High Middle Ages

Europe and set the informal beginning for what we would call the Middle Ages. But did the once mighty Roman influence in Europe come to a bitter end with the sack of Rome in 476, or did their influence run in continuity with the cultural themes arising within the early medieval…

has continued even to today. This is evident in the types of punishments used and the methods of determining guilt and innocence. Continuity and change is apparent in the punishments that were used in the medieval times. Punishments used in the Middle Ages were cruel, severe or humiliating. Mutilation was a common practice for most crimes. A thief usually had a hand cut off (Tim Nash, The Finer…

Italian Renaissance (ital. Rinascimento-"rebirth" or "born again") – a period in the history of European culture, which replaced the culture of the Middle Ages and the previous culture of modern times. Renaissance art emerged based on humanism-- currents of public thought, which originated in the XIV century. In Italy, and then during the second half of the XV and XVI centuries spread to other European countries. Humanism is proclaimed the highest value of man and his benefit. The followers of…

this time period was a prominent distinction from the Middle Ages. The Renaissance was a period distinct from the Middle Ages by portraying humanistic philosophies in art, developing highly individualized styles, and discovering new scientific theories that revolutionized the way of thinking. As the grip of supernaturalism began to diminish, human interests became more prominent. The Renaissance…

and society, to ensure safety. Essentially, the clothing and objects that lepers were pushed to use, marks the humiliation they endured because of society’s fear regarding contagion. However, the treatment of lepers created out of fear in the high middle ages may not have been so cruel in comparison to other forms of…

features the retrieved letters of Jewish traders from the High Middle Ages. Although to the regular non-historian, this topic might be slightly bland; to the Historian, remaining letters from what were considered the normal people of society in the Middle Ages is invaluable information for analysis. This is because by understanding the culture and the nature of the relationships between traders and their masters back during the middle ages, a Historian will be able to…

So it was that early in the middle ages, a small town banded together and created one of the greatest Christian sanctuaries the world has ever known. In many ways, it would set the standard for all other gothic cathedrals: It is the Cathedral of Our Lady of Chartres. Chartres Cathedral stands on a hill above the river Eure, in the town of Chartres. Its spires rise like beacons on the horizon, and can bee seen miles away. Today, its majestic carved towers and facades project a mediaeval…

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of greatness, it was the epoch of death, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of fine dining and hope, it was the winter of disease and despair, they had everything before them, they had nothing before them. 1 “In the Early Middle Ages, the production and consumption of food were closely linked despite the presence of the market,…

homosexuals and others who do not obey the laws of Nature and God should be "deprived of the sign of love." While opposition and persecution where the principle themes of the treatment of homosexuality during the Middle Ages, the scholarly rationale for this opposition was widely varied. In his eleventh-century book Liber Gomorrhianus, or the Book of Gommorah, Benedictine monk and Cardinal Peter Damian presents perhaps one of the severe persecutions of homosexuality. While Aquinas'…

His rule included new ideologies and virtues regarding the Rule for monks and the Role of the Abbot. In 1209 a new religious order was approved by the Pope Innocent III. This order was founded and ruled by Francis of Assisi, 1182-1226, which was one of the three orders of Saint Francis. The First Order, regarded as Order of Friars Minor or simply “Franciscans” are mendicant men, people who practice and live in poverty. The Second Order, the Poor Clares, are the religious sisters of order or nuns…