Birth of Europe — Winter

In 711, the armies of Islam crossed the Straits of Gibraltar and conquered almost all of Spain. This week we will discuss the impact Islam had on Spain and then all of Europe.

Islam is the monotheistic religion articulated by the Qur’an, a text considered by its adherents to be the verbatim word of God and by the teachings and normative example (called the Sunnah and composed of Hadith) of Muhammad, considered by them to be the last prophet of God. An adherent of Islam is called a Muslim. Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable and the purpose of existence is to worship God. Muslims also believe that Islam is the complete and universal version of a faith that was revealed at many times and places before, including through Abraham, Moses and Jesus, whom they consider prophets. They maintain that previous messages and revelations have been partially changed or corrupted over time, but consider the Qur'an to be both the unaltered and the final revelation of God. Religious concepts and practices include the five pillars of Islam, which are basic concepts and obligatory acts of worship, and following Islamic law, which touches on virtually every aspect of life and society, providing guidance on multifarious topics from banking and welfare, to warfare and the environment. The majority of Muslims are Sunni, being over 75-90% of all Muslims. The second largest sect, Shia, makes up 10-20%. About 13% of Muslims live in Indonesia, the largest Muslim country, 25% in South Asia, 20% in the Middle East, 2% in Central Asia, 4% in the remaining South East Asian countries, and 15% in Sub-saharan Africa. Sizable communities are also found in China and Russia, and parts of Europe. With over 1.5 billion followers or over 22% of earth's population as of 2009, Islam is the second-largest religion in the world.(Wikipedia)

RECOMMENDED READING

If you would like to read one book for a general introduction to Islam written by a major European scholar then this book by Bernard Lewis is the best.

The book is in our Institute library.

 

REQUIRED READING FOR THE WHOLE ACADEMIC YEAR

This new history of the Middles Ages has just appeared from the best-selling author Dan Jones. It is perfect for us. The organization and the coverage is excellent. It reads well and is a pleasure. The cost of it is about 20$ from Amazon, either hardcover or paperback. If you prefer the lighter paperback then choose it, but the hardcore will endure better. Please use our link on this page to buy from Amazon because we get credit($) for each purchase.

Here are just a few of the reviews.

"Not only an engrossing read about the distant past, both informative and entertaining, but also a profoundly thought-provoking view of our not-really-so-‘new’ present . . . All medieval history is here, beautifully narrated . . . The vision takes in whole imperial landscapes but also makes room for intimate portraits of key individuals, and even some poems."—Wall Street Journal

"A lively history . . . [Jones] has managed to touch every major topic. As each piece of the puzzle is placed into position, the modern world gradually comes into view . . . Powers and Thrones provides the reader with a framework for understanding a complicated subject, and it tells the story of an essential era of world history with skill and style."—The New York Times

The New York Times bestselling author returns with an epic history of the medieval world—a rich and complicated reappraisal of an era whose legacy and lessons we are still living with today.

Aquitaine is an historical region of southwestern France. It is situated in the southwest corner of France, along the Atlantic Ocean and the Pyrenees mountain range on the border with Spain, and for most of its written history Bordeaux has been a vital port and administrative center. There are traces of human settlement by prehistoric peoples, especially in the Périgord, but the earliest attested inhabitants in the south-west were the Aquitani, who were not considered Celtic people, but more akin to the Iberians (see Gallia Aquitania). The original Aquitania (named after the inhabitants) at the time of Caesar's conquest of Gaul included the area bounded by the river Garonne, the Pyrenees and the Atlantic Ocean. The name may stem from Latin 'aqua', maybe derived from a general geographical feature. In 392, the Roman imperial provinces were restructured as Aquitania Prima (north-east), Aquitania Secunda (centre) and Aquitania Tertia, better known as Novempopulania in the south-west. Accounts of Aquitania during the Early Middle Ages are imprecise, but there was much unrest. The Visigoths were called into Gaul as foederati, legalizing their status within the Empire. Eventually they established themselves as the de facto rulers in south-west Gaul as central Roman rule collapsed. Visigoths established their capital in Toulouse, but their tenure on Aquitaine was feeble. In 507, they were expelled south to Hispania after their defeat in the Battle of Vouillé by the Franks, who became the new rulers in the area to the south of the Loire. The Roman Aquitania Tertia remained in place, where a duke was appointed to hold a grip over the Basques (Vascones/Wascones, rendered Gascons in English). These dukes were quite detached from central Frankish overlordship, sometimes governing as independent rulers with strong ties to their kinsmen south of the Pyrenees. As of 660, the foundations for an independent Aquitaine/Vasconia polity were established by the duke Felix of Aquitaine, a magnate (potente(m)) from Toulouse, probably of Gallo-Roman stock. Despite its nominal submission to the Frankish Merovingians, the ethnic make-up of the new Aquitanian realm was not Frankish, but Gallo-Roman north of the Garonne and in main towns and Basque, especially south of the Garonne. In 721, the Aquitanian duke fended Umayyad troops (Sarracens) off at Toulouse, but in 732 the King of the Franks, Charles Martel led the effort to defeat the Islamic invaders at the Battle of Poitiers. In 781, Charlemagne decided to proclaim his son Louis King of Aquitaine within the Carolingian Empire, ruling over a realm comprising the Duchy of Aquitaine and the Duchy of Vasconia. He suppressed various Basque (Gascon) uprisings, even venturing into the lands of Pamplona past the Pyrenees after ravaging Gascony, with a view to imposing his authority also in the Vasconia to south of Pyrenees. According to his biography, he achieved everything he wanted and after staying overnight in Pamplona, on his way back his army was attacked in Roncevaux in 812, but narrowly escaped an engagement at the Pyrenean passes. Seguin (Sihiminus), count of Bordeaux and Duke of Vasconia, seemed to have attempted a detachment from the Frankish central authority on Charlemagne's death. The new emperor Louis the Pious reacted by removing him from his capacity, which stirred the Basques into rebellion. The king in turn sent his troops to the territory, obtaining their submission in two campaigns and killing the duke, while his family crossed the Pyrenees and continued to foment risings against Frankish power. In 824, the 2nd Battle of Roncevaux took place, in which counts Aeblus and Aznar, Frankish vassals from the Duchy of Vasconia sent by the new King of Aquitaine, Pepin, King of the Franks, were captured by the joint forces of Iñigo Arista and the Banu Qasi. Before Pepin's death, emperor Louis had appointed a new king in 832, his son Charles the Bald, while the Aquitanian lords elected Pepin II as king. This struggle for control of the kingdom led to a constant period of war between Charles, loyal to his father and the Carolingian power, and Pepin II, who relied more on the support of Basque and Aquitanian lords. Aquitaine after the Treaty of Verdun: After the 843 Treaty of Verdun, the defeat of Pepin II and the death of Charles the Bald, the Kingdom of Aquitaine (subsumed in West Francia) ceased to have any relevance and the title of King of Aquitaine took on a nominal value. In 1058, the Duchy of Vasconia (Gascony) and Aquitaine merged under the rule of William VIII, Duke of Aquitaine. Aquitaine passed to France in 1137 when the duchess Eleanor of Aquitaine married Louis VII of France, but their marriage was annulled in 1152. When Eleanor's new husband became King Henry II of England in 1154, the area became an English possession, and a cornerstone of the Angevin Empire. Aquitaine remained English until the end of the Hundred Years' War in 1453, when it was annexed by France. (Wikipedia)

The Medieval monarch established order and unit within the chaos of the post-Roman Europe. The best example of how this worked was in England. England was a small kingdom, not much larger than some of the great duchies of France or Germany. An active king could visit most parts of his realm with some regularity. Moreover, a long series of conquests (especially 1066) had prevented the rise of strong provincial rulers or the development of deeply entrenched provincial institutions. Because no areas had been monopolized by provincial dynasties the king still had lands and rights of justice in all parts of his realm. Because his lands and rights were so widely dispersed he had to have agents everywhere —sheriffs and bailiffs, keepers of castles and forests. Keeping track of the income produced by hundreds of different sources made plain the need for a central financial office: the English Exchequer of the early 12th century. The Exchequer kept meticulously detailed records; it had a highly professional staff; it became so solidly established that it could function even in periods of civil war. Moreover, if all titles were based on grants or confirmation by the king, then it was natural that the king and his court would be asked to settle disputes over possession of land and the rights which went with land. "Court" is of course an ambiguous word; at first it meant no more than the great men—bishops, barons, and household officials—who were with the king. But even in the 11th century some of these men were more apt to be called on to deal with legal problems than others, and during the 12th century a group of royal justices appeared. Soon there were circuit judges, juries, writs. The new procedure of the royal courts was designed to cut down delay, to get quick, easily enforceable decisions in cases where decisions had been hard to reach. There was a deliberate attempt to reduce complicated problems to simple questions that could be answered by men with little knowledge of law or of remote events. Thus in cases involving land tenure the most common question was: "Who was last in peaceful possession?" not "Who has best title?" The question was answered by a group of neighbors, drawn from the law-abiding men of the district in which the property lay. They gave a collective response, based on their own knowledge and observations; there was no need for testimony and little opportunity for legal arguments. This procedure rapidly developed into trial by jury… an improvement on earlier, irrational procedures such as trial by combat or ordeals. In any case, knights, lesser landholders, and ordinary freemen in England found that the jury gave them some protection against the rich and the powerful. They flocked to the king's courts; by the 13th century all cases of any importance and significance whatever were heard by the king's judges. The royal government had succeeded in involving almost the entire free population of the country in the work of the law courts, either as litigants or as jurors. Local privileges and customs did not have time to harden into divisive institutions. The judicial and financial systems created in the 11th and 12th centuries could operate uniformly throughout the country. The king's justices, or even the king himself could give final judgments at once and anywhere. There was no need for elaborate individual negotiations with hundreds of lords and local communities when a tax was to be raised; the Council, and later the Parliament, could speak for the whole realm. Conversely, the English government could rely on unpaid local notables to do a great deal of the work of local administration. Energies which elsewhere were wasted in the defense of local privileges could be used in England to help the central government carry out its policies. If the English bureaucracy was inefficient, it was so at less cost than in other nascent states. Medieval states were law-states. They had acquired their power largely by developing their judicial institutions and by protecting the property rights of the possessing classes. A corollary of this emphasis on law was an emphasis on the right of consent. Existing usages, guaranteed by law, were a form of property and could not be changed without due process. Here is the background to the invention of Parliament: the principles that important decisions should be made publicly, that customs should not be changed without general agreement, that consent was necessary when the superior needed extraordinary additions to his income formed part of the general climate of opinion. These meetings, where important men of all classes came together, were convenient occasions for voicing grievances, for demanding investigations and reforms. All of this work of unifying the nation around functioning law courts was the conscious policy of King Henry II. He knew exactly what he was doing. His courts, often with his personal presence presiding, rendered fair justice. And the results of this justice was a united nation. It was exactly this unified nation that forced King John to sit down at the table and sign the most important Medieval document of them all: the Magna Carta. (some of the above text is taken from a very famous book by the historian Joseph Strayer, On the Medieval Origins of the Modern State (Princeton Classics, 21) Paperback.)

RECOMMENDED READING

The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Christian Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these military expeditions are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were intended to reconquer Jerusalem and its surrounding area from Muslim rule. Beginning with the First Crusade, which resulted in the conquest of Jerusalem in 1099, dozens of military campaigns were organised, providing a focal point of European history for centuries. Crusading declined rapidly after the 15th century. In 1095, Pope Urban II proclaimed the first expedition at the Council of Clermont. He encouraged military support for Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos and called for an armed pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Across all social strata in western Europe there was an enthusiastic response. Participants came from all over Europe and had a variety of motivations, including religious salvation, satisfying feudal obligations, opportunities for renown, and economic or political advantage.

The two most important institutions of the Middle Ages in Europe were the Holy Catholic Church based in Rome and the Holy Roman Empire based in Germany or some other northern country. These two institutions were seen as extending back into past history to the days of Jesus of Nazareth. Both were seen to be eternal and universal. The truth was something different. The Holy Roman Empire was, as Voltaire remarked: "neither Holy nor Roman nor an Empire." But the mythology saw it as an extension of the real Roman Empire. The idea was that the Roman Empire had not declined and ended but had continued in the form of this newer "Holy Roman Empire" founded by Charlemagne and Pope Leo on Christmas Day in the year 800 AD. The Holy Catholic Church in Rome was on more solid ground. It most definitely was Roman. It was a church, an international church. And one would assume it was Holy. In the Medieval vision, these two institutions were partners in the leadership of the whole Christian world. Pope and Emperor, like Charlemagne and Pope Leo, were to work together to bring about peace and unity in the Christian world. In reality, the two fought most of the time. And the rare moments of complete amity between pope and emperor were brief and historically insignificant. But if the two institutions were competitors more than partners, they were, after all, the two institutions in the Middle Ages that mattered the most. This was especially true for Italy; more so for Italy than all the rest of Europe. One of the two institutions was based in the Italian city of Rome. And the second institution was led by the emperor who spent much of his time in Italy too. So whereas Englishmen might view both institutions as distant and unimportant, citizens of Italy most definitely did not.

RECOMMENDED READING

One of the most important contributions to modern culture that comes from the Middle Ages are the universities.  The ancient Greek and Roman world did not have universities.  They had institutions of higher learning such as Plato's Academy, but they did not have universities.  The name of the institution tells you much about what it proposed to do:  universities were supposed to bring all knowledge together in one location with many different professors and students from all over the world, all of whom knew Latin, the language of a Medieval university.  Two of the most important of the early universities were Italian: the University of Bologna specializing in Law, and the University of Padova (Padua in English) specializing in Medicine.  We will discuss their creation and evolution and the role they played in the growth of Medieval Italy. In both Padova and Bologna, the university is the most important institution in the city and has significant political power and influence.  A great university could MAKE a city; it could  put it on the map!  Thus any threat to withdraw and relocate was a potential catastrophe.

RECOMMENDED READING:

See below the University of Bologna.

The great cathedrals of Europe are located in all the big cities in all European countries. They were constructed in the period between 1000 and 1400. The name of a "cathedral" rests on the presence of a bishop. The bishop's seat is the cathedra thus with a bishop in residence any Christian church becomes a cathedral: Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Many great churches of Europe (Toulouse for example) are great examples of Medieval architecture but are not "cathedrals" due to the absence of a bishop. When we speak of a "cathedral" we usually mean a Medieval Gothic cathedrals. The greatest and largest Medieval Gothic cathedrals are located in the great capitals of Europe: Paris, York, Toledo, Milan Florence and Cologne. Paris created the "Gothic" cathedral. Paris invented Gothic architecture about 1150 with the construction of the church of Saint Denis in north Paris dedicated to the first great saint of Paris martyred in 250 AD Saint Denis. (The 19th century art historians invented the term "Gothic" for these cathedrals. It was an insult. They did not like Gothic. They liked the architecture of the Classical world: The Parthenon for example. So they invented a term to cast a cloud over the Gothic cathedrals.) Below see Notre Dame de Paris looking at the cathedral from the river on the south side.

At the right you see Nicola Pisano, Nativiy, Carrara marble, Pisa Baptistry pulpit. Notice Mary and her Roman matron  face.  Pisano is copying Roman sculpture that is sitting there in Pisa.  From 1000 AD to 1300 AD, artists in Europe changed the look of Western art. The change took place with Italian architects, sculptors and painters leading the way. The art of scuplture allows us to follow the transformation without interruption from the Fall of Rome all the way forward to our period, 1000-1300, this Winter Quarter. In Italy alone, there is no permanent interruption in the production of art even in the worst of times. In some periods the production is small, but it still allows us to see the change take place. Italy had one major advantage over other European states: it had the Roman scuptural past sitting all around it. Thus the first hints of Medieval artistic change are visible in cities such as Pisa where the Roman sculptural remains are rich, and local artists such as Nicola Pisano and his son Giovanni Pisano, can lead the way, starting with their own local Roman past. To the right, you see Pisano's Virgin Mary and she will remind you of a Roman matron.

Saint Francis of Assisi (Italian: San Francesco d'Assisi; born Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone, but nicknamed Francesco ("the Frenchman") by his father; 1181/1182 – October 3, 1226) was an Italian Catholic friar and preacher. He founded the men's Order of Friars Minor, the women’s Order of St. Clare, and the Third Order of Saint Francis for men and women not able to live the lives of itinerant preachers, followed by the early members of the Order of Friars Minor, or the monastic lives of the Poor Clares. Francis is one of the most venerated religious figures in history. Francis' father was Pietro di Bernardone, a prosperous silk merchant. Francis lived the high-spirited life typical of a wealthy young man, even fighting as a soldier for Assisi. While going off to war in 1204, Francis had a vision that directed him back to Assisi, where he lost his taste for his worldly life. On a pilgrimage to Rome, he joined the poor in begging at St. Peter's Basilica. The experience moved him to live in poverty. Francis returned home, began preaching on the streets, and soon gathered followers. His Order was authorized by Pope Innocent III in 1210. He then founded the Order of Poor Clares, which became an enclosed religious order for women, as well as the Order of Brothers and Sisters of Penance (commonly called the Third Order). In 1219, he went to Egypt in an attempt to convert the Sultan to put an end to the conflict of the Crusades. By this point, the Franciscan Order had grown to such an extent that its primitive organizational structure was no longer sufficient. He returned to Italy to organize the Order. Once his community was authorized by the Pope, he withdrew increasingly from external affairs. In 1223, Francis arranged for the first Christmas nativity scene. In 1224, he received the stigmata, making him the first recorded person to bear the wounds of Christ's Passion. He died during the evening hours of October 3, 1226, while listening to a reading he had requested of Psalm 142. On July 16, 1228, he was proclaimed a saint by Pope Gregory IX. He is known as the patron saint of animals and the environment, and is one of the two patron saints of Italy (with Catherine of Siena). It is customary for Catholic and Anglican churches to hold ceremonies blessing animals on his feast day of October 4. He is also known for his love of the Eucharist, his sorrow during the Stations of the Cross, and for the creation of the Christmas crèche or Nativity Scene..  (Wikipedia)

RECOMMENDED READING

An introduction to Dante

The 13th century: commerce, urbanization, growth, and success
Italy in the 13th century: in the middle of the action
Florence: great success in the period from 1250 to 1300; introduction of the florin
Dante: 1265–1321

RECOMMENDED READING

The Mandelbaum translation is the best for our class. Its value is that it gives you an English and an Italian version on facing pages at a reasonable price.

RECOMMENDED READING

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: There is a good biography of Dante written by the late R. W. B. Lewis, Dante (ISBN 0670899097) and it is excellent and exactly what many of you will want: a short (200 pages), well-written, inexpensive ($19.95) biography of Dante. It is perfect for our course and although I don't want to make it a required book, I am sure that anyone who buys it will be happy they did.

In 711, the armies of Islam crossed the Straits of Gibraltar and conquered almost all of Spain. This week we will discuss the impact Islam had on Spain and then all of Europe.

Islam is the monotheistic religion articulated by the Qur’an, a text considered by its adherents to be the verbatim word of God and by the teachings and normative example (called the Sunnah and composed of Hadith) of Muhammad, considered by them to be the last prophet of God. An adherent of Islam is called a Muslim. Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable and the purpose of existence is to worship God. Muslims also believe that Islam is the complete and universal version of a faith that was revealed at many times and places before, including through Abraham, Moses and Jesus, whom they consider prophets. They maintain that previous messages and revelations have been partially changed or corrupted over time, but consider the Qur'an to be both the unaltered and the final revelation of God. Religious concepts and practices include the five pillars of Islam, which are basic concepts and obligatory acts of worship, and following Islamic law, which touches on virtually every aspect of life and society, providing guidance on multifarious topics from banking and welfare, to warfare and the environment. The majority of Muslims are Sunni, being over 75-90% of all Muslims. The second largest sect, Shia, makes up 10-20%. About 13% of Muslims live in Indonesia, the largest Muslim country, 25% in South Asia, 20% in the Middle East, 2% in Central Asia, 4% in the remaining South East Asian countries, and 15% in Sub-saharan Africa. Sizable communities are also found in China and Russia, and parts of Europe. With over 1.5 billion followers or over 22% of earth's population as of 2009, Islam is the second-largest religion in the world.(Wikipedia)

RECOMMENDED READING

If you would like to read one book for a general introduction to Islam written by a major European scholar then this book by Bernard Lewis is the best.

The book is in our Institute library.

 

REQUIRED READING FOR THE WHOLE ACADEMIC YEAR

This new history of the Middles Ages has just appeared from the best-selling author Dan Jones. It is perfect for us. The organization and the coverage is excellent. It reads well and is a pleasure. The cost of it is about 20$ from Amazon, either hardcover or paperback. If you prefer the lighter paperback then choose it, but the hardcore will endure better. Please use our link on this page to buy from Amazon because we get credit($) for each purchase.

Here are just a few of the reviews.

"Not only an engrossing read about the distant past, both informative and entertaining, but also a profoundly thought-provoking view of our not-really-so-‘new’ present . . . All medieval history is here, beautifully narrated . . . The vision takes in whole imperial landscapes but also makes room for intimate portraits of key individuals, and even some poems."—Wall Street Journal

"A lively history . . . [Jones] has managed to touch every major topic. As each piece of the puzzle is placed into position, the modern world gradually comes into view . . . Powers and Thrones provides the reader with a framework for understanding a complicated subject, and it tells the story of an essential era of world history with skill and style."—The New York Times

The New York Times bestselling author returns with an epic history of the medieval world—a rich and complicated reappraisal of an era whose legacy and lessons we are still living with today.

Aquitaine is an historical region of southwestern France. It is situated in the southwest corner of France, along the Atlantic Ocean and the Pyrenees mountain range on the border with Spain, and for most of its written history Bordeaux has been a vital port and administrative center. There are traces of human settlement by prehistoric peoples, especially in the Périgord, but the earliest attested inhabitants in the south-west were the Aquitani, who were not considered Celtic people, but more akin to the Iberians (see Gallia Aquitania). The original Aquitania (named after the inhabitants) at the time of Caesar's conquest of Gaul included the area bounded by the river Garonne, the Pyrenees and the Atlantic Ocean. The name may stem from Latin 'aqua', maybe derived from a general geographical feature. In 392, the Roman imperial provinces were restructured as Aquitania Prima (north-east), Aquitania Secunda (centre) and Aquitania Tertia, better known as Novempopulania in the south-west. Accounts of Aquitania during the Early Middle Ages are imprecise, but there was much unrest. The Visigoths were called into Gaul as foederati, legalizing their status within the Empire. Eventually they established themselves as the de facto rulers in south-west Gaul as central Roman rule collapsed. Visigoths established their capital in Toulouse, but their tenure on Aquitaine was feeble. In 507, they were expelled south to Hispania after their defeat in the Battle of Vouillé by the Franks, who became the new rulers in the area to the south of the Loire. The Roman Aquitania Tertia remained in place, where a duke was appointed to hold a grip over the Basques (Vascones/Wascones, rendered Gascons in English). These dukes were quite detached from central Frankish overlordship, sometimes governing as independent rulers with strong ties to their kinsmen south of the Pyrenees. As of 660, the foundations for an independent Aquitaine/Vasconia polity were established by the duke Felix of Aquitaine, a magnate (potente(m)) from Toulouse, probably of Gallo-Roman stock. Despite its nominal submission to the Frankish Merovingians, the ethnic make-up of the new Aquitanian realm was not Frankish, but Gallo-Roman north of the Garonne and in main towns and Basque, especially south of the Garonne. In 721, the Aquitanian duke fended Umayyad troops (Sarracens) off at Toulouse, but in 732 the King of the Franks, Charles Martel led the effort to defeat the Islamic invaders at the Battle of Poitiers. In 781, Charlemagne decided to proclaim his son Louis King of Aquitaine within the Carolingian Empire, ruling over a realm comprising the Duchy of Aquitaine and the Duchy of Vasconia. He suppressed various Basque (Gascon) uprisings, even venturing into the lands of Pamplona past the Pyrenees after ravaging Gascony, with a view to imposing his authority also in the Vasconia to south of Pyrenees. According to his biography, he achieved everything he wanted and after staying overnight in Pamplona, on his way back his army was attacked in Roncevaux in 812, but narrowly escaped an engagement at the Pyrenean passes. Seguin (Sihiminus), count of Bordeaux and Duke of Vasconia, seemed to have attempted a detachment from the Frankish central authority on Charlemagne's death. The new emperor Louis the Pious reacted by removing him from his capacity, which stirred the Basques into rebellion. The king in turn sent his troops to the territory, obtaining their submission in two campaigns and killing the duke, while his family crossed the Pyrenees and continued to foment risings against Frankish power. In 824, the 2nd Battle of Roncevaux took place, in which counts Aeblus and Aznar, Frankish vassals from the Duchy of Vasconia sent by the new King of Aquitaine, Pepin, King of the Franks, were captured by the joint forces of Iñigo Arista and the Banu Qasi. Before Pepin's death, emperor Louis had appointed a new king in 832, his son Charles the Bald, while the Aquitanian lords elected Pepin II as king. This struggle for control of the kingdom led to a constant period of war between Charles, loyal to his father and the Carolingian power, and Pepin II, who relied more on the support of Basque and Aquitanian lords. Aquitaine after the Treaty of Verdun: After the 843 Treaty of Verdun, the defeat of Pepin II and the death of Charles the Bald, the Kingdom of Aquitaine (subsumed in West Francia) ceased to have any relevance and the title of King of Aquitaine took on a nominal value. In 1058, the Duchy of Vasconia (Gascony) and Aquitaine merged under the rule of William VIII, Duke of Aquitaine. Aquitaine passed to France in 1137 when the duchess Eleanor of Aquitaine married Louis VII of France, but their marriage was annulled in 1152. When Eleanor's new husband became King Henry II of England in 1154, the area became an English possession, and a cornerstone of the Angevin Empire. Aquitaine remained English until the end of the Hundred Years' War in 1453, when it was annexed by France. (Wikipedia)

The Medieval monarch established order and unit within the chaos of the post-Roman Europe. The best example of how this worked was in England. England was a small kingdom, not much larger than some of the great duchies of France or Germany. An active king could visit most parts of his realm with some regularity. Moreover, a long series of conquests (especially 1066) had prevented the rise of strong provincial rulers or the development of deeply entrenched provincial institutions. Because no areas had been monopolized by provincial dynasties the king still had lands and rights of justice in all parts of his realm. Because his lands and rights were so widely dispersed he had to have agents everywhere —sheriffs and bailiffs, keepers of castles and forests. Keeping track of the income produced by hundreds of different sources made plain the need for a central financial office: the English Exchequer of the early 12th century. The Exchequer kept meticulously detailed records; it had a highly professional staff; it became so solidly established that it could function even in periods of civil war. Moreover, if all titles were based on grants or confirmation by the king, then it was natural that the king and his court would be asked to settle disputes over possession of land and the rights which went with land. "Court" is of course an ambiguous word; at first it meant no more than the great men—bishops, barons, and household officials—who were with the king. But even in the 11th century some of these men were more apt to be called on to deal with legal problems than others, and during the 12th century a group of royal justices appeared. Soon there were circuit judges, juries, writs. The new procedure of the royal courts was designed to cut down delay, to get quick, easily enforceable decisions in cases where decisions had been hard to reach. There was a deliberate attempt to reduce complicated problems to simple questions that could be answered by men with little knowledge of law or of remote events. Thus in cases involving land tenure the most common question was: "Who was last in peaceful possession?" not "Who has best title?" The question was answered by a group of neighbors, drawn from the law-abiding men of the district in which the property lay. They gave a collective response, based on their own knowledge and observations; there was no need for testimony and little opportunity for legal arguments. This procedure rapidly developed into trial by jury… an improvement on earlier, irrational procedures such as trial by combat or ordeals. In any case, knights, lesser landholders, and ordinary freemen in England found that the jury gave them some protection against the rich and the powerful. They flocked to the king's courts; by the 13th century all cases of any importance and significance whatever were heard by the king's judges. The royal government had succeeded in involving almost the entire free population of the country in the work of the law courts, either as litigants or as jurors. Local privileges and customs did not have time to harden into divisive institutions. The judicial and financial systems created in the 11th and 12th centuries could operate uniformly throughout the country. The king's justices, or even the king himself could give final judgments at once and anywhere. There was no need for elaborate individual negotiations with hundreds of lords and local communities when a tax was to be raised; the Council, and later the Parliament, could speak for the whole realm. Conversely, the English government could rely on unpaid local notables to do a great deal of the work of local administration. Energies which elsewhere were wasted in the defense of local privileges could be used in England to help the central government carry out its policies. If the English bureaucracy was inefficient, it was so at less cost than in other nascent states. Medieval states were law-states. They had acquired their power largely by developing their judicial institutions and by protecting the property rights of the possessing classes. A corollary of this emphasis on law was an emphasis on the right of consent. Existing usages, guaranteed by law, were a form of property and could not be changed without due process. Here is the background to the invention of Parliament: the principles that important decisions should be made publicly, that customs should not be changed without general agreement, that consent was necessary when the superior needed extraordinary additions to his income formed part of the general climate of opinion. These meetings, where important men of all classes came together, were convenient occasions for voicing grievances, for demanding investigations and reforms. All of this work of unifying the nation around functioning law courts was the conscious policy of King Henry II. He knew exactly what he was doing. His courts, often with his personal presence presiding, rendered fair justice. And the results of this justice was a united nation. It was exactly this unified nation that forced King John to sit down at the table and sign the most important Medieval document of them all: the Magna Carta. (some of the above text is taken from a very famous book by the historian Joseph Strayer, On the Medieval Origins of the Modern State (Princeton Classics, 21) Paperback.)

RECOMMENDED READING

The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Christian Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these military expeditions are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were intended to reconquer Jerusalem and its surrounding area from Muslim rule. Beginning with the First Crusade, which resulted in the conquest of Jerusalem in 1099, dozens of military campaigns were organised, providing a focal point of European history for centuries. Crusading declined rapidly after the 15th century. In 1095, Pope Urban II proclaimed the first expedition at the Council of Clermont. He encouraged military support for Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos and called for an armed pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Across all social strata in western Europe there was an enthusiastic response. Participants came from all over Europe and had a variety of motivations, including religious salvation, satisfying feudal obligations, opportunities for renown, and economic or political advantage.

The two most important institutions of the Middle Ages in Europe were the Holy Catholic Church based in Rome and the Holy Roman Empire based in Germany or some other northern country. These two institutions were seen as extending back into past history to the days of Jesus of Nazareth. Both were seen to be eternal and universal. The truth was something different. The Holy Roman Empire was, as Voltaire remarked: "neither Holy nor Roman nor an Empire." But the mythology saw it as an extension of the real Roman Empire. The idea was that the Roman Empire had not declined and ended but had continued in the form of this newer "Holy Roman Empire" founded by Charlemagne and Pope Leo on Christmas Day in the year 800 AD. The Holy Catholic Church in Rome was on more solid ground. It most definitely was Roman. It was a church, an international church. And one would assume it was Holy. In the Medieval vision, these two institutions were partners in the leadership of the whole Christian world. Pope and Emperor, like Charlemagne and Pope Leo, were to work together to bring about peace and unity in the Christian world. In reality, the two fought most of the time. And the rare moments of complete amity between pope and emperor were brief and historically insignificant. But if the two institutions were competitors more than partners, they were, after all, the two institutions in the Middle Ages that mattered the most. This was especially true for Italy; more so for Italy than all the rest of Europe. One of the two institutions was based in the Italian city of Rome. And the second institution was led by the emperor who spent much of his time in Italy too. So whereas Englishmen might view both institutions as distant and unimportant, citizens of Italy most definitely did not.

RECOMMENDED READING

One of the most important contributions to modern culture that comes from the Middle Ages are the universities.  The ancient Greek and Roman world did not have universities.  They had institutions of higher learning such as Plato's Academy, but they did not have universities.  The name of the institution tells you much about what it proposed to do:  universities were supposed to bring all knowledge together in one location with many different professors and students from all over the world, all of whom knew Latin, the language of a Medieval university.  Two of the most important of the early universities were Italian: the University of Bologna specializing in Law, and the University of Padova (Padua in English) specializing in Medicine.  We will discuss their creation and evolution and the role they played in the growth of Medieval Italy. In both Padova and Bologna, the university is the most important institution in the city and has significant political power and influence.  A great university could MAKE a city; it could  put it on the map!  Thus any threat to withdraw and relocate was a potential catastrophe.

RECOMMENDED READING:

See below the University of Bologna.

The great cathedrals of Europe are located in all the big cities in all European countries. They were constructed in the period between 1000 and 1400. The name of a "cathedral" rests on the presence of a bishop. The bishop's seat is the cathedra thus with a bishop in residence any Christian church becomes a cathedral: Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Many great churches of Europe (Toulouse for example) are great examples of Medieval architecture but are not "cathedrals" due to the absence of a bishop. When we speak of a "cathedral" we usually mean a Medieval Gothic cathedrals. The greatest and largest Medieval Gothic cathedrals are located in the great capitals of Europe: Paris, York, Toledo, Milan Florence and Cologne. Paris created the "Gothic" cathedral. Paris invented Gothic architecture about 1150 with the construction of the church of Saint Denis in north Paris dedicated to the first great saint of Paris martyred in 250 AD Saint Denis. (The 19th century art historians invented the term "Gothic" for these cathedrals. It was an insult. They did not like Gothic. They liked the architecture of the Classical world: The Parthenon for example. So they invented a term to cast a cloud over the Gothic cathedrals.) Below see Notre Dame de Paris looking at the cathedral from the river on the south side.

At the right you see Nicola Pisano, Nativiy, Carrara marble, Pisa Baptistry pulpit. Notice Mary and her Roman matron  face.  Pisano is copying Roman sculpture that is sitting there in Pisa.  From 1000 AD to 1300 AD, artists in Europe changed the look of Western art. The change took place with Italian architects, sculptors and painters leading the way. The art of scuplture allows us to follow the transformation without interruption from the Fall of Rome all the way forward to our period, 1000-1300, this Winter Quarter. In Italy alone, there is no permanent interruption in the production of art even in the worst of times. In some periods the production is small, but it still allows us to see the change take place. Italy had one major advantage over other European states: it had the Roman scuptural past sitting all around it. Thus the first hints of Medieval artistic change are visible in cities such as Pisa where the Roman sculptural remains are rich, and local artists such as Nicola Pisano and his son Giovanni Pisano, can lead the way, starting with their own local Roman past. To the right, you see Pisano's Virgin Mary and she will remind you of a Roman matron.

Saint Francis of Assisi (Italian: San Francesco d'Assisi; born Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone, but nicknamed Francesco ("the Frenchman") by his father; 1181/1182 – October 3, 1226) was an Italian Catholic friar and preacher. He founded the men's Order of Friars Minor, the women’s Order of St. Clare, and the Third Order of Saint Francis for men and women not able to live the lives of itinerant preachers, followed by the early members of the Order of Friars Minor, or the monastic lives of the Poor Clares. Francis is one of the most venerated religious figures in history. Francis' father was Pietro di Bernardone, a prosperous silk merchant. Francis lived the high-spirited life typical of a wealthy young man, even fighting as a soldier for Assisi. While going off to war in 1204, Francis had a vision that directed him back to Assisi, where he lost his taste for his worldly life. On a pilgrimage to Rome, he joined the poor in begging at St. Peter's Basilica. The experience moved him to live in poverty. Francis returned home, began preaching on the streets, and soon gathered followers. His Order was authorized by Pope Innocent III in 1210. He then founded the Order of Poor Clares, which became an enclosed religious order for women, as well as the Order of Brothers and Sisters of Penance (commonly called the Third Order). In 1219, he went to Egypt in an attempt to convert the Sultan to put an end to the conflict of the Crusades. By this point, the Franciscan Order had grown to such an extent that its primitive organizational structure was no longer sufficient. He returned to Italy to organize the Order. Once his community was authorized by the Pope, he withdrew increasingly from external affairs. In 1223, Francis arranged for the first Christmas nativity scene. In 1224, he received the stigmata, making him the first recorded person to bear the wounds of Christ's Passion. He died during the evening hours of October 3, 1226, while listening to a reading he had requested of Psalm 142. On July 16, 1228, he was proclaimed a saint by Pope Gregory IX. He is known as the patron saint of animals and the environment, and is one of the two patron saints of Italy (with Catherine of Siena). It is customary for Catholic and Anglican churches to hold ceremonies blessing animals on his feast day of October 4. He is also known for his love of the Eucharist, his sorrow during the Stations of the Cross, and for the creation of the Christmas crèche or Nativity Scene..  (Wikipedia)

RECOMMENDED READING

An introduction to Dante

The 13th century: commerce, urbanization, growth, and success
Italy in the 13th century: in the middle of the action
Florence: great success in the period from 1250 to 1300; introduction of the florin
Dante: 1265–1321

RECOMMENDED READING

The Mandelbaum translation is the best for our class. Its value is that it gives you an English and an Italian version on facing pages at a reasonable price.

RECOMMENDED READING

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: There is a good biography of Dante written by the late R. W. B. Lewis, Dante (ISBN 0670899097) and it is excellent and exactly what many of you will want: a short (200 pages), well-written, inexpensive ($19.95) biography of Dante. It is perfect for our course and although I don't want to make it a required book, I am sure that anyone who buys it will be happy they did.