1 00:00:05,240 --> 00:00:15,960 Speaker 1: Oh lessons from the world's top professors anytime, anyplace, world 2 00:00:16,000 --> 00:00:22,080 Speaker 1: history examined and science explained. This is one day University. Welcome. 3 00:00:33,320 --> 00:00:37,040 Speaker 1: You're listening to episode three of half hour History Secrets 4 00:00:37,120 --> 00:00:40,760 Speaker 1: of the Medieval World. I'm your host and resident history 5 00:00:40,839 --> 00:00:45,360 Speaker 1: nerd Mike Coscarelli. Last episode, we witnessed the fall of 6 00:00:45,479 --> 00:00:48,960 Speaker 1: Rome and the rise of the Vikings, end Islamic rule. 7 00:00:49,680 --> 00:00:54,720 Speaker 1: Now we're moving into Charlemagne's cultural golden Age, a Renaissance, 8 00:00:54,840 --> 00:01:08,040 Speaker 1: if you will take it away, Chris. You think a renaissance, 9 00:01:08,040 --> 00:01:11,360 Speaker 1: and everybody thinks of the da Vinci Code and Italian 10 00:01:11,400 --> 00:01:13,680 Speaker 1: Renaissance and all of those things. And there have been 11 00:01:13,720 --> 00:01:17,000 Speaker 1: many renaissances in history. The word renaissance is actually a 12 00:01:17,040 --> 00:01:22,080 Speaker 1: French word. It means nothing other than rebirth. The word Nativity, 13 00:01:22,120 --> 00:01:25,200 Speaker 1: which is another word for Christmas, is related to that 14 00:01:25,240 --> 00:01:29,280 Speaker 1: word naissance or rebirth. And so we're going to have 15 00:01:29,600 --> 00:01:35,039 Speaker 1: a renaissance right in the middle of the early medieval period, which, 16 00:01:35,400 --> 00:01:37,560 Speaker 1: though I don't like the phrase dark ages, I will 17 00:01:37,600 --> 00:01:41,760 Speaker 1: admit as dimmer than certain other centuries. And the story 18 00:01:41,880 --> 00:01:47,440 Speaker 1: of the Carolingian Renaissance, the Renaissance under Charlemagne, Carolus Magnus 19 00:01:47,640 --> 00:01:50,400 Speaker 1: actually takes us back a few centuries to someone that 20 00:01:50,440 --> 00:01:57,240 Speaker 1: we mentioned earlier named Clovis. Clovis is a tribal chieftain, 21 00:01:57,600 --> 00:02:00,000 Speaker 1: and he is in control of the area of what 22 00:02:00,400 --> 00:02:07,000 Speaker 1: had been Roman Gaul or Germania and converts to Christianity 23 00:02:07,000 --> 00:02:09,880 Speaker 1: around five h three. Now, some people say, did he 24 00:02:09,960 --> 00:02:13,639 Speaker 1: really convert to Christianity or did he convert to Christianity 25 00:02:13,720 --> 00:02:17,000 Speaker 1: because his wife, there are some members of his family 26 00:02:17,040 --> 00:02:20,800 Speaker 1: who had been sick who came back to health miraculously. 27 00:02:21,040 --> 00:02:23,960 Speaker 1: We're never gonna know what was in Clovis's heart, just 28 00:02:24,040 --> 00:02:26,600 Speaker 1: like we're never gonna know what was in Constantine's heart 29 00:02:26,640 --> 00:02:30,640 Speaker 1: when he begins to favor Christianity around three twelve. And 30 00:02:30,720 --> 00:02:35,520 Speaker 1: did ten thousand of his warriors convert as well? Is 31 00:02:35,520 --> 00:02:39,080 Speaker 1: that just a made up number? Did they really convert 32 00:02:39,200 --> 00:02:41,600 Speaker 1: or did they follow the faith because he told them too. 33 00:02:42,040 --> 00:02:44,720 Speaker 1: We're never gonna quite know. And there's a level at 34 00:02:44,760 --> 00:02:48,120 Speaker 1: which the historian can never quite know. But be that 35 00:02:48,240 --> 00:02:52,560 Speaker 1: as it may, it happened, and because it happens, and 36 00:02:52,680 --> 00:02:57,280 Speaker 1: because the energy of the empire was now in Constantinople 37 00:02:57,680 --> 00:03:02,280 Speaker 1: in the east, the power of Christianity and the energy 38 00:03:02,360 --> 00:03:06,800 Speaker 1: begins to get married with Northern up and that energy 39 00:03:06,960 --> 00:03:10,240 Speaker 1: is sitting there for several hundred years, and it gets 40 00:03:10,240 --> 00:03:13,400 Speaker 1: a big boost in seven thirty two something we just 41 00:03:13,440 --> 00:03:17,200 Speaker 1: saw in the prior topic, when Charles Martel, Charlemagne's grandfather 42 00:03:17,720 --> 00:03:20,880 Speaker 1: is the defense or fidei, the defender of the faith 43 00:03:20,960 --> 00:03:23,960 Speaker 1: or Christianity, and he pushes the Muslims back at the 44 00:03:24,000 --> 00:03:27,840 Speaker 1: Battle of Poitier in seven thirty two. Now, what happens 45 00:03:28,200 --> 00:03:33,280 Speaker 1: after that is very quickly the city of Rome, under 46 00:03:33,320 --> 00:03:36,760 Speaker 1: the authority of the Bishop of Rome, enters into a 47 00:03:36,840 --> 00:03:41,760 Speaker 1: relationship with the heirs of Clovis and Charles Martel. Charles 48 00:03:41,800 --> 00:03:45,840 Speaker 1: Martell's son is named Peppin sometimes it comes up as 49 00:03:46,320 --> 00:03:49,920 Speaker 1: Pippin in the sources, and he was not very tall. 50 00:03:50,080 --> 00:03:53,200 Speaker 1: He was called Pepin the short and he was in 51 00:03:53,320 --> 00:03:57,120 Speaker 1: a battle with some other tribal chieftains, and he appeals 52 00:03:57,160 --> 00:04:00,120 Speaker 1: to the pope. The pope was named Zachary here and 53 00:04:00,240 --> 00:04:02,960 Speaker 1: he says to the Pope, listen, who is in charge 54 00:04:03,000 --> 00:04:05,760 Speaker 1: up here? The person who has the paper claim or 55 00:04:05,800 --> 00:04:09,080 Speaker 1: the person who has the real power. And Zachary decides 56 00:04:09,120 --> 00:04:11,320 Speaker 1: it's you. It's the person who has the real power. 57 00:04:11,400 --> 00:04:15,200 Speaker 1: And this is a decision that's going to have profound implications, 58 00:04:15,280 --> 00:04:20,400 Speaker 1: because now Peppin owes his authority to the Pope, and 59 00:04:20,480 --> 00:04:23,280 Speaker 1: the Pope now has kind of a partner when he 60 00:04:23,320 --> 00:04:27,840 Speaker 1: needs some help, and so Zachary declares Pepin king, and 61 00:04:28,720 --> 00:04:35,240 Speaker 1: Peppin In thanks gives the Pope some land in central Europe, 62 00:04:35,400 --> 00:04:38,920 Speaker 1: central Italy that will be called the Papal States. And 63 00:04:39,000 --> 00:04:42,960 Speaker 1: that land in central Italy is probably the same patch 64 00:04:43,000 --> 00:04:47,520 Speaker 1: of land that Constantine had originally given to the church 65 00:04:47,600 --> 00:04:51,160 Speaker 1: in the three hundreds, what's sometimes called the donation of Constantine. 66 00:04:51,280 --> 00:04:54,280 Speaker 1: And even though the piece of paper is a forgery 67 00:04:54,400 --> 00:04:56,800 Speaker 1: was proved to be a forgery in the fourteen hundreds, 68 00:04:57,120 --> 00:04:59,599 Speaker 1: still it is very clear that what you have is 69 00:04:59,920 --> 00:05:05,320 Speaker 1: a military political person endorsing a certain religious leader, and 70 00:05:05,360 --> 00:05:10,000 Speaker 1: the religious leader endorsing the political person back. And this 71 00:05:10,160 --> 00:05:14,920 Speaker 1: all comes together under Charlemagne. Now his name wasn't Charlemagne. 72 00:05:15,000 --> 00:05:20,640 Speaker 1: His name was Charles carl Carolus in Latin Carolus magnus. 73 00:05:20,720 --> 00:05:24,960 Speaker 1: Charlemagne becomes the French version of that, and so he 74 00:05:25,040 --> 00:05:30,080 Speaker 1: gives his name to this period called the carol Lingian period. 75 00:05:30,160 --> 00:05:33,640 Speaker 1: Charlemagne had a very long reign, very long life, and 76 00:05:33,920 --> 00:05:36,960 Speaker 1: What happened was that a pope, a very unpopular pope 77 00:05:37,000 --> 00:05:39,560 Speaker 1: in Rome named Leo the Third, was ousted by his 78 00:05:39,600 --> 00:05:43,960 Speaker 1: own people in the year seven ninety nine. And this pope, Leo, 79 00:05:44,120 --> 00:05:48,320 Speaker 1: reaches back to that relationship between Zachary and Peppin and says, hey, 80 00:05:48,360 --> 00:05:51,760 Speaker 1: I need some help. Down comes Charlemagne into Rome, puts 81 00:05:51,840 --> 00:05:54,680 Speaker 1: Leo back in power, and on Christmas Day in the 82 00:05:54,760 --> 00:05:58,640 Speaker 1: year eight hundred, Leo, in thanksgiving, crowns Charles, the Holy 83 00:05:58,720 --> 00:06:02,600 Speaker 1: Roman Emperor. Now in the sources, Charles says, oh, gee, 84 00:06:02,600 --> 00:06:04,840 Speaker 1: if I had known he was going to make me emperor, 85 00:06:05,160 --> 00:06:08,560 Speaker 1: never would have shown up in his chapel, as completely 86 00:06:08,640 --> 00:06:15,640 Speaker 1: unbelievable idea. And Leo anoints Charles. He gives him purple 87 00:06:15,840 --> 00:06:19,400 Speaker 1: robes the purple is the color of the Roman emperor, 88 00:06:19,560 --> 00:06:22,719 Speaker 1: and a crown and a scepter. And so now we 89 00:06:22,800 --> 00:06:26,200 Speaker 1: have this question who is more powerful. Is it the 90 00:06:26,200 --> 00:06:29,800 Speaker 1: emperor who actually has the physical power, or is it Leo. 91 00:06:30,080 --> 00:06:32,839 Speaker 1: Leo has the religious power. But Leo wouldn't be standing 92 00:06:32,880 --> 00:06:38,200 Speaker 1: there if it wasn't for Charlemagne. And so Charlemagne becomes 93 00:06:38,200 --> 00:06:42,320 Speaker 1: a patron of the church. And Charlemagne's son Louis the Pious. 94 00:06:42,400 --> 00:06:45,479 Speaker 1: Listen to that title, right, the Pious obviously protected the 95 00:06:45,560 --> 00:06:49,680 Speaker 1: church as well, and that empire lasted for quite some time. 96 00:06:49,960 --> 00:06:55,280 Speaker 1: But Louis's children quibbled among themselves and that empire collapses. 97 00:06:55,280 --> 00:06:59,400 Speaker 1: So we have a carol Jian renaissance of roughly one 98 00:06:59,480 --> 00:07:02,599 Speaker 1: hundred years seven to fifty to eight fifty, and the 99 00:07:02,680 --> 00:07:05,680 Speaker 1: high point is that anointing on Chris Day in the 100 00:07:05,760 --> 00:07:09,480 Speaker 1: year eight hundred. Well, Charlemagne, in the aftermath of that anointing, 101 00:07:09,920 --> 00:07:14,080 Speaker 1: wraps himself and what we call the iconography of political theology. 102 00:07:14,160 --> 00:07:18,440 Speaker 1: There's a phrase, huh, iconography illiterate population. You have an 103 00:07:18,480 --> 00:07:22,840 Speaker 1: illiterate population. What I see is what I know. And 104 00:07:23,040 --> 00:07:27,000 Speaker 1: political theology a phrase that makes Americans and modern people 105 00:07:27,120 --> 00:07:30,200 Speaker 1: very uncomfortable is de rigour. At that time, from the 106 00:07:30,240 --> 00:07:34,000 Speaker 1: ancient times, political power and religious power had come together. 107 00:07:34,400 --> 00:07:36,960 Speaker 1: And so what Charles does is he wraps himself in 108 00:07:37,000 --> 00:07:40,880 Speaker 1: the mantle of Constantine. He says, I am the new Constantine. 109 00:07:40,920 --> 00:07:43,880 Speaker 1: In fact, he calls his capital at Akin the Tertsia Roma. 110 00:07:44,120 --> 00:07:49,280 Speaker 1: Remember we had Rome and then the Nova Roma Constantinople. 111 00:07:49,760 --> 00:07:53,600 Speaker 1: And so Charles says, well, it's been transferred up into 112 00:07:53,640 --> 00:07:56,960 Speaker 1: Akin or the Tertsia Roma or the third Roma, and 113 00:07:57,120 --> 00:08:01,640 Speaker 1: he strikes a seal using words that had been used 114 00:08:01,760 --> 00:08:05,400 Speaker 1: by Constantine a little bit of Latin. Here. This seal 115 00:08:05,480 --> 00:08:13,440 Speaker 1: reads Dominus nostaire Carolus, imperatur Pius felix, perpetuus Augustus, our 116 00:08:13,640 --> 00:08:21,200 Speaker 1: Lord Emperor, Charles Pious, Happy Augustus forever. And that seal 117 00:08:21,280 --> 00:08:24,560 Speaker 1: has the city of Rome with a cross and acin 118 00:08:25,000 --> 00:08:28,960 Speaker 1: as well making a marriage. And on his coins, Charlemagne's coins, 119 00:08:29,160 --> 00:08:32,360 Speaker 1: he depicts himself as a Roman emperor with laurel leaves 120 00:08:32,360 --> 00:08:40,439 Speaker 1: and the words Religio Christiana Christian religion and Renovatsio Romani imperie. 121 00:08:40,480 --> 00:08:43,920 Speaker 1: The renewal of the Roman Empire never died, but now 122 00:08:43,960 --> 00:08:45,960 Speaker 1: we're going to give it a booster shot and return 123 00:08:46,000 --> 00:08:50,720 Speaker 1: it again. So for Charlemagne, the City of God, Augustine 124 00:08:50,800 --> 00:08:55,160 Speaker 1: City of God has been incarnated in his empire. He 125 00:08:55,240 --> 00:08:59,920 Speaker 1: calls it a Christian society associatas Christiana in the sources, 126 00:09:00,240 --> 00:09:04,120 Speaker 1: and he wears titles in his documents. And when he 127 00:09:04,240 --> 00:09:06,400 Speaker 1: is he walks into a room and they call out 128 00:09:06,440 --> 00:09:09,520 Speaker 1: his titles, and some of these titles may shock us. 129 00:09:10,080 --> 00:09:14,440 Speaker 1: The vicar of Christ the vicar of Saint Peter, the 130 00:09:14,480 --> 00:09:19,080 Speaker 1: rector of the Christian people, the rector of true religion, 131 00:09:19,640 --> 00:09:24,240 Speaker 1: priest and king. And so you see that he is 132 00:09:24,280 --> 00:09:28,240 Speaker 1: putting himself on par maybe a little higher than that 133 00:09:28,320 --> 00:09:31,360 Speaker 1: Bishop of Rome. You can see that there's gonna be tension, 134 00:09:31,440 --> 00:09:34,680 Speaker 1: and we're going to see this tension in later topics 135 00:09:34,679 --> 00:09:38,800 Speaker 1: where we talk about nation building and papal monarchy. Okay, 136 00:09:38,840 --> 00:09:47,640 Speaker 1: that's the politics. What's the renaissance? Cliffhanger, Chris answers that 137 00:09:47,760 --> 00:09:59,160 Speaker 1: question when we come back from a quick break, what's 138 00:09:59,160 --> 00:10:05,199 Speaker 1: the cultural renaissance in this period? Like all renaissances, you 139 00:10:05,200 --> 00:10:09,800 Speaker 1: reach back and you push forward. We have to reach 140 00:10:09,880 --> 00:10:15,240 Speaker 1: back a little bit to before Charles to understand the 141 00:10:15,440 --> 00:10:22,360 Speaker 1: spiritual engine that fuels his Christian society, and it's Benedictine monasticism. 142 00:10:22,360 --> 00:10:25,480 Speaker 1: So we have to talk about Benedictine monasticism. And I 143 00:10:25,560 --> 00:10:27,280 Speaker 1: need to point out that when you look at the 144 00:10:27,320 --> 00:10:31,400 Speaker 1: sources of this period, whenever they refer to monks, they 145 00:10:31,480 --> 00:10:36,360 Speaker 1: also mean nuns. Whenever they refer to monasteries, they also 146 00:10:36,440 --> 00:10:40,000 Speaker 1: refer to convents. So if you ever hear anyone say 147 00:10:40,040 --> 00:10:43,400 Speaker 1: the monks prayed eight times a day, so did the nuns. 148 00:10:44,200 --> 00:10:47,160 Speaker 1: And we should say too that in this period these 149 00:10:47,200 --> 00:10:51,920 Speaker 1: folks are mostly lay people. Instead of taking formal vows 150 00:10:52,040 --> 00:10:57,839 Speaker 1: of poverty, chastity and obedience what some members of religious 151 00:10:57,920 --> 00:11:02,040 Speaker 1: orders today call no money, no honey, and a boss, 152 00:11:02,840 --> 00:11:07,679 Speaker 1: those vows aren't formali until about eleven hundred. They take promises, 153 00:11:07,920 --> 00:11:12,400 Speaker 1: and the most important promissio is stub billitas that they're 154 00:11:12,440 --> 00:11:15,320 Speaker 1: going to spend their lives in that monastery or that 155 00:11:15,440 --> 00:11:18,960 Speaker 1: convent and work on a conversion of their own heart, 156 00:11:19,160 --> 00:11:23,600 Speaker 1: a conversio morum, and a conversion of their entire spirit. 157 00:11:23,880 --> 00:11:26,960 Speaker 1: And the key person here is Benedict, Benedict of Norcia, 158 00:11:27,440 --> 00:11:31,800 Speaker 1: and Benedict is living around the year five hundred. He's 159 00:11:31,840 --> 00:11:35,840 Speaker 1: one of these late antique characters like Augustine, a Roman 160 00:11:36,040 --> 00:11:39,520 Speaker 1: in his training but a Christian in his heart. His 161 00:11:39,640 --> 00:11:43,480 Speaker 1: most famous abbey is the abbey of Monte Casino, which 162 00:11:43,520 --> 00:11:46,320 Speaker 1: was bombed by the Allies in World War two and 163 00:11:46,360 --> 00:11:51,080 Speaker 1: then rebuilt, and there he writes his rule or his regula. 164 00:11:51,280 --> 00:11:53,800 Speaker 1: Now it was not original. There have been rules floating 165 00:11:53,840 --> 00:11:56,600 Speaker 1: around that period for several hundred years, but Benedict was 166 00:11:56,600 --> 00:11:59,040 Speaker 1: an administrator and he took all of these rules here, 167 00:11:59,040 --> 00:12:00,880 Speaker 1: and he says, what's good about them and what's bad 168 00:12:00,920 --> 00:12:03,679 Speaker 1: about them. Let's dial up what's good, let's get rid 169 00:12:03,720 --> 00:12:06,800 Speaker 1: of what's bad. And they're very practical and they have 170 00:12:06,960 --> 00:12:12,040 Speaker 1: these Roman values in them, like mediocritoss. Now mediocritas mediocrity, right, 171 00:12:12,400 --> 00:12:16,040 Speaker 1: is a bad word in our society today. How is 172 00:12:16,080 --> 00:12:19,520 Speaker 1: the meal? It was mediocre? It was okay? Right? Italian say, 173 00:12:19,600 --> 00:12:25,240 Speaker 1: ohs kumsikumsa, it was okay. Mediocritos in this world, in 174 00:12:25,280 --> 00:12:28,880 Speaker 1: the Roman and early Medieval world, is a virtue. It 175 00:12:28,920 --> 00:12:33,560 Speaker 1: means you're steady. It means to be like EMTs or nurses, doctors, 176 00:12:33,560 --> 00:12:38,400 Speaker 1: firemen are today in the midst of crisis. They stay medium, 177 00:12:38,480 --> 00:12:41,160 Speaker 1: in the middle. They are in control of their emotions. 178 00:12:41,160 --> 00:12:43,800 Speaker 1: They're not cold fish, but they are in control of 179 00:12:43,840 --> 00:12:47,760 Speaker 1: their emotions. And the rule instead of being rigid. Yes, 180 00:12:47,760 --> 00:12:49,880 Speaker 1: the rule says you pray at these times and you 181 00:12:50,000 --> 00:12:53,600 Speaker 1: do these tasks. But the abbot and the abbess have 182 00:12:53,880 --> 00:12:56,880 Speaker 1: great discretion. If they see a monk or a nun 183 00:12:56,880 --> 00:12:59,320 Speaker 1: who's having a bad day, they tell them to take 184 00:12:59,320 --> 00:13:03,080 Speaker 1: the day off. They're allowed to know when to push 185 00:13:03,120 --> 00:13:06,400 Speaker 1: and when to pull went to and when to flow, 186 00:13:06,480 --> 00:13:10,640 Speaker 1: and this is the great gift of Benedict to religious life, 187 00:13:10,720 --> 00:13:17,320 Speaker 1: this notion of discretcio. So what is a day like 188 00:13:17,600 --> 00:13:21,520 Speaker 1: in a medieval early medieval monastery or convent. This is 189 00:13:21,560 --> 00:13:25,440 Speaker 1: going to be the stabilizing force that Charlemagne is really 190 00:13:25,480 --> 00:13:27,920 Speaker 1: going to emphasize because he's going to look at monasteries 191 00:13:27,920 --> 00:13:31,560 Speaker 1: and convents as stabilizing forces in his empire. The key 192 00:13:31,600 --> 00:13:33,520 Speaker 1: is the prayer life. And now the prayer life is 193 00:13:33,520 --> 00:13:35,960 Speaker 1: the Opus day e. When you say that, immediately some 194 00:13:36,000 --> 00:13:38,559 Speaker 1: people say, wait a second, isn't there a religious kind 195 00:13:38,600 --> 00:13:42,120 Speaker 1: of community in the Catholic Church today called Opus Day? Yes, 196 00:13:42,160 --> 00:13:44,600 Speaker 1: there is. That's not what we're talking about. Opus day 197 00:13:44,720 --> 00:13:47,679 Speaker 1: literally means the work of God, and the work of 198 00:13:47,760 --> 00:13:51,280 Speaker 1: God is to pray. That's your job as a monk 199 00:13:51,679 --> 00:13:55,240 Speaker 1: or a nun. And that prayer was eight particular times 200 00:13:55,240 --> 00:13:58,400 Speaker 1: in a day. And those prayers go on and on, 201 00:13:58,679 --> 00:14:01,079 Speaker 1: and the most famous one that a lot of people 202 00:14:01,120 --> 00:14:04,959 Speaker 1: know is vespers are called evensong. And this is a 203 00:14:05,240 --> 00:14:09,360 Speaker 1: Protestant churches as well as Catholic churches nowadays. Back in 204 00:14:09,400 --> 00:14:12,000 Speaker 1: our own period, we're all Christian. We don't have that 205 00:14:12,120 --> 00:14:16,160 Speaker 1: Catholic Protestant split for another thousand years and vespers or 206 00:14:16,200 --> 00:14:18,720 Speaker 1: evensong is something that a lot of people have attended, 207 00:14:18,880 --> 00:14:22,240 Speaker 1: even if they're not believers, because some great composers have 208 00:14:22,320 --> 00:14:26,120 Speaker 1: written vespers services. And what do they do the rest 209 00:14:26,160 --> 00:14:30,400 Speaker 1: of the time. They read, and they study individually and together. 210 00:14:30,480 --> 00:14:32,960 Speaker 1: There's a sense of a community trying to help each other, 211 00:14:33,400 --> 00:14:36,160 Speaker 1: and they work. And this was one of Benedict's great 212 00:14:36,640 --> 00:14:40,760 Speaker 1: contributions because in the Roman world, slaves worked. But what 213 00:14:40,800 --> 00:14:45,160 Speaker 1: Benedict does is he sanctifies work. And this is going 214 00:14:45,200 --> 00:14:47,200 Speaker 1: to be important later on in something called the twelfth 215 00:14:47,240 --> 00:14:51,760 Speaker 1: century Renaissance, that my work is my prayer. Why because 216 00:14:51,880 --> 00:14:55,400 Speaker 1: Jesus worked. Jesus had a trade, Because Mary worked, she 217 00:14:55,480 --> 00:14:58,360 Speaker 1: had to make bread, she had to take care of 218 00:14:58,400 --> 00:15:01,480 Speaker 1: the house, and there's something sanctifying about it. Plus the 219 00:15:01,480 --> 00:15:03,640 Speaker 1: fact that a monastery or a convent has to be 220 00:15:04,000 --> 00:15:07,120 Speaker 1: self sufficient, and so it needs to make its own 221 00:15:07,320 --> 00:15:12,720 Speaker 1: bread and needs to grind its own grain, and it 222 00:15:12,760 --> 00:15:15,800 Speaker 1: needs to make its own wax and candles, it needs 223 00:15:15,840 --> 00:15:19,400 Speaker 1: to make vellum, it needs to make ink. And also, 224 00:15:19,440 --> 00:15:21,480 Speaker 1: I think, as we all know, you can't study all 225 00:15:21,560 --> 00:15:24,320 Speaker 1: day long, even when you're in graduate school or you're 226 00:15:24,360 --> 00:15:26,200 Speaker 1: working on a degree, or you're reading, you have to 227 00:15:26,240 --> 00:15:27,800 Speaker 1: get up and you have to move around. You have 228 00:15:27,840 --> 00:15:30,400 Speaker 1: to turn your brain off, and sometimes your brain keeps 229 00:15:30,440 --> 00:15:35,080 Speaker 1: working in interesting ways when you're doing physical labor. What 230 00:15:35,200 --> 00:15:40,800 Speaker 1: was the key to monastic spirituality? What was monastic theology? Like, well, 231 00:15:40,840 --> 00:15:42,600 Speaker 1: it usually gets a bad name, you know. We have 232 00:15:42,680 --> 00:15:46,280 Speaker 1: this notion from movies like Monty Python on the Holy 233 00:15:46,320 --> 00:15:49,360 Speaker 1: Grail that monks just kind of lamented the psalms all 234 00:15:49,440 --> 00:15:51,800 Speaker 1: day long and knocked themselves on the head and whipped 235 00:15:51,800 --> 00:15:56,280 Speaker 1: themselves and it's all very silly. The big aspect of 236 00:15:56,400 --> 00:16:01,320 Speaker 1: study and prayer in the medieval convents and monastery was 237 00:16:01,360 --> 00:16:03,920 Speaker 1: this notion that there is an authority to the word 238 00:16:04,000 --> 00:16:06,880 Speaker 1: of God. There's something that I think we've lost in 239 00:16:06,880 --> 00:16:10,320 Speaker 1: the modern world, and that's intellectual humility. Yes, we want 240 00:16:10,360 --> 00:16:14,120 Speaker 1: to understand things, we want to push the envelope out, 241 00:16:14,120 --> 00:16:16,080 Speaker 1: and we're going to see that in a later topic 242 00:16:16,840 --> 00:16:21,680 Speaker 1: called scholasticism or scholastic theology, which gets very aggressive. And 243 00:16:22,200 --> 00:16:24,160 Speaker 1: you need both of those, right. You need to come 244 00:16:24,200 --> 00:16:26,120 Speaker 1: to a point when you study when you say, well, 245 00:16:26,160 --> 00:16:28,520 Speaker 1: I can't explain this anymore, because how do you explain 246 00:16:28,560 --> 00:16:30,480 Speaker 1: the love of God? How do you explain the fact 247 00:16:30,520 --> 00:16:33,000 Speaker 1: that Jesus is fully human and fully divine without being 248 00:16:33,720 --> 00:16:37,440 Speaker 1: a two hundred percent creature. Comes a point where there 249 00:16:37,440 --> 00:16:40,320 Speaker 1: are mysteries, and the monk and the nun will defer 250 00:16:40,480 --> 00:16:44,080 Speaker 1: to those mysteries much more readily than a scholastic theologian. 251 00:16:44,080 --> 00:16:46,800 Speaker 1: And there's a reverence for the texts. And this is 252 00:16:46,840 --> 00:16:51,400 Speaker 1: why the copying of texts becomes so important in the monastery. 253 00:16:51,720 --> 00:16:54,880 Speaker 1: To write out the texts is to read the words, 254 00:16:54,920 --> 00:16:57,720 Speaker 1: and to read the words is to pray the words 255 00:16:58,120 --> 00:17:00,360 Speaker 1: as well. And let's remember that nuns are doing this 256 00:17:00,400 --> 00:17:02,680 Speaker 1: as well. So nuns had a higher rate of literacy 257 00:17:03,560 --> 00:17:07,240 Speaker 1: than women who are outside of the convent. And so 258 00:17:07,679 --> 00:17:13,320 Speaker 1: what does Charlemagne do with this monastic Benedictine tradition to 259 00:17:13,359 --> 00:17:16,600 Speaker 1: add to his renaissance. What he does is he marries 260 00:17:16,639 --> 00:17:22,279 Speaker 1: this structure of Roman imperial administration with Christian morality, and 261 00:17:22,280 --> 00:17:25,279 Speaker 1: he says, I want my society to be Christian. I 262 00:17:25,439 --> 00:17:29,159 Speaker 1: need to send out word of how to organize the 263 00:17:29,280 --> 00:17:32,439 Speaker 1: society and how people should act so that we have 264 00:17:32,600 --> 00:17:36,559 Speaker 1: law and order. And these words are sent out in 265 00:17:36,800 --> 00:17:41,559 Speaker 1: books organized by chapters. The Latin word for chapter is capitula, 266 00:17:41,919 --> 00:17:45,639 Speaker 1: and so these collections of books are called capitularies. So 267 00:17:45,679 --> 00:17:50,879 Speaker 1: there are rules on marriage, there's rules on crime, there 268 00:17:50,919 --> 00:17:55,239 Speaker 1: are rules on how people interact with each other in 269 00:17:55,359 --> 00:18:00,040 Speaker 1: terms of buying and selling, inheritance, what happens when things 270 00:18:00,119 --> 00:18:05,840 Speaker 1: go wrong, negotiations, criminal and civil actions, law and order 271 00:18:05,959 --> 00:18:09,200 Speaker 1: and punishment. And the people who get sent out are 272 00:18:09,359 --> 00:18:14,519 Speaker 1: legates or messengers. They're called the missi dominici, the messengers 273 00:18:14,520 --> 00:18:17,480 Speaker 1: of the lord, the lord being the emperor here who 274 00:18:17,600 --> 00:18:23,639 Speaker 1: is Charlemagne. And these people themselves reach back into history 275 00:18:23,919 --> 00:18:27,040 Speaker 1: and they say, well, let's see we have Roman learning, 276 00:18:27,040 --> 00:18:31,879 Speaker 1: but Roman learning is mythological, and mythology from Greco Roman 277 00:18:31,959 --> 00:18:36,440 Speaker 1: times is polytheistic. How does that work with Christian monotheism 278 00:18:36,479 --> 00:18:40,399 Speaker 1: and the belief in this god man Jesus. And again 279 00:18:40,439 --> 00:18:42,639 Speaker 1: they reach back and they find one of these late 280 00:18:42,679 --> 00:18:46,719 Speaker 1: antique characters, one of whom is named Cassiodorus, an exact 281 00:18:47,119 --> 00:18:52,600 Speaker 1: contemporary of Benedict. He was a Roman aristocrat, and he said, oh, 282 00:18:52,639 --> 00:18:56,200 Speaker 1: there's no problem here. You can read the Pagan classics, 283 00:18:56,520 --> 00:18:59,279 Speaker 1: and you can read the Christian classics, and you can 284 00:18:59,359 --> 00:19:03,800 Speaker 1: learn certain skills of rhetoric, of logic of organization from 285 00:19:03,800 --> 00:19:07,000 Speaker 1: the Pagans, and you simply apply them to Christian morality, 286 00:19:07,159 --> 00:19:09,520 Speaker 1: and in fact, his most famous book is called an 287 00:19:09,560 --> 00:19:14,199 Speaker 1: Introduction to Divine and Human Readings. Well, this is great 288 00:19:14,239 --> 00:19:17,040 Speaker 1: for Charlemagne because it's exactly what he's trying to do. 289 00:19:17,199 --> 00:19:20,520 Speaker 1: He's trying to recreate the Roman imperial structure, but he's 290 00:19:20,560 --> 00:19:25,080 Speaker 1: trying to do it in a Christian context, using Christian values. 291 00:19:25,719 --> 00:19:29,399 Speaker 1: And so now we begin to find not only in 292 00:19:29,840 --> 00:19:34,840 Speaker 1: Charlemagne's kingdom, but elsewhere as well, people doing precisely this 293 00:19:35,239 --> 00:19:38,600 Speaker 1: up in England, character by the name of the Venerable Bead. 294 00:19:38,959 --> 00:19:42,719 Speaker 1: Now he's not venerable in any formal Roman sense nowadays, 295 00:19:42,760 --> 00:19:46,959 Speaker 1: where you venerate a servant of God venerable. He was 296 00:19:47,000 --> 00:19:49,039 Speaker 1: called venerable in his own day. People just you know 297 00:19:49,159 --> 00:19:51,320 Speaker 1: people in your life who everyone says that person is 298 00:19:51,479 --> 00:19:54,560 Speaker 1: just wise. And so he was known as the Venerable Bead. 299 00:19:54,800 --> 00:19:58,879 Speaker 1: And he was in English Benedictine, someone who was living 300 00:19:59,159 --> 00:20:02,119 Speaker 1: in a monastery, who spent most of his life between 301 00:20:02,159 --> 00:20:06,799 Speaker 1: two monasteries, Wheremouth and Yarrow, and he collected documents, he 302 00:20:06,919 --> 00:20:10,119 Speaker 1: read these documents, he copied them, and he wrote his 303 00:20:10,199 --> 00:20:12,639 Speaker 1: own histories. And the most famous one is called the 304 00:20:12,719 --> 00:20:18,999 Speaker 1: Ecclesiastical History of the English people, and so Bede is 305 00:20:19,080 --> 00:20:23,239 Speaker 1: doing at the most famous level what monks and nuns 306 00:20:23,320 --> 00:20:28,040 Speaker 1: are doing all over this Carolingian Empire, and also down 307 00:20:28,040 --> 00:20:30,879 Speaker 1: in Italy as well, some of which was controlled by Charlemagne. 308 00:20:31,119 --> 00:20:36,679 Speaker 1: They are organizing libraries places where you do the script 309 00:20:37,000 --> 00:20:44,599 Speaker 1: a scriptorium in plural scriptoria, and they're copying texts. Now, 310 00:20:44,679 --> 00:20:47,639 Speaker 1: I'd like to make two points about those texts. The 311 00:20:47,760 --> 00:20:51,639 Speaker 1: first is that we think we have from the Greco 312 00:20:51,760 --> 00:20:56,119 Speaker 1: Roman world about twenty percent of what was written. In 313 00:20:56,159 --> 00:20:59,159 Speaker 1: some cases, we have lists of books, but we don't 314 00:20:59,199 --> 00:21:01,119 Speaker 1: have all of the books. So we might have a 315 00:21:01,119 --> 00:21:04,399 Speaker 1: list of seventy or eighty plays by Escalus, but we 316 00:21:04,479 --> 00:21:08,399 Speaker 1: only have in hand about ten or twelve of them. 317 00:21:08,439 --> 00:21:11,679 Speaker 1: It would be having like having a library burned down 318 00:21:12,119 --> 00:21:15,759 Speaker 1: but still having the card catalog. You know, those books 319 00:21:15,800 --> 00:21:20,439 Speaker 1: existed at one point. Well, those twenty percent of Greco 320 00:21:20,560 --> 00:21:27,919 Speaker 1: Roman texts exist almost exclusively in the hand writing of 321 00:21:28,399 --> 00:21:33,239 Speaker 1: early medieval monks and nuns. Without them, we would have 322 00:21:33,439 --> 00:21:37,319 Speaker 1: lost touch with that ancient world. And so what we 323 00:21:37,520 --> 00:21:41,520 Speaker 1: look at as this very tedious work is actually an 324 00:21:41,520 --> 00:21:45,080 Speaker 1: act of devotion and an intellectual action as well. But 325 00:21:45,119 --> 00:21:47,799 Speaker 1: it's important to know that monks and nuns are not 326 00:21:47,879 --> 00:21:52,519 Speaker 1: really challenging those texts. They're transferring those texts to a 327 00:21:52,639 --> 00:21:56,879 Speaker 1: later period that scholastic theologians will then challenge. So let's 328 00:21:56,919 --> 00:22:00,960 Speaker 1: look upon these two things as partnership and not competition. 329 00:22:01,800 --> 00:22:03,919 Speaker 1: The other point that I wanted to make was the 330 00:22:03,959 --> 00:22:10,439 Speaker 1: physical copying itself takes place in very careful handwriting. There 331 00:22:10,439 --> 00:22:13,159 Speaker 1: have been studies of handwriting. The study of handwriting is 332 00:22:13,159 --> 00:22:16,200 Speaker 1: called paleography, and it is a study in its own right. 333 00:22:16,359 --> 00:22:18,000 Speaker 1: Some of you have been to museums, or if you've 334 00:22:18,040 --> 00:22:21,119 Speaker 1: opened books and you see these ancient Greek or Roman 335 00:22:21,199 --> 00:22:23,879 Speaker 1: texts and you can't make any sense of them. That's 336 00:22:23,879 --> 00:22:28,559 Speaker 1: because there's no punctuation in ancient Greek and in ancient Latin. 337 00:22:28,840 --> 00:22:31,479 Speaker 1: All the words run together, and when you come to 338 00:22:31,520 --> 00:22:34,320 Speaker 1: the end of the line, if your word isn't finished, 339 00:22:34,320 --> 00:22:37,000 Speaker 1: you just wrap around to the next line. If you've 340 00:22:37,040 --> 00:22:39,040 Speaker 1: ever seen a three or four or five year old 341 00:22:39,119 --> 00:22:41,800 Speaker 1: learning to write, this is exactly how it gets. So 342 00:22:42,000 --> 00:22:44,040 Speaker 1: if you put a piece of paper down in front 343 00:22:44,040 --> 00:22:46,560 Speaker 1: of a young child and you tell them to write 344 00:22:46,600 --> 00:22:49,160 Speaker 1: a long word, and they at first letter is huge, 345 00:22:49,320 --> 00:22:52,479 Speaker 1: and you say to them write small, they'll just go 346 00:22:52,560 --> 00:22:54,719 Speaker 1: to the end of the line and wrap around again. 347 00:22:55,280 --> 00:22:59,800 Speaker 1: And so the handwriting of ancient Rome began to deteriorate 348 00:23:00,000 --> 00:23:03,399 Speaker 1: when Rome started to go through its transformation, and the 349 00:23:03,399 --> 00:23:07,080 Speaker 1: imperial system in the organization began to get a little 350 00:23:07,080 --> 00:23:09,319 Speaker 1: bit weaker than it had been. So one of the 351 00:23:09,399 --> 00:23:15,719 Speaker 1: things that Charles orders is that handwriting improves, that documents improve, 352 00:23:16,159 --> 00:23:19,679 Speaker 1: and so punctuation begins to be brought in and a 353 00:23:19,879 --> 00:23:24,479 Speaker 1: very careful handwriting, a slower handwriting with basically lined paper 354 00:23:24,800 --> 00:23:29,759 Speaker 1: called Carolingian minuscule, takes place. And it's this kind of 355 00:23:29,840 --> 00:23:33,159 Speaker 1: careful handwriting that you see. So you can look at 356 00:23:33,199 --> 00:23:37,199 Speaker 1: what is chicken scratch or a spider web crawling across 357 00:23:37,239 --> 00:23:39,679 Speaker 1: a page in the year six hundred. By the year 358 00:23:39,719 --> 00:23:43,000 Speaker 1: eight hundred, it looks as if it's printed, that's how 359 00:23:43,080 --> 00:23:45,959 Speaker 1: regular it is. And then that was checked by a 360 00:23:46,000 --> 00:23:48,840 Speaker 1: senior monk or a senior nun to make sure that 361 00:23:48,840 --> 00:23:51,520 Speaker 1: there were no errors in it. And the lext logical 362 00:23:51,560 --> 00:23:55,240 Speaker 1: step is to start illuminating those manuscripts. And if you've 363 00:23:55,239 --> 00:23:58,640 Speaker 1: ever seen, for instance, a page from the Book of Kells, 364 00:23:58,679 --> 00:24:03,119 Speaker 1: a very interesting example of medieval monks and nuns taking 365 00:24:03,560 --> 00:24:08,119 Speaker 1: Celtic and Gaelic native pagan imagery like circles and squirrels 366 00:24:08,320 --> 00:24:11,720 Speaker 1: and tying them into the gospels. So you might have 367 00:24:12,000 --> 00:24:17,280 Speaker 1: an illuminated initial letter, or you may have an image of, 368 00:24:17,439 --> 00:24:23,439 Speaker 1: say Gabriel announcing to Mary that God had chosen her 369 00:24:23,560 --> 00:24:26,719 Speaker 1: to be the mother of Jesus, and you might see 370 00:24:26,719 --> 00:24:31,359 Speaker 1: a fancy representation of that basically in the margin next 371 00:24:31,439 --> 00:24:36,840 Speaker 1: to the text of what Christians call the Annunciation. So 372 00:24:36,919 --> 00:24:40,319 Speaker 1: now this big effort begins to take place, and we 373 00:24:40,399 --> 00:24:43,599 Speaker 1: have a second Benedict. We had Benedict of Nurcia around 374 00:24:43,639 --> 00:24:46,840 Speaker 1: five hundred. Charlemagne has his own Benedict, and his name 375 00:24:46,879 --> 00:24:51,159 Speaker 1: is Benedict of Anien. And Benedict of Anien worked under 376 00:24:51,239 --> 00:24:55,359 Speaker 1: all of these people, Pepin the Short, remember him, Charlemagne 377 00:24:55,520 --> 00:24:59,639 Speaker 1: and Charlemagne's son Louis the Pious, and he took Monte Casino, 378 00:24:59,800 --> 00:25:02,759 Speaker 1: and he built a new monastery, his own monastery, a 379 00:25:02,959 --> 00:25:07,000 Speaker 1: place called Dan and he made it a second center 380 00:25:07,119 --> 00:25:11,199 Speaker 1: of Benedictine monasticism. And remember that there's a relationship between 381 00:25:11,199 --> 00:25:15,479 Speaker 1: Benedictine monasticism and those capitularies and people living a moral life. 382 00:25:15,879 --> 00:25:20,519 Speaker 1: In Charlemagne's empire, and he had a standard perfect copy 383 00:25:20,600 --> 00:25:24,439 Speaker 1: of Benedict's rule at Inden. Two monks and two nuns 384 00:25:24,679 --> 00:25:29,399 Speaker 1: from every monastery and convent in Charlemagne's territories had to 385 00:25:29,439 --> 00:25:32,999 Speaker 1: come and study for a year at Inden. And while 386 00:25:33,000 --> 00:25:36,439 Speaker 1: they were there, a copy of Benedict's rule was made 387 00:25:36,479 --> 00:25:39,759 Speaker 1: for them, and they took that copy from a mother 388 00:25:40,080 --> 00:25:45,879 Speaker 1: monastery or a convent to their son or daughter monastery 389 00:25:46,040 --> 00:25:49,199 Speaker 1: or a convent. And you can see how this change 390 00:25:49,199 --> 00:25:55,280 Speaker 1: in handwriting is fueling this Carolingian Renaissance. Somebody came from 391 00:25:55,320 --> 00:25:58,919 Speaker 1: England named Alcuin of York and he was Charlemagne's tutor. 392 00:25:59,159 --> 00:26:02,119 Speaker 1: He had studied under Bead and he taught Charlemagne. So 393 00:26:02,119 --> 00:26:06,479 Speaker 1: you see these cycles coming together in the Carolingian Renaissance. 394 00:26:07,000 --> 00:26:10,359 Speaker 1: There is no idea of a dark age in this period. 395 00:26:10,679 --> 00:26:14,359 Speaker 1: What we have is a transformation of Roman culture to 396 00:26:14,479 --> 00:26:21,159 Speaker 1: a new Christian age. Thank you for listening to another 397 00:26:21,159 --> 00:26:25,000 Speaker 1: episode of Secrets of the Medieval World. Next week we'll 398 00:26:25,080 --> 00:26:34,959 Speaker 1: learn about feudalism, peasant life and revolution, agricultural revolution half 399 00:26:34,959 --> 00:26:38,800 Speaker 1: hour history. Secrets of the Medieval World from One Day 400 00:26:38,919 --> 00:26:42,319 Speaker 1: University is a production of iHeart podcasts and a School 401 00:26:42,320 --> 00:26:45,439 Speaker 1: of Humans. 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