Lecturing with Chapter 9

Only one lecture this week (we are still in recovery from the disruption of Obama’s visit to campus), and I devoted it to the rise of persecutions from the 11^th century on. Here’s what I did:

WHAT HAPPENED?

Between 1000 and 1300, certain groups of people began to be

singled out as dangerous and perverse. These were: heretics, Jews,

prostitutes, lepers, and male homosexuals. Before 1000, these groups were

readily accommodated within medieval communities, but after 1050, they began

to experience persecution. First, they were marked out as different,

especially by requirements that they wear special dress, badges, or hats.

Second, they were either segregated from the main community (Jews into

ghettoes; lepers into special leper-houses; prostitutes into brothels or

special neighborhoods) or expelled by either exile (an experience especially

of Jews and lepers) or death (the fate of some heretics and male

homosexuals).

TWO EXAMPLES OF PERSECUTED GROUPS:

1. Heretics. I discussed: what a heretic was; the Waldensians and Cathars as examples; the Church’s response in terms of preaching, inquisition, and crusade.

2. Jews. I reviewed how Jews had long lived in Christian communities before the 11^th century; how their circumstances changed dramatically with First Crusade; how relations were further exacerbated by new Christian pieties (as rehearsed in an earlier lecture); how they were also hurt by new Christian theological ideas that deemed Jews to be abusing the Old Testament; how everyday tensions (moneylending; the special but dangerous protection of kings) did not help; and how the results were attacks and expulsions.

THE IMAGINED “OTHER”:

I talked here about how each of these groups—lepers, heretics, prostitutes, Jews, male homosexuals—was different from the others. Nevertheless, ideas about these groups overlapped in some terrifying ways. All of them were seen as (a) sexually deviant, (b) sources of pollution, and (c) evil agents of the devil. Moreover, ideas about one group seeped into other groups. I read to them the twelfth-century description of heretics (p. 234 of MESH) that illustrated this tendency: heretics were seen, in the passage, not only as guilty of religious error but also as (a) meeting in a synagogue (like Jews), (b) consorting with the devil (like heretics), and (c) engaging in a sexual orgy that included same-sex relations (like male homosexuals).

WHY DID THIS HAPPEN?

These persecutions cannot be explained by the new arrival of these groups in Europe, for Jews, lepers, male homosexuals, prostitutes, and heretics had long been part of medieval society. In other words, diversity itself did not cause these attacks. Historians are still not sure how to explain the growing intolerance of Europeans, but here are some hypotheses:

--frustrated millenarianism? There were many millenarian movements in the

Middle Ages, especially around the year 1000 but also afterwards. It has

been suggested that the purification, anxiety, and frustration of these

movements led to a rise in intolerance.

--centralization of state & church? The High Middle Ages saw not only the

centralization of the power of feudal monarchs but also the growth of the

papal monarchy. For both kings and popes, minorities were (a) a threat to

their power and (b) an occasion (through control or elimination of

minorities) for the extension of their power.

--creating community? As communities grew larger and more complex in the

Central Middle Ages, perhaps cohesion could only be maintained through the

creation of "common enemies" against whom unity seemed necessary.

That’s it. A fun and important lecture. They discuss the Prioress' Tale tomorrow.

Quiz Questions for Chapter 9

John and Giovanni; William and Guglielmo; Thomas and Tommaso. These are examples of

(a) the greater value placed on boys, compared to girls.

(b) the Europeanization of Europe.

(c) the influence of the Hohenstaufen dynasty.

The term “Reconquest” is usually used with reference to

(a) Christian advance against Muslim lands in Iberia.

(b) Christian crusades to their “Holy Land.”

(c) the sack of Constantinople in 1204.

In the eleventh century, Sicily and the southern Italian peninsula fell under the control of

(a) Saracens.

(b) Romans.

(c) Normans.

German expansion was mostly to the

(a) north.

(b) east.

(c) west.

The First Crusade was preached by Pope Urban II in 1095. It

(a) ended in a swamp near Constantinople.

(b) captured Jerusalem.

(c) was led by Richard the Lion-Hearted.

The “military orders” were designed to accommodate

(a) monkly knights.

(b) ordinary people who wanted to participate in the crusades.

(c) papal legates.

In the history of Jewish-Christian relations in the Middles Ages, the twelfth century marks the beginning of

(a) forcing Jews to lend money to Christian businesses.

(b) admitting Jewish men to Christian universities.

(c) violent persecutions of Jews by Christians.

Lecturing with Chapter 8

On Tuesday, I lectured on a topic directly related to chapter 8: “New Christian Pieties and Anti-Jewish Fantasies.” Here’s what I did.

1. Veneration of the BVM. I reviewed the slow development of her veneration—Mary as a counterweight to Eve, as a symbol of the incarnation, as an intercessor. I talked about discussions of her virginity, her immaculate conception, her assumption. And I described how her veneration took off after 1100, partly from grassroots enthusiasms, partly from courtly love borrowings, and partly thanks to St Bernard. I also briefly discussed Black Madonnas. (And, with all due deference to the DaVinci Code, I threw in a bit of info about Mary Magdalene.)

2. Eucharistic Devotion and Corpus Christi. All the basics: transubstantiation; the visions of Juliana of Liège; Urban IV’s institution of the feast in 1264.

3. Redemptive Suffering. I talked about the Gero Cross as symptomatic of a new emphasis on the crucifixion; I talked about contemplation of the wounds of Christ; I emphasized that all this was about redemptive suffering, not sadism; I discussed stigmata and St Francis; and I talked a bit (using St Catherine of Siena as my example) about how individual holy people also sought, through their own suffering, to redeem the sins of others.

4. Anti-Jewish Fantasies. I then talked about how a by-product of these new pieties was the development of new fantasies about Jews:

BVM . . . and her role in the much repeated “Jewish boy” story.

CORPUS CHRISTI . . . and charges of host desecration.

REDEMPTIVE SUFFERING . . . and blood libel tales that Jews ritually crucified Christian boys.

It worked pretty well—and much better than last Thursday’s dull, dull lecture. Then on Thursday, I laid the groundwork for our discussions of the letters of Abelard & Heloise.

First, I discussed the intellectual contributions of A. and H., as well as their life histories. I used a map in the hope it would help them “see” the story.

Second, I discussed how institutions of learning changed and developed over the Middle Ages—from the foundations of Boethius and Cassiodorus; to the proliferation of monastic schools under Charlemagne; to cathedral and municipal schools c. 1050+; to universities c. 1200+. I did my best to help them locate Abelard & Heloise in the proper chronological place.

Third, I discussed intellectual developments, basically, the influx of new texts c. 1150-1250 and the development of scholasticism from Abelard to Aquinas. I gave the class an example of an article, using “Whether there can be sin in sexual desire?” (Second Part, Question 74, Article 3) Not sure if they were swayed or not!

Obama comes to USC tomorrow. Much chaos and secrecy . . . and we are still supposed to hold our classes. Not me. I’m not asking my students to forego the chance to see their president and I'm not missing the chance either!

Quiz Questions for Chapter 8

Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) is associated with

(a) the Cluniac reform.

(b) the mendicant reform.

(c) the Cistercian reform.

The most troubling heretics of the Central Middle Ages were the

(a) Cathars.

(b) Gugliemites.

(c) Poor Men of London.

Which match is NOT correct?

(a) Poor Clares: nursing.

(b) Franciscans: poverty.

(c) Dominicans: preaching.

Moses Maimonides sought to reconcile Judaism and

(a) Christianity.

(b) the writings of Aristotle.

(c) Islam.

The carved oak figure known today as the Gero Cross is an example of a shift toward a greater emphasis on

(a) Christ’s redemptive suffering.

(b) the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

(c) God’s harsh judgment.

Lecturing with Chapter 7

On Tuesday, I lectured about a subject from chapter 6: medieval towns. Here’s how I did the deed:

1. “Those Who Trade and Sell.” I began by talking about how townspeople fit poorly into the Three Orders—were, indeed, excluded from it. That allowed me to present my thesis for the day, namely that towns were both peculiar in medieval culture and essential to it.

2. Early Medieval Collapse (except for al-Andalus & Italy). The usual.

3. Revival c. 1000+. I focused here mostly on why (fewer invasion, agricultural revolution, population growth, etc) and how (old Roman sites, burgs, around monasteries, etc.)

4. The “Communal” movement, c. 1100+. The usual, but I added in some topographical and social material—town walls, tolls, etc.

5. Towns as Typically Medieval. I talked here about (a) how essential towns were in economic, administrative, and cultural terms, and (b) how townspeople also lived with what has become the big three of the course this semester: hierarchy, mutuality, and exclusion. I used guilds as my main example.

6. Towns as Atypical. In addition to not being conceptualized as part of the Three Orders, townspeople were suspect because of their economic practices (usury, just price). They were also different because towns were (a) more mobile societies, (b) societies that had more women than men, and (c) places where the main religious minority in the Middle Ages—Jews—mostly resided.

That’s it. It all wrapped up nicely into the conclusion that towns were both a sort of ”other” in the medieval world and essential to it.

Thursday was a low, low point. Very poor turn-out which always, I think, depresses those who are in attendance—it seems as if they always think, “Ah, the ship is sinking. The rats are leaving. Why I am still here?” But it is midterm time, so I prefer to assume the ship is not sinking and the non-rats will reappear. In any case, my lecture was utterly unremarkable—I walked the class through the history of the papacy from Peter to Alexander VI. Obviously, some broad strokes. I tried to jazz it up, but they seemed utterly bored. I’ll need to try something much more fun next week. Here’s my outline:

Foundations: Peter, Leo I, Gregory I

Papal-Carolingian Alliance 750-850

Tough Times 850-1050

Gregorian Reform 1050-1100

The Papacy Ascendant 1100-1215

--power through canon law

--power through bureaucracy

--power through territory

--power through councils

Powerful but less Pastoral, 1250-1305

Worse Still to Come (scandalously brief preview of Avignon, Schism, Conciliar Movement, Renaissance Popes)

I've thought this was a useful survey in the past, especially as I inflect it with an interpretation explicitly midway between nineteenth-century Protestant invective and Catholic defense. But today was not its day. Ah, well . . . such are the trials of mid-semester.

Quiz Questions for Chapter 7

At the castle of Canossa in 1077, what critical event occurred?

(a) Emperor Henry IV humbled himself before Pope Gregory VII.

(b) King John of England captured Pope Boniface VIII.

(c) celibacy was declared as required for all clergy.

Of all early universities, the greatest was in

(a) Rome.

(b) Paris.

(c) Aachen.

The Papacy reached its greatest power under

(a) Urban II, c. 1100.

(b) Hadrian IV, c. 1150.

(c) Innocent III, c. 1200.

The Investiture Controversy involved

(a) lay authority over clergy.

(b) papal control of central Italy.

(c) kings becoming vassals of the pope.

The papalist position argued that the pope was the head of Christendom, the imperialist position argued that the Holy Roman Emperor should rule in matters religious as well as temporal, and the clericalist position argued that

(a) a representative assembly of clergy should govern Europe.

(b) Church and state should coexist.

(c) neither popes not emperors had legitimate authority to govern.

The shift “from memory to written record”

(a) facilitated the growth of papal power over lordly power.

(b) discouraged the growth of municipal schools.

(c) speaks to an increase in the use of government and personal documentation.

In consolidating the Papal States, popes faced

(a) rebellions in Rome.

(b) difficulties with the Holy Roman Empire.

(c) neither.

(d) both.

Lombardy is located

(a) north of Rome.

(b) south of Rome.

(c) east of Rome.

(d) west of Rome.