Test - 11/4/13 Flashcards
Aristotle and how his writing got to Europe in the 12th C
Around 1144 ,Italian scholar Gerard of Cremona traveled to libraries of Toledo (a newly conquered Arab city in Spain) in order to get a copy of 2nd-century-Greek-astronomy-text Almagest, and stumbled onto a library full of Arabic translations of Greek Classics (unpossessed by the Latin-West) in Arabic, Aristotle’s works among them, and translated them into Latin till death. This was only a part of the rediscovery of Classical Greek texts translated into Arabic, unknown to the west. (Bauer 46-47)
hylomorphism
Aristotelian theory of substance, composed of form and matter, or form and mattering occurring together.
Aquinas: “soul is the form of the man, the principle that shapes material stuff into a particular kind of thing, a man.” (Hoffecker, 162)
Aristotelian concepts in conflict with Christian orthodoxy
Unmoved Mover God's is static and unitarian. God is impersonal and separated from man Universe is self-enclosed deterministic entity that is eternal. Soul and Body are not separable Soul has three levels: Nutritive soul: Plants, Slugs, etc Sensitive soul: emotions Rational soul: Think and reasoning Aristotle did not use Scripture
Averroes
Wrote commentaries on Aristotle; he became known as “the Commentator.” (Gonzalez 355). Held to Double Truth Theory and was in Dante’s Limbo.
Double truth theory
Something can be true in philosophy but allegorical in theology, and they are saying the same thing. It is “the notion that truths of philosophy are different from truths of faith, though equally valid” (Hoffecker, 156). [Class notes]
the same truth expressed clearly in philosophy is only expressed allegorically in religion
religion and philosophy, as separate sources of knowledge, might arrive at contradictory truths without detriment to either
Avicenna
a dhimmi [a non-muslim whose lands were overtaken by the Muslims]; an important Aristotelian commentator in the Muslim world and also blended Aristotelianism and Neoplatonism
Moses Maimonides: [Mosheh ben Maimon]
A Talmudic Scholar who flees (with father and family) to North Africa after persecution in Spain (dominated by Almohads who decreed the forced conversion of Jews and Xtians). He tries to reconcile Judaism and Aristotle (believing there to be one truth behind empirical science and faith) and wrote The Guide for the Perplexed; he is later called a heretic by the Jewish leaders/rabbinic council. Wrote a summary of the Torah for persecuted Jews.
Peter Abelard
Wrote Theologia, arguing that Plato’s writing on the “world soul” was about the Holy Spirit, and that the Scriptures were “involucrum, inherently difficult and obscure, ‘fruitfully obscure’ in a way that forced readers to use reason and dialectic as they wrestled with the meaning” [Bauer, 50]. He was accused of heterodoxy and then sentenced to silence [Bauer, 51-52]. He also couldn’t control his passions, got Heloise pregnant, and was castrated by her father.
“He determined to bring faith and logic together. . . [using] the categories of Aristotle . . . [which was thought to] throw into doubt the entire authority structure of the Christian church.”
Dialectic method
“rules of systematic thinking and inquiry laid out by Aristotle.” (Bauer, 5)
Sic et Non
Literally “Yes and No,” a book written by Peter Abelard with quotations taken from the [Church Fathers, Bauer 51], placing seemingly contradictory statements on topics of theology next to each other to “show that various authorities . . . did not agree on their answers. . . . to show that theology must not be content with citing authorities . . . [and] to find ways to reconcile such apparently contradictory authorities.” (Gonzalez, 371-372) Highly controversial work.
Onto-theology
A style of theology subordinated to and constrained by philosophical commitments from outside theology
Scholasticism
A method of investigation and inquiry (raising questions and solving objections). Two developments were significant for its early history: the growth of universities and the reintroduction of Aristotle’s teachings into Western Europe. (Gonzalez, 372).
characterized by competition and desire for innovation, based in cities, movement towards systematic organization of Christian truth. (Hoffecker, 147)
Monastic schools
monasteries (like Cluny), which usually existed apart from centers of population and the deteriorating church (think papacy), that served as centers of learning and worship. [Gonzalez, 330]
- rural, secluded
- emphasis on obedience, no questions asked
- memorization and rhetoric
- well established
Cathedral schools
12th century schools in cathedrals (order by Innocent II in the Fourth Lateran Council 1215), centers of theological activity and learning, connected with churches that had bishops, usually in cities. These were supplanted by universities in the thirteenth century, as a consequence of growing cities.
Bernard of Clairvaux
first and foremost a monk…champion of ecclesiastical reform, the preacher of the second crusade, and the enemy of all theological innovation…. Bernard’s frame gave the Cistercian movement great impetus
Peter Lombard
cleric who was Bernard of Clairvaux’s protege, penning the first systematic theology, the Sentences, read in every notable cathedral school. Bernard silenced Abelard and his use of Aristotelian categories; the very tools he silenced, his protege employed in methodology. (Bauer, 53). He also defended the doctrine of wine for the priests alone (Bauer, 647) and determined that there were seven sacraments: baptism, confirmation, eucharist, penance, anointing of the sick, holy orders, and matrimony. (Gonzales, 372)
Four Books of Sentences
Peter Lombard’s popular systematic theology (the first of its kind), introducing the (Aristotelian) methodology of discussion, debate, and systemization.
Peter Lombard’s attempt to organize and link Christian doctrine into a coherent, logical whole. He used Scripture and the Church fathers, side by side, using logic and (Aristotelian) dialectic to resolve contrary opinions.
He created theological categories: Christology, soteriology, ecclesiology, eschatology. (Bauer, 53)
Trivium
Three disciplines that focused on how to express knowledge: grammar, logic, rhetoric
Quadrivium
Four disciplines that focused on the content of knowledge: arithmetic, geometry, music, astronomy
Original conception of the universities
the universities were in part the result of the growth of cities. Students congregated in urban centers, first at the cathedral schools, and then at others, and all of these were eventually united in what came to be known as “general studies.” Out of these evolved the main universities of Europe. But these were not so much institutions like our modern universities as they were guilds of scholars, both teachers and students, organized in order to defend the rights of their members, and to certify the level of proficiency achieved by each. (Gonzalez, 372)
A kind of student guild, started with groups of students gathering around popular teachers
Students, tired of being taken advantage of by the local merchants, demand fair prices with the threat of leaving en masse
accountability for professors
generally didn’t draw a salary from the institution but rather were paid directly by students
students levied high expectations on the professors
Professors eventually formed their own guild to deal with the students
idea of awarding a diploma, diploma necessary to capitalize on the education
Legacy of the medieval universities
not architecture or regalia/ritual Institutions -curriculum of study -the awarding of degrees -various faculties and colleges
Universities of Bologna and Paris
The University of Bologna was the center for Legal studies (i.e. Law) while the University of Paris was the center for Theology.
Gratian
An Italian legal scholar who created the Concordance of Discordant Canons was “a vast collection of Church law, putting together ecclesiastical pronouncements that contradicted each other, and then using dialectic to resolve the inconsistencies
Canon Law
Canon law is the body of laws and regulations made by ecclesiastical authority (Church leadership), for the government of a Christian organization or church and its members.
Suger of St. Denis
Frankish father of Gothic architecture and historian
Gothic and Romanesque
Romanesque architecture characterized by:
Elongated sanctuary (Similar to the shape of a latin cross)
Stone roofs
In order to support the heavier roofs, the ceilings tended to be supported by semicircular arches. These arches were supported by thick walls with few windows, thus giving many of these sanctuaries very little light.
Belfries
Gothic architecture characterized by:
Basic plans of the gothic church with a couple of differences:
Pointed arches
Flying buttresses
General causes and background of the Crusading movement
The Crusades were military expeditions that were attempting to reconquer the Holy lands. They were highly religious wars. The crusades were not unprovoked…Crusaders believed that they were doing God’s work.” At the time, the people actually believed that the pope was God’s spokesman and thus, since the pope ordered a crusade, it was commanded by God.
The goals, leaders, and results of the 2nd Crusade
Goals: Recapture Edessa (which fell to Turks in 1144)
Leaders: Pope Eugenius III called the crusade; Bernard of Clairvaux preached crusade; Louis VII of France and Conrad III of Germany went
Results:
Conrad wounded at Dorylaeum
Failed attack on Damascus (1148)
Louis VII and Eleanor (never with male child) quarrel (and he ends up divorcing her)
Nur ad-Din captures Antioch (1149)
Deflates crusading spirit
The goals, leaders, and results of the 3rd Crusade
Goals: Recapture Jerusalem from Saladin (had fallen in 1187)
Leaders: Pope Gregory VII authorized the crusade; Richard Lionheart of England, Phillip II of France, and Frederick Barbarossa of Germany went
Results:
Byzantium reluctant to welcome Crusaders
Frederick Barbarossa drowns near Armenia, after fighting w/Constantinople (1190)
Richard conquers Cyprus (1191)
Richard and Philip have a falling out (‘cos Richard didn’t give Cyprus). Phillip leaves for home, sick of crusade and Richard.
Acre surrenders to Crusaders (1191)
Richard, Saladin conclude a truce
The goals, leaders, and results of the 4th Crusade
Goals: Reconquer Jerusalem
Leaders: Pope Innocent III calls crusade; Frenchman Foulques preached crusade; Enrico Dandolo (Doge of Venice) provides ships for poor Crusaders; Young Alexius wants to recover throne in Constantinople
Results:
Crusaders hire Venetian ships and besiege Zadar, a Christian city (1202)
Philip of Germany persuades them to help him restore Alexius to throne in Constantinople
Crusaders were diverted, sack, and pillage, Constantinople (1203)
Alexius fails to pay, Crusaders attack his usurper, defile the city (1204)
Constantinople now Latin kingdom
Reconquista
The Reconquista (“reconquest”) is a period of approximately 781 years in the history of the Iberian Peninsula, from the first Islamic invasion in 711 to the fall of Granada, the last Islamic state on the peninsula, in 1492. The Reconquista corresponds to, and is named for, a period of expansion of the Christian states of the peninsula at the expense of the Muslim states, collectively known as al-Andalus.
Richard Lionheart
Son of English King Henry II, moved over to befriend French King Philip II who helped press and convince Henry II to make Richard heir. When king, he released his mother Eleanor from house arrest (Henry II did it), he took up his father’s vows to go on crusade (the Third Crusade) and paid for it by ransacking the treasury. On his way, he won Cyprus, and arrived at Acre to take it and Jerusalem. Phillip II had been waiting on him, displeased when he finally arrived, well-received by the crusaders, and unwilling to share Cyprus–thus, Phillip, sick of crusade and Richard, left for home France. Richard ended up making a three year truce/peace with Saladin (see Bauer 173 for details). Heading home, he was captured and imprisoned by HRE Henry IV (per agreement with Phillip II), released by ransom of his countrymen’s tax, mother, and barons. Set free, he set to wage war against Phillip II and brother John (who had taken refuge at French court). He died in 1199 after he and Philip agreed to a five-year truce in their ongoing war.
Frederick Barbarossa
HRE who, disliked by Pope and states, set up antipope, and was humbled to peace. At peace with Papal authority, he went on Third Crusade and drowned.
Began his reign informing pope Eugenius III that God, not him, gave the empire to him. He gave protection to the church, willing to cooperate with it. Eugenius III promises to crown him, dies, and successor Adrian IV crowns Frederick HRE instead. The price was help in Italian city-states. Realizing papal states don’t like Frederick, Adrian IV pulls back support. Frederick answers by setting up his antipope Victor IV-later Paschall III, against the newly-cardinal-selected-pope Alexander III. Frederick had fought with the Lombard League and Papal states and made peace with them at Venice, recognizing Pope Alexander III as sole authority over Papal states, abandoning his antipope Callixtus III. He lived to obey Pope Gregory VIII’s authorization to go on crusade (Third Crusade) to recover Jerusalem under a seven-year truce in Europe and its kings between English Henry II, French Philip II, and himself. On his way to Jerusalem, Constantinople got in his way, and scared a ceasefire when Constantinople saw he was about to get Gregory VIII’s permission to call a crusade against Constantinople. He drown crossing a river near Armenia in 1190.
The ideal of Christendom and the extent to which it is achieved in the 13th Century
One flock, under one shepherd, the Pope. Pope Innocent III exercised authority over the spiritual church and temporal kings and lands with the tools of Crusade, Deposition, Taxes, and Law to exercise power.
“He believed that ‘everything in the world is the province of the pope,’ that St. Peter had been commissioned by Christ ‘to govern not only the universal Church all the secular world” (Cantor 427)
Pope Innocent III, seen as spiritual head and power superior to temporal powers/kings meddled and had his way in European affairs. He set up HRE Otto IV and later excommunicated and deposed him, set up Frederick II as new HRE, made the widowed King Philip II of France give up his third wife to return to his second wife by pressure of interdict and the nobles and bishops’ support for Innocent III’s command, placed England under interdict because of disobedient & stubborn King John Lackland (who was also excommunicated, deposed, repented seeing Innocent call Crusade against him, and agreed to be his fief/vassal) and refused the usurping-barons’ Magna Carta, made Pedro II of Aragon (Spain) into his fief/vassal and claimed all lands conquered from unbelievers (Muslims) belonged to the papacy and forbade marriage of King of Leon with King of Castile’s daughter, took and sacked Constantinople and established Latin Empire in Fourth Crusade (which deepened Schism), founded medicant orders of Franciscans and Dominicans, crusaded against Albigensians and instituted reforms–the Inquisition, transubstantiation, cathedral schools, monastic orders, entertainment standards of clergy, etc–at the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215. (Gonzalez, 363-367)
nnocent’s interpretation of the “two swords”
Temporal and Spiritual power have both been instituted by God.
Interpretation by Gelasius about the Pope’s power - it is contrasted to be like the sun and the moon: The sun being the Papacy/Church and the Moon being the secular rulers. “Just as the moon receives its light from the sun, so doesthe emperor receive his power from the pope.” (Gonzalez, 365) Peter (the Pope) holds both of these two “swords”, in a qualified way. The Role of the secular ruler is to physically punish people and heresy, while the Pope is the one who spiritually punishes.
Innocent’s use of the crusade as a tool of church power
Because spiritual authority trumped temporal authority, he called crusades against any who defied him–heretics (Cathars/Albigensians), orthodox-Nicene Christians (John Lackland), fellow crusaders (Richard of Tolouse), heathens in Holy Lands (Fourth Crusade).
Crusade under Innocent III was “so diffused that it had lost any form or definition. Now crusade could be declared against a Christian king who held to the Nicene creed: a king who ruled an ancient part of Christendom and was himself the son and brother of Crusaders.” “In the past, the pope had used spiritual weapons—excommunication and interdict—to face such defiance. Now the sword of crusade was added to his armory.” (Bauer, 236-240, 248-249)
Albigensian Crusade
Innocent III’s Crusade against Cathars and disobedient-but-Nicene Count Raymond
Key Figures:
Cathars (taught dualist heresy, condemned Roman Church; one of their sects was the Albigenses)
Pope Innocent III (calls for crusade against Cathars and Raymond VI of Toulouse, who refused to take action)
Arnold, Abbot of Cisteaux (papal legate who leads Crusaders)
Simon de Montfort (elected general after Arnold)
Purpose:
Root out a dangerous heresy from the land
Assert the authority of the Roman church
Results:
Both Christians and heretics killed in Béziers (1209)
Carcassonne surrenders (1209)
Bram falls to Montfort (1210)
Crusaders conquer other villages
Montfort takes brutal measures
Reasons for problematic relationship between the kings of France and England
The King of England was always tottering between being France’s equal or vassal. France and England also always battled over Western Francia’s lands (which Henry and Richard gained, John lost, and Philip II ultimately claimed).
Examples? Henry II paid homage to French throne as overlord (Capetian King Louis VII), but broke away and asserted his power as France’s equal. His sons (among whom are John Lackland and Richard Lionheart) fled over to the French King Philip II’s courts and care. Philip wanted an English king sympathetic to the French throne and helped Richard to the throne, by cornering Henry II to make Richard heir. Richard then slowly broke sympathetic relations with Philip, since he was king now. Philip then wanted John, formerly close-and-sympathetic-friend, to be king, but he too ended up being a thorn in his side, willingly going on Innocent III’s crusade against him. Philip also took advantage of English barons’ unrest under John’s rule (resistant to the Magna Carta) by having the barons appoint Philip II’s son Louis as king (which fails).
“The two countries had never been friends, and their relationship had grown knottier when Henry II, heir to French lands by way of his father, had become the first king of England to owe homage to the French throne as Count of Anjou. The complicated interactions of the two monarchs, one of which was also the liege man of the other, had grown even thornier when Eleanor of Aquitaine had taken her family lands with her into the bed of the King of England, away from the King of France. (Bauer, 498-499)
Henry II
Once Duke of Normandy under Capetian-French King, later invaded and gained English throne and married French’s ex-wife Eleanor which got him land and power (he would gain lands in Western Francia), came up with Constitution of Clarendon (king’s court>church court) and Assize of Clarendon (crimes made national threat), rocky relationship with Archbishop Thomas Becket, betrayed by sons and reluctantly promised his son Richard Lionheart (friends with Philip II) the throne, influenced son John Lackland to collect scutage from English barons.
More of France gained by Richard
Had problem with the noblemen and barons of England, almost rivaling the throne
Wanted to check power of church courts, making the Constitution of Clarendon which makes king’s authority supreme over the church’s, needed sympathetic Archibishop.
Church bishops gave Thomas Becket; Pope gave him interdict power
Henry came up with Assize of Clarendon, making crimes national offense.
Becket had initially close friendship w/Henry, but upon Archbishophood, opposed and had unreconciled tensions with Henry.
Becket took Canterbury estates on his own, excommunicated King Henry’s officials.
Henry, enraged, was benefitted by four barons who kill Becket.
Henry “grieved over the end of a world where God and the king could coexist in peace”
Thomas Beckett
Henry’s failed-sympathetic-Archbishop-of-Canterbury (instead of having church-authority-Becket help him gain authority over the church’s courts, Becket checked his authority as never overstepping the church’s).
Henry wanted to check the power of church courts, but needed a sympathetic Archbishop of Canterbury–Thomas Becket. Henry came up with the Constitutions of Clarendon which would make the king’s authority supreme over the church’s and that no royal official could be excommunicated unless he’d first been convicted by a secular court. Becket refused, took shelter with Louis VII of France. Becket could not move Henry with his Archbishop-authority. Henry came up with the Assize of Clarendon, which had criminals judged by a jury of truthful twelve, turning criminals and “personal offenses” into national offences and offences to the king. They met to talk. (The pope gave Becket the authority to place all of England under an interdict, should Henry not allow him to return.) Henry returns, Becket could return to England, but conflicts between them were unresolved. Becket didn’t immediately return but wanted Canterbury estates in England restored to him, and he did this himself. He came to England, pronounced excommunication on two of the King’s officials and Archbishop of York—a declaration of war. Henry hears, is enraged, and four barons head for Becket and kill him. “[Henry] could grieve over the end of a world where God and the king could coexist in peace.
John Lackland
Loser of lands his father and brother won from the French (except Acquitane). The disobedient-to-Pope-Innocent-III-but-later-his-repentant-vassal-king of England, taxer of barons’ and papal-vassal-weasel out of the barons’ Magna Carta.
Named so because his father, Henry II, gave him no land (while his brothers had land). Once under Philip II of France’s care, he took the English throne after brother Richard Lionheart died. He troubled barons–by scutage–and wanted to trouble the church with taxes to fill the royal treasury. Like his father Henry II, John’s will was refused by an Archbishop, Stephen Langton, elected by Pope Innocent III. John’s refusal of Langton as Archbishop merits Innocent’s interdict on England and after five years under condemnation, Innocent decides to excommunicate, depose, and call a crusade against him, which “roused [John] to repentance” (249), publically acknowledging “the pope as his spiritual head” (248). When over-taxed/over-scutaged barons rebel against John, they write up the Magna Carta—an unprecedented shift in authority to protect barons from the king. In response, John wins an appeal to Innocent, casting himself as his vassal denied kingly authority, to annul the document (which implicitly denied papal authority).
Phillip II Augustus
French king who always challenged the English Kings He won land (and loyalties too, but they were always abandoned from England’s throne) from ‘em.
Phillip II (1180-1223) had little challenge with the Pope. Besides the fact that Innocent III’s command that the widowed-King give up his third wife and be remarried to his second wife. He obeyed Innocent III’s call to the Third Crusade but left early for France from Acre, because of the then-English king Richard the Lionheart, sick of the English King and crusade. Again, Innocent rallied Phillip II to crusade, this time against the interdicted-excommunicated-deposed king John, only to call it off after John’s repentance. The crusade’s fleeting, papal promise of “remission of his sins” (249) led him to take his frustration and wrath out against the Count of Flanders—rather than “find himself on the wrong side of crusade,” the sword of the Pope. France challenged the English more than the Pope, doubling its territories previously owned by the English.
Always intended to reduce the power of the English crown “John the thorn in Richard’s side, was a welcome friend to the French king, but King John of England was his enemy.”
Defeat of John Lackland almost doubled the size of his kingdom, winning lands in Western Francia.
Stayed out of Albigensian crusade in Paris to defend against John
Rallied by Pope Innocent III, with crusading benefits, to Crusade against the stubborn, interdicted John Lackland.
Hopes of benefits-of-sin-absolution frustrated by John’s repentance and cancelled crusade. Didn’t want to go against Pope, though he still wanted to fight, and so took it out on others with young Frederick II (Count of Flanders, Otto IV, John Lackland) and won.
Doubled territories, extended throne’s power, reduced duke/count/baronic independence. Made Western Francia nation-state of France, united under his strong hand.
Stephen Langton
Archbishop of Canterbury chosen by Innocent III, refused by John Lackland who later accepted his authority post-interdict-excommunication-deposition-almost-crusade
Interdict
The stopping of all ecclesiastical functions of the church; Pope Innocent III called this interdict when John Lackland was taxing and taking property from the clergymen // The Pope’s “corpsefying” of Church activity to bring the stench-in-the-Pope-and-suffering-people’s-nose-king to repentance.
“Churches would be closed, crucifixes draped with black cloth, the dead buried in unconsecrated ground–no Masses, no weddings, no bells. Interdict was a theological weapon of mass destruction, likely to make the king who had caused it grossly unpopular with his people.”
Battle of Bouvines (July 27, 1214)
Philip II’s vent (with Frederick II, against the Count of Flanders, John, and Otto IV).
A once-unrepentant John (for 5 years) finally merited Pope Innocent III’s crusade. The Papal sword unsheathed, John acknowledges Papal authority. The Pope’s sword, Philip II–promised crusader’s benefits (remission of sins) and the English throne for ever –, was angry that he was sheathed against the now-repentant-foe. So he takes it out on the Count of Flounders (he broke his oath to Philip II, refusing to attack England). The Count, whose coasts were invaded, was alarmed and asked John Lackland (who wanted to recover Normandy from France) and excommunicated-HRE Otto IV to help, both of them rivals of Philip II. They fought on Sunday at Bouvines, and the better-experienced-and-outfitted French won. John cried “woe-is-repentant-but-unfortunate-me”; Otto IV was driven out and Frederick II took the throne as King of Germany; the Count of Flanders was imprisoned in the Louvre.
Magna Carta
Drafted in 1215 by the barons to protect them from over-taxation/abuse of scutage. John Lackland [King of England] signed it, then convinced Pope Innocent III to annul John’s obligations to follow the Magna Carta by saying that if John–the Pope’s vassal/fief–has his kingly authority deprived, they would also be depriving the Pope–John’s papal overlord–of his spiritual authority // Document that majorly shifted authority between king and barons, protecting barons from the king’s whimsy.
“No taxation without consent, limitation of the king’s power to seize and punish. . . it proved the barons with multiple layers of protection against the king’s whimsy; it protected their goods, their lands, and their inheritances against John’s arbitrary decrees; it rested the final decision over fines and scutages in the ‘common counsel of our realm,’ a gathering of churchmen, earls, and barons (known as the Curia Regis) . . . 25 barons would have the power to confiscate royal castles, lands, and possessions, should John refuse to abide by its terms.” (Bauer, 252-253)
Fourth Lateran Council (1215) and its main doctrines
Called by Pope Innocent III to call for Crusade. It also confirmed seventy articles of Doctrine, which included:
Seven sacraments:
Baptism, confirmation, marriage, mass, confession, ordination, extreme unction
Transubstantiation
Confession to priest once a year
priests are over laymen to defuse and fight against heretics
No new saints or relics without papal canonization
No new religious orders
Expanded system of papal legates.
Mendicants
Monks who lived by begging in response to the growth of cities, trade, and the monetary economy. Served a population on the move. (Gonzalez 357)
Franciscans
Led by Francis of Assisi, the Franciscans lived in extreme poverty in order to reject the growing materialism and identify them with the poor. Franciscans preaching, singing, and begging became a common sight in western Europe by the 13th century. (Gonzalez 360)
Bridegrooms of Poverty for the poor
It later splinter into two parties: 1) Franciscans who, with Gregory IX’s help, altered the rule and owned property, and 2) the rigorists–who followed Francis’s rule of absolute poverty–who were later alienated from the hierarchy of the church and termed themselves “spirituals”–forerunners of Joachim’s prophesied “age of the Spirit.” (362-363)
Dominicans
aka Order of Preachers. St. Dominic ordered his movement much like the Franciscans. The primary difference between the two orders was that the Dominicans fought heresy through the use of extensive study. Poverty was merely a means to their ends, as they also owned property and held professorships in universities. (Gonzalez 361-362)
Frederick II Hofenstaufen
Son of Henry IV. He was appointed by Pope Innocent III to become the Holy Roman Emperor over his Uncle Otto IV. His appointment established the pope’s authority over emperors and kings (Gonzalez 365) [Kas]
Unrepentant-Excommunicate-HRE-called-AntiChrist who got Constantinople without a fight, always fighting the Pope’s authority (two decades of tension, excommunicated 3 times, deposed twice).
Frederick II was excommunicated by Gregory IX for not going on crusade (he failed to go on Honorius III’s failed Fifth Crusade). He went on Sixth Crusade (1228). He was excommunicated for going on crusade while excommunicated. He negotiates for Jerusalem and gets it without bloodshed–no one’s happy.
Genghis Khan
First Great Khan 1162-1227
Main areas of Mongol Conquest
Sack of Moscow 1237
By 1240, all Rus principalities conquered but Novgorod
Battle of the Sajo River (Hungary) 1241
Come within sight of Vienna (HRE)
Conquest of Baghdad: last Abbasid caliph killed 1259
Conquest of Damascus, Aleppo 1260
Egyptian army defeats Mongols 1260
Kublai Khan
Last Great Khan who becomes first Yuan Emperor
Yuan Empire
Kublai Khan’s Chinese realm, after conquering the Western Xia, Jin and Song–He conquers China, tries to subdue Champa (fails), fails to conquer the Dai Viet and Japan, and becomes the first Yuan emperor.
Boniface VIII
Pope who brought bloodied peace to Italian cities, asserted authority of French King Philip IV, rejected twice, pronounced excommunication, and was popenapped before he could depose Philip. With him, Papal supremacy died.
Pope who tried to restore the old power of the papacy (i.e. Innocent III & IV). Italian cities had massive political problems between the rival factions Ghibelline and Guelphs who struggled over control of Italian cities north of the Papal states. Boniface VIII tried to negotiate peace, allied himself with the Guelphs. However, the Guelphs split into two: White and Black Guelphs. Boniface VIII had trouble in persuading them to peace and invited French King Philip IV’s younger brother Charles of Valois to settle the fight in Italy. Charles had done so, but with more Italian blood spilled than Boniface VIII intended. Meanwhile, Philip IV ignored Boniface VIII’s complaints about the taxes Philip imposed on the church (because Philip’s war against the Count of Flanders was expensive). Thus, Boniface sent Philip IV a letter asserting (with arguments old as Gregory the Great’s) the Papal authority over his, which Philip burned. He sent another letter in 1302 such that Boniface could condemn Philip, powerless to retaliate (see Bauer, 412). When Boniface excommunicated Philip IV, Philip sent Guillame de Nogaret (keeper of the Seal) popenapped Boniface–twelve hours before Boniface issued a bull of deposition for Philip IV. Three days later, Boniface’s friends from Rome rescued him and brought him to the Vatican. He died a month later, worn out by stress and fury. WIth him, the old ideal of the papal monarchy–of the pope as spiritual king, over and above Church law–died too. (Bauer, 410-412)
Phillip IV the Fair
Good looking French king who resisted Boniface’s authority twice, sent a kidnapper, set up Pope Clement V who resided in Avignon, having the Pope under French control, issued the Templars’ arrest and disbandment due to heresy.
French King who had “fair looks.” He regarded the privileges and authority of the Church less than grandfather Louis XI. He had imposed taxes on the French church to pay for his wars against the Count of Flanders and refused to hear Pope Boniface VIII’s complaints. He also insisted on his right to try clergymen in royal courts and to control the appointments of French priests to empty cathedral posts. He burned Boniface’s letter that asserted Papal authority over his kingly authority and rallied powerful French dukes, churchmen, and deputies of good towns to help justify Philip’s defiance. When Boniface sent another letter to condemn Philip and render him powerless to retaliate, Philip again paid no heed. He was excommunicated. Then he sent Guillame de Nogaret, his own Keeper of the Seal, to kidnap Boniface. After Boniface’s death, Philip won victories in Flanders, and was victorious over the Papal see, and put forward French Archbishop of Bordeaux, Bertrand, as the next Pope. This Pope, Clement V, was crowned at Lyons and resided in Avignon, instead of Rome, essentially under French control: the “Babylonian Captivity” of the papacy. In gratitude for Philip’s support, Pope Clement revoked his excommunication and promised the French king a tithe of all the church’s income. Philip had no further objections to the puppet-papacy. Philip even persuaded Pope Clement V to arrest and disband the Templars–the Pope’s private protection– under charge of heresy. Philip even ordered fifty four Templars burned at the stake outside Paris’s walls. (Bauer, 411-414)
Avignon Papacy (Babylonian Captivity of the Church)
The Papacy outside of Rome, in Avignon, under French control.
The result of French-King Philip IV’s cardinal-backed-choice of French Archbishop Bertrand to be the next Pope, succeeding Benedict XI (Boniface’s successor), as Pope Clement V. Clement was crowned at Lyons in June 5, 1305 and took up residence not in Rome but at Avignon: technically under the control of Charles the Lame but essentially under French control. For the next seventy years, the papacy would remain out of Rome, in French hands: the “Babylonian Captivity” of the papacy. Pope Clement V was essentially “Philip’s lapdog.” (Bauer, 413)
William of Ockham
he separated logic and metaphysics. He said “Their being is their being understood.” He was an extreme nominalist. Attacked temporal power of the papacy. His thought laid foundation for scientific revolution.
He is famous for his (so-thought) principle, Ockham’s Razor: the simplest answer (answer with least assumptions) is the truest.
John Wycliffe
was an English Scholastic philosopher, theologian, lay preacher, translator, reformer and university teacher at Oxford in England, who was known as an early dissident in the Roman Catholic Church during the 14th century.
Petrarch
was an Aretine scholar and poet in Renaissance Italy, and one of the earliest humanists. Petrarch’s rediscovery of Cicero’s letters is often credited for initiating the 14th-century Renaissance. Petrarch is often called the “Father of Humanism.”
Lollards
was a political and religious movement that existed from the mid-14th century that was formed by the followers of John Wycliffe.
Jan Huss
was a priest and reformer who was burned at the stake for heresy against the doctrines of the Catholic Church, including those on ecclesiology, the Eucharist, and other theological topics.
Peasant’s Revolt
was a major uprising across large parts of England in 1381. The revolt had various causes, including the economic and political tensions generated by the Black Death in the 1340s, the high taxes resulting from the conflict with France during the Hundred Years War, and instability within the local leadership of London. The final trigger for the revolt was the intervention of a royal official, John Bampton, in Essex on 30 May 1381. His attempts to collect unpaid poll taxes in the town of Brentwood ended in a violent confrontation, which rapidly spread across the south-east of the country.
Dual Papacy (Great Western Schism)
the period from 1378 to 1417, when there were two, and later three, rival popes, each with his own following, his own Sacred College of Cardinals, and his own administrative offices. Shortly after the return of the papal residence to Rome following almost 70 years in Avignon, thearchbishop of Bari was elected pope as Urban VI amid demands by the Roman populace for “a Roman or at least an Italian.” Urban VI proved to be so hostile to the cardinals, who had assumed great powers during the years at Avignon, that a group of cardinals retired to Anagni and elected one of themselves, Robert of Geneva, as Clement VII, claiming the election of Urban VI had been invalid because it was made under fear. Clement VII then took up residence at Avignon. Although Roman Catholic church historians generally agree that Urban VI and his successors were the legitimate popes, there has never been an official pronouncement to this effect. The double election had disastrous effects upon the church. The followers of the two popes were divided chiefly along national lines, and thus the dual papacy fostered the political antagonisms of the time. The spectacle of rival popes denouncing each other produced great confusion and resulted in a tremendous loss of prestige for the papacy.
Edward III
noted for his military success and for restoring royal authority after the disastrous reign of his father. He transformed the England into one of the most formidable military powers in Europe; his reign also saw vital developments in legislation and government—in particular the evolution of the English parliament.
Edward the Black Prince
he was the son and heir of Edward III of England and one of the outstanding commanders during the Hundred Years’ War, winning his major victory at the Battle of Poitiers (1356).
The Black Death
was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, killing an estimated 75 to 200 million people and peaking in Europe in the years 1348–50. The Black Death is thought to have originated in the arid plains of central Asia.
Treaty of Bretigny
was a treaty signed on 25 May 1360, between King Edward III of England and King John II (the Good) of France. It is seen as having marked the end of the first phase of the Hundred Years’ War (1337–1453).
Council of Constance
Call by Sigismund, king of Germany, to address two major problems: the spread of Wycliffe’s heresies and the scandal of the three popes. At this council Jan Hus was called to defend his teachings. He was ultimately condemned as a heretic and burned at the stake. In order to resolve the problem of the popes, one, John XXII, was deposed. The second, Boniface IX, agreed to step down if the Avignon pope, Benedict XIII, would step down. Ultimately Benedict was forced to step down thus resolving the papal schism.
Battle of Agincourt
A Battle between the French and English. Henry V led his small and weak army against the much larger French army. The English archers first volley devastated the line of the French which put them into panic. The English won the battle. (Bauer, 624-25)
Ad fontes
“Back to the sources.” Humanistic impulse to return to the writings
Lorenzo Valla
was an Italian humanist, rhetorician, and educator. He is best known for his textual analysis that proved that the Donation of Constantine was a forgery.
Brethren of Common Life
influenced Erasmus. a Roman Catholic pietist religious community founded in the Netherlands in the 14th century by Gerard Groote, formerly a successful and worldly educator who had had a religious experience and preached a life of simple devotion to Jesus Christ. Without taking up irrevocable vows, the Brethren banded together in communities, giving up their worldly goods to live chaste and strictly regulated lives in common houses, devoting every waking hour to attending divine service, reading and preaching of sermons, labouring productively, and taking meals in common that were accompanied by the reading aloud of Scripture: “judged from the ascetic discipline and intention of this life, it had few features which distinguished it from life in a monastery”, observes Hans Baron.
Characteristics of humanism, including the academic disciplines humanists emphasized
Characteristics:
Return to classical era, namely the Roman Republic
Renewed interest in the original languages (especially of the Bible)
This gave way to major developments in textual criticism
Rebirth
Spiritual Realities over Physical Realities (idealistic)
Souls (need to be reunited to the divine)
Love
Compatibility between Christian & Neo-platonic thought
Academic Disciplines Emphasized:
As aforementioned, textual criticism
Rather than the Medieval lecture hall, they want to also emphasize rhetoric - the ability to speak the truth beautifully
Emphasis on ethics and history
These have come down to us as the humanities
Emphasis on languages: Greek, Latin, and Hebrew will unlock the riches of the past – be trilingual
Devotia Moderna
Taught living faith must be demonstrated by godly activity
Spread by new Christian order: Brethren of the Common Life, founded by Gerhard Groote. They founded new schools in which they taught piety through the Bible
Henry V
English King who became heir of French crown, husband of Charles VI’s daughter Catherine, and signed the Treaty of Troyes that ended war between France and England—after Henry V dominated the French in war, like the Battle of Agincourt. King who won war with France, wife and throne from France.
“cold and severe,” scarred and war-experienced King of England crowned in snowstorm; French rivals, the Armagnac party and Duke of Burgundy, asked for help. He sided with Armagnacs in exchange for French crown, marriage with King’s daughter Catherine, and dowry of two million crowns. It meant war, not peace. Renewed war with France and laid siege to town of Harfleur of France, which surrendered. Dysentery entered and killed many of Henry’s soldiers. But he wanted to march on to Calais. Most if not only the Armagnacs showed to fight. Battle of Agincourt saw the English, though weak and hungry, win. The spectacular win did not win Henry the French crown, though, and so they set sail for home, hailed as “King of England and of France.” Duke of Burgundy tried to make secret negotiations with English King Henry V but was assassinated. Henry V returned with a fresh army and fought through Normandy, felled Rouen (in French hands for two centuries) and cut the heart out of French resistance. By the Treaty of Troyes, Henry became regent of French King Charles VI (by new Duke of Burgundy’s persuasion), heir of the French King, husband of daughter Catherine. (Bauer 623-625)
Joan of Arc
uneducated, mystical-religious peasant girl whose mission rescued France’s rule from England, rewarded by burning as a heretic. her mission was to rescue France from the English, to see the Dauphin crowned as the one rightful king of the French people. She explained her mission to the would-be king in 1429. She was refused by the Duke of Bedford when she asked him to surrender all his properties and leave France. She led the French-Dauphin’s army and won against Tournelles. When wounded, she lost steam and was foiled by the English and French, so she was taken captive, treated like a heretic, condemned to death by fire. (Bauer and Gonzalez)
Renaissance Man
Someone who is well-rounded. “Never let them see you sweat.” Gifted in all areas without difficulty. He is someone who is gifted in warfare as well as poetry. He was educated and well-versed in language.
Civic Humanism
Classical learning can also help with politics. Primarily a Florentine concept
Pico della Mirandola
Wrote Oration on the Dignity of Man (1486). He wants to show that he is very learned and has everything figured out by drawing from the Old Testament, Greek thinkers, and Christian ideas.
Medici Banking: economies of scale, diversification of risk, asset transformation
Economies of scale: “it is expensive for an individual to draw up a single legal loan contract, but a bank can draw up a thousand such contracts at a fraction of the “per-contract” cost. Dealings in money (cash investments) are suitable for economies of scale” (Economics, 27).
Diversification of risk: “The Medici’s lowered the risk of bad lending by spreading their lending geographically. Moreover, because the jr. partners shared in profits and losses, they needed to lend wisely - in effect they took on some of the Medici’s risks” (Economics, 27)
Asset Transformation: “Merchants might want to deposit earnings or borrow money. One merchant might want a safe place to store his gold, from where he can withdraw it quickly if necessary. Another might want a loan - which is riskier for the bank and may tie up money for a longer time. So, the band came to stand between the two needs: “borrowing short, and lending long.” This suited everyone, the depositor, the borrower, and of course the bank which used customer deposits as borrowed money (leverage) to multiply profits and make a high return on its owners invested capital” (Ecomonics, 27-28)
Bill of exchange
was formed to prevent long-distance buyers from running off with the goods or money after a deal has been struck. It was a piece of paper witnessing a buyer’s promise to pay for goods in a specific currency when the goods arrived. The seller of the goods could also sell the bill immediately to raise money.
Gutenberg’s printing press and his incentives for inventing it
Came up with reusable, movable metal type, paper as a popular medium, non-smearing ink. Completed in 1450. Incentives: the only one with printing technology at the start of his career, selling [Latin] Bibles and indulgences was his private monopoly.
breakthrough was the invention of movable metal type (letters that could be reused after printing one book, superior to Block-print technology), paper rather than vellum as medium for printing technology, and the use of a new type of ink made from lampblack (soot deposited by candle flames on cold surfaces) and varnish. Gutenberg undertook the printing of the Bible and, as a businessman, “knew that the production of a best-seller was a sure-fire way of making money. . . . Nobody else had access to the technology that was essential for the task, and he thus had a virtual monopoly on the production of [Latin] Bibles. He also added another line of business; he began to print indulgences.” (McGrath, 15)
Describe the origins and development of the Crusades and their influence on Western culture. Be sure to use specific evidence to support your points, but do not simply narrate events or try to recount events in great detail. Then evaluate the validity of the Crusades using Scripture and the just war tradition.
Origins:
Muslims were expanding, settling in Jerusalem, and were challenging the Byzantine Empire by threatening Constantinople in particular, which was viewed as one of the greatest Christian cities in Europe at the time.
Pope Urban II calls for Crusade to recapture Jerusalem
Other motivations included:
Help Alexius (Constantinople) against Turks
Demonstrate universal papal authority
Promise that participation would result in absolution for sins
Development:
Crusading was originally primarily to protect/defend Christian culture and heritage, particularly in the Holy Land and Constantinople
Over time, crusades were called to also fight against heresies (Albigensian Crusade), unsubmissive/unrepentant kings (John Lackland, England), and even against other Orthodox Christians (The Fourth Crusade, wherein Crusaders take over Constantinople and form the Latin kingdom).
Influence on Western Culture:
Rise in Papal power/authority
Pope goes from calling upon leaders of Christian nations to join in crusading effort against Muslims and Pagans to eventually calling for crusades against Christian leaders/nations for not submitting to papal authority
Contributing factor to the growing schism between the East and the West
Particularly the fourth crusade when Western Christians brutally raped, pillaged, and murdered their Christian brothers and sisters in Constantinople
Evaluation:
Augustine’s Just-War Theory:
Four Reasons for Resorting to War -
Just Cause: the only just cause for going to war is defense against violent aggression (defense of the innocent against attack, the reclaiming of stolen purposes/property, combatting evil)
Just Intention: the only just intention is to restore a just peace – just to the friend and foe alike (pursuit of peace to negotiate war; no hidden desire for expansion or domination; not vengeance)
Last Resort: military force must be the last resort after negotiations and other efforts have been tried and failed
Formal Declaration: the decision to make war must be made by the highest governmental authority (Congress for the USA) – not a private matter
Four Principles for Conducting War
Limited Objectives: war must be for limited ends – to repel aggression, to redress injustice, no to colonialize or exploit
Proportionate Means: means of just war must be limited by proportionality of the offense
Noncombatant immunity: there must be no intentionally and direct attack on noncombatant
Reasonable Termination: war should not be prolonged where there is no reasonable hope for success within these limits (i.e. war must not be waged when the consequences for doing so may be greater than the evil it is intended to prevent)
While the crusades against the Turks in Jerusalem arguably had just cause (defending innocent Christians who were being attacked, reclaiming stolen property, combatting evil), it is difficult to say that the crusaders were mindful of just intention (bribing soldiers with full atonement, desire for domination, lack of stated intention for peace leads to this conclusion). It is even less possible to defend the crusades as following the conditions of “last resort” or “formal declaration.” Pope Urban II did not negotiate with the Turks or formally announce his intentions - he mobilized his army and off they went.
Scripture
Key Texts
Romans 12.14-13.7
God uses the state/authorities/governments to punish evil
Matthew 22.20-21
Israel was theocratic – this statement to a Jew is like a slap upside the head
Matthew 22.37-40
The fundamental impulse of the Christian life is to love God & love others – this must influence the way we approach violence and just-war.
The fact that the crusades were initiated by the papacy seems to overstep the bounds set between the NT church & state distinction. It is the state that God has given the power of the sword to. More fundamentally however, the crusading impulse/spirit is incompatible with Jesus command in Matthew 22.37-40, to love one’s neighbor as themselves. This is seen in the selfish motivations which the papacy appeal to in order to gather an army of soldiers.
Vasco de Gama
1st Count of Vidigueira, was a Portuguese explorer, one of the most successful in the Age of Discovery and the commander of the first ships to sail directly from Europe to India. He is one of the most famous and celebrated explorers from the Discovery Ages, being the first European to reach India by sea. Thisdiscovery was very significant and paved the way for the Portuguese to establish a long lasting colonial empire in Asia. The route meant that the Portuguese would not need to cross the highly disputed Mediterranean nor the dangerous Arabia, and that the whole voyage would be made by sea. After decades of sailors trying to reach India with thousands of lives and dozens of vessels lost in shipwrecks and attacks, Gama landed in Calicut on 20 May 1498. Reaching the legendary Indian spice routes unopposed helped the Portuguese Empire improve its economy that, until Gama, was mainly based on trades along Northern and coastal West Africa. These spices were mostly pepper andcinnamon at first, but soon included other products, all new to Europe which led to a commercial monopoly for several decades. Gama headed two of the armadas destined for India, the first and the fourth, the biggest armada, only four years after his arrival from the first one. For his contributions he was named in 1524 as the Governor of India, under the title of Viceroy, and given the newly created County of Vidigueira in 1519. Numerous homages have been made worldwide in Vasco da Gama’s honour for his explorations and accomplishments. He remains as a leading exploration figure to this day. The Portuguese national epic, Os Lusíadas, was written to celebrate Vasco da Gama. His first trip to India is widely considered a pinnacle of world history as it marked the beginning of the first wave of global multiculturalism.
John Cabot
was an Italian navigator and explorer whose 1497 discovery of parts of North America under the commission of Henry VII of England is commonly held to have been the first European encounter with the mainland of North America since the Norse Vikings visits to Vinland in the eleventh century. The official position of the Canadian and United Kingdom governments is that he landed on the island of Newfoundland.
Encomiendas
a legal system that was employed mainly by the Spanish crown during the Spanish colonization of the Americas to regulate Native American labor and autonomy. In the encomienda, the Spanish crown granted a person a specified number of natives for whom they were to take responsibility. In theory, the receiver of the grant was to protect the natives from warring tribes and to instruct them in the Spanish language and in the Catholic faith: in return they could extract tribute from the natives in the form of labor, gold, or other products. In practice, the difference between encomienda and slavery could be minimal. Many natives were forced to do hard labor and subjected to extreme punishment and death if they resisted.
War of the Roses
a series of dynastic wars fought between supporters of two rival branches of the royal House of Plantagenet: the houses of Lancaster and York (whose heraldic symbols were the red and the white rose, respectively) for the throne of England. They were fought in several sporadic episodes between 1455 and 1485, although there was related fighting both before and after this period. They resulted from the social and financial troubles following the Hundred Years’ War. The final victory went to a relatively remote Lancastrian claimant, Henry Tudor, who defeated the last Yorkist king Richard III and married Edward IV’s daughter Elizabeth of York to unite the two houses. The House of Tudor subsequently ruled England and Wales until 1603.
Battle of Bosworth Field
the last significant battle of the Wars of the Roses, the civil warbetween the Houses of Lancaster and York that raged across England in the latter half of the 15th century. Fought on 22 August 1485, the battle was won by the Lancastrians. Their leader Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, by his victory became the first English monarch of the Tudor dynasty. His opponent, Richard III, the last king of the House of York, was killed in the battle. Historians consider Bosworth Field to mark the end of the Plantagenet dynasty, making it a defining moment of English and Welsh history.
Prince Henry the Navigator
an important figure in the early days of the Portuguese Empire and the Age of Discoveries in total. He was responsible for the early development of European exploration and maritime trade with other continents. Henry was the third child of King John I of Portugal, founder of the Aviz dynasty, and of Philippa of Lancaster, John of Gaunt’s daughter. Henry encouraged his father to conquer Ceuta (1415), the Muslim port on the North African coast across the Straits of Gibraltar from theIberian peninsula. He learnt of the opportunities from the Saharan trade routes that terminated there, and became fascinated with Africa in general; he was most intrigued by the Christian legend of Prester John and the expansion of Portuguese trade. Henry is regarded as thepatron of Portuguese exploration.
Reasons Europeans were first in global exploration
Seaborne Chivalry: literature and the idealization of adventure
The next stage of the crusade
Location: Trade Winds
Winds of the Atlantic coast are favorable for travel on the ocean for W. Europeans
Noble savage
a literary stock character that expresses the concept of an idealized indigene, outsider, or “other” who has not been “corrupted” by civilization, and therefore symbolizes humanity’s innate goodness. In English, the phrase first appeared in the 17th century in John Dryden’s heroic play, The Conquest of Granada (1672), wherein it was used by a Christian prince disguised as a Spanish Muslim to refer to himself, but it later became identified with the idealized picture of “nature’s gentleman”, which was an aspect of 18th-century sentimentalism. The noble savage achieved prominence as an oxymoronic rhetorical device after 1851, when used sarcastically as the title for a satirical essay by English novelist Charles Dickens, whom some believe may have wished to disassociate himself from what he viewed as the “feminine” sentimentality of 18th and early 19th-century romantic primitivism.[3] The idea that humans are essentially good is often attributed to the 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury, a Whig supporter of constitutional monarchy. In his Inquiry Concerning Virtue (1699), Shaftesbury had postulated that the moral sense in humans is natural and innate and based on feelings rather than resulting from the indoctrination of a particular religion. Shaftesbury was reacting to Thomas Hobbes’s justification of an absolutist central state in his Leviathan, Chapter XIII, in which Hobbes famously holds that the state of nature is a “war of all against all” in which men’s lives are “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.”
Erasmus of Rotterdam
a Dutch Renaissance humanist, Catholic priest, social critic, teacher, and theologian. Erasmus was a classical scholar who wrote in a pure Latin style. He was a proponent of religious toleration, and enjoyed the sobriquet”Prince of the Humanists”; he has been called “the crowning glory of the Christian humanists”.[2] Using humanist techniques for working on texts, he prepared important new Latin and Greek editions of the New Testament. These raised questions that would be influential in the Protestant Reformation and Catholic Counter-Reformation. He also wrote On Free Will,[3] The Praise of Folly, Handbook of a Christian Knight, On Civility in Children, Copia: Foundations of the Abundant Style, Julius Exclusus, and many other works. Erasmus lived against the backdrop of the growing European religious Reformation; but while he was critical of the abuses within theChurch and called for reform, he kept his distance from Luther and Melanchthon and continued to recognise the authority of the pope. Erasmus emphasized a middle way, with a deep respect for traditional faith, piety and grace, and rejected Luther’s emphasis on faith alone. Erasmus therefore remained a member of the Catholic Church all his life.[4] In relation to clerical abuses in the Church, Erasmus remained committed to reforming the Church from within. He also held to Catholic doctrines such as that of free will, which some Reformers rejected in favour of the doctrine of predestination. His middle road approach disappointed and even angered scholars in both camps.
Thomas More
was an English lawyer, social philosopher, author, statesman and noted Renaissance humanist. He was an important counsellor to Henry VIII and Lord Chancellor from October 1529 to 16 May 1532.[3] More opposed the Protestant Reformation, in particular the theology of Martin Luther and William Tyndale whose books he burned and whose followers he persecuted. More also wrote Utopia, published in 1516, about the political system of an ideal and imaginary island nation. More later opposed the King’s separation from the Catholic Church and refused to accept him as Supreme Head of the Church of England because it disparaged papal authority and Henry’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon. Tried for treason, More was convicted on perjured testimony and beheaded.
Leon Battista Alberti
an Italian author, artist, architect, poet, priest, linguist, philosopher,cryptographer and general Renaissance humanist polymath. Although he is often characterized as an “architect” exclusively, as James Beck has observed,[2] “to single out one of Leon Battista’s ‘fields’ over others as somehow functionally independent and self-sufficient is of no help at all to any effort to characterize Alberti’s extensive explorations in the fine arts.” Alberti’s life was described in Giorgio Vasari’s Vite de’ più eccellenti pittori, scultori, e architettori or ‘Lives of the most excellent painters, sculptors and architects’.
