The Story of the Middle Ages

Week 12: Exam Review


Hi everyone!

This will be the last blog post for our unit! :( No need to worry about commenting this week, the information here is just to help you continue preparing and revising for the exam.

Before I get started with my exam revision tips please do take a moment to click on the following link and fill in the attached survey on the tutorial blogs. Clare and I would really value your feedback on the blog aspect of this course we have tried this year. This is the first year we have incorporated blogs into the unit and your feedback will help us improve any online teaching component included in future years. Please go on and have your say!

Click here to take survey

Remember that the exam for our unit will be held next Wednesday (May 23rd) at our usual lecture time of 10am. You will have two hours to write a 1000 word essay on the given exam question and primary source extracts. If you are unable to attend our exam time you can also write the exam at Clayton (on Monday, May 21st at 10am), or email Clare to request an alternate sitting.

In preparing for the exam you may wish to......


- Look over the mock test on Blackboard – practice creating an essay outline
- Look over all lecture notes
- Review primary sources: chronology, thematic significance, relationships between texts
- Remember your document analysis skills: The 5 ‘W’ Questions
- Create a timeline of sources
- Review key themes and how they are connected

For fun I've pasted a couple of links below to some quirky youtube history videos. One of your classmates discovered them and brought them to my attention. To me they contain the right mixture of humour, fun and geekiness that history is all about! As a revision exercise watch these videos and see what interpretations you agree with, and which you don't. Why do you agree with some and perhaps not others? What have you learned in our course to help you support or critique the arguments presented in these videos? For instance I think he's missing the boat big time on the backwardness of Europe during the 'Dark Ages' but that video is a great intro into understanding what was happening in other parts of the world during the European Middle Ages. I hope you enjoy! There are loads of videos in the series but I've just pasted three here that I think are particularly relevant to us.

The Crusades

The 'Dark' Ages

The Rise of Christianity

Finally, as another revision exercise, I've included a medieval image below that is quite famous. Using your knowledge of the Middle Ages learned in our course what could you tell someone about the Middle Ages from looking at this image? What key themes and concepts does it combine?

God the Geometer - Codex Vindobonensis 2554
French, c.1250

I wish everyone the best of luck with the exam and your future history endevours! If anyone has any last-minute questions about any of the course material please let me know via email.

All the best,

Diana

The Black Death: Europe in the Later Middle Ages

Hi everyone,

Before beginning this week's blog post I've been asked to pass along a message from Clare.

Dear Students,

You will have received en email from SETU (Student Evaluation of Teaching and Units), inviting you to evaluate ATS 1316. Please do so! We really want to know what you think.

These surveys are taken extremely seriously by the University. They are used when staff members apply for promotion, or for other jobs. They are also used to make changes to the units for next year, drawing on student comments. These blogs, for example, emerged out of comments by students that they sometimes felt disconnected during first year. Hence, we have tried to build community and encourage your readings by running these blogs.

So let us know what you think of the unit. YOU ARE VERY POWERFUL!

Many thanks, Clare

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Week 11: Famine and Disease: The Calamitous 14th Century - Tutorial Discussion Post

By: Samantha, Jane, Georgia and Lachlan

Hi everyone,

This week we’ll be discussing ‘Famine and Disease: The calamitous 14^th century’, so basically the Black Death! Although the readings take a very thorough look at the social and economic issues of this time, there are some great accounts of the plague included this week as well. A particular focus in this week's reading is the economic state of pre-plague Florence. It looks at the boom of the wool and banking industries and the general expansion/urbanisation of Florence and thus the social, political and economic ramifications.

Florence, Italy

 This week we’ll take a look at this enormously successful period in Florence that would later develop into the Renaissance and the tremendous blow to that success which was the Black Death, arriving in the summer of 1348, and how it spread throughout Europe. 

Attire worn by doctors as protection from
the Bubonic Plague

Below are a few answers to some discussion questions for this week to help get the further discussion in comments rolling:

Explain the nature of the ‘flourishing urban civilization’ that Margaret King describes in Italy prior to the Black Death. What were the economic foundations of the civilizations of Florence and Venice?

King describes work being so well that it could be completely neglected for some time. She goes on to describe the amounts of people thriving in Florence, “90 000 mouths…80 000 men in the territory and district of Florence.” Prior to the Black Death were thoughts that would re-emerge during the Renaissance; ideas of new buildings, young writers and thinkers etc…

Florence was well known for its banking and wool. Both these industries had papal support and of course noble support. Thereby, these markets would always be in business. Considering the expanse and necessity of cloth, Florence’s wool industry was a huge investment in the trade industry.

Venice was and still is recognized for its shipbuilding and also its trading industry. Venice’s galleys were ideal for dangerous trading journeys. This reputation had been built up over the years and became an important investment for traders to try and utilize.

Does the extract from Petrarch's Letter to Posterity indicate an optimistic or pessimistic sense of his legacy?

Petrarch’s Letter to Posterity defies the optimism-pessimism binary. In this work he settles on a balanced middle ground; he is confident of the work he has completed in his lifetime and yet uncertain of whether or not it will endure. This position is exemplified in the excerpt from the opening section of To Posterity contained in this week’s readings.

Take, for example, the phrase “You may perhaps have heard something about me- although it is doubtful that my poor little name may travel far in space and time” this phrase is a perfectly contained example of the ambiguity of Petrarch’s outlook on his own significance. In the first clause, he implies that an undetermined reader of the letter may have heard of him, while the second is a supplementary phrase indicating a humbly realistic awareness that he may well have faded into obscurity after death. He further acknowledges mortality but not complete insignificance in the phrase “But I was one of your own clock, a little mortal man”.

Letter to Posterity is fascinating because it reveals Petrarch’s extraordinary sense of self. He realises the subjectivity of his position in time, looking to the both the past (and the great minds that came before him) and the future, conscious that he mediates the transmission of a great legacy of human spirit.

Hope those answers gave a bit more insight into the readings this week. Here are some further discussion questions to consider:

1.     How does the summary of the narrative Ascent of Mont Ventoux (mentioned in this week’s readings) relate to the themes that emerge from a reading of the excerpt from the introduction from To Posterity?

2.     Do you think the humility of To Posterity is real or disingenuous?

3.     According to Margaret King, why was banking and the wool industry successful in Florence?

4.     In the beginning, how did Venetian trading start to flourish? How are Venetian galleys depicted through King’s description (are they seen as good or bad ships)? 

5.     What does King suggest started the plague? What were the death toll figures of the Black Death?

Thanks guys,

Sam, Jane, Lachlan and Georgia.

Here are a few more images of medieval artistic interpretations of the Black Death:

Sufferers of the plague being blessed

Plague sufferers

Victims of the plague

The Sack of Constantinople and Later Crusading

Week 10: Courtly Culture and Literature in the Middle Ages/Later Crusading 
Tutorial Discussion Post
By: Jarrod, Bonnie and Nam

Hi guys, thought we'd just throw some thoughts out there with no coherent structure which is inevitable with a conglomeration of ideas I guess. There is so much literature on the crusades that I wasn't too surprised when I came across the differences in Riley-Smith's and Runciman's historical analysis, one bordering on apologetic, the other with the opinion of it being destructive. What's interesting is that they are (or were) both very important commentators on the Crusades. I was also happy to finally get a hold of some Byzantine-related stuff again, which always interests me.

A returning crusader

Now lets get some discussion going!

• Do you believe the Crusades were a defensive or offensive campaign against Christendom's enemies?
• Were any of the Crusades successful in their aims to protect the Greek Christians?
• If you've read Riley-Smith's argument, what do you think of his contention that crusading was an act of love?

• What defines an enemy? The term is very loose, as it's turned against heretics, state enemies as well as utilised as an excuse to invade a neighbouring state.

• How was the Church to appear humble and poor when they needed the funding to save the kingdom of Jerusalem?

• Why are they considered a movement of the people? True, the armies were amongst the largest Europe had ever mobilised at the time, why was it a movement?

The conquest of Constantinople

The crusades' purposes ranged from defending kingdoms, assaulting states, seizing trade, funding and holy sites. The offer of pay and redemption from sins and legal fines was also a partial coarse of Crusaders reputation as a pillaging force, attracting criminals. The advent of mendicancy was also of a concern for the crusades.

Also to consider was how as crusading armies became more professional, mercernaries made up greater numbers. This was due to Pope Innocent involving the people as whole, utilising the crusades to revitalise religious fervor throughout Christendom. Asking simply for money, instead of military action, allowed for a replacement of a conscripted army with a mercantile army whilst simultaneously creating a 'movement' of the people.

This act increased social tensions as those with money could afford to recieve redemption from the Pope indirectly discluding the poor from such possible services.

Thanks guys,
Nam, Jarrod, Bonnie

Orlando Bloom trying his hand at crusading

....

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to take a moment with this week's blog post and highlight a couple of links you all may find interesting. 

Firstly, you may wish to check out the online access to an exhibit currently being held at the Bodleian Library in Oxford. It is entitled 'The Romance of the Middle Ages' and I think may be interesting to check out especially as this week in lecture we will be learning all about courtly love and culture during the Middle Ages. Part of my own work involves the study of courtly love so I couldn't resist telling you all about this!

http://medievalromance.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/romance-home

Exhibition Poster

Secondly, here is a link to the medieval and renaissance courses Monash offers in November-December of every year in Prato, Italy. Clare mentioned them in our last lecture and I've posted the link here for anyone who wishes to find out more information. Who doesn't love Italy right?

http://www.asatours.com.au/cc21212-monash-renaissance-florence/1405-cc21212-monash-florence-overview

http://www.ita.monash.edu/study/non-monash.html

All the best,

Diana

Francis & Dominic: The Rise of the Mendicant Orders

Week 9: Francis and Dominic - Poverty and City Life: Tutorial Discussion Post
By: Carley

Hello Tutorial 11 it’s Carley here.

On this blog post I will be discussing the reform of the Church, St. Francis and the Franciscan followers.

During the 12^th and 13^th centuries the Church underwent many changes and orders were introduced. The Gregorian reform is what separated the Church from feudalism in an attempt to adapt to the outside world. From this change, equality of working life and prayer created a balance between living and the spiritual life.

From the readings of St. Francis I saw his life somewhat reflected the life of Christ; living in poverty and preaching the good word of the Lord to the people of Italy. St Francis wanted to experience the life of Jesus to show his devotion to Christianity. He wanted to show the people of Assisi that they should not possess a desire for wealth and gold but encouraged them to live the life of Christ and devote their life to peace and religion.

What really interests me about St. Francis is his love and involvement with animals and nature. His affection and glorification of the created universe plays an important part of Francis’ doctrine by appealing to the people on a deeper level.

The Basilica of St Francis

The Basilica of St Francis

I have attached 3 pictures of St. Francis’ Basilica in Assisi from when I visited four years ago. It is one of the most beautiful places I have ever visited and it captures the essence of St. Francis. Overlooking the magnificent beauty of the Tuscan fields.

Questions for the week:

From Celano’s stories, how do you understand Francis’ relationship with the natural world?

Do you think that the impression of St. Francis shaped how the Church is today?

Do you think begging, poverty and preaching made for a humble life?

The Basilica of St Francis

*** Lecture Recording Problems ***

Hi everyone

There have been some problems with the lecture recordings for Week 7. Please note the following message from Clare. If anyone is writing their essay topic on Week 7 and missed the lecture please let me know asap as I may be able to meet with you to go over the material.

'Unfortunately the audio of the week 7 lectures have not been recorded. The slides are available, however, on both MULO and Blackboard. I am very sorry for the inconvenience, but sometimes technology does fail. I know that some of you have clashes and need to rely on the recordings. I would urge, however, those of you who can attend the lectures to do so, because that is the only absolutely guaranteed way that you have of hearing the material'


Any questions or concerns at all please just let me know.

All the best,

Diana

Early Crusading

Week 8: Early Crusading - Tutorial Discussion Post


Hi everyone!

Remember that this week we will not be having lectures or tutorials due to the ANZAC day public holiday. However, you are all expected to comment on this blog post and your comments this week will form your participation mark for the week.

A couple of quick notes before I get into the topic for this week.

1) You may have noticed that I have set up a poll on the right-hand bar of the blog on the library tutorial. I would be extremely grateful if you could take a second to vote on how useful (or not) you found the library tutorial I ran in Week 6. This will help me improve my lesson in future years and will also provide myself and Clare with valuable feedback on the usefulness of the library tutorial in general.

2) Week 9 presenters - remember that your blog post is due (emailed to me) by 12pm, Thursday April 26th
.........

Right! On to the Crusades!

I know that we have already had a lecture on the First Crusade but we have yet to have an opportunity to discuss it. Now is the time! Our readings for this week, you'll have noticed, consist of a number of accounts of Pope Urban II's speech at the Council of Clermont in 1095 in which he put out the call for the First Crusade. Our secondary source is an article by Christopher Tyerman on the development of the Crusading ideal and how it was intertwined with European society at the time. Christopher Tyerman is a leading historian of the Crusades and later this term we will be introduced to the work of another expert, Jonathan Riley-Smith.

I'd like everyone to focus this week on the tutorial discussion questions in the reader when considering their comments as I think the questions are quite comprehensive. I've added a couple of questions about the primary source to also help get folks thinking about the complex issue of crusading.

Christians and Muslims in battle during the Crusades

Questions:

1) Discuss the accounts of Urban's speech. In what ways do they differ?
2) What reasons can you give for these variations?
3) According to Urban, who are the enemies of Christendom? How are they characterized? (ie. by ethnicity, religion, etc.) Does Urban seem to have any understanding of Islam?
4) Why should Christians go on crusade? What benefits will they receive according to Urban?
5) What goal does Urban set for the crusaders? What is their mission to the Holy Land meant to achieve?
6) Where is the Holy Land?

7) Tyerman locates the origin of the crusades in a particular 'symbiosis of interests and values'. What does he mean by this?
8) Tyerman argues that although crusading emerges out of a distinctive tradition in the Latin West, it also contained unique and novel features. What are these features?
9) What does Tyerman mean when he says that ' crusading was not a monolithic movement'?
10) Tyerman says that the effect of the crusades on Europe and Europeans tended to be of 3 sorts, what were they?

*** As always your posts can reflect on these questions or on any other aspects of the readings you found interesting or challenging ***

Pope Urban II calling the First Crusade

......

Finally I'd just like to draw everyone's attention here to a wonderful exhibit of medieval Persian manuscripts that is currently on at the State Library of Victoria. In our course we only briefly encounter the medieval Islamic world and for anyone interested in understanding more about the culture of the Middle East in this period I highly recommend going to this exhibit. It's absolutely beautiful!

http://exhibitions.slv.vic.gov.au/love-and-devotion

From the State Library Exhibit 'Love and Devotion'

From the State Library Exhibit 'Love and Devotion'

Eve, Mary Magdalene, or the Virgin Mary.........Medieval Women and Gender Roles

Week 7: Relics and Devotional Life / Medieval Men and Women - Tutorial Discussion Post
By: Shannon and Carolyn


Hi guys!

It’s Shannon and Carolyn here. This week we will be leading some discussion in the tutorial about the place of women in medieval society. We will focus in particular on the themes of the readings for this week that broach the influence of the Bible and Christian literature on society’s view of women and the greater domestic role of women and what their day to day lives would have been like. We are very excited to talk to you about this topic as we think it serves as a fascinating comparison between the medieval world and our lives today.

So in the first reading we observed that medieval women were theologically mythicised by the Bible and writers who idealised qualities of women like obedience and virginity. Did they have unrealistic standards or what?

Women had the lowest social standing in medieval society, they had basically no economic or political rights and their lives were tied to their marital status and their domestic roles. They were used as peace offerings between quarrelling families for social status and honour. Basically, men were the ones who worked, brought in the food for the family and the women’s purpose was to look after the house and children. They were considered stupid and vain and men worked to ensure that they were constantly occupied because it was thought that if they had enough time for freedom of thought they were so weak they were sure to become corrupted by impure thoughts. The emphasis is very clearly placed upon a woman’s portrayal in the Bible to ensure they remain pure, and marriage was essential in order for women to fulfil their duties to God or risk being an outcast. Interesting fact: Men were, on average, 10 years older than their wives (because men needed to reach the ‘perfect age’ and women had to be wed young in order to avoid perversion)

A few questions we would like you to consider about this topic are:

1. What impression did you get of the role of women from the excerpts in the first reading? How much have these expectations changed in our society today?
2. How difficult do you think it would be to live similarly to medieval women? Would you be happy to just put up with having to live like that?
3. What is your impression of the cult of Mary? Do you think it had any realistic impact on the lives of women?
4. Do you think that the practises around marriage and childrearing were fair? How do you think they could have been improved? Would society have survived as well if women had been given a say or would it have been more successful?
5. In what ways were women shown to be families’ and husbands’ ‘property’?

We look forward to hearing your thoughts and questions and seeing you in our tutorial!

Thanks,
Shannon and Carolyn.

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(a couple of images added by Diana)

Christine de Pisan

Medieval lovers hunting