Giotto. Fragment of the painting of the Scrovegni Chapel. 1303-1305 years Wikimedia Commons
Medieval man is first and foremost a believing Christian. In a broad sense, it can be a resident of Ancient Rus', and a Byzantine, and a Greek, and a Coptic, and a Syrian. In a narrow sense, this is a resident Western Europe for which Faith speaks Latin.
When he lived
According to textbooks, the Middle Ages begins with the fall of the Roman Empire. But this does not mean that the first medieval man was born in 476. The process of restructuring the thinking and imaginative world stretched out for centuries - starting, I think, with Christ. To some extent, a medieval person is a convention: there are characters in whom a new European type of consciousness is already manifested within medieval civilization. For example, Peter Abelard, who lived in the 12th century, is somewhat closer to us than to his contemporaries, and in Pico della Mirandola Giovanni Pico della Mirandola(1463-1494) - Italian humanist philosopher, author of "Speech on the Dignity of Man", the treatise "On Being and the One", "900 theses on dialectics, morality, physics, mathematics for public discussion" and so on., who is considered the ideal Renaissance philosopher, is very much medieval. Pictures of the world and era, replacing each other, are simultaneously intertwined. Likewise in the mind medieval man representations are intertwined that unite him both with us and with his predecessors, and at the same time, these representations are in many respects specific.
Search for God
First of all, in the minds of medieval people, the most important place is occupied by the Holy Scriptures. For the entire Middle Ages, the Bible was the book in which one could find answers to all questions, but these answers were never final. One often hears that the people of the Middle Ages lived according to predetermined truths. This is only partly true: the truth is indeed predetermined, but it is inaccessible and incomprehensible. Unlike the Old Testament, where there are legislative books, the New Testament does not give clear answers to any question, and the whole point of human life is to seek these answers for yourself.
Of course, we are talking about thinking person, about, for example, who writes poetry, treatises, frescoes. Because it is on these artifacts that we restore their picture of the world. And we know they're looking for the Kingdom, and the Kingdom is not of this world, it's out there. But what it is, no one knows. Christ does not say: do this and that. He tells a parable, and then think for yourself. In this pledge a certain freedom medieval consciousness, constant creative search.
Saint Denis and Saint Piat. Miniature from the code "Le livre d" images de madame Marie ". France, around 1280-1290 human life
The people of the Middle Ages almost did not know how to take care of themselves. Pregnant wife of Philip III Philip III the Bold(1245-1285) - son of Saint Louis IX, was proclaimed king in Tunisia during the Eighth Crusade, after his father died of the plague., King of France, died after falling from a horse. Who guessed to put her pregnant on a horse?! The son of King Henry I of England Henry I(1068-1135) - younger son of William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy and King of England William Ætheling, the sole heir, with a drunken crew went out on the night of November 25, 1120 on the best ship of the royal fleet in the English Channel and drowned, breaking on the rocks. The country plunged into turmoil for thirty years, and the father received consolation written in stoic tones beautiful letter Childebert of Lavarden Childebert of Lavarden(1056-1133) - poet, theologian and preacher.: they say do not worry, owning the country, be able to cope with your grief. A dubious consolation for a politician.
Earthly life in those days was not valued, because other life was valued. The vast majority of medieval people do not know the date of birth: why write it down if you die tomorrow?
In the Middle Ages, there was only one ideal of a person - a saint, and only a person who has already passed away can become a saint. This is very important concept, uniting eternity and running time. Until recently, the saint was among us, we could see him, and now he is at the throne of the King. You, here and now, can venerate the relics, look at them, pray to them day and night. Eternity is literally at hand, visible and palpable. Therefore, the relics of the saints were hunted, they were stolen and sawn up - in the truest sense of the word. One of the associates of Louis IX Louis IX Saint(1214-1270) - King of France, leader of the Seventh and Eighth crusades. Jean Joinville Jean Joinville(1223-1317) - French historian, biographer of Saint Louis., when the king died and was canonized, he ensured that for him personally a finger was cut off from the royal remains.
Bishop Hugh of Lincoln Hugo Lincoln(circa 1135-1200) - French Carthusian monk, bishop of the diocese of Lincoln, the largest in England. traveled to different monasteries, and the monks showed him their main shrines. When in one monastery they brought the hand of Mary Magdalene to him, the bishop took and bit off two pieces from the bone. The abbot and the monks were dumbfounded at first, then screamed, but the holy man, apparently, was not embarrassed: he de “showed deep respect for the saint, because he also takes the Body of the Lord inside with his teeth and lips.” Then he made himself a bracelet in which he kept the relics of twelve different saints. With this bracelet, his hand was no longer just a hand, but powerful weapon. Later, he himself was canonized as a saint.
face and name
From the 4th to the 12th centuries, a person seems to have no face. Of course, people distinguished each other by facial features, but everyone knew that the judgment of God is impartial, at the Last Judgment it is not the appearance that is judged, but the actions, the soul of a person. That's why individual portrait did not exist in the Middle Ages. Somewhere in the XII century, the eyes opened: people became interested in every blade of grass, and after the blade of grass, the whole picture of the world changed. This revival, of course, was reflected in art: in the XII-XIII centuries, sculpture acquired three-dimensionality, emotions began to appear on faces. In the middle of the 13th century, portrait resemblance began to appear in sculptures made for the tombstones of high church hierarchs. Picturesque and sculptural portraits of former sovereigns, not to mention less significant persons, are mainly a tribute to conventions and canons. Nevertheless, one of Giotto's customers, the merchant Scrovegni Enrico Scrovegni- a rich Padua merchant, by order of whom at the beginning of the XIV century was built house church, painted by Giotto, is the Scrovegni Chapel., is already known to us from quite realistic, individualized images, both in his famous Padua chapel and in the tombstone: comparing fresco and sculpture, we see how he has aged!
We know that Dante did not wear a beard, although his appearance is not described in The Divine Comedy, we know about the heaviness and slowness of Thomas Aquinas, nicknamed the Sicilian Bull by classmates. Behind this nickname is already attention to appearance person. We also know that Barbarossa has Frederick I Barbarossa(1122-1190) - Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, one of the leaders of the Third Crusade. there was not only a red beard, but also beautiful hands - someone mentioned this.
The individual voice of a person, sometimes considered to belong to the culture of the New Age, is also heard in the Middle Ages, but for a long time it is heard without a name. There is a voice, but no name. A work of medieval art - a fresco, a miniature, an icon, even a mosaic, the most expensive and prestigious art for many centuries - is almost always anonymous. It is strange for us that Great master does not want to leave his name, but for them the work itself served as a signature. After all, even when all the plots are set, the artist remains an artist: everyone knew how to depict the Annunciation, but a good master always brought his feelings into the image. People knew the names of good masters, but it never occurred to anyone to write them down. And suddenly, somewhere in the XIII-XIV centuries, they acquired names.
Merlin's conception. Miniature from the Codex Français 96. France, circa 1450-1455 Bibliothèque nationale de France Attitude towards sin
In the Middle Ages, of course, there were things that were forbidden and punishable by law. But for the Church, the main thing was not punishment, but repentance.
Medieval man, like us, sinned. Everyone sinned and everyone confessed. If you are a church person, you cannot be sinless. If you have nothing to say in confession, then something is wrong with you. Saint Francis considered himself the last of the sinners. This is the insoluble conflict of a Christian: on the one hand, you should not sin, but on the other hand, if you suddenly decided that you are sinless, then you have become proud. You must imitate the sinless Christ, but in this imitation of yours you cannot cross a certain line. You cannot say: I am Christ. Or: I am an apostle. This is heresy.
The system of sins (which are forgiven, which are unforgivable, which are mortal, which are not) was constantly changing, because they did not stop thinking about it. By the twelfth century, such a science as theology appeared, with its own tools and with its own faculties; one of the tasks of this science was precisely the development of clear guidelines in ethics.
Wealth
For a medieval person, wealth was a means, not an end, because wealth is not in money, but in having people around you - and in order for them to be around you, you must distribute and spend your wealth. Feudalism is primarily a system of human relationships. If you are higher in the hierarchy, you must be a "father" to your vassals. If you are a vassal, you must love your master in fact the same way you love your father or the King of Heaven.
Love
Paradoxically, much in the Middle Ages was done by calculation (not necessarily arithmetic), including marriages. Love marriages known to historians are rare. Most likely, this was not only among the nobility, but also among the peasants, but we know much less about the lower classes: it was not customary to write down who married whom. But if the nobility calculated the profit when they gave away their children, then the poor, who counted every penny, even more so.
Miniature from the Lutrell Psalter. England, circa 1325-1340 british library Peter of Lombard, a 12th-century theologian, wrote that a husband who passionately loves his wife commits adultery. It's not even about the physical component: it's just that if you give yourself too much to your feelings in marriage, you commit adultery, because the point of marriage is not to become attached to any earthly relationship. Of course, this point of view can be considered extreme, but it turned out to be influential. If you look at it from the inside, then it is the reverse side of courtly love: let me remind you that love in marriage is never courtly, moreover, it is always an object of dreaming about possession, but not possession itself.
Symbolism
In any book about the Middle Ages, you will read that this culture is very symbolic. In my opinion, this can be said about any culture. But medieval symbolism was always unidirectional: it somehow correlates with Christian dogma or Christian history, which formed this dogma. I mean Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition, that is, the history of the saints. And even if some medieval person wants to build his own world inside medieval world like Guillaume of Aquitaine Guillaume IX(1071-1126) - Count of Poitiers, Duke of Aquitaine, the first known troubadour., the creator of a new type of poetry, the world of courtly love and the cult of the Beautiful Lady - this world is still being built, correlating with the system of values of the Church, imitating it in some ways, rejecting it in some ways or even parodying it.
Medieval man generally has a very peculiar way of looking at the world. His gaze is directed through things, behind which he seeks to see a certain world order. Therefore, sometimes it may seem that he did not see the world around him, and if he did, then sub specie aeternitatis - from the point of view of eternity, as a reflection of the divine plan, which appears both in the beauty of Beatrice passing by you, and in a frog falling from the sky (sometimes it was believed that they were born from the rain). A good example of this is history, as Saint Bernard of Clairvaux Bernard of Clairvaux(1091-1153) - French theologian, mystic, led the order of the Cistercians. he rode for a long time along the shores of Lake Geneva, but was so immersed in thought that he did not see him and later asked his companions in surprise what kind of lake they were talking about.
Antiquity and the Middle Ages
It is believed that the barbarian invasion wiped out all the achievements of previous civilizations from the face of the earth, but this is not entirely true. Western European civilization inherited from Antiquity and Christian faith, and a number of values and ideas about Antiquity, alien and hostile to Christianity, pagan. Moreover, the Middle Ages spoke the same language with Antiquity. Of course, much has been destroyed and forgotten (schools, political institutions, artistic techniques in art and literature), but the figurative world of medieval Christianity is directly connected with the ancient heritage thanks to various kinds of encyclopedias (codes of ancient knowledge about the world - such as, for example, the "Etymology" of St. Isidore of Seville Isidore of Seville(560-636) - Archbishop of Seville. His "Etymologies" is an encyclopedia of knowledge from various fields, gleaned including from ancient writings. He is considered the founder of medieval encyclopedia and the patron saint of the Internet.) and allegorical treatises and poems like Marriage of Philology and Mercury by Marcianus Capella Marcian Capella(1st half of the 5th century) - an ancient writer, author of the encyclopedia "The Marriage of Philology and Mercury", dedicated to an overview of the seven free arts and written on the basis of ancient writings.. Now few people read such texts, very few of those who love them, but then, for many centuries, they were read. The old gods were saved by this kind of literature and the tastes of the reading public behind it.
Middle Ages. The most controversial and controversial era in the history of mankind. Some perceive it as the times of beautiful ladies and noble knights, minstrels and buffoons, when spears were broken, feasts were noisy, serenades were sung and sermons sounded. For others, the Middle Ages is a time of fanatics and executioners, the fires of the Inquisition, stinking cities, epidemics, cruel customs, unsanitary conditions, general darkness and savagery.
Moreover, fans of the first option are often embarrassed by their admiration for the Middle Ages, they say that they understand that everything was not like that, but they love the outside chivalrous culture. While the supporters of the second option are sincerely sure that the Middle Ages were not called the Dark Ages for nothing, it was the most terrible time in the history of mankind.
The fashion to scold the Middle Ages appeared back in the Renaissance, when there was a sharp denial of everything that had to do with the recent past (as we know it), and then with light hand historians of the 19th century began to consider this most dirty, cruel and rude Middle Ages ... the times since the fall ancient states and until the 19th century, declared the triumph of reason, culture and justice. Then myths developed, which now wander from article to article, frightening fans of chivalry, the sun king, pirate novels, and in general all romantics from history.
Myth 1. All knights were stupid, dirty, uneducated dorks.
This is probably the most fashionable myth. Every second article about the horrors of Medieval customs ends with an unobtrusive morality - look, they say, dear women, how lucky you are, no matter what modern men are, they are definitely better than the knights you dream of.
Let's leave the dirt for later, there will be a separate discussion about this myth. As for ignorance and stupidity ... I thought recently how it would be funny if our time was studied according to the culture of "brothers". One can imagine what a typical representative of modern men would be like then. And you can’t prove that men are all different, there is always a universal answer to this - “this is an exception.”
In the Middle Ages, men, oddly enough, were also all different. Charlemagne collected folk songs, built schools, he knew several languages. Richard Lion Heart, considered a typical representative knighthood, wrote poetry in two languages. Karl the Bold, whom literature likes to display as a kind of boor-macho, knew Latin very well and loved to read ancient authors. Francis I patronized Benvenuto Cellini and Leonardo da Vinci.
The polygamist Henry VIII knew four languages, played the lute and loved the theatre. And this list can be continued. But the main thing is that they were all sovereigns, models for their subjects, and even for smaller rulers. They were guided by them, they were imitated, and those who could, like his sovereign, were respected, could knock down the enemy from a horse, and an ode to beautiful lady write.
Yeah, they will tell me - we know these Beautiful Ladies, they had nothing to do with their wives. So let's move on to the next myth.
Myth 2. The “noble knights” treated their wives like property, beat them and didn’t set a penny
To begin with, I will repeat what I have already said - the men were different. And in order not to be unfounded, I will remember the noble seigneur from the XII century, Etienne II de Blois. This knight was married to a certain Adele of Norman, daughter of William the Conqueror and his beloved wife Matilda. Etienne, as befits a zealous Christian, went on a crusade, and his wife remained to wait for him at home and manage the estate.
A seemingly banal story. But its peculiarity is that Etienne's letters to Adele have come down to us. Tender, passionate, yearning. Detailed, smart, analytical. These letters are a valuable source on the Crusades, but they are also evidence of how much a medieval knight could love not some mythical Lady, but his own wife.
We can recall Edward I, whom the death of his adored wife knocked down and brought to the grave. His grandson Edward III lived in love and harmony with his wife for over forty years. Louis XII, having married, turned from the first debauchee of France into a faithful husband. Whatever the skeptics say, love is a phenomenon independent of the era. And always, at all times, they tried to marry their beloved women.
Now let's move on to more practical myths that are actively promoted in the cinema and greatly confuse the romantic mood among fans of the Middle Ages.
Myth 3. Cities were sewage dumps.
Oh, what they just do not write about medieval cities. To the point that I came across the assertion that the walls of Paris had to be completed so that the sewage poured outside the city wall would not pour back. Effective, isn't it? And in the same article it was stated that since in London human waste was poured into the Thames, it was also a continuous stream of sewage. My fertile imagination immediately thrashed in hysterics, because I just couldn’t imagine where so much sewage could come from in a medieval city.
This is not a modern multi-million metropolis - 40-50 thousand people lived in medieval London, and not much more in Paris. Let's leave it aside fairy tale with a wall and imagine the Thames. This not the smallest river splashes 260 cubic meters of water per second into the sea. If you measure this in baths, you get more than 370 baths. Per second. I think further comments are unnecessary.
However, no one denies that medieval cities were by no means fragrant with roses. And now one has only to turn off the sparkling avenue and look into the dirty streets and dark gateways, as you understand - the washed and lit city is very different from its dirty and smelly inside.
Myth 4. People haven't washed for many years.
Talking about washing is also very fashionable. Moreover, absolutely real examples are given here - monks who did not wash themselves from excess “holiness” for years, a nobleman, who also did not wash himself from religiosity, almost died and was washed by servants. And they also like to remember Princess Isabella of Castile (many saw her in the recently released film The Golden Age), who vowed not to change her linen until victory was won. And poor Isabella kept her word for three years.
But again, strange conclusions are drawn - the lack of hygiene is declared the norm. The fact that all the examples are about people who vowed not to wash, that is, they saw in this some kind of feat, asceticism, is not taken into account. By the way, Isabella's act caused a great resonance throughout Europe, a new color was even invented in her honor, so everyone was shocked by the vow given by the princess.
And if you read the history of baths, and even better - go to the appropriate museum, you can be amazed at the variety of shapes, sizes, materials from which the baths were made, as well as ways to heat water. At the beginning of the 18th century, which they also like to call the dirty century, one English earl the house even got a marble bathtub with taps for hot and cold water- the envy of all the acquaintances who went to his house as if on a tour.
Queen Elizabeth I took a bath once a week and demanded that all courtiers also bathe more often. Louis XIII generally soaked in the bath every day. And his son Louis XIV, whom they like to cite as an example of a dirty king, because he just didn’t like baths, wiped himself with alcohol lotions and loved to swim in the river (but there will be a separate story about him).
However, to understand the failure of this myth, it is not necessary to read historical writings. Just look at the pictures different eras. Even from the sanctimonious Middle Ages, there are many engravings depicting bathing, washing in baths and baths. And in later times, they especially liked to portray half-dressed beauties in baths.
Well, the most main argument. It is worth looking at the statistics of soap production in the Middle Ages to understand that everything that is said about the general unwillingness to wash is a lie. Otherwise, why would it be necessary to produce such a quantity of soap?
Myth 5. Everyone smelled terrible
This myth follows directly from the previous one. And he also has real proof - the Russian ambassadors at the French court complained in letters that the French "stink terribly." From which it was concluded that the French did not wash, stank and tried to drown out the smell with perfume (about perfume is a well-known fact).
This myth flashed even in Tolstoy's novel "Peter I". Explaining to him couldn't be easier. In Russia, it was not customary to wear perfume heavily, while in France they simply poured perfume. And for a Russian person, a Frenchman who smelled abundantly of spirits was "stinking like a wild beast." Those who traveled in public transport next to a heavily perfumed lady will understand them well.
True, there is one more evidence concerning the same long-suffering Louis XIV. His favorite, Madame Montespan, once, in a fit of a quarrel, shouted that the king stinks. The king was offended and soon after that parted with the favorite completely. It seems strange - if the king was offended by the fact that he stinks, then why shouldn't he wash himself? Yes, because the smell was not coming from the body. Ludovic had serious health problems, and with age, he began to smell bad from his mouth. It was impossible to do anything, and naturally the king was very worried about this, so Montespan's words were a blow to a sore spot for him.
By the way, we must not forget that in those days there was no industrial production, the air was clean, and the food may not be very healthy, but at least without chemistry. And therefore, on the one hand, hair and skin did not get greasy for longer (remember our air of megacities, which quickly makes washed hair dirty), so people, in principle, did not need washing for longer. And with human sweat, water, salts were released, but not all those chemicals that are full in the body of a modern person.
Myth 6. Clothes and hairstyles were infested with lice and fleas.
This is a very popular myth. And he has a lot of evidence - flea traps that were really worn noble ladies and gentlemen, references to insects in literature as a matter of course, fascinating stories about monks almost eaten alive by fleas. All this really testifies - yes, there were fleas and lice in medieval Europe. Only now the conclusions are made more than strange. Let's think logically. What does a flea trap testify to? Or an animal on which these fleas should jump? It doesn’t even take a special imagination to understand - this indicates a long war going on with varying success between people and insects.
Myth 7. No one cared about hygiene
What was it that had to happen to humanity at the beginning of the 19th century, so that before that it liked everything to be dirty and lousy, and then suddenly it suddenly stopped liking it?
If you look through the instructions on the construction of castle toilets, you can find curious notes that the drain should be built so that everything goes into the river, and does not lie on the shore, spoiling the air. Apparently people didn't really like the smell.
Let's go further. Eat famous history about how one noble Englishwoman was remarked about her dirty hands. The lady retorted: “You call this dirt? You should have seen my feet." This is also cited as a lack of hygiene. And did anyone think about strict English etiquette, according to which it is not even possible to tell a person that he spilled wine on his clothes - this is impolite. And suddenly the lady is told that her hands are dirty. This is to what extent the other guests should have been outraged in order to violate the rules of good taste and make such a remark.
And the laws that every now and then issued by the authorities different countries- for example, prohibitions on pouring slop into the street, or regulation of the construction of toilets.
The main problem of the Middle Ages was that it was really difficult to wash then. Summer does not last that long, and in winter not everyone can swim in the hole. Firewood for heating water was very expensive, not every nobleman could afford a weekly bath. And besides, not everyone understood that diseases happen from hypothermia or not enough clean water, and under the influence of fanatics, they were written off for washing.
And now we are smoothly approaching the next myth.
Myth 8. Medicine was practically non-existent.
What can you not hear enough about medieval medicine. And there were no means other than bloodletting. And they all gave birth on their own, and without doctors it’s even better. And all medicine was controlled by priests alone, who left everything at the mercy of God's will and only prayed.
Indeed, in the first centuries of Christianity, medicine, as well as other sciences, was mainly practiced in monasteries. There were hospitals and scientific literature. The monks contributed little to medicine, but they made good use of the achievements of ancient physicians. But already in 1215, surgery was recognized as a non-ecclesiastical business and passed into the hands of barbers.
Of course, the whole history of European medicine simply does not fit into the scope of the article, so I will focus on one person, whose name is known to all readers of Dumas. We are talking about Ambroise Pare, the personal physician of Henry II, Francis II, Charles IX and Henry III. A simple enumeration of what this surgeon contributed to medicine is enough to understand at what level surgery was in the middle of the 16th century.
Ambroise Pare introduced a new method of treating then new gunshot wounds, invented prosthetic limbs, began to perform operations to correct the "cleft lip", improved medical instruments, wrote medical works, which surgeons throughout Europe later studied. And childbirth is still accepted according to his method. But most importantly, Pare invented a way to amputate limbs so that a person would not die from blood loss. And surgeons still use this method.
But he did not even have an academic education, he was simply a student of another doctor. Not bad for "dark" times?
Conclusion
Needless to say, the real Middle Ages is very different from fairy world chivalric romances. But it is no closer to the dirty stories that are still in fashion. The truth is, as always, somewhere in the middle. People were different, they lived differently. The concepts of hygiene were indeed quite wild for a modern look, but they were, and medieval people took care of cleanliness and health, as far as their understanding was.
And all these stories ... someone wants to show how modern people“cooler” than the medieval ones, someone simply asserts himself, and someone does not understand the topic at all and repeats other people's words.
And finally - about memoirs. Talking about terrible morals, lovers of the "dirty Middle Ages" especially like to refer to memoirs. Only for some reason not on Commines or La Rochefoucauld, but on memoirists like Brantome, who probably published the largest collection of gossip in history, seasoned with his own rich imagination.
On this occasion, I propose to recall the post-perestroika anecdote about the trip of a Russian farmer to visit an English one. He showed the farmer Ivan a bidet and said that his Mary was washing there. Ivan thought - but where is his Masha washing? Came home and asked. She answers:
- Yes, in the river.
- And in winter?
- How long is that winter?
And now let's get an idea of hygiene in Russia according to this anecdote.
I think if we focus on such sources, then our society will turn out to be no cleaner than the medieval one. Or remember the program about the parties of our bohemia. We supplement this with our impressions, gossip, fantasies and you can write a book about the life of society in modern Russia (we are worse than Brantoma - also contemporaries of events). And the descendants will study the manners in Russia according to them early XXI century, to be horrified and say what terrible times were ...
P.S. From the comments to this post: Just yesterday I was re-reading the legend of Thiel Ulenspiegel. There Phillip I says to Philip II: - You again spent time with an indecent girl, when noble ladies are at your service, refreshing with fragrant baths? And you preferred a girl, yet failed to wash off traces of the arms of some soldier? Just the most unbridled Middle Ages.
2. How do we know about the Middle Ages?
The Middle Ages ended more than 500 years ago, but leaving behind, it left many traces. These testimonies of the past, which appeared in the Middle Ages and have survived to this day, are called historical sources.
Helmet from a burial at Sutton Hoo. Reconstruction
Historical sources are very diverse. The most complete and detailed information about the Middle Ages, written sources give us: laws, documents (for example, wills or inventories of land holdings), historical and literary works. Not all written sources that once existed have survived to this day. Many documents perished during fires and floods, wars and popular uprisings. Sometimes they perish in our time. Therefore, scientists try to ensure that documents fall into special storages - archives, and in addition, they strive to publish them whenever possible.
Visual sources can also tell a lot: illustrations in handwritten books, paintings, sculptures.
One of the most famous pictorial sources is an embroidered carpet (more than 70 m long) from the French city of Bayeux. The story of the conquest of England by the Norman Duke William is reproduced on the carpet. Of course, historians know a lot about this event of the 11th century from written sources, but only here you can see how people of that era built ships, sat at a banquet table, and held weapons in battle.
Diverse material sources are no less important for understanding the past. In many ancient cities, medieval fortifications, churches, and houses have been preserved. Material sources also include various utensils, clothing, tools, weapons, and much more. Some things from generation to generation have been preserved in private collections and museums, others end up in museums today as a result of archaeological excavations (for example, the 7th century treasure from Sutton Hoo in England).
Scene from the Battle of Hastings. Fragment of a carpet from Bayeux. 11th century
And more recently, in the south-east of France, in Lake Paladru, underwater excavations of a settlement based on a narrow cape at the beginning of the 11th century were carried out. After 30 years, it was suddenly flooded by rising waters. Leaving, the settlers barely had time to capture the most necessary things: money, some tools and weapons. The rest was flooded, and literally everything was preserved under water: the remains of dwellings, wooden utensils, iron tools, animal bones, plant seeds and much more. Here's what scientists have learned from these findings.
The inhabitants of the village skillfully combined farming and cattle breeding, fishing and handicrafts. The wealth of utensils and 32 coins found by archaeologists, which were dropped by the inhabitants, testify to the prosperity of the settlement.
Gold clasp for a cloak. Sutton Hoo. 7th century
But scientists were especially interested in the fact that, along with tools, weapons were found that only real warriors used: a battle ax, spears, fragments of swords. This means that the inhabitants of the village were both peasants and warriors at the same time. Thanks to archeology, it was possible to lift the edge of the veil of time and find out how these peasant warriors lived.
A lot can tell about the Middle Ages and other historical sources: names and titles, oral legends and legends folk customs that retain the features of deep antiquity.
Exploring the sources, generations of historians managed to learn a lot about the Middle Ages. But this does not mean that all issues have already been resolved. After all, history is always closely connected with the present, and therefore each generation of historians responds to the spiritual needs of their contemporaries, asks the past new questions and receives new answers to them. The Middle Ages is controversial, which means that people still care about it. His knowledge continues.
- What is the time frame of the Middle Ages? What periods do scientists divide this era into?
- What are historical sources? What is their importance for the study of history?
- How do scholars categorize sources? Can the same source refer to different species?
- How do you understand the difference between written historical source, historical research and historical novel?
- Work in pairs. Compare historical sources known to you ancient world and on the history of the Middle Ages (their diversity, preservation). Draw your own conclusions. (First, have each of you make lists of sources, then complete each other's lists. As you discuss the assignment, look at the illustrations in this textbook.)
- Using Internet resources, select various pictorial and material sources of the Middle Ages. What can be learned from them about the time when they were created?
- What do you know about the medieval world? fiction? excursions to museums? tourist trips?
The Middle Ages originate from the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and end around the 15th - 17th centuries. The Middle Ages are characterized by two opposite stereotypes. Some believe that this is the time of noble knights and romantic stories. Others believe that this is a time of disease, dirt and immorality...
Story
The very term "Middle Ages" was first introduced in 1453 by the Italian humanist Flavio Biondo. Prior to this, the term "dark ages" was used, which on this moment denotes a narrower segment of the time period of the Middle Ages (VI-VIII centuries). In circulation this term was introduced by the professor of the Gallic University Christopher Cellarius (Keller). This person also shared world history for antiquity, the Middle Ages and modern times.
It is worth making a reservation, saying that speech in this article will go about the European Middle Ages.
This period is characterized by a feudal system of land use, when there was a feudal landowner and a peasant who was half dependent on him. Also characteristic:
- a hierarchical system of relations between feudal lords, which consisted in the personal dependence of some feudal lords (vassals) on others (seigneurs);
- the key role of the church, both in religion and in politics (inquisitions, church courts);
- ideals of chivalry;
- the heyday of medieval architecture - Gothic (including in art).
In the period from the X to the XII centuries. the population is increasing European countries which leads to changes in the social, political and other spheres of life. Starting from the XII - XIII centuries. in Europe there has been a sharp rise in the development of technology. More inventions were made in a century than in the previous thousand years. During the Middle Ages, cities develop and grow rich, culture is actively developing.
With the exception of of Eastern Europe which was invaded by the Mongols. Many states of this region were plundered and enslaved.
Life and life
The people of the Middle Ages were highly dependent on weather conditions. So, for example, the great famine (1315 - 1317), which happened due to unusually cold and rainy years that ruined the harvest. As well as plague epidemics. It was the climatic conditions that largely determined the way of life and the type of activity of medieval man.
During early medieval Very most of Europe was covered with forests. Therefore, the economy of the peasants, in addition to agriculture, was largely oriented towards forest resources. Herds of cattle were driven into the forest to graze. In the oak forests, pigs gained fat by eating acorns, thanks to which the peasant received a guaranteed supply of meat food for the winter. The forest served as a source of firewood for heating and, thanks to it, charcoal was made. He brought variety to the food of a medieval person, tk. all kinds of berries and mushrooms grew in it, and it was possible to hunt outlandish game in it. The forest was the source of the only sweet of that time - the honey of wild bees. Resins could be collected from trees to make torches. Thanks to hunting, it was possible not only to feed, but also to dress up, the skins of animals were used for sewing clothes and for other household purposes. In the forest, in the clearings, it was possible to collect medicinal plants, the only medicines of that time. The bark of trees was used to mend animal skins, and the ashes of burnt bushes were used to bleach fabrics.
As well as climatic conditions, the landscape determined the main occupation of people: cattle breeding prevailed in the mountainous regions, and agriculture prevailed in the plains.
All the troubles of medieval man (diseases, bloody wars, famine) led to the fact that average duration life was 22 - 32 years. Few survived until the age of 70.
The way of life of a medieval person depended largely on his place of residence, but at the same time, people of that time were quite mobile, and, one might say, were constantly on the move. At first, these were echoes of the great migration of peoples. Subsequently, other reasons pushed people on the road. Peasants moved along the roads of Europe, singly and in groups, looking for a better life; "knights" - in search of exploits and beautiful ladies; monks - moving from monastery to monastery; pilgrims and all kinds of beggars and vagabonds.
Only over time, when the peasants acquired certain property, and the feudal lords acquired large lands, then cities began to grow and at that time (approximately the 14th century) Europeans became “homebodies”.
If we talk about housing, about the houses in which medieval people lived, then most of the buildings did not have private rooms. People slept, ate and cooked in the same room. Only over time, wealthy citizens began to separate the bedroom from the kitchens and dining rooms.
Peasant houses were built of wood, in some places preference was given to stone. Roofs were thatched or reeds. There was very little furniture. Mostly chests for storing clothes and tables. Slept on benches or beds. The bed was a hayloft or a mattress stuffed with straw.
Houses were heated by hearths or fireplaces. Furnaces appeared only at the beginning of the XIV century, when they were borrowed from the northern peoples and Slavs. The dwellings were lit with tallow candles and oil lamps. Expensive wax candles only rich people could buy.
Food
Most Europeans ate very modestly. They usually ate twice a day: in the morning and in the evening. Everyday food was rye bread, cereals, legumes, turnips, cabbage, grain soup with garlic or onions. Little meat was consumed. Moreover, during the year there were 166 days of fasting, when meat dishes were forbidden to be eaten. Fish was much more in the diet. Of the sweets, there was only honey. Sugar came to Europe from the East in the 13th century. and was very expensive.
In medieval Europe they drank a lot: in the south - wine, in the north - beer. Herbs were brewed instead of tea.
The dishes of most Europeans are bowls, mugs, etc. were very simple, made of clay or tin. Products made of silver or gold were used only by the nobility. There were no forks; they ate with spoons at the table. Pieces of meat were cut off with a knife and eaten with the hands. The peasants ate food from one bowl with the whole family. At the feasts of the nobility, they put one bowl and a goblet for wine on two. The bones were thrown under the table, and the hands were wiped with a tablecloth.
Cloth
As for clothing, it was largely unified. Unlike antiquity, the glorification of beauty human body the church considered it sinful and insisted that it be covered with clothes. Only by the XII century. the first signs of fashion began to appear.
The change in clothing style reflected the then social preferences. The opportunity to follow the fashion had mainly representatives of the wealthy strata.
The peasant usually wore a linen shirt and pants to the knees or even to the ankles. The outer garment was a cloak, tied at the shoulders with a clasp (fibula). In winter, they wore either a roughly combed sheepskin coat or a warm cape made of dense fabric or fur. Clothing reflected a person's place in society. The attire of the wealthy was dominated by bright colors, cotton and silk fabrics. The poor were content dark clothes from rough homespun cloth. Shoes for men and women were leather pointed boots without hard soles. Hats originated in the 13th century. and have changed continuously since then. Habitual gloves acquired importance during the Middle Ages. Shaking hands in them was considered an insult, and throwing a glove to someone was a sign of contempt and a challenge to a duel.
Know liked to add to her clothes various decorations. Men and women wore rings, bracelets, belts, chains. Very often, these things were unique pieces of jewelry. For the poor, all this was unattainable. Wealthy women spent considerable money on cosmetics and perfumes, which were brought by merchants from eastern countries.
stereotypes
As a rule, certain ideas about something are rooted in the public mind. And ideas about the Middle Ages are no exception. First of all, it concerns chivalry. Sometimes there is an opinion that the knights were uneducated, stupid dorks. But was it really so? This statement is too categorical. As in any community, representatives of the same class could be completely different people. For example, Charlemagne built schools, knew several languages. Richard the Lionheart, considered a typical representative of chivalry, wrote poems in two languages. Charles the Bold, whom literature likes to describe as a kind of boor-macho, knew Latin very well and loved to read ancient authors. Francis I patronized Benvenuto Cellini and Leonardo da Vinci. The polygamist Henry VIII knew four languages, played the lute and loved the theatre. Should the list continue? These were all sovereigns, models for their subjects. They were guided by them, they were imitated, and those who could knock the enemy off his horse and write an ode to the Beautiful Lady enjoyed respect.
Regarding the same ladies, or wives. There is an opinion that women were treated as property. And again, it all depends on how the husband was. For example, Senor Etienne II de Blois was married to a certain Adele of Normandy, daughter of William the Conqueror. Etienne, as it was then customary for a Christian, went on crusades, and his wife remained at home. It would seem that there is nothing special in all this, but Etienne's letters to Adele have survived to our time. Tender, passionate, yearning. This is evidence and an indicator of how a medieval knight could treat his own wife. You can also remember Edward I, who was killed by the death of his beloved wife. Or, for example, Louis XII, who, after the wedding, from the first libertine of France turned into a faithful husband.
Speaking about the cleanliness and level of pollution of medieval cities, they also often go too far. To the extent that they claim that human waste in London merged into the Thames, as a result of which it was a continuous stream of sewage. Firstly, the Thames is not the smallest river, and secondly, in medieval London, the number of inhabitants was about 50 thousand. So they simply could not pollute the river in this way.
The hygiene of medieval man was not as terrible as it seems to us. They are very fond of citing the example of Princess Isabella of Castile, who made a vow not to change linen until victory is won. And poor Isabella kept her word for three years. But this act of hers caused a great resonance in Europe, a new color was even invented in honor of her. But if you look at the statistics of soap production in the Middle Ages, you can understand that the statement that people did not wash for years is far from the truth. Otherwise, why would such an amount of soap be needed?
In the Middle Ages, there was no such need for frequent washing, as in the modern world - the environment was not so catastrophically polluted as it is now ... There was no industry, the food was without chemicals. Therefore, water, salts, and not all those chemicals that are full in the body of a modern person, were released with human sweat.
Another stereotype that has become entrenched in the public mind is that everyone stank terribly. Russian ambassadors at the French court complained in letters that the French "stink terribly." From which it was concluded that the French did not wash, stank and tried to drown out the smell with perfume. They really used spirits. But this is explained by the fact that in Russia it was not customary to suffocate strongly, while the French simply poured perfume on them. Therefore, for a Russian person, a Frenchman who smelled abundantly of spirits was "stinking like a wild beast."
In conclusion, we can say that the real Middle Ages was very different from the fairy-tale world of chivalric novels. But at the same time, some facts are largely distorted and exaggerated. I think the truth is, as always, somewhere in the middle. As always, people were different and they lived differently. Some things really seem wild compared to modern ones, but all this happened centuries ago, when mores were different and the level of development of that society could not afford more. Someday, for the historians of the future, we will also find ourselves in the role of a “medieval man”.
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Introduction: Myths about the Middle Ages
About the Middle Ages, there are many historical myths. The reason for this lies partly in the development of humanism at the very beginning of the New Age, as well as the formation of the Renaissance in art and architecture. Interest in the world of classical antiquity developed, and the era that followed was considered barbaric and decadent. Therefore, medieval Gothic architecture, which today is recognized as extraordinarily beautiful and technically revolutionary, was underestimated and left aside in favor of styles that copied Greek and Roman architecture. The term "Gothic" itself was originally applied to Gothic in a derogatory light, serving as a reference to the tribes of the Goths who sacked Rome; the meaning of the word is "barbarian, primitive".
Another reason for many of the myths associated with the Middle Ages is its association with Catholic Church (hereinafter - "Church" - approx. Newochem). In the English-speaking world, these myths have their origin in disputes between Catholics and Protestants. In others European cultures, for example, in Germany and France, such myths were formed within the framework of the anti-clerical position of influential thinkers of the Enlightenment. The following is a summary of some of the myths and misconceptions about the Middle Ages that arose as a result of various prejudices.
1. People believed that the Earth was flat, and the Church presented this idea as a doctrine
In fact, the Church never taught that the earth was flat, not in any period of the Middle Ages. Scientists of that time had a good understanding of the scientific arguments of the Greeks, who proved that the Earth was round, and knew how to use scientific instruments such as the astrolabe to determine the circumference of a circle quite accurately. The fact of the spherical shape of the earth was so well known, generally recognized and unremarkable, that when Thomas Aquinas began work on his treatise "The Sum of Theology" and wanted to choose an objective indisputable truth, he cited this very fact as an example.
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Mirror of the Week 08.02.2016And not only literate people were aware of the shape of the Earth - most sources indicate that everyone understood this. The symbol of the earthly power of kings, which was used in coronation ceremonies, was the power: a golden sphere in the left hand of the king, which personified the Earth. This symbolism would not make sense if it were not clear that the Earth is spherical. A collection of sermons from 13th-century German parish priests also mentions in passing that the Earth is "round as an apple" in the hope that the peasants listening to the sermon will understand what it is about. And the English book, The Adventures of Sir John Mandeville, popular in the 14th century, tells of a man who traveled so far to the east that he returned to his homeland from its western side; and the book does not explain to the reader how it works.
The common misconception that Christopher Columbus discovered the true shape of the Earth and that the Church opposed his journey is nothing but a modern myth created in 1828. Writer Washington Irving was commissioned to write a biography of Columbus with instructions that he present the traveler as a radical thinker who rebelled against the prejudices of the Old World. Unfortunately, Irving discovered that Columbus was in fact deeply mistaken in the size of the Earth and discovered America by pure chance. Heroic story did not develop, and therefore he invented the idea that the Church in the Middle Ages thought the Earth was flat, and created this tenacious myth, and his book became a bestseller.
Among the congregation popular expressions found on the Internet, you can often see the alleged statement of Ferdinand Magellan: “The Church claims that the Earth is flat, but I know that it is round. Because I have seen the Earth's shadow on the moon, and I trust the Shadow more than the Church." Well, Magellan never said that, in particular because the Church never claimed that the Earth is flat. The first use of this "quote" occurs no earlier than 1873, when it was used in an essay by the American Voltaireian (Voltarian - a free-thinking philosopher - approx. Newochem) and the agnostic Robert Greene Ingersoll. He did not indicate any source and it is very likely that he simply made up this statement himself. Despite this, Magellan's "words" can still be found in various collections, on T-shirts and posters of atheist organizations.
2. The Church suppressed science and progressive thinking, burned scientists at the stake, and thus set us back hundreds of years
The myth that the Church repressed science, burned or suppressed the activities of scientists, is a central part of what historians writing about science call "the clash of ways of thinking." This persistent concept originated in the Enlightenment, but established itself in the minds of the public with the help of two famous works XIX century. John William Draper's A History of the Relations Between Catholicism and Science (1874) and Andrew Dickson White's The Struggle of Religion with Science (1896) were highly popular and authoritative books that spread the belief that the medieval Church was actively suppressing science. In the 20th century, historiographers of science actively criticized the "White-Draper position" and noted that most of the evidence presented was grossly misinterpreted, and in some cases even invented.
In the era of late Antiquity, early Christianity did not welcome what some clergymen called "pagan knowledge", that is, the scientific works of the Greeks and their Roman successors. Some have preached that the Christian should shun such works, for they contain unbiblical knowledge. In his famous phrase, one of the Fathers of the Church, Tertullian, exclaims sarcastically: "What does Athens have to do with Jerusalem?" But such thoughts were rejected by other eminent theologians. For example, Clement of Alexandria argued that if God had given the Jews a special understanding of spirituality, he could have given the Greeks a special understanding of scientific things. He suggested that if the Jews took and used the gold of the Egyptians for their own purposes, then Christians can and should use the wisdom of the pagan Greeks as a gift from God. Later, Clement's reasoning met with the support of Aurelius Augustine, and later Christian thinkers adopted this ideology, noting that if the cosmos is the creation of a thinking God, then it can and should be comprehended in a rational way.
Thus natural philosophy, which was largely based on the work of such Greek and Roman thinkers as Aristotle, Galen, Ptolemy and Archimedes, became a major part of the medieval university curriculum. In the West, after the collapse of the Roman Empire, many ancient works were lost, but Arab scholars managed to save them. Subsequently, medieval thinkers not only studied the additions made by the Arabs, but also used them to make discoveries. Medieval scientists were fascinated by optical science, and the invention of glasses is only partly the result of their own research using lenses to determine the nature of light and the physiology of vision. In the 14th century, philosopher Thomas Bradwardine and a group of thinkers who called themselves the "Oxford Calculators" not only first formulated and proved the theorem on average speed, but also the first to use quantitative concepts in physics, thus laying the foundation for everything that has been achieved by this science since then.
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memento mori
Medievalists.net 10/31/2014All the scientists of the Middle Ages were not only not persecuted by the Church, but they themselves belonged to it. Jean Buridan, Nicholas Orem, Albrecht III (Albrecht the Bold), Albert the Great, Robert Grosseteste, Theodoric of Freiburg, Roger Bacon, Thierry of Chartres, Sylvester II (Herbert of Aurillac), Guillaume Conchesius, John Philopon, John Packham, John Duns Scotus, Walter Burley, William Hatesberry, Richard Swainshead, John Dumbleton, Nicholas of Cusa - they were not pursued, held back or burned at the stake, but they were known and revered for their wisdom and learning.
Contrary to myths and popular prejudice, there is not a single example of someone being burned in the Middle Ages for anything related to science, just as there is no evidence of the persecution of any scientific movement by the medieval Church. The trial of Galileo happened much later (the scientist was a contemporary of Descartes) and was much more connected with the politics of the Counter-Reformation and the people involved in it than with the attitude of the Church towards science.
3. In the Middle Ages, the Inquisition burned millions of women, considering them to be witches, and the burning of “witches” itself was a common thing in the Middle Ages
Strictly speaking, the "witch hunt" was not a medieval phenomenon at all. The persecution reached its apogee in the 16th-17th centuries and almost completely belonged to the early period of modern times. As for most of the Middle Ages (i.e., the 5th-15th centuries), the Church was not only not interested in hunting so-called "witches", but she also taught that witches do not exist in principle.
Somewhere before the XIV century, the Church scolded people who believed in witches and generally called such a stupid peasant superstition. A number of medieval codes, canonical and secular, forbade not so much witchcraft as belief in its existence. One day, the clergyman got into an argument with the inhabitants of a village who sincerely believed in the words of a woman who claimed that she was a witch and, among other things, could turn into clouds of smoke and leave a closed room through a keyhole. To prove the stupidity of this belief, the priest locked himself in the room with this woman and forced her to leave the room through the keyhole with a stick. The "witch" did not escape, and the villagers learned their lesson.
Attitudes towards witches began to change in the 14th century, especially at the height of the plague of 1347-1350, after which Europeans became more and more afraid of a conspiracy of harmful demonic forces, mostly imaginary. In addition to persecuting Jews and intimidating heretic groups, the Church began to take covens of witches more seriously. The crisis came in 1484 when Pope Innocent VIII published the bull Summis desiderantes affectibus (“With all the strength of the soul” - approx. Newochem), which set off the witch-hunt that raged across Europe for the next 200 years.
Catholic and Protestant countries were equally involved in the persecution of witches that began. Interestingly, witch-hunts seem to follow the geographical lines of the Reformation: in Catholic countries that were not particularly threatened by Protestantism, such as Italy and Spain, the number of "witches" was small, but the countries on the front lines of the religious struggle of that time, like Germany and France, have experienced the brunt of this phenomenon. That is, that the two countries where the Inquisition was most active turned out to be places where witch-related hysteria was the least. Contrary to myth, the inquisitors were far more concerned with heretics and Jewish Christian converts than with any "witches".
In Protestant countries, witch-hunts flared violently when the status quo was threatened (as in the Salem, Massachusetts) witch-hunts, or in times of social or religious instability (as in Jacobean England or the Puritan regime of Oliver Cromwell). ). Despite wildly exaggerated claims of "millions of women" being executed on charges of witchcraft, modern historians estimate the actual number of victims to be between 60,000 and 100,000 over several centuries, and 20% of the victims were men.
Hollywood has perpetuated the myth of the "medieval" witch hunt, and few Hollywood movies narrating about this period are able to resist the temptation and not mention witches or anyone persecuted by a terrible priest for witchcraft. And this despite the fact that almost the entire period of this hysteria followed the Middle Ages, and belief in witches was considered superstitious nonsense.
4. The Middle Ages was a period of filth and poverty, people rarely bathed, smelled disgusting, and they had rotten teeth.
In fact, medieval people of all classes washed daily, took baths and valued cleanliness and hygiene. Like every generation before the modern hot running water system, they were not as clean as you and me, but like our grandparents and their parents, they were able to wash daily, keep themselves clean, appreciated it and did not loved people who didn't wash or smell bad.
Public baths existed in most cities, and in metropolitan areas they flourished by the hundreds. The South Bank of the Thames was the site of hundreds of "stews" (from the English "stew" - "stew", hence the name of the dish of the same name in English language- approx. Newo what) where medieval Londoners could soak in hot water, talk, play chess and molest prostitutes. In Paris, there were even more of these baths, and in Italy there were so many that some of them advertised themselves as catering exclusively to women or aristocrats, so that the nobles would not accidentally end up in the same bath with workers or peasants.
The idea that medieval people did not bathe is based on a number of myths and misconceptions. First, the 16th century and then the 18th century (that is, after the Middle Ages) became periods when doctors said that taking baths was harmful, and people tried not to do it too often. The inhabitants, for whom the "Middle Ages" begins "from the 19th century and earlier", made the assumption that irregular bathing was common before. Secondly, the Christian moralists and priests of the Middle Ages did indeed warn of the dangers of excessive bathing. This is due to the fact that these moralists warned against excess in everything - food, sex, hunting, dancing, and even in penance and religious commitment. To conclude from this that no one washed is completely meaningless.
And finally, public baths were closely associated with prostitution. There is no doubt that many prostitutes offered their services in medieval public baths, and the "stews" of London and other cities were not far from the areas most famous for their brothels and whores. That is why moralists cursed public baths, considering them to be dens. To conclude that for this reason people did not use public baths is as foolish as to conclude that they did not visit nearby brothels.
The facts that medieval literature sings of the delights of bathing, that medieval knighting ceremonies include an aromatic bath for the ordained squire, that ascetic hermits took as much pride in forgoing bathing as they did in forgoing other social pleasures, and that soap makers and bathhouse owners put on noisy trade shows, testifies that people liked to keep themselves clean. Archaeological excavations confirm the absurdity of the notion that they had rotten teeth. Sugar was an expensive luxury, and the average person's diet was rich in vegetables, calcium, and seasonal fruits, so medieval teeth were in fact in excellent condition. Cheaper sugar filled the markets of Europe only in XVI-XVII centuries, which caused an epidemic of tooth decay and bad breath.
A medieval French saying demonstrates how fundamental bathing was to the pleasures of the good life:
Venari, ludere, lavari, bibere! Hoc est vivere!
(Hunt, play, swim, drink! This is how life should be lived!)
5. The Middle Ages - a dark period regarding technological progress, in which almost nothing was created until the Renaissance
In fact, during the Middle Ages, there were many discoveries that testify to the technological process, some of which are on a par with the most significant in the history of mankind. The fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century had a devastating effect on the entire material and technological culture of Europe. Without the backing of the empire, many grandiose engineering and infrastructure projects, as well as many of the skills and techniques involved in monumental buildings, were lost and forgotten. The break in trade ties meant that people became more economically independent and produced everything they needed themselves. But this stimulated the introduction and development of technologies rather than vice versa.
Advances in technology have helped autonomous rural communities increase the popularity of such unions across Europe, leading to the development of the yoke to allow for more efficient hauling and plowing; there was also a horseshoe, a mouldboard plow that made possible the cultivation of the heavier northern European soil; water and tidal mills began to be used everywhere. As a result of these innovations, many lands throughout Europe, never cultivated during the Roman conquests, began to be cultivated, making Europe richer and more fertile than ever before.
Water mills were introduced everywhere on a scale incomparable with the Roman era. This led not only to the widespread use of hydropower, but also to a surge in active mechanization. Windmill- this is an innovation of medieval Europe, used along with water, not only for grinding flour, but also for the production of cloth, the manufacture of leather products, setting in motion bellows and a mechanical hammer. The last two innovations led to the production of steel on a semi-industrial scale, and along with the medieval invention of the blast furnace and cast iron, the advanced medieval technology of metal production was far removed from the era of the Roman conquests.
By the second half of the Middle Ages (1000-1500), wind and hydropower had driven the agricultural revolution and turned Christian Europe into a wealthy, densely populated, and ever-expanding area. Medieval people began to experiment with various ways of mechanization. When they noticed that warm air made the stove work (another invention of the Middle Ages), in large medieval kitchens, a fan was installed on the stoves to automatically turn the spit of the gear system. The monks of that time noted that the use of a gear system driven by a decreasing weight could serve to mechanically measure the hour of time.
In the 13th century, mechanical clocks began to appear throughout Europe, a revolutionary medieval invention that allowed people to keep track of time. The innovation spread rapidly, and miniature table clocks began to appear just a couple of decades after the invention of the tool. Medieval clocks could have combined with computing devices. The extremely complex mechanism of the astronomical clock, designed by Richard of Wallingford, abbot of St Albans, was so intricate that it took eight years to learn the full cycle of its calculations, and it was the most intricate device of its kind.
The rise of universities in the Middle Ages also stimulated some technical innovations. Optical students of Greek and Arab scientists experimented on the nature of light in lenses, and in the process invented glasses. Universities also supplied the market with books and encouraged the development of cheaper methods of printing. Experiments with woodcuts eventually led to the invention of typesetting and another remarkable medieval innovation, the printing press.
The very existence of medieval shipping technology meant that for the first time Europeans had the opportunity to sail to the Americas. Long trade voyages led to an increase in the size of ships, although the old forms of ship rudders - they were huge, paddle-shaped, mounted on the side of the ship - limited the maximum size of the ship. In the late 12th century, shipwrights invented a stern-mounted hinged rudder that allowed much larger ships to be built and steered more efficiently.
It turns out that not only was the Middle Ages not a dark period in the history of technological development, but it also managed to give life to many technological inventions, such as glasses, mechanical watches and the printing press - one of the most important discoveries of all time.
6. The medieval army was an unorganized group of knights in massive armor and a crowd of peasants, armed with pitchforks, led to battle, more reminiscent of street showdowns. This is why Europeans during the Crusades often died at the hands of tactically superior Muslims.
Hollywood created the image of a medieval battle as a chaotic chaos in which ignorant knights greedy for glory rule over peasant regiments. This notion was spread by Sir Charles Oman's The Art of Combat in the Middle Ages (1885). While a student at Oxford, Oman wrote an essay that later grew into a full-fledged work and became the author's first published book. It later became the most widely read book in the English language on medieval warfare, in large part because it was the only one of its kind until the first half of the 20th century, when more systematic research began on the subject.
Oman's research has been greatly undermined by the unfavorable factors of the time in which the author worked: the general prejudice that the Middle Ages is a dark and underdeveloped period compared to antiquity, the lack of sources, many of which were yet to be published, and the tendency not to verify the information received. . As a result, Oman portrayed medieval warfare as an ignorant battle, without tactics or strategy, fought to win glory among knights and nobles. However, by the 1960s, more modern methods and a wide range of sources and interpretations were able to shed light on the Middle Ages, initially thanks to European historians in the person of Philippe Contamine and J. F. Verbruggen. New research has literally revolutionized the understanding of medieval warfare and clearly demonstrated that while most sources focused on the personal actions of knights and nobility, the use of other sources painted a completely different picture.
© RIA Novosti Demonstration fight
In fact, the rise of the knightly elite in the 10th century meant that medieval Europe had a special class of professionally trained warriors ready to devote their lives to the art of combat. While some won glory, others trained from childhood and knew for sure that the battle was won by organization and tactics. The knights were trained to act in foot troops, and the nobility to manage these troops (often referred to as "lances") on the battlefield. Control was carried out using trumpet signals, a flag, as well as a set of visual and verbal commands.
The key to the tactics of medieval combat lies in the fact that enough gaps are formed in the heart of the enemy army - the infantry - so that heavy infantry can deliver a decisive blow to it. This step had to be carefully calibrated and carried out, ensuring the protection of one's own army in order to prevent the enemy from doing the same trick. Contrary to popular belief, the medieval army consisted primarily of infantry and cavalry, with the elite heavy cavalry being a minority.
The Hollywood idea of the medieval infantry as a crowd of peasants armed with agricultural implements is also nothing but a myth. The infantry was recruited from countryside, but the men called up for service were either not trained or were poorly equipped. In the lands where universal conscription was declared, there were always men ready for short term prepare for war. The English archers who won the battles of Crécy, Poitiers and Agincourt were peasant recruits, but they were well trained and very effective in force majeure.
The authorities of the Italian cities left one day a week to prepare the townspeople for the performance as part of the infantry. After all, many chose the art of war as a profession, and the nobility often collected funds from their vassals in military taxes and used this money to fill the ranks of the army with mercenary soldiers and people who wielded specific types of weapons (for example, crossbowmen or craftsmen for siege weapons).
Decisive battles were often a huge risk and could fail, even if your army outnumbered the enemy's army. As a result, the practice of open combat was rare in the Middle Ages, and most wars involved strategic maneuvers and most often lengthy sieges. Medieval architects raised the art of building a fortress to new level: The great castles of the Crusades era, like Kerak and Krak des Chevaliers, or the chain of massive buildings of Edward the First in Wales, are masterpieces of defensive design.
Along with the myths about the medieval army, when the mob, led by mediocre idiots, goes to war, there was the idea that the crusaders were losing in battles with tactically more trained opponents from the Middle East. An analysis of the battles fought by the crusaders shows that they won slightly more battles than they lost, using each other's tactics and weapons, and it was a completely equal fight. In reality, the reason for the fall of the Outremer crusader states was a lack of human resources, and not primitive combat skills.
After all, there are myths about medieval weapons. A common misconception is that medieval weapons were so prohibitively heavy that knights had to be mounted in the saddle by some kind of lifting mechanism, and that a knight, thrown from a horse, could not stand up on his own. Certainly, only an idiot would go into battle and risk his life wearing armor that impedes movement. In fact, medieval armor weighed in total about 20 kg, which is almost half the weight with which modern infantry is sent to the front. Battle reenactors these days love to perform acrobatics, demonstrating how agile and fast a fully equipped warrior can be. Previously, chain mail weighed much more, but even in it a trained person was quite mobile.
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