Medieval culture of Western Europe: general characteristics. give a general description of European medieval culture

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Medieval European culture covers the period from the fall of the Roman Empire to the moment of the active formation of the culture of the Renaissance and divides the culture early period(V-XI centuries) and culture classical Middle Ages(XII-XIV centuries). The emergence of the term "Middle Ages" is associated with the activities of the Italian humanists of the XV-XVI centuries, who, by introducing this term, sought to separate the culture of their era - the culture of the Renaissance - from the culture of previous eras. The era of the Middle Ages brought with it new economic relations, a new type of political system, as well as global changes in the worldview of people.

The entire culture of the early Middle Ages had a religious connotation.

The basis of the medieval picture of the world was the images and interpretations of the Bible. The starting point for explaining the world was the idea of a complete and unconditional opposition of God and nature, Heaven and Earth, soul and body. The man of the Middle Ages imagined and understood the world as an arena of confrontation between good and evil, as a kind of hierarchical system, including God, angels, people, and otherworldly forces of darkness.

Along with the strong influence of the church, the consciousness of medieval man continued to be deeply magical. This was facilitated by the very nature of medieval culture, filled with prayers, fairy tales, myths, magic spells. In general, the history of the culture of the Middle Ages is the history of the struggle between church and state. The position and role of art in this era were complex and contradictory, but nevertheless, throughout the entire period of development of European medieval culture, there was a search for a semantic support for the spiritual community of people.

All classes of medieval society recognized the spiritual leadership of the church, but nevertheless, each of them developed their own special culture, in which they reflected their moods and ideals.

1. The main periods of development of the Middle Ages.

The beginning of the Middle Ages is associated with the great migration of peoples, which began at the end of the 4th century. The territory of the Western Roman Empire was invaded by Vandals, Goths, Huns and other nationalities. After the collapse in 476g. The Western Roman Empire on its territory formed a number of short-lived states, which consisted of foreign tribes, mixed with the indigenous population, which consisted mainly of Celts and the so-called Romans. The Franks settled in Gaul and West Germany, the Visgoths - in the north of Spain, the Osgoths - in the north of Italy, the Anglo-Saxons - in Britain. The barbarian peoples who created their states on the ruins of the Roman Empire found themselves either in a Roman or in a Romanized environment. However, culture ancient world experienced a deep crisis during the invasion of the barbarians, and this crisis was aggravated by the introduction by the barbarians of their mythological thinking and the worship of the elemental forces of nature. All this was reflected in the cultural process of the early Middle Ages.

Medieval culture developed in line with the period of early (V-XIII centuries) feudalism in the countries of Western Europe, the formation of which was accompanied by the transition from barbarian empires to the classical states of medieval Europe. It was a period of serious social and military upheaval.

At the stage of late feudalism (XI-XII centuries), craft, trade, and urban life had a rather low level of development. The reign of feudal lords was undivided. The figure of the king was decorative in nature, and did not personify strength and state power. However, from the end of the XI century. (especially France), the process of strengthening royal power begins and centralized feudal states are gradually created, in which the feudal economy rises, contributing to the formation of the cultural process.

Crusades carried out at the end of this period were of great importance. These campaigns contributed to the acquaintance of Western Europe with rich culture Arab East and accelerated the growth of crafts.

On the second development of the mature (classical) European Middle Ages (XI century), there is a further growth in the productive forces of feudal society. A clear division between the city and the countryside is established, and crafts and trade are intensively developed. Royal power is of great importance. This process was facilitated by the elimination of feudal anarchy. Chivalry and rich townspeople become the mainstay of royal power. A characteristic feature of this period is the emergence of city-states, for example, Venice, Florence.

2. Features of the art of medieval Europe.

The development of medieval art includes the following three stages:

1.pre-Romanesque art (V- Xcenturies),

which is divided into three periods: early Christian art, the art of the barbarian kingdoms, and the art of the Carolingian and Ottonian empires.

AT early Christian Christianity became the official religion. By this time, the appearance of the first Christian churches. Separate buildings of centric type (round, octagonal, cruciform), called baptistery or baptismal. The interior decoration of these buildings were mosaics and frescoes. They reflected in themselves all the main features of medieval painting, although they were very far removed from reality. The images were dominated by symbolism and conventionality, and the mysticism of the images was achieved through the use of such formal elements as enlargement of the eyes, incorporeal images, prayer poses, and the use of different scales in the depiction of figures according to the spiritual hierarchy.

Art of the barbarians played a positive role in the development of the ornamental and decorative direction, which later became the main part of artistic creativity classical Middle Ages. And which already did not have a close connection with ancient traditions.

characteristic feature of art Carolingian and Ottonian empires is a combination of ancient, early Christian, barbarian and Byzantine traditions, which are most clearly manifested in the ornament. The architecture of these kingdoms is based on Roman models and includes centric stone or wooden temples, the use of mosaics and frescoes in the interior decoration of temples.

An architectural monument of pre-Romanesque art is the Chapel of Charlemagne in Aachen, created around 800. In the same period, the development of monastic construction was actively going on. In the Carolingian Empire, 400 new monasteries were built and 800 existing ones were expanded.

2. Romanesque art (XI- XIIcenturies)

It arose during the reign of Charlemagne. This style of art is characterized by a semicircular vaulted arch, which came from Rome. Instead of wooden coverings, stone ones begin to predominate, usually having a vaulted shape. Painting and sculpture were subordinated to architecture and were mainly used in temples and monasteries. The sculptural images were brightly painted, and the monumental and decorative painting, on the other hand, seemed to be temple paintings of restrained color. An example of this style is the Church of Mary on the island of Laak in Germany. A special place in Romanesque architecture is occupied by Italian architecture, which, thanks to the strong ancient traditions present in it, immediately stepped into the Renaissance.

The main function of Romanesque architecture is defense. Exact mathematical calculations were not used in the architecture of the Romanesque era, however, thick walls, narrow windows and massive towers, being stylistic features of architectural structures, simultaneously carried a defensive function, allowing the civilian population to take refuge in the monastery during feudal strife and wars. This is explained by the fact that the formation and strengthening of the Romanesque style took place in the era of feudal fragmentation and its motto is the statement "My home is my fortress."

In addition to religious architecture, secular architecture also actively developed, an example of this is the feudal castle - a house - a tower of a rectangular or polyhedral shape.

3. gothic art (XII- XVcenturies)

It arose as a result of the development of cities and the emerging urban culture. The symbol of medieval cities is the cathedral, gradually losing its defensive functions. Style changes in the architecture of this era were explained not only by the change in the functions of buildings, but rapid development construction equipment, which by that time was already based on accurate calculation and verified design. Abundant convex details - statues, bas-reliefs, hanging arches were the main decorations of buildings, both from the inside and from the outside. World masterpieces of Gothic architecture are Notre Dame Cathedral, Milan Cathedral in Italy.

Gothic is also used in sculpture. A three-dimensional plastic of various forms appears, a portrait individuality, a real anatomy of figures.

Monumental Gothic painting is mainly represented by stained glass. Window openings are greatly enlarged. Which now serve not only for lighting, but more for decoration. Thanks to the duplication of glass, the finest nuances of color are transmitted. Stained glass windows begin to acquire more and more realistic elements. Especially famous were the French stained-glass windows of Chartres, Rouen.

In the book miniature also begins to predominate Gothick style, there is a significant expansion of the scope of its application, there is a mutual influence of stained glass and miniatures. The art of book miniature was one of the greatest achievements of Gothic. This type of painting evolved from the "classical" style to realism.

Among the most outstanding achievements of the Gothic book miniature, the psalter of Queen Ingeborg and the psalter of St. Louis stand out. A remarkable monument of the German school of the early XIV century. is the "Manuscript of Manesse", which is a collection of the most famous songs German Minesingers, decorated with portraits of singers, scenes of tournaments and court life, coats of arms.

Literature and music of the Middle Ages.

In the period of mature feudalism, along with and as an alternative to ecclesiastical literature, which had priority, secular literature also developed rapidly. Thus, chivalric literature, which included the chivalric epic, the chivalric romance, the poetry of the French troubadours and the lyrics of the German minizingers, received the greatest distribution and even some approval of the church. They sang the war for the Christian faith and glorified the feat of chivalry in the name of this faith. An example of the knightly epic of France is the Song of Roland. Its plot was the campaigns of Charlemagne in Spain, and the main character was Count Roland.

At the end of the 7th century Under the auspices of Charlemagne, a book-writing workshop was founded, where a special gospel was made.

In the XII century. Chivalric novels written in the genre of prose appeared and quickly became widespread. They told about the various adventures of the knights.

In contrast to the chivalric romance, urban literature is developing. A new genre is being formed - a poetic short story, which contributes to the formation of citizens as a whole.

During the development of Gothic, there were changes in music. A separate group in the music of the Middle Ages was the art of the Celts. The court singers of the Celts were bards who performed heroic songs - ballads, satirical, martial and other songs to the accompaniment of a stringed instrument - moles.

Since the end of the XI century. in the south of France, the musical and poetic creativity of the troubadours began to spread. Their songs sang of knightly love and heroic deeds during the Crusades. The work of the troubadours caused many imitations, the most fruitful was the German minnesang. The songs of the minnesingers - "singers of love" were not only the chanting of beautiful ladies, but also the glorification of influential dukes. Minnesingers served at the courts of rulers, participated in numerous competitions, and traveled around Europe. The heyday of their work came in the XII century, but already in the XIV century. they were replaced by meistersingers, or "masters of singing", united in professional workshops. The development of these vocal workshops marked a new stage in medieval singing art.

In the ninth century there was polyphony, but by the end of the 11th century. voices become more and more independent. With the emergence of polyphony in Catholic churches, the organ becomes necessary. Numerous singing schools at major European monasteries also contributed a lot to the development of church professional polyphony.

13th century in the history of music is called the century of old art, while the art of the XIV century. It is customary to call it new, and it was at this time that the musical art of the Renaissance began to revive.

Conclusion.

The most important feature of European medieval culture is the special role of Christian doctrine and the Christian church. Only the church for many centuries remained the only social institution uniting all European countries, tribes and states. It was she who had a huge impact on the formation of the religious worldview of people, spread her main values and ideas.

All classes of medieval society recognized the spiritual kinship of the church, but nevertheless, each of them developed its own special culture, in which it reflected its moods and ideals. The ruling class of secular feudal lords in the Middle Ages was chivalry. It was the knightly culture that included a complex ritual of customs, manners, secular, court and military knightly entertainments, of which knightly tournaments were especially popular. The chivalric culture created its own folklore, its own songs, poems, and a new literary genre arose in its bowels - the chivalrous novel. A great place was occupied by love lyrics.

With all the variety of artistic means and style features the art of the Middle Ages also has some common features: a religious character, because. the church was the only beginning uniting the disparate kingdoms; The leading place was given to architecture. Nationality, because the creator and spectator was the people themselves; the emotional beginning is deep psychologism, the task of which was to convey the intensity of religious feelings and the drama of individual plots.

Along with the dominance of Christian morality and the all-encompassing power of the church, which manifested itself in all spheres of the life of medieval society, including art and culture, nevertheless, this era was an original and interesting stage in the development of European culture and civilization. Some elements of modern civilization were laid down precisely in the Middle Ages, which in many ways prepared the age of the Renaissance and the Enlightenment.

Each period of historical and cultural development has its own worldview, its own ideas about nature, time and space, the order of everything that exists, about the relationship of people to each other, i.e. what can be called pictures of the world. They are formed partly spontaneously, partly purposefully, within the framework of religion, philosophy, science, art, ideology. Pictures of the world are formed on the basis of a certain way of life of people, become part of it and begin to have a strong influence on it. Medieval man proceeded from the picture of the world developed by Christianity, more precisely, its Western form, which was called Catholicism.

The term "Catholicism" comes from the Greek words "kat" (by) and "hole" (whole, whole). In the Christian Creed, compiled in the 4th century, the church is called one (single), holy, catholic (in Church Slavonic - catholic) and apostolic. The Church is Catholic (cathedral), since it has its followers in all countries of the world and contains in its dogmas the fullness of the truth, which is the same for all Christians. After the division of Christianity in 1054 into Western and Eastern appeared Roman Catholic and the Greek Catholic Church, the latter more often being referred to as Orthodox as a sign of the unchanging confession of the right faith. What is the significance of the Catholic Church?

Christianity is a religion of salvation. For him, the essence of the history of the world is the falling away of mankind (in the person of Adam and Eve) from God, subordinating man to the power of sin, evil, death, and the subsequent return to the Creator of the prodigal son who realized his fall. This return was led by God's chosen descendants of Abraham, with whom God makes a "covenant" (contract) and gives them a "law" (rules of conduct). The chain of the Old Testament righteous and prophets turns into a ladder ascending to God. But even guided from above, even a holy person cannot be completely cleansed, and then an incredible thing happens: God incarnates, he himself becomes a man, more precisely, a God-man, by virtue of his miraculous birth “from the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary” free from sin. God the Word, the Savior, the Son of God appears as the Son of Man, a preacher from Galilee and voluntarily accepts a shameful death on the cross. He descends into hell, liberates the souls of those who have done good, rises on the third day, appears to the disciples, and soon then ascends to heaven. A few days later, the Holy Spirit descends on the apostles (Pentecost) and gives them the strength to fulfill Jesus' commandment - to preach the Gospel ("good news") to all nations. Christian evangelism combines an ethic based on love for one's neighbor with a feat of faith that leads to the Kingdom of Heaven through "narrow gates". Its goal is the deification of the believer, i.e. the transition to eternal life with God is achieved through the cooperation (synergy) of human efforts and God's grace.

How can a Christian be sure of his salvation? How to keep the right faith? This is where the role of the church comes to the fore. The Church is the bearer of the religious and moral tradition that passed from Christ to the apostles, and then to their disciples; it is also the sphere of the real presence of Christ, which gives the inerrancy of faith. The creation of the doctrine of the church and its organization have become the most important tasks for Christianity. They became more complex as the new religion spread among the peoples of the Roman Empire. It was necessary to repel attacks on the church from outside, to fight heresies and schisms within, to adapt to new conditions. For 3-4 centuries, an extensive Christian literature appeared, controversial issues were resolved at the congresses of bishops - cathedrals, where representatives of East and West are present. For the Western churches associated with the areas of Latin culture and language, the works and activities of the native of North Africa, Aurelius Augustine (354-430), were of particular importance.

The son of a provincial aristocrat indifferent to religion and a deeply religious Christian, Augustine, as it were, made his way from father to mother. A brilliant orator, teacher of rhetoric with views of a public career, philosopher, Christian hermit, priest and, finally, bishop of the African city of Hippias, Augustine is experiencing a passion for ancient culture, the philosophy of Plato and comes to Christianity, becoming its defender from pagans, heretics and schismatics. Augustine focuses on the problem of evil in man and the fight against evil, the cause of which he at first considered matter, flesh. Augustine the Christian believes that God created man righteous, but with a free will to good and evil. Adam and Eve abused their freedom, sinned, stained the soul with pride and selfishness, and the fallen soul also infected the body, which became its master from the servant of the soul. The destiny of the descendants of Adam is to be in the power of the devil who seduced them, to carry the original sin in themselves, from early childhood adding to it the sins of their fellow tribesmen and their own. The will of man became capable only of evil that was not created by God. It is not something really existing, but an action of the free will of primordially pure angels and people who wished to move away from the Creator. So, evil is only the absence of good, the removal from it.

God's mercy opened the way of salvation to people through the redeeming power of the incarnation, suffering and death of Christ. By the way, Augustine had his own vision of the dogma of the trinity of God: Loving (Father), Beloved (Son) and Love (Holy Spirit), which, after the ascension of Christ, the Father and the Son together send to the church. Salvation does not depend on the will and merits of a person, but is due to grace, the action of God. But justification by grace does not apply to everyone. God omnisciently knew that only a few would benefit from His gifts, and He predestined the minority appointed to blessedness, and left the sinful majority to perish.

So, victory over evil is possible only when the mind is subordinated to the authority of faith, the bearer of which is the church. Again and again Augustine repeats that neither men nor angels nor even the gospel can be trusted unless their words are backed up by the authority of the church. Only she teaches intact the teachings of Christ and the apostles, only she has the right to forgive sins and dispose of the merits of the saints. The preaching of the church is essentially the same for all people and nations, it is universal and catholic. The unity of the Church, the “City of God”, which leads a person to the peace of the Heavenly Kingdom, is opposed by the plurality of earthly kingdoms, heresies, sects ruled by the devil. Standing above all power, the "City of God" wanders the earth until the Last Judgment. And although he attracts love to himself, he has the right to use coercion, including the power of the state, to force the erring to submit. Augustine recognized the pope as the head of the universal church, although he opposed the intervention of popes in the affairs of African bishops.

The power of authority proclaimed by Augustine was embodied in the supremacy of the Roman high priest over church and state. In the 8th century on the basis of a forged document "The Gift of Constantine", the pope received secular power over Italy, in the 9th century. the false Decrees of Isidore declared that not only metropolitans and bishops, but even cathedrals and emperors must obey the pope unquestioningly. The Pope is the earthly head of the church and the vicar of Christ on earth; the "Prince of the Apostles" Peter himself speaks through him. The dogma of the infallibility of the popes in matters of faith and morals was officially adopted in 1870, but this idea belongs entirely to the Middle Ages. "Avignon captivity of the popes" (1308-1377), the great schism of the Catholic Church (1378-1409), the strengthening of royal power, anti-papal councils (1409-1438), finally, the Reformation of the 16th-17th centuries. greatly weakened the power of the papacy, but did not force him to abandon his claims.

The same principle of the rule of authority is seen in the special position of the Catholic clergy and monasticism. Catholicism divides the church into heavenly, triumphant and earthly, militant, and the latter into “learners” and “taught”. The celibacy (celibacy) of the non-monastic clergy was intended not only to make church property non-heritable, but also to distinguish clergy from laity more sharply. For this, the main sacrament of Christianity, the Eucharist, was also changed. The clergy began to partake of bread and wine, and the laity - only bread. Finally, Augustine's idea of forcing heretics into obedience was used in the organization of the Inquisition - special tribunals that searched for and condemned heretics.

An important difference Catholicism From Orthodoxy came the addition to the Creed of the thesis about the procession of the Holy Spirit not “from the Father”, but “from the Father and the Son”. This increase, which spread in the churches of Spain and France, was approved by the pope in 1019. Two other purely Catholic dogmas - about Purgatory and the non-participation of the Mother of God in original sin (finally approved by the pala only in 1854) followed from the Augustinian doctrine of sin. It was considered as a kind of debt of a person to God, which a person can "pay" with merits and even with a surplus. These "super-due merits" are at the disposal of God, the church and the pope. In their account, sinners who did not have time to repent during their lifetime can be cleansed after death - in Purgatory. The Mother of God “in view of the future merits of Christ” was initially freed from original sin. The doctrine of "super-due merit" also led to the sale of indulgences - letters of absolution. The mass sale of indulgences in the interests of the papacy caused great indignation and became one of the causes of the Reformation.

Medieval pictures of the world surprisingly combine ideas about the unity and duality of the world, created and controlled by a single God, but split into Heaven and Earth. A person of that era persistently and sometimes painfully searches for symbols in local things, allegories of the otherworldly, wonderful, but truly real. Therefore, in literature and art, fantasy prevailed over observation, the general over the particular, the eternal over the temporal. The Middle Ages sought to bring the divine, universal order to Earth. Universalism found its fullest expression in the culture of the intellectual elite, the most educated part of medieval society.

Education in the Middle Ages is directly related to antique samples. As in the late Roman schools, it was based on the seven "liberal arts" (artes liberales) - a series of disciplines divided into two stages: trivium (preparatory) and quadrivium. The trivium included: grammar - the ability to read, understand what was read and write; dialectics - the art of arguing through arguments and their rebuttals, and rhetoric, which taught how to make speeches. The quadrivium consisted of arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy. These sciences were conceived as teachings about the numerical ratios that underlie world harmony. Education was conducted in Latin, only in the XIV century. there were schools with teaching in national languages.

Until the 11th century very few schools were located at the courts of barbarian kings, bishops' chairs, churches and monasteries. They trained mainly ministers of the church. With the growth of cities, secular urban private and municipal schools arose, where wandering schoolchildren studied - vagants, or goliards, who came from an urban and knightly environment, the lower clergy. Often a teacher and a group of schoolchildren wandered from place to place. A vivid picture of such wanderings is drawn by Peter Abelard (XII century). He taught in cities, monasteries, and even in the countryside, where students had to cultivate the land themselves. By the XII century. cathedral schools in the largest centers of Europe: Bologna, Montpellier, Paris, Oxford, Salerno, etc. - turn into universities (from the Latin "universitas" - totality, community).

Universities had legal, administrative, financial autonomy, which was granted to them by special decrees of sovereigns and popes. The relative independence of the university was combined with strict regulation and discipline of internal life. Two corporations - teachers and students - elected officials: rectors, deans, etc.; fraternities played an important role in both corporations.

The university was usually divided into four faculties: theological (theological), legal, medical, and the faculty of the seven liberal arts (artistic). The latter was a necessary preparatory step for any of the other three. In order to enter the higher faculty, it was necessary to take a course of sciences at the artistic faculty and receive academic degrees here, first a bachelor's degree, and then a master's degree. They were awarded based on the results of disputes in which teachers and students participated. In the higher faculties, the master's degree corresponded to a very honorary doctorate degree: theology, law or medicine. Many masters of liberal arts were outstanding logicians, mathematicians, astronomers. Almost all teachers were priests or monks. The theological faculty enjoyed special respect.

Medieval European culture covers the period from the fall of the Roman Empire to the moment of the active formation of the culture of the Renaissance and divides the culture early period (V-XI centuries) and culture classical Middle Ages(XII-XIV centuries). The emergence of the term "Middle Ages" is associated with the activities of the Italian humanists of the XV-XVI centuries, who, by introducing this term, sought to separate the culture of their era - the culture of the Renaissance - from the culture of previous eras. The Middle Ages brought with it new economic relations, a new type of political system, as well as global changes in the worldview of people.

The entire culture of the early Middle Ages had a religious connotation.

All classes of medieval society recognized the spiritual leadership of the church, but nevertheless, each of them developed their own special culture, in which they reflected their moods and ideals.

Crusades carried out at the end of this period were of great importance. These campaigns contributed to the acquaintance of Western Europe with the rich culture of the Arab East and accelerated the growth of crafts.

2. Features of the art of medieval Europe.

The development of medieval art includes the following three stages:

1. pre-Romanesque art (V-X centuries) ,

which is divided into three periods: early Christian art, the art of the barbarian kingdoms, and the art of the Carolingian and Ottonian empires.

Art of the barbarians played a positive role in the development of the ornamental and decorative direction, which later became the main part of the artistic creativity of the classical Middle Ages. And which already did not have a close connection with ancient traditions.

2. Romanesque art (XI-XII centuries)

In addition to religious architecture, secular architecture also actively developed, an example of this is the feudal castle - a house - a tower of a rectangular or polyhedral shape.

3. Gothic art (XII-XV centuries)

It arose as a result of the development of cities and the emerging urban culture. The symbol of medieval cities is the cathedral, gradually losing its defensive functions. Style changes in the architecture of this era were explained not only by the change in the functions of buildings, but by the rapid development of construction technology, which by that time was already based on precise calculation and verified design. Abundant convex details - statues, bas-reliefs, hanging arches were the main decorations of buildings, both from the inside and from the outside. World masterpieces of Gothic architecture are Notre Dame Cathedral, Milan Cathedral in Italy.

Gothic is also used in sculpture. A three-dimensional plastic of various forms appears, a portrait individuality, a real anatomy of figures.

In the book miniature, the Gothic style also begins to prevail, there is a significant expansion of its scope, there is a mutual influence of stained glass and miniature. The art of book miniature was one of the greatest achievements of Gothic. This type of painting evolved from the "classical" style to realism.

Among the most outstanding achievements of the Gothic book miniature, the psalter of Queen Ingeborg and the psalter of St. Louis stand out. A remarkable monument of the German school of the early XIV century. is the Manesse Manuscript, which is a collection of the most famous songs of the German Minesingers, decorated with portraits of singers, scenes of tournaments and court life, coats of arms.

Literature and music of the Middle Ages.

In the period of mature feudalism, along with and as an alternative to ecclesiastical literature, which had priority, secular literature also developed rapidly. So, the most widespread and even some approval of the church received chivalric literature, which included a knightly epic, a knightly romance, the poetry of the French troubadours and the lyrics of the German minizingers. They sang the war for the Christian faith and glorified the feat of chivalry in the name of this faith. An example of the knightly epic of France is the Song of Roland. Its plot was the campaigns of Charlemagne in Spain, and the main character was Count Roland.

At the end of the 7th century Under the auspices of Charlemagne, a book-writing workshop was founded, where a special gospel was made.

In the XII century. Chivalric novels written in the genre of prose appeared and quickly became widespread. They told about the various adventures of the knights.

In contrast to the chivalric romance, urban literature is developing. A new genre is being formed - a poetic short story, which contributes to the formation of citizens as a whole.

The term "Middle Ages" was introduced by humanists around 1500. So they denoted the millennium separating them from the "golden age" of antiquity.

Medieval culture is divided into periods:

1. V c. AD - XI century. n. e. - Early Middle Ages.

2. The end of the VIII century. AD - the beginning of the 9th century. AD - Carolingian revival.

Z. XI - XIII centuries. - the culture of the mature Middle Ages.

4. XIV-XV centuries. - the culture of the late Middle Ages.

The Middle Ages is a period whose beginning coincided with the death of ancient culture, and the end - with its revival in modern times. Two prominent cultures are attributed to the early Middle Ages - the culture of the Carolingian Renaissance and Byzantium. They gave rise to two great cultures - Catholic (Western Christian) and Orthodox (Eastern Christian).

Medieval culture covers more than a millennium and in socio-economic terms corresponds to the birth, development and decay of feudalism. In this historically long socio-cultural process of development of feudal society, a peculiar type of relationship between a person and the world was developed, qualitatively distinguishing it both from the culture of ancient society and from the subsequent culture of the New Age.

The term " Carolingian revival” describes the cultural upsurge in the empire of Charlemagne and in the kingdoms of the Carolingian dynasty in the 8th-9th centuries. (mainly in France and Germany). He expressed himself in organizing schools, attracting educated figures to the royal court, in the development of literature, fine arts, and architecture. Scholasticism (“school theology”) became the dominant trend in medieval philosophy.

It is necessary to identify the origins of medieval culture:

The culture of the "barbarian" peoples of Western Europe (the so-called German origin);

Cultural traditions of the Western Roman Empire (Roman origin: powerful statehood, law, science and art);

The Crusades significantly expanded not only economic, trade contacts and exchanges, but also contributed to the penetration of the more developed culture of the Arab East and Byzantium into barbarian Europe. In the midst of the crusades, Arab science began to play a huge role in the Christian world, contributing to the rise of the medieval culture of Europe in the 12th century. The Arabs passed on to Christian scholars Greek science, accumulated and preserved in Eastern libraries, which was eagerly absorbed by enlightened Christians. The authority of pagan and Arab scientists was so strong that references to them were almost obligatory in medieval science; Christian philosophers sometimes attributed their original thoughts and conclusions to them.

As a result of long-term communication with the population of a more cultured East, Europeans adopted many of the achievements of the culture and technology of the Byzantine and Muslim world. This gave a strong impetus to the further development of Western European civilization, which was reflected primarily in the growth of cities, strengthening their economic and spiritual potential. Between the 10th and 13th centuries there was a rise in the development of western cities, and their image changed.

One function prevailed - trade, which revived the old cities and created a handicraft function a little later. The city became a hotbed of economic activity hated by the lords, which led, to a certain extent, to the migration of the population. Of the various social elements the city created a new society, contributed to the formation of a new mentality, which consisted in choosing an active, rational life, and not a contemplative one. The flourishing of the urban mentality was favored by the emergence of urban patriotism. Urban society managed to create aesthetic, cultural, spiritual values that gave a new impetus to the development of the medieval West.

Romanesque art, which was an expressive manifestation of early Christian architecture, during the XII century. began to change. The old Romanesque churches became cramped for the growing population of cities. It was necessary to make the church spacious, full of air, while saving expensive space inside the city walls. Therefore, the cathedrals are pulled up, often hundreds of meters or more. For the townspeople, the cathedral was not just an ornament, but also an impressive evidence of the power and wealth of the city. Along with the town hall, the cathedral was the center and focus of all public life.

The town hall concentrated the business, practical part related to city government, and in the cathedral, in addition to worship, university lectures were read, theatrical performances(mysteries), sometimes parliament sat in it. Many city cathedrals were so large that the entire population of the then city could not fill it. Cathedrals and town halls were built by order of city communes. Due to the high cost of building materials, the complexity of the work itself, temples were sometimes built over several centuries. The iconography of these cathedrals expressed the spirit of urban culture.

In it, the active and contemplative life sought balance. Huge windows with colored glass (stained glass) created a shimmering twilight. Massive semicircular vaults were replaced by lancet, ribbed ones. In combination with a complex support system, this made the walls light and delicate. The gospel characters in the sculptures of the Gothic temple take on the grace of courtly heroes, coquettishly smiling and "refinedly" suffering.

Gothic - the artistic style, predominantly architectural, which reached its greatest development in the construction of light, gabled, soaring cathedrals with lancet vaults and rich decorative decoration, became the pinnacle of medieval culture. On the whole, it was a triumph of engineering thought and dexterity of craftsmen, an invasion of the secular spirit of urban culture into the Catholic church. Gothic is associated with the life of a medieval city-commune, with the struggle of cities for independence from the feudal lord. Like Romanesque art, Gothic spread throughout Europe, while its best creations were created in the cities of France.

Changes in architecture led to changes in monumental painting. The place of the frescoes was taken stained glass windows. The church established the canons in the image, but even through them the creative individuality of the masters made itself felt. In terms of their emotional impact, the plots of stained glass paintings, conveyed with the help of a drawing, are in last place, and in the first place is color and, along with it, light. Great skill has reached the design of the book. In the XII-XIII centuries. manuscripts of religious, historical, scientific or poetic content are elegantly illustrated color miniature.

Of the liturgical books, the most common are books of hours and psalms, intended mainly for the laity. The concept of space and perspective for the artist was absent, so the drawing is schematic, the composition is static. beauty human body in medieval painting no significance was attached. In the first place was the spiritual beauty, the moral image of a person. The sight of a naked body was considered sinful. Of particular importance in the appearance of a medieval person was attached to the face. medieval era created grandiose artistic ensembles, solved gigantic architectural problems, created new forms of monumental painting and plastic arts, and most importantly, was a synthesis of these monumental arts, in which she sought to convey complete picture peace .

The shift in the center of gravity of culture from the monasteries to the cities was especially pronounced in the field of education. During the XII century. urban schools are decisively ahead of the monastic ones. New training centers, thanks to their programs and methods, and most importantly - the recruitment of teachers and students, are very quickly coming forward.

Students from other cities and countries gathered around the most brilliant teachers. As a result, it begins to create graduate School- university. In the XI century. the first university was opened in Italy (Bologna, 1088). In the XII century. Universities are springing up in other countries of Western Europe as well. In England, the first was the University of Oxford (1167), then the University of Cambridge (1209). The largest and first of the universities of France was Paris (1160).

The study and teaching of sciences becomes a craft, one of the many activities that have specialized in urban life. The very name university comes from the Latin "corporation". Indeed, universities were corporations of teachers and students. The development of universities with their traditions of disputes, as the main form of education and movement of scientific thought, the appearance in the XII-XIII centuries. a large number translated literature from Arabic and Greek became incentives intellectual development Europe.

Universities were the focus of medieval philosophy - scholastics. The method of scholasticism consisted in considering and colliding all the arguments and counterarguments of any proposition and in the logical unfolding of this proposition. The old dialectics, the art of arguing and argumentation, are developing in an unusual way. A scholastic ideal of knowledge is emerging, where rational knowledge and logical proof, based on the teachings of the church and on authorities in various branches of knowledge, acquire a high status.

Mysticism, which had a significant influence in the culture as a whole, is accepted very cautiously in scholasticism, only in connection with alchemy and astrology. Until the XIII century. scholasticism was the only possible way to improve the intellect because science obeyed and served theology. The scholastics were credited with the development of formal logic and the deductive way of thinking, and their method of cognition was nothing more than the fruit of medieval rationalism. The most recognized of the scholastics, Thomas Aquinas, considered science "the servant of theology." Despite the development of scholasticism, it was the universities that became the centers of a new, non-religious culture.

At the same time, there was a process of accumulation of practical knowledge, which was transferred in the form of production experience in craft workshops and workshops. Many discoveries and finds were made here, served in half with mysticism and magic. The process of technical development was expressed in the appearance and use of windmills, lifts for the construction of temples.

A new and extremely important phenomenon was the creation of non-church schools in the cities: these were private schools that were not financially dependent on the church. Since that time, there has been a rapid spread of literacy among the urban population. Urban non-church schools became centers of freethinking. Poetry became the mouthpiece of such sentiments. vagants- wandering poets-schoolboys, people from the lower classes. A feature of their work was the constant criticism of the Catholic Church and the clergy for greed, hypocrisy, ignorance. The Vagantes believed that these qualities, common to the common man, should not be inherent in the holy church. The Church, in turn, persecuted and condemned the Vagantes.

The most important monument English Literature 12th century - famous ballads of Robin Hood, who remains one of the most famous heroes of world literature to this day.

Developed urban culture . In poetic short stories, dissolute and greedy monks, stupid peasant villans, cunning burghers were portrayed (“The Romance of the Fox”). Urban art was nourished by peasant folklore and was distinguished by great integrity and organicity. It was on urban soil that music and theater with their touching performances of church legends, instructive allegories.

The city contributed to the growth of productive forces, which gave impetus to the development natural science. English scientist and encyclopedist R. Bacon(XIII century) believed that knowledge should be based on experience, and not on authorities. But the emerging rationalistic ideas were combined with the search by alchemist scientists for the "elixir of life", " philosopher's stone", with the aspirations of astrologers to predict the future by the movement of the planets. They also made discoveries in the field of natural sciences, medicine, astronomy in parallel. Scientific searches gradually contributed to the change in all aspects of the life of medieval society, prepared the emergence of a "new" Europe.

The culture of the Middle Ages is characterized by:

Theocentrism and creationism;

Dogmatism;

Ideological intolerance;

Suffering renunciation of the world and craving for a violent worldwide transformation of the world in accordance with the idea (crusades)

The era of the Middle Ages was considered by the advanced thinkers of the new time as a gloomy time that did not give the world anything: the narrow religious worldview imposed by the Catholic Church hindered the development of science and art. In today's lesson, we will try to challenge this statement and prove that the Middle Ages, which lasted a thousand years, left a rich cultural heritage for future generations.

In the 11th century, in the south of France, in Provence, chivalrous poetry arose. Provencal poets-singers were called troubadours (Fig. 1). The imagination of the poets created the image of an ideal knight - brave, generous and fair. In the poetry of the troubadours, the service to the Beautiful Lady, the Madonna (“my lady”) was sung, in which the worship of the Mother of God and the earthly, living and beautiful woman. In Northern France, Italy, Spain, Germany, knightly poets were called trouvers and minnesingers (translated as love singers).

Rice. 1. Troubadour ()

In the same centuries, poetic chivalric novels and stories arose. The legends of King Arthur and the knights were reflected especially widely in the novels. round table. Arthur's court was presented as a place where the best qualities of chivalry flourished. The novels took the reader to a fantasy world, where at every step there were fairies, giants, wizards, oppressed beauties, waiting for help from brave knights.

In the XII century, the flourishing of urban literature began. The townspeople loved short stories in poems and fables on everyday topics. Their heroes were most often a clever, cunning burgher or a cheerful, resourceful peasant. They invariably made fools of their opponents - swaggering knights and greedy monks. The verses of the va-gants (translated from Latin - vagabonds) are associated with urban literature. Vagants were called schoolchildren and students who, in the XII-XIII centuries, wandered around the cities and universities of Europe in search of new teachers.

An outstanding poet of the Middle Ages was Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) (Fig. 2). Dante was born in Florence into an old noble family. He studied at the city school, and then studied philosophy, astronomy, and ancient literature all his life. At the age of 18, he experienced love for the young Beatrice, who later married another and died early. With an unprecedented frankness for those times, Dante spoke about his experiences in a small book, New Life; she glorified his name in literature. Dante wrote a great work in verse, which he called "Comedy". Descendants called it the "Divine Comedy" as a token of the highest praise. Dante describes a journey to the afterlife: hell for sinners, paradise for the righteous, and purgatory for those to whom God has not yet pronounced his sentence. At the gates of hell, located in the north, there is an inscription that has become winged: "Abandon hope, everyone who enters here." In the center of the southern hemisphere there is a huge mountain in the form of a truncated cone, on the ledges of the mountain there is a purgatory, and on its flat top there is an earthly paradise. Accompanied by the great Roman poet Virgil, Dante visits hell and purgatory, and Beatrice leads him through paradise. There are 9 circles in hell: the heavier the sins, the lower the circle and the more severe the punishment. In hell, Dante placed bloodthirsty power-hungry, cruel rulers, criminals, misers. In the center of hell is the devil himself, gnawing at traitors: Judas, Brutus and Cassius. Dante placed his enemies in hell, including several popes. In his image, sinners are not incorporeal shadows, but living people: they have conversations and disputes with the poet, political strife rages in hell. Dante converses with the righteous in paradise and, finally, contemplates the Mother of God and God. Paintings afterlife drawn so vividly and convincingly that it seemed to contemporaries that the poet saw it with his own eyes. And he described, in essence, the diverse earthly world, with its contradictions and passions. The poem is written in Italian: the poet wanted to be understood by the widest range of readers.

Rice. 2. Domenico Petarlini. Dante Alighieri)

Since the 11th century, large-scale construction began in Western Europe. The rich church expanded the number and size of temples, rebuilt old buildings. Until the 11th-12th centuries, the Romanesque style dominated Europe. Romanesque temple - a massive building with almost smooth walls, tall towers and laconic decor. Everywhere the outlines of a semicircular arch are repeated - on the vaults, window openings, entrances to the temple (Fig. 3).

Rice. 3. Church of San Martin in Fromiste (1066) - one of best monuments Romanesque in Spain)

From the middle of the XII century, commercial premises, meeting rooms for workshops and guilds, hospitals, and hotels were built in free cities. The main decorations of the city were the town hall and especially the cathedral. Buildings of the XII-XV centuries were later called Gothic. Now the light and high lancet vault rests on the inside on bunches of narrow, high columns, and on the outside on massive support pillars and connecting arches. The halls are spacious and high, they receive more light and air, they are richly decorated with paintings, carvings, bas-reliefs. Thanks to wide passages and through galleries, many huge windows and lacy stone carvings, Gothic cathedrals seem transparent (Fig. 4).

Rice. 4. Notre Dame Cathedral (

In the Middle Ages, sculpture was inseparable from architecture. Temples were decorated outside and inside with hundreds, if not thousands, of reliefs and statues depicting God and the Virgin Mary, apostles and saints, bishops and kings. For example, in the cathedral in Chartres (France) there were up to 9 thousand statues, not counting the reliefs. Church art was supposed to serve as a "Bible for the illiterate" - depict scenes described in Christian books, strengthen in faith and frighten with the torments of hell. Unlike ancient art, which glorified the beauty of the human body, the artists of the Middle Ages sought to reveal the richness of the soul, thoughts and feelings of a person, his intense inner life. In gothic statues, in their flexible, elongated figures, the appearance of people is especially vividly conveyed, under the folds of clothing the body shapes show through more clearly, in poses there is more movement. The idea of harmony of the external and internal appearance of a person is becoming more and more noticeable; especially beautiful female images- Mary in Reims Cathedral, Uta in Naumburg.

The walls of Romanesque churches were covered with paintings. great achievement painting was a book miniature. The whole life of people was reflected in many bright drawings. Everyday scenes were also depicted on frescoes, which is especially typical for German and Scandinavian churches of the XIV-XV centuries.

Considering the cultural heritage of the Middle Ages, let's focus on scientific achievements. Astrology and alchemy flourished in the Middle Ages. Observations and experiments of astrologers and alchemists contributed to the accumulation of knowledge in astronomy and chemistry. Alchemists, for example, discovered and improved methods for obtaining metal alloys, paints, medicinal substances, created many chemical devices and devices for conducting experiments. Astrologers studied the location of stars and luminaries, their movement and the laws of physics. Accumulated useful knowledge and medicine.

In the XIV-XV centuries, water mills began to be actively used in mining and craft. The water wheel has long been the basis of mills that were built on rivers and lakes to grind grain (Fig. 5). But later, a more powerful wheel was invented, which was set in motion by the force of water falling on it. The energy of the mill was also used in cloth making, for washing (“enrichment”) and smelting metal ores, lifting weights, etc. The mill and mechanical clocks were the first mechanisms of the Middle Ages.

Rice. 5. Top water wheel ()

The advent of firearms. Previously, metal was melted in small forges, forcing air into them with hand bellows. Since the XIV century, they began to build blast furnaces - melting furnaces up to 3-4 meters in height. The water wheel was connected to large bellows that forced air into the furnace. Thanks to this, a very high temperature was reached in the blast furnace: the iron ore was melted, and liquid cast iron was formed. Various products were cast from cast iron, and iron and steel were obtained by remelting it. Metal was now smelted much more than before. For melting metal in blast furnaces, they began to use not only charcoal, but also coal.

For a long time, rare Europeans dared to embark on long voyages on the high seas. Without correct cards and marine instruments, ships sailed "coastal" (along the coast) along the seas surrounding Europe and along North Africa. It became safer to go to the open sea after the sailors had a compass. Astrolabes were invented - devices for determining the place where the ship is located (Fig. 6).

Rice. 6. Astrolabe ()

With the development of the state and cities, science and navigation, the amount of knowledge increased and, at the same time, the need for educated people, for the expansion of education and for books, including textbooks. In the 14th century, cheaper writing material, paper, began to be made in Europe, but there were still not enough books. To reproduce the text, prints were made from a wooden or copper board with letters carved on it, but this method was very imperfect and required a lot of labor. In the middle of the 15th century, the German Johannes Gutenberg (c. 1399-1468) invented printing. After long and hard work and searches, he began to cast individual letters (letters) from metal; of these, the inventor composed the lines and pages of the set, from which he made an impression on paper. Using collapsible font, you could type as many pages of any text as you like. Gutenberg also invented the printing press. In 1456, Gutenberg released the first printed book - the Bible (Fig. 7), which, in artistic terms, was not inferior to the best hand-written books. The invention of printing is one of the greatest discoveries in the history of mankind. It contributed to the development of education, science and literature. Thanks to the printed book, the knowledge accumulated by people, all the necessary information began to spread faster. They were more fully preserved and passed on to the next generations of people. Successes in the dissemination of information, an important part of the development of culture and all sectors of society, made their next important step in the late Middle Ages - a step towards the New Age.

Rice. 7. Johannes Gutenberg Bible ()

Bibliography

Agibalova E.V., G.M. Donskoy. History of the Middle Ages. - M., 2012
Atlas of the Middle Ages: History. Traditions. - M., 2000
An illustrated world history: from ancient times to the 17th century. - M., 1999
History of the Middle Ages: book. For reading / Ed. V.P. Budanova. - M., 1999
Kalashnikov V. Riddles of History: Middle Ages / V. Kalashnikov. - M., 2002
Stories on the history of the Middle Ages / Ed. A.A. Svanidze. M., 1996

Liveinternet.ru ().
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Homework

What genres of literature developed in medieval Europe?
Why is Dante considered the greatest poet of the Middle Ages?
What styles dominated medieval architecture?
What technical inventions of the Middle Ages do you know?
Why is the invention of printing considered one of the most important discoveries in human history?

Introduction
1. Mental foundations and character traits Western European medieval culture
2. European culture early medieval
3. European culture of the mature and late Middle Ages
4. Culture of Byzantium: stages and trends of development
Conclusion
List of used literature

Introduction

At the end of the 5th century on the ruins of the Western Roman Empire, a new cultural and historical type of European society began to emerge. Self-determined in the IV century. The Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium) followed its own cultural and civilizational path, which doomed it to a kind of slow archaization and stagnation. But, despite the different ways of forming socio-political systems, there was an indisputable similarity between medieval Western Europe and Byzantium, based on the dominance of feudal relations and Christianity. The latter, however, internally split into Eastern Orthodoxy and Western Catholicism (the split was formally fixed in 1054).

The emergence of two Christian denominations deepened the economic, political and spiritual division between Byzantium and the West. In the new Europe during the Middle Ages, the process of formation of nationalities was faster, various worldviews were formed, separate subcultures and cultural centers, art schools, trends, and styles were formed. The struggle between the desire for Christian unity and the desire for national independence has become distinctive feature Western culture of the Middle Ages. Byzantium was, as it were, aloof from this struggle.

In history cultural development In medieval Western Europe, it is customary to single out the periods of the early Middle Ages (V-X centuries), the mature Middle Ages (XI-XIII centuries) and the late Middle Ages (XIV-XV centuries). In Italy and the Netherlands, the late Middle Ages correspond to the final stage of the Proto-Renaissance and Early Renaissance, which is explained by the uneven development of the economy and other institutions of civilization in various countries Europe.

1. Mental foundations and characteristic features of Western European medieval culture

The spiritual basis of the Middle Ages, which affected all spheres of life, was Christianity. It determined the main feature of medieval culture - theocentrism. The system of official values in this era was determined by faith in the triune God. The divine world is the pinnacle of the cosmic and social hierarchy. Nature, society, man were considered as a whole, since they were considered God's creations. The meaning of the life of a medieval person was to discover the signs of the Creator of all things in his soul and the surrounding reality.

Another important feature of the medieval worldview is spiritualism. The earthly, natural world seemed to be only a reflection of the heavenly and was filled with mysterious spirits and mystical energies. This aimed at a constant search for ways to establish contact with God.

In medieval culture, there was no place left for the ancient harmony of spirit and body. In official dogmatics, the material, bodily was opposed to the spiritual and interpreted as something vile. This view influenced the formation of a new concept of man. On the one hand, he contained the image and likeness of God, on the other hand, he acted as the bearer of the carnal principle. A person is subject to devilish temptations, and they test his will. Life passes between the dazzling abyss of grace and the black abyss of perdition. Only constant improvement of the spiritual principle and sacrificial service to God can help a person avoid hellish torments.

Heightened sensitivity, bordering on exaltation, determined an important feature of the medieval mentality. Spirituality was associated not with rational activity, but with intense emotional life, ecstatic visions and miracles, imaginary phenomena of the other world.

Another important feature of the medieval worldview is symbolism, which overcame the ancient attitude to the contemplation of a sensual-material form. Man aspired to what was on the other side of the latter - to pure divine being. At the same time, potentially any thing was necessarily presented, first of all, by its sign, image, symbol, which did not mix the introduced meaning and the earthly thing, but assumed their common divine origin.

So, things-symbols had the ability to reflect the divine reality, but to varying degrees. From this idea followed the next feature of the Middle Ages - hierarchism. natural world and social reality here were deeply hierarchical. The place of a phenomenon or object in the universal hierarchy was associated with the degree of their proximity to God.

These features of the medieval worldview determined and art culture, the main place in which was occupied by the attributes of the Christian cult. The goal of artistic creativity of that time was not aesthetic pleasure as such, but an appeal to God. However, Thomas Aquinas and some other religious philosophers also represented God as a source of universal harmony and ideal beauty. An integral attribute of medieval art, which manifested itself especially in the mature and late Middle Ages, is monumentalism. It reflected the greatness of God, in the face of which a person was likened to a grain of sand. Medieval art is characterized by the same symbolism. The religious work of art as a whole and any of its elements were considered as signs of a supernatural reality.

Medieval architecture was a kind of synthesis of arts, united around the spiritual center - the cathedral, which embodied Heavenly Jerusalem, the Kingdom of Christ, the Universe.

The use of symbols in works of art - "traces" of the incessant divine providence - determined the canonicity and allegorism of medieval art. Artists had to focus on the spiritual content of the images, resorting to conventions and stylization, referring to allegories and associations. Thus, the meanings of sacred symbols were deciphered and presented in the form of clearly presented canonized moral formulas.

An important feature of medieval art is speculativeness, leading away from the worldly, sensual vision. The incorporeality of bodies, the lack of interest in concrete-sensual details on the icon did not divert attention from the spiritual comprehension of God. The same is true of spiritually sublime music, which liberated from the power of everyday life.

2. European culture of the early Middle Ages

During the early Middle Ages, Western European culture and civilization experienced phases of crisis and rise. It was a time of difficult, at first timid and imitative, and then more and more confident, independent search for an integral system of values, norms, ideals, carried out at the crossroads of Christian, barbarian and ancient traditions.

A new era began in the context of a deep total crisis that erupted after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. Medieval society found its way in an environment of economic and political chaos, among the ruins of the culture of the destroyed ancient world. The number of cities that recently determined the qualitative originality of ancient culture has decreased. Cities and urban residences of kings survived and slowly grew mainly along the banks of large rivers. The economy of that time was dominated by subsistence farming and the agrarian economy, and the growth of large landed property began. Trade relations of individual localities were carried out mainly along the rivers and rarely became stable. Residents exchanged the most necessary goods or luxury items (salt, wine, oil, expensive fabrics, spices). Settlement using money was difficult due to their scarcity in circulation. Gold coins were minted mainly to maintain the power of overlords.

The early Middle Ages also preserved some of the cultural forms created by antiquity (primarily Rome). In the coming era, education served primarily as a means to ensure liturgical practice and government. Some disciplines, in particular rhetoric, have completely changed their meaning. In the early Middle Ages, the latter became the realm of the written rather than the spoken word, the practice of skilful business writing rather than the art of eloquence. Mathematics mainly formed the skills of counting and solving problems and was least of all associated with the knowledge of the essence of the world, as in Ancient Greece.

The nascent medieval theology, however, turned to ancient authors. Christianity was forced to defend its ideals, turning to a culture with a deeply developed system of intellectual traditions - with its own ontology, epistemology, logic, with a developed art of polemic. Subsequently, patristics, gravitating toward a harmonious synthesis of the Christian idea of revelation and philosophical tradition ancient rationalism, was replaced by scholasticism (XI-XIV centuries), the main problem of which was associated purely with Christian doctrine.

AT religious art the elements of the artistic style of the barbarians were refracted in the early Middle Ages - folklore motifs, ornamentalism, fantastic images, etc.

Emphasized dynamism was distinguished by " animal style”, in which stylized images of animals were combined with a spiral floral ornament. The image of people became widespread at the end of the 7th century. (relief from Hornhausen). Among the surviving architectural buildings of that time, the tomb of Theodoric in Ravenna (completed in the 20s of the 6th century) – an example of primitive imitation of Roman architecture – and the palace chapel in Aachen (788–805) deserve attention.

3. European culture of the mature and late Middle Ages

For Europe, the 11th century marked the beginning of a new cultural upsurge. Strengthening the outer borders of the Western world and reducing the severity of internal conflicts made life safer, which made it possible to switch to improving agricultural technologies, strengthening trade, and developing crafts. The growth of cities took place at an accelerated pace, accompanied by property and social differentiation of society. In the XI-XIII centuries. the main features of medieval culture finally took shape and the first shoots of the future new European cultural type were born.

One of the characteristic features of the culture of this period was the contradiction between fragmentation, divergence in the economic, political, social and spiritual spheres of life, on the one hand, and the unifying pathos of ideal images. social structure proposed religious thinkers, - with another. In the social sphere, the ideal of a unified Christian society coexisted with the functioning of independent social groups, estates.

In the formation of a medieval city, a decisive role was played by the rise Agriculture, the growth of workshops and handicraft corporations, the formation of the merchant class. Large trade routes converged in medieval cities, and the surrounding fertile plains provided an abundance of agricultural products. The economic prerogative of the cities was handicraft, and then manufacturing. Thanks to the cities, the monetary system developed. During the period of the mature and late Middle Ages, a type of trade prevailed in the formed states, focusing mainly on the local market and local sources of goods. But foreign trade and economic ties were also emerging.

Thus, at the turn of the XIII century. no longer monasteries and knightly castles, but cities determined the economic and cultural development of Europe. In the XIV-XV centuries. democratic tendencies were strengthened in it.

Education. The new attitude to the world, gradually taking shape in the urban environment, could not but be reflected in the intellectual culture, in which more and more secular elements appeared. New forms of education were created in the cities: paid elementary secular schools and universities. The first university in Europe appeared in the 12th century. in Paris at the abbey schools of St. Genevieve and St. Victor.

A school in the city could be opened by a workshop, a guild, or even just a private person. The main attention here was paid not to church doctrine, but to grammar, mathematics, rhetoric, natural science, and law. And it is important that teaching in schools was conducted in the native language.

Universities that arose in the 12th-14th centuries gave an even greater impetus to the spread of education, depriving the church of a monopoly in this area. The activities of the universities had three important cultural implications. First, it gave birth to a professional class of scientists who also received the right to teach the truths of Revelation. As a result, along with ecclesiastical and secular power, the power of intellectuals appeared, the influence of which on spiritual culture and social life became more and more intensified. Secondly, the university fraternity affirmed the forms of secular culture and the new meaning of the concept of "nobility", which consisted in the aristocracy of the mind and behavior. Thirdly, within the framework medieval universities together with the formation of the attitude towards rational comprehension of theological wisdom, the beginnings of scientific knowledge appeared.

Literature. The literature of the mature and late Middle Ages reflected the creativity of various social strata of society and nationalities, and therefore was extremely diverse.

Church religious-didactic (lives of the saints, parables, sermons) and edifying (example - instructive examples, entertaining stories) literature continued to be widespread. A special place in church literature was occupied by the genre of visions - stories about the communication of a person, including a simple layman, with otherworldly forces.

Back in the X century. in France, a poetic tradition of jugglers began to take shape - itinerant singer-musicians who were familiar with both the traditions Latin literature, and with the heroic epic. In the XI-XIII centuries. there is a flourishing of chivalrous lyric poetry, which glorified the mighty moral power of love and military exploits. The greatest role in its formation was played by the South French troubadours, in whose verses the traditions of folk and ancient poetry coexisted. Romances of chivalry were very popular - great poetic works in national languages, most often inspired by folk heroic epics.

architecture and art. During the period of the mature Middle Ages, two leading styles appeared that reflected changes in the value orientations of a medieval person - Romanesque and Gothic. The dominant art form during this period was architecture.

In medieval culture of the XI-XII centuries. Romanesque style developed. He inherited the forms of ancient Roman and early Christian architecture. Romanesque plastics are characterized by monumental generalization of forms, deviation from real proportions, expressive postures and gestures of sacred characters.

Romanesque places of worship represented the architectonic monumental style in architecture. Here the main techniques of sculptural and pictorial images, norms and rules of construction artistic images set by church aesthetics. Secular Romanesque art developed in the castles of the feudal lords, which simultaneously met the requirements of defense, housing and representation, both in planning and in relation to the terrain (the fortress of Carcassonne in Provence, XII-XIII centuries).

In the monastic complexes, the leading role belonged to the temple. Sculpture in Romanesque churches, simple in design, was located both inside and outside - on the facade framed by the portal.

Romanesque art was subordinated to architecture. Picturesque images, created mainly in the fresco technique, were expressive color compositions, icon-painting plots that gave the interior an impressive solemnity. Occasionally, cult themes in painting were supplemented folklore motifs(frescoes in the church of Saint-Savin Gartham, France).

From the second half of the XII century. in the art of medieval Europe, the formation of the Gothic style began. The term "Gothic" appeared in the Renaissance and comes from the name of the tribe "Goths", whose pointed dwellings resembled the steep slopes of Gothic cathedrals. The Gothic period turned out to be more complex, and the style itself became refined and decorative in comparison with the Romanesque. It was determined mainly by the culture of cities, the buildings of which were losing their defensive significance. Secular construction developed (town halls, covered markets, hospitals, residential buildings). Under the influence of a new worldview, the main features of Gothic art were formed. It came close to the person. In the images of Christ, human features are emphasized, the appearance of the “terrible Judge” is replaced by the image of the “suffering horn”. Gothic man was in an emotionally tense relationship with an imaginary sphere. In the culture of that time, an interest in the beauty of the real world, earthly feelings and experiences arose.

The main constructive innovation of Gothic architecture was the lancet arch (two arcs facing each other at an acute angle) and the lancet vault on the ribs (the connection of stone ribs with spacers). They increased the height of the grandiose structure and made it possible to block spaces of any plan.

In different states, the Gothic style had its own striking features associated with the emergence of national art schools. The largest of them are French, German and English.

The development of plastics in the Gothic era was inextricably linked with architecture. Sculpture enhanced the emotional perception of architecture, contributed to the pictorial embodiment not only of religious feelings and beliefs, but also of nature deified by man.

The leading role here belonged to round plastic and relief. Gothic sculpture is an integral part of the cathedral. It was included in the architectural composition and diversified its appearance.

Gothic proposed new principles for the synthesis of arts, which made it possible to more fully reflect the emotionally heightened perception of the connection between the heavenly and real worlds, appeal to the earthly. She created the necessary prerequisites for the emergence of the humanistic culture of the Renaissance.

4. Culture of Byzantium: stages and trends of development

Byzantium, which arose in 395 in the territories of the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire, was a major medieval cultural and civilizational center. The capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, which separated from the Western, was Constantinople (now Istanbul), founded in 330 by Emperor Constantine. The state lasted until 1453, when Constantinople was captured by the Turks. Byzantium at the stage of formation is better than the western territories of Europe, preserved and significantly modified the traditions of ancient culture. Little affected by barbarian invasions, it took from Rome the form of a centralized state with an emperor and a church at its head. The development of the culture of Byzantium, to a much greater extent than in the countries of Western Europe, was controlled by the state. Byzantium is characterized by a slow pace of cultural transformations and late formalization of feudal relations. Until the 7th century modified value foundations of late antique culture and civilization were preserved here. The reign of Justinian (527-565) is noted in history as a grandiose attempt to restore the former greatness of Rome, the successor of which the Romean empire - Byzantium considered itself to be.

In the IV-VII centuries. the originality of the religion of Byzantium with its distinctly expressed philosophical and contemplative attitude towards the Christian canons was already fully manifested. The Byzantine civilization is characterized by an organic fusion of secular and religious power in the person of the emperor, who symbolized a single administrative principle. The opposition to the secular (imperial) authority of the spiritual (papal) that arose in Western Europe at times developed into open conflicts. The church organization of Byzantium was entirely regulated by the state and was completely subordinate to the emperor.

The literature of early Byzantium was of a dual nature, bizarrely combining at its core the Christian worldview with the postantine pathos of citizenship and reasonable choice. Among church literature, the genre of hagiography gained particular popularity.

The powerful rise of early Byzantine art was associated with the reign of Justinian. In large cities, primarily in Constantinople, intensive construction was carried out. Triumphal arches, palaces were erected, aqueducts, baths, hippodromes, cisterns for water storage were built. However, the main role in architecture belonged to religious buildings - temples and monastic complexes. In the architecture of the V-VII centuries. two types of temples were used: basilica and cross-domed. The Church of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople (532–537) is a pearl of Byzantine architecture that successfully combines both architectural forms.

Visual arts and architecture of the 5th–7th centuries. combined ecclesiastical and secular genres. The emphasis was on monumental creations. At the same time, several local art schools operated, forming on the basis of teachings Holy Scripture a system of pictorial images, later canonized by the church. The main task was to depict not a single phenomenon, not the sensual world, but its idea, at the same time as close as possible to the divine prototype.

8th century - first half of the ninth century became a time of testing for the Byzantine culture and civilization, which was reconsidering its attitude to the ancient heritage. Free handicraft and trade corporations were reduced, the mercenary army was abolished, the number of cities was sharply reduced. The rewriting of ancient books lost its relevance, and only a few intellectuals still supported the traditions of ancient education. The sphere of education was in decline (even the patriarchal school at the Hagia Sophia was closed), and the literacy of the population dropped sharply. At the same time, the role of the patriarchs rose, the Christian church sought to extinguish the last pockets of paganism.

The literature of this period was predominantly ecclesiastical in nature. The hagiographical genre remained the most popular, including, along with religious narratives, disparate natural science, geographical and historical information. The apologetic hymnography was dominated by the canon with its solemn static and floridity.

Second half of the 9th - 13th centuries - a period of weakening imperial power and strengthening the position of the landed aristocracy.

Economy. By the middle of the X century. feudal relations finally developed in Byzantium. Unlike the West, they were based primarily on the enslavement of peasants by the state. At the same time, small communal landownership was absorbed by large feudal estates, which competed with the centralized system of state power. In Byzantium in the 11th-12th centuries, despite the growth of crafts and trade, no Western-type cities with a new developed self-government and free craft workshops appeared. Shop production in large cities was tightly controlled by the state.

The worldview of that time combined the fading ideals of patriotism, emotional and mystical and at the same time philosophical and rational religiosity. Interest in the ancient heritage was renewed, the works of ancient authors were rewritten. Secular education was revived according to the ancient model. In the ninth century a higher school was opened in Constantinople, which was led by the greatest scientist of that time, Leo the Mathematician.

Literature. In the second half of the IX - XIII centuries. various kinds of systematic reviews have become widespread.

Architecture and fine arts. During this period, there was a further enrichment of the style of architecture. The leading role traditionally belonged to religious architecture with its large monastic complexes and majestic temples.

From the second half of the ninth century big changes affected church painting: it became more and more humanized, but claimed to awaken universal spiritual experiences expressed through symbolic images. The laconicism of the compositional construction, the restraint of the color solution, the proportionality to the architecture distinguish the painting of the 9th-13th centuries. It was at this time that a system of canonical images in temples developed.

After the devastating campaigns of the crusaders who destroyed Constantinople, in the XIII century. has begun The final stage cultural development of Byzantium. It is associated with the rule of the Palaiologos dynasty (1267–1453). The art of this time is characterized by expression and filigree elaboration of images (mosaics of the Kahriye Jami church in Constantinople).

In 1453, Byzantium was conquered by Turkey, but the types of religious buildings created by its masters, systems of fresco paintings and mosaics, icon painting, and literature became widespread and developed in the art of Western Europe, southern and western Slavs, Ancient Russia, Belarus and Transcaucasia.

Conclusion

So, the Middle Ages in Western Europe is a time of intense spiritual life, complex and difficult searches for worldview structures that could synthesize the historical experience and knowledge of the previous millennia.

In this era, people were able to enter a new path of cultural development, different from what they knew in previous times. Trying to reconcile faith and reason, building a picture of the world on the basis of the knowledge available to them and with the help of Christian dogmatism, the culture of the Middle Ages created new artistic styles, a new urban way of life, a new economy, prepared the minds of people for the use of mechanical devices and technology.

Contrary to the opinion of the thinkers of the Italian Renaissance, the Middle Ages left us the most important achievements of spiritual culture, including the institutions of scientific knowledge and education. Among them, one should name, first of all, the university as a principle. In addition, a new paradigm of thinking has arisen, without which the disciplinary structure of cognition would be impossible. modern science, people got the opportunity to think and learn about the world much more effectively than before. Even the fantastic recipes of the alchemists played their part in this process of improving the spiritual means of thinking, the general level of culture.

Occurred in the XX century. reassessment of the significance of medieval culture emphasizes its special role in creating the image of the moral behavior of a Christian. And today, experts rightly note in this culture the origins of many worldview and intellectual attitudes that are characteristic of later eras, the prerequisites for updating the ways of knowing and aesthetic transformation of the world. The culture of the European Middle Ages developed and consolidated many values, meanings, forms of life and creativity, which found their reincarnation in the following centuries.

List of used literature

Culturology. Textbook / Edited by A.A. Radugin. - M., 2001.
Kononenko B.I. Fundamentals of cultural studies: a course of lectures. - M., 2002.
Petrova M.M. Theory of Culture: Lecture Notes. - St. Petersburg, 2000.
Samokhvalova V.I. Culturology: Short course lectures. - M., 2002.
Erengross B.A. Culturology. Textbook for universities / B.A. Erengross, R.G. Apresyan, E. Botvinnik. – M.: Oniks, 2007.

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