The Medieval World
There is probably no period of history more difficult to fathom than the so-called Middle Ages. The span of approximately the 5th to the 14th centuries in Italy remains the most remote to modern thinkers in many ways. With the end of the Empire in the West, the continual degeneration of Rome will provide a perfect backdrop for the rise of Christianity in the West. The birth of medieval monasteries, beginning with Saint Benedict of Nursia will become centers of perpetual propagation of the Catholic faith as well as esteemed centers of learning. Roman basilicas will now be the ideal form for early Christian churches. Constantine’s Edict of Milan in 313 CE states that Christianity is now to be tolerated. Persecutions will continue, of course, but with this new freedom the Church will flourish in building as well as in followers
In the early 13th century Francis of Assisi will found the first mendicant order that will take the Church from inside cathedral walls to the people outside, and as the “people’s” saint more numbers will grow. As Christianity spreads, so will building, and those first monasteries in Italy will now expand well into France, and it is there that the newer style of architecture, Gothic, will grown and flourish all over the North, in France, and eventually in England and in Germany.
In Florence, Dante represents the pinnacle of the Middle Ages, and his greatest work, The Comedy, will become a household word for many in a largely illiterate society. So believable is this one man’s journey through the realms of Inferno, Purgatory, and Paradise, that his contemporaries will chase him down the streets of Florence, wanting to touch the cloak of the “man who has been through Hell”. Dante’s journey based on Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologicae, is the quintessence of the High Middle Ages. near contemporaries, Petrarch and Boccaccio, will form the bridge to modernity with their new styles of poetry and prose, and open the door to the early Renaissance which begins in Italy a full hundred years earlier than anywhere in Western Europe.
After this unit students will be able to:
Recognize the differences between early Christian architecture and later Gothic forms.
Appreciate the Church’s need for change in architecture and representation as it continues to grow, along with its need to make an illiterate population understand more deeply the messages of the Bible.
Recognize that faith practices largely determine the practicul result in building and painting during this time.
Student To-do List
Read Chapters 11 and 14 in the textbook.
One-half page reflection to synthesize objectives above.
Below I will put the link to access the textbook to get chapter 11 & 14 the reading needed to complete this assingment. I basically need a reflection paper written on this please make sure its not just write a summary of the chapter needs to be a reflection .
https://ca01001129.schoolwires.net/site/default.aspx?PageType=3&ModuleInstanceID=21487&ViewID=C9E0416E-F0E7-4626-AA7B-C14D59F72F85&RenderLoc=0&FlexDataID=44457&PageID=16220&Comments=true
