Renaissance of the 12th century
The Renaissance of the 12th century was a period of many changes at the outset of the
Medieval renaissances
The groundwork for the rebirth of learning was laid by the process of political consolidation and centralization of the monarchies of Europe.[2] This process of centralization began with Charlemagne, King of the Franks from 768 to 814 and Holy Roman Emperor from 800 to 814. Charlemagne's inclination towards education, which led to the creation of many new churches and schools where students were required to learn Latin and Greek, has been called the Carolingian Renaissance.[citation needed]
A second "renaissance" occurred during the reign of
Therefore, the Renaissance of the 12th century has been identified as the third and final of the medieval renaissances. Yet the renaissance of the twelfth century was far more thoroughgoing than those renaissances that preceded in the Carolingian or in the Ottonian periods.[5] Indeed, the Carolingian Renaissance was really more particular to Charlemagne himself, and was really more of a "veneer on a changing society"[6] than a true renaissance springing up from society, and the same might be said of the Ottonian Renaissance. Therefore, some medieval historians have since argued that connecting the term "renaissance" to the two previous periods is a misleading description, and not useful in describing the social changes of the 9th and 10th centuries.
Historiography
The Harvard professor Charles Homer Haskins was the first historian to write extensively about a renaissance that ushered in the High Middle Ages starting about 1070. In 1927, he wrote that:
[The 12th century in Europe] was in many respects an age of fresh and vigorous life. The epoch of the
Greek philosophy; and the origin of the first European universities. The 12th century left its signature on higher education, on the scholastic philosophy, on European systems of law, on architecture and sculpture, on the liturgical drama, on Latin and vernacular poetry...[7]
The English art historian
Translation movement
The translation of texts from other cultures, especially ancient Greek works, was an important aspect of both this Twelfth-Century Renaissance and the later Renaissance of the 15th century. It is inaccurate, however, to say that the relevant difference was that Latin scholars of the earlier period focused almost entirely on translating and studying Greek and Arabic works of natural science, philosophy and mathematics, while the later Renaissance focused on literary and historical texts, since some of the most significant Greek translations of the 15th century were those by Mauricio Ficino, including several works of Plato and Neoplatonist authors, as well as a highly significant translation of the Corpus Hermeticum. These were works of Pythagorean and Platonic spirituality and philosophy of far more importance to later philosophical and religious debate than the translations of the 12th century.
Trade and commerce
The era of the Crusades brought large groups of Europeans into contact with the technologies and luxuries of Byzantium for the first time in many centuries. Crusaders returning to Europe brought numerous small luxuries and souvenirs with them, stimulating a new appetite for trade. The rising Italian maritime powers such as Genoa and Venice began to monopolize trade between Europe, Muslims, and Byzantium via the Mediterranean Sea, having developed advanced commercial and financial techniques; cities such as Florence became major centers of this financial industry.[9]
In Northern Europe, the
In the mid 13th century, the "
Science
After the collapse of the
This scenario changed during the renaissance of the 12th century. For several centuries, popes had been sending clerics to the various kings of Europe.[citation needed] Kings of Europe were typically illiterate.[citation needed] Literate clerics would be specialists of some subject or other, such as music, medicine or history etc., otherwise known as Roman cohors amicorum, the root of the Italian word corte 'court'. As such, these clerics would become part of a king's retinue or court, educating the king and his children, paid for by the pope, whilst facilitating the spread of knowledge into the Middle Ages.[citation needed] The church maintained classic scriptures in scrolls and books in numerous scriptoria across Europe, thus preserving the classic knowledge and allowing access to this important information to the European kings. In return, kings were encouraged to build monasteries that would act as orphanages, hospitals and schools, benefiting societies and eventually smoothing the transition from the Middle Ages.
The increased contact with the
The development of medieval universities allowed them to aid materially in the translation and propagation of these texts and started a new infrastructure which was needed for scientific communities. In fact, the European university put many of these texts at the centre of its curriculum,[12] with the result that the "medieval university laid far greater emphasis on science than does its modern counterpart and descendant."[13]
At the beginning of the 13th century, there were reasonably accurate Latin translations of some ancient Greek scientific works, though not of the Mechanika, an accurate translation of Euclid, or of the scientific advances of the neo-Platonists. But those texts that were available were studied and elaborated, leading to new insights into the nature of the universe. The influence of this revival is evident in the scientific work of Robert Grosseteste and the neo-Platonism of Bernardus Silvestris (?1085-?1178).[14]
Technology
During the High Middle Ages in Europe, there was increased innovation in means of production, leading to economic growth.
- The earliest written record of a windmill is from Yorkshire, England, dated 1185.
- Paper manufacture began in Spain around 1100, and from there it spread to France and Italy during the 12th century.
- The magnetic compassaided navigation, attested in Europe in the late 12th century.
- The astrolabe returned to Europe via Islamic Spain.
- The West's oldest known depiction of a stern-mounted rudder can be found on church carvings dating to around 1180.
Latin literature
The early 12th century saw a revival of the study of Latin classics, prose, and verse before and independent of the revival of Greek philosophy in Latin translation. The
Like the earlier Carolingian revival, the 12th-century Latin revival would not be permanent. While religious opposition to pagan Roman literature existed, Haskins argues that "it was not religion but logic" in particular "Aristotle's New Logic toward the middle of [the 12th] century [that] threw a heavy weight on the side of dialectic ..." at the expense of the letters, literature, oratory, and poetry of the Latin authors. The nascent universities would become Aristotelean centers displacing the Latin humanist heritage[16] until its final revival by Petrarch in the 14th century.
Roman law
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The study of the Digest was the first step to the revival of Roman legal jurisprudence and the establishment of Roman law as the basis of civil law in Western Europe. The University of Bologna, recognised as the world's oldest continuously operating university, was Europe's centre of legal scholarship during this period.
Scholasticism
A new method of learning called scholasticism developed in the late 12th century from the rediscovery of the works of
Arts
The 12th-century renaissance saw a revival of interest in poetry. Writing mostly in their own native languages, contemporary poets produced significantly more work than those of the
These expansions of poetic form contributed to the rise of vernacular literature, which tended to prefer the newer rhythms and structures.[20]
See also
- Continuity thesis
- Crisis of the Late Middle Ages
References
Citations
- ^ (Bauer 2013, p. 1 – preface)
- ^ (Hoyt 1976, p. 329)
- ^ (Hoyt 1976, p. 197)
- ^ (Hoyt 1976, p. 198)
- ^ (Hoyt 1976, p. 366)
- ^ (Hoyt 1976, p. 164)
- ^ (Haskins 1927, p. viii – introduction)
- ^ Civilisation (TV series)
- ^ Irving Woodworth Raymond, Robert Sabatino Lopez. Medieval Trade in the Mediterranean World. Columbia University Press.
- ISBN 0-89526-038-7
- ^ Robert Robert Louis Benson; Giles Constable; Carol Carol Dana Lanham, eds. (1991). Renaissance and Renewal in the Twelfth Century. Harvard University Press. p. 471.
- ^ Toby Huff, Rise of early modern science 2nd ed. p. 180-181
- ^ Edward Grant, "Science in the Medieval University", in James M. Kittleson and Pamela J. Transue, ed., Rebirth, Reform and Resilience: Universities in Transition, 1300-1700, Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1984, p. 68
- ^ Jane E. House (Spring 2013). "Learning How Much Twelfth Century Scientists knew and How They Knew It". Folio. Graduate Center of the City University of New York: 2.
- ^ Charles Homer Haskins. The Renaissance of the Twelfth Century. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1927. Chapter I-IV
- ^ (Haskins 1927, pp. 98–99)
- ISBN 978-0-268-01740-8.
- ^ (Haskins 1927, pp. 153–158)
- ^ (Haskins 1927, pp. 183–185)
- ^ (Haskins 1927, p. 190)
Bibliography
- Bauer, Susan Wise (2013), The History of the Renaissance World: From the Rediscovery of Aristotle to the Conquest of Constantinople, New York: ISBN 978-0-3930-5976-2
- Benson, Robert L., Giles Constable, and Carol D. Lanham, eds. (1982). Renaissance and Renewal in the Twelfth Century. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
- Haskins, Charles Homer (1927), The Renaissance of the Twelfth Century, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, ISBN 978-0-6747-6075-2
- Hoyt, Robert S.; Chodorow, Stanley (1976), Europe in the Middle Ages (3 ed.), New York: Harcourt, Brace Jovanovich, Inc., ISBN 978-0-1552-4712-3