Early Medieval Europe

Founding of the Church

Introduction: The Roots (This Series)

• Judaism

• Greece

• Rome

• Christianity and Christ Himself

• The Early Theologians

Introduction: Fluorescence (The Next Series)

• Dark Ages

• Feudalism

• The Sociopolitical Structure

• Eve of the Renaissance

Roots of Medieval Era: Judaism of Abraham

• Hebrews: a population in the city of Ur in Sumeria

• The word is derived from Greek biblia, which means “book,” hence “People of the Book”

• Abraham was said to have led his people out of Ur and migrated westward to the Fertile Crescent to settle in Canaan (Israel)

• There he made a covenant with God (Yahweh): “I will be your God; you will be my people”

• Hence the expression “The Chosen People.”

Roots of Medieval Era: Judaism of Moses

• Israelites migrated to Egypt but fell into slavery as pharaohs tried to expel last of the Hyksos.

• Under Moses (1300 BCE), departed from Egypt and headed toward Canaan

• At Galilee, forged the ideology of monotheism, the religion of one God

• Also defined a set of ethical and spiritual obligations

• Agreed to a covenant binding the community to God in return for his protection

Roots of Medieval Era: The Decalogue

• The Ten Commandments governing relations between humans and God and among each other

• Framed in the negative, similar to the Egyptian Book of the Dead

• First Commandment: Thou shalt not have other gods before me—devotion to a single God (similar to a single God Aten among the Egyptian

• Retribution is threatened (to 3-4 generations) but unspecified

• The trials of Job are a test of faith

Roots of Medieval Era: Judaic Model of the Universe

• To the Sumerians (and later the Greeks), the universe was chaotic at the beginning

• Hebrews: the universe was well organized and planned underpinned by a moral code

• God transcended nature and its phenomena

• The conception of an ethical monotheism was to influence Western thought

Roots of Medieval Era: Christianity

• Christianity emerged from Judaism but also Greek and Roman tradition

• It entailed a rejection of the rationalistic thought of both Greeks and Romans and trended toward mysticism

• “The Ways of God are mysterious”: Job’s trials

• Various cults of the mysteries emphasized sacrifice, death and resurrection

Roots of Medieval Era: Judaic Model of the Messiah

• Roman occupation of Jerusalem sparked a revolt over their refusal to worship the emperor and the gods

• The Jews worshipped only God• Rivalry between the Sadducees, who saw the

Messiah as a temporal leader• And the Pharisees who saw the Messiah as the

spiritual leader of his flock to salvation• The monastic Essenes practiced asceticism, a

theme very much in the medieval tradition

Christ: His Early Years

• The phases of His Birth and Youth is summarized on p. 198

• Key events:• The period prior to birth: the Annunciation of the Angel

Gabriel, the Visitation, the Nativity (birth), the Adoration of the Magi

• The Massacre of the Innocents and the flight to Egypt• The Baptism and the Temptation• The calling of the Apostles• Miracles, including the raising of Lazarus• The Transfiguration

The Passion of Christ (Last Days)

• Entry into Jerusalem (Palm Sunday)• The Last Supper• Night before the Crucifixion: agony in the

Garden of Gethsemane, the Betrayal by Judas’s kiss

• The Trial before Pilate• The Road to Calvary with the Cross and Crown

of Thorns• The Crucifixion• The Entombment• The Resurrection

Roots of Medieval Era: Jesus Christ and His Teachings

• Little if anything is known about his life except the birth of the Christ child

• The Sermon on the Mount captures most of his essential laws, if not all

• Basic theme: pure altruism—”love thy neighbor as thyself”

• “You must be perfect, just as your heavenly father is perfect”

• Eschewed wealth: “but lay up for yourself treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt and thieves do not break through nor steal”

• Preached the spirit over the letter of the law

Paul the Apostle• Before Paul, the preaching had been mostly among Jews• The Apostle Paul spread the Gospel to non-Jews: Greeks,

Romans, and peoples of Asia Minor• Accounts: Saul, a Tentmaker from Taursus, Asia Minor,

experienced a conversion on the way to Damascus• After the conversion, Paul committed to writing 14 of the 27

books of the New Testament• Essence of his preaching: Humankind was born in original sin

by Adam and Eve’s defiance of God’s command not to each the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge

• Christ in his death absolved humankind from this sin• The condition: to be baptized in Christ.

Dark Ages: A Terminology Revised

• The term Dark Ages, which cover the years 475-1000 AD, refers to the Early Middle Ages

• The term is understood in two senses:• A period in which little is known (dark to us)• A period in which society was backward, with no significant progress

in the arts or the sciences• This period follows the • Because of the pejorative sense of the phrase, the term has

gradually been abandoned• Now, Early Middle Age or Late Antiquity are preferred• This was a rich period of religion, folklore, and the arts; the Song of

Roland, the Gregorian chants, and Christian liturgical pages characterized this era.

• The feudal structure was also established then

Roots of Medieval Era: Greece

• Stoicism: ethical view of life and equality among humans

• Neo-Platonism: A magical union between individual soul and Ultimate Being, similar to Platonic ideal of Form of Goodness

• Plotinus, Egyptian neo-Platonist: Union with the One can only be achieved by degrees

Spread of Christianity: The Roman Vehicle

• Rome came to be the center for interpretation of Christianity

• Created dogma, or prescribed doctrine that, once defined, there could be no deviation

• Created liturgy, the rituals for public worship• Roman legal system became the basis of church canon

law• Under Pope Leo, Peter (the Rock) was the first apostle

after Christ and so established the lineage founded by Him.

• Thus, the papacy was patterned after imperial Rome

Rome and Christianity: The Council of Nicaea

• At the Council of Nice (Iznik) called by Constantine, the Nicene Creed was adopted in 381 CE

• Pledges belief in variety of miraculous phenomena, including virgin birth

• The belief in the Trinity (Jesus, God the Father, and the Holy Spirit)

• A break between Classical rationalism and Christian mysticism

• Embraces truth and the intuition of truths beyond ordinary understanding.

• A shift from homocentric classical world view to a God-centered world view of the medieval period.

Christianity: The Dominant Themes

• A divine incarnate as human, but also• As a human being, a man from Nazareth who is without sin• Virgin birth, emphasized in Catholicism as the Immaculate

Conception• Crucifixion as the sacrifice for humankind’s sin and redemption• The crucifixion is an act of grace: a divine favor for the

undeserving• He leads a sinless life, by example, by parable, by sermons, and

by miracle• An opposition between the profane (natural, human body) and the

sacred (God, spiritual, soul)• Antagonism between the profane (physical pleasures and the

human body) and the sacred.

Christianity: Human Nature and Salvation

• Made in the image of God, humans have free will and the responsibility to find God

• Human nature: many believers assume humankind was conceived in original sin

• Began with Adam and Eve eating the forbidden fruit from the Tree of Knowledge after being tempted by a serpent to do so

• Others believe that living an exemplary life in keeping to God’s wishes is the key to a heavenly afterlife

• Both schools accept the role of God’s grace as key to a heavenly afterlife

Christianity: Grace as Key to Salvation

• Only through the grace of God is salvation possible

• Christianity: only by accepting Jesus as the savior is it possible to receive grace

• Good deeds alone is insufficient to obtain grace; they may serve as evidence for having been saved

• Once saved, a person will lead an exemplary life for love of God and fellow humans

Christianity: Theodicy

• Theodicy: An attempt to explain why the good incur so much evil in their lives

• Job’s torments are a biblical example• Explanations comprise:• An attempt to save others, as exemplified by Jesus'

suffering on the Cross to save humankind• St. Augustine: Result of the sins committed by Adam and

Eve• Suffering gives a powerful demonstration of the value of

Christian faith• Existence of suffering is one of the mysteries of God’s

ways

Christianity: Faith and Reason

• Church has held that human reason can lead to truth as well as Scripture

• Because reason is subject to human error, nevertheless, faith and scripture are the surest path to truth

• Fideism: view that only through faith can truth and God be known

• There is a tension between faith and science on matters where the conclusion conflict

• Roman Catholic Church has decreed that faith and science are parallel to each other and do not conflict.

The Roman Catholic Church: The Template for Medieval Ideology

• The Roman Catholic Church is the self-proclaimed oldest embodiment of Christianity

• The church thus adheres to several doctrines of principle:

• Biblical Interpretation: The Bible is to be interpreted by papal and bishopric directives (papal infallibility was not declared until 1870)

• Apostolic Succession: The pope and bishops are in a linear spiritual succession to Christ

• Owing to this belief, their authority carries the same spiritual legitimacy that Christ conferred upon his apostles

The Roman Catholic Church: Dogma

• Several doctrines are to be accepted without question:• The Gospel of Christ• The wine drunk and wafer eaten during communion is he literal (not

just symbolic) blood and body of Christ• Belief in the Immaculate Conception of Mary • Confession: The mechanism for the atonement of sin through

confession• Saints: Those who have led exemplary lives and have performed at

least one miracle may be canonized as saints• Grace: The belief that because no ordinary human, however pious,

is worthy of salvation, God freely bestows grace due to his love and goodness.

The Roman Catholic Church: Sacraments

• An observable sign of grace or of the sacred, which include the Seven Sacraments

• The Eucharist: Observance of the Last Supper• Baptism: Cleansing in water for admission into the church• Confirmation: Gift of the Holy Ghost for those already baptized• Penance: Repentance for sins, such as in confession• Anointing of the Sick: Last rites for the dying; also known as

Extreme Unction• Matrimony: Marriage within the church for a lifetime partnership• Holy Orders: The hierarchical order of the clergy; ordination of

candidates for the clergy

The Eastern Orthodox Church

• The Great Schism: The Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox separated in 1054

• Tradition: emphasis on the Greek rather then the Latin tradition

• Doctrinal differences over• Icons, which follow a formulaic methodology • Statues are rejected as idolatry• Infallibility of the Pope: bishops are the direct

descendents of the original apostles• Marriage of priests

Christian Monasticism: St. Benedict

• Before Christianity, communal sects saw asceticism as an alternative to decadence of urban life

• St. Basil formed the orders in the Eastern Orthodox churches : fasting , poverty, celibacy

• First monastery in West founded by St. Benedict in Cassino in southern Italy

• Monks required to vow poverty, celibacy, and obedience to the abbot of the monastery

• Obligation including working to free the monastery from dependence on the outside world

• Calendar created by Dionysius Exiguus marked the birth of Jesus as Anno Domini (Year of Our Lord)

Christian Fathers: St. Augustine of Hippo

• The most influential of early church fathers• Under the influence of Paul and Plotinan, the neo-

Platonist, converted to Christianity at age 33• Led a dissolute life of womanizing, gambling, and

fathering an illegitimate child• This forms the basis of his personal account,

Confessions• Argues the existence of three temptations of one’s

lower self: lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and ambition of the world

• The higher self is the love for God

St. Augustine’s Influence on Christian Dogma

• Source: A multivolume set City of God• The rationalization of evil as the perversion of good

created by God• Doctrine of the Just War: war as reprisal for abuse of

morality• History as divinely ordered and directed toward a

predestined end (a fundamental tenet of Christianity)• Dualistic model of reality: material vs. spirit, body vs.

soul, earth vs. heaven, Satan and God, state and church formed.

• This dualistic model pervaded medieval thought and indeed Western thought for years to come

• Matter is the matrix in which God’s message is hidden

Christian Fathers: St. Jerome

• Christian educated in Rome • Translated both the Hebrew Bible and the Greek

texts of the New Testament into Latin• Thus created the Vulgate, the Latin edition of

scripture that ultimately became the official Bible of the Roman Catholic Church

• Found the “pagan” beliefs of the classical and Hebraic literature to form the edifice of the new faith.

Christian Fathers: St. Ambrose

• Drew on Hebrew, Greek, and Southwest Asian traditions to formulate Christian doctrine and liturgy

• Wrote some of the earliest Christian hymns for congregations

• Reference to God as “Light of Lights” reflects the cult of Mithras (Zoroastrianism) and Plato’s analogy of the Good and the Sun

Christian Fathers: St. Gregory

• Elected to the papacy in 590• Established the administrative machinery by

which all popes would govern the Church of Rome

• Sent out missionaries to convert the population of England

• Extended the temporal authority of the Church throughout Western Europe

• Organized the liturgical music of the early Church

Conclusion: The Foundations of Medieval Society

• Hebraic, Greek, and Roman traditions founded the base and some of the superstructure of Medieval Europe

• Christianity formed the main superstructure• However, the Germanic tradition added its own segment

and so also would form part of the Medieval West• All the themes of the arts, the music, architecture, and

the sculpture of the era would rest on Christianity• We will look at these in the final segment of these

lectures.