Humanities & Classics 1002
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Renaissance Forum
Humanities & Classics 1002 |
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In Reply to: The 'Holy' Medieval vs. the 'Human' Renaissance posted by Amy Kitchell on December 15, 1998 at 17:08:58:
The Medieval era and the Renaissance era stand in sharp contrast to eachother. The complete turn around in view between these two time periods in history is remarkable, if only because of their close vacinity in the timeline of years. When someone mentions the Medieval, the idea that jumps into the mind of the average person on the street is that of the Holy- be it monasteries, crusades, or a life of piety. The Renaissance, on the other hand, brings to mind a time of glorious thought, art, science, and philosophies that intrigue us still today. Both of the authors we are to discuss in this post, Thomas a Kempis and Pico della Mirandola, astutely encompass the ideas and the inherent values of their respective time periods. Along with their writings, I, being an Art History major, will also focus on the visual arts of the times because they are my particular point of interest.
Thomas a Kempis, in his "Imitation of Christ", states plainly the general mindset of the Medieval man: "Learn to despise outward things and to turn thee to inward things and thou shalt see the kingdom come into thee; for the kingdom of God is peace and joy in the Holy Ghost the which is not given to wicked men."
The Medieval value system based itself on a complete and total devotion to God. The material world was condemned, for you were to spend your life working toward the glory of your life in heaven. This could be achieved by a life of piety, often a stark deprivation to your physical being. In "The Name of the Rose", we saw the monks spending countless hours laboring over the illumination (illustration) of holy manuscripts. In fact, many orders felt that they were supposed to inflict pain upon themselves to honor devotion to God. Therefore, these men would spend countless hours on the illuminations, and if one mistake was made, the entire page was destroyed and the laborous process was begun again. We also see this chastizing of ones self in the monk who is whipping his own back in "The Name of the Rose". In Thomas a Kempis' writings, he tells us in explicit terms that, "ofttimes it availeth to the keeping of greater meekness that other men should know our faults and reprove them." This gives us the idea that, not only were you to chastize yourself, you were to chastize others in order to keep them spiritually pure and focused on their life of servitude to God over everything else.
The ideas of the Renaissance are summed up in one line from Pico della Mirandola's "Oration on the Dignity of Man": "There is nothing to be seen more wonderful than Man." The citizen of the Renaissance believed just that- man was the ultimate being. In the movie that we viewed in class on the history of Florence, the idea that man was saving God by his glorification was revolutionary when, just a short time before in the Medieval era, man was indeed thought to be constantly subserviant to God. Man, as a physical entity, a thinker, a philosopher, an artist, an intellectual was studied and revered. Imagine the power of the minds present in those years of "rebirth". A plethera of knowledge that flowed from every corner of society- aristocrats and working class alike. One of the greatest artist of all time, Michelangelo, was in fact a lowly stone mason who grew to greatness with one free cut of a chisel. That could never have happened in the years before and may never as easily happen in the years to come. The Renaissance was the future that the Medieval monks in "The Name of the Rose" were looking for, though they may not have known it. Their religious devotion would have been greatly challenged, though not dismissed, for the Renaissance did not do away with God, simply gave reign to the idea of free thought and free will. It was a time of mammoth change that would affect the future with a heavy stamp of remembered greatness that could only be aimed for by the generations to come.
Both the Medieval and the Renaissance were times that can conjure fascinating discussions today. They are individually intriguing in their contrasting ideas and extremes of thought. They shaped the past so that we, as contemporaries, can live out our lives in the present.