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During the 11th century, developments in philosophy and theology led to increased intellectual activity. There was debate between the realists and the nominalists over the concept of "universals". Philosophical discourse was stimulated by the rediscovery of Aristotle and his emphasis on empiricism and rationalism. Scholars such as Peter Abelard (d. 1142) and Peter Lombard (d. 1164) introduced Aristotelian logic into theology. The late 11th and early 12th centuries also saw the rise of cathedral schools throughout Western Europe, signalling the shift of learning from monasteries to cathedrals and towns.[214] Cathedral schools were in turn replaced by the universities established in major European cities.[215] Philosophy and theology fused in scholasticism, an attempt by 12th- and 13th-century scholars to reconcile authoritative texts, most notably Aristotle and the Bible. This movement tried to employ a systemic approach to truth and reason[216] and culminated in the thought of Thomas Aquinas (d. 1274), who wrote the Summa Theologica, or Summary of Theology.[217] Royal and noble courts saw the development of chivalry and the ethos of courtly love. This culture was expressed in the vernacular languages rather than Latin, and comprised poems, stories, legends, and popular songs spread by troubadours, or wandering minstrels. Often the stories were written down in the chansons de geste, or "songs of great deeds", such as The Song of Roland or The Song of Hildebrand.[218] Secular and religious histories were also produced.[219] Geoffrey of Monmouth (d. c. 1155) composed his Historia Regum Britanniae, a collection of stories and legends about Arthur.[220] Other works were more clearly history, such as Otto von Freising's (d. 1158) Gesta Friderici Imperatoris detailing the deeds of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, or William of Malmesbury's (d. c. 1143) Gesta Regum on the kings of England.[219] A medieval scholar making precise measurements in a 14th-century manuscript illustration Legal studies advanced during the 12th century. Both secular law and canon law, or ecclesiastical law, were studied in the High Middle Ages. Secular law, or Roman law, was advanced greatly by the discovery of the Corpus Juris Civilis in the 11th century, and by 1100 Roman law was being taught at Bologna. This led to the recording and standardisation of legal codes throughout Western Europe. Canon law was also studied, and around 1140 a monk named Gratian (fl. 12th century), a teacher at Bologna, wrote what became the standard text of canon law—the Decretum.[221] Among the results of the Greek and Islamic influence on this period in European history was the replacement of Roman numerals with the decimal positional number system and the invention of algebra, which allowed more advanced mathematics. Astronomy advanced following the translation of Ptolemy's Almagest from Greek into Latin in the late 12th century. Medicine was also studied, especially in southern Italy, where Islamic medicine influenced the school at Salerno.[222] Technology and military Main articles: Medieval technology, Medieval warfare and History of science § Science in the Middle Ages Portrait of Cardinal Hugh of Saint-Cher by Tommaso da Modena, 1352, the first known depiction of spectacles[223] In the 12th and 13th centuries, Europe saw economic growth and innovations in methods of production. Major technological advances included the invention of the windmill, the first mechanical clocks, the manufacture of distilled spirits, and the use of the astrolabe.[224] Concave spectacles were invented around 1286 by an unknown Italian artisan, probably working in or near Pisa.[225] The development of a three-field rotation system for planting crops[154][AA] increased the usage of land from one half in use each year under the old two-field system to two-thirds under the new system, with a consequent increase in production.[226] The development of the heavy plough allowed heavier soils to be farmed more efficiently, aided by the spread of the horse collar, which led to the use of draught horses in place of oxen. Horses are faster than oxen and require less pasture, factors that aided the implementation of the three-field system.[154] The construction of cathedrals and castles advanced building technology, leading to the development of large stone buildings. Ancillary structures included new town halls, houses, bridges, and tithe barns.[227] Shipbuilding improved with the use of the rib and plank method rather than the old Roman system of mortise and tenon. Other improvements to ships included the use of lateen sails and the stern-post rudder, both of which increased the speed at which ships could be sailed.[228] Military affairs saw an increase in the use of infantry with specialised roles. Along with the still-dominant heavy cavalry, armies often included mounted and infantry crossbowmen, as well as sappers and engineers.[229] Crossbows, which had been known in Late Antiquity, increased in use partly because of the increase in siege warfare in the 10th and 11th centuries.[149][AB] The increasing use of crossbows during the 12th and 13th centuries led to the use of closed-face helmets, heavy body armour, as well as horse armour.[231] Gunpowder was known in Europe by the mid-13th century with a recorded use in European warfare by the English against the Scots in 1304, although it was merely used as an explosive and not as a weapon. Cannon were being used for sieges in the 1320s, and hand-held guns were in use by the 1360s.[232] Architecture, art, and music Main articles: Medieval art, Romanesque art, Gothic art and Medieval music The Romanesque Church of Maria Lach, Germany In the 10th century the establishment of churches and monasteries led to the development of stone architecture that elaborated vernacular Roman forms, from which the term "Romanesque" is derived. Where available, Roman brick and stone buildings were recycled for their materials. From the tentative beginnings known as the First Romanesque, the style flourished and spread across Europe in a remarkably homogeneous form. Just before 1000 there was a great wave of building stone churches all over Europe.[233] Romanesque buildings have massive stone walls, openings topped by semi-circular arches, small windows, and, particularly in France, arched stone vaults.[234] The large portal with coloured sculpture in high relief became a central feature of façades, especially in France, and the capitals of columns were often carved with narrative scenes of imaginative monsters and animals.[235] According to art historian C. R. Dodwell, "virtually all the churches in the West were decorated with wall-paintings", of which few survive.[236] Simultaneous with the development in church architecture, the distinctive European form of the castle was developed, and became crucial to politics and warfare.[237] Romanesque art, especially metalwork, was at its most sophisticated in Mosan art, in which distinct artistic personalities including Nicholas of Verdun (d. 1205) become apparent, and an almost classical style is seen in works such as a font at Liège,[238] contrasting with the writhing animals of the exactly contemporary Gloucester Candlestick. Large illuminated bibles and psalters were the typical forms of luxury manuscripts, and wall-painting flourished in churches, often following a scheme with a Last Judgement on the west wall, a Christ in Majesty at the east end, and narrative biblical scenes down the nave, or in the best surviving example, at Saint-Savin-sur-Gartempe, on the barrel-vaulted roof.[239] The Gothic interior of Laon Cathedral, France From the early 12th century, French builders developed the Gothic style, marked by the use of rib vaults, pointed arches, flying buttresses, and large stained glass windows. It was used mainly in churches and cathedrals, and continued in use until the 16th century in much of Europe. Classic examples of Gothic architecture include Chartres Cathedral and Reims Cathedral in France as well as Salisbury Cathedral in England.[240] Stained glass became a crucial element in the design of churches, which continued to use extensive wall-paintings, now almost all lost.[241] During this period the practice of manuscript illumination gradually passed from monasteries to lay workshops, so that according to Janetta Benton "by 1300 most monks bought their books in shops",[242] and the book of hours developed as a form of devotional book for lay-people. Metalwork continued to be the most prestigious form of art, with Limoges enamel a popular and relatively affordable option for objects such as reliquaries and crosses.[243] In Italy the innovations of Cimabue and Duccio, followed by the Trecento master Giotto (d. 1337), greatly increased the sophistication and status of panel painting and fresco.[244] Increasing prosperity during the 12th century resulted in greater production of secular art; many carved ivory objects such as gaming-pieces, combs, and small religious figures have survived.[245] Church life Main articles: Gregorian Reform and Church and state in medieval Europe Francis of Assisi, depicted by Bonaventura Berlinghieri in 1235, founded the Franciscan Order.[246] Monastic reform became an important issue during the 11th century, as elites began to worry that monks were not adhering to the rules binding them to a strictly religious life. Cluny Abbey, founded in the Mâcon region of France in 909, was established as part of the Cluniac Reforms, a larger movement of monastic reform in response to this fear.[247] Cluny quickly established a reputation for austerity and rigour. It sought to maintain a high quality of spiritual life by placing itself under the protection of the papacy and by electing its own abbot without interference from laymen, thus maintaining economic and political independence from local lords.[248] Monastic reform inspired change in the secular church. The ideals that it was based upon were brought to the papacy by Pope Leo IX (pope 1049–1054), and provided the ideology of the clerical independence that led to the Investiture Controversy in the late 11th century. This involved Pope Gregory VII (pope 1073–85) and Emperor Henry IV, who initially clashed over episcopal appointments, a dispute that turned into a battle over the ideas of investiture, clerical marriage, and simony. The emperor saw the protection of the Church as one of his responsibilities as well as wanting to preserve the right to appoint his own choices as bishops within his lands, but the papacy insisted on the Church's independence from secular lords. These issues remained unresolved after the compromise of 1122 known as the Concordat of Worms. The dispute represents a significant stage in the creation of a papal monarchy separate from and equal to lay authorities. It also had the permanent consequence of empowering German princes at the expense of the German emperors.[247] Sénanque Abbey, Gordes, France. The High Middle Ages was a period of great religious movements. Besides the Crusades and monastic reforms, people sought to participate in new forms of religious life. New monastic orders were founded, including the Carthusians and the Cistercians. The latter especially expanded rapidly in their early years under the guidance of Bernard of Clairvaux (d. 1153). These new orders were formed in response to the feeling of the laity that Benedictine monasticism no longer met the needs of the laymen, who along with those wishing to enter the religious life wanted a return to the simpler hermetical monasticism of early Christianity, or to live an Apostolic life.[206] Religious pilgrimages were also encouraged. Old pilgrimage sites such as Rome, Jerusalem, and Compostela received increasing numbers of visitors, and new sites such as Monte Gargano and Bari rose to prominence.[249] In the 13th century mendicant orders—the Franciscans and the Dominicans—who swore vows of poverty and earned their living by begging, were approved by the papacy.[250] Religious groups such as the Waldensians and the Humiliati also attempted to return to the life of early Christianity in the middle 12th and early 13th centuries, but they were condemned as heretical by the papacy. Others joined the Cathars, another heretical movement condemned by the papacy. In 1209, a crusade was preached against the Cathars, the Albigensian Crusade, which in combination with the medieval Inquisition, eliminated them.[251] Late Middle Ages Main article: Late Middle Ages A manuscript illustration of a bishop blessing victims of the Black Death (Omne Bonum, c. 1360–1375) War, famine and plague Main article: Crisis of the Late Middle Ages The first years of the 14th century were marked by famines, culminating in the Great Famine of 1315–17.[252] The causes of the Great Famine included the slow transition from the Medieval Warm Period to the Little Ice Age, which left the population vulnerable when bad weather caused crop failures.[253] The years 1313–14 and 1317–21 were excessively rainy throughout Europe, resulting in widespread crop failures.[254] The climate change—which resulted in a declining average annual temperature for Europe during the 14th century—was accompanied by an economic downturn.[255] Execution of some of the ringleaders of the jacquerie, from a 14th-century manuscript of the Chroniques de France ou de St Denis These troubles were followed in 1347 by the Black Death, a disease that spread throughout Europe during the following three years.[256][AC] The death toll was probably about 35 million people in Europe, about one-third of the population. Towns were especially hard-hit because of their crowded conditions.[AD] Large areas of land were left sparsely inhabited, and in some places fields were left unworked. Wages rose as landlords sought to entice the reduced number of available workers to their fields. Further problems were the lower rents and lower demands for food, both of which cut into agricultural income. Urban workers also felt that they had a right to greater earnings, and popular uprisings broke out across Europe.[259] Among the uprisings were the jacquerie in France, the Peasants' Revolt in England, and revolts in the cities of Florence in Italy and Ghent and Bruges in Flanders. The trauma of the plague led to an increased piety throughout Europe, which manifested itself in the foundation of new charities, the self-mortification of the flagellants, and the scapegoating of the Jews.[260] Conditions were further unsettled by the return of the plague throughout the rest of the 14th century; it continued to strike Europe periodically during the rest of the Middle Ages.[256] Society and economy See also: 1300–1400 in European fashion and 1400–1500 in European fashion Society throughout Europe was disturbed by the dislocations caused by the Black Death. Lands that had been marginally productive were abandoned, as the survivors were able to acquire more fertile areas.[261] Although serfdom declined in Western Europe it became more common in Eastern Europe, as landlords imposed it on those of their tenants who had previously been free.[262] Most peasants in Western Europe managed to change the work they had previously owed to their landlords into cash rents.[263] The percentage of serfs amongst the peasantry declined from a high of 90 to closer to 50 per cent by the end of the period.[161] Landlords also became more conscious of common interests with other landholders, and joined together to extort privileges from their governments. Partly at the urging of landlords, governments attempted to legislate a return to the economic conditions that existed before the Black Death.[263] Non-clergy became increasingly literate, and urban populations began to imitate the nobility's interest in chivalry.[264] Jewish communities were expelled from England in 1290, and from France in 1306. Although some were allowed back into France, most were not, and many Jews emigrated eastwards, settling in Poland and Hungary.[265] The Jews were expelled from Spain in 1492, and dispersed to Turkey, France, Italy, and Holland.[73] The rise of banking in Italy during the 13th century continued throughout the 14th century, fuelled partly by the increasing warfare of the period and the needs of the papacy to move money between kingdoms. Many of the banking firms loaned money to royalty, at great risk, as some were bankrupted when kings defaulted on their loans.[266][AE] State resurgence Map of Europe in 1360 The Late Middle Ages witnessed the rise of strong, royalty-based nation states throughout Europe, particularly in England, France, and the Christian kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula: Aragon, Castile, and Portugal. The long conflicts of the later Middle Ages strengthened royal control over their kingdoms, and were extremely hard on the peasantry. Kings profited from warfare which extended royal legislation throughout their kingdoms and increased the lands they directly controlled.[267] Paying for the wars required that methods of taxation become more effective and efficient, and the rate of taxation often increased.[268] The requirement to obtain the consent of those being taxed meant that representative bodies such as the English Parliament or the French Estates General gained power and authority.[269] Joan of Arc in a 15th-century depiction Throughout the 14th century, French kings sought to expand their influence throughout the kingdom at the expense of the territorial holdings of the nobility.[270] They ran into difficulties when attempting to confiscate the holdings of the English kings in southern France, leading to the Hundred Years' War,[271] which lasted until 1453.[272] Early in the war the English under Edward III (r. 1327–77) and his son Edward, the Black Prince (d. 1376),[AF] won the battles of Crécy and Poitiers, captured the city of Calais, and won control of much of France.[AG] The resulting stresses almost caused the disintegration of the French kingdom during the early years of the war.[275] In the early 15th century, France once more came close to dissolving, but in the late 1420s the military successes of Joan of Arc (d. 1431) led to the victory of the French kings over the English and the capture of the last of the English possessions in southern France in 1453.[276] The price was high, as the population of France at the end of the Wars was likely half what it had been at the start of the conflict. Conversely, the Wars had a positive effect on English national identity, doing much to fuse the various local identities into a national English ideal. The conflict with the French also helped create a national culture in England that was separate from French culture, which had been the dominant cultural influence in England before the outbreak of the Hundred Years' War.[277] The early Hundred Years' War also saw the dominance of the English longbow,[278] and the appearance of cannon on the battlefield at Crécy in 1346.[232] In modern-day Germany, the Empire continued, but the elective nature of the imperial crown meant that there was no enduring dynasty around which a strong state could form.[279] Further east, the kingdoms of Poland, Hungary, and Bohemia grew powerful.[280] The Iberian Peninsula kingdoms continued to gain land from the Muslim kingdoms of the peninsula;[280] Portugal concentrated on expanding overseas during the 15th century, while the other kingdoms were riven by difficulties over the royal succession and other concerns.[281][282] England, after losing the Hundred Years' War, went on to suffer a long civil war known as the Wars of the Roses, which lasted into the 1490s,[282] and only ended when Henry Tudor (r. 1485–1509 as Henry VII) became king and consolidated his hold on England after his victory over Richard III (r. 1483–85) at Bosworth in 1485.[283] Scandinavia went through a period of union under the Union of Kalmar in the late 14th and early 15th centuries, but dissolved once more after the death of Margaret I of Denmark (r. in Denmark 1387–1412), who had united Norway, Denmark, and Sweden. The major power around the Baltic Sea was the Hanseatic League, a commercial confederation of city states that traded from Western Europe to Russia.[284] Scotland emerged from English domination under Robert the Bruce (r. 1306–29), who secured papal recognition of his kingship in 1328.[285] Collapse of Byzantium Main articles: Decline of the Byzantine Empire, Byzantine Empire under the Angelos dynasty, Byzantine Empire under the Palaiologos dynasty, Byzantine–Ottoman Wars and Rise of the Ottoman Empire Although the Palaeologi emperors recaptured Constantinople from the Western Europeans in 1261, they were never able to regain control of much of the former imperial lands. They usually controlled only a small section of the Balkan Peninsula near Constantinople, the city itself, and some coastal lands on the Black Sea and around the Aegean Sea. The former Byzantine lands in the Balkans were divided between the new kingdom of Serbia, the Second Bulgarian Empire and the city-state of Venice. The power of the Byzantine emperors was threatened by a new Turkish tribe, the Ottomans, who established themselves in Anatolia in the 13th century and steadily expanded throughout the 14th century. The Ottomans expanded into Europe, reducing Bulgaria to a vassal state by 1366 and taking over Serbia after its defeat at the Battle of Kosovo in 1389. Western Europeans rallied to the plight of the Christians in the Balkans and declared a new crusade in 1396; a great army was sent to the Balkans, where it was defeated at the Battle of Nicopolis.[286] Constantinople was finally captured by the Ottomans in 1453.[287] Controversy within the Church Guy of Boulogne crowning Pope Gregory XI in a miniature from Froissart's Chroniques The troubled 14th century saw the Avignon Papacy of 1305–78,[288] also called the "Babylonian Captivity of the Papacy" (a reference to the Babylonian captivity of the Jews),[289] and then the Great Schism that lasted from 1378 to 1418, when there were two, then later three, rival popes, each supported by several states.[290] In the early years of the 15th century, after a century of turmoil, ecclesiastical officials convened in Constance in 1414, and the following year the council deposed one of the rival popes, leaving only two claimants. Further depositions followed, and in November 1417 the council elected Martin V (pope 1417–31) as pope.[291] Besides the schism, the western church was riven by theological controversies, some of which turned into heresies. John Wycliffe (d. 1384), an English theologian, was condemned as a heretic in 1415 for teaching that the laity should have access to the text of the Bible as well as holding views on the Eucharist that were contrary to church doctrine.[292] Wycliffe's teachings influenced two of the major heretical movements of the later Middle Ages—Lollardy in England and Hussitism in Bohemia.[293] The Bohemians were also influenced by the teaching of Jan Hus, who was burned at the stake in 1415 after being condemned as a heretic by the Council of Constance. The Hussite church, although the target of a crusade, survived beyond the Middle Ages.[294] Other heresies were manufactured, such as the accusations against the Knights Templar that resulted in their suppression in 1312, and the division of their great wealth between the French King Philip IV (r. 1285–1314) and the Hospitallers.[295] The papacy refined the concept of transubstantiation further in the Late Middle Ages, stating that the clergy alone was allowed to partake of the wine in the Eucharist. This further distanced the secular laity from the clergy. The laity continued the practices of pilgrimages, veneration of relics, and belief in the power of the Devil. Mystics such as Meister Eckhart (d. 1327) or Thomas à Kempis (d. 1471) wrote works that taught the laity to focus on their inner spiritual life, which laid the groundwork for the Protestant Reformation. Besides mysticism, belief in witches and witchcraft became widespread, and by the late 15th century the Church had begun to lend credence to populist fears of witchcraft by its condemnation of witches in 1484 and the publication in 1486 of the Malleus Maleficarum, the most popular handbook for witch-hunters.[296] Scholars, intellectuals, and exploration The Later Middle Ages saw a reaction against scholasticism led by John Duns Scotus (d. 1308)[AH] and William of Ockham (d. c. 1348),[216] both of whom objected to the application of reason to faith. Their efforts, along with others, led to an undermining of the prevailing Platonic idea of "universals". Ockham's insistence that reason operates independently of faith allowed science to be separated from theology and philosophy.[297] Legal studies were marked by the steady advance of Roman law into areas of jurisprudence previously governed by customary law. The one exception to this trend was England, where the common law remained pre-eminent. Countries also codified their laws; legal codes were promulgated in countries as far apart as Castile, Poland, and Lithuania.[298] Clerks studying astronomy and geometry. France, early 15th century Education remained mostly focused on the training of future clergy. The basic learning of the letters and numbers remained the province of the family or a village priest, but the secondary subjects of the trivium—grammar, rhetoric, logic—were studied in cathedral schools or in schools provided by cities. Commercial secondary schools spread, and some Italian towns had more than one such enterprise. Universities also spread throughout Europe in the 14th and 15th centuries. The rise of vernacular literature increased, with Dante (d. 1321), Petrarch (d. 1374) and Giovanni Boccaccio (d. 1375) in 14th-century Italy, Geoffrey Chaucer (d. 1400) and William Langland (d. c. 1386) in England, and François Villon (d. 1464) and Christine de Pizan (d. c. 1430) in France. Much literature remained religious in character, and although a great deal of it continued to be written in Latin, a new demand developed for saints' lives and other devotional tracts in the vernacular languages.[298] This was fed by the growth of the Devotio Moderna movement, most prominently in the formation of the Brethren of the Common Life, but also in the works of German mystics such as Meister Eckhart and Johannes Tauler (d. 1361).[299] Theatre also developed in the guise of miracle plays put on by the Church.[298] At the end of the period, the development of the printing press in about 1450 led to the establishment of publishing houses throughout Europe by 1500.[300] Lay literacy rates rose, but were still low; one estimate gave a literacy rate of ten per cent of males and one per cent of females in 1500.[301] Beginning in the early 15th century, the countries of the Iberian peninsula began to sponsor exploration beyond the boundaries of Europe. Prince Henry the Navigator of Portugal (d. 1460) sent expeditions that discovered the Canary Islands, the Azores, and Cape Verde during his lifetime. After his death, exploration continued; Bartolomeu Dias (d. 1500) went around the Cape of Good Hope in 1486 and Vasco da Gama (d. 1524) sailed around Africa to India in 1498.[302] The combined Spanish monarchies of Castile and Aragon sponsored Christopher Columbus' (d. 1506) voyage of exploration in 1492 that discovered the Americas.[303] The English crown under Henry VII sponsored the voyage of John Cabot (d. 1498) in 1497, which landed on Cape Breton Island.[304] Technological and military developments One of the major developments in the military sphere during the Late Middle Ages was the increasing use of infantry and light cavalry.[305] The English also employed longbowmen, but other countries were unable to create similar forces that enjoyed the same military success.[306] Armour continued to advance, spurred on by the increasing power of crossbows, and plate armour was developed to help protect against the threat from crossbows as well as the hand-held guns that were developed.[307] Pole arms reached new prominence with the development of the Flemish and Swiss infantry armed with pikes and other long spears.[308] In agriculture, one major advance was the increasing use of sheep with long-fibred wool, which allowed a stronger thread to be spun. Also important was the replacement of the traditional distaff for spinning wool with the spinning wheel, which tripled production over hand spinning.[309][AI] A less technological refinement that still greatly affected daily life was the use of buttons as closures for garments, which allowed for better fitting without having to lace clothing on the wearer.[311] Windmills were refined with the creation of the tower mill, which allowed the upper part of the windmill to be spun around to face whichever direction the wind was blowing.[312] The blast furnace appeared around 1350 in Sweden, increasing the quantity of iron produced and improving its quality.[313] The first patent law in 1447 in Venice protected the rights of inventors to their inventions.[314] Late medieval art and architecture February scene from the 15th-century illuminated manuscript Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry The Late Middle Ages in Europe as a whole correspond to the Trecento and Early Renaissance cultural periods in Italy, although Northern Europe and Spain continued to use Gothic styles, increasingly elaborate in the 15th century, until almost the end of the period. International Gothic was a courtly style that reached much of Europe in the decades around 1400, producing masterpieces such as the Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry.[315] All over Europe secular art continued to increase in quantity and quality, and in the 15th century the mercantile classes of Italy and Flanders became important patrons, commissioning small portraits of themselves in oils as well as a growing range of luxury items such as jewellery, ivory caskets, cassone chests, and maiolica pottery. These objects also included the Hispano-Moresque ware produced by mostly Mudéjar potters in Spain. Although royalty owned huge collections of plate, little survives except for the Royal Gold Cup.[316] Italian silk manufacture developed, so that western churches and elites no longer needed to rely on imports from Byzantium or the Islamic world. In France and Flanders tapestry weaving of sets like The Lady and the Unicorn became a major luxury industry.[317] The large external sculptural schemes of Early Gothic churches gave way to more sculpture inside the building, as tombs became more elaborate and other features such as pulpits were sometimes lavishly carved, as in the Pulpit by Giovanni Pisano in Sant'Andrea. Painted or carved wooden relief altarpieces became common, especially as churches created many side-chapels. Early Netherlandish painting by artists such as Jan van Eyck (d. 1441) and Rogier van der Weyden (d. 1464) rivalled that of Italy, as did northern illuminated manuscripts, which in the 15th century began to be collected on a large scale by secular elites, who also commissioned secular books, especially histories. From about 1450 printed books rapidly became popular, though still expensive. There were around 30,000 different editions of incunabula, or works printed before 1500,[318] by which time illuminated manuscripts were commissioned only by royalty and a few others. Very small woodcuts, nearly all religious, were affordable even by peasants in parts of Northern Europe from the middle of the 15th century. More expensive engravings supplied a wealthier market with a variety of images.[319] Modern perceptions See also: Dark Ages (historiography) Medieval illustration of the spherical Earth in a 14th-century copy of L'Image du monde The medieval period is frequently caricatured as a "time of ignorance and superstition" that placed "the word of religious authorities over personal experience and rational activity."[320] This is a legacy from both the Renaissance and Enlightenment, when scholars contrasted their intellectual cultures with those of the medieval period, to the detriment of the Middle Ages. Renaissance scholars saw the Middle Ages as a period of decline from the high culture and civilisation of the Classical world; Enlightenment scholars saw reason as superior to faith, and thus viewed the Middle Ages as a time of ignorance and superstition.[13] Others argue that reason was generally held in high regard during the Middle Ages. Science historian Edward Grant writes, "If revolutionary rational thoughts were expressed [in the 18th century], they were only made possible because of the long medieval tradition that established the use of reason as one of the most important of human activities".[321] Also, contrary to common belief, David Lindberg writes, "the late medieval scholar rarely experienced the coercive power of the church and would have regarded himself as free (particularly in the natural sciences) to follow reason and observation wherever they led".[322] The caricature of the period is also reflected in some more specific notions. One misconception, first propagated in the 19th century[323] and still very common, is that all people in the Middle Ages believed that the Earth was flat.[323] This is untrue, as lecturers in the medieval universities commonly argued that evidence showed the Earth was a sphere.[324] Lindberg and Ronald Numbers, another scholar of the period, state that there "was scarcely a Christian scholar of the Middle Ages who did not acknowledge [Earth's] sphericity and even know its approximate circumference".[325] Other misconceptions such as "the Church prohibited autopsies and dissections during the Middle Ages", "the rise of Christianity killed off ancient science", or "the medieval Christian church suppressed the growth of natural philosophy", are all cited by Numbers as examples of widely popular myths that still pass as historical truth, although they are not supported by current historical research.[326] |
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