HUM 2230 Mrs. Alberta Harris

Group ProjectDecember 5, 2010

Medieval Life in the West

By:Adriana Escobar

Adrian MooKristen Koby

The Middle Ages The Middle Ages, a period of 1,000 years

(AD 500 - AD 1500), began after the fall of the Roman Empire in AD 476. It is the period also known as the Medieval ages and as the dark period in history. The Middle ages was an era dominated by religion through the rise and spread of its three most influential religions of its time: Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. As a result of the religious fervor, new architectural styles characterized the vast places for worships.

Christianity

Background to Christianity

• Emerged out of three cultural traditions: Hebraic, Greco-Roman, and Near Eastern

• Popular Near Eastern cults promised redemption from sins and personal immorality.

• The three Hebrew sects, Sadducees, Pharisees, Essenes, placed emphasis on the special covenant between God and the Chosen People.

Growth of Christianity

• Jesus, young charismatic Jewish rabbi from the city of Nazareth

• Promised redemption of sin, personal immorality, and a life without material possessions

• Gospels, the Christian writings authored by four Evangelist, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, describes the teaching and life of Jesus

• Paul, known as the co-founder of Christianity, universalized and systematically explained Jesus’ message.

The Spread of Christianity• The Christian church

strengthens as the Roman Empire decline

• Migration of Germanic Tribes

• Refused to worship the emperor, existence of Roman gods and to serve the Roman army

• The message of Jesus was easy to understand, free of complex rules and pricey practices

• Constantine’s, the Edict of Milan, liberated Christians from physical and political oppression

Influences of Christianity• Saint Jerome (ca. 347-420)

translated the Bible from Hebrew and Greek to Latin

• Ambrose (339-397) became bishop of Milan and wrote some of the earliest Christians hymns for congregational use

• Gregory the Great (ca. 540-604), elected to the papacy in 590, established the administrative machinery

• Augustine (354-430), Bishop of Hippo, most profound and influential, greatest philosopher of Christian antiquity

Christian Art and Architecture

• In the west, the Early Christian church building was modeled on the Roman basilica.

• With the sacred temples of antiquity, the Christian church consisted of a hierarchy of spaces that ushered the devotee from the chaos of the everyday world to the serenity of the sacred chamber, and ultimately, to the ritual of deliverance.

• Some of the earliest basilicas contain an unroofed atrium, an ambulatory, narthex, a nave and the gallery/clerestory.

Medieval Architecture

• The new Christian Church patterned its order after Rome

• Romanesque pilgrimage churches was constructed in great numbers and characterized by lively linearity and vivid imagination

• The Gothic cathedral used form infused with symbolism in soaring cathedrals; mostly dedicated to the Virgin.

Medieval Life• Germanic tribes contributed to the decline

of the Roman Empire• Charlemagne solidifies relationship with

church and crowned head of the new Holy Roman Empire

• Carolingian Renaissance preserved Roman writings in easier to read Carolingian script

• Feudalism enhances the growth of political and military organization

• Manorialism offered the lower classes physical protection

• The Crusades established freedom and new mobility

Judaism

Background to Judaism

• Judaism is one of the oldest religions still existing today. It began as the religion of the small nation of the Hebrews, and through thousands of years of suffering, persecution, dispersion, and occasional victory, has continued to be a profoundly influential religion and culture. Today, 14 million people identify themselves as Jewish. Modern Judaism is a complex phenomenon that incorporates both a nation and a religion, and often combines strict adherence to ritual laws with a more liberal attitude towards religious belief.

The Rise of Judaism • The period of Christian hegemony in 5th-

century Palestine, Jews flourished in Babylonia, spread westward to medieval Spain, north and east to Europe, while continually adjusting their cultural bearings.

• As religious and social conditions worsened for the Jews in Palestine under the control of Christian Rome, the center of Jewish life was transferred from the land of Israel to Babylonia, the seat of the new Muslim empire. During this period of Muslim rule from the 7th-13th centuries, Jews encountered Greek philosophy, medicine, physics, astronomy, and mathematics. They also studied the Quran, Muslim poetry, philology, biography, history, and mysticism, illustrating a linguistic, philosophical, and religious synthesis that is best described as "Judeo-Arabic culture." Yet this synthesis not only occurred in the elite, intellectual realm, but also at the popular level in the sense that most Jews were indistinguishable from their Muslim neighbors in terms of names, dress, and language.

• Worldwide Jewish birth rates.

The Spread of Judaism• At numerous points in the history of Judaism, Jews were taken into

captivity by other nations. The people spread, so their beliefs also spread. Generally speaking, throughout history Judaism hasn't really spread per se. Rather it has survived and grown naturally through childbirth. This due to fact that Judaism doesn't proselytize and the small numbers of converts throughout history have been minimal. Keep in mind that during most of history, in most places, converting to Judaism was a capital offence, punishable by death or losing all your possessions. Generally speaking most Jews are descendents of Jews. Only in recent years has conversion to Judaism picked up a bit, relatively to previous generations.

• History and Spread Jewish civilization after the exodus prospered in the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, originally headed by powerful kings like Saul, David and Solomon, who built the first great temple in Jerusalem. In 586 BCE, the Babylonians overran Jerusalem, taking many captives into exile and destroying the temple. A second temple was built when the Jews returned about 538 BCE, to be destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE. This destruction was decisive for the future of Judaism, replacing a sacrificial religion based around a temple with a tradition of studying and learning centered around local synagogues.

By around 100CE, the canon of the Hebrew Bible was fixed. Between 200 and 700 CE, scholars compiled the Mishna, the definitive code of Jewish law. The Talmud (written interpretation of the scriptures) was compiled and the rules for the Jewish calendar were laid down. These scriptures and teachings were the basis of the religious worship that was practiced around the world during the Jewish Diaspora (exile).

 

Other info if needed• Date founded c. 1300 BC

• Place founded Mesopotamia

• Founder Abraham

• Adherents 14 million

• Main location

Israel, Europe, and USA

• Original language Hebrew

• Spiritual leader Rabbi (Rebbe in Hasidism)

• Place of worship synagogue ("temple" in Reform Judaism)

• Day of worshipSaturdays

• Theism monotheism

• Ultimate reality One God (YHWH)

• Human nature Created good

• Purpose of life Obedience to God

• How to live Obey the law and atone for sin

• Afterlife

Views vary: Gan Eden, Gehinnom, nonexistence, or reincarnation

• Judaism has spread to all corners of the world. Seen here is a synagogue in downtown Mumbai

•Western Wall Judaism’s most sacred site.

Influence of Judaism• In modernity, Judaism has successfully met the challenges

accompanying emancipation, assimilation, and anti-Semitism, by redefining itself as a multiplicity of cultures based on the triad: God, Torah, and Israel.

• The total number of Jews worldwide is difficult to assess because the definition of "who is a Jew" is problematic; not all Jews identify themselves as Jewish, and some who identify as Jewish are not considered so by other Jews. According to the Jewish Year Book (1901), the global Jewish population in 1900 was around 11 million. The latest available data is from the World Jewish Population Survey of 2002 and the Jewish Year Calendar (2005). In 2002, according to the Jewish Population Survey, there were 13.3 million Jews around the world. The Jewish Year Calendar cites 14.6 million. Jewish population growth is currently near zero percent, with 0.3% growth from 2000 to 2001.

Art and Architecture of Judaism

• It's the Alhambra of Granada, a Moorish palatine city in Spain. But the famous lion’s fountain was originally from a Jewish palace of the city. It came from the palace of the Jewish poet and visir Ibn Nagrela, in the 11st century. Ke know it due to a text from the poet Ibn Gabirol: the 12 lions are the 12 tribes from Israel and two of them have a triangle in their forehead symbolizing the chosen tribes of Judá and Levi.

Islam

“Lo Allah never changeth the grace He hath bestowed on any people until they first change that which is in their hearts . . ." Qur'an 8:53

Background to Islam• Islam was a religion founded in the 7th

Century AD by Mohammed, an Arabian merchant from the city of Mecca.

• Around A.D 610 (age of 41) according to Muslim teachings, the Angel Gabriel appeared to Muhammad and commanded him to receive the revelation of the one and only Allah(the Arabic word for “God”)

• The Islamic scriptures, known as the “Qur'an” are Muhammad's “reciting” of the revelations he claimed to receive for the next 22 years of his life.

• In 622, Muhammad traveled to Yathrib, (Medina). This event called the “Hejira,” is viewed as the turning point of Islam. From then on, Islam was no longer just a religion but a respected political power. In Medina, the community of believers became a state with Muhammad as its religious and political leader.

• The Qur’an, writt

en in

Arabic with ink and gold

leaf on vellum, 81/2 by

21in. Qur’ans li

ke holy

books of Ju

daism and

early Christianity, w

ere

usually handwritten on

sheepskin (parchment)

and calfskin(vellum)

and hand decorated.

Arabic script is

read

from right to

left. Kufic

calligraphy is

notable

for its a

ngularity and its

horizontal extensio

ns.

• Islam became the unifying force in the rise of the first global civilization to flourish following the fall Rome.

• Bridging Europe and East Asia, Islam forged the historical link between Classical and early modern civilization.

• Islam embraced the cultures of Arabia, the Near East and Persia.

• Cultivated arts, the sciences, technology, Muslim scholars in the cities of Baghdad (present day Iraq) and Córdoba( Southern Spain) copied Greek manuscripts, creating classical literature.

The Rise of Islam

• The Islamic state expanded very rapidly after the death of Muhammad through remarkable successes both at converting unbelievers to Islam and by religious, political, economic and military goals.

• New faith offered rules of conduct and ritual practices that were easy to follow.

• The militant expansion of Islam was the evangelical counterpart of jihad, fervent religious struggle or “holy war”, which signifies all aspects Muslim drive towards moral and religious perfection.

• Unlike Christianity and Buddhism, Islam neither renounced nor condemned material wealth. Jews and Christians living in Muslim lands were taxed but not prosecuted. Coverts from Islam were exempt from paying a poll-tax levied on all non- Muslim subjects.

• Muslims brought expertise in navigation, trade, and commercial exchange.

The Spread of Islam• The spread of Islam started

shortly after the death of Mohammad. This is the graph of his movement.

Islamic Architecture & Art

• In Islamic art differs from Christian art in its self- conscious avoidance of symbols.

• Geometric, floral and calligraphic were the three types of motifs that dominated the Islamic decorative repertory.

• These designs distinguishes Islamic frescoes, carpets, ivories, manuscripts, textiles, and ceramics.

• Bold use of colors is a key feature of Islamic art and architecture. Complex surface designs executed in mosaics and polychrome patterned glazed tiles transform the exteriors of mosques and palaces into shimmering veils of light and color.

• The mosque, an official place of worship, is a large, columned hall whose square or rectangular shape derives from the simple urban house made of sun-dried bricks.