Late Middle Ages Crisis and Recovery 1300 1500

Late Middle Ages Crisis and Recovery, 1300– 1500 CIV 101 -02 Class 29 November 2, 2015

They don’t call it the Dark Ages for nothing • Ordeal by Plague, Famine, and War – The Black Death – Failure of agricultural harvests – Struggles for control of southern Italy, northern Italy – The Hundred Years’ War • Competition between France and England – Ottoman Turks – Degradation of the Church • The separation of philosophy and theology and the hastening of secularization

Yet, Running Headlong toward the Renaissance • But don’t forget… and do notice when you read and study about this period – Every single guy involved in good stuff toward the Renaissance and New Science. . . Is a Roman Catholic Churchman – The Church was in the way, but was also THE WAY. • • Education Reasons to study Reasons to argue Reasons to innovate

Yet, Running Headlong toward the Renaissance • Spinning Wheel, improved cloth/clothing, and work process (“putting-out” system). – Silk and other fine cloth • Paper making – A variety of printing innovations, culminating in • The printing press (probably THE most important technological innovation, for the West, until the steam engine).

Running Headlong toward the Renaissance • Iron making (and forming) – Wrought iron uses smelted ore … has to be hammered, usually at high temps, to form the carbonized result (fairly strong). – At higher temps (short of a blast furnace) iron can be melted and cast… great for shaping, but the result is brittle. – In the late middle ages, smiths learned to pump air into layers of charcoal, limestone/crushed shells, and iron ore to make hotter fires (blast furnaces and machine driven “Forge hammers”) to work every sort of iron.

Running Headlong toward the Renaissance • Science: Headed toward Descartes – Working out faith & reason • Some of this is based on Arabic/Muslim advances • Some of this is in response to—against—the increasing irrelevance of Scholasticism • Some of this is due to re-discovery and translation of classics (again, aided by the Arabic/Muslim advances – Working toward developing the scientific method • Robert Grosseteste: adds math and physics and ARISTOTLE to reasoning. Specific to general/general to specific • Roger Bacon: FACTS first, reasoning after.

Running Headlong toward the Renaissance • Religion/Theology and Philosophy: Headed toward the Reformation – The Via Antiqua versus the Via Moderna • http: //plato. stanford. edu/entries/universals-medieval/#8 • Via Antiqua: posited a complex sets of relationships among objects, sets of objects, perceptions, beliefs, classifications/definitions. • Via Moderna: posited a more direct relation among object/perception/definition. • The Via Moderna view helped free scientific/philosophic thought from the shackles of Scholasticism and reasoning from received wisdom (opens the way for Descartes and new science.

Running Headlong toward the Renaissance – Duns Scotus • Univocity (that there abstract ideal forms– Plato’s truth) • Formal distinctions can be made among forms – William of Ockham: Faith and reason.

Running Headlong toward the Renaissance • THREE POPES (actually, 4 were elected): the Great Schism • contested election of Pope Urban VI in 1378 – He was “erratic” so they un-elected him • Selected Clement VII – Who Urban “excommunicated” – Clement moved to Avignon and got French support • After a third pope was chosen (Gregory VI, • the Council of Constance (1414 -1418) elected a new pope Martin V • The papacy (and the church) were never the same thereafter (ripe for reformation).

Running Headlong toward the Renaissance • Literature: esp. Chaucer (and others) – First 18 Lines of the “General Prologue, ” Canterbury Tales – https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v= 0 X 2 o. DRWnqwo – 1: 20 - 4: 33 – 3: 23 -4: 22 (you think THIS class is hard: the students taking this course have to MEMORIZE and recite this passage!)

Running Headlong toward the Renaissance • Machaut: Notre Dame Mass • Kyrie: 6: 13 -13: 14 – https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=11 A 4 wqv 8 _wo&list=RD 11 A 4 wqv 8_wo#t=10

Running Headlong toward the Renaissance • Music: Chromatic scale, a 13 th century invention

Running Headlong toward the Renaissance • Art and Architecture – Late Gothic Sculpture

Running Headlong toward the Renaissance • Art and Architecture (continued) – Late Gothic Painting and the Rise of New Trends • • Illuminated Manuscripts The Print New Trends in Italy: Giotto Flemish Painting: Jan Van Eyck and Hans Memling • ALMOST PERSPECTIVISM – The rise of wealthy laymen as patrons of the arts