Prof. Martha Carlin
Week 14: Tuesday
FORMAL EDUCATION
Aristocratic education stressed:
Riding
Use
of weapons (males only): sword, shield,
lance, and bow
(click here for an early 9th cent.
depiction of David
vs. Goliath)
Hunting
with dogs or falcons
Literacy
and religious
instruction; sometimes the
7 liberal arts
Clerical
education stressed:
Latin, calendrical computing, liturgy,
chant,
the Bible, and patristic writings
Good handwriting
(especially in monasteries with a scriptorium)
The
seven liberal arts (taught to elite students at the great monastic
and palace schools):
Trivium ("threefold path" to knowledge):
Grammar, logic, and rhetoric (or dialectic)
Quadrivium ("fourfold path" to knowledge):
Arithmetic, geometry, astronomy,
music
Formal
medical education was based on Greco-Roman humoral
theory, stressing the need to maintain a balance of the 4 humors:
Blood, phlegm, black bile, yellow bile
Capitulary of 789
mandated
schools in every cathedral and monastery to teach students
and to correct and copy texts (more than 90% of extant Classical Roman
texts owe their
survival to Carolingian copyists)
Every monastery required
to follow Benedictine Rule (reiterated 817-840, with expanded Rule)
Accurate new edition of
Latin Bible produced by Alcuin
of York (d. 804)
New, clear script developed
("Caroline
minuscule")
History of the Lombards
and book of model sermons written by Paul
the Deacon (d. 799)
Encyclopedia and handbook
on clerical instruction written by Rabanus Maurus,
abbot of Fulda (d.
856)
Neo-Platonic texts
translated
(from Greek) and written by John
Scotus Eriugena (d. 877)
Lives of saints written
by Walafrid
Strabo, scholar, poet, and gardener, tutor to Charles the
Bald,
and abbot of Reichenau (d. 849)
POPULAR RELIGION
Pagan rituals condemned by Carolingian rulers and clergy included:
Worship of sacred trees,
groves, and springs
Sacrifices in honor of pagan
gods (e.g., Odin)
Cremation of the dead
Celebration of pagan
festivals
(e.g., commemorating winter and summer solstices)
Superstitions concerning
natural occurrences (e.g., sneezing; appearance or behavior of certain
birds or animals)
Identifying days as
auspicious
or inauspicious for certain activities (e.g., marrying on Venus's day,
Friday)
Consulting sorcerers, dream
interpreters, fortune tellers, diviners, and other practitioners of
magical
arts
Using charms, incantations,
and magical amulets
Widespread interest in, and interpretations of:
Astrological
and meteorological phenomena
Prodigies, visitations, and visions
Carolingian capitularies emphasize:
Religious instruction
Baptism
Preaching by clergy
Some major features of popular religion:
Prayer associations (confraternities)to aid sick
or dying members, and to pray for dead members
Cults of saints and relics
Pilgrimage to regional shrines and to Rome and the
Holy Land
HARDSHIPS OF DAILY LIFE
Forests and wild spaces dominated the landscape
Forest animals were game to aristocrats, but dangerous to others
Weather extremes (hot, cold, wet, dry) represented dangers and
difficulties,
e.g.:
damaged or destroyed the harvest
caused floods
made roads, fords, and bridges unusable
Warfare was constant; the victors looted, destroyed, massacred, and enslaved unrestrainedly
All free laymen (after 807, holders of c. 80 acres or more) were liable to army service each summer
Epidemics and plagues ravaged human and livestock populations
Beggars -- many disabled, invalid, or elderly -- were ubiquitous
Brigands infested the roads and were often protected by powerful landowners
Physical brutality was common (see, e.g., lists of mutilations covered by Germanic laws)
