Chapter One: Islamic Literature in the Middle Ages
In the early ages, literary salons were a part of the medieval Islamic culture. These salons were referred to mujalasat or mujalasa. The Mujalasat emerged in Iraq in the ninth century and greatly flourished in the tenth century (Ali, 2010). Thereafter, they spread from Iraq to the west, to Andalusian region of Spain, and ultimately to North Africa. The literary salons had an extended endurance and were part of the Islamic cultural practice well into the modern era (Ali, 2010).
The Mujalasat was poetry sessions that flourished immensely particularly in the age before television had reached peoples’ living rooms. Essentially, they were nightly venues for the Islamic communities to witness the oral performance of newly composed poetry, sharing of narratives, as well as poetry that was thought to have a heritage value (Ali, 2010). These forums of literature had various functions; they edified people, offered entertainment, and provided an escape for men and women who occupied the middle and upper ranks in society. Moreover, Mujalasat served as a perfect means to build one’s public reputation especially for those who performed poems and narratives, was a way to build one’s status, and hey also presents an opportunity for the young to be socialized in the Islamic culture (Ali, 2010). Additionally, they expanded the social network of people through the friendships they made while enjoying the presentation of poems and narratives.
These functions explain why mujalasa held such an important meaning in medieval Arabic society. In the year 750, the Abbasids, a new dynasty, came to power in the Middle East. The Abbasid was governed by Muslims, but it enabled Arabs, non-Arabs, Non-Muslims, and Muslims to interact leading to each influencing another in many ways. The Abbasid lasted between 750 A.D and 1258 A.D., and it was centered in Iraq (Ali, 2010). This dynasty sustained a golden age of Islamic civilization that Arabs and Muslims later on considered to be an excellent model of communal life that was organized. This era led to the production of epic literature that has transcended many centuries thereafter. The primary mechanism for forming the Abbasid society was the literary gathering where poetry and narratives could be enjoyed. This literary salons popular known as mujalasat enabled people to inherit the Islamic literature, adjust, borrow, and share knowledge about Islamic culture. The types of knowledge most relevant to these mujalasat were mostly in Arabic language (Ali, 2010).
Essentially, Arabic knowledge was transmitted from person to another through the literary salons. This knowledge comprises two subtypes of heritage, humanistic knowledge (adab) and religious knowledge (din). Din guided the faithful to God’s deliverance path in the hereafter whereas adab delivered a person from grief, trauma, and isolation in the present. Adab taught people manners, verbal arts that enable the acquisition of charm, sensitivities, and how to socialize with others. Mujalasat was one of the many social institutions that promoted humanistic knowledge. The knowledge that was inherent mujalasat sessions was normally transmitted in mosques, later on in primary and secondary schools that were reoffered to kuttab or maktab. For the mujalasat, they were held in homes, gardens, and bookshops. Against this background, the participation was half private and majorly relied on the wealth and health of social network of a person. The regular attendance and committed participation in the self-organized mujalasat was a measure of influence and prestige. The influence and prestige opened opportunity doors in terms of income, marriage of one’s children and professional advancement (Ali, 2010). Additionally, mujalasat were independent of mosques and religious institutions thus enabled both Muslims and non-Muslims to socialize, associate, and influence each another in many ways. The mixing of religious identities in mujalasat stoked fires of personal charm and sociability across ethnicities and religions, making the literary salons a pathway of cultural integration during the Abbasid era (Ali, 2010). Moreover, these gatherings were very intimate, therefore, more personal and egalitarian in nature.
Chapter two: Early Japanese architecture.
During the Asuka period and Nara period, the Japanese majorly modeled their architecture along the Korean and Chinese one. The Heian period (between 794 and 1185) marked the period when the Japanese started developing their unique architectural style (Marshall, n.d). The type of architecture that dominated this period was called Shinden-zukuri. The mighty and powerful T’ang dynasty in China had collapsed, and the country had moved its capital city from Nara to Nagaoka and finally to Kyoto. During this period, a distinct temple building architecture sprang up because the Japanese had detached themselves from the wisdom and culture of the T’ang. The style adapted was influenced by geographical isolation of Japan. Japan being a fairly small and compact island nation; it was sufficiently suited to distance itself from being influenced by outside sources (Marshall, n.d). The foreign influences on Japanese architecture waned, and Japan developed its own architectural ideas to create a home-grown architecture during this period.
The Buddhist architecture flourished during the Nara period, but the Shinto and domestic architectures of wealthy people and aristocrats developed simultaneously. With the fall of T’ang dynasty, the Buddhist architecture was forced to respond to the architectural trend that was developing within Japan through adoption of architecture of courtyards and villas for application in building Buddhist temples (Marshall, n.d). Essentially, Aristocratic architecture had been developing without any influence from the religious architecture so as to march the needs wealthy and imperial families that existed then. The villas and detached palaces they built on the fringes of Kyoto caused an influence for the temples to return to cities from the mountainous regions. The temple layouts of this Heian period began centering on gardens and ponds that were landscaped. This was a practice that was popular among the aristocrats who built villas, but now sit was being adapted to be used in building temples. Moreover, Buddhism was evolving to the new Jodo Buddhism that greatly appealed to aristocrats. They believed that praying towards a Buddha image was the essential component of towards salvation (Marshall, n.d). This belief enticed the wealthy to construct personal prayer halls on their manor or villa, and from this architectural steps, many temples of this period evolved. The new style of temple building attracted many people, as it focused on their religion, and not the money that were used in buildings or the elaborate designing on the temples. Additionally, the style of the building was also designed in a symmetric manner, in a way that made the building complex to appear as if it had arms, and embraced the garden in front of it. The inclusion of gardens and ponds in the design of the building signified the respect people accorded nature. It can also be deduced that inculcation of gardens and ponds smacked simplicity, and it shows that simplicity is also perfectly beautiful.
Furthermore, this architecture involved a single story sprawling mansions that were connected by covered walkways leading to various other subsidiary buildings. The building enclosed a garden with a pond and rivulets, and it was surrounded by a wall of paced earth and stone (Sensei, 2000). The shinden was always built facing south, with a staircase that opened onto a garden built to contain a pond a hill. It was typical to find a small island in the pond that was reachable via a garden bridge. The buildings were roofed by using layers of cypress bark. The shinden could be divided into as many as nine rooms (Sensei, 2000). These were makeshift spaces defined by curtain strands and blinds, the central room called the “moya.” The buildings were built to be airy with shady recesses that were deep to provide refuge from the high summer heat of Heiankyo. Therefore, the buildings were cold and drafty throughout the winter period.
Chapter Three: Early Middle ages music
The middle ages refer to the years spanning about 500 and 1400. The Catholic Church was the one that dominated this period hence sacred music was the exceedingly prevalent (Sherrane, 20021). Most important musicians were priests, and monks in monasteries held a virtual monopoly on learning. The sacred music began with the Gregorian Chant, developing into a polyphonic music called organum that was performed at Nortre Dame in Paris by the twelfth century (Sherrane, 2001). Secular music flourished through the French trouveres and troubadours. The period culminated into the compositions of secular and sacred music by the first true genius of Western music, Guillaume de Machaut (Sherrane, 2001).
Music had been a part of the civilizations of the world for many years even before the middle ages. This is supported by the fact that there existed primitive drawings in caves, mention of music and musical instruments in the Bible stories, and Egyptian hieroglyphs attest to the fact that people had been making music for centuries.
The word music is derived from the ancient Greek muses; the nine goddesses of sciences and art. In the emergence of middle ages, the Catholic Church leaders dictated the progress of letters and arts. It also employed all artists, musicians, and scribes. The early Christian church derived their music from Byzantine and Jewish religious that existed then. As these chants spread thought-out Europe, they were developed along many varying lines in different regions. The current belief is that Pope Gregory I (590-604) codified these chants thus established a uniform usage throughout-out the Western Catholic Church. His name was, therefore, applied to this music, and it is known as Gregorian Chant (Sherrane, 2001). Gregorian chant remains one of the most spiritually moving music in Western culture.
During the ninth century, music theorists in the church began top experiment with the idea of singing two melodic lines in a simultaneous manner. The resulting music was hollow sounding and was called organum. This music thrived at Cathedral of Nortre Dame in Paris during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The music was later named the Ars Antigua or the “old art,” (Sherrane 2001).
There was some popular music that was in the form of secular songs that existed in the middle ages. The traditions of the church did not bind this music and was not initially written down. The songs were just created and performed by bands of musicians who flourished across Europe in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The most famous of these bands was the French troubadours and trouveres. The majority of these songs talk about the subject of love, in all its variants of pain and joy (Sherrane, 2001).
The evolution of music in the middle ages culminated in the compositions of Guillaume de Machaut. He had a clerical education and had taken Holy orders. He was an outstanding composer whose services were sought by rather important patrons, including Charles V of France. His poetry was known all over Europe. Machaut is best remembered as the very first composer to create a polyphonic setting of the “Ordinary” of the Catholic Mass. Guillaume de Machaut is the first composer in history of Western music who was fairly conscious of the artistic achievements he had made and of the place in history he occupied (Sherrane, 2001).
References
Ali, S. M. (2010). Arabic Literary Salons in the Islamic Middle Ages. Poetry.
Marshall, P. (n.d.). Heian Period. Retrieved December 12, 2014, from http://www.webpages.uidaho.edu/arch499/nonwest/japan3/heian_period.htm
Sensei. (2000, June 17). Heian period architecture. Retrieved December 12, 2014, from http://everything2.com/title/Shinto
Sherrane, R. (2001, January 1). Music History 102: The Middle Ages. Retrieved December 12, 2014, from http://www.ipl.org/div/mushist/middle/
