Early European History Part 103

The miracle plays were followed by the "moralities." They dealt with the struggle between good and evil, rather than with theology. Characters such as Charity, Faith, Prudence, Riches, Confession, and Death appeared and enacted a story intended to teach moral lessons. [36] Out of the rude "morality" and its predecessor, the miracle play, has grown the drama of modern times.

208. MANNERS AND CUSTOMS

DWELLINGS

A previous chapter (Chapter XVIII.) described some features of domestic life in castle and village during the age of feudalism. In England, where the Norman kings discouraged castle building, the manor house formed the ordinary residence of the n.o.bility. Even in Continental Europe many castles were gradually made over into manor houses after the cessation of feudal warfare. A manor house, however, was only less bare and inconvenient than a castle. It was still poorly lighted, ill-ventilated, and in winter scarcely warmed by the open wood fires. Among the improvements of the fourteenth century were the building of a fireplace at one or both ends of the manor hall, instead of in the center, and the subst.i.tution of gla.s.s windows for wooden shutters or oiled paper.

[Ill.u.s.tration: MANOR HOUSE IN SHROPSHIRE, ENGLAND Built in the twelfth century.]

FURNITURE

People in the Middle Ages, even the well-to-do, got along with little furniture. The great hall of a manor house contained a long dining table, with benches used at meals, and a few stools. The family beds often occupied curtained recesses in the walls, but guests might have to sleep on the floor of the manor hall. Servants often slept in the stables. Few persons could afford rugs to cover the floor; the poor had to put up with rushes. Utensils were not numerous, and articles of gla.s.s and silver were practically unknown, except in the houses of the rich. Entries in wills show the high value set upon a single spoon.

[Ill.u.s.tration: INTERIOR OF AN ENGLISH MANOR HOUSE Shows the great hall of a manor house at Penshurst, Kent. The screen with the minstrels' gallery over it is seen at the end of the hall, and in the center, the brazier for fire. Built about 1340 A.D.]

COSTUME

The pictures in old ma.n.u.scripts give us a good idea of medieval dress.

Naturally it varied with time and place, and according to the social position of the wearer. Sometimes laws were pa.s.sed, without much result, to regulate the quality, shape, and cost of the costumes to be worn by different orders of society. The moralists of the age were shocked, then as now, when tightly fitting garments, which showed the outlines of the body, became fashionable. The inconvenience of putting them on led to the use of b.u.t.tons and b.u.t.tonholes. Women's headdresses were often of extraordinary height and shape. Not less remarkable were the pointed shoes worn by men. The points finally got so long that they hindered walking, unless tied by a ribbon to the knees.

[Ill.u.s.tration: COSTUMES OF LADIES DURING THE LATER MIDDLE AGES]

BEARDS

The medieval n.o.ble of the twelfth century as a rule went clean shaven. To wear a beard was regarded as a sign of effeminacy in a man. The Bayeux Tapestry, [37] for instance, shows the Normans mostly clean-shaven, while the English wear only moustaches. The introduction of long beards seems to have been due to contact with the East during the crusading period.

BATHS AND BATHING

Regular bathing was not by any means neglected during the later Middle Ages. In the country districts river, lake, or pool met the needs of people used to outdoor life. The hot air and vapor baths of the Byzantines were adopted by the Moslems and later, through the Moors and crusaders, were made known to western Europe. After the beginning of the thirteenth century few large cities lacked public bathing places.

FOOD

Medieval cookbooks show that people of means had all sorts of elaborate and expensive dishes. Dinner at a n.o.bleman's house might include as many as ten or twelve courses, mostly meats and game. Such things as hedgehogs, peac.o.c.ks, sparrows, and porpoises, which would hardly tempt the modern palate, were relished. Much use was made of spices in preparing meats and gravies, and also for flavoring wines. Over-eating was a common vice in the Middle Ages, but the open-air life and constant exercise enabled men and women to digest the huge quant.i.ties of food they consumed.

TABLE ETIQUETTE

People in medieval times had no knives or forks and consequently ate with their fingers. Daggers also were employed to convey food to the mouth.

Forks date from the end of the thirteenth century, but were adopted only slowly. As late as the sixteenth century German preachers condemned their use, for, said they, the Lord would not have given us fingers if he had wanted us to rely on forks. Napkins were another table convenience unknown in the Middle Ages.

DRINKING

In the absence of tea and coffee, ale and beer formed the drink of the common people. The upper cla.s.ses regaled themselves on costly wines.

Drunkenness was as common and as little reprobated as gluttony. The monotony of life in medieval Europe, when the n.o.bles had little to do but hunt and fight, may partly account for the prevailing inebriety. But doubtless in large measure it was a Teutonic characteristic. The Northmen were hard drinkers, and of the ancient Germans a Roman writer states that "to pa.s.s an entire day and night in drinking disgraces no one." [38] This habit of intoxication survived in medieval Germany, and the Anglo-Saxons and Danes introduced it into England.

CENTRAL PERIOD OF THE MIDDLE AGES

Our survey of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries has now shown us that these two hundred years deserve to be called the central period of the Middle Ages. When the Arabs had brought the culture of the Orient to Spain and Sicily, when the Northmen after their wonderful expansion had settled down in Normandy, England, and other countries, and when the peoples of western Europe, whether as peaceful pilgrims or as warlike crusaders, had visited Constantinople and the Holy Land, men's minds received a wonderful stimulus. The intellectual life of Europe was "speeded up," and the way was prepared for the even more rapid advance of knowledge in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, as the Middle Ages pa.s.sed into modern times.

STUDIES

1. Look up on the map between pages 358-359 the following places where Gothic cathedrals are found: Canterbury, York, Salisbury, Reims, Amiens, Chartres, Cologne, Stra.s.sburg, Burgos, Toledo, and Milan.

2. Look up on the map facing page 654 the location of the following medieval universities: Oxford, Montpellier, Paris, Orleans, Cologne, Leipzig, Prague, Naples, and Salamanca.

3. Explain the following terms: scholasticism; canon law; alchemy; troubadours; Provencal language; transept; choir; flying b.u.t.tress; werewolf; and mumming.

4. Who were St. Thomas Aquinas, Abelard, Gratian, Irnerius, and Roger Bacon?

5. Show how Latin served as an international language in the Middle Ages.

Name two artificial languages which have been invented as a subst.i.tute for Latin.

6. What is meant by saying that "French is a mere _patois_ of Latin"?

7. In what parts of the world is English now the prevailing speech?

8. Why has Siegfried, the hero of the _Nibelungenlied_, been called the "Achilles of Teutonic legend"?

9. What productions of medieval literature reflect aristocratic and democratic ideals, respectively?

10. Distinguish between the Romanesque and Gothic styles of architecture.

What is the origin of each term?

11. Compare the ground plans of a Greek temple (page 291), a Roman basilica (page 284), and a Gothic cathedral (page 562).

12. Contrast a Gothic cathedral with a Greek temple, particularly in regard to size, height, support of the roof, windows, and decorative features.

13. Why is there some excuse for describing a Gothic building as "a wall of gla.s.s with a roof of stone"?

14. Do you see any resemblance in structural features between a Gothic cathedral and a modern "sky-sc.r.a.per"?

15. Mention some likenesses between medieval and modern universities.

16. Mention some important subjects of instruction in modern universities which were not treated in those of the Middle Ages.

17. Why has scholasticism been called "a sort of Aristotelian Christianity"?

18. Look up the original meaning of the words "jovial," "saturnine,"

"mercurial," "disastrous," "contemplate," and "consider."

19. Show the indebtedness of chemistry to alchemy and of astronomy to astrology.

20. Mention some common folk tales which ill.u.s.trate medieval superst.i.tions.

21. Why was Friday regarded as a specially unlucky day?

22. Enumerate the most important contributions to civilization made during the Middle Ages.