different authors in varying ways

St. Thomas Aquinas

• Career foretold• “What is God”? • Dominican Friar • Family held him

captive to destroy his vocation

• Pray-er, teacher, preacher, journeyman

• Patron Saint of Scholars

Summa Theologiae

Explains : • The

existence of God

• The Divinity of Christ

• Christian Morality

Aquinas’s Arguments for God’s existence

Arguments 1:

FIRST MOVER: Some things are in motion, anything moved is moved by another, and there can't be an infinite series of movers. So there must be a first mover (a mover that isn't itself moved by another). This is God.

Aquinas’s Proofs

Proof 2:

FIRST CAUSE: Some things are caused, anything caused is caused by another, and there can't be an infinite series of causes. So there must be a first cause (a cause that isn't itself caused by another). This is God.

Aquinas’s Proofs

Proof 3:

NECESSARY BEING: Every contingent being at some time fails to exist. So if everything were contingent, then at some time there would have been nothing -- and so there would be nothing now -- which is clearly false. So not everything is contingent. So there is a necessary being. This is God.

Aquinas’s Proofs

Proof 4:

GREATEST BEING: Some things are greater than others. Whatever is great to any degree gets its greatness from that which is the greatest. So there is a greatest being, which is the source of all greatness. This is God.

Aquinas’s Proofs

Proof 5:

INTELLIGENT DESIGNER: Many things in the world that lack intelligence act for an end. Whatever acts for an end must be directed by an intelligent being. So the world must have an intelligent designer. This is God.

Why do Bad Things Happen to Good People?

• Fundamental mystery that human reason cannot explain

• Free Will: God desired the free love of humanity over forced obedience to His will

• True evil is the result of placing oneself above God

The Double Truth Theory • Averroes• Philosophy is

superior to Theology

• Philosophy draws its conclusions from demonstration

• Theology draws its conclusions from opinion

Aquinas’s Response

• Philosophy is the servant of Theology

• If a contradiction exists, Philosophy should submit itself to Theology

• Faith and Reason

Bl. John Scotus

• Limits to reason and logic when understanding God

• Reason can only take one so far

PART IIIThe Mendicant Orders

Mendicant Orders

• “To beg”• Gave up

everything to follow God

• Lived a strict live of poverty

• Franciscans • Dominicans

St. Francis of Assisi

• Born to a wealthy merchant

• Romantic crusader • Spiritual crisis:

“Go and build up my house again!”

• Beaten by Father for punishment

• Order approved by Pope Innocent III

Rule of St. Francis

• To live like Christ • Be gentle,

courteous, humble

• Cannot receive money

• Should not feel ashamed

• Avoid suspicious meetings or conversations with women

St. Dominic • Born into wealthy

Spanish family • Dreamt about a

beggar…• Petition God for the

salvation of man • Man of the Gospel • Seldom spoke unless

with/about God • Fought

Albigensianism • Great healer

St. Dominic and the Rosary

• "One day through the Rosary and the Scapular I will save the world“

• Taught followers to picture life, death, and Resurrection of Christ

• Used to convert heretics and lapsed Christians

PART IVThe Flowering of Culture

Culture & the Arts

• Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales• Dante’s Divine Comedy• Bernard of Clairvaux’s Song of Songs

Commentary

Medieval Architecture

• Roman Basilica– Nave & perpendicular Transcept resembled the cross– Sanctuary & Apse– Flat Wooden Roof– Walls supported by round arches joining columns that ran

down each side of the nave.• Romanesque Style

– Flat roofs replaced by vaulted stone ceilings (more windows & light) and sanctuaries increased with rounded Apse

• Gothic Style– Ribbed vaulting with pointed arches to support more

weight– Triangular ceilings and flying buttresses (external arches)– Allowed for floor to ceiling stained glass

Literature & Poetry

• From Latin to the Vernacular– Beowulf– King Arthur– Canterbury Tales– Divine Comedy– Canticle of the Sun– El Cid

Painting & Fine Arts

• Objects of devotion and reflection• Altarpieces• Symbolic relationships (juxtaposition of

figures, angels, saints, Mary, Christ)• Facial Expression