1、The Middle Ages and Germanic Culture,General Introduction,After the last Roman emperor was dethroned by the German mercenary troops in the 5th century， Europe entered the Middle Ages (ca. 500-1500), which lasted about a thousand years or so and was dominated by Germanic people whom the Romans had ca

2、lled savage野蠻人. Consequently, the intellectual development of the European civilization was retarded or even regressed退步 to some extent because of these so-called Dark Ages. It was also a period of some negative and repressive influence from the Roman Catholic Church.,The popular picture of the Midd

3、le Ages is colored by knights in shining armor, hooded monks, walled castles, and bloody crusades. In reality, the era had a powerful impact on the evolution of Western values, beliefs and practices. The geographic contours輪廓 of modern European states and the basic political, religious, and linguist

4、ic traditions of Western Europe took shape during the Middle Ages. The prototypes of nation-states, cities, and universities emerged at this time, and the Roman Catholic Church reached its peak as a powerful political and spiritual institution. The vernacular languages used in the West today appeare

5、d.,In the latter part of the fourth century the Huns swept into Europe from central Asia, and large numbers of the half civilized Germanic tribes such as the Visigoths西哥特人, the Franks, the Angles and Saxons and the Vandals fled their homelands in northern Europe and were pushed to cross the Danube r

6、iver into the territory of the Roman Empire. In A.D.476 a Germanic general killed the last Roman emperor and took control of the government.,While the Eastern Roman Empire continued, the power of ancient Rome was gone. In its place mushroomed a great many Germanic kingdoms, which in a few hundred ye

7、ars were to grow into the nations known as England, France, Spain, Italy, and Germany. Between the fifth and eleventh centuries, western Europe was the scene of frequent wars and invasions.,During the Medieval times there was no central government to keep the order. The only organization that seemed

8、 to unite Europe was the Christian church. It continued to gain widespread power and influence. In the Late Middle Ages, almost everyone in western Europe was a Christian and a member of the Christian Church. Christianity took the lead in politics, law, art, and learning for hundreds of years.,Patte

9、rns of Medieval Life,During the Early Middle Ages (ca. 500-1000), three traditions classical, Christian, and Germanic became interwoven, ultimately to produce the vigorous new culture of the medieval West. Germanic tribal people and practices blended with those of classical Rome and Western Christia

10、nity to forge the basic economic, social, and cultural patterns of medieval life.,Germanic Law a collection of customs passed orally from generation to generation severe, uncompromising, and directed toward publicly shaming the guilty,Germanic Literature epic poems of the Early Middle Ages reflectin

11、g personal valor and heroism Beowulf The Song of the Nibelungen Song of Roland,The Germanic Tribes 1) a tribal folk who followed a migratory existence; 2) dependent on their flocks and herds, lived in pre-urban village communities throughout Asia; 3) Lacking the hallmarks of civilization urban settl

12、ements, monumental architecture, and the art of writing the Germanic tribes struck the Romans as “barbarians”; 4) Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Franks, Vandals, Burgundians, Angles, and Saxons belonged to one and the same Germanic language family.,The Charlemagne Empire,From the final period of the 8th cen

13、tury to the beginning of the 9th century, the Carolingian Dynasty staged many wars to expand its territory. This tendency continued after Charlemagne (742-814) came to the throne. With the continuous combined effort of Charlemagne and his ancestors, the Frank Kingdom covered a vast territory from Eb

14、ro in the south to Elbe and Danube in the north, almost as large as that of the Western Roman Empire.,In 768, when Charlemagne was 26, he and his younger brother Carloman inherited the kingdom of the Franks. In 771 Carloman died, and Charlemagne became sole ruler of the kingdom. In 799, when Pope Le

15、o III was expelled by the Roman aristocrats and turned to Charlemagne for help, the latter sent troops into Rome and helped to recover the Popes throne. Leo III endowed the crown with the title of Holy Roman Emperor to Charlemagne at Saint Peter Cathedral in Rome during the Christmas of 800. The Fra

16、nk Kingdom thus became the Charlemagne Empire. From then on, he was known to his subjects as “Charlemagne the Great.”,He revived trade with the East, stablized the currency of the realm, and even pursued diplomatic ties with Baghdad. Charlemagnes imperial mission was animated by a passionate interes

17、t in education and the arts.,Back cover of the Lindau Gospels,Charlemagne the Great, once enthroned, tried to restore Roman culture and Roman way of political order. He issued the edict法令 that the schools be set up in his palace and elsewhere in the Empire and invited the best scholars all over Euro

18、pe to lecture or teach there. At the same time, he advocated and offered patronage贊助 to researches into cultural and academic affairs. He asked the church and its monasteries修道院 to search for lost classical works and run schools in an attempt to wipe out illiteracy and promote cultural development.,

19、He established schools at Achen, in town monasteries such as that at Saint-Gall in Switzerland, where monks and nuns copied religious manuscripts, along with texts on medicine, drama, and other secular subjects. The scale of this renaissance or “rebirth” of learning is evident in that eighty percent

20、 of the oldest surviving classical Latin manuscripts exist in Carolingian copies.,caroline minuscule,Feudal Life,For safety and for defense, people in the Middle Ages formed small communities around a central lord or master. Most people lived on a manor領(lǐng)地, which consisted of the castle, the church,

21、the village, and the surrounding farm land. These manors were isolated, with occasional visits from peddlers, pilgrims on their way to the Crusades, or soldiers from other fiefdoms封地. In this “feudal” system, the king awarded land grants or “fiefs” to his most important nobles, his barons, and his b

22、ishops, in return for their contribution of soldiers for the kings armies. At the lowest echelon階層 of society were the peasants, also called “serfs” or “villeins.”隸農(nóng) In exchange for living and working on his land, known as the “demesne,”領(lǐng)地 the lord offered his peasants protection.,Feudalism, Lord an

23、d Vassal諸侯,Feudalism is a unique system of political and military organization. derived from Roman and Germanic traditions of rewarding warriors with the spoils of war; involved the exchange of land for military service; provide a rudimentary 基本的form of local government,Lord: grant a vassal land, pr

24、ovide a court of justice; be hospitable to his vassal Vassal: owed his lord 40 fighting days a year; contributed ransom if his lord were captured; be hospitable to his lord,Knighthood and Code of Chivalry,In the medieval times, many knights rode out to do battle. They made sieges on other castles, h

25、eadlong charges into bloody battles, and defended their own castles against sieges. But knights werent always so good at fighting. Knights had to pass long, hard, half boring hours of practice, practice, practice. First they had to be a page. If they did good they became a squire. If squires were wo

26、rthy they were dubbed and became a knights. Almost all nobles were knights in the Medieval days. But knighthood had to be earned. Page squire knight,The knights conduct and manners in all aspects of life were guided by a strict code of behavior called chivalry. Chivalry demanded that the knight be c

27、ourageous in battle, loyal to his lord and fellow warriors, and reverent toward women.,Although the feudal class monopolized land and power within medieval society, this elite group represented only a tiny percentage of the total population. The vast majority of people more than ninety percent were

28、serfs who, along with freemen, farmed the soil. Bound to large farms or manors they provided food in exchange for military protection furnished by the nobility. They owned no property and were forbidden to leave the land. Their bondage to the soil assured them the protection of feudal lords who, in

29、an age lacking effective central authority, were the sole sources of political authority.,The Lives of Medieval Serfs,The medieval fief usually included one or more manors. The average manor community comprised fifteen to twenty families, while a large manor of 5,000 acres might contain some 50 fami

30、lies. The lord appointed the local priest, provided a court of justice and governed the manor from a fortified residence or castle: wooden structures in eighth and tenth centuries and elaborate stone manor houses with crenellated城垛 walls and towers in the twelfth century.,The typical medieval manor,

31、The typical medieval manor consisted of farmlands, woodland, and pasture, and included a common mill, wine press, and oven. Serfs cultivated the major crops of oats and rye on strips of arable land. In addition to the food they produced from fields reserved for the lord, they owed the lord a percent

32、age-a third of their own agricultural yield. They also performed services in the form of labor. During the Early Middle Ages, serfs made considerable progress in farm technology and agricultural practices.,The Norman Conquest,During the tenth century, the Viking seafarers who had terrorized Charlema

33、gnes lands settled in Northwest France. Within one hundred years, these aggressive Northmen, or Normans made Normandy one of the strongest fiefs in France. In 1066 under the leadership of William of Normandy, some 5000 men crossed the English Channel; at the Battle of Hastings, William defeated the

34、Anglo-Saxon Duke Harold and seized the throne of England.,The Norman Conquest marked the transfer of power in England from Anglo-Saxon rulers to Norman noblemen who were already vassals of the king of France. The Normans brought feudalism to England. To raise money, William ordered a detailed census

35、 of all property in the realm the Domesday Book which laid the basis for the collection of taxes. Under the Norman kings, England would become one of Europes leading medieval states.,The Church and the Promise of Salvation,The promise of personal immortality was central to the medieval worldview. Th

36、e Christian immortality ideology provided a system by which medieval Christians achieved final victory over death. Through the sacraments, a set of sacred acts that impart賦予 grace (the free and unearned favor of God), medieval Christians were assured of the souls redemption from sin and, ultimately,

37、 of immortality in a world to come. The seven sacraments touched every significant phase of human life: At birth, baptism purified the recipient of Original Sin; confirmation堅(jiān)信禮 admitted the baptized to full church privileges;,Ordination授神職利 invested those entering the clergy with priestly authority

38、; matrimony blessed the union of man and woman; penance悔罪 acknowledged repentance悔過 of sins and offered absolution解罪; Eucharist 圣祭禮，圣餐 the central and most important of the sacraments joined human beings to God by means of the body and blood of Jesus; and finally, just prior to death, extreme unctio

39、n 傅油禮provided final absolution from sins. The role of the priesthood in providing such forms of remission免除 from sin would give the medieval Church unassailable無法挑戰(zhàn)的 power and authority.,The Catholic Church was the only church in Europe during the Middle Ages, and it had its own laws and large coffe

40、rs資金. Church leaders such as bishops and archbishops大主教 sat on the kings council委員會 and played leading roles in government. Bishops, who were often wealthy and came from noble families, ruled over groups of parishes called “diocese.”教區(qū) Parish priests, on the other hand, came from humbler backgrounds

41、 and often had little education. The village priest tended to the sick and indigent十分貧窮的 and, if he was able, taught Latin and the Bible to the youth of the village.,The Power and Prestige of the Medieval Church,In the late Middle Ages only Catholics were considered members of society. Kings, nobles

42、 and church officials worked together to rule the people. Since most of the kings and nobles could not read and write, they used clergymen to carry out important government duties. And for centuries, the clergymen were the only teachers, as they were the best-educated men in their day.,During the Hi

43、gh Middle Ages, the Catholic Church exercised great power and authority not only as a religious force, but also as a political institution. The papacy took strong measures to ensure the independence of the Church from secular interference, especially that of the emerging European states. Medieval po

44、ntiffs 教皇functioned much like secular monarchs, governing a huge and complex bureaucracy that incorporated financial, judicial司法的, and disciplinary懲戒性的branches部門.,Over the centuries, Christians had donated and bequeathed to Christendom so many thousands of acres of land that, by the end of the twelf

45、th century, the Catholic Church was the largest single landholder in Western Europe. The Church commanded religious obedience among lay Christians of every rank.,Excommunication 絕罰(exclusion from the sacraments圣事),Interdict 禁罰 (the excommunication of an entire city or state),spiritual penalties,Inqu

46、isition異端裁判所, a special court designed to stamp out heresy. It brought to trial individuals whom local townspeople denounced as heretics.,As secular rulers grew in power among the burgeoning迅速發(fā)展的 nation-states of medieval Europe, the early medieval alliance between Church and state deteriorated. The

47、 attempts of kings and emperors to win the allegiance擁戴 of their subjects especially those in the newly formed towns and to enlarge their financial resources often interfered with papal ambitions and Church decree法令. Pope Boniface VIII (CA. 1234-1302) Unam sanctam(One and Holy Church): the Church he

48、ld primacy over the state, since, while the Church governed the souls of all Christians, the state governed only their bodies.,The Conflict Between Church and State,To express their religious feelings, many people in the Middle Ages went on journeys to sacred places where early Christian leaders had

49、 lived. The most important of all was Jerusalem. But in 1071 Palestine fell to the armies of the Turkish Moslems who attacked the Christian pilgrims, killing many of them and sold many others as slaves. Between 1096 and 1272, waves of zealous and adventuresome European Christians set out to do battl

50、e with the Muslims. The word Crusade meant “a war of the cross”. The French, German, and Italians were the European Christians that went on Crusades.,The Crusades: a series of holy wars which went on about 200 years (the eleventh to thirteenth century),They took vows before going on a crusade. Somet

51、imes during a crusade a knight would forget his vows and ride off or live in the village closest by. Eight main crusades were launched, each lasting from one to four years, except the Seventh Crusade (1248-1254), which dragged on longer. The First Crusade originated in 1095, when Pope Urban II (1088

52、-1099), hoping to direct noble violence away from Christendom信奉基督教的國家, urged Western knights to use their arms to free the Holy Land from Muslim occupation. In return, he promised to absolve them from all of the punishment due for their sins in this life or the,Pope Urban II,The Significance of the

53、Crusades,They brought the East into closer contact with the West. The revival of trade between East and West enhanced European commercial life, encouraging the rise of towns and bringing great wealth to the cities of Venice, Genoa, and Pisa in Italy. Crusades helped to break down feudalism, which, i

54、n turn led to the rise of the monarchies. Through their contact with the more cultured Byzantines and Moslems, the western Europeans change many of their old ideas. Their desire for wealth or power began to overshadow使相形見絀 their religious ideals. The Crusades also resulted in renewing peoples intere

55、st in learning and invention.,Textbooks were handwritten manuscripts and were expensive and difficult to obtain, so teaching took the form of oral instruction, and students took copious notes based on class lectures. Exams for the bachelor of arts degree, usually taken upon completion of a three- to

56、 five-year course of study, were oral. The master of arts degree qualified the student to teach theology or practice law or medicine. Still another four years of study were usually required for the doctoral candidate, whose efforts culminated in his defense of a thesis before a board of learned mast

57、ers.,Literature and Art,Latin served as a principal language in the early part of the Medieval Ages not only for religious and academic use in church and university but also for the writing of literary works. Medieval literature was represented in poems, particularly in hymns expressing the intense

58、religious feelings of love of God. But later on, Latin was replaced gradually by vernacular languages like French, German and English as the vehicle for literary productions.,National Epics,The Song of Roland (French) The Song of the Cid (Spanish) The Song of the Niebelungs (German) Beowulf (Anglo-S

59、axon),masterpieces,Dante Alighieri The Divine Comedy (Italian) One of the landmarks of world literature. The greatest Christian poem with a profound vision of the medieval Christian world, expresses humanistic ideas. Geoffery Chaucer The Canterbury Tales (English) Famous for their power of observation, piercing irony, sense of humour and warm humanity.,The medieval view of life on earth as a vale山谷 of tears was balanced by the triumphant belief in the divine promise of deliverance解救 and eternal bliss歡樂. These ideas are best expressed in Divine Comedy. On a symbolic level, the poem