Question 3.
The period between the years from 500 to 1400 – 1500 is traditionally called the Middle Ages. The term was used for the first time by the scholars in the 15th century to mark the period between the fall of the Western part of the Roman Empire and their time. Nevertheless that the Middle Ages were considered as a time of superstition, ignorance and social oppression now they are appreciated as a time of reforms of political, economic, social and cultural life. The Roman imperial traditions were replaced by the traditions of the Germanic people and kingdoms were established, new forms of government appeared, the population of Europe was Christianized along with the establishment of monasticism as the best form of religious life. According to Encyclopedia Britannica these reforms reached their culmination in 9th century during the reign of the Carolingian dynasty and were known as the Carolingian renaissance. (Encyclopedia Britannica, n. p.)
The high (central) Middle Ages were marked by territorial expansion, urban and demographic growth, the states identified themselves as nationalities, and the secular and ecclesiastical institutions were reconstructed. It is famous as the era of Gothic Art and architecture, Crusades, the restoring of the Greek ancient thought and many intellectual achievements. (Ibid)
Traditionally it had been considered that the 14th century marks the exhaustion of the intellectual and dynamic force of the medieval civilization and despite the hunger and diseases many intellectual, social and political structures remained alive and served as a ground for the coming economic and intellectual revival of Europe, the Renaissance, that brought the following expansion of the European culture throughout the world.
The image of the Renaissance in Europe is usually represented as a march of the triumvirate of progress and modernity, the quick abolishment of medieval institutions and values, the awakening of the individual’s interest in the nature and the material world, the restoration of the Greek and Roman heritage, etc. Nowadays, all these features of the Renaissance, represented as its major achievements, are under suspicion and very often they are renounced.
Literally Renaissance means rebirth. It is related specifically to the rebirth of learning which started in Italy during the fourteenth century, covered the European North by the sixteenth century, including England and ended in the middle of the seventeenth century in the North and much earlier it ended in Italy.
During this period some reforms that started in the Middle Ages were completed as the restoration of urban life, commercial enterprise grounded on private capital, the organizing of states, banking, and investigation of the material world. (Ibid) In relation to the religious life some initiatives and reforms, started earlier, were completed. In relation to the government, the city-states, the regional and national governments replaced the hegemony of the Empire and Papacy along with the local feudal powers, nevertheless the power remained in the hand of the elites obtaining their strength from their wealth. The traditional social and moral codes continued to be a source of standards of behavior. Although going through substantial alternations class, community, family, occupation continued to determine the identity of the individuals.
According to Philip Van Ness Myers, (1905) Renaissance, “used in its narrower sense, is meant that new enthusiasm for classical literature, learning, and art which sprang up in Italy towards the close of the Middle Ages, and which during the course of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries gave a new culture to Europe.” (Myers, p. 251)
The new spirit of the Renaissance ages in West Europe finds its expression in the development of country’s vernacular literatures. The native tongues of Europe “found a voice” after the centuries of crusading and began to issue literature in their languages. Once settled, the different nations began to write their books as Cid in Spain marks the beginning of Spanish literature, the Troubadours in south France, King Arthur and the Holy Grail on the North, the Nibelungenlied in Germany, Dante writes his Divine Comedy in Italy and Chaucer writes his Canterbury Tales. (Ibid)
The Letters of Abelard and Heloise is a book which presents two vivid representatives of the twelve’s century Renaissance. Besides the tragic love story which is revealed through their letters to each other, the reader discovers that Peter Abelard was “one of the most original minds of his day” (Introduction, n. p.), and whom the university of Paris was proud to have him as a teacher. His theological views caused him a conflict with St. Bernard of Clairvaux. Born in a small noble family in Breton, he was supposed to follow his father’s occupation who served the Count of Brittany and who decided that his sons should have a good education before serving. Abelard very soon decided to become a scholar and he said that he preferred the weapons of philosophy and the battles in dispute instead of the “trophies of war.” (Ibid)
Heloise’s origin was not as noble as Abelard’s, but she was also very carefully and well educated by her uncle Doctor Fulbert who was a canon of the church of Notre-Dame. Some writers supposed that she as his natural daughter but to avoid a scandal, he introduced her as his niece by his sister, but the grounds of this suspicion was that it was well known that “the niece of an ecclesiastic is sometimes more nearly related to him” (Bayle, P. n. p.) But these were only suspicions and nothing certain. Whatever her origin was, she as extremely engaging woman and if not with perfect beauty, “she had a surprising quickness of wit, an incredible memory, and a considerable share of learning, joined with humility; and all these accomplishments were attended with something so graceful and moving, that it was impossible for those who kept her company not to be in love with her.” (Ibid)
The book The Letters of Abelard and Heloise gives full picture of the relationships and their reflection by the society at that time. The moral standards of the epoch they lived did not allow them to go through mutual life and to raise a child. That what happened between them was considered to be a sin and it had to be punished.
While the letters describe the life of the people who are representatives of the minds of Renaissance, the Machiavelli’s The Prince describes his vision of the state and its government at that time. In Chapter 1, Machiavelli outlines the contours of the discussion about the type of the states that will bring him to Chapter 11. He outlines the type of a republic that is ruled by its citizens and the type of principalities ruled by a prince, strong and single ruler. Since in his dedication part he addresses to such kind of ruler, Machiavelli avoids the themes related to republican government while in many other works he is an impassionate defender of such kind of ruling. He scrutinizes the characteristics of such principalities, dividing them into two types: hereditary established princedoms and new once that were established on a new conquered land. In Chapter two he says that the hereditary princedoms are easier to be ruled and "unless extraordinary vices cause him to be hated, it is reasonable to expect that his subjects will be naturally well disposed towards him" (Machiavelli, n. p.) He makes difference between the four types of troops underlying that only the native soldiers are reliable. Reading Machiavelli’s book The Prince one gets the impression that the writer is a passionate adherent of princedom that is ruled by clever, devoted to his princedom, prince who because of his youth needs the wise paternal advises related to all aspects of his government.
As a conclusion it may be affirmed that the ideas of Renaissance were not new, but they provide a new look over the existing issues. The core of the ideas becomes the individual with all his skills and abilities to cope with all demands of the time.
Works cited
Abelard, P., Heloise, The Letters of Abelard and Heloise, Translation Betty Radice, Penguin Books, 1974, ISBN 978 014042 977, Print
Bayle, P., Project Gutenberg’s The Letters of Abelard and Heloise, Translator: John Hughes
Release Date: April 27, 2011 [EBook #35977], Accessed on May, 5, 2016
"history of Europe". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2016. Web. Accessed on May, 5, 2016
Machiavelli, N., The Prince, Translated by George Bull, Penguin books, 1961, ISBN 978-0-14-044915, Print
