...Medieval Societies during the 5th to 15th centuries were not a somewhat comfortable place for a lot of women of this time period. Medieval women of the middle ages had a very rough time in an era when many men had lived harsh lives--farming, war time fighters or servants. Only a few women lived subtle lives because the medieval society was completely dominated by men, and women had to adjust to the teachings and cultures of knowing their roles in such a time. The majority of women had little or no role to play when it came to making contributions to their countries or communities at large. It is noted in medieval arts that the place of women in society was dictated by biblical texts, namely, Eve having eaten of the forbidden fruit, being responsible for the "original sin" and the source of humankind's depravity. A woman's main role in the medieval village was not of power and privilege or that of a queen, but to marry at a very young age, managing the household, and tending to the needs of her husband and children. The most important roles of the medieval women were that of childbearing, which often came with its own complications. Since women had no...
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...piece to read. Its impact on the literary world helped put the autobiography style of writing into usage by current authors. In medieval times, “Latin was the language of English literature” (Medieval Literature). Usually, the stories of the medieval ages were passed down orally and not written. In addition, the majority of these stories have Catholic affiliation integrated within them. According to Erika Kuhlman’s A to Z of Women in World History, Kempe’s historical significance lies in her autobiography (Margery Kempe), believed to be the first...
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...Texts are products of time Focusing of 2 texts from different eras, discuss how text reflect values of their context. Medieval literature and the renaissance literature was a period of time where religion and values were important, good and evil was widely distinct and the political structure was highly valued depending on the individual’s background. These factors had huge influence on how and why literature was raised. Middle ages was a more a time of religious fears and, scientific and cultural progress was considered evil which made stories more conservative, harsh and heroic. One of the famous medieval text includes Thomas Malory and the Morte D’Arther. The text is a fusion of historical and pre-Christian magical elements. On the other hand, the renaissance was quiet different to medieval period, it was the rebirth of individualism, humanism and free thinking. Renaissance writing, by contrast showed interest in writing, arts and culture. One of the key philosophical elements of the renaissance was the rise of humanism and precursor to the age of enlightenment. Renaissance literature and arts became more invested in the hands of rich and powerful. One of the famous renaissance text includes a Petrarchan sonnet called the Holy Sonnet 10 by John Donne. The sonnet has a lot of religious and biblical context of god, death and eternal life. It highlights the insignificance of death that it should not be feared, it reveals human dignity and happiness and individual freedom. These...
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...different time periods, there are many cultural specimens of continuity and change from the Medieval Ages to the Renaissance Era. Sculpture of the Virgin Mary was in a sense continuous throughout the Medieval to Renaissance ages because she still showed as much of significance, whereas, Medieval and Renaissance art show drastic dissimilarities in their style and position. The Virgin Mary holds a prominent place in Medieval times and Renaissance times because she is the mother of Jesus and the mother of the church. In Medieval times, people of the Chartres Cathedral built on the west façade a sculpture called Scenes from the Life of the Virgin Mary. In the sculpture Mary is sitting on the seat of wisdom and holding Jesus as a baby on her lap. It shows different scenes of baby Jesus’s life and him and Mary are placed at the very top of the sculpture. In relation to this sculpture, the Renaissance figure of The Rottgen Pieta also shows Mary sitting on a chair and holding Jesus on her lap, though this is a scene of Jesus’s later life as a man and his human nature of suffering and Mary’s detail is shown more expressive than that of Renaissance. Although there are some slight transformations, the Virgin Mary is still sitting on a chair holding her sun and expressed in significance to both the Medieval and Renaissance ages. On the other hand, art showed an immense change. An example would be the painting the painting of the Madonna Enthroned done by Cimabue in Medieval age compared...
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...Christianity and Medieval Literature The Middle Ages saw a great influence of Christianity on the literature of that time. Christianity also saw a period of growth and its influences on literature were also very notable. The Medieval Period was a time of significant social revolution and this is often reflected in the literature of that age. This can be seen by observing the principles of the time, and exploring the literature which addresses them. By analyzing the religious, political and societal ideals, the reader can see how these influenced the literature during this time period. The Medieval Period was a time in history that lasted from the 5th Century to the 16th Century. Through the early Middle Ages, literacy was often essential for entry into religious orders and even nuns were compelled to meet this requirement. However, the only people trained to read and write properly were those who were high church officials and monks. Society was centered mainly on the Medieval Church. However, the Church became corrupted but more at the higher levels. Geoffrey Chaucer illustrated this in his writings, “Prologue to the Canterbury Tales.” He exposes this in his prologue by his use of satire in regards to the religious figures. Using a naïve “Chaucer the Pilgrim” to describe them, he points out that certain characters, namely the Prioress and the Monk, are not as they should be. Although he does not criticize them openly, he merely emphasizes qualities that are favorable...
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...Germanic Romance as a Getaway from Medieval Society Erec and Enide, Parzival, and Tristran were all very popular Medieval Authurian Romances which have captivated many readers through the years. I too have found reading them to be very enjoyable experience. I particular liked the aspect of reading stories that were written centuries ago, which has given me some insight into the culture of medieval northern Europe. I have been able to realize the importance that medieval people placed on the ideas of being a knight, courtly love, and King Authur’s court. I believe I know why these works were so popular, it was because works like this allowed individuals of medieval societies to be taken away to a fantasy land where everyone was beautiful and those who acted in the right manner were rewarded for such actions. This fantastic other world was a major contradiction to what life in medieval times was actually like. I have read many articles describing medieval life as being hard, rough, unrelenting, a constant struggle for survival, routinely fighting off invading armies, and those who did live glorious lives were a select few. But when one would read one of these three stories they could visualize King Aurthur’s court which was full of brave knights who had beautiful wives, and one could only hope that somehow he would find himself in this wonderful place and everything would be just fine. This is why these stories were so popular because they could transport the reader from there...
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...City Life: The City as a Metaphor What is a metaphor? Metaphors are words or phrases that make comparisons between two things that are usually very different. They are used every single day by every single person in the world. They can be utilized in regular normal speech or in sophisticated literature. In the context of cities, historian Lewis Mumford had introduced a few metaphors to describe the city and how it runs on a daily basis. He gave cities definitions, by saying that one: cities could be magnets and how it could exert a type of pull, two: cities could be containers of many different things, or three: cities were transformers that could change people, places and things in many different ways . These definitions will be exemplified by showing them through two of the historical types of cities of our time, the Medieval City and the Suburban City. Metaphors can give everything, like cities, a completely different meaning. They can give people different...
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...Hypotheses and assumptions on the movie: 5 4. Christianity in the medieval age 6 5.1. Aslan, the Lion parallel to Jesus Christ 6 5.2. The Table of Stone. 7 6. The seven deadly sins 8 6.1. Gluttony – sin by Edmund 9 7. Knighthood 10 7.1. The battle and the coronation 11 8. Conclusion 12 9. List of References 13 Abstract The purpose of this study is to analyze the medieval influences and aspects in the movie The Chronicles of Narnia; The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. The movie emphasizes important elements of the Middle age. It is about the four Pevensie children, Peter, Suzy, Edmund and Lucy who entered the magic land of Narnia and with the help of Aslan, the Lion, fought the Wicked White Witch Judas. Thus they gave freedom to the other animals and restored peace and harmony in Cair Paravel and Narnia. The film captures brilliantly these moments and transmits them to the public. One of the main focuses of the film was the religious belief ‘Christianity’. The movie responds to the quasi- spiritual Christian beliefs and truths of good versus bad, highlighting the defeat of the Witch and her death. Secondly, it shows how the younger brother Edmund fell in the trap of the White Witch due to his “gluttony” of the Turkish delights and betrayed his brother and sisters. Last but not the least; the movie stresses another important aspect of medieval age “knighthood”. Peter fought with the Witch and the latter’s...
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...Medieval ages vs Renaissance. The mid-14th century marked the beginning of a transition between the Medieval and Modern times. This transition we now known as the Renaissance. The movement initiated in Italy and incorporated almost all aspects of life starting with intellect and politics and reflecting in architecture and art. In Italian “Renaissance” literally means “awakening” or “rebirth”. (Cliff’s Notes, 2013). The Middle ages were thought to be really invented by Renaissance. People of the 14th century were feeling like they were “coming out of the darkness”. Since those dark and dirty centuries left behind didn’t really deserve to be called any special name they just called them ‘the age in between”. We now realize that those ages were also innovative and in it’s 1000 years or so Europe took on the shape and features we know today. “In the lawless age people looked for immediate solutions to immediate problems: how to beat back the enemy, how to rebuild the working economy, how to stay alive. Until, out of anarchy, a new social order was put together that would restructure Europe – the Middle ages.” The medieval art of the Western world covers an enormous range of time and place, over 1000 years of art in Europe, and at times the Middle East and North Africa. Generally we say that medieval art lasted from 5th to 14th centuries. It includes major art movements and periods and the artists themselves. Art historians try to classify medieval art into major periods...
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...During the medieval period, Religion was a topic of great importance within a person's life. The church guided society and culture based on the teachings and understandings of the life of Jesus Christ. We are able to highlight the importance of the church during the medieval period through the teachings and life of Jesus. The characteristics of the medieval period and the impact of important aspects such as monasteries, art and architecture and health and medicine, give us a more in depth idea of what it was like during the middle ages and how people were drawn to religion and the teachings of the church. Beginning in the 300s, monasticism affected the entire church and also influenced European culture, theology, agricultural methods, art, music and architecture. Monasticism is a way of life in which a group of individuals pursue holiness. It is one of the...
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...------------------------------------------------- How does the role of a priest within medieval Christianity compare to the role of an imam in medieval Islam? In order to fully compare the roles of a medieval priest and a medieval imam, it is necessary to fully analyse their purpose as a leader within their religion, their influence upon the people of that religion in terms of their relationship with God and also to acknowledge their irreligious purpose in medieval life. Between the two, it is perhaps easy to argue that the role of a medieval priest is far greater than that of a medieval imam, but before this conclusion is jumped to, it is important to ensure both roles are looked at anachronistically due to the ever-changing nature of religion. In order to answer this question it is important to view the roles of a priest and an imam, not individually but in regard to the other to find a true comparison. In terms of looking at a medieval priest, perhaps one of the most important things for contemporaries is that essentially, the priest was representative of god, hence in a time of deep-seated spiritualism, his role was vital to any community, and placed him and his clergy amongst the first estate, the most important in society. This idea of a representation of God comes form his specific acts that he could partake in, particularly the role to ‘absolve men and women of their sins for the act of confession’. Obviously this was incredibly important, and if we consider this...
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...Today when you get a disease you go to the doctor. You get checked out and they might give you some antibiotics. You get better and carry on with your life as if nothing happened. But if you lived in Medieval Europe a head cold is a death sentence. Disease was a religious matter and knowledge of bacteria was non-existent. They believed that if you didn’t sin and you were dedicated to God you wouldn’t have to suffer from sickness. Often a cold would go away, until a secondary infection would kick in. Pneumonia was an infection that was often fatal. They had one major problem in their life style that intensified all infections and one fix. Herbs helped people become healthy while poor hygiene continued to spread sickness everyday. In Medieval times there were herb gardens in the monastery. These were called infirmary gardens. Because the church was the main function and a huge part of life sick families brought their sick to the church. “ Brother Richard has taught me that God provides cures in nature for many human ills.”(Storm,18). The herbs they used are still common in todays society. Many people use herbs to cure their own ailments. They often used lavender as a sleeping aid. Today you can buy lavender sprays for air freshening. Sheets and blankets can be washed in fabric softener scented to smell like lavender. Sage soothes sore throats and is used in herbal teas today. Many of their remedies are still common today. However, because of their awful hygiene many people...
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...employee, a perfect soldier, among others. The art made of the human body is a representation of the thought at the time and the artist, which is something that will be analyzed with the Greeks, Medieval and Renaissance point of view toward the human body. For the Medieval view of the Christian body, we will use the Coffin Lid of Francisco De La Sarra. During the Medieval times, the lives of the Christians were ruled by the Pope and God. The art was meant to let all Christians understand that by living a good life they will be rewarded in the afterlife...
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...journey as a device to bring together his fictional persons from wide-ranging backgrounds and have them share a portion of their life through the telling of a tale. The entirety of the work involves the personal concerns and outcomes of individuals in an ever changing medieval culture. The pilgrimage provided an opportunity for Chaucer to negate the barriers of class and social propriety in order to include diversity in the tales. Each tale is told individually. Each character is detailed with well developed personalities and specified occupations, clothing and social standing and in each tale; Chaucer relays the changes going on about him in Medieval England on a person by person basis. While The Canterbury Tales are relayed light heartedly, creating a caricature of medieval individuals and situations, Chaucer respected the religious doctrine of the time. The very fact that the characters of The Canterbury Tales are going on a religious pilgrimage tells of the ever increasing role of Christianity in Medieval society. While Christianity was becoming more accepted in the Anglo-Saxon period, its popularity has become more obligatory by medieval times for everyone from the peasant to the prince. The tales themselves relay the shifting ideas and ideals of the society in which Chaucer lived; the prologues tell more of the life of the individual. In previous times, such as the Anglo-Saxon period, works of literature focused more on the persons and peoples that surpassed the normal and...
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...Once long ago, there was a world in which work had to be done from all of mankind, from servants who were settled in the village, to peasants on the countryside nearby. This was a reality for people who lived in a time period situated with the name of The Middle Ages. During this era of history, servants had a heavy load on their shoulders--many goods were to be crafted, while diligent peasants were off planting crops and doing such drudgery for their lord; they were fed with the least costly foods, and there was a variety of fabrics and styles to be seen. Without question, the life servants lived in the village was painstaking and time consuming. Crafts and industries were a huge part of village life--not only were towns a...
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