1. Art, Lit, & Culture of the Middle Ages
Lesson 1.4
Art, Lit, & Culture of the Middle Ages

2. Architecture
Flying Buttress –architectural element that supports a wall’s weight from the outside, getting rid of the need for interior columns
Cathedrals –church for the bishop of a city
Gothic –style that emphasizes height & decoration

3. Teaching religion through art
Stained Glass Windows
Illuminated Manuscripts
Decoration of religious (text)
Taught the illiterate
Hand written
used in Churches to tell stories from the Bible or the lives of the saints
Taught the illiterate
Beautified the space

4. Tapestry Large woven or embroidered wall hangings
Showed scenes from battles, daily life & religion

5. Literature Secular Poetry Often sung or recited
Epics (stories w/ a hero based on history)
Song of Roland
Romances
tales of chivalry (knight’s code of honor)
True love
Performed by troubadors

6. Secular Literature with religious themes
In the vernacular: the language of the people (not Latin)
Canterbury Tales by
Geoffrey Chaucer
The Divine Comedy
Dante Alighieri
The Canterbury Tales: The Wife of Bath

7. Learning in the Middle Ages
Growth of universities increased the flow of Greek & Roman knowledge in Europe
Scholasticism –reason (logic)& faith (revelation by God) needed to understand truth
Movement started by Thomas Aquinas
Summa Theologica (book)
"Of all human pursuits, the pursuit of wisdom is the more perfect, the more sublime, the more useful, and the more agreeable."