Thomas_More
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Thank you. It was always in the interest of the British education system to present the Reformation, which would create the nation-state, as a great “liberation.” The continual adulation of Elizabeth I in movies etc., the use of her image as a national treasure, and the old narrative, still repeated, that the Reformation and the Renaissance dragged us out of the medieval mire.
The recent glorification of Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII’s thug henchman, is part of this too.After all, this was the origin of the ruling class that still owns the land today, and it was the origin of “the nation” we are supposed to be “proud” of.
It is much easier to repeat the old narrative of a “Middle Age” of dormancy between ancient and modern “civilisation”, but so much now proves that to be nonsense.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Jones%27_Medieval_Lives
“The main reason I wanted to make Medieval Lives was to get my own back on the Renaissance. It’s not that the Renaissance has ever done me any harm personally, you understand. It’s just that I’m sick of the way people’s eyes light up when they start talking about the Renaissance. I’m sick of the way art critics tend to say: ‘Aaaah! The Renaissance!’ with that deeply self-satisfied air of someone who is at last getting down to the ‘Real Thing’. And I’m sick to death of that ridiculous assumption that before the Renaissance human beings had no sense of individuality.”
Google:
” Contrary to popular myth, the Middle Ages were not entirely filthy, but hygiene was inconsistent and varied by class. While cities were notoriously unsanitary and lacked waste management, medieval people actually valued cleanliness and bathed regularly when water and fuel were available, often using soap.
Bathing and Hygiene: People often washed their hands and faces daily. While some later medieval views suggested excessive bathing opened pores to disease, regular washing was common in the earlier period. Soap was used, and for many, bathing was a regular activity.”
HistoryExtraHistoryExtra +2
Incidentally, in western Europe, a “Greek” meant an unkempt and filthy person.
Table manners were also very important, since eating was a social activity. Throwing bones over one’s shoulder is pure Hollywood.
Europeans would really stink and rot later, in the 16th and 17th centuries. Teeth, for instance. Medieval teeth were much healthier in the medieval period than later, after sugar came in heavily in the Elizabethan age.
As long as the harvest didn’t fail, medieval people of all classes ate well, and much better than after the enclosures, when the former peasants had nothing but famine and deprivation ahead.
From being the arboreal-abundant, garden-abundant and brightly painted towns of the 12th century as described by visitors to Henry II’s London, the towns and cities of the post-Reformation centuries would transform more and more into cesspits of disease, reaching the ultimate in poverty and filth during Britain’s industrial revolution.
By comparison with Arab civilisation, yes, this is true. But the Crusades themselves would bring Arab knowledge back to Europe, and Greek texts in Arabic, translated into Latin.
The Templars provided areas of worship for Muslims, and fellow “Franks” would be punished if they mocked Muslims when not in battle with them. Richard and Saladin were friends, and Saracen nobility recognised as equals in knighthood. The Crusades would bring changes to Europe, including our present numerical system, which replaced the Roman.
With large numbers of people following the armies overland to the Middle East, it is hardly surprising that the westerners arrived in an insalubrious state.
The literature of the time, and particularly the gestes of Wolfram Von Eschenbach, testify to the respect for Saracen nobility. Eschenbach’s Gahmuret, the father of Parzival, fights for a Muslim queen against the Christian crusader king of Scotland in north Africa, while his other hero, Willehalm, has a Muslim lover whom he adores.
In the long poem Flamenca, the Occitan writer points to an unkempt, bearded brute of a husband as being like a Greek of the kind encountered during the Crusades, so propaganda goes both ways.
Both Templars and Hospitallers were formed to provide succour for the hordes of western pilgrims and followers of the armies to the Middle East, and these monastic orders established hospitals along the pilgrim routes and back home.
It was the sacking of the monasteries by Henry VIII and the Reformation which destroyed so much medieval knowledge, including medicine.
It is surmised that all we have left of English medieval literature can be fitted into one cardboard box, thanks to the Reformation!
Google: ” The 12th-century Renaissance was a period of intense intellectual, social, and artistic revival in Western Europe, acting as a precursor to the Italian Renaissance. It featured the rise of early universities, the translation of Greek and Arabic texts, the growth of Gothic architecture, and a revival of Latin classics, significantly shifting European culture toward scholasticism and humanism.
Amazon UK
Amazon UK
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Key Characteristics and Developments:
Birth of Universities: Cathedral schools grew into universities, such as in Paris, Oxford, and Bologna, creating new centers of learning.
Intellectual Revival & Translation: A surge in translating Greek and Arabic scientific and philosophical works into Latin occurred, particularly in Spain and Italy, reintroducing thinkers like Aristotle and advancements in medicine.
Literary & Artistic Shifts: The era saw the rise of vernacular literature and the shift from Romanesque to Gothic architecture. Courtly love literature and stories like Arthurian romances became popular.
Scientific Advancement: Increased interest in natural philosophy, mathematics (Euclid), and cosmology, along with the adoption of tools like the compass in trade.
Legal Revival: A rediscovery of Roman law took place, notably the compilation of Justinian’s legal corpus, shaping European legal systems.
Amazon UK
Amazon UK
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Key Figures and Centers:
Adelard of Bath: A prominent translator of Arabic science.
School of Chartres: A major center for philosophical studies, often focused on humanistic interpretations of cosmology. “I completely disagree with the term “Dark Ages” and refer you to the book and TV series “Dark Ages, Age of Light.”
It was an age (before 1066) when, in western Europe, the Romance languages were evolving: French, Castilian, Portuguese, Italian, Romanian, Occitan. Latin was also being played with, literally: not only changing colloquially and evolving into the new vernaculars, but also being misused for amusement by both literati and commoners. It was an era – which continued into the High Middle Age (1066-1250) – of linguistic play as well as evolution.
In Spain the Visigoths created unique architectural forms; later, in Sicily, Normans, Muslims and Greeks co-operated in building cathedrals of splendour: the Muslims contributing with Islamic design, the Catholics with paving and the Greeks with murals.
The Vandals were builders and erectors, not destroyers, and we have them to thank for the abolition of the vicious Roman gladiatorial shows, which disgusted them. The Goths were peaceful migrants, and the sacking of Rome never happened (it is a lie fabricated by St. Jerome). Why do we believe the opposite to all of this? Because of Roman lies about “barbarians” – when the Romans were the real barbarians!
The book and TV series by Terry Jones, “Barbarians” explains all this and researches the cultures of the interesting peoples that Roman propaganda dismissed as “barbarian.”Arabic, Persian, African and other Asian knowledge was absorbed both by the Crusades and from Moorish Spain through Provence and into Italy from the West during the 12th century renaissance.
Far from being “dark”, these centuries, in spite of obvious horrors and wars, were a golden age, with movement across the continents. Franciscans reached Vietnam and Borneo in the 1300s. Khanbalik (Beijing) had a Catholic archbishop by the early 1200s. Marco Polo was only one of numerous west European travellers and traders of the 13th century, before the Ming closed the Silk Road in 1368 and expelled foreigners. Chinese travellers reached Rome. One met both the Pope and the Kings of England and France. In Aquitaine and Provence the troubadours took Occitan culture and language to Henry II’s court in England. The Occitan fiefdoms turned the south of France in the 1100s into the cultural garden and melting pot of Christendom, providing a haven for Cathars and Jews and Muslims which stretched into Catalonia and the court of Alfonso the Wise, where all religions and cultures were welcome.
“Dark” Age can only refer to our long ignorance of these centuries, not their nature.
Type “Ukraine war” on Google and one gets UK propaganda. Type it on Russian outlets and one gets Russian propaganda. Type it on Indian outlets and one gets hysterical fear-inducing sensationalism.
Isn’t it time the SPGB gave a correct update, explaining:
1) Why Europe is frantically backing Ukraine and inviting a wider war.
2) Why it is taking Russia so long to defeat Kiev.
3) What is the capitalist logic here on the NATO side?
Europe inviting war more and more.
In China capitalism was also developing during the Sung dynasty – before halted by the Mongol conquest.
Before protestantism.
(Google): ” Medieval capitalism emerged between the 12th and 14th centuries as a shift from feudal self-sufficiency to market-based trade, centered in rapidly growing cities. It was characterized by early merchant capitalism, capital accumulation, and banking. This period saw the rise of a “merchant class” specializing in trade, property speculation, and the beginnings of wage labor.
Alliance Manchester Business School
Alliance Manchester Business School
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Key components of the development of medieval capitalism include:
Urban Growth and Trade: Markets expanded beyond subsistence, with cities developing as hubs for manufacturing, banking, and trade, particularly in cloth, metals, and agricultural goods.
The Guild System: Artisans in towns formed guilds to regulate production, set prices, and control quality, which for a time regulated the market before capitalist expansion began to break them down.
Financial Innovation: From the 13th to 16th centuries, the rise of a monetary economy brought the establishment of banks and the widespread use of credit.
Property Rights: A formal, legal system for buying and selling property developed, which was crucial for capitalist expansion, especially in towns where “burgess” landowners operated, as mentioned in.
The Rise of Commercialism: The 13th century in particular saw high levels of commercialism, particularly in England, which included property speculation.
The Decline of Feudalism: The 14th-century crisis (famine, Black Death) disrupted the traditional manorial, or feudal, system. This facilitated a shift towards a more market-driven economy, as described in.
Merchant Capitalism: Early forms of merchant capitalism were apparent as early as the 9th century in the Islamic world and by the 12th century in Europe, leading to the development of early wage labor.
“Compassionate” Capitalism: In some places, such as 13th-century Cambridge, wealth generated by early commerce was often reinvested into the local community (e.g., in church and charity projects).
Impact of the Black Death: The crisis of the 14th century, which included the Black Death, undermined the feudal system, which then opened up opportunities for capitalist development.
Wikipedia
Wikipedia
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In essence, medieval capitalism was an early form of commercialism, which was eventually superseded by a more market-oriented system following the crises of the 14th century. ”
Wikipedia
Wikipedia
+3There is a stubbornness among Marxists which leads them to ignore advances in historical knowledge that don’t accord with their strict 19th and early 20th century bourgeois progressivism.
The “obscurity of the Middle Ages” reveals this prejudice, and the prejudice ignores argument and evidence when it is presented.
This is their own wilful obscurantism. Let nothing interfere with one’s outdated narratives.
(Good job William Morris wasn’t one of those type of Marxists!)I take it you never learned of the 12th century renaissance? Nor of the many women literati who thrived then, before the 15th century “Renaissance” crushed such expressionism and invented witch-burning.
I recommend the writings of the late Terry Jones and other modern medievalist historians, as well as primary sources and the lights of Persia and Arabia too. The Silk Road of the 12th and 13th centuries took many travellers too in both directions between the Far East and Europe and into Africa; European travellers with humility and respect, not the colonial, conquering, bigoted braggarts of later “more enlightened” centuries.
Obscurity indeed!
The Puritans were also a tiny minority of the English population during and after the Civil War.
Most English folk continued to follow the rites of the banned Anglican Church in their homes. Catholics used theirs.Had any of the great French Enlightenment Encyclopédistes lived beyond 1791, they would have been guillotined, or torn to shreds by Danton’s thugs.
