What Does the Poem Beowulf Tell Us about the Principles of Warrior Culture in Early Medieval Europe - Article Example

What does the poem Beowulf tell us about the principles of “warrior culture” in early medieval Europe? Beowulf is a heroic poem in medieval Europe. The main protagonist is Beowulf who is a hero of the Geats. Beowulf goes to the aid of the king of Danes. This is because the Danes great hall is invaded by a monster called Grendel. Beowulf kills Grendel alongside his mother. Later on Beowulf now as king is faced by a dragon and in the ensuing fight he kills the dragon but he is fatally injured and dies later on. This poem is very relative to the study of the “warrior culture” in medieval Europe. The Danes are a Germanic tribe. Germanic tribe was the name given by the Romans to people referred to as the barbarians. They were found north and east of the Roman Empire. Due to many conflicts experienced in Europe the Roman Empire used these barbarians to enrich their armies. This was because the Germanic tribes were slightly nomadic and lived a warrior culture. This is what helped the Roman Empire to defeat its adversaries. By this time warrior power was a very valued virtue and this is why the Romans retained the barbarians in their society. In addition to this the Roman Catholic Church converted them into the church so that they would be assured of their military protection especially in their conflicts with the sate. With the development of feudalism in Western Europe, a warrior aristocracy was imperative. This led to the existence of a class structure. There were the peasants and the warrior aristocracy. The aristocracy needed the peasants for labor and production of food while the peasants needed the warrior aristocracy for protection and security. Analyze and discuss the status and social roles of Jews in medieval societies. In many medieval societies in Europe Christianity was the main religion. At this time the Catholic Church did not allow Christians to charge other Christians interest. Thus one of the main ways of acquiring loans and or interest was to trade with the Jews. This made the economic status of the Jews quite stable. However the transactions were not usually conducive or profitable to the Jews. In terms of their social status this varied with the communities they inter-related with. There were those Jews who mainly interrelated with Muslims. These Jews had a better social status than those in Christian Europe. Muslims were non-Christians just like the Jews. Thus it made sense to them to relate more with the Jews to face a common enemy the Christians. On the other hand the Jews in Christian Europe faced many challenges. Among these problems were persecution and forced conversion in to Christianity. This caused Jews to keep on migrating to areas or regions that had more accommodating Christian leaders from time to time. As a result of this treatment Jews sought to uplift their social status by acting as middle men in trade as well as inventing new ideas. This led to the improvement of their status. The Jews could teach other communities Hebrew while taking that opportunity to learn their languages. Among the kings that welcomed Jews in their countries were the kings of Poland. On a nutshell the status of Jews in medieval times was not a very good experience. Additionally Jews have not faced problems in medieval times but they have constantly been at threat for centuries including the 21st century. What was at stake for the participants in the Investiture Conflict of the eleventh century? The investiture conflict was mainly a conflict of power and resources. By this time the Roman Empire had collapsed. The Holy Roman Empire was still in need of money. The holy Catholic Church was the biggest land owner and still had the power of taxation through tithes. The emperor on behalf of the empire was in dire need of these resources. This is the reason why the empire was not willing to let go of the church appointments or investitures. The investiture conflict between the 11th and the 12th centuries ended up being the most significant conflict between the secular rulers and the church in Europe1. At this time much of Europe was governed by monarchies and the Catholic Church through the popes challenged the process of investitures or appointments. These were the appointments of church officials like bishops and abbots. Before the conflict the appointment bishops and or abbots was undertaken by secular leaders. This task was supposedly a function of the Catholic Church. Thus the investiture conflict was intended to return these functions of the church to the church. Both actors in this conflict knew that there was money at stake. The Catholic Church was the largest land owner at the time. In addition to this the church had the power to tax through tithing. As thus church offices had a lot of money that the politicians wished to control. This was mainly through the sale of church offices a practice called simony. This is the reason why the issue of investitures or appointments was very controversial. The conflict began as a conflict between holy roman emperor Henry IV and Pope Gregory VII, but was also witnessed between the papacy of Paschal II and King Henry I of England. The conflict was also widespread in France as well as other western European countries. The controversy started when the members of the Gregorian reform within the church sought to address simony and restore the powers of appointment to the church. Since the king/emperor was the one who appointed the pope these reformers realized that they would not succeed in their endeavors as long as the emperor appointed the pope. An opportunity arose in 1056 when at only six years of age; Henry IV became the king of Germany. The reformers took this opportunity since the king was young and would not respond and created the College of Cardinals to elect the pope. In the same year they also declared that secular leaders would no longer take part in the election of the papacy. The start of real controversy began in 1075. At this time the king was no longer young. The pope Gregory VII, declared that the papal office was the only power or office that would appoint or demote church officials. In 1076 the pope Gregory VII, excommunicated the king from the church after the king had reacted by appointing his chaplain as the bishop of Milan, and calling the pope a false monk. Failing to get enough support for his cause, the king was forced to back down and apologize to the pope. In 1081 the king captured and killed a rival king Rudolf who had been elected as a revival ruler by some German aristocrats. In addition he invaded Rome with the intention of forcibly removing Gregory from the papal office. The pope was helped by the Normans from southern Italy and fled. He died soon after the incident. The controversy was extended to not only Germany and Italy but also France and Britain. Much fighting went on for a period of 50 years before the rights of investiture were renounced in 1122, through the Concordat of worms. The dispute however did not end. The disputes continued until northern Italy was taken over by the church and the state under Fredrick II had no more control. According to Norman cantor, the controversy or conflict shattered the early medieval equilibrium. This ended the interpretation of the ecclesia and mundus. This led to the development of new sanctions and institutions according to cantor. Because of this at the end of the eleventh and early twelve centuries a secular bureaucratic state’s essential components appeared in the Anglo-Norman monarchy."2 What were the objectives and results of Christian crusades to the Holy Land? The crusades were a series of holy wars. The most significant were eight in total. These holy wars were launched by Christian European states against the Muslims who at the time were referred to as the Saracens. They were initiated in 1095. These crusades involved big military expeditions in an attempt to recover the holy lands of the Palestine’s from the Muslims. The main cause of the war was Jerusalem. Christians viewed that place as having a holy significance to them. They viewed the land as having the tomb of Jesus and thus it was their holy site. After a 1065 massacre of Christians by the ottoman Turks Christian nations embarked on a program to recover the city. The main objective of the crusades was to recover the holy lands most importantly Jerusalem from the Saracens. Other objectives included the seizure of Spain, since it hand a high number of Muslims. They were also intended to capture the Mediterranean islands as well as Eastern Europe from the Slavs and pagans. The crusades achieved the following goals. Firstly there was the fall of Jerusalem from the ottoman Turks. In the second place they influenced greatly the power and wealth that was to be amassed by the Catholic Church. In addition they influenced the growth of civilization through many discoveries and voyages. The crusades also led to the earmarking of Jerusalem as a disputed land. Both the Saracens and the Christians claimed the land for religious reasons. These conflicts are prevalent even today. Examine the changes in medieval rulership in thirteenth-century France and England, with reference to the rise of representative institutions. From the end of the 12th century medieval Europe experienced a change in leadership, with the resurgence of powerful nation-states. This time had been preceded by a great famine and the Black Death disease that reduced the population by almost a third of the population. As a result of this there was a lot of de-urbanization, increased labor costs as well as uprisings across Europe. During this time the Catholic Church was greatly divided and at one time had three different popes at the same time. With this development the upcoming nations started developing a representative form of governance. The kingdom of France and England were among the first to emerge. These kingdoms established bureaucratic systems of governance and introduced representative parliamentary systems. In France the system was called the estates general while in England it was referred to as the parliament. These systems were to be developed further in the 14th and 15th centuries to establish complete sovereign states. The hundred year’s war between England and France also helped to strengthen the concept of nationality. Both countries parliaments were increasingly involved in the decision making process concerning the war and this hugely helped to strengthen a representative form of leadership or governance. The main reason that led to the emergence and growth of the estates was religious conflicts. The role of the crusades also helped to advance the development of the representative forms of leadership. Discuss the impact of the Black Death on fourteenth-century Europe and responses to it. The Black Death is believed to have been one of the most deadly diseases in human history. Scholars widely agree that the Black Death was an outbreak of bubonic plague that is caused by a bacterium called Yersinia Pestis. The disease is believed to kill within 3 and 7 days after infection. The disease is believed to have caused deaths between 30% and 60% of the entire European population. Since government authorities did not know the cause or cure of the disease at the time the measures they undertook led to an exaggeration of the problem. In many places food exports were banned, large scale fishing denied as well as a range of other measures. This led to more deaths due to lack of enough food. Because of the loss of lives many settlements faced a massive loss of manpower and economic activities were limited. Some scholars claim Europe was on the verge of tragedy as a result of the disease. In addition to this inflation was rising, France and England were at war, these factors also compounded the problem. The Black Death also had a significant influence on culture and literature. As a result of the plague many writers and poets started to write sorrowful compositions in memory of the victims. One such author was Piere Montech. Among his writings he wrote the following concerning the plague: 'They died by the hundreds, both day and night, and all were thrown in ... ditches and covered with earth. And as soon as those ditches were filled, more were dug. And I, Agnolo di Tura ... buried my five children with my own hands ... And so many died that all believed it was the end of the world'3. Account for the rise and widespread success of the Protestant Reformation. How did the Catholic Church respond to this challenge? The protestant reformation was a reform movement within Europe that led to the emergence of Protestantism as a form of Christianity in Europe. The movement was started by martin Luther in 1517. The reformation started as an attempt to reform the Catholic Church. Some Catholics accused the church of teaching false doctrines as well as widespread malpractice like simony. Among the first factors that led to the success of the movement was the presence of new printing technology. As a result it was easier and cheaper to produce and distribute pamphlets within the nations. Secondly there was much agreement between the first two main groups of reformers on the false doctrines, corruption and the issue of indulgencies. Another factor that contributed to the widespread success was the rise of the puritan movement. This also attracted more reformers from the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church introduced the catholic Counter Reformation to try and deal with the problem. This Counter Reformation would involve reforming the church from within while at the same time teaching people so that they can convert back to the church. In this process, since the Catholic Church was very influential Protestants were subjected to abuses and imprisonment. This later evolved in to the thirty years war that ended the problem with the signing of the treaty of Westphalia in 1648. The major canons of the treaty were: * All parties would now recognize the Peace of Augsburg of 1555, by which each prince would have the right to determine the religion of his own state, the options being Catholicism, Lutheranism, and now Calvinism (the principle of cuius regio, eius religio)4 * Christians living in principalities where their denomination was not the established church were guaranteed the right to practice their faith in public during allotted hours and in private at their will.5 Read More