Humanities in the Early, High And Late Middle Ages

Abstract

Learning Team A will use several research methods including text, internet and other methods to explore the humanities and the effects and developments that the humanities of the Early, High and Late Middle ages had on society. We have made some very interesting findings and come up with some intriguing conclusions. The findings are most definitely in condensed form for the simplicity of our assignment, although if given an unbridled word count, surely we would demonstrate volumes of text form such interesting periods.

The Early Middle Ages

Before we can talk about humanities, we must first define the word “Humanities”. Humanities are the investigation of human beings and their culture and their self-expression. We are going to discuss how humanities reflect changing concepts of nature and human beings in different historical periods. Human beings in today’s society are not aware of the history of people. In just about every area that we participate in on a daily basis, the humanities of our ancestors contributed to that area. The reason we study the different parts of the humanities is to get a better understanding of where human beings have been and where we need to go. The more we study the further we can go and improve the future based off the past.

Christianity greatly influenced the Early Middle Ages. This epoch existed between 500-1000 C.E. There was little stability during this time. Western Europe was under attack from Germanic tribes and Eastern Europe was battling against the Arabs. Fiero (2002) states, “the Germanic tribal people and practices blended with those of classical Rome and Western Christianity to forge the basic economic, social and cultural patterns of medieval life” (p.69). According to the website German Culture, in the Merovingian Dynasty (482-751 C.E.) under the rule of Clovis, “the Franks reluctantly began to adopt Christianity following the baptism of Clovis, an event that inaugurated the alliance between the Frankish kingdom and the Roman Catholic Church” (Medieval Germany -, n.d.). Christianity would reach an all time high during the reign of Charlemagne. After being crowned emperor of the Romans in 800 by Pope Leo III, Charlemagne brought education and enlightenment to his people (Fiero, 2002, p.74-75). The Metropolitan Museum of Art website outlines Charlemagne’s accomplishments

He founds schools, ...

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...great history of the world and all the events that took place.

References

Central Europe (including Germany), 500-1000 A.D. (2000-2005). Retrieved July 30, 2005, from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Web site: http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ht/06/euwc/ht06euwc.htm

Duffy, S.L. (n.d.), Europe 1000-1300: the high middle ages. Retrieved July 27, 2005, from http://www.loyno.edu/~seduffy/highmiddleOT.html Fiero, G. K. (2002). The Humanistic Tradition (Fourth ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.

Lindisfarne Gospels. (n.d.). Retrieved July 28, 2005, from British Library: Online Gallery European Manuscripts Web site: http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/themes/euromanuscripts/linisfarne.html

Medieval Germany - The Merovingian Dynasty, ca. 500-751. (n.d.). Retrieved July 27, 2005, from German Culture Web site: http://www.germanculture.com.ua/library/history/bl_medieval.htm

Snell, M. (n.d.). The Book of Kells: Splendid Medieval Manuscript. Retrieved July 28, 2005, from http://historymedren.about.com/od/bookofkell1/p/book_of_kells.htm

The Brainy Dictionary (2005). Definition of Schism. Retrieved July 27, 2005 from

http://www.brainydictionary.com/words/sc/schism216161.html