Like a person in the early Middle Ages. Myths about the Middle Ages

The period of the Middle Ages (from the Latin media - middle) occupies a middle position between the time of the Ancient World and the New Time. The transition to it was marked by the Renaissance, the Great Geographical Discoveries, the Industrial Revolution and the emergence of a market economy.

The chronology of the beginning of the Middle Ages is beyond doubt. The starting point is considered to be V in AD, more precisely, 476 AD, when the leader of the Germanic barbarian tribes Odacre displaced last emperor Western Roman Empire Romulus Augustulus. The word “barbarians” comes from “barbaros,” which is what the Greeks called everyone who incomprehensibly chattered in an unknown and dissonant language.

This word has become a household word for destroyers of material and spiritual values. In addition, representatives of the tribes that conquered Rome were at a lower level of general cultural development than the Greeks and Romans.

For all students of the economic history of mankind, it seems most reasonable to begin the starting point of the New Age, following the Middle Ages, with the events of the Industrial Revolution in England in the 60s.

Conventionally, the entire Middle Ages can be divided into three stages:

the first - the early Middle Ages from the end of the 5th - beginning of the 6th century.

the second is the heyday of Medieval civilization from the 10th to the 15th centuries;

the third - the late Middle Ages - from the end of the 15th to the middle of the 18th century.

So, the duration of action has been determined.

The location is Europe. This word comes from “Erebus” - “West” (translated from Semitic). Under the Greeks and Romans, Europe was seen as an object for collecting indemnities. It was like a barbarian periphery, the border of the Roman Empire. From north to south, the continent extends from the Arctic Ocean to the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, from west to east - from the Atlantic coast to the Ural Mountains.

So, since antiquity, the concept of Europe has been identified with the geographical definition of “West” and contrasted with “Asu” (translated from Semitic “Asia”), or the East. For the peoples and countries that inhabited Europe already in those centuries, we can distinguish common features economic, socio-political and socio-cultural development.

Countries have long stood out on the continent Western Europe: England, France, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Scandinavian countries. It's faster here than in Eastern Europe, the processes of feudalization and industrialization took place, achievements in science and technology became more pronounced. Celtic and Germanic tribes were part of the Roman Empire and had the opportunity to get acquainted with and adopt some of the achievements of the ancient civilization that was advanced for that time.

With the end of the Great Migration, Western European countries established state borders. They actively took advantage of the advantages and benefits of their geographical location. The seas and rivers that surrounded them, crossing plains and mountains, facilitated trade and primary exchanges of information about various kinds of innovations in material culture.

Eastern Europe became a place of settlement for Slavic tribes, who found themselves geographically farther from the seas and ancient world centers of culture.

Byzantium, the successor to the Eastern Roman Empire, was a kind of outpost of Europe in the east.

The main feature of the early Middle Ages was the emergence of feudalism in young European states.

A qualitatively new civilization - Western (European) - was formed precisely in the Middle Ages on the basis of a synthesis of the relations of private property and kolonat (tenancy relations) of antiquity and the communal-collectivist principles of European tribes.

The third component of this synthesis of a new civilization was material and spiritual culture Ancient East- the foundation of the entire world civilization. Without taking into account these closely interrelated processes that determined the material basis of European civilization, one cannot understand the features of the progress of the European economy in the Middle Ages and the formation of world economic ties.

By the beginning of the Middle Ages, the productive forces of Ancient Greece and Rome were largely destroyed, monuments of material and spiritual culture perished in the fires during the raids of barbarian tribes, in continuous wars, and with the active migration of large masses of the population.

Many labor skills were forgotten, and the qualifications of artisans were lost. In the early Middle Ages, the development of technology and people's knowledge about the world around them was at a very low level.

This led to low labor productivity.

Middle Ages

Manual, handicraft production prevailed. For the successful development of the vast new spaces in the north and center of Europe, covered with dense forests, the means of communication were primitive. Poor communications between individual regions made it difficult to exchange experiences of economic life, which also hindered progress. Wars, epidemics of plague and cholera, mass diseases of people and domestic animals greatly undermined the productive forces of society.

But at the same time the most important process of folding took place modern states, within which national economic complexes began to gradually take shape.

Appearance already in the 13th century. in England Parliament, then the first constitutions in a number of countries in legislative order secured the right of private ownership of the main means of production. The works of scientists in chemistry, mathematics, astronomy, medicine, and mechanics were used in technical improvements and navigation; people's standard of living increased. The spread of knowledge accumulated by mankind was facilitated by printing. 1000 years after the fall of Ancient Rome, a galaxy of brilliant thinkers, rightfully headed by Leonardo da Vinci, put the industrial and cultural experience of antiquity at the service of people.

They reached new heights in technology, science, and art, often looking far ahead, ahead of their time. The Renaissance was not only the heyday of medieval civilization, but also worthily introduced human society into modern times, leading it through the Great Geographical Discoveries.

So, there was no smooth transition, progressive movement in the development of productive forces in an ascending line from the era of the Ancient World to the Middle Ages, but there was undoubtedly economic progress, especially characteristic of the third period of the Middle Ages.

Early Middle Ages (V-X centuries)

The question of the population size of Europe as a whole and its individual regions during the Early Middle Ages in modern historical science still remains controversial. Due to the lack of accurate statistical data, we can only give the most approximate figures.

So, by the middle of the 5th century.

Italy remained the most populous region of Europe, where 4-5 million people lived, 3-5 million lived in the territory of modern France, about 4 million in Spain, up to 3 million in Germany, and about 1 million in the British Isles.

What years are these in the Middle Ages?

The population of Europe was constantly changing. Crop failures, epidemics, and incessant wars led to a demographic decline. But from the beginning of the 7th century. number European population begins to gradually increase.

However, population growth in Europe during the Middle Ages was neither consistent nor constant.

To a large extent, it depended on changes in life expectancy, fertility and mortality. In the Early Middle Ages, the average life expectancy of a man was 40-45 years, a woman - 32-35 years.

So short term life can be explained by the exhaustion of the body due to constant malnutrition, frequent epidemics, constant wars, and raids by nomads. Also factors influencing the reduction average duration women's lives, there were early marriages and short intervals between the births of children.

High and late Middle Ages (XI-XV centuries)

The general population growth, which began in the 7th century, continues until the beginning of the 14th century.

By this time, 10-12 million people lived in Italy, France and Spain, 9 million in Germany, and about 4 million people in the British Isles. This was the maximum that a traditional agricultural economy could support.

In the middle of the 14th century. A terrible plague epidemic, called the “Black Death,” dealt an incomparable blow to the European population.

According to various sources, it claimed from half to two-thirds of the population of Europe. After this most terrible wave, the plague returned to Europe more than once. Thus, the plague epidemic of 1410-1430 was accompanied by huge casualties. It was possible to replenish the population losses caused by the plague only by the beginning of the 16th century. Material from the site http://wikiwhat.ru

average life expectancy

Coming at the beginning of the 11th century.

socio-political stabilization, increased productivity, general economic growth, and a decrease in the frequency and intensity of epidemics led to an increase in average life expectancy: for men - up to 45-50 years, for women - up to 38-40 years.

Number of people over 50 years old in the 12th century. accounted for 12-13% of the total population. In the XI-XII centuries. The number of children in families is increasing, which is associated with a decrease in the infant mortality rate due to improved living conditions.

Material from the site http://WikiWhat.ru

On this page there is material on the following topics:

• Population of medieval Europe

• Population of the Kama region in the Middle Ages

• Life expectancy in Europe in the Middle Ages

• Population of cities in the Middle Ages

• Population in the Middle Ages

The Middle Ages cover the period from the 5th to the 17th centuries. In the early periods of the Middle Ages, many nations began to form statehood, which was accompanied by large-scale campaigns of conquest and the creation of huge early feudal states.

All the battles and battles that took place at this time were particularly cruel, bloody and total plunder of enemy territories. Subsequently, the development of feudal relations became the basis for political fragmentation and long internecine wars.

At the junction of antiquity and the Middle Ages in the history of Europe, Asia and North Africa, there was another period, which was called the “Great Migration”.

There was a migration of barbarian tribes from Asia and Europe to the territory of the ancient centers of civilization, where barbarian states were created. They became the basis medieval states. At the same time, the new social relations and culture that developed in them later had a huge impact on neighboring peoples, whose development was not interrupted by force.

As a result, medieval feudal states with more or less significant political and economic differences were formed.

The Early Middle Ages (5th–11th centuries) are considered by many historians to be a period of decline in military affairs. Only from time to time were short-term military successes of this or that people, commander or some state observed. Among them are certain moments of the Arab-Muslim conquests, the Viking campaigns, the military achievements of the Frankish empire of Charlemagne, the Chinese Tang Empire, and the power of Mahmud of Ghazni.

There was a simplification of military affairs, i.e.

that is, everything was the same as in the times of military leaders, only now in Christian states. As a result of this, the number of troops was sharply reduced, but the quality of the professional fighter who devoted his life to the art of war increased noticeably. Battles in the early Middle Ages took place between tiny armies of several hundred or thousand fighters.

There was a catastrophic lack of people for complex formations and maneuvers.

The knights' weapons and equipment remained simple. The main weapons were a sword and a spear. In addition to them there were battle axes and clubs. Foot soldiers began to use complex bows of the eastern type.

By the 11th century, the crossbow appeared in Europe. An interesting fact is that the bow and crossbow were considered the most dangerous weapons at that time, because an arrow fired at close range easily pierced chain mail.

In order to get as close to the enemy as possible, the troops began to build in a column and a wedge.

Knights, as a rule, tried to save their horses for attack. They allowed them to rest, because the heavy equipment of the warriors extremely tired the animals. Knights usually rode at a walk, and at this time they were ideal targets for archers and crossbowmen.

And such troops in the 11th–12th centuries during the Crusades clashed with the armies of Muslims.

Problems immediately began to arise. Muslim warriors inherited the remarkable military traditions of Iran and the eastern regions of the Roman Empire.

They were protected by chain mail and a caftan quilted with cotton wool, over which was worn a shell consisting of interconnected plates. The spheroconic helmet was equipped with a half-mask made of steel and a chainmail aventail (a part of the helmet that covers the neck and sometimes the face).

Muslim warriors carried small round shields and leggings made of leather reinforced with steel plaques.

The collision of the simplified European military machine with the much more complex and developed Eastern one nevertheless highlighted two important advantages of the Europeans - stamina and endurance.

European rulers in the East recruited mercenaries into detachments of horse archers from local residents. Such warriors were called turkopuls. To strengthen discipline, the knights had to give up many of the joys of life, tame pride and arrogance, and observe subordination. Then spiritual knightly orders began to emerge.

Uccello. "Battle of San Romano"

The military traditions of the Roman Empire were almost entirely adopted by the Byzantines. They used a combination of squads belonging to the emperor and nobles, with mercenary and allied troops, as well as militias of military settlers. The armament of the Byzantines, although reminiscent of the Muslim ones, was closer to the ancient Roman prototypes.

There were good prerequisites for the development of military affairs in China, where the military leader, in addition to practical, detailed military treatises, had at his disposal numerous fighters, detachments of nomadic federates, as well as a wide selection of weapons and a powerful production base.

The Japanese received the initial impetus for the development of military affairs from Korea and China, where there was a cult of weapons.

The Japanese had especially great achievements in the production of blades, which in the 7th–8th centuries began to be made using the Damascus method.

In the 13th century, the Mongol invasion almost completely changed military affairs in Asia and Europe. Genghis Khan and his successors had military successes only thanks to the strictest discipline, based on a system of material incentives and the most severe punishments for various offenses.

The steppe squads turned into real army, which retained all the advantages of a nomadic army - speed of movement, maneuverability on the march and on the battlefield, as well as the traditions of dividing troops and allocating reserves, methods of false retreats with ambush.

Under Mongol influence, Western European armor changed. The metal now covered every part of the knight's body.

Türkiye also made its contribution to the development of military affairs. Although the striking force of the Ottoman army, as before, were heavily armed horsemen, the basis of the army was made up of foot riflemen and saber fighters - Janissaries, educated in special schools.

In the middle of the 16th century, the horseman was armed with a shield made of thick leather, a long spear, a saber, or konchar, a knives and a pair of pistols. The effectiveness of such cavalry in battle was so great that in the future it served as the prototype of two types of cavalry - lancers and hussars in Europe.

As the development of crafts and manufactures continued, commodity-money relations also developed. As a result, centralized states began to form in Europe. All these transformations created the preconditions for changing the methods of warfare, i.e.

That is, permanent troops began to emerge, superior in their organization, armament and training of personnel to the previously existing feudal detachments and non-permanent armies. During this period, firearms appeared in the arsenal of armies, which simply revolutionized the way wars were fought.

In connection with the advent of firearms, the composition and organization of armies radically changed.

For example, heavy knightly cavalry disappeared from the battlefields, and the infantry was armed with firearms, and it became the main branch of the army. In addition, another type of military force arose - artillery.

New social relations, mainly capitalist, were established in the most economically developed countries, which included, among others, England and the Netherlands. In the period from the 12th to the 18th centuries, mercenary troops, as a rule, predominated, and mass armies did not exist.

Zurbaran. "Defense of Cadiz from the British"

At that time, the target for military operations was not the army, but the territory of the enemy, because all wars were fought precisely for the sake of seizing new lands without decisive battles. The troops maneuvered a lot, forcing the enemy to retreat, i.e. the war was not fought to destroy the enemy, but to exhaust him. This strategy came to be called maneuverable.

Its essence was to wear down the enemy with maneuvers without resorting to major battles. In this regard, powerful fortresses with strong garrisons were built on the borders of states. Therefore, soldiers at that time had to be able not only to perform maneuvers, but also to storm fortresses or lead their siege.

In the Middle Ages, battles took place in a variety of territories.

For example, we can cite the attempted invasion of Japan by the Mongols under the command of Kublai Khan, and the Japanese into Korea, the struggle for dominance in the Mediterranean between Christians and Mohammedans, wars between European states for influence in the world and authority on trade routes and in the colonies.

J. S. Copley. "The Death of Major Pearson"

All these reasons contributed to the promotion of talented military leaders, including admirals, who became the founders of naval combat tactics.

The most typical example can be considered the Anglo-Dutch wars, in which armed commercial ships were initially used. During battles, ships were lined up in different ways, but most often in two wake columns.

The tactics developed by the Dutch Admiral Ruiter were countered by the onslaught of the English flagships, which advanced from the cavalry commanders.

Having won this war, England found itself in the position of the largest maritime power, for which waterways were of vital importance. It is quite natural that it was in the British fleet that there were many capable admirals, distinguished by their strength of character, fortitude and ability to conduct battles at sea.

Among them are Anson and Benbow, who showed themselves most successfully in battles with France, Spain, Holland and other countries. But the French sailors also showed great courage and excellent knowledge of maritime affairs.

The most prominent of them were Duquesne and Tourville.

Date of publication: 2015-01-10; Read: 85 | Page copyright infringement

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The Middle Ages (Middle Ages) is a designation accepted in historical science for the period of world history following the history of the ancient world and preceding modern history. The concept of the Middle Ages (Latin medium aevum, literally - middle age) appeared in the 15th-16th centuries among Italian humanist historians, who considered the period of history preceding the Renaissance to be the “dark ages” of European culture.

The 15th century Italian humanist Flavio Biondo gave the first systematic account of the history of the Middle Ages in Western Europe as a special period of history; in historical science, the term “Middle Ages” was established after a professor at the University of Halle X.

Keller called one of the three books of his textbook “History of the Middle Ages” (Ch. Cellarius, Historia medii aevi, a tempori bus Constantini Magni ad Constantinopolim a Turcas captain deducta..., Jenae, 1698). Keller divided world history for antiquity, the Middle Ages, modern times; believed that the Middle Ages lasted from the time of the division of the Roman Empire into Eastern and Western (395) and the fall of Constantinople (1453). In the 18th century a special industry arose historical science, studying the history of the Middle Ages - medieval studies.

In science, the Middle Ages are dated from the end of the 5th century to the second half of the 15th century. The conventional date for the beginning of the Middle Ages is considered to be the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in 476, and the end date of the Middle Ages is associated with the fall of Constantinople in 1453, with the discovery of America by X.

Columbus in 1492, the Reformation of the 16th century. Proponents of the theory of the “long Middle Ages,” based on data on changes in the life of the common people, associate the end of the Middle Ages with the Great French revolution. Marxist historiography has preserved the traditional three-fold division of history into ancient, medieval, modern - the so-called “humanistic trichotomy”.

She viewed the Middle Ages as the era of the birth, development and decay of feudalism. Within the framework of the theory of change of socio-economic formations, Marxists connected the end of the Middle Ages with the time of the English Revolution of the mid-17th century, after which capitalism began to actively develop in Europe.

The term “Middle Ages,” which arose in relation to the history of Western European countries, is also used in relation to other regions of the world, especially to the history of those countries that had a feudal system. However, the time frame of the Middle Ages may differ. For example, the beginning of the Middle Ages in China is usually dated to the 3rd century AD, in the Near and Middle East - with the spread of Islam (6-7 centuries).

In the history of Russia, the period of Ancient Rus' stands out - before the Mongol-Tatar invasion. Consequently, the beginning of the Middle Ages in Rus' dates back to the 13th-14th centuries. The end of the medieval period in Russia is associated with Peter's reforms. Disagreements in chronology and the impossibility of applying the term “Middle Ages” unambiguously to all regions of the world confirm its conditional nature.

In this regard, it seems reasonable to consider the Middle Ages simultaneously as a worldwide process and as a phenomenon that had its own characteristics and its own in each country. chronological framework.
In the narrow sense of the word, the term “Middle Ages” is applied only in relation to the history of Western Europe and implies a number of specific features of religious, economic, political life: the feudal system of land tenure, the vassalage system, the dominance of the church in religious life, the political power of the church (the Inquisition, church courts, feudal bishops), the ideals of monasticism and chivalry (a combination of spiritual practice of ascetic self-improvement and altruistic service to society), the flourishing medieval architecture- Gothic.

The European Middle Ages are conventionally divided into three periods: the early Middle Ages (late 5th - mid-11th centuries), the high or classical Middle Ages (mid-11th - late 14th centuries), and the late Middle Ages (15th-16th centuries).

The term "Middle Ages" was first introduced by the Italian humanist Flavio Biondo in his work "Decades of History, Beginning with the Decline of the Roman Empire". Before Biondo, the dominant term for the period from the fall of the Western Roman Empire to the Renaissance was Petrarch's "Dark Ages", which in modern historiography refers to a narrower period of time.

The humanists intended in this way to mark the border era between antiquity.

which inspired them, and their contemporary times. Since humanists primarily assessed the state of language, writing, literature and art, this “middle” period seemed to them the embodiment of the savagery of the ancient world, barbarism and “kitchen” Latin.

In the 17th century, the term “Middle Ages” was coined by J.

Keller. He divided world history into antiquity, the Middle Ages and modern times. Keller believed that the Middle Ages lasted from 395 until 1453.

In the narrow sense of the word, the term “Middle Ages” applies only to the Western European Middle Ages.

In this case, this term implies a number of specific features of religious, economic and political life: the feudal system of land tenure, the system of vassalage, the unconditional dominance of the Church in religious life, the political power of the Church, the ideals of monasticism and chivalry, the flourishing of medieval architecture - Gothic.

In more in a broad sense this term can be applied to any culture, but in this case it denotes either a predominantly chronological affiliation and does not indicate the presence of the above-mentioned features of the Western European Middle Ages, or, conversely, indicates a historical period that has signs of the European Middle Ages, but does not coincide in chronology with the Middle Ages Europe.

Chivalry in the Middle Ages

The Middle Ages - the era of domination in Western and Central Europe by feudal economic and political system and Christian religious worldview, which came after the collapse of antiquity.

Replaced by the Renaissance. Covers the period from the 4th to the 14th centuries. In some regions it persisted even at a much later time. The Middle Ages are conventionally divided into the Early Middle Ages, the High Middle Ages and the Late Middle Ages.

The most important feature medieval culture is the special role of Christian doctrine and the Christian church. In the conditions of the general decline of culture immediately after the destruction of the Roman Empire, only the church for many centuries remained the only social institution, common to all countries, tribes and states of Europe.

The church was dominant political institution, but even more significant was the influence that the church had directly on the consciousness of the population. In conditions of difficult and meager life, against the backdrop of extremely limited and most often unreliable knowledge about the world, Christianity offered people a coherent system of knowledge about the world, about its structure, about the forces and laws operating in it.

The Early Middle Ages in Europe is the period from the end of the 4th century.

until the middle of the 10th century. In general, the early Middle Ages were a time of deep decline in European civilization compared to the ancient era.

This decline was expressed in the dominance of subsistence farming, in the decline of handicraft production and, accordingly, urban life, in the destruction of ancient culture under the onslaught of the unliterate pagan world. A characteristic feature of life in the early Middle Ages were constant wars, robberies and raids, which significantly slowed down economic and cultural development.

In the period from V to X centuries.

Against the background of a general lull in construction, architecture and fine arts, two striking phenomena stand out, important for subsequent events. This is the Merovingian period and the Carolingian Renaissance on the territory of the Frankish state.. Merovingian art. The architecture of the Merovingian era, although it reflected the decline of construction technology caused by the collapse of the ancient world, at the same time prepared the ground for the flourishing of pre-Romanesque architecture during the Carolingian revival. Carolingian Renaissance.

In Carolingian art, which adopted both late antique solemnity and Byzantine imposingness, and local barbarian traditions, the foundations of the European medieval artistic culture. Temples and palaces were decorated with multi-colored mosaics and frescoes.

Middle Ages

Russian and Western medieval studies consider the collapse of the Western Roman Empire at the end of the 5th century to be the beginning of the Middle Ages, but in the UNESCO encyclopedic publication History of Humanity, the line was drawn at the moment of the emergence of Islam.

Historians have no consensus regarding the end of the Middle Ages. It was proposed to consider as such: the fall of Constantinople, the invention of printing, the discovery of America, the beginning of the Reformation, the Battle of Pavia, the beginning of the English Revolution, the end of the Thirty Years' War, the Peace of Westphalia and the equalization of the rights of Catholics and Protestants according to the principle of cujus regio, ejus religio in 1648, 1660- e years, the turn of the 1670s-1680s, the turn of the 1680s-1690s and some other periods.

Supporters of the so-called Long Middle Ages, based on data on the development not of the ruling elite, but of the common people, consider the Great French Revolution to be the end of the Middle Ages, which entailed changes in all layers of European society.

In recent years, Russian medieval studies have dated the end of the Middle Ages to the middle or end of the 15th and early 16th centuries. The most correct is to consider the Middle Ages both as a worldwide process and as a phenomenon that had its own characteristics and its own period in each country. For example, if Italian historians consider the beginning of the New Age to be the 14th century, then in Russia the beginning New history It is generally accepted to date back to the end of the 17th century and the first decades of the 18th century.

It is very difficult to systematize, for example, the history of the states of Asia, Africa, and pre-Columbian America within the framework of the European Middle Ages. Disagreements in the chronology of the era and the impossibility of applying the term Middle Ages to all states of the world confirm its conditional nature.

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Introduction: Myths of the Middle Ages

There are many historical myths about the Middle Ages. The reason for this lies partly in the development of humanism at the very beginning of the modern era, as well as the emergence of the Renaissance in art and architecture. Interest in the world of classical antiquity developed, and the era that followed was considered barbaric and decadent. Therefore, medieval Gothic architecture, which today is recognized as extraordinarily beautiful and technically revolutionary, was undervalued and abandoned in favor of styles that copied Greek and Roman architecture. The term "Gothic" itself was originally applied to the Gothic in a pejorative light, serving as a reference to the Gothic tribes that sacked Rome; The meaning of the word is “barbaric, primitive.”

Another reason for many myths associated with the Middle Ages is its connection with the Catholic Church (hereinafter referred to as “Church” - approx. New). In the English-speaking world, these myths originate in disputes between Catholics and Protestants. In other European cultures, such as Germany and France, similar myths were formed within the anti-clerical stance of influential Enlightenment thinkers. The following is presented summary some myths and false ideas about the Middle Ages that arose as a result of various prejudices.

1. People believed that the Earth was flat, and the Church presented this idea as doctrine

In fact, the Church never taught that the Earth was flat during any period of the Middle Ages. Scientists of that time had a good understanding of scientific arguments the Greeks, who proved that the Earth was round and knew how to use scientific instruments, such as the astrolabe, to accurately determine the circumference. The fact of the spherical shape of the Earth was so well known, generally accepted and unremarkable that when Thomas Aquinas began work on his treatise “Summa Theologica” and wanted to choose an objective undeniable truth, he cited this very fact as an example.

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And not only literate people were aware of the shape of the Earth - most sources indicate that everyone understood this. The symbol of the earthly power of kings, which was used in coronation ceremonies, was the orb: a golden sphere in the king's left hand, which personified the Earth. This symbolism would not make sense if it were not clear that the Earth is spherical. A collection of sermons by 13th-century German parish priests also briefly mentions that the Earth is “round as an apple,” with the expectation that the peasants listening to the sermon would understand what it was about. And popular in the 14th century english book"The Adventures of Sir John Mandeville" tells the story of a man who traveled so far to the east that he returned to his homeland from its western side; and the book doesn't explain to the reader how it works.

The common misconception that Christopher Columbus discovered the true shape of the Earth and that the Church opposed his voyage is nothing more than a modern myth created in 1828. Writer Washington Irving was commissioned to write a biography of Columbus with instructions to present the explorer as a radical thinker who rebelled against Old World prejudices. Unfortunately, Irving discovered that Columbus had in fact been deeply mistaken about the size of the Earth and had discovered America by pure chance. The heroic story didn't add up, so he came up with the idea that the Church in the Middle Ages thought the Earth was flat, and he created this enduring myth, and his book became a bestseller.

Among the congregation catchphrases, found on the Internet, you can often see the alleged statement of Ferdinand Magellan: “The Church says that the Earth is flat, but I know that it is round. Because I saw the shadow of the Earth on the Moon, and I trust the Shadow more than the Church." So, Magellan never said this, in particular because the Church never claimed that the Earth was flat. The first use of this "quotation" occurs no earlier than 1873, when it was used in an essay by the American Walterian (Walterian - free-thinking philosopher - approx. New) and the agnostic Robert Greene Ingersoll. He did not indicate any source and it is very likely that he simply made up this statement himself. Despite this, Magellan's "words" can still be found in various collections, on T-shirts and posters of atheist organizations.

2. The Church suppressed science and progressive thinking, burned scientists at the stake, and thus set us back hundreds of years

The myth that the Church suppressed science, burned or suppressed the activities of scientists, is a central part of what historians who write about science call the “clash of ways of thinking.” This enduring concept dates back to the Enlightenment, but became firmly established in the public consciousness with the help of two famous 19th-century works. John William Draper's History of the Relations Between Catholicism and Science (1874) and Andrew Dickson White's The Controversy of Religion with Science (1896) were highly popular and influential books that spread the belief that the medieval Church actively suppressed science. In the 20th century, historiographers of science actively criticized the “White-Draper position” and noted that most of the evidence presented was extremely misinterpreted, and in some cases completely invented.

In late Antiquity, early Christianity did not really welcome what some clergy called “pagan knowledge,” that is, scientific works Greeks and their Roman successors. Some have preached that a Christian should avoid such works because they contain unbiblical knowledge. In his famous phrase, one of the Church Fathers, Tertullian, sarcastically exclaims: “What does Athens have to do with Jerusalem?” But such thoughts were rejected by other prominent theologians. For example, Clement of Alexandria argued that if God gave the Jews a special understanding of spirituality, he could give the Greeks a special understanding of scientific things. He suggested that if the Jews took and used the gold of the Egyptians for their own purposes, then Christians could and should use the wisdom of the pagan Greeks as a gift from God. Later, Clement's reasoning was supported by Aurelius Augustine, and later Christian thinkers adopted this ideology, noting that if the cosmos is the creation of a thinking God, then it can and should be comprehended in a rational way.

Thus natural philosophy, which was largely based on the work of Greek and Roman thinkers such as Aristotle, Galen, Ptolemy and Archimedes, became a major part of the curriculum of medieval universities. In the West, after the collapse of the Roman Empire, many ancient works were lost, but Arab scientists managed to preserve them. Subsequently, medieval thinkers not only studied the additions made by the Arabs, but also used them to make discoveries. Medieval scientists were fascinated by optical science, and the invention of glasses was only partly the result of their own research using lenses to determine the nature of light and the physiology of vision. In the 14th century, philosopher Thomas Bradwardine and a group of thinkers who called themselves the Oxford Calculators not only formulated and proved the mean velocity theorem for the first time, but were also the first to use quantitative concepts in physics, thus laying the foundation for everything that was achieved by this science since then.

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Memento mori

All the scientists of the Middle Ages were not only not persecuted by the Church, but also belonged to it themselves. Jean Buridan, Nicholas Oresme, Albrecht III (Albrecht the Bold), Albertus Magnus, Robert Grosseteste, Theodoric of Freiburg, Roger Bacon, Thierry of Chartres, Sylvester II (Herbert of Aurillac), Guillaume Conchesius, John Philoponus, John Packham, John Duns Scotus, Walter Burley, William Heytsberry, Richard Swineshead, John Dumbleton, Nicholas of Cusa - they were not persecuted, restrained or burned at the stake, but known and revered for their wisdom and learning.

Contrary to myths and popular prejudices, there is not a single example of anyone being burned for anything related to science in the Middle Ages, nor is there evidence of the persecution of any scientific movement by the medieval Church. The trial of Galileo happened much later (the scientist was a contemporary of Descartes) and had much more to do with the politics of the Counter-Reformation and the people involved in it than with the Church's attitude towards science.

3. In the Middle Ages, the Inquisition burned millions of women, considering them witches, and the burning of “witches” itself was commonplace in the Middle Ages

Strictly speaking, “witch hunts” were not a medieval phenomenon at all. Persecution reached its apogee in the 16th century. XVII centuries and were almost entirely related to early period New time. As for most of the Middle Ages (i.e., V-XV centuries), the Church not only was not interested in hunting for so-called “witches,” but it also taught that witches did not exist in principle.

Somewhere before the 14th century, the Church scolded people who believed in witches and generally called this a stupid peasant superstition. A number of medieval codes, canonical and secular, prohibited not so much witchcraft as the belief in its existence. One day, the clergyman got into an argument with the residents of a village who sincerely believed in the words of a woman who claimed that she was a witch and, among other things, could turn into puffs of smoke and leave a closed room through a keyhole. To prove the stupidity of this belief, the priest locked himself in a room with this woman and forced her to leave the room through the keyhole with blows of a stick. The "Witch" did not escape, and the villagers learned their lesson.

Attitudes towards witches began to change in the 14th century, especially during the height of the plague epidemic of 1347–1350, after which Europeans became increasingly afraid of a conspiracy of harmful demonic forces, most of them imaginary. In addition to persecuting Jews and intimidating groups of heretics, the Church began to take covens of witches more seriously. The crisis came in 1484 when Pope Innocent VIII issued the bull Summis desiderantes affectibus (“With all the strength of the soul” - approx. New), which launched the witch hunts that raged throughout Europe for the next 200 years.

Catholic and Protestant countries were equally involved in the ongoing persecution of witches. Interestingly, a witch hunt seems to follow geographical lines Reformation: in Catholic countries that were not particularly threatened by Protestantism, such as Italy and Spain, the number of “witches” was small, but countries on the front line of the religious struggle of the time, such as Germany and France, experienced the full brunt of this phenomenon . That is, the two countries where the Inquisition was most active also happened to be the places where witch-related hysteria was least. Contrary to the myths, the inquisitors were much more concerned with heretics and Jewish Christian converts to Judaism than with any “witches.”

In Protestant countries, witch hunts became rampant when the status quo was threatened (such as the witch hunt in Salem, Massachusetts), or during times of social or religious instability (as in Jacobin England or the Puritan regime of Oliver Cromwell ). Despite wildly exaggerated claims of "millions of women" executed on charges of witchcraft, modern historians estimate the actual number of victims to be approximately 60-100 thousand over several centuries, and 20% of the victims were men.

Hollywood has perpetuated the myth of "medieval" witch hunts, and few Hollywood films set in the period can resist the temptation to mention witches or anyone being hunted by a creepy priest for witchcraft. This is despite the fact that almost the entire period of this hysteria followed the Middle Ages, and belief in witches was considered superstitious nonsense.

4. The Middle Ages were a period of dirt and poverty, people rarely washed, they smelled disgusting, and they had rotten teeth

In fact, medieval people of all classes washed themselves daily, took baths, and valued cleanliness and hygiene. Like every generation before modern system with hot running water, they weren't as clean as you and I, but like our grandparents and their parents, they were able to wash themselves daily, keep themselves clean, valued it, and didn't like people who didn't wash or They smelled bad.

Public baths existed in most cities, and in metropolitan areas they flourished in the hundreds. The south bank of the Thames was the site of hundreds of "stews" (from the English “stew” - “stew”, hence the name of the dish of the same name in English - approx. Newochem), in which medieval Londoners could steam in hot water, chat, play chess and pester prostitutes. There were even more such baths in Paris, and in Italy there were so many that some advertised themselves as catering exclusively to women or aristocrats, so that nobles would not accidentally end up sharing a bath with workers or peasants.

The idea that people of the Middle Ages did not wash is based on a number of myths and misconceptions. Firstly, the 16th century and then the 18th century (that is, after the Middle Ages) were periods when doctors argued that taking baths was harmful, and people tried not to do it too often. The inhabitants, for whom the “Middle Ages” begin “from the 19th century and earlier,” made the assumption that irregular bathing was common earlier. Secondly, Christian moralists and priests of the Middle Ages did warn about the dangers of excessively frequent bathing. This is because these moralists warned against excess in everything - food, sex, hunting, dancing, and even in penance and religious adherence. To conclude from this that no one washed is completely pointless.

Finally, public baths were closely associated with prostitution. There is no doubt that many prostitutes offered their services in medieval public baths, and the "stews" of London and other cities were located near the areas most famous for their brothels and whores. That is why moralists cursed at public baths, considering them dens. Conclude that for this reason people did not use public baths It is as foolish as to conclude that they did not visit the nearby brothels.

The facts that medieval literature extols the delights of bathing, that the medieval knighting ceremony includes an aromatic bath for the initiating squire, that ascetic hermits prided themselves on abstaining from bathing as much as they did from other social pleasures, and that soap makers and bathhouse owners staged noisy trade shows, indicates that people liked to keep themselves clean. Archaeological excavations confirm the absurdity of the idea that they had rotten teeth. Sugar was an expensive luxury and the average person's diet was rich in vegetables, calcium and seasonal fruits, so in fact medieval teeth were in excellent condition. Cheaper sugar only flooded European markets in the 16th and 17th centuries, causing an epidemic of tooth decay and bad breath.

A medieval French saying demonstrates how fundamental bathing was to the pleasures of the good life:

Venari, ludere, lavari, bibere! Hoc est vivere!
(Hunt, play, swim, drink! This is how life should be lived!)

5. The Middle Ages - a dark period regarding technological progress, in which almost nothing was created until the Renaissance

In fact, in the Middle Ages, many discoveries were made that testify to the technological process, some of which rank with the most significant in the entire history of mankind. The fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century had a devastating impact on all material and technological culture Europe. Without imperial support, many grand engineering and infrastructure projects, as well as many of the skills and techniques involved in monumental buildings, were lost and forgotten. The severance of trade ties meant that people became more economically independent and produced everything they needed themselves. But this stimulated the introduction and development of technology rather than vice versa.

Technological advances have helped autonomous rural communities increase the popularity of such unions throughout Europe, leading to the development of the yoke, allowing for more efficient transport and plowing; the horseshoe, a moldboard plow, also appeared, thanks to which the cultivation of the heavier northern European soil became possible; water and tidal mills began to be used everywhere. As a result of these innovations, many lands throughout Europe that had never been cultivated during the Roman conquests began to be cultivated, making Europe richer and more fertile than ever before.

Water mills were introduced everywhere on a scale incomparable to the Roman era. This led not only to the widespread use of hydropower, but also to a surge in active mechanization. The windmill is an innovation of medieval Europe, used along with the water mill not only for grinding flour, but also for the production of cloth, the manufacture of leather goods, and driving blacksmith bellows and mechanical hammers. The latter two innovations led to the production of steel on a semi-industrial scale and, along with the medieval invention of the blast furnace and cast iron, advanced medieval technology for metal production moved far beyond the era of the Roman conquest.

By the second half of the Middle Ages (1000 - 1500), wind and water power had brought about an agricultural revolution and transformed Christian Europe into a rich, densely populated and ever-expanding region. Medieval people began experimenting with different ways mechanization. When they noticed that warm air made the oven work (another invention of the Middle Ages), large medieval kitchens installed a fan on the ovens so that it automatically turned the spit of the gear system. Monks of the time noted that the use of a gear system driven by decreasing weight could serve to mechanically measure the hour of time.

In the 13th century, mechanical clocks began to appear throughout Europe - a revolutionary medieval invention that allowed people to keep track of time. The innovation spread rapidly, and miniature table clocks began to appear just a couple of decades after the invention of the instrument. Medieval clocks could be combined with computing devices. The extremely complex mechanism of the astronomical clock, designed by Richard of Wallingford, abbot of St Albans, was so intricate that it took eight years to study full cycle his calculations, and it was the most intricate device of its kind.

The growth of universities in the Middle Ages also stimulated the emergence of several technical innovations. Optical students of Greek and Arab scientists experimented on the nature of light in lenses, and in the process invented glasses. Universities also supplied the market with books and encouraged the development of cheaper methods of printing. Experiments with woodblock printing eventually led to the invention of type and another great medieval innovation, the printing press.

The very existence of medieval shipping technology meant that Europeans had the opportunity to sail to America for the first time. Long trading voyages led to an increase in the size of ships, although the old forms of ships' rudders - they were huge, oar-shaped, mounted on the side of the ship - limited the maximum size of the ship. At the end of the 12th century, ship carpenters invented a rudder mounted at the stern using a hinge mechanism, which made it possible to build much larger ships and steer them more efficiently.

It turns out that the Middle Ages, not only was not a dark period in the history of technology, but also managed to give birth to many technological inventions, such as glasses, mechanical watches and the printing press - one of the most important discoveries of all time.

6. The medieval army was a disorganized group of knights in massive armor and a crowd of peasants, armed with pitchforks, led into battle, more reminiscent of street showdowns. This is why Europeans during the Crusades often died at the hands of tactically superior Muslims.

Hollywood has created the image of medieval battle as a chaotic chaos in which glory-hungry, ignorant knights control regiments of peasants. This idea spread thanks to Sir Charles Oman's book The Art of Fighting in the Middle Ages (1885). While a student at Oxford, Oman wrote an essay that later grew into a full-fledged work and became the author's first published book. It later became the most widely read book in the English language on the subject of medieval warfare, largely because it was the only one of its kind until the first half of the 20th century, when more systematic research into the issue began.

Oman's studies were greatly undermined by unfavorable factors of the time in which the author worked: the general prejudice that the Middle Ages was a dark and underdeveloped period compared to antiquity, the lack of sources, many of which were yet to be published, and the tendency not to verify the information received . As a result, Oman portrayed medieval warfare as an ignorant battle, without tactics or strategy, fought for the sake of winning glory among knights and noble men. However, by the 1960s, more modern methods and a wider range of sources and interpretations were able to shed light on the Middle Ages, initially thanks to European historians in the form of Philippe Contamine and J.F. Verbruggen. New research literally revolutionized the understanding of medieval warfare and clearly demonstrated that while most sources focused on the personal actions of knights and nobility, the use of other sources painted a completely different picture.

© RIA Novosti Exhibition fight

In fact, the rise of the knightly elite in the 10th century meant that medieval Europe had a special class of professionally trained warriors ready to devote their lives to the art of combat. While some gained fame, others trained from childhood and knew for sure that organization and tactics win the battle. Knights were trained to serve as foot soldiers, and nobility were trained to lead these troops (often called lances) on the battlefield. Control was carried out using trumpet signals, a flag, and a set of visual and verbal commands.

The key to medieval battle tactics lies in creating enough gaps in the heart of the enemy army—the infantry—for heavy infantry to deliver a decisive blow against it. This step had to be carefully calibrated and carried out, ensuring the protection of one’s own army, so as not to give the enemy the opportunity to perform the same trick. Contrary to popular belief, the medieval army consisted primarily of infantry and cavalry, with elite heavy cavalry forming a minority.

Hollywood's idea of ​​medieval infantry as a mob of peasants armed with farming implements is also nothing more than a myth. The infantry was recruited from recruits rural areas, but the men called up for service were either untrained or poorly equipped. In lands where universal conscription was declared, there were always men ready to prepare for war in a short time. The English archers who won the battles of Crecy, Poitiers and Agincourt were peasant recruits, but they were well trained and very effective in force majeure.

The authorities of Italian cities left one day a week to prepare citizens for performance as part of the infantry. After all, many chose the art of war as a profession, and the nobility often levied funds from their vassals for military taxes and used this money to fill the ranks of the army with mercenary soldiers and people skilled in specific types of weapons (such as crossbowmen or craftsmen). on siege weapons).

Decisive battles were often a huge risk and could not be successful, even if your army outnumbered the enemy's. As a result, the practice of open combat was rare in the Middle Ages, and most wars consisted of strategic maneuvers and, most often, long sieges. Medieval architects raised the art of building a fortress to new level: The great castles of the Crusades, such as Kerak and Krak des Chevaliers, or the chain of massive buildings of Edward the First in Wales, are masterpieces of defensive design.

Along with the myths of the medieval army, where the mob, controlled by incompetent idiots, went to war, there was the idea that the crusaders were losing battles against tactically more prepared opponents from the Middle East. An analysis of the battles fought by the Crusaders shows that they won slightly more battles than they lost using each other's tactics and weapons, and it was a completely equal fight. In reality, the cause of the fall of the crusader states of Outremer was a lack of human resources, and not primitive combat skills.

After all, there are myths about medieval weapons. A common misconception is that medieval weapons were so prohibitively heavy that knights had to be lifted into the saddle by some kind of lifting mechanism, and that a knight, once thrown from his horse, could not stand up on his own. Of course, only an idiot would go into battle and risk his life in armor that made movement so difficult. In fact, medieval armor weighed a total of about 20 kg, which is almost half the weight with which modern infantry is sent to the front. Battle re-enactors these days love to perform acrobatic feats to demonstrate how agile and fast a fully equipped warrior can be. Previously, chain mail weighed much more, but even in it a trained person was quite mobile.

InoSMI materials contain assessments exclusively of foreign media and do not reflect the position of the InoSMI editorial staff.

2. How do we know about the Middle Ages?

The Middle Ages ended more than 500 years ago, but when it left, it left behind many traces. These evidence of the past, which appeared in the Middle Ages and have survived to this day, are called historical sources.

Helmet from the burial at Sutton Hoo. Reconstruction

Historical sources are very diverse. The most complete and detailed information about the Middle Ages is given to us by written sources: laws, documents (for example, wills or inventories of land holdings), historical and literary works. Not all written sources that once existed have survived to this day. Many documents were lost during fires and floods, wars and popular uprisings. Sometimes they die in our time. Therefore, scientists try to ensure that documents end up in special repositories - archives, and in addition, they strive to publish them whenever possible.

Visual sources can also tell a lot: illustrations in handwritten books, paintings, sculptures.

One of the most famous artistic sources is a carpet covered with embroidery (more than 70 m long) from the French city of Bayeux. The carpet depicts the history of the conquest of England by the Norman Duke William. Of course, historians know a lot about this event of the 11th century from written sources, but only here can you see how people of that era built ships, sat at the banquet table, and held weapons in battle.

No less important for understanding the past are diverse material sources. In many ancient cities, medieval fortifications, churches, and houses have been preserved. Material sources also include various utensils, clothing, tools, weapons and much more. Some things have been preserved from generation to generation in private collections and museums, others end up in museums today as a result of archaeological excavations (for example, a 7th-century treasure from Sutton Hoo in England).

Episode from the Battle of Hastings. Fragment of a carpet from Bayeux. XI century

And more recently, in the south-east of France, in Lake Paladru, underwater excavations were carried out of a settlement founded on a narrow cape at the beginning of the 11th century. 30 years later it was suddenly flooded by rising waters. When leaving, the settlers barely had time to grab the most necessary things: money, some tools and weapons. The rest was flooded, and literally everything was preserved under water: the remains of dwellings, wooden utensils, iron tools, animal bones, plant seeds and much more. Here's what scientists learned from these findings.

Residents of the village skillfully combined farming and cattle breeding, fishing and crafts. The wealth of utensils and 32 coins found by archaeologists, which were dropped by residents, indicate the prosperity of the settlement.

Gold clasp for a cloak. Sutton Hoo. VII century

But scientists were especially interested in the fact that, along with tools, weapons were found that only real warriors used: a battle ax, spears, fragments of swords. This means that the inhabitants of the village were both peasants and warriors. Thanks to archeology, it was possible to lift the edge of the veil of time and find out how these peasant warriors lived.

Other historical sources can tell a lot about the Middle Ages: names and titles, oral legends and traditions, folk customs, which retain the features of deep antiquity.

By studying sources, generations of historians were able to learn a lot about the Middle Ages. But this does not mean that all issues have already been resolved. After all, history is always closely connected with modernity, and therefore each generation of historians responds to the spiritual needs of their contemporaries, asks new questions of the past and receives new answers to them. The Middle Ages are controversial, which means people still care about them. His learning continues.

05.02.2015

Demons, skeletons and inquisitors and other important concepts and characters of the Middle Ages with the most clear illustrations.

IN Lately thanks to the public " The Suffering Middle Ages» VKontakte users became acquainted with the irrepressible imagination of the people of that era and the diversity of their lives.

One of the community administrators, Yuri Saprykin, described how he sees the “dark millennium” in the form of a very explanatory dictionary.

A - Hell

The habitat of devils and demons. In Dante's "Divine Comedy" it is represented as a funnel that rests on the center of the earth. The opinions of others about the geography of the underworld varied: hell in the Middle Ages was either in the north, or in the third heaven, or opposite heaven, or even on some island.

Apocalypse

The last book of the New Testament (Revelation of John the Theologian), where you can read about the events preceding the second coming of Jesus to earth. We are talking about all sorts of burning heavens, appearances of angels and the resurrection of the dead. The usual thing.

B-Disease

According to Christian doctrine, all illnesses are a legacy of original sin and payment for all other sins. If in paganism illness is a temporary misfortune, then in Christianity it is a flawed way of existence, a demonstration of human weakness and the fragility of all living things, and on top of everything else, a test that had to be overcome. If a person passed the test, then he was freed from sin, and if not, then... forgive me, it turned out that way, you are a sinner.

V-Witch

Belief in witches was an important component of popular culture in the Middle Ages. God was the only legal source of supernatural phenomena, and a miracle was justified only for saints, so no matter what superpowers a witch was caught with, she was sent to the stake.

G-City

Symbol of European civilization. It was there that schools, universities, and cathedrals were built. A dependent person who spent a year and one day in the city became free. But not everything is so happy: the city also means hunger, disease, dirty water and other factors in the miserable life of ordinary people.

D-Discomfort

In the Middle Ages, everyone experienced discomfort, especially in terms of hygiene. According to legends, medieval people practically did not wash. We, Russians, go to the bathhouse once a month, but Isabella of Castile washed herself twice in her life.

Devil

If in the Bible he is depicted as a malicious spirit who cannot compete with God, then in the Middle Ages his power in the minds of people became almost limitless, and his presence became ubiquitous. Whatever happened, everyone blamed it on the devil.

E-Heretic

Apostate. The witch's neighbor. Most often, heretics fought against the wealth of the Catholic Church, proclaiming evangelical poverty. The fate of heretics was usually sad - the fires of the Inquisition or the punitive campaigns of feudal lords.

I-Indulgence

Church-sanctioned absolution. The practice developed from the 11th century, and with the beginning of the Crusades, all participants were granted full absolution. At the end of the Middle Ages, with the development of printing presses, indulgences became so widespread that they caused a smile in any reasonable person and largely led to the Reformation.

K-Courtly love

The male part of the population bears a considerable responsibility. The lover always turned pale at the sight of his beloved, ate little and slept poorly, and at the same time he had to follow certain rules: to be generous and faithful, to perform feats. The knights probably trained for a long time before approaching their future lady.

L-People are going crazy

The wonderful Thomas Aquinas expanded the concept of sodomy. Lesbian love has become a sin - to the stake. All types of sex, except penetration into the vagina, are a sin, at the stake. Masturbation was also punished, as was changing sexual positions. And if a person tried to somehow diversify his sex life, then best case scenario he was left without genitals.

M-Microcosm and Macrocosm

In the 12th century, the idea arose that man and the world consist of the same elements. Flesh is from the earth, blood is from water, etc. The desire to embrace the world and man, to somehow connect them is the main task of medieval science.

O-Order

Knightly orders were created for crusades or the fight against infidels and pagans. Regular knights took monastic vows and were subject to general discipline, which made them quite effective. After the fashion for hiking ended, they quickly degenerated. In France, for example, the saying “drink like a Templar” arose.

P-Pilgrimage

The longest hiking trips, a form of pious travel. The task is this: you need to walk 1000 km to the centers of worship of Christian shrines and not die, which is not easy, because you have to walk, and sometimes barefoot. In the Middle Ages, it was the only justification for travel, which was usually seen as a manifestation of idleness.

Dance of Death

Macro of a man and a skeleton meeting, with a poetic commentary reminding us that we are all equal in the face of death.

Torture

The main entertainment of the Middle Ages. Torture was widely used both as a punishment and to establish the guilt of a suspect. Needless to say, public executions and torture were one of the most popular popular entertainments.

R-Relics

In the Middle Ages, it was believed that the saint was present in objects associated with him or in his bodily remains. With their help, rulers demonstrated their power, and therefore the fate of relics was always difficult: they were stolen, they were traded, they were given as gifts.

S-Sex life of a single woman

Dildos did not have any official name until the Renaissance. In the Middle Ages they were called anyhow. In particular, the word "dildo" comes from the name of an oblong loaf of dill bread, dilldough.

T-Trouvers

French troubadours of the 11th–14th centuries. We walked around and sang folk romances and read poetry. With the advent of the cult, the Ladies finally moved on and wrote only pop music about love.

U-Universities

Centers of urban learning, where initially only theology was taught. However, universities quickly became a source of fundamental knowledge. Within the walls of universities, the concept of “nation” appeared - this is what student communities were called.

F-Flagellantry

Religious fanatics of the Black Death period walked through cities in white cloaks and cut skin so that everyone would be forgiven. But things only got worse: some of them became infected with the plague, and from costumed fanatics, the flagellants turned into carriers of death.

Realizing that this was not enough and they needed to come up with something else to popularize “themselves,” the flagellants began to call for the destruction of... who? That's right, Jews. After it was all over, the flagellants dispersed. The mission to save the planet has come to an end.

X-Christ Superstar

The church fathers Jerome of Stridon and Aurelius Augustine wrote that Jesus had to have perfect body and a beautiful face, and Thomas Aquinas continued their thought. According to some reports, enthusiasts created fake sources that contained a description of Christ of angelic beauty.

C-Church

One of distinctive features period - the dominance of religion, in connection with which the holy fathers became the most influential and rich people along with the feudal lords. Over time, the church came into increasingly conflict with kings and emperors, and had to give up some of its earthly power.

Ch-Purgatory

The structure of purgatory resembles hell. Dante depicts it in the form of a seven-tiered cake. If a person is not good enough for heaven and has not completely screwed up in this world, he ends up in purgatory. By the way, in Dante’s seventh circle wander all sorts of sodomites who did not heed the decrees of the Church and copulated with bulls. This is the last tier, where you atone for sin and find yourself in Eden.

Black Death

The plague killed a third of the population of the Middle East and Europe in the Middle Ages. People of that period believed that it was transmitted through the air, and tried to limit contact as much as possible and wash less. In reality, rats and fleas were to blame for everything and hygiene could have saved everyone.

E-Example

A short story that was passed off as true. Nowadays it is called propaganda. A literate person talked about some situation, not necessarily true, but demonstrating a specific type of behavior that they were trying to impose. In the 13th century, when the church needed to recruit classes, they began to tell all sorts of stories to illiterate believers. The people, judging by the sources, were really inspired by this. The authority of the church grew before our eyes.

U-Anniversaries

They are also called “holy years.” Installed in catholic church originally as the centennial anniversary of the church (1300) - during these years, pilgrims visiting Rome were granted complete absolution. In the future, the periods between anniversary years were reduced to 50 (1350), 33 (1390) and 25 years (1475). It’s just that one saint once said: “It’s impossible to have fun once every 33 years, let’s reduce it to 25.”

Ya-Yad

The Italians borrowed the tradition of poisoning in the Middle Ages from their ancient predecessors. At first, Alexander VI Borgia dabbled in arsenic with his wife Lucretia and son Cesare, then Catherine de Medici joined the topic. They used poisons in the most sophisticated way possible: for example, they first sharpened them and then smeared them with poison on toilet door handles. The poison was added to the wine from the ring (as is usually shown in movies). They also added it to pasta.

Photo 1 – medieval town along the river

Cities in medieval Europe were small by modern standards. 40-50 thousand people lived in the capitals (London, Paris), 15-20 thousand in other large cities, and 5-7 thousand in a typical average town.

Photo 2 – medieval Bruges (Belgium)

Cities were built on the banks of rivers, around castles or along large highways. In the latter case, the section of road became the main city street. Also, the main street could lead from the lord's castle to the river or stretch along the shore.

Photo 3 – engraving medieval city

Almost every medieval city was surrounded by walls. Moreover, the larger and richer the city, the more powerful and tall they were.

Photo 4 - fragment of walls around the city

In the worst case, protection from uninvited guests was an earthen embankment with a wooden palisade on it, in the best - high stone walls with towers and loopholes, where guards were on duty.

Photo 4a – Norman fortress of the 10th-11th centuries (France)

The city gates were locked at sunset and unlocked at sunrise. Responsibilities for constructing fortifications and maintaining their condition were distributed among all townspeople. They either engaged in construction work or paid a monetary contribution.

Photo 5 – urban construction

City walls limited the growth of settlements, so houses stood close to each other, and streets were no more than two meters wide.

Photo 6 – narrow street in Stockholm

Photo 7 – medieval square of old Tallinn

One of the streets in Brussels was called “one-man street” because even two people could not separate there.

Photo 8 – “One Man Street” in Brussels

The upper floors of the buildings protruded above the lower ones, which further narrowed the space of medieval streets.

Photo 9 – street of an Italian city

Residents could not even dream of night lighting, running water, sewerage and other amenities. For a modern person, life in a medieval city would seem difficult and dangerous. Garbage was thrown directly onto the streets, and during night walks you had to take a flashlight with you.

Photo 10 – engraving of the streets of medieval cities

Most of the houses were wooden and had thatched roofs, and during a fire the fire quickly spread to neighboring houses, leading to the destruction of entire neighborhoods.

Photo 11 – medieval town square

Due to the crowded conditions and dirt, infectious diseases often arose and spread, from which many people died. Rich people took refuge from epidemics in country estates. When the danger of infection disappeared, they returned, but not before allowing some tramp or poor person into the house. If he remained healthy, then the owners entered the house without fear.

Photo 12 – plague epidemic

The houses of poor townspeople had small windows, which were covered with hay or rags in winter. To keep warm, they lit a fire, the smoke from which came out through a hole in the ceiling or an open door, but some of it remained indoors.

Photo 13 – fragment of a painting by Bruegel (the elder)

The entire furnishings in the house of ordinary people consisted of a roughly put together table, benches along the walls, a bed and a chest. The chest contained clothes that were expensive, and therefore they were cherished and passed on from generation to generation.

Photo 14 – medieval city painting by E.E. Lancer ( folk artist RSFSR)

The bulk of the population of the medieval city were traders, artisans, apprentices, and barbers.

Photo 15 – wealthy townspeople of the Middle Ages

Aristocratic nobility, feudal lords, officials, doctors, lawyers settled in large cities. The houses of the nobility stood out in appearance, the decoration in them was richer and reflected them social status.

Photo 16 – work in a rural area

Many townspeople continued to engage agriculture. They cultivated fields outside the city walls, grazed herds of sheep and cows. The nearest rural district was considered to belong to the city.

Currently, many cities in Western Europe that have preserved the appearance and spirit of the Middle Ages have been declared by UNESCO as world cultural heritage sites.

Photo 17 – embankment of the French city of Nantes

City residents carefully preserve the monuments and architecture of unique ancient corners of the medieval history of Europe.

Photo 18 – a medieval street of a Spanish town in our time