What is culture? Culture is defined as the success and achievements of a group based on social interactions, art, and customs. When it comes to a general understanding of culture, it is easy to say that culture was adopted from interaction and colonization of other regions in order to gain awareness and understanding through means of exploration. Lifestyle, language, customs often stem from beliefs and values, though again, this is guided behavior, but is what is manifested through outlooks and attitudes towards others. Cultures can be mixed, hence, different beliefs can be adopted and mixed, such as Greco-Romans adopting from Egyptians, and medieval Europe adopting from Greco-Romans. I find that culture in medieval Europe was adopted from expansion and the intermix of other belief systems, thus the manifestation of trade, architecture, religion, and literature in its culture.
During the growth and expansion of trade in medieval Europe, trade was revived in the eleventh century, and has played an important element in the cultural development of medieval Europe. This all began when “Europe’s knights…had a strong demand for luxury goods, both locally manufactured products and imported goods such as silks and spices from Asia” Bishops also had similar demands, which brought about the re-discovery of trade amongst other nations (433, World History). Markets began to set up near cathedrals, and that’s where farmers would sell produce while merchants would sell other goods. Merchants would travel to different nations through trading routes to receive metals, silks, and other luxuries that did not exist in medieval Europe at the time.
They would also invest in importing iron, copper, wool, timber, oil, and salt. Trade helped with population increase and the exploration of other cultures across the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, Germany, Asia, Britain, Spain, and many other nations, though it also cause “raids by pirates (most of whom were Arab Muslims from North Africa)” to invade and force “Italy to build effective navies” some of which were the strongest (433, World History). Much of this success was certainly introduced during early time periods such as during the Golden Age of Greece. Greece was home to seafarers and thus would spread out and trade in regions such as Italy, North Africa and Asia Minor, they would trade in hopes of having access to oil, wine, silver, and bronze.
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In Egypt it is not clear as to whether or not trade was consistent, but it was evident that the columns they created were made from granite found in Egypt. Overall, trade was important during the Golden Age of Greece and shaped its culture by exposing it to luxuries that may not have been available to them. For instance, the dry masonry technique and sculpture making in Ancient Greek was adopted from Egyptians. Egyptians would use dry masonry techniques in order to build pyramids on a monumental scale, and Greeks thus adopted this in order to build massive temples.
The Classical Period also allowed for a dramatic sense of pride in Greece; a sense of reassurance that allowed for them to gain confidence and national pride. This ties back to medieval Europe because they were the period of reviving trade and reconnecting prior routes and connections already established in Ancient Greece, they were able to expand and gain knowledge of other cultures and adopt those customs.
Next is the importance of architecture in medieval Europe. It is important to note that without the discovery of the barrel vault system from the Greco-Romans, they would not have been able to build on a monumental scale. Romanesque architecture and Gothic architecture were the main foundations for medieval Europe. Romanesque architecture centered the use of barrel vaulting system and round arches, this meant the creation of giant decorative corinthian columns that acted as support beams to hold up structures. Round arches meant that the circular shape could reflect sound and allow for the choir to project, but it also meant that there was a lack of windows and natural light inside.
Gothic architecture was inspired from the Romanesque architecture and there was a desire to build on an even grander scale. The Gothics used the groin vault system and the pointed arch system. The groin vault is the use of combining two barrel vaults to create more space for natural light. Natural light was highly important to architects because it was seen as divine light from God. When stepping foot into a Cathedral, there is a different atmosphere for citizens, especially for the poor; they see the Cathedral as a place close to heaven and close to God, it is a place where none of their hardships should exist (The Age of Gothics). The large windows allowed for the creation of stain glasses, stain glasses were very important factor that added to the importance of light and relics, many would see their relics on stain glasses and could admire them and connect in that sense.
Next, you have that Gothic architecture was the first to use the flying buttress system to support and hold up external structures that way indoor columns could be minimized and crafted on a smaller scale rather than having large divided columns that inclosed people. Leaner columns meant a more spacious Cathedral, which meant that more people could feel unified rather than separate. The idea of architecture connects back the Golden Age of Greece due to the same instance, art and architecture was “flourishing” during the Golden Age and propelled the Greeks forward (199, World History).
One monument that the Greeks created that used a structure adopted by medieval Europe would by the Parthenon. The Parthenon was created in Athens to honor the growing Athenian pride over their victory during the Persian War and restoration of Greek pride in all city-states. The Parthenon was crafted with outer doric columns and a facade of eight columns to make it appear grander and larger. The internal plan of the Parthenon is what is used in medieval European churches. There’s the cella, back porch, a long strip of walkway, and large internal columns that held up the structure. While medieval Cathedrals had the same layout only they replaced the back porch with a chapel and the cella became the nave.
It’s very easy to say that medieval Europe adopted and accommodated the essential flooring plans crafted by the Greeks in their work, even though it is said they drew inspiration from the Romans, when the Romans invaded Greece they took much of their techniques such as barrel vaulting and rounded arches. This is an example of adoption of culture because you can see that these structures, if put side by side are similar in many ways, they posses the same basic blueprint, and although made at different points in time, they would not exist without one another.
Religion is very much something that is an adopted belief system. The whole point of religion is to spread the teachings of your God. For example, when it came to Muhammad, he believed himself to be the messenger of God and spread the word of Allah throughout many different regions and would convert muslims. And, in the case of Christianity, you have the story of Jesus and his disciples being the messengers of God and spreading Christianity throughout all regions. When it comes to religion in medieval Europe, it is evident that Christianity is very important, the expansion of Christendom was started by “those peoples and nations of the world that embraced the Christian religion, as a community sharing common ideals and assumptions” and Christianity was very important and representative of the populace; many towns built Cathedrals to demonstrate their love for God and Christianity in itself (437, World History).
They aimed to spread Christianity in Spain and Muslim based territories. I find that this related back to the Golden Age of Greece, because it was a type of expansion and they were overtaking Persia and spreading their own polytheistic views of religion onto persian; therefore, I see this idea of representing religion and spreading it to be important. Their religion spread to Romans, and it wasn’t until Constantinople that Christianity really became a thing for Greco-Romans, but again, it’s the idea of spreading beliefs that is very relevant. Religion is often what people say makes up culture because it is apart of your belief and understanding; it is what makes up a person.
Lastly, we have the importance of literature and philosophy that is prevalent in the making of culture. For medieval Europe, most people were taught to focus on religious works–some secular works would focus on history and would be written in prose. As for philosophy, it was a time for many to “apply the tools of logic…to the study of the Bible” because it was clear and evident that there was more to life; there was the aftermath and this led to the study and interest in scholars such as Aristotle (451). There was this center, although focused on Christianity, there was still this acknowledgement of what comes next and how everything is composed. I believe in Ancient Greece, during the Golden Age, this was the time for intellectual growth and curiosity–the era of the scholars. There were individuals such as Homer who wrote the Odyssey and set the standard idea of pride in unity.
It is what led to written works set in prose, prose being a form adopted by medieval Europe. Though for the Golden Age, they wrote many tradies, comedies, and philosophical studies, and had individuals such as Sophocles who “tackled contemporary issues through integrating them” in his tragedies (202). He, just as Euripides, had a dark sense of the world, and pondered the reality of man, life, and death through means of darkness and twisted perspective, but his teachings were so crucial to the understanding of man. Without him, individuals such as Aristotle would not have existed, and medieval Europe would not have been able to create a foundation in literature and philosophy. Thus, again, the importance of culture. Culture being the teachings and beliefs instilled onto others through concepts such as literature and philosophy to spread ideology and promote social interactions.
Overall, I find that culture is creation and spreading of ideology of one place to another. It is the understanding of the foundations that are built up to make a group who they are. It is the art, the architecture, the religion, the literature, and the philosophy that act as a regions make up; it is what sets them apart and teaches others about them. It is what can be rejected or accepted to make other communities stronger. We, to this day, study the culture of ancient Greece, Rome, Egypt, and medieval Europe. It is so we can understand and see how it applies to our own times from an intellectual point of interaction. Culture is important from all perspectives, and it is what cannot be described nor ignored.
References
- Medieval economic origins – Britannica
- Economic and Social Changes in the High Middle Ages – Lumen Learning
- What Is Medieval European Culture? – ThoughtCo
- Daily Life in the Middle Ages – University of Wisconsin-Madison
- Archaeological Finds in Hamburg Hint at Monastic Trade Route – Spiegel
- Medieval Goods, Trade &
