Well that was an awesome semester. Thanks everyone! But don't mourn
its passing too soon. The internet is a treasure trove of amazing
medieval information. Here I'm just highlighting a few places you could
go in particular for podcasts (online audio files) about historical topics, including
medieval ones, by famous historians from all over the world.
For
example, did you know that the BBC History Magazine has a free online
section with audio interviews and brief talks? You can hear the latest
one, or browse the archive for whatever topic takes your fancy, from the
Crusades to WWII: http://www.historyextra.com/podcast-page
If you want a bit more detail, try the online lectures available [on almost any topic] from the Universities of Oxford (http://itunes.ox.ac.uk/) and Cambridge (http://www.cam.ac.uk/video/itunesu.html).
Did
you know that our own Clare Monagle is also a podcasting sensation?
Check her out on Radio National talking about the medieval concept of
'political theology': http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/encounter/politics-and-god/3126076
And if you enjoyed the Robert Bartlett series Inside the Medieval Mind, linked earlier in semester, you could follow up by listening to this interview with him about making the series and what he wanted people to learn.
The end of semester doesn't have to be the end of medieval!
Naturally, there are also other Medieval and Renaissance units you can take here at Monash - just check out the Handbook!
In semester 2, look for ATS1317 (Renaissance Europe); ATS2603 (Age of
Crusades); and ATS2604 (Arthur: History and Myth). In summer 2012 there
will be the exciting travel unit ATS2612 (Renaissance in Florence). And
in 2013 look our for ATS3288 (Angels & Demons: Rome, the Papacy and
the World); ATS2572 (Crisis and renewal in the late Renaissance);
ATS2573 (Relics and legends); and ATS2579 (Witches and depravity).
See you then...
Kathleen
P.S.
Comments remain open, so those of you still writing your essays, please
feel free to post queries about citation, etc., below.
Monday, 21 May 2012
Monday, 14 May 2012
Test Revision
So I'm just putting this here to provide a space for those who would
like to make use of a communal discussion to help them think about the
unit and revise for the test on Monday.
Details, in case you missed them, are:
Kathleen
 |
| God the Geometer, Codex Vindobonensis 2554 |
Details, in case you missed them, are:
- The test takes place in the lecture slot on Monday 21 May.
- It is expected to take about an hour, but you can take up to two if required.
- It will follow an essay format.
- It will take the form of a statement you must discuss with reference to primary sources.
- Select primary sources will be provided.
- A mock test is available on Blackboard
- The marking criteria are listed in the Unit Guide
- There is no exam in the exam period.
- There is no tutorial in week 12 after the test.
- Please submit outstanding essay hard copies to the SOPHIS essay box (Menzies W604).
Kathleen
Wednesday, 9 May 2012
Unit Feedback & Sundry Announcements
Dear Students,
You will have received an email from SETU (Student Evaluation of
Teaching and Units), inviting you to evaluate ATS 1316. Please do so! We
really want to know what you think.
These surveys are taken extremely seriously by the University. They
are used when staff members apply for promotion, or for other jobs.
They are also used to make changes to the units for next year, drawing
on student comments. These blogs, for example, emerged out of comments
by students that they sometimes felt disconnected during first year.
Hence, we have tried to build community and encourage your readings by
running these blogs.
So let us know what you think of the unit. YOU ARE VERY POWERFUL!
P.S. You will also see a link on the right to a survey specifically asking you about the blog. We are really interested in your feedback on this learning tool in particular. This is separate from the University's SETU feedback.
Thanks!
 |
| Prato |
P.P.S. Those interested in following up on the medieval and renaissance world by taking the summer subject in Prato and Florence should look at the ASA website here.
Also, consult the University handbook for more detail about prerequisites, etc., here.
You may also want to contact the course coordinator, Peter Howard.
P.P.P.S. The Black Death blog follows below!
The Black Death
 |
| Gratuitous Sean Bean image... Ed. |
--Dinesh
My intention is to give a brief overview of the readings that focused on the thriving economies of Italy and how the Black Death disrupted this social and economic growth. I also want to explain how the Black Death effected the emergence of the Renaissance.
The relentlessness of the Black Death and its spread across helpless Europe is evident in the loss of between 100-200 million people in the 14thcentury wave of the plague. The population of cities during the time of the bubonic plague was often decimated by more than fifty percent, for example Florence had an initial population of 90,000-100,000 that became a mere 30,000. The devastating effects of the plague and the re-emergence of despotism throughout Italy meant that the prosperity that had been experienced in city-states such as Florence and Venice ceased.
The flourishing republics of Venice and Florence were experiencing great wealth before the arrival of the plague in 1348, and I think that it is important to note the sources of wealth and how they differed from one another.
Florence enjoyed the profits of two main enterprises, wool-making and banking. Wool was one of the two most profitable manufactured products that Europe could sell on the international markets and almost half of the population of Florence was involved in this production. Banking was the other main income source for the affluent Florence. The merchants who collected the church taxes were driven into the banking industry. Merchants had become the main political force of Florence, which had transformed into a ‘city of refinement’, a city of great beauty.
Venice experienced great successes through the trade industry and the manufacturing of ships. Described as a ‘maritime republic’, Venice placed great importance on shipbuilding as its commercial empire was enlarging. I found it interesting that the merchants aboard these ships often doubled as soldiers when the ships were used to accompany war ships in time of battle. This meant that the security of the ships was increased and trade flourished.
The prosperous environment of these cities paved the way for the emergence of minds such as Dante, Giotto di Bondone, Boccaccio and Petarch. These minds were the early voices of the renaissance through their examination of the human condition and their exploration of literature and ideas. However these voices and their humanist ideals were cut short by the arrival of the Black Death.
However it is interesting to look at the opinions of some who believe that the Black Death itself paved the way of the renaissance. It is said that after the first wave of the plague, the people of Italy were so familiarized with death that they came to appreciate every day life more; they began to perhaps ‘live in the moment’. This change brought about new minds, similar to the likes of Dante, who’s thoughts and works paved the pathway to the renaissance.
--Kate
~ ~ ~
THE BLACK DEATH AND SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC UPHEAVAL?
In order to determine the social and economic upheavals engendered by the Black Death, it is crucial to examine the state of Europe both prior and subsequent to the outbreak of the epidemic. Margaret L King’s reading this week focused primarily on Italy in the century preceding the event, providing an overview of the state of the country and, among other things, its social and economic affairs.
King notes that the years after 1250 were particularly prosperous for Northern Italy, with the enterprises of banking and wool lending Florence, and ship building lending Venice, great economic success. The two guilds established for the wool industry encompassed many people and enabled luxury textile items to be sold to the East. Similarly, the ability of the Florentine popolo to act as the Pop’s tax agent led to banking companies that profited off the exchange of money and become the most important throughout Europe. Venice also gained immense prosperity through their industry of ship building, sending out fleets to carry merchandise and to connect with the important Medieval trade network known as the Hanseatic League.
The prosperity of northern Italy is reflected in its vast growth of population, indicated by Florence’s ‘wall project’, a continual expansion of the outer walls in order to accommodate everyone. Furthermore, the construction of buildings such as the Palazzo Vecchio (1298) and the Church of Santa Croce (1295) transformed Florence into a city that prompted the question, ‘What in the world is so splendid and magnificent as the architecture of Florence?’ from the humanist Leonard Bruni (1370-1444).
In addition to this economic wealth and social growth, King dwells on the cultural and social changes that occurred during this time. The focus on law within developing Italian universities led to jurists who were, among other things, crucial for the negotiation of alliances and correct exchange of property within the city. Writers such as Dante Alighieri and painters such as Giotto di Bondone revitalised their trade, with Dante experimenting with poetry and Giotto adding bulk and expression to his figures in a manner that entirely rejuvenated literature and art.
Whilst the 1348 epidemic did lead to a more conservative lull in these arts until around 1400, however, King argues that despotism also played a major role. The revolt of the Ciompi in Florence in 1378 and temporary seizing of the government, the failure of the large Bardi and Peruzzi banks after 1342 due to Edward III’s refusal to repay his debt, and the loss of many urban republics by about 1300 to tyranny, all contributed to social and economic upheaval. Many important cities became subject to noblemen and therefore lost significant republican liberties.
King discusses how the Black Death, through its depletion of the population, spread of fear and changes to art form, did generate social changes, but suggests that despotism in cities outside of Florence and Venice also drastically changed economic and social states, and that the Black Death can therefore not be the only event considered in this question. Furthermore, I view the continuation of the Hanseatic League, for example, as evidence that these states, whilst diminished, were still existent following 1348. In fact, it seems to be the fragments left over from the prosperous period before the plague that culminated in the later Renaissance.
--Sam
~ ~ ~
From around 1250, the life of the average person in northern Italy was improving, particularly for artisans and merchants. This era is known as the republican era and spans until 1350 (which marked the early stages of the Black Death).
Florence flourished due to its specialisation in wool and banking which transformed it from a minor centre to a leading city in Italy and, on a larger scale, Europe. Venice’s wealth, on the other hand, was derived from trade, which required commitment to the building and management of ships. The ships allowed the Venetians to trade fish and salt for commodities such as timber or metal. During this time and up until the 13th century, Venice built up its commercial empire that spread as far as the Near East and north Africa.
I was fascinated by the jurists, who played a significant role in Italian cities in this period. The jurists (who were men) were trained in Roman law and were prominent among the leaders who formed communes and held high status. I was interested to read that they were not always ‘churchmen’ which surprised me as this was during a time where the majority of power came from the Church. Some jurists explored political theory – questioning governance, such as Marsilius of Padua who was declared a heretic due to his theories.
The Black Death began to spread in the summer of 1348 and it was rare that one would survive following contraction. The Plague was carried by a particular flea, which was carried by a species of rat which in turn infected man humans. It was characterized by swellings or buboes (a swollen or inflamed lymph node in the groin or armpit). The Plague caused population to decline significantly – approximately by one or two thirds, Florence and Venice, for instance, shrank from 90,000-100,000 to 30,000 and 120,000 to 84,000 respectively. Reoccurrences were frequent up until 1400. Physicians were helpless to resist and cure the Black Death as they knew nothing of infection, contagion or quarantine. However, it can be assumed that citizens caught on as they began avoiding each other, even to such extremes as parents neglecting their own ill children.
A description from poet Jeuan Gethin likens to the plague to a ‘rootless phantom’, which has ‘no mercy’ for whoever fell into its grasp. I found it interesting that Gethin alluded to fruit when commenting on the appearance of the lumps (‘it is of the form of an apple’) as fruit is something that is not usually synonymous with death.
--Leah
~ ~ ~
The Black Death, a plague that ravaged Europe from the summer of 1348 until as late as 1400 was an epidemic with devastating consequences. For some European cities the population was almost halved, physicians were at a loss as to how to treat the disease and medicines failed to ease symptoms. The Black Death had no cure; citizens who were not already afflicted, could do nothing but wait in fear for what would almost certainly befall them also. People were dying so rapidly that mass graves were dug and families buried there kin with little emotion, as one citizen of Sienna reported “And there were none who wept for any death, for everyone expected to die.” Townspeople became more insular as a result of the rapid spread of disease and cared little for the hardships of their neighbor; monasteries were often the hardest hit due to the fact that monks took it upon themselves to care for victims of the plague. Desperation and fear were common place and it was not unheard of for family members to abandon each other during the height of the epidemic. In the beginning the cause of the Black Death was unknown resulting in certain religious denominations being targeted as the perpetrators, such as the Jews who were burnt alive in some cities. However, social upheaval was not the only consequence of the Plague, governments restricted the import and export of foodstuffs from harbor towns in an attempt to contain the outbreak; this left some merchants poverty stricken and the townspeople not only sick but starving. With the huge decline in population their were limited people left to work the land, impacting agricultural production effecting further still the economic climate of Europe during the 14th Century.
Some historians believe that the Black Plague only exacerbated social and economic issues that were already emerging during this time period, that it only aided what was already in decline. Historian Dr. Mike Ibeji makes the statement, “The Black Death was never a cause it was always a catalyst.” Do you agree?
--VictoriaWednesday, 2 May 2012
The Crusades and Christian Love
Jonathan Riley-Smith offers an understanding of the Crusades from a
theological standpoint, asserting that the Crusades were an act of love.
Riley-Smith identifies two distinctive kinds of love: fraternal love
and the love of God, and how they can be reconciled with the violence of
the Crusades.
Firstly, Riley-Smith identifies the love for Christ as a motivating factor for the Crusades. This is illustrated through one of the early terms for Crusader Knights: crucesignati, meaning the sign of Christ. Crusader Knights were required to sew on to their tunics the sign of the crucifix, to acknowledge the ordeal of Jesus Christ, a point which is stressed by Pope Innocent: "You receive a soft and gentle cross; he bore one that was sharp and hard. You wear it superficially on your clothing; he endured it really in his flesh. You sew on yours with linen and silk threads; he was nailed to his with iron and hard nails."
The early Crusades were considered an extension of a pilgrimage, which illustrates a significant devotional aspect to Christ. It also marks a pivotal moment in the perception of wartime killing in the context of Christian theology. Previously, "Christian thinkers had accepted war as a necessary but unfortunate aspect of life." (James Muldoon, 2005, p41) and the Catholic Church reconciled the contradiction between warfare and the Christian notion of anti-violence, by requiring soldiers to undertake penance and seek absolution from their sins for participating in war. However Crusading in itself replaced the obligatory penance, as the actual act of participating in a holy war became the means for one to expiate their sins. This underlines the devotional aspect of Crusading and demonstrates the perceived link between love for God and violent warfare.
The love for one's fellow Christian was also a pervasive theme in the appeal of Pope Urban II. Many scholars purport that Pope Urban exaggerated the plight of the Christians in the East at the hands of their Muslim rulers, including James Muldoon: "...the pope argued, Christians living under Muslim rule in the East were suffering under Muslim rule and should be freed. In saying this, he was apparently unaware that Eastern Christians had generally come to a peaceful accommodation with their Muslim masters and did not require the help of their European brethren." (James Muldoon, 2005, p44) However, this view distorts certain historical facts, for example, the circumstances surrounding the rule of Caliph Hakim, who began persecuting Jews and Christians living in Palestine in 1009 CE, by passing a cruel law that required Christians to wear ten pound crucifix's around their necks and for Jews to carry around a carved wooden calf's head. (Regine Pernoud, 2003) Muslim despotism such as this sent shock waves throughout European Christendom and galvanised the Papacy to call for a 'just war'.
The Papacy also tried to reconcile Christian theology with Crusader warfare. Canonists drew heavily on the warfare that featured prominently in the Hebrew Scriptures. According to Jean Richard: "...the inclusion in the Ten Commandments of a precept forbidding the killing of a human being did not prevent the people of Israel from waging wars which seemed to them wholly justified." (Jean Richard, 1999, p1) The Bible is saturated with examples of God ordering the Israelites to exterminate certain groups of people for their ungodly practices, such as in Deuteronomy 20:16-18: "But when you capture cities in the land that the Lord your God is giving you, kill everyone...Kill them, so that they will not make you sin against the Lord by teaching you to do all the disgusting things that they do in the worship of their gods." Passages such as this can be used to justify the Crusades in the East.
Jonathan Riley-Smith analyses the Crusades using the Christian notions of love of God and brotherly love, and illustrates how the Crusades can be reconciled with Judeo-Christian theology.
--Rachael
I believe that before you look at the phenomenon that was the Crusades you should look into the context in which they were occurring. For I think it’s very easy to be trapped in a modern perspective that the whole venture was completely barbaric and entirely destructive.
The historical context for the Crusades spans a considerably long time as the Crusades themselves span many years, from 1095 to 1291, (with the exact number of Crusades debated by historians). The First Crusade found its origin in 1095 as Pope Urban II made his famous call to arms at the Council of Clermont. Urban prior to this had received a plea from the Byzantine Emperor Alexius Comnenus for the assistance of soldiers to drive back the Turks in Anatolia.
From this a legion of men set forth for the sake of ‘brotherly love’ and the promise of the remission of sins to “destroy that vile race from the lands of our friends” (Fulcher of Chartes). Historian Steven Runciman however explains that this was not the result that Alexius desired as they didn’t wish to cause further disturbances in the Muslim world from Urban’s planned assault on Jerusalem.
An important note to consider is that throughout the rallying of the First Crusade and all subsequent ones, the term ‘Crusade’ was never used. Words such as Crucesignatic (those marked with the Cross), peregrination (business of Christ) and perefrinatio (pilgrimage) were all used for what we now classify as the Crusade. This lends itself to the possibly notion that the crusaders were just an extension of the pilgrimages, particularly those to the Holy Land, that were highly popular during the 11th century.
In the readings a few weeks ago, historian Christopher Tyerman raised an interesting point about the context in which the Crusades were occurring. He theorised that “crusading did not make western Europe a violent place; violent Europe created crusading” (p.134). Tyerman believes that Alexius’ plea was not the sole mitigating factor which produced the First Crusade. He states that:
“Crusading was a symptom of a new strands in lay and clerical spirituality, of the fresh perspectives and policies of a reinvigorated papacy, of the greater order and prosperity in western Europe, of the emergent status and consequent social arrangements of the arms-bearing or knightly class, of a reinvigorated Christian aggression, the harsh side of Urban II’s vision of Christian history.”
Coming back to the historical circumstances of the First Crusade, it was identified by Runciman that the relations between Rome and Constantinople were “better, frankly, than there had been for a century”. Previously their relations had been somewhat strained through the ambitious Normans and the public excommunication in 1054 between a papal legate and a patriarch of Constantinople. Relations had only begun to heal by Ubran’s raising of the excommunication in 1089, thus making it possible to Urban to receive such support for his response to help some six years later.
So these are just a few things to think about when looking at the Crusades this week. That we shouldn’t consider them as a stand-alone event, but rather how they fit in with the social and religious contexts of the time.
--Adie
The sixth commandment, ‘You shall not murder.’ I would like to just point out a few details in this statement. First of all it is a commandment of God, His words and His rule that must be obeyed in order to achieve a life free from sin. Also note the lack of footnotes and in bracket exceptions, why? There simply are none. These four words are the only words included in this commandment; it doesn’t even refer you to any others. It is not our right to decide whether a person should die or not. Only God can decide. So let us focus on the matter at hand.
Were the Crusades truly Gods will? The Crusades were firstly promoted by the Pope who was considered to be the people’s connection to God. In other words, his words were the words of God. Baring any arguments on the reality of this statement, you can see how the people of both higher and lower class would respond to these words with such enthusiasm.
Riley-Smith constantly replaces the words kill and murder with punish and correction, showing us that punishing the wicked is necessary in order to correct their behavior. But never once does any one of the examples he provides strait out states that killing is a form of correcting behavior, mainly because killing would not be punishing the offender, rather annihilating.
So where do the crusades fit in the hearts of the crusaders? Was it love that pushed them to leave behind their family and their homes, brave the perilous roads for months on rations, and finally pull out a sword and have the will to see the life go out in someone’s eyes knowing that they caused it? They know that God asked them to never kill. Many reasons have been suggested; "It is the will of God" exclaimed the assembly after Pope Urban II reminded them of Christ’s own words "let no base affection detain you in your homes; whoever will abandon his house, or his father, or his mother, or his wife, or his children, or his inheritance, for the sake of my name, shall be recompensed a hundred-fold, and possess life eternal." This would be the most popular reason. But does the love of a God provide the drive? I propose that if they truly loved their religion and their God, they would search for a way to punish offenders and correct behavior without immediately reverting to a violent solution. Would not God have loved them more if they were able to accomplish this without bloodshed? I believe that the Crusaders fell in lust with the idea of an all-loving God, and when hearing ‘God’s Will’ from the mouth of the Pope, it was passion not love that drove them to commit such a crime.
--Chelsea
Firstly, Riley-Smith identifies the love for Christ as a motivating factor for the Crusades. This is illustrated through one of the early terms for Crusader Knights: crucesignati, meaning the sign of Christ. Crusader Knights were required to sew on to their tunics the sign of the crucifix, to acknowledge the ordeal of Jesus Christ, a point which is stressed by Pope Innocent: "You receive a soft and gentle cross; he bore one that was sharp and hard. You wear it superficially on your clothing; he endured it really in his flesh. You sew on yours with linen and silk threads; he was nailed to his with iron and hard nails."
The early Crusades were considered an extension of a pilgrimage, which illustrates a significant devotional aspect to Christ. It also marks a pivotal moment in the perception of wartime killing in the context of Christian theology. Previously, "Christian thinkers had accepted war as a necessary but unfortunate aspect of life." (James Muldoon, 2005, p41) and the Catholic Church reconciled the contradiction between warfare and the Christian notion of anti-violence, by requiring soldiers to undertake penance and seek absolution from their sins for participating in war. However Crusading in itself replaced the obligatory penance, as the actual act of participating in a holy war became the means for one to expiate their sins. This underlines the devotional aspect of Crusading and demonstrates the perceived link between love for God and violent warfare.
The love for one's fellow Christian was also a pervasive theme in the appeal of Pope Urban II. Many scholars purport that Pope Urban exaggerated the plight of the Christians in the East at the hands of their Muslim rulers, including James Muldoon: "...the pope argued, Christians living under Muslim rule in the East were suffering under Muslim rule and should be freed. In saying this, he was apparently unaware that Eastern Christians had generally come to a peaceful accommodation with their Muslim masters and did not require the help of their European brethren." (James Muldoon, 2005, p44) However, this view distorts certain historical facts, for example, the circumstances surrounding the rule of Caliph Hakim, who began persecuting Jews and Christians living in Palestine in 1009 CE, by passing a cruel law that required Christians to wear ten pound crucifix's around their necks and for Jews to carry around a carved wooden calf's head. (Regine Pernoud, 2003) Muslim despotism such as this sent shock waves throughout European Christendom and galvanised the Papacy to call for a 'just war'.
The Papacy also tried to reconcile Christian theology with Crusader warfare. Canonists drew heavily on the warfare that featured prominently in the Hebrew Scriptures. According to Jean Richard: "...the inclusion in the Ten Commandments of a precept forbidding the killing of a human being did not prevent the people of Israel from waging wars which seemed to them wholly justified." (Jean Richard, 1999, p1) The Bible is saturated with examples of God ordering the Israelites to exterminate certain groups of people for their ungodly practices, such as in Deuteronomy 20:16-18: "But when you capture cities in the land that the Lord your God is giving you, kill everyone...Kill them, so that they will not make you sin against the Lord by teaching you to do all the disgusting things that they do in the worship of their gods." Passages such as this can be used to justify the Crusades in the East.
Jonathan Riley-Smith analyses the Crusades using the Christian notions of love of God and brotherly love, and illustrates how the Crusades can be reconciled with Judeo-Christian theology.
--Rachael
~ ~ ~
I believe that before you look at the phenomenon that was the Crusades you should look into the context in which they were occurring. For I think it’s very easy to be trapped in a modern perspective that the whole venture was completely barbaric and entirely destructive.
The historical context for the Crusades spans a considerably long time as the Crusades themselves span many years, from 1095 to 1291, (with the exact number of Crusades debated by historians). The First Crusade found its origin in 1095 as Pope Urban II made his famous call to arms at the Council of Clermont. Urban prior to this had received a plea from the Byzantine Emperor Alexius Comnenus for the assistance of soldiers to drive back the Turks in Anatolia.
From this a legion of men set forth for the sake of ‘brotherly love’ and the promise of the remission of sins to “destroy that vile race from the lands of our friends” (Fulcher of Chartes). Historian Steven Runciman however explains that this was not the result that Alexius desired as they didn’t wish to cause further disturbances in the Muslim world from Urban’s planned assault on Jerusalem.
An important note to consider is that throughout the rallying of the First Crusade and all subsequent ones, the term ‘Crusade’ was never used. Words such as Crucesignatic (those marked with the Cross), peregrination (business of Christ) and perefrinatio (pilgrimage) were all used for what we now classify as the Crusade. This lends itself to the possibly notion that the crusaders were just an extension of the pilgrimages, particularly those to the Holy Land, that were highly popular during the 11th century.
In the readings a few weeks ago, historian Christopher Tyerman raised an interesting point about the context in which the Crusades were occurring. He theorised that “crusading did not make western Europe a violent place; violent Europe created crusading” (p.134). Tyerman believes that Alexius’ plea was not the sole mitigating factor which produced the First Crusade. He states that:
“Crusading was a symptom of a new strands in lay and clerical spirituality, of the fresh perspectives and policies of a reinvigorated papacy, of the greater order and prosperity in western Europe, of the emergent status and consequent social arrangements of the arms-bearing or knightly class, of a reinvigorated Christian aggression, the harsh side of Urban II’s vision of Christian history.”
Coming back to the historical circumstances of the First Crusade, it was identified by Runciman that the relations between Rome and Constantinople were “better, frankly, than there had been for a century”. Previously their relations had been somewhat strained through the ambitious Normans and the public excommunication in 1054 between a papal legate and a patriarch of Constantinople. Relations had only begun to heal by Ubran’s raising of the excommunication in 1089, thus making it possible to Urban to receive such support for his response to help some six years later.
So these are just a few things to think about when looking at the Crusades this week. That we shouldn’t consider them as a stand-alone event, but rather how they fit in with the social and religious contexts of the time.
--Adie
~ ~ ~
The sixth commandment, ‘You shall not murder.’ I would like to just point out a few details in this statement. First of all it is a commandment of God, His words and His rule that must be obeyed in order to achieve a life free from sin. Also note the lack of footnotes and in bracket exceptions, why? There simply are none. These four words are the only words included in this commandment; it doesn’t even refer you to any others. It is not our right to decide whether a person should die or not. Only God can decide. So let us focus on the matter at hand.
Were the Crusades truly Gods will? The Crusades were firstly promoted by the Pope who was considered to be the people’s connection to God. In other words, his words were the words of God. Baring any arguments on the reality of this statement, you can see how the people of both higher and lower class would respond to these words with such enthusiasm.
Riley-Smith constantly replaces the words kill and murder with punish and correction, showing us that punishing the wicked is necessary in order to correct their behavior. But never once does any one of the examples he provides strait out states that killing is a form of correcting behavior, mainly because killing would not be punishing the offender, rather annihilating.
So where do the crusades fit in the hearts of the crusaders? Was it love that pushed them to leave behind their family and their homes, brave the perilous roads for months on rations, and finally pull out a sword and have the will to see the life go out in someone’s eyes knowing that they caused it? They know that God asked them to never kill. Many reasons have been suggested; "It is the will of God" exclaimed the assembly after Pope Urban II reminded them of Christ’s own words "let no base affection detain you in your homes; whoever will abandon his house, or his father, or his mother, or his wife, or his children, or his inheritance, for the sake of my name, shall be recompensed a hundred-fold, and possess life eternal." This would be the most popular reason. But does the love of a God provide the drive? I propose that if they truly loved their religion and their God, they would search for a way to punish offenders and correct behavior without immediately reverting to a violent solution. Would not God have loved them more if they were able to accomplish this without bloodshed? I believe that the Crusaders fell in lust with the idea of an all-loving God, and when hearing ‘God’s Will’ from the mouth of the Pope, it was passion not love that drove them to commit such a crime.
--Chelsea
Wednesday, 25 April 2012
St Francis and the New Orders
My aim here is to give a broad idea of the Gregorian reform,
the new orders that emerged and the effect this had on society.at large.
This week’s readings focused on what can be described as the
‘great upsurge of the medieval West’. This occurred from about the year 1000 onwards
in which the population doubled. As a result there became an increase in land
clearances and built up areas becoming clustered. In what resembled the
urbanisation of the 19th century the economic upswing lead to the creation of
networking towns which became economic, political and cultural meccas. This
urbanisation impacted on all sectors of society from the church to the status
of the people. Economic and social inequality was determined by ownership of
land and buildings in town rather than strictly dependent on birth and family.
There also seemed to be a trend towards liberty and perhaps away from
feudalism. The changing society was reflected in the ecclesiastical world
through what is known as the Gregorian reform. This reform ‘released the church
society from feudal secular domination’ and aimed largely at a return to
sources and to achieve the true apostolic life. It is apparent that these
changes within the church were an effort to find a place amongst the evolving
society and possibly to remain relevant to the people of which found themselves
with new liberties. Of larger focus for this week’s readings is the emergence
of new religious orders in which laymen played a greater role in religion. These
orders were eager for reform within the church and were against the corrupt
clergy. These orders were as much political as they were religious. Many things
came from the reformation ranging from new concepts of sacraments to the
scholastic revolution, demonstrating that there was indeed a great change in
society.
--Dion
Monday, 23 April 2012
Clarification
Clarification I:
There are no classes on campus for ATS1316 in week 8. Your posts on the Crusades and Crusade Historians post, below, constitute your 'virtual tutorial' for this week.
Clarification II:
Blogs by presenters in week 9 will go live on Wednesday. Everyone needs to read and comment on these, even if they are not presenting.
Clarification III:
For presenters in weeks 9-11:
There are no classes on campus for ATS1316 in week 8. Your posts on the Crusades and Crusade Historians post, below, constitute your 'virtual tutorial' for this week.
Clarification II:
Blogs by presenters in week 9 will go live on Wednesday. Everyone needs to read and comment on these, even if they are not presenting.
Clarification III:
For presenters in weeks 9-11:
| Topic | St Francis (wk 9) | Crusades (wk 10) | Black Death (wk 11) |
| Blog Post to Kathleen |
5pm Tue. 24th April | 5pm Tue. 1st May | 5pm Tue. 8th May |
| Presentation | Mon. 30th April | Mon. 7th May | Mon. 14th May |
| Essay Due | Fri. 11 May | Fri. 18 May | Fri. 25 May |
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