The Twelfth-Century Renaissance - Essay Example

? THE TWELFTH-CENTURY RENAISSANCE The Twelfth-Century Renaissance The Twelfth-Century Renaissance Twelfth century was the time that Europe experienced considerable changes especially politically and socially. Achievements of this period are listed as; surfacing of vernacular literature, revival of science and philosophy, coming up of universities, emergence of cities and architectural revival.1 The population of Western Europe, at this time, illustrated a monumental effort and persistence in every realm by willing to try new forms of organization from the new ideas they generated.2 This paper explores, though in brief, the achievements realized during this renaissance period. According to Sreedharan, Henry Plantagenet is claimed to promote Arthurian romance, which formed the fundamentals of the English imperialism.3 It involved having access to written material of the roman policy such as the Tacitus histories. Celtic romance stories had a significant influence too which depicted the revival of classical learning. A group that had learned and studied the classical literature with time transformed the society from the twelfth century way of life where survival seemed to involve less thoughtful and bloody fights.4 Latin classics were never wholly lost and were masked during the Iron Age and their emergence in the twelfth century brought in the renaissance. Innovation and inspiration in this time is the revival that was enhanced by chivalric literature, which was also inspired by Arthurian legends. These developments in conventions of vernacular poetry resulted to key textual sources that notable poets of the time were influential then and still to the historians of the modern world.5 During this time, philosophy and science were not separable with certainty and so science and knowledge happened to fall under philosophy as a branch. Similar methods were used between them as philosophical issues, and arguments were reached and proved by means of scientific reasoning.6 This led to the encouragement of the educated class not just to memorize and pass the knowledge to others but also to keep widening the range of knowledge.7 The presence of incomplete philosophies allowed for disagreement and contradictions that the integration of these pieces with twelfth century level of understanding tolerated the expansion of original philosophies.8 During this time, Gothic architecture whose thought intention was shortening the distance between heaven and earth, and university were born in Paris.9 These resulted from the need to manage the knowledge in a systematic manner. There were also crusades that promoted trade and new ideas, therefore, making towns attract those seeking opportunities from the learned society.10 Beginning from early eleventh century, “the towns in Europe, so long stagnant or semi-deserted, began a strong revival.”11 The urban complexities demanded the revival of literacy and every form of learning that was possible and so there was the emergence of Cathedral schools and universities to accommodate the learning masses.12 During this time, Rome’s influence was not restricted to only literature and language but also their law survived beyond the Roman population. Their law was revitalized and expanded to the population of Northern Europe and later through colonization to other parts of the world. The law stimulated neglected texts as well as jurisprudence. In the early twelfth century, Roman law revival is linked with Bologna to whom it resulted to Bologna’s law school foundation and legal science renewal. Rome, Ravenna and Pavia were legal study centers before Bologna.13 The need to support Christianity during the twelfth century resulted from the Ottoman’s Empire threats as well as the desire to create self awareness and reforms. “In the tenth century, Otto, the Great, secured stability again, and in the eleventh, the leaven of new thinking and distinct emergence of historical consciousness could be detected.”14 Hamilton Louis and Riccioni Stefano argued that, “the identity of Rome was tightly connected to antiquity, and ‘reforming’… the renewal of the image of the city according to the ideals and goals of the eleventh and twelfth-century church reform. As Latin Christianity re-exerts its influence in the Iberian Peninsular region, a natural osmosis of thought and literature begins to flow from Arabic into Latin.”15 This also meant that the church was not only authoritative but was also involved in the cultural growth in many other areas such as intellectual liberty.16 The twelfth century could not have had these achievements without the creativity of writers, artists and teachers who gave this revival an interest and a durable value.17 Advances in science launched the revival of philosophy and its advancement. The philosophers followed the scientific model, and so this idea of the twelfth century renaissance should be related to origins and social backgrounds. Bibliography Adler, Philip J. and Pouwels, Randall L. World Civilizations: To 1700. Cengage Learning, 2011. Cloud Randall R. Aristotle's Journey to Europe: A Synthetic History of the Role Played by the Islamic Empire in the Transmission of Western Educational Philosophy Sources from the fall of Rome Through the Medieval Period. ProQuest, 2007. Hamilton, Louis and Riccioni Stefano. Rome Re-Imagined: Twelfth-Century Jews, Christians and Muslims Encounter the Eternal City BRILL, 2012. Morillo, Stephen and Korngiebel, Diane. The Renaissance of the Twelfth Century Before Haskins: The Haskins Society Journal. Boydell Press, 2005. North W. L., Trans. The Deeds of the Sacrists of the Monastery of Bury St Edmunds 120-122 MS Harley 1005 . North W. L. Trans The Letter of Bruno of Querfurt to King Henry II: On His Alliance with the Pagans 97-106. Panstowowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe 1973. < http://www.a pps.carlet on.edu/curricular/mars/assets/Bruno_of_Querfurt_Letter_to_Henry_II_for_MARS_ website.pdf> North William L. Trans. The Shorter Annals of Venice Sreedharan, E. A Textbook of Historiography: 500 BC to AD 2000. Orient Blackswan, 2004. Read More