The Middle Ages are often considered a dark spot on the pages of history, a kingdom of obscurantism: witches were burned at the stake, and fear and ugliness reigned in the streets. The name itself emphasizes the facelessness of this era, which is overshadowed by two neighboring ones: antiquity and the Renaissance, richer in an aesthetic and cultural sense.

If you have ever turned to texts created more than five centuries ago, you will agree that the events described in them are presented in a completely different way than we are used to. Perhaps this is due to the fact that at that time the world still appeared to people in a wonderful robe of mystery, and European society had not yet lost faith in the supernatural. Let's try to figure out what life was like when humanity and the world were younger.

Brightness and poignancy of life

Human feelings were expressed more directly. The soul did not hide feelings, and the mind did not try to suppress them. Joy and sorrow, laughter and tears, poverty and wealth were demonstrated publicly without embarrassment or fear. Ritual permeated every action or deed, “elevating them to another extraterrestrial lifestyle.”

This concerned not only the most important events human life (birth, marriage and death, reaching the splendor of a mystery), but also public events: a solemn meeting of the king or an execution, which became not only a moral lesson, but also a vivid spectacle.

Of course, the life of a medieval person was not beautiful in itself. Living conditions without electricity, sewerage and heating were far from being called beautiful, and therefore beauty had to be created artificially.

Striving for a wonderful life

In the Middle Ages, the aesthetic worldview prevailed over the logical and ethical. The forms of the way of life were transformed into artistic ones, and society became more and more playful, to such an extent that any action turned into a ritual.

The art of the Renaissance did not appear in world history out of nowhere. Culture at the end of the Middle Ages is “the coloring of aristocratic life with ideal forms of life, flowing in the artificial light of knightly romance, this is a world dressed in the outfits of the times of King Arthur.”

Such artificial, aesthetic coverage of all events created strong tension, shaping the thoughts and morals of medieval man.

The life of the courtiers was permeated with aesthetic forms to the point of indecency; the diversity of colors here blinded the townspeople, which once again proved and justified the power of the upper class. Dirty beggars, merchants and hillbillies saw the true proof of noble birth in the beauty of the robes of the nobility and court decorations.

Formalization of life

Earthly life, taking on aesthetic forms, not only attracted attention, but also acquired a dimension previously unknown to humanity. Formalism in relationships sometimes prevented natural communication between people, however, it gave them the greatest aesthetic pleasure, occupying an intermediate position between sincerity and etiquette.

There is something touching in the fact that the “beautiful forms”, developed in the tough struggle of generations of people of ardent disposition, sometimes turned into endless polite bickering.

A visit to the temple turned into a kind of minuet: when leaving, competition arose to give a person of higher rank the right to cross a bridge or a narrow street before others. As soon as someone reached his house, he had to - as Spanish custom still requires - to invite everyone to come into his house for a drink; everyone had to politely refuse such an offer; then it was necessary to see the others off a little, and all this, of course, was accompanied by mutual bickering.

Johan Huizinga

Loud public suffering was considered not only appropriate, but also beautiful, which turned everyday life into a true dramatic art.

The pain takes on a rhythm

Funeral rites were also accompanied by a celebration of suffering, in which grief was clothed in beautiful and even sublime forms.

Reality moved into the realm of the dramatic. In more primitive cultures, funeral rites and poetic funeral laments still form a single entity; mourning, with its pomp, was intended to emphasize how distressed the one struck by grief was.

Johan Huizinga

Dutch philosopher, historian, cultural researcher

In such forms, real experiences are easily lost. Here is an excerpt from the notes of Alienora de Poitiers about the widowed Isabella of Bourbon: “When Madame remained on her own, she did not invariably remain in bed, just as in her chambers.” Which indicates a conscious desire for drama, the reason for which was social customs.

People liked it when everything that had to do with the ethical sphere took aesthetic forms.

A special category of people in whom ordinary people had a genuine interest were preachers and ascetics. Amazement at the humility and mortification of the flesh of the holy ascetics, at the repentant renunciation of sins, reached the highest degree of admiration and admiration. Any personal experience, excitement and achievement had to find the necessary public form of expression, enshrined in culture.

Love and friendship

A special form of friendship appears, called minionship - it existed until the 17th century. Every self-respecting courtier had a close friend, habits, clothes and appearance which his own had to necessarily repeat. Minions were taken with them on dates, walks, and work. Such friendship had a purely aesthetic meaning and was intended to dilute loneliness and boredom, as well as add symmetry to life.

Courtesy and etiquette were directly related to clothing, which had certain meanings.

For example, if a girl wanted to declare fidelity to her lover, she put on clothes of blue color, while clothes Green colour testified to love.

In love, for those who did not break with all earthly joys in general, the purpose and essence of enjoying the beautiful as such was revealed. The feeling of falling in love was valued much more than relationships, and especially marriage. It often happened that a young married woman remained the lady of the hearts of many knights who shouted her name on the battlefield.

Everything beautiful - every sound or flower - was decorated with love. Literature, fashion, customs streamlined attitudes towards love and created a beautiful illusion that people dreamed of following. Love has become a form of fantastic desire. The jousting tournament offered the game of love in its most heroic form. The winner received a special gift in the form of a scarf or a kiss from his beloved.

Short circuit

It is important to understand that medieval people lived in a completely different world than we do. His life was permeated with divine mystery, and therefore any phenomenon was regarded as a sign from above.

He lived in a semiotically rich world. Full of semantic references and higher meanings of the manifestations of God in things; he lived in nature, which constantly spoke the language of heraldry.

Umberto Eco

philosopher, specialist in semiotics and medieval aesthetics

A lion, an eagle, a snake are not only real animals, but symbols that show a person the path to truth, which meant more than the objects themselves. Allegorism extended to all phenomena of life and even served as calls to action.

Often, when the sound of rain puts us in a trance, or the light of a lamp is refracted in a certain way, we too can experience a different range of feelings, usually hidden in everyday life and affairs. This gives us a feeling of the endless mystery of the world and can make us a little happier, return us to the state that medieval people always experienced.

The Dark Ages are the reason for the light of the Renaissance

The beauty of everyday life was considered sinful, thanks to which it acquired a double attraction, and if one surrendered to it, it was enjoyed more passionately than ever.

In art, a religious subject saved beauty from the stamp of sinfulness. If in the Middle Ages in music and fine arts saw the meaning only if they were part of the veneration of Christ, and outside the church it was reprehensible to engage in art, then the Renaissance, having overcome the outdated idea of ​​\u200b\u200bthe joys of life as sinful, “strives to enjoy life as a whole.”

All life becomes art, and even the most unaesthetic forms are transformed into the highest evidence of beauty and admiration.

In the era of New Time, art begins to be enjoyed in isolation from life, it begins to rise above it, and life itself loses its aesthetic dimension. This loss is associated with a longing for the Middle Ages, an era in which the sky was higher and the grass was greener.

The Middle Ages is a historical period spanning the time from the fall of the Roman Empire to the Modern Age, the beginning of the English Industrial Revolution. They replace antiquity and are viewed by many people as a dark period of cruelty, centuries of decline, and the triumph of religious beliefs over science.

Is this opinion true, how did people actually live in the Middle Ages, and what were the main events associated with this period? Many inquisitive people ask similar questions, which are definitely worth answering.

The Middle Ages – ten centuries of historical development

The initial opinion of modern scholars about the Middle Ages was indeed quite gloomy. There was a common stereotype that European and Middle Eastern civilizations were in decline during this period. However, upon further consideration of the issue, the opinion changed; today the Middle Ages are not judged unambiguously. Yes, this period had its aspects of decline, but there were also many positive aspects.

: It is worth noting at least that almost all of the most remarkable architectural structures in Europe date back to this period. These are castles, palaces, Gothic cathedrals, and much more. The bulk of the most famous, impressive paintings by artists belong to the same period.

Characteristic features of the Middle Ages

As with any other era, the Middle Ages have their own unique features by which this period can be characterized. The medieval economy was predominantly agricultural in nature, most people worked on the land, using the result of their labors as a source of livelihood. This is the heyday of religion, a period when churches and church teaching for the West, and the influence of Islam in the East, was very serious. People were totally religious, religion became the basis for wars and conquests - an example would be the Crusades. During this period, national states experienced their formation, and feudalism flourished everywhere.

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Medieval periods

The Middle Ages are not homogeneous; this era is divided into three large periods - early, from the 5th to 10th centuries, high, from the 10th to 14th centuries, and late, 14-16th centuries. However, these gradations are quite approximate, the exact dates of the transition from one period to another, historical events Scientists do not indicate anything related to this. The first period is very unstable, it is associated with the formation of European statehood and the accompanying unrest.

Culture characteristic of the Middle Ages, typical and understandable to modern man values ​​began to take shape only towards the end of the 15th century. And then civilization took long strides towards its cultural flourishing, scientific progress and active development in many directions at once.

The Middle Ages period is the heir of antiquity

The Roman Empire remained the center of the ancient world for many centuries. Its collapse under the blows of barbaric attacks was a serious event on a global scale. The Visigoths were able to capture Rome for the first time in 410 AD, but final fall The empire is usually dated to 476, when the remnants of the empire became the prey of the Germanic tribes. The empire fell, and with it numerous cultural, scientific achievements, the experience of many generations of people. These values ​​did not find recognition in the societies of wild tribes and were forgotten for many centuries. That is why the strongest decline in the sphere of culture, science, and other areas dates back to the beginning of the Middle Ages.

What picture most often comes to mind when mentioning the Middle Ages? Probably something like: a gallant knight riding a war horse among ignorance, dirt and plague. And no wonder - books and films constantly convince you that in the Middle Ages...

1. Scientific progress was dead

They weren’t called “dark times” for nothing. The Catholic Church actively discouraged studying the world from everyone who dared to do so. All knowledge was declared immoral; one could only study from the Bible. It is not surprising that the Earth in the minds of those people was flat.

Reality:

Well, firstly, the people who considered our planet to be flat were far from the majority. Secondly, the church is not responsible for the decline of science - quite the contrary, it has done a lot for its prosperity.

After the fall of the Roman Empire, the Catholic Church was the only surviving island of Roman culture in Western Europe. Monasteries sprang up all over Europe, famous for their richest libraries. Monasticism was almost the only educated class at that time, and almost all historical documents that have come down to us since the Middle Ages were written by them.

During the Crusades, Europeans were introduced to the advanced ideas of the Muslim world in the fields of science and technology. The compass and astrolabe, for example, came to the West from Muslim Spain. Italian traders brought from North Africa Another innovation is Arabic numerals.

Thanks to universities, medicine has also advanced significantly. In fact, the church did not particularly object to the dissection of corpses, which was what students did in the basements of medieval universities. By the 14th century, hospitals were already functioning, where doctors cut off sick limbs of people with might and main.

2. There was an unimaginable stench everywhere

Even those who have never been interested in the history of the Middle Ages know that people at that time did not wash and lived up to their ears in mud. The most that those who were particularly clean allowed themselves to do was light ablutions twice a year. And not just some peasants - important gentlemen were unlikely to be much cleaner.

Reality:

In fact, throughout most of the Middle Ages the situation was not nearly so critical. Yes, no one was particularly concerned about hygiene back then, but some semblance of the famous Roman baths still continued to exist. In medieval Germany, for example, public baths existed in most cities, and even in villages they were not so uncommon. They played the role of something like local clubs, where you could not only wash yourself, but also discuss current news with friends.

In the Middle Ages, it turns out, they also washed their hands before eating (not everyone and not always, but still). Moreover, there was a custom to offer a bath to a guest who entered the house.

The demand for soap (which was made from animal fat with the addition of various aromatic oils and salts) increased so much by the 13th century that its production reached almost industrial scale in Britain, Italy, Spain and France.

So why do the Middle Ages seem so grimy to us? The plague, called the “Black Death,” which in the mid-14th century swept across Europe and instantly changed people’s ideas about cleanliness, is to blame. Doctors of that time reasoned that a washed body means open pores, and open pores are an invitation to evil spirits and all sorts of nasty things in general. Therefore, washing is evil and all problems come from cleanliness.

So swimming went out of fashion.

3. The knights were entirely noble

The knights were gallant cavaliers and brave warriors who were just looking for an opportunity to defeat some dragon and save a beautiful lady.

Reality:

The knights were professional warriors, and in between wars they also had to channel their aggression somewhere. Most of them were quite young people, their blood was boiling, so those around them got it from them - be healthy. By the 11th century, many local feudal lords found a way to channel the ebullient energy of the knights in their usual direction, tying internecine wars. It was not at all like scenes from Braveheart, much more reminiscent of an ordinary bandit raid on villages, looting and killing everyone who got in their way.

The Church tried to contain these conflicts because, frankly speaking, they were not good for anyone. But exhortations did not help. And then the Pope blessed the first crusade and sent all these warlike brethren to the Middle East, where, according to knightly custom, they carried out a massacre.

Later, attempts were made to curb the violent temper of the knights with the help of the “knightly code of honor”, ​​which was introduced in the 13th century. The images of Lancelot and Edward the “Black Prince” were supposed to become examples of how a knight should behave in battle and in peaceful life. Knights, for example, were supposed to “protect the weak” - however, by “weak” they meant noble ladies and their children, not peasants. So the cruelty of noble persons towards each other with the introduction of a code of honor may have moderated, but killing and raping peasants was still not shameful.

4. Everyone was a prude

Casual sex is a modern invention. In the Dark Ages, people were so religious that they didn’t even dare to think about sex outside of marriage, and every sexually mature person was forced to live, constantly suppressing their sexual needs.

Reality:

Have you ever come across pictures of boots that men wore in those days? The ones with long noses?

So, these long noses were called “poulains” and they clearly served as a hint of the size of their owner’s manhood. Sometimes the bullets were so big that the guys couldn't walk up the stairs.

And sex life in the Middle Ages was not limited to fashion. Prostitution was common. Of course, the church did not approve of this activity, but on the other hand, everyone understood that without priestesses of love, men would simply rape everyone indiscriminately, because morals were still harsh then. Almost all medieval cities prostitution existed quite legally, although it was limited to certain neighborhoods.

With marriages, things weren’t so simple either. At the top of society, marriages were almost always concluded for political reasons; no one was interested in whether young people liked each other or not. So affairs on the side were the only and very common way out of this situation.

5. Women had absolutely no rights

In the Middle Ages, women were treated as second-class citizens - they could only cook, wash and nurse children.

Reality:

Just 200 years ago, Europe was predominantly agricultural. And everyone had to work in the fields - hunger was a real threat. And when you work from dawn to dusk, is it sexist? And when it came to housework, men and women by default also shared it equally, as well as work in the fields.

In the cities the situation was not particularly different. If the father of the family owned a store or tavern, then his daughter was sure to help. Sometimes the business could be completely taken over by the daughter if the father for some reason is unable to manage the business.

Those women who did not work in the fields and did not manage taverns could join the monastery. This may not seem like a very enviable lot, but the nuns had opportunities that were rare at that time even for men - they could learn to read and write. Even great kings were not always taught to read and write.

6. Life was terrible and everyone died young

Life in the Middle Ages was "painful, brutal and short." The food is tasteless, the house has no amenities, the work is hard, in general, everything is terrible. It’s good that I had to suffer for a relatively short time – 35 years, no more. In a movie about the Middle Ages, a character over 60 is necessarily a sorcerer.

Reality:

As for the average life expectancy, it was indeed approximately 35 years. But the key word here is “average”. Child mortality was very high because vaccines against childhood diseases had not yet been invented. This circumstance greatly lowered this very “average” bar. But if a guy from the 16th century lived to be 21, then no one would be surprised if he lived another 50 years.

Usually the life of a medieval commoner seems to us like hopeless work for a master who only knows how to oppress poor peasants and squeeze all the juice out of them. However, peasants usually worked about eight hours a day, with long breaks for lunch and midday naps.

In fact, they had even more free time than we did. Sunday is always a day off, plus Christmas, Easter, the summer solstice and the days of remembrance of great saints. If you count everything together, it turns out that medieval peasants rested for a third of the year.

And since most of the weekend consisted of holidays, you can imagine how many strong drinks were consumed during this time.

So, maybe life in the Middle Ages was not as comfortable as it is today, but it was far from joyless.

1. What is the Middle Ages?

• Think about the name of the era “Middle Ages”: how and why did it arise, what is its modern meaning?

History continued for several thousand years Ancient world. With the fall of the Western Roman Empire at the end of the 5th century, it was replaced by new era world history, which lasted until the end of the 15th century. This thousand-year era is usually called the Middle Ages or the Middle Ages.

Among scientists there are other opinions about when the Middle Ages ended. Thus, there is a fairly widespread point of view that the Middle Ages ended in mid-17th century century.

The name “Middle Ages” seems a little strange at first: why are the centuries “middle ages”? It is clear that the people of that time themselves could not believe that they were living in the Middle Ages. In order for such a name to arise, this era had to be replaced by the next one. In the XV-XVI centuries, many educated people admired the achievements of antiquity, and the centuries that followed the fall of Rome were considered a time of cultural decline, when nothing valuable was created, but only the heritage of Greece and Rome was destroyed.

Medieval monastery Mont Saint-Michel. France

• Name the most important cultural achievements of Greece and Rome.

Now, it was believed, a new era was coming, when antiquity was being revived. And in the interval between antiquity and their time they saw only savagery and superstition, invasions and wars, when they almost forgot how to even speak Latin. They began to call this millennium the “Middle Ages.”

This very name contained a negative assessment of the Middle Ages, which later had its supporters. This is how the image of the “dark ages”, a time of endless wars, destruction, and cruelty, was fixed in history. Even now you can sometimes hear the definition of “medieval” in the sense of “wild”, “cruel”, “ignorant”. Indeed, there was plenty of cruelty and ignorance then - as, indeed, in any other era.

But let's note something else. The Middle Ages were a time of hardworking peasants, noble knights, wise sovereigns, and inspired poets. In the Middle Ages, people built majestic cathedrals, wrote wonderful books, and made great discoveries. There was no less beauty and wisdom in that era than in any other. And therefore, scientists have long abandoned the one-sided idea of ​​the Middle Ages as something only bad or only good. Indeed, at that time, as at any other time, good and evil, light and shadow were inseparable from each other.

There is no agreement among historians on the question of whether the concept of “Middle Ages” and the definition of “medieval” can be extended beyond Western and Central Europe (only in relation to which they were originally applied). On the one hand, the development of each part of the world has unique features, and such a Middle Ages as existed in Europe did not exist either in Asia, or in Africa, or in America. On the other hand, there were important common features in their development. Therefore, many scientists believe that the East also had its own Middle Ages, which coincided in time with the Western Middle Ages.

Rogier van der Weyden. Triptych of the Marriage family. Fragment. Scenery. Around 1452

The era of the Middle Ages turned out to be much shorter than the era of the Ancient World already known to you. But still, a millennium is a long period during which important changes took place in people's lives. To better understand them, historians distinguish three periods in the Middle Ages. First, on the ruins of antiquity, a new structure of society gradually takes shape. This is the early Middle Ages, which lasted from the end of the 5th to the end of the 11th century. Then comes the heyday of the Middle Ages. The mature Middle Ages lasted for more than two centuries, until approximately the beginning of the 14th century. Finally, the XIV-XV centuries are the late Middle Ages, its “autumn”, the threshold of the era that replaced it - the New Time.

The beginning of the Middle Ages, or in other words - the Early Middle Ages, dates back to the decline of the Roman Empire, that is, to the 3rd-5th centuries AD, and the end, that is, the Late Middle Ages, to the time of the Renaissance (XIV-XVI centuries). Many kings dreamed of reviving the Great Roman Empire, but this never truly succeeded.

However, the Renaissance, albeit not of an empire, but of the greatness of the human spirit, nevertheless took place, and this highest rise became at the same time the crown, defining the end of the Middle Ages.

TO XVI century In Europe, languages ​​were formed in which Europeans still speak, states and nations with their characteristics were formed, religious teachings became complete, and moral and philosophical values ​​were defined. Great scientific and geographical discoveries changed our ideas about the world, and the world itself became different!

And then the Middle Ages were replaced by the era of the New Time.

However, a person does not name the time in which he lives. He just lives. Even you and I, enlightened people of the twenty-first century, do not repeat every now and then: we are people of the era of great scientific discoveries, eras of space exploration, people who penetrated the secrets of the microworld. We don’t know what historians of future centuries will call our time, but they will definitely call it something.

The ancient Greeks, who lived in the era of Antiquity and created masterpieces of world culture, of course, were proud of them, but it never occurred to them to call these masterpieces antique, as is customary today. For example, the famous sculptor Phidias (5th century BC), having completed work on the statue of Zeus, could not exclaim in a fit of admiration for his own genius: “Oh, what an amazing ancient statue I created!”

Because the word “antiquity” translated from Greek means antiquity, and only after a thousand years the history of Ancient Hellas and Ancient Rome people called it the Ancient era, that is, the era of antiquity.

But the man of the Middle Ages simply lived as best he could: he fought, traded, worked, raised children. He cried when it was bad, he sang when he was having fun. And therefore, I would probably be very surprised to learn that later, many centuries later, these times would be called the era of the Dark Ages!

- Not true! - he would exclaim. - I lived in a wonderful time!.. After all, no matter how difficult life is, it is still beautiful!

Where then did the concept of “Middle Ages” come from and what does it mean?

The name “Middle Ages,” as well as the definition of “Ancient Era,” was invented by humanists during the Renaissance. The Renaissance (or Renaissance) itself arose at the junction of the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the modern era. One of the external motivations for the emergence of the Renaissance was the desire to return to classical Latin, the language in which ancient Roman poets and historians wrote, to the highest examples of ancient culture, literature and art, to everything that was lost after the collapse of the Roman Empire. Hence the name - Revival!

But between Antiquity and the Renaissance, according to humanists, there was a huge time gap of almost ten centuries! Moreover, humanists considered these centuries to be unnecessary time wasted by people on empty disputes and wars. Although, of course, there is no such thing as too much time for History. But to humanists (certainly advanced people for that time!) these centuries seemed to be an era of complete ignorance, obscurantism and spiritual desolation. That is why they christened the thousand-year period that separated their own time from their beloved antiquity, with a clear shade of disdain: “ Middle Ages!..” They say, so-so - the age, they say, is an average time, and there is nothing good in it! By the way, this contemptuous assessment is firmly etched into people’s consciousness. “Ah, the Middle Ages!” - people still sometimes talk about some phenomenon or, for example, about a first-generation computer.

But the point is not only in the centuries that separate the time of knightly fights from our time, the point is in the consciousness of a medieval person. Indeed, medieval man, like a child, willingly believed in any, sometimes utter miracles, lived in constant anticipation of God's punishment or the coming of the Antichrist and, I must say, indeed, he was not at all like us!

Imagine what would have happened if a motorcyclist rode through medieval London on a thundering “iron horse” belching clouds of “devilish” smoke! His consciousness would hardly have withstood such a test!.. Agree, today we are much more ready for the appearance of aliens on Earth than a medieval city dweller was for a meeting with an ordinary motorcyclist. We are even glad to meet the unknown! But in order for us to become so enlightened and unperturbed, humanity had to go through the “childish” fears and superstitions of the Middle Ages...

So what was the Middle Ages?

The Middle Ages is the history of Europe, which lasted more than a thousand years. The story is cruel, merciless - and at the same time permeated with a passionate search for the Ideal. The Middle Ages were the struggle of Christianity against paganism and at the same time the split of the Christian Church itself. The Middle Ages are plague, wars, Crusades and the fires of the Inquisition.

The Middle Ages were a time of knights and generous robbers, blasphemous monks and holy martyrs. The Middle Ages were gallows in the central squares of cities and cheerful students. The Middle Ages is a mystical carnival in which the Face of Death dances to the jester’s tune in an embrace with the invincible Human Spirit...

In a word, the Middle Ages are a huge world!

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