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Excerpts from Medieval Europe by C. Warren Hollister LITERATURE AND ART The Dynamics of High Medieval Culture Thirteenth-century Paris has been described as the Athens of medieval Europe. And despite all the obvious and fundamental differences that separate the golden age of Pericles from the golden age of St. Louis, these two epochs did have something in common. Both developed within the framework of traditional beliefs and customs which had long existed but were being challenged and transformed by powerful new forces--a new rationalism, a new art, a burgeoning of commerce, an expansion of frontiers, and an influx of ideas from other cultures. The socio-religious world of the Early Middle Ages, like the socioreligious world of the early Greek polis, was parochial and tradition bound. As the two cultures passed into their golden ages, the values of the past were assailed by new intellectual currents, and the old economic patterns were expanded and transformed. Yet for a time, these dynamic new forces resulted in a heightened cultural expression of the old values. The Parthenon, dedicated to the venerable civic goddess Athena, and the Gothic cathedrals of Notre Dame (Our Lady) that were rising at Paris, Chartres, Reims, Amiens, and elsewhere, were all products of a new creativity harnessed to the service of an older ideology. In the long run, the new creative impulses would subvert the old ideologies, but for a time, both ancient Greece and medieval Europe achieved an elusive equilibrium old and new. The results, in both cases, were spectacular. Thus, twelfth and thirteenth-century Europe succeeded, by and large, in deeping its vibrant, audacious culture within the bounds of traditional Catholic Christianity. And the Christian world view gave form and orientation to the new creativity. Despite the intense dynamism of the period, it can still be called, with some semblance of accuracy, an Age of Faith. Europe in the High Middle Ages underwent an artistic and intellectual awakening that affected every imaginable form of expression. Significant creative work was done in literature, architecture, sculpture, law, philosophy, political theory, even science. By the close of the period, the foundations of the Western cultural tradition were firmly established. The pages that followed will provide only a glimpse at the achievements of this fertile area.
Latin Literature
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The literature of the High Middle Ages was abundant and richly varied. Poetry was written both in the traditional Latin--the universal scholarly language of Medieval Europe--and in the vernacular languages of ordinary speech that had long been evolving in the various districts of Christendom. Traditional Christian piety found expression in a serious of somber and majestic Latin humns, whose mood is illustrated--through the clouded glass of translation--by these excerpts from "Jerusalem the Golden" (twelfth century): The world is very evil, the times are waxing late, Be sober and keep vigil; the judge is at the gate. . . . Brief life is here our portion; brief sorrow, shortlived care. The life that knows no ending, the tearless life, is there. . . . . . . . Jerusalem the Golden, with milk and honey blessed, Beneath thy contemplation sink heart and voice oppressed. Beneath thy contemplation sink heart and voice oppressed. I know not, O I know not, what social joys are there, What radiancy of glory, what light beyond compare. At the opposite end of the medieval Latin spectrum one encounters poetry of quite a different sort, composed by young, wandering scholars and older non-students. The deliberate sensuality and blasphemy of their poems is an expression of student rebelliousness against establishment ideals: For on this my heart is set, when the hour is neigh me, Let me in the tavern die, with a tanakard by me, While the angels, looking down, joyously sing o'er me... One of these wandering scholar poems is an elaborate and impudent expansion of the Apostles' Creed. The phrase from the Creed, "I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Holy (Catholic) Church . . . " is embroidered as follows: I believe in wine that's fair to see, And in the tavern of my host More than in the Holy Ghost The tavern will my sweetheart be, And the Holy Church is not for me. These sentiments do not betoken a sweeping trend toward agnosticism. Rather, they are distinctively medieval expressions of the perennial student irreverence toward established institutiions. A modern student activist shouting obscenities in
3 a D.A.R. meeting would create much the same effect, though less cleverly. Vernacular Literature; the Epic For all its originality, the Latin poetry of the High Middle Ages was outstripped both in quantity and in variety of expression by vernacular poetry. The drift toward emotionalism, which we have already noted in medieval piety, was closely paralleled by the martial epics of the eleventh century to the delicate and sensitive romances of the thirteenth. Influenced by the sophisticated romanticism of the southern troubadour tradition, the bellicose spirit of northern France gradually softened. In the eleventh and early twelfth centuries, heroic epics known as chansons de gests (songs of great deeds) were enormously popular among the feudal nobility of northern France. These chansons arose out of the earlier heroic tradition of the Teutonic north that had produced such moody and violent masterpieces as Beowulf. The hero Beowulf is a lonely figure who fights monsters, slays dragons, and pits his strength and courage agaianst a wild, windswept wilderness. The chansons de geste reflect the somewhat more civilized and christianized age of feudalism. Still warlike and heroic in mood, they often consisted of exaggerated accounts of evens in the reign of Charlemagne. The most famous of all the chansons de geste, the Song of Roland, tells of a heroic, bloody battle between a horde of Muslims and the detached rearguard of Charlemagne's army as it was withdrawing from Spain. Like old-fashioned Westerns, the chansons de geste were packed with action, and their heroes tended to steer clear of sentimental entanglements with women. Warlike prowess, courage, and loyalty to one's lord and fellows- in-arms were the virtues stressed in these heroic epics. The battle descriptions, often characterized by gory realism, tell of Christian knights fighting with almost superhuman strength against fantastic odds. The heroes of the chansons are not only proud, loyal and skilled at arms, but also capable of experiencing deep emotions--weeping at the death of their comrades and appealing to God to receive the souls of the fallen. In short, the chansons de geste mirror the bellicose spirit and sense of military brotherhood that characterized the feudal knighthood of eleventh-century Europe: Turpin of Rheims, his horse beneath him slain, And with four lance wounds he himself in pain, Hastens to rise, brave lord, and stand erect. He looks on Roland, runs to him, and says Only one thing: "I am not beaten yet! True man fails not, while life in him is left." He draws Almace, his keen-edged steel-bright brand And strikes a thousand strokes amid the press. . . . Count Roland never loved a recreant, Nor a false heart, nor yet a braggart jack,
4 Nor knight that was not faithful to his lord. He cried to Turpin--churchman militant-"Sir, you're on foot, I'm on my horse's back. For love of you, here will I make my stand, And side by side we'll take both good and bad. I'll not leave you for any mortal man." . . . . . . Now Roland feels that he is nearing death; Out of his ears the brain is running forth. So for his peers he prays God call them all, And for himself st. Gabriel's aid implores. Roland and his rear guard are slain to a man, but the Lord Charlemagne returns to avenge them, and a furious battle ensues: Both French and Moors are fighting with will. How many spears are shattered! lances split! Both French and Moors are fighting with a will. Whoever saw those shields smashed all to bits, Heard the bright hauberks grind, the mail rings rip, Heard the harsh spear upon the helmet ring, Seen countless knights out of the saddle spilled, And all the earth with death and deathcries filled, Would long recall the face of suffering! The French are victorious, Charlemagne himself defeats the Moorish emir in single combat, and Roland is avenged: The Muslims fly, God will not have them stay. All's done, all's won, the French have gained the day. The Lyric During the middle and later twelfth century the martial spirit of northern French literature was gradually transformed by the influx of the romantic troubadour tradition of southern France. In Provence, Toulouse, and Aquitaine a rich, colorful culture had been developing in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, and out of this vivacious society came a lyric poetry of remarkable sensitivity and enduring value. The lyric poets of the south were known as troubadours. Many of them were court minstrels, but some, including Duke William IX of Aquitaine, were members of the upper nobility. Their poems were far more intimate and personal than the chansons de geste, and placed much greater emphasis upon romantic love. The wit, delicacy, and romanticism of the troubadour lyrics disclose a more genteel and sophisticated nobility than that of the feudal north--a nobility that preferred sons of love to sons of war. Indeed, medieval southern France, under the influence of Islamic courtly poetry and ideas, was the source of the romantic-love tradition of Western civilization. It was from southern France that Europe derived such concepts as the idealization of women, the importance of male gallantry and courtesy, and the impulse to embroider relations between man and
5 woman with potent emotional overtones of eternal oneness, undying devotion, agony, and ecstacy. One of the favorite themes of the lyric poets was the hopeless love--the unrequited love from afar: I die of wounds from blissful blows, And love's cruel stings dry out my flesh, My health is lost, my vigor goes, And nothing can my soul refresh. I never knew so sad a plight, It should not be, it is not right. . . . I'll never hold her near to me My ardent joy she'll ever spurn, In her good grace I cannot be Nor even hope, but only yearn. She tells me nothing, false or true, And neither will she ever do. The author of these lines, Jaufre Rudel (fl. 1148), unhappily and hopelessly in love, finds consolation in his talents as a poet, of which he has an exceedingly high opinion. The poem concludes on a much more optimistic note: Make no mistake, my song is fair, With fitting words and apt design. My messenger would never dare To cut it short or change a line. . . . My song is fair, my song is good, 'Twill bring delight, as well it should. Many such poems were written in southern France during the twelfth century. The recurring theme is the poet's passionate love for a woman. Occasionally, however, the pattern is reversed, as in the following lyric poem by the poetress Beatriz de Dia (fl. 1160): I live in grave anxiety For one fair knight who loved me so. It would have made him glad to know I love him too--but silently. I was mistaken, now I'm sure, When I withheld myself from him. My grief is deep, my days are dim, And life itself has no allure. I wish my knight might sleep with me And hold me naked to his breast. And on my body take his rest, And grieve no more, but joyous be. My love for him surpasses all The loves that famous lovers knew. My soul is his, my body, too,
My heart, my life, are at his call.
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My most beloved, dearest friend, When will you fall into my power? That I might lie with you an hour, And love you 'til my life should end! My heart is filled with passion's fire. My well-loved knight, I grant thee grace To hold me in my husband's place, And do the things I so desire. Not all the lyric poems of southern France took love or life quite so seriously. In some, one encounters a refreshing lightness and wit. The following verses, by Duke William IX of Aquitaine (1071-1127), typify the vivacious spirit of the South. They parody botht he romantic seriousness of the love lyric and the heroic mood of the chansons de geste: I'll make some verses just for fun, Not of myself or anyone, Nor of great deeds that knights have done Nor lovers true. I made them riding in the sun, My horse helpd, too. When I was born, I'm not aware, I'm neither gay nor in despair, Nor stiff, nor loose, nor do I care, Nor wonder why. Since meeting an enchantress fair, Bewitched am I. Living for dreaming I mistake, I must be told when I'm awake, My mood is sad, my heart may break, Such grief I bear! But never mind, for heaven's sake, I just don't care. I'm sick to death, or so I fear, I cannot see, but only hear. I hope that there's a doctor near, No matter who. If he can heal me, I'll pay dear, If not, he's through. My lady fair is far away, Just who, or where, I cannot say, She tells me neither yea nor nay, Yet I'm not blue, So long as all those Normans stay Far from Poitou.
7 My distant love I so adore, Though me she has no longing for, We've never met, and furthermore-To my disgrace-I've other loves, some three or four, To fill her place. This verse is done, as you can see, And by your leave, dispatched 'twill be To one who'll read it carefully In far Anjou. Its meaning he'd explain to me If he but knew. These verses, only a brief sampling of the fascinating lyrics of southern France--and distorted by translation--may provide some feeling for the rich civilization that flourished there in the twelfth century and disintegrated witht he savage horrors of the Albigensian Crusade. The Romance Midway through the twelfth century, the southern tradition of courtly love was brought northward to the court of Champagne and began to spread rapidly across France, England, and Germany. As its influence grew, the northern knights discovered that more was expected of them than loyalty to their lords and a life of carefree slaughter. They were now expected to be gentlemen as well--to be courtly in manner and urbane in speech, to exhibit delicate, refined behaviour in feminine company, and to idolize some noble woman. Such, briefly, were the ideals of courtly love. Their impact on the actual behaviour of knights was distinctly limited, but their effect on the literature of northern Europe was revolutionary. Out of the convergence of vernacular epic and vernacular lyric there emerged a new poetic form known as the romance. Like the chanson de geste, the romance was a long narrative, but like the southern lyric, it was sentimental and imaginative. It was commonly based on some theme from the remote past: the Trojan War, Alexander the Great, and above all, King Arthur--the half-legendary sixth-century British King. Arthur was transformed into an idealized twelfth-century monarch surrounded by charming ladies and chivalrous knights. His court at Camelot, as described by the late-twelfth-century French poet, Chretien de Troyes, was a center of romantic love and refined religious sensitivity where knights worshipped their ladies, went on daring quests, and played out their chivalrous roles in a world of magic and fantasy. In the chanson de geste the great moral imperative was loyalaty to one's lord; in the romance it was love for one's lady. Several
8 romances portray the old and new values in conflict. An important theme in both the Arthurian romances and the twelfth- century romance of "Tristan and Iseult" is a love affair between a vassal and his Lord's wife. Love and feudal loyalty stand face to face, and love wins out. Tristan loves Iseult, the wife of his lord, King Mark of Cornwall. King Arthur's beloved knight Lancelot loves Arthur's wife, Guinevere. In both stories the lovers are ruined by their love, yet love they must--they have no choice--and although the conduct of Tristan and Lancelot would have been regarded by earlier standards as nothing less than treasonable, both men are presented sympathetically in the romances. Love destroys the lovers in the end, yet their destruction is romantic--even glorious. Tristan and Iseult die together, and in their very death their love achieves its deepest consummation. Alongside the theme of love in the medieval romances, and standing in sharp contrast to it, is the theme of Christian purity and dedication. The rough-hewn knight of old, having been taught to be courteous and loving, was now taught to be holy. Lancelot was trapped in the meshes of a lawless love, but his son, Galahad, became the prototype of the Christian knight-- pure, holy and chaste. And Perceval, another knight of the Arthurian circle, quested not for a lost loved one but for the Holy grail of the Last Supper. The romance flourished in twelfth- and thirteenth-century France and among the French-speaking nobility of England. It spread also into Italy and Spain, and became a crucial factor in the evolution of vernacular literature in Germany. The German poets, known as Minnesingers, were influenced by the French lyric and romance, but developed these literary forms along highly original lines. The Minnesingers produced their own deeply sensitive and mystical versions of the Arthurian stories which, in their exalted symbolism and profundity of emotion, surpass even the words of Chretien de Troyes and his French contemporaries.
