In the Middle Ages there was a theocentric" model of the world." But God is not only the center of the world, located depending on Him and around Him. He is present everywhere, in all His creations.

In the most general terms, the world was then seen in accordance with some hierarchical logic, as a symmetrical diagram, reminiscent of two pyramids folded at the base. The top of one of them, the top one, is God. Below are the tiers or levels of sacred characters: first the Apostles, those closest to God, then the figures who gradually move away from God and approach the earthly level - archangels, angels and similar heavenly beings. At some level, people are included in this hierarchy: first the pope and cardinals, then clerics at lower levels, and below them ordinary laypeople. Then animals are placed even further from God and closer to the earth, then plants and then the earth itself, now completely inanimate. And then there is a kind of mirror reflection of the upper, earthly and celestial hierarchy, but again in a different dimension and with a minus sign, in a seemingly underground world, according to the growth of evil and proximity to Satan. He is placed at the top of this second, chthonic pyramid, acting as a being symmetrical to God, as if repeating him with the opposite sign (reflecting like a mirror). If God is the personification of Good and Love, then Satan is his opposite, the embodiment of Evil and Hatred

Ideas about space and time in the Middle Ages. Time and space are the defining parameters of the existence of the world and the fundamental forms human experience. The modern everyday mind is guided in its practical activities by the abstractions “time” and “space”. Space is understood as a three-dimensional, geometric, equally extendable form that can be divided into commensurate segments. Time is conceived as pure duration, an irreversible sequence of events from the past through the present to the future. Time and space are objective, their qualities are independent of the matter that fills them. Our attitude to the world is different from the attitude and worldview of people of the Middle Ages. Many of their ideas and actions are not only alien to us, but also poorly understood. Therefore, there is a very real danger of attributing motives unusual to them to the people of this era and misinterpreting the true incentives that moved them in their practical and theoretical life.

A person is not born with a “sense of time”; his temporal and spatial concepts are always determined by the culture to which he belongs. Modern man easily operates with concepts of time, without much difficulty recognizing the most distant past. He is able to foresee the future, plan his activities and predetermine the development of science, technology, production, and society for a long time to come. Modern man is a “man in a hurry”; his consciousness is determined by his attitude to time. A kind of “cult of time” has developed. The very rivalry between social systems is now understood as a competition in time: who will win in the pace of development, for whom does time “work”? A dial with a rushing second hand could well become a symbol of our civilization.

The same thing has changed in modern world and the concept of space turned out to be capable of compression. New means of communication and transportation have made it possible to cover incomparably greater distances in a unit of time than several decades ago, not to mention the more distant past. As a result, the world has become a much smaller place. IN human activity The category of speed, which combines the concepts of space and time, acquired enormous importance. The whole rhythm of life has changed radically. It seems familiar to us. But humanity has never known anything like this in its entire history.

But how exactly did this development take place? What were the ideas about time and space in Europe in the Middle Ages?

Peculiarities of perception space people of the medieval era were determined by a number of circumstances: their relationship to nature, including production, their method of settlement, their outlook, which in turn depended on the state of communications, on the religious and ideological postulates that prevailed in society.

The landscape of Western and Central Europe during the early Middle Ages was significantly different from the modern one. Most of its territory was covered with forests, which were destroyed much later as a result of the labor efforts of the population and waste of natural resources. A considerable portion of the treeless space consisted of swamps and swamps. Small villages with a limited number of courtyards or isolated hamlets predominated. Larger settlements were occasionally found in the most favorable areas - in river valleys on the shores of the seas, in the fertile regions of Southern Europe. Often the village was surrounded by a forest that stretched over vast distances, simultaneously attracting with its resources (fuel, game, fruits) and frightening away the dangers that lurked in it: wild animals, robbers and other dashing people, ghostly mysterious creatures and werewolves, which the surrounding villages willingly inhabited. the world of human fantasy. The forest landscape is invariably present in the popular consciousness, in folklore, and in the imagination of poets.

Communication between settlements were limited and limited to irregular and rather superficial contacts. Subsistence farming is characterized by a tendency towards self-satisfaction of basic needs. In addition, communication routes were practically non-existent or were in completely unsatisfactory condition. Travel in the early Middle Ages was a dangerous and lengthy undertaking. In a day it was possible to cover at most a few tens of kilometers, and sometimes the roads were so bad that travelers moved even slower. The journey from Bologna to Avignon took up to two weeks, from Nîmes they traveled to the Champagne fairs within twenty-four days, from Florence to Naples in eleven to twelve days.

The absolute predominance of the rural population in Europe at that time could not but affect the entire system of human relations with the world, no matter what level of society he belonged to: the way of seeing the world inherent in the farmer dominated in public consciousness and behavior. The farmer's estate contained a model of the Universe. This is clearly visible from Scandinavian mythology, which retained many features of beliefs and ideas that were once common to all Germanic peoples. In Norse mythology, the world is a collection of courtyards inhabited by people, Gods, giants and dwarfs. While primitive chaos reigned, the world was unsettled - naturally, there were no dwellings. The process of ordering the world - separating heaven from earth, establishing time, day and night, creating the sun, moon and stars - was at the same time the process of founding estates, creating once and for all a solid topography of the world. In every nodal point of the world: in its center on earth, in heaven, in the place where the rainbow begins, leading from earth to heaven, and where earth connects with heaven - a courtyard, an estate, a burg are located everywhere.

Perhaps the best way to understand the specifics of the perception of the world and space in eras distant from us is to consider the categories microcosm and macrocosm(or megacosm). A microcosm is not just a small part of the whole, not one of the elements of the Universe, but, as it were, a reduced replica of it that reproduces it. The microcosm was conceived in the form of a person who can only be understood within the framework of the parallelism of the “small” and “large” Universe. This topic is also known on ancient East, and in ancient Greece, enjoyed enormous popularity in medieval Europe, especially from the 12th century. The elements of the human body are identical to the elements that make up the Universe. Human flesh is from earth, blood is from water, breath is from air, and heat is from fire. Every part human body corresponds to a part of the Universe: the head - to the heavens, the chest - to the air, the stomach - to the sea, the legs - to the earth, the bones correspond to stones, the veins - to branches, the hair - to grass, and the feelings - to animals. However, what unites a person with the rest of the world is not only the commonality of the elements that form them. To describe the order of macro - and microcosm in the Middle Ages, the same fundamental scheme was used; the law of creation was seen in analogy.

But in order to correctly understand the meaning invested in the concept of microcosm, it is necessary to take into account the changes that the very concept of “cosmos” underwent during the transition from antiquity to the Middle Ages. If the world in the ancient perception is holistic and harmonious, then in the perception of the people of the Middle Ages it is dualistic. The ancient cosmos - the beauty of nature, its order and dignity - in the Christian interpretation lost some of its qualities: this concept began to be applied mainly only to to the human world and no longer carried high ethical and aesthetic assessment. The world of Christianity is no longer “beauty,” for it is sinful and subject to God’s judgment; Christian asceticism rejected it. Truth, according to Augustine, should be sought not externally, but in the soul of the person himself. The most beautiful act of God is not Creation, but salvation and eternal life. Only Christ saves the world from the world. As a result of this transformation, the concept of “cosmos” split into a pair of opposing concepts: civitas Dei and civitas terrena, the latter being closer to the concept of civitas diaboli. Man stands at a crossroads: one path leads to the spiritual city of the Lord, the highest Jerusalem or Zion, the other path leads to the city of Antichrist.

Among many peoples at the archaic stage of development, the image of a “world tree” is widespread. This tree played an important role in cosmological ideas and served as the main means of organizing mythological space. Top - bottom, right - left, sky - earth, pure - unclean, male - female and other ideological oppositions of archaic consciousness were correlated with the idea of ​​the world tree. We find its curious metamorphosis in medieval authors. Many of them write about an “inverted tree” growing from heaven to earth; its roots are not in heaven, but its branches are on earth. This tree served as a symbol of faith and knowledge and embodied the image of Christ. But at the same time, the tree preserved more ancient meaning- a symbol of man-microcosm and world-megacosm.

In the Middle Ages, the world did not seem diverse and heterogeneous - people were inclined to judge it by their own small, narrow world. Medieval thinkers and artists were “great provincials” who were unable to move away from provincial scales and rise above the horizons that opened up from their native bell tower. Therefore, for them the Universe turned out to be either a monastery, or a fief, or a city community or a university. In any case, the world of medieval man was small, understandable and easily observable. Everything in this world was ordered, distributed in places; everyone and everything was given their own business and their own honor.

With the transition from paganism to Christianity, the structure of space of medieval man undergoes a radical transformation. And cosmic, and social, and ideological space are hierarchized. All relationships are built vertically, all beings are located on different levels perfection depending on closeness to God.

The symbol of the Universe was the cathedral, the structure of which was thought to be in all respects similar to the cosmic order; an overview of its internal plan, dome, altar, and chapels should have given a complete picture of the structure of the world. Every detail, like the layout as a whole, was full of symbolic meaning. The person praying in the temple contemplated the beauty and harmony of divine creation. The structure of the sovereign's palace was also associated with the concept of the divine cosmos; The heavens were imagined as a fortress. In centuries when the illiterate masses of the population were far from thinking in verbal abstractions, the symbolism of architectural images was a natural way of understanding the world order, and these images embodied religious and political thought. The portals of cathedrals and churches, triumphal arches, and entrances to palaces were perceived as “heavenly gates,” and these majestic buildings themselves were perceived as the “house of God” or “city of God.” The organization of the cathedral space also had its own temporal certainty. This was revealed in its layout and design: the future (“the end of the world”) is already present in the west, the sacred past resides in the east.

The earthly world loses its independent value and finds itself correlated with the heavenly world. This can be seen in tangible, visual form in works of medieval painting. Along with the figures located on the earth, heavenly powers are sometimes depicted on the frescoes: God the Father, Christ, the Virgin Mary, angels. These two planes of medieval reality are located parallel one above the other, or higher beings descend to earth. Frankish poets of the 9th century. depicted God as the ruler of a fortress, reminiscent of the Carolingian palaces, with the only difference that the fortress of God is in heaven.

"What is time? There are few other indicators of culture that would characterize its essence to the same extent as the understanding of time. It embodies and is associated with the worldview of the era, the behavior of people, their consciousness, the rhythm of life, and their attitude towards things. In order to understand them, it is again necessary to return to the barbarian era and see what the perception of time was then.

In an agrarian society, time was determined primarily by natural rhythms. The peasant's calendar reflected the changing seasons and the sequence of agricultural seasons. The months of the Germans had names that indicated agricultural and other work that was carried out at different times: “month of steam” (June), “month of mowing” (July), “month of sowing” (September), “month of wine” (October) , “threshing month” (January), “deadwood month” (February), “herb month” (April).

The transition from paganism to Christianity was accompanied by a significant restructuring of the entire structure of temporal ideas in medieval Europe. But the archaic attitude towards time did not disappear - it was only pushed into the background, as if into the “lower” layer of popular consciousness. The pagan calendar, reflecting natural rhythms, was adapted to the needs of the Christian liturgy. Church holidays, marking turning points in the annual cycle, date back to pagan times. The agrarian time was at the same time a liturgical time. The year was divided into holidays that marked events in the life of Christ, the days of saints. The year started at different countries not at the same time since Christmas, since Holy Week, from the Annunciation. Accordingly, time was counted according to the number of weeks before and after Christmas, etc.

For a long time theologians resisted considering New Year from January 1, since it was a pagan holiday, but January 1 is also the day of the circumcision of Christ.

The day was not divided into equal hours, but into hours of the day and hours of the night, the first were calculated from sunrise to sunset, the second - from sunset to sunrise, so in the summer the hours of the day were longer than the hours of the night, and in winter, vice versa. Until XIII-XIV centuries, instruments for measuring time were a rarity, a luxury item. Even scientists did not always have them. Regular for medieval Europe clock - sundial (Greek "gnomon"), hourglass or clepsydra - water clock. But sundials were only suitable in clear weather, and clepsydras remained a rarity, more likely a toy or a luxury item than an instrument for measuring time. When the hour could not be determined by the position of the sun, it was determined by the burning of a torch, candle or oil in a lamp.

Biblical and earthly time. The time of earthly kingdoms and the events following one after another was not perceived either as the only time or as a true time. Along with earthly, worldly time, there was sacred time, and only it had true reality. Bible time- not transitory; it is of absolute value. With the act of redemption performed by Christ, time acquired a special duality: the “dates” are close or have already “fulfilled”, time has reached “fullness”, “has arrived.” last times“or “the end of the ages” - the kingdom of God already exists, but at the same time, time has not yet ended and the kingdom of God remains the final outcome for people, the goal to which they must strive.

The time of Christian myth and the time of pagan myth are profoundly different. Pagan time was perceived, apparently, exclusively in the forms of myth, ritual, change of seasons and generations, while in the medieval consciousness the category of mythological, sacred time (“the history of Revelation”) coexists with the category of earthly, worldly time and both of these categories are combined into category of historical time (“history of Salvation”). Historical time is subordinated to the sacred, but does not dissolve in it: Christian myth provides a kind of criterion for determining historical time and assessing its meaning.

Having broken with the cyclism of the pagan worldview, Christianity adopted from Old Testament the experience of time as an eschatological process, intense anticipation of the great event that resolves history - the coming of the Messiah. However, sharing the Old Testament eschatologism, the New Testament teaching reworked this idea and put forward a completely new concept of time.

Firstly, in the Christian worldview the concept of time was separated from the concept of eternity, which in other ancient worldview systems absorbed and subjugated earthly time. Eternity is immeasurable by time periods. Eternity is an attribute of God, but time is created and has a beginning and an end, limiting the duration of human history. Earthly time is correlated with eternity, and at certain decisive moments human history as if “breaking through” into eternity. The Christian strives to move from the time of the earthly vale to the abode of eternal bliss of God's chosen ones.

Secondly, historical time acquires a certain structure, both quantitatively and qualitatively clearly dividing into two main eras - before the Nativity of Christ and after it. History moves from the act of divine creation to the Last Judgment. At the center of history there is a decisive sacramental fact that determines its course, gives it a new meaning and predetermines all its subsequent development - the coming and death of Christ. Old Testament history turns out to be the era of preparation for the coming of Christ, subsequent history is the result of His incarnation and passion. This event is unique and unique in its significance.

Thus, the new awareness of time is based on three defining moments - the beginning, culmination and end of the life of the human race. Time is becoming linear and irreversible. Christian time orientation differs both from the ancient orientation towards the past alone, and from the messianistic, prophetic focus on the future, characteristic of the Judeo-Old Testament concept of time - the Christian understanding of time attaches importance to both the past, since the New Testament tragedy has already happened, and the future, which brings retribution. It is the presence of these reference points in time that “straightens” it with extraordinary force, “stretches” it into a line and at the same time creates a tense connection of times, imparts to history a harmonious and only possible (within the framework of this worldview) immanent plan for its unfolding. It can be noted, however, that for all its “vector” nature, time in Christianity has not gotten rid of cyclism; Only his understanding has changed radically. In fact, since time was separated from eternity, when considering segments of earthly history, it appears to man in the form of a linear sequence, but the same earthly history, taken as a whole, within the framework formed by the creation of the world and its end, represents a complete cycle: man and the world return to the Creator, time returns to eternity. The cyclism of the Christian understanding of time is also revealed in church holidays, annually repeating and renewing major events from the life of Christ. Movement along a line and rotation in a circle are united in the Christian experience of the passage of time.

Historical times in Christianity are dramatic. The beginning of the drama is the first free act of man, the fall of Adam. Internally connected with it is the coming of Christ, sent by God to save His creation. Retribution follows at the end of human existence. Understanding earthly history as the history of salvation gave it a new dimension. A person’s life unfolds in two time plans at once - in terms of empirical, transitory events of earthly existence and in terms of the implementation of God’s destiny.

Questions and assignments.

1. How did the world seem to medieval people?

The ideas of medieval people about the world around them were closely intertwined with Christian doctrine. The world seemed to medieval people like this: people believed that the Earth was in the center of the Universe and was motionless. And all the planets and the sun revolve around it. Most people thought that the Earth was flat. Man and nature were created by God, but man is above all. Man has a soul, but nature does not. Elevation above nature is the main feature of medieval culture. People also thought that the basis of everything was water, earth, air and fire. They thought that the soul is a creation of God, and the body is a creation of nature. Therefore, they believed that the body is a prison for the soul. People thought that they had no control over time. They traveled little and knew little geography. People were sure that the center of the Earth was Jerusalem, and the rivers Tigris, Euphrates, Nile, and Ganges began in one place - in the mountain on which paradise (Eden) was located.

2. What are medieval performances about nature?

Medieval ideas about nature: nature was created by God, and man is superior to it. Nature has no soul. Elevation above nature is the main feature of medieval culture.

3. One of the modern historians wrote that during the early Middle Ages, “time belonged to the church.” What do you think the author meant?

The ideas of medieval people about the world around them were closely intertwined with Christian doctrine. Also, the man of the Middle Ages was obsessed with his sinfulness. In fear of the afterlife, he begged forgiveness from God for his sins. In the hope of finding a way to save his soul, he went to church, and often gave it everything he had.

4*. Why is the knowledge of medieval people about the world around them so different from modern ones?

The knowledge of medieval people about the world around them is so different from modern ones because medieval people were, for the most part, illiterate, they traveled little and were not interested in the discoveries of ancient scientists. Besides,in those times Christian doctrine determined people's behavior and their relationship to the world.

Let's study the source.

Medieval instructive stories: “A certain parishioner cried so much during confession...” “One rich man died while overseas...” What features of the ideas of medieval man do these stories reveal to us?

These stories reveal to us the following features of the ideas of medieval man: 1) the man of the Middle Ages was obsessed with the recognition of his sinfulness; in fear of the afterlife, he strenuously begged the Lord for forgiveness for his sins. He believed that if you sincerely repent of your sins, they would be forgiven; 2) the example of the rich man was supposed to turn believers away from the passion for profit, because of which, in the opinion of medieval people, they could lose their hearts.”

Complex plan § 5. Medieval picture of the world.
Abstract § 5. Medieval picture of the world.

An important difference between Catholicism and Orthodoxy was the addition to the Creed of the thesis about the procession of the Holy Spirit not “from the Father,” but “from the Father and the Son.” Spread throughout the churches of Spain and France, this increase was approved by the pope in 1019. Two other purely Catholic dogmas - about Purgatory and the non-involvement of the Mother of God in original sin (finally approved only in 1854) stemmed from the Augustinian doctrine of sin.

It was seen as a kind of man’s debt to God, which man can “pay off” with merit and even in excess. These “super-due merits” are at the disposal of God, the church and the pope. In their account, sinners who did not have time to repent during life can be cleansed after death - in Purgatory.

The Mother of God, “in view of the future merits of Christ,” was initially freed from original sin. The doctrine of “extraordinary merit” also led to the trade in indulgences - letters of remission of sins. The massive sale of indulgences in the interests of the papacy caused great indignation and became one of the reasons for the Reformation.

Medieval pictures of the world amazingly combine ideas about the unity and duality of the world, created and governed by one God, but split into Heaven and Earth. The man of that era persistently and sometimes painfully searches in these things for symbols, allegories of the otherworldly, the miraculous, but truly real.

Therefore, in literature and art, fantasy prevailed over observation, the general over the particular, the eternal over the temporary. The Middle Ages sought to bring the divine, universal order to Earth. Universalism found its most complete expression in the culture of the intellectual elite, the most educated part of medieval society.

Education in the Middle Ages is directly related to ancient models. As in the late Roman schools, it was based on the seven “liberal arts” (artes liberales) - a series of disciplines divided into two levels: the trivium (preparatory) and the quadrivium. The trivium included: grammar - the ability to read, understand what is read and write; dialectics is the art of arguing through arguments and their refutations, and rhetoric, which teaches how to make speeches.

The quadrivium consisted of arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy. These sciences were thought of as teachings about numerical relationships that underlie world harmony. Education was conducted in Latin only in the 14th century. schools teaching in national languages ​​appeared.

Until the 11th century. Very few schools were located at the courts of barbarian kings, bishops' departments, churches and monasteries. They trained mainly church ministers. With the growth of cities, secular urban private and municipal schools emerged, where wandering students studied - vagantes, or goliards, who came from the urban and knightly environment, the lower clergy.

Often the teacher and a group of students wandered from place to place. Peter Abelard (12th century) paints a vivid picture of such wanderings. He taught in cities, monasteries, and even in the wilderness, where students had to work the land themselves.

By the 12th century. cathedral schools in the largest centers of Europe: Bologna, Montpellier, Paris, Oxford, Salerno, etc. - are turning into universities (from the Latin “universitas” - totality, community).

Universities had legal, administrative, and financial autonomy, which was granted to them by special decrees of sovereigns and popes. The relative independence of the university was combined with strict regulation and discipline inner life. Two corporations - teachers and students, elected officials: rectors, deans, etc.; Community communities played a major role in both corporations.

The university was usually divided into four faculties: theological (theological), law, medicine and the faculty of the seven liberal arts (artistic). The latter was a necessary preparatory step for any of the other three. To enter the higher faculty, it was necessary to take a course in science at the artistic faculty and receive academic degrees here, first a bachelor's, and then a master's.

They were awarded based on the results of debates in which teachers and students participated. At the highest faculties, the master corresponded to a very honorable doctorate: theology, law or medicine. Many masters of liberal arts were outstanding logicians, mathematicians, and astronomers. Almost all teachers were priests or monks. The theological faculty enjoyed special respect.

By the 15th century There were already about 60 universities. At the same time, collegiums (hence colleges) were being developed. Initially, student dormitories were called this, but gradually the colleges are turning into centers for classes, lectures, and debates. Founded in 1257 by the confessor of the French king, Robert de Sorbon, the college, called the Sorbonne, gradually grew and strengthened its influence so much that the entire University of Paris began to be named after it.

Common to all medieval culture was the desire for universalism and integrity, which was reflected in the formation of scholasticism - the most significant system of knowledge of that time. Scholasticism (Greek “scholasticos” – school, scientist) – medieval religious philosophy, formed under the influence of late antique (Proclus), Byzantine (John of Damascus) and Arab (Averroes) models.

The Roman legal heritage, which was persistently preserved in the Middle Ages, also had a huge impact on scholastic thinking. The scholastics built their search for truth according to the type of trial. The place of the authority of the law here was taken by the authority of church dogma or human reason.

The norm of the first is contained in the texts of the Bible, accompanied by commentaries of the church fathers, the norm of the second - the books of Plato and Aristotle, containing comments by ancient and Arab philosophers. In both of them, the “eternal truth” has already been given; you just need to deduce their logical consequences from the texts using a chain of correctly constructed conclusions (syllogisms).

Unlike the scientists of the New Age or their mystical contemporaries, the scholastics assigned a much smaller role to experience and observation of nature or the inner world of man than to the purely logical connection of concepts, although they did not deny them completely.

Of greatest importance was the task of reconciling the “truths of faith” and the “truths of reason.” The views of almost all scholastics were close to the formula of Peter Damiani (11th century): “Philosophy is the handmaiden of theology.” However, already in the 12th century. Abelard showed that on the path of rational theology chosen by scholasticism, one cannot do without philosophy.

Abelard's book Yes and No contained many mutually contradictory statements from the Bible and the church fathers. How to reconcile them? Scholastics build a hierarchy of more and less authoritative statements. At the same time, quotations, one of which should cancel the other, are considered not only from the standpoint of church tradition, but also from the point of view of their reasonableness and logic.

Early scholasticism of the 11th–12th centuries. most clearly represented by Anselm of Canterbury and the teachers of the school at the Cathedral of Chartres (France). During this period, various positions in the debate about universals emerged, i.e. general concepts. Proponents of realism believed that general concept exists independently of human consciousness and the objects it designates.

Representatives of nominalism believed that only individual things really exist, and concepts are names of things that appear only in the human mind and the sounds of the voice. The creator of conceptualism, Abelard, argued that in individual things there are common characteristics, on the basis of which a concept (notion) arises, expressed in a word.

The Church preferred realism, and nominalists and conceptualists were often persecuted. Scholasticism in general also caused dissatisfaction with mystical-minded monks - Bernard of Clairvaux, Peter of Blois, since it made questions of faith dependent on reason.

Mature scholasticism of the XII-XIII centuries. formed in the struggle with the followers of the Arab philosopher Averroes (Ibn Rushd). Based on Aristotle, the Averroists (Siger of Brabant and others) taught about a single world soul and denied the eternity of the personal soul, believing that religion was the lowest level of knowledge of God, suitable only for ignorant people.

Albertus Magnus and Thomas Aquinas combined the teachings of Aristotle with Christian ideas about God, the soul, and the creation of the world. This period is characterized by the genre of “sum” - an encyclopedic work. The rationalistic theology of Thomas (Thomas) Aquinas - Thomism - became the official teaching of the Catholic Church.

Late scholasticism of the 13th–14th centuries. in the person of Duns Scotus, she emphasized the role of human will and showed a keen interest in individual existence. Occam and Roger Bacon revive nominalism and emphasize experimental knowledge, experiment, and mathematics.

The crisis of scholasticism begins and its degeneration into a meaningless pseudoscience (this is what gave the word “scholasticism” a negative connotation over time). However, we must not forget about the great achievements of the scholastics, especially in the field of logic and the creation of scientific terminology. By affirming the harmony of reason and faith, scholasticism gave impetus to the development of European science.

Pages: 1 2 3

The main, central idea of ​​the medieval man’s picture of the world, around which all cultural values, the entire structure of ideas about the universe, was formed, was the Christian idea of ​​God. The medieval worldview and attitude, which was based on Christian consciousness, has the following features.

“Two-worldliness” - the perception and explanation of the world comes from the idea of ​​two-worldliness - the division of the world into the real and the otherworldly, the opposition in it of God and nature, Heaven and Earth, “above” and “below”, spirit and flesh, good and evil, eternal and temporary , sacred and sinful. In assessing any phenomenon, medieval people proceeded from the fundamental impossibility of reconciling opposites and did not see “intermediate steps between absolute good and absolute evil” (A.Ya. Gurevich).

Hierarchism - according to the divinely established order, the world was seen as built according to a certain pattern - in the form of two symmetrical pyramids folded at the bases. The top of the top is God, below are the apostles, then, respectively, archangels, angels, people (among which the “top” is the pope, then cardinals, below are bishops, abbots, priests, dwarfs of lower levels and, finally, simple believers. The top hierarchical vertical included animals (immediately behind the laity, then the plants, at the base of the top row there was earth). Next came a kind of negative reflection of the heavenly and earthly hierarchy as evil grew and approached Satan.

The hierarchical organization of the church influenced the formation of the social structure of medieval society. Like the nine ranks of angels, forming three hierarchical triads (from top to bottom) - seraphim, cherubim, thrones; domination, power; angels - and on earth there are three classes - clergy, knighthood, people, and each of them has its own hierarchical vertical (up to “wife - vassal of her husband”, but at the same time - “lord of domestic animals”, etc.). Thus, social structure society was perceived by medieval man as corresponding to the hierarchical logic of building the heavenly world.

Symbolism. The symbol played a huge role in the picture of the world of medieval man. Allegory was a common form of meaning for medieval people. Everything, one way or another, was familiar, all objects were just signs of entities. The essence does not require objective expression and can appear directly to those who contemplate it. The Bible itself was filled with secret symbols that hid the true meaning. Medieval man viewed the world around him as a system of symbols, which, if correctly interpreted, could comprehend the divine meaning. The Church taught that the highest knowledge is revealed not in concepts, but in images and symbols. Thinking in symbols made it possible to find the truth. The main method of cognition was to comprehend the meaning of symbols. The word itself was symbolic. (The word was universal, with its help the whole world could be explained.) The symbol was a universal category. To think meant to discover secret meaning. In any event, object, natural phenomenon, a medieval person could see a sign - a symbol, for the whole world is symbolic - nature, animals, plants, minerals, etc. The deeply symbolic mentality of medieval man determined many features artistic culture the Middle Ages, and, above all, its symbolism. The entire figurative structure of medieval art is symbolic - literature, architecture, sculpture, painting, theater. Church music and the liturgy itself are deeply symbolic.

Universalism. The worldview of medieval man was characterized by universalism. At the heart of medieval universalism is the idea of ​​God as the bearer of a universal, universal principle. The spiritual universalism of Christianity has formed a spiritual community of people - fellow believers. Christianity affirmed the universality of man, treating him, as already noted, regardless of ethnicity and social status, as the earthly incarnation of God, called upon to strive for spiritual perfection (although this idea was in deep contradiction with the class structure of society). The idea of ​​the religious unity of the world, the predominance of the universal over the individual, transient, played a huge role in the picture of the world of medieval man. Up to late Middle Ages the dominant was the desire for the general, the typical, the fundamental rejection of the individual, the main thing for medieval man was his typicality, his universality. As shown by A.Ya. Gurevich, a medieval man identified himself with some model or image taken from ancient texts - biblical, church fathers, etc. Describing his life, he looked for his own prototype in Christian literature. Hence traditionalism as characteristic medieval mentality. Innovation is pride, departure from the archetype is distance from the truth. Therefore, medieval art prefers typification to individualization. Hence the anonymity of most works of art, the canonicity of creativity, i.e. limiting it to the framework of developed schemes, norms, ideas. Fundamental novelty was condemned and adherence to authority was encouraged.

Integrity. The worldview of medieval man was characterized by integrity. All areas of knowledge - science, philosophy, aesthetic thought, etc. - represented an indivisible unity, because all issues were resolved by them from the standpoint central idea pictures of the world of medieval man - ideas of God. Philosophy and aesthetics set the goal of understanding God, history was seen as the implementation of the Creator's plans. The man himself recognized himself only in Christian images. The holistic embrace of all things, characteristic of the medieval mentality, was expressed in the fact that already in the early Middle Ages, culture gravitated towards encyclopedia, the universality of knowledge, which was reflected in the creation of extensive encyclopedias. Encyclopedias or encyclopedic collections (sums) did not simply provide the reader with a sum of knowledge, but were supposed to prove the unity of the world as God's creation. They contained comprehensive information on various branches of knowledge. Medieval literature also gravitated towards encyclopedicism - here are numerous hagiographies, collections of maxims and the famous “Roman of the Fox” - a kind of encyclopedia of fables about animals, and other monuments. The greatest theologian of the Middle Ages, Thomas Aquinas (XIII century), in two colossal works “The Summa of the Truth of the Catholic Faith Against the Pagans” and especially in the “Summa Theology”, creates a picture of the world from the abyss of hell to the divine world, striking in its grandeur and breadth of coverage of everything that exists. The desire for the universality of knowledge is enshrined in the name of the centers of development of medieval scientific thought and education - universities.

The integrity of the worldview did not mean that medieval man did not see the contradictions of the world around him; it was simply that the removal of these contradictions was thought of in the spirit of Christian ideology, primarily expressed in eschatology (the doctrine of the end of the World). The Last Judgment will establish the kingdom eternal life for the righteous and will free a person from the need to live in an unjust world, where there is no due reward for good and evil, where evil, enmity, selfishness, and malice often triumph.

Didactic thinking. Medieval man was disposed to see moral meaning in everything - nature, history, literature, art, everyday life. Moral assessment was expected as a necessary completion, as a fair reward for good and evil, as a moral lesson, edifying morality. Hence the openness of medieval art and literature to moral conclusions.

Historicism of worldview. History as a science did not exist in the Middle Ages; it was an essential part of the worldview, which was determined by its Christian understanding. The existence of man unfolds in time, starting with the act of creation, then the Fall of man and ending with the second coming of Christ and Last Judgment when the goal of history will be realized. The Christian understanding of history is characterized by the idea of ​​spiritual progress, the directional movement of human history from the Fall to salvation, the establishment of the kingdom of God on earth. The idea of ​​spiritual progress stimulated a focus on novelty during the mature Middle Ages, when the growth of cities and the development of commodity-money relations determined a new stage in the development of medieval culture.

MEDIEVAL PICTURE OF THE WORLD

It was shown above that people of the Middle Ages differed from each other by belonging to any class. But they were all united by collective psychology and fundamental attitudes of consciousness, determined by the “picture”, the model of the world, part of which is the peculiarities of the perception of space and time.

Features of space perception

Speaking about the peculiarities of the perception of space by a person of the Middle Ages, it is worth noting that in the medieval system of thinking the very category of earthly life was of an evaluative nature and opposed to heavenly life. In this regard, land as a geographical concept was simultaneously perceived as a place of earthly life and was part of the “earth-sky” opposition, and therefore had a religious and moral character. These same ideas were transferred to geographical concepts in general - some lands were perceived as righteous, others as sinful, and movement in geographical space becomes movement along a vertical scale of religious and moral values, in which the upper level is in heaven, and the lower one is in hell (for example, This feature determined the composition of Dante's Divine Comedy).

In addition, the peculiarities of the perception of Medieval space are closely related to the idea of ​​chosenness, which was expressed in the division of lands into the righteous and the sinful. The opposition “one's own - someone else's” was perceived as a variant of the opposition “righteous sinful”, “good bad”.

The earth seemed flat in the form of a huge disk supporting the vault of heaven and surrounded by the ocean, its edge, which was lost in the darkness, was inhabited by wonderful tribes - one-legged people, wolf people. In this flat, round world, surrounded by all sorts of horrors, there is a center - Jerusalem.

The objective world was divided into three areas. In one of them Islam reigned - the kingdom of evil. Another region is Byzantium, where semi-evil dominated, this Christian world aroused distrust and was alien. The third area is the West itself, the Latin, Christian world, which dreamed of a Golden Age and an empire.

The image of space was not an image of extension, as for a modern European, it was measured by the time required to overcome it (days of travel or the size of plots of land that can be plowed during this time). In the Middle Ages, the images of all measurements were not the divisions of a ruler or tape measure, but “natural” measures: the length of the foot or forearm, the size of a strand or the surface of the earth that could be cultivated in one day.

But there was no impenetrable partition between the earthly and heavenly worlds; they formed a single whole. According to cosmography, the long road of the soul leads step by step to God.

The Universe was a system of concentric spheres. So, for example, according to the “Lamp” of Honorius Augustodunsky, the sky was divided into three parts: the bodily sky that we see; the spiritual heaven, where spiritual angels live, and the intellectual heaven, where the blessed contemplate the face of the Holy Trinity.

Medieval man perceived himself as a “small world” - a microcosm that was correlated with the macrocosm, feeling his inner kinship with it.

Peculiarities of time perception

Time is a category that was perceived ambiguously. This ambiguity lay in the fact that, on the one hand, it was still closely connected with the cyclical, agrarian perception, on the other, with the church, time in the Early Middle Ages was perceived as a Divine gift, it belongs to God. In addition, his perception changed dramatically in the High Middle Ages, during the period of transition from “heaven to earth.”

Despite the fact that each class had its own image of time: the peasants had agrarian time, seigneurial time and church time - all these images depended on natural time. Seigneurial time was tied to natural time thanks to military operations that took place only in the summer. The entire liturgical year of the church was correlated with the natural rhythm of agricultural work. The contrast between day and night, winter and summer can also be seen among artisans; the guild regulations prohibited night work, and many crafts were seasonal. But the most significant thing for a person of the medieval era was participation in eternity, therefore, for a person, the time of salvation was the main thing.

The peculiarities of time perception were associated with the fact that there were no ideas about minutes and seconds at all. Even the upper layers were indifferent to the exact time.

Medieval times were, first of all, religious and ecclesiastical times. Religious, because the year was presented as a liturgical year, which was perceived as a sequence of events from the history of Christ. It unfolded from Christmas to Trinity and was filled with events from the lives of the saints. It was also ecclesiastical because only the clergy could measure it by ringing bells, and were its “master”.

The basis of the general view of the universe was the religious picture of the world, which united “heaven” and “earth” into one whole. The image of an impending catastrophe occupied an important place in it. Humanity was approaching its end, and the life of each person was presented as “life on the road.” Each believer imagined himself as a “pilgrim”, for whom the goal of the journey was more important than the difficulties of the path. Great significance in this picture was determined by the images of sin and the punishment that inevitably follows it.

We have already noted that medieval society- a traditional society, so the images of the past for a person of this era were vague. If he had no education, his ideas were of a legendary, fairy-tale nature. They were based on the stories of elders, and the more distant past was associated with myths. Educated people perceived the past as biblical history, as a succession to world monarchies. They closely followed the change of seasons and the annual rhythm of divine services, but at the same time they did not understand chronology and even less about specific dates.

The picture of the world of medieval man was extremely saturated with various kinds of symbols. Each real object was considered as an image of something corresponding to it in a higher sphere and, accordingly, became its symbol. Language also served to express reality hidden from the eyes. Symbolism was universal; thinking meant eternally discovering hidden meanings that promised salvation. Everything was symbolic.

But the medieval man is not a permanent category. Despite the fact that the Middle Ages are usually classified as a traditional type of culture, this does not mean that throughout the thousand-year culture this society was unchanged. Society changed, and the idea of ​​time changed.

It is no coincidence that the period of the XI - XV centuries. called the High Middle Ages. So, according to J. Le Goff, around 1200 a great upsurge begins, during this period man turns his gaze “from heaven to earth.” The following were reassessed: innovation, perception of time, writing, the physical, etc.

The attitude towards time is also changing. This new concept of time is formed by mid-XII V. and is reflected at different levels.

Firstly, we have already noted that time in the Early Middle Ages was considered as a gift from God, therefore it could not be an object of trade, and the work of a merchant was therefore condemned. In the High Middle Ages, the work of a merchant was perceived as a specific activity; it began to be compared with the work, although of a different nature, of a craftsman and a farmer.

Secondly, changes are taking place in science. This is due, first of all, to the development of education; until this time, the monopoly on education was concentrated in monastery schools; now the laity are taking it into their own hands, some of them making it their profession and source of livelihood. Changing ideas in this area gives impetus to the emergence of universities. University a corporation that united teachers and students of one city. In the 13th century the university organization was a sign of the integration of the city's intellectual life

The use of “scientific” calculations in measuring time at the end of the 13th century. will be the impetus for the creation of mechanical watches, which spread very quickly. There is a rationalization of time: the hour of a mechanical watch is a clear unit that is convenient for arithmetic operations. The monopoly of bells, which announced the time of God, becomes the time of the merchants, which can be mechanically changed. As a result, man became oriented towards earthly, rational values.

The turning point in the XII - XIII centuries. observed in the triumph of literacy and knowledge. In the cities, primary education was spread for laymen and merchants who learned reading, writing and arithmetic. During this period, the number of schoolchildren and vagabonds on the roads of Europe sharply increased. The word "vagant" means "wandering". It was applied to priests without a parish, to monks who left the monastery and wandered from city to city. Schoolchildren who, in search of knowledge, changed school after school also fell under it.

The era of the Crusades and communal revolutions sharply increased the demand for literate people, cathedral schools and the first universities began to produce more and more educated clergy in response to this. But at a certain point, the “production” of the intelligentsia turned into overproduction; young clerics found it increasingly difficult to find a parish, a teaching position, or a service in the chancellery, and in anticipation of this they began to wander from place to place.

New values ​​were also reflected in writing. The main value orientation of the spoken word begins to give way to the written word. In addition, with the proliferation of university manuscripts and trade books, the written text is desacralized. If previously it was associated with the Holy Scriptures, now the written text is beginning to be viewed as something ordinary. The letter is created not in the name of God, but for the sake of earthly things.

If in the Early Middle Ages the body was treated with contempt, then the High Middle Ages viewed it as a companion of the soul. This is reflected, for example, in a change in attitude towards one of the grave sins - gluttony.

Gluttony was a sin of the ruling class, through which social superiority could be manifested. Now, in addition to boasting about food, refined taste has also been added as a result, the joys of the feast gave birth to gastronomy.

The significance and value of earthly life are manifested not only in gastronomy, but also in evolutionary terms,

firstly, to laugh - the monasticism of the Early Middle Ages taught Christians to neglect the earthly world. This was expressed in the suppression of laughter. In the 13th century laughter is legitimized in all its manifestations.

Secondly, a change in the concept of holiness it is the earthly life of the saint that acquires great importance.

Thirdly, the posthumous memory of oneself is transformed. J. Le Goff writes that attempts to overcome oblivion at this time had different expressions. For example, they are returning to the practice of wills, lost since antiquity. With its help, the deceased gets the opportunity to remind himself of himself with a property award to his family and friends. The recognition of purgatory also turned out to be significant in this case, since a person did not go to heaven immediately; those who are in it still have the right to return to earth and appear alive.

All these changes are reflected in art, in which until the 12th century. there was one plot - the plot of God. But during the ascent, attention to the ephemeral, fleeting increases, and earthly life begins to be highly valued. Realism is born in the system of artistic representation. This realism also represents a certain set of rules, but this code is desacralized.

As a result of all these changes, a new type of person emerges - personality, the “I” breaks through, although, of course, the prerequisites for individual consciousness were contained in Christianity itself, but they are being revealed right now. In addition to names, people have surnames. Belief in purgatory increases the importance of death and individual judgment after death. The sphere of the personal is also expanded through individual reading. At the end of the 13th century. the earthly image of the individual is embodied in an individual portrait.

The man of the Early Middle Ages is being replaced by a new man. This new person begins to perceive the earth differently. It no longer imitates the sky, but becomes reality; the earth, on the contrary, imitates the sky. “There is a great conversion of Christian society to the earthly world. The path is being cleared for the first approaches to a new time.”

Thus we see that,

firstly, the culture of the medieval West belongs to the traditional type of culture, because in it life, first of all, is governed by tradition and custom.

Secondly, the social structure of this society is characterized by two principles of organization: relations of dominance/subordination and corporate relations, which, of course, are a consequence of the traditional structure. A man of the Middle Ages was always a member of some group that determined his whole life, he did not think of himself as an individual, hence, for example, in painting there is no portrait genre

Thirdly, although the people of the Middle Ages differed from each other depending on whether they belonged to the spiritual elite or to groups of peasants and artisans, petty burghers and knights, the lower part of monasticism and clergy. Everyone was united in one era by collective psychology and fundamental attitudes of consciousness, determined by the picture of the world - attachment to agrarian time, symbolism, the unification of “heaven” and “earth” into one whole.

Zodiac signs