Week 9: Francis and Dominic - Poverty and City Life

St Francis the healer

St Francis of Assisi

Early Life

St Francis was born in Assisi in 1181 to a successful merchant, Pietro Bernardone and his wife Pica. Despite growing up in a religious environment, he enjoyed the bourgeois lifestyle. As a result of one of the many military campaigns he participated in, he was imprisoned for a year by the Perugians. While in captivity, St Francis witnessed the suffering of the lower classes, which would be a chief turning point in his spiritual perception.

Motivations and reason

Through a number of graceful experiences, St Francis developed a strong spiritual life. Amongst others, he was particularly motivated and inspired from a gospel passaged from St Matthew:

As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give. “Do not get any gold or silver or copper to take with you in your belts— no bag for the journey or extra shirt or sandals or a staff, for the worker is worth his keep.

- Matthew 10:7-10

From there on, he denounced all material possession and promoted a life of extreme poverty to pursue a simple life of loving God and preaching His Word.

St Francis patron saint of animals

 

The Franciscans

After accumulating a number of followers, he got his rule approved by Pope Innocent III and so the Franciscans were established. The Franciscans highly valued above all else:

• -          Living in extreme poverty
• -          Manual labour and begging; to survive and learn humility
• -          Preaching the gospel
• -          Living among the laity
• -          The respect and awe of creation (the natural world)

 

The Franciscans success

The success of the Franciscans can be seen in:

• The establishment of the Order of the Poor Clares, which was the first rule written by a women (St Clare of Assisi).
• Their extensive travel around Europe and spread of ministry
• Their long lasting existence, survival and influence even in today’s society

 Additionally, here is a link to St Francis of Assisi’s famous poem, The Canticle of the Sun, for your enjoyment: canticle of the sun

Alex Wormald, Caroline Fazakas and Toby Dinh

Blog questions:

"How did St Francis and the Franciscans live out their religious lives? How committed were they to these values?"

Week 8 Virtual Tutorial: The Crusades

This week we will be having a virtual tutorial so it is important that we all renew efforts to not only comment but respond and reply to those comments. The Primary readings concern the differing accounts of Pope Urban's speech at the Council of Clermont.

Pope Urban II arriving and preaching at the Clermont Council from http://www.traditioninaction.org/History/A_012_FirstCrusade_Urban.htm

While you're reading these it is useful to hold the questions found on p.185 of the unit reader in mind. They are "Discuss the accounts of Urban's speech. In what ways do they differ?" and "What reasons can you give for these reasons?"

The remaining questions address the work of Christopher Tyerman in his contribution to The Medieval World, "What the Crusades meant to Europe".Tyerman has a number of books on the Crusades and has shown particular interest in relating the 11th century events of the Crusade to 20th century politics. While you should keep all the questions posed on p.185 of the reader in mind while you are doing the secondary reading, the question which I think summarises the reading and which I think it would be of benefit to address here is the last one "Tyerman says that the effect of the crusades on Europe and Europeans tended to be of 3 sorts, what were they?"

Two of Tyerman's books on the crusades are:

 

Important Announcement

Unfortunately the audio of the week 7 lectures have not been recorded. The slides are available, however, on both MULO and Blackboard. I am very sorry for the inconvenience, but sometimes technology does fail. I know that some of you have clashes and need to rely on the recordings. I would urge, however, those of you who can attend the lectures to do so, because that is the only absolutely guaranteed way that you have of hearing the material
Cheers, Clare

Week 7: Relics and Devotional Life - Medieval Men and Women

The Realities of Marriage 


Marriage of the Medieval Age served a very different purpose to what it does today. Often an alliance of sorts, marriage between two families would often act as a peacemaker. The bride to-be thus became a puppet, played by both families to achieve their own ends. Further, honour was expected to be upheld by the bride at all times, regardless of who was chosen to be her husband and her feelings in the matter, and whether his social status surpassed hers, or not.

The wife was expected to inhabit the house constantly, as per the male ideal. However in reality, women were often found working the land, working in domestic services, working the husband’s shops etc. Childbearing and producing heirs was crucial to the sanctity of marriage, and thus had an extremely high emphasis in marriage: many women under 40 spent almost half their lives pregnant!

Widows - victims of the practice of marriage - often faced a steep decline in social status and even perhaps declined into poverty.While the virgin was valorised by Medieval Europe, the wife was the next best thing. (Natalie Sest)


Women were not granted a place in the hierarchy of Medieval Europe in the Eleventh century.  Society could not conceive the idea of “the feminine condition” outside of family or marriage. Women were completely defined by their gender and seen by society as a bearer of children. For example, it was acceptable for a woman to participate in household labour, however labour outside the household was condemned. One of the first occupations available to a female was prostitution, reinforcing their role as an object of reproduction.

Pictured below is a picture of the woman giving birth, the father waiting beside. The artwork is showcasing the role of a medieval woman as mother and wife. There is also a link with the virgin Mary as the light from god is seen shining down from above, showing that religion favours this stereotypical ideal of a woman in the  Middle Ages. (Olivia Paterson)

Birthing in the Middle Ages

MEDIEVAL MEN AND WOMEN 

The Virgin Mary – chaste, sinless and the mother of Jesus – was depicted by religious authorities as the ideal for medieval women. However, this idea often conflicted with the reality that one of the most important duties for women within the family (perhaps the most important duty) was to bear children.

Enthroned Virgin and Child http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/1999.208

The following two illuminations are from the late Medieval Book of Hours of Jean de Berry.The first depicts the Annunciation (in which the angel Gabriel tells Mary that she was miraculously pregnant with her son Jesus).The second imageshows the wife of the Duke of Berry (Jeanne de Boulogne) praying to the Holy Trinity. 
 

Jean de Boulogne was only 12 when she married the 49-year-old Duke of Berry. Her life therefore serves as an illustration of Klapisch-Zuber’s point that during the late Middle Ages, the marriage age for females became progressively lower, in contrast to that of males. (Anna Southwell)

The Annunciation

Jeanne de Boulogne

 

'Be fruitful and multiply' God's words to Adam and Eve led many clergy men and religious scholars to the understanding that marriage was solely for the purpose of procreation and the 'natural companionship' for the two genders. Physical requirements of marriage for pleasure not procreation were considered a venial sin. (Stephanie Buckland)

Question for Blog Discussion:

How were Medieval Women perceived? How did the stories of women in the Bible influence these perceptions?