Universitat Internacional de Catalunya - Barcelona

Medieval Culture

• code 10740
• course 1
• term Semester 2
• type OB
• credits 9

Main language of instruction: Spanish

Other languages of instruction: Catalan

Head instructor

Dr. Xavier BARÓ - xbaro@uic.es

Office hours

By appointment

This course aims to present the main features of the medieval world in Europe and North Africa, from the fall of the Western Roman Empire (Rome) to the fall of the Eastern Roman Empire (Constantinople).

No prerequisites are needed to enrol in this course.

- To acknowledge and interpret the main keys that shape European and North African Medieval culture.

- To distinguish and appreciate the continuities and breaks that can be seen in different cultural manifestations from the 5th to the 15th century.

- To confirm the great presence of these cultural features nowadays.

• E01 - Ability to provide a humanistic/cultural vision to other sciences or methods.
• E04 - Ability to recognise and interpret cultural manifestations.
• E08 - To distinguish and understand the structures of different cultural systems.
• E11 - Ability to interpret data and relate it to appropriate theories.
• E12 - To acquire knowledge and understanding of imaginary, iconic and symbolic languages and their representation.
• E13 - To acquire knowlege of the general diachronic framework of the past.
• E15 - Ability to identify and value the different elements which make up cultural heritage.
• E22 - To acquire knowledge of and the ability to use data collection instruments (biliographic catalogues, inventory archives, documentary sources, electronic sources, etc).
• E27 - Ability to work in multicultural contexts.
• E33 - Ability to relate concepts of heritage, homeland and cultural identity.
• E34 - Ability to create educational resources in the Cultural sphere.
• G01 - To analyse and interpret social and cultural environments to identify need, opportunities, weaknesses and strenghts..
• G02 - To lead, cooordinate and form part of interdisciplinary work teams.
• G03 - To search for and/or administer economic resources within the framework of an institution or company, or a cultural programmes, project or service.
• G05 - To act responsibly and produce high-quality, rigorous and efficient work that benefits society.
• G07 - To know how to apply and adapt to new technologies in processes of cultural management, production and dissemination.
• G08 - Ability to carry out research.
• G11 - Ability to work in an international context.

1. The student acquires key concepts about culture and cultural experiences.
2. The student applies theoretical knowledge in analysis and face-to-face discussions and independent activities.
3. The student knows and selects specific documentation on cultural experiences.
4. The student practices teamwork strategies.
5. The student learns to contextualise cultural phenomena and connects them to their social and political dimension.
6. The student connects concepts from different materials worked transversally.
7. The student learns to diagnose problems in the cultural intellectual field.
8. The student applies/transfers theoretical and/or abstract concepts from each the topic to real situations.
9. The student reads and analyses essays on current topics.
10. The student writes narrative and descriptive texts.
11. The student analyses and diagnoses cases of cultural complexity.
12. The student organises data and/or scattered information.

HISTORY

The disappearance of the Western Roman Empire and the creation of the Barbarian kingdoms.

The expansion of Christianity.

The continuity of the Eastern Roman Empire.

The emergence and expansion of Islam.

Feudalism.

The Crusades.

The recovery of urban life. Causes and consequences.

The expansion of feudal commerce.

Consolidation of monarchies and construction of the first national states. From feudal monarchies to authoritarian monarchies.

War, feudal income and popular revolts in Gothic Europe. The Hundred Years’ War.

The global crisis of the 14th century.

Moral and spiritual crisis in the Europe of the Late Middle Ages. The precedents of the Religious Reformation.

Art

1. Introduction (1 class). The concept of medieval art. The periodisation of medieval art: the problem of styles. The protagonists of medieval art: the promoters (royalty and aristocracy, the Church, the guilds and the brotherhoods, the bourgeoisie). Artists-craftsmen. The image in the Middle Ages and its function.

2. From the art of the world of the Late Empire to the 10th century (2 classes).

2.1. The art of the late Empire and the first Christian art. The formulation of the sacred space: the basilicas, the martyria, the baptisteries, the mausoleums. The birth of Christian figuration: the catacombs and sarcophagi.

2.2. Byzantine art. The emperor and his court in Constantinople. The irradiation of the empire: Ravenna and Greece. The iconoclasm. The illumination of books and the sumptuous arts.

2.3. The art of Barbarians. Visigoth Hispania: the churches and their topographical organisation. The sumptuary art of the Visigoths: the treasures. The art of the British Isles.

2.4. Carolingian art. The Carolingian renaissance and the renovatio romani imperii. The liturgical reform. The development of religious architecture: transepts, westworks, crypts. The Carolingian scriptoria.

2.5. The art of the Ottoman dynasty.

2.6. The art of the Asturian monarchy: architecture and sumptuous arts.

3. Romanesque art (3 classes).

3.1. The architecture of Europe in the 11th, 12th and 13th century: architectural models, the articulation of the walls, constructive technique: the great contributions.

3.2. Sculpture: from the first reliefs to the cloisters and the great historical portals. Sculpture on wood: imagery and religious furniture.

3.3. Painting and miniature. The mural painting of the apses: the theophanies. Featured pictorial ensembles. The great scriptoria of the 11th and 12th century. The garment and liturgical clothing. The sumptuous arts.

4. Gothic art (4 classes).

4.1. Gothic or Gothics. Changes in spirituality: towards a more human conception of God.

4.2. Architecture: The technical advances, the symbolism of light and the rise of the first Gothic cathedrals in Ille de France. The French model and its expansion throughout Europe. The Southern Gothic. Italy: Pisa, Siena, Florence. England.

4.3. Sculpture and painting in the 12th and 13th century: the decoration of façades. Nicola and Giovanni Pisano in Tuscany of the Duecento and Trecento. Liturgical furniture and liturgical objects. French painting and miniature of the 13th century, the linear Gothic and its irradiation.

4.4. The crisis of the 14th century. The architecture of southern Gothic. The sculpture of the Three Hundred: altarpieces and imagery, funerary sculpture. The flourishing of the Tuscan Trecento: the Florentine and Sienese innovations in painting and its influence outside of Italy.

4.5. The end of the Gothic: political and social context. The modern devotio. The architecture of Flamboyant Gothic. The international Gothic in the arts of colour and sculpture. The flamenco gothic: towards a new realism.

LITERATURE

1-. Medieval epic

2-. Chivalric narrative

3-. Medieval lyric poetry

4-. Drama

5.- Short narrative

6-. Dante, Petrarch and Italian humanism

7-. Dance of Death

8-. Fifteenth-century poetry

PHILOSOPHY

1. Preliminary questions:

    a) The concept of ‘medieval philosophy’.

    b) Translatio studiorum.

    c) The place of religion in medieval philosophy.

    d) Christianity and philosophy.

 2. Patristic philosophy and the transition from the ancient to the medieval world

    a) The Apostolic Fathers, the apologists and Gnosticism.

    b) Splendour of the Latin Patristic: St. Augustine of Hippo.

    c) The last patristic: Pseudo-Dionysius Aeropagita and John of Damascus.

 3. From Patristics to Scholastics.

   a) The last Roman and the first scholastic: Boethius.

   b) The Carolingian Renaissance: John Scotus Eriugena.

   c) Dialectics in the 11th century: St. Anselm of Canterbury.

   d) Urban schools: Chartres, Saint Victor.

   e) The problem of Universals: Peter Abelard.

4. Muslim and Jewish Philosophy (10th century -11th century)

   a) Eastern Islam (Avicenna) and Western Islam (Averroes).

   b) The Jewish philosophy: Avicebron and Maimonides.

5. Scholastic Philosophy

   a) The scholastic philosophical corpus: fides et ratio.

   b) The University and the first professors: Paris and Oxford.

   c) Splendour of Scholasticism: St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Bonaventure.

6. Crisis and decline of medieval philosophy (13th century -14th century)

    a) The 1277 Condemnation of Paris: John Duns Scotus.

    b) William of Ockham and ‘Ockhamism’.

In this course we will combine the theoretical sessions of topic lectures by the group of professors and the practical sessions (reading of texts, analysis of sources, discussions, etc.).

HISTORY

10% Class attendance ad participation.

40% Written essay.

50% Final exam.  

LITERATURE

Exam (75%)

Written essay and oral presentation (25%)

PHILOSOPHY

Final exam (85%)

Class attendance and participation (15%)

ART

Final exam (60%)

Writen exercices: 3 commentaries and 1 review (40%)

HISTORY

AVENTÍN, MERCÈ i SALRACH, JOSEP M. Història medieval de Catalunya. Barcelona: Edicions de la Universitat Oberta de Catalunya i Proa, 1998. 

BARÓ I QUERALT, X. Introducció a la historiografia bizantina a través dels seus textos. Barcelona: Casa de l’Est, 2012.

DIVERSOS AUTORS. Textos comentados de época medieval (siglos V al XII). Barcelona: Teide, 1982.

GANSHOF, FRANÇOIS LOUIS. El feudalismo. Barcelona: Ariel, 1985.

JULIÁ, J.R. Atlas de historia universal. Tomo I: De los orígenes a las crisis del siglo XVII. Barcelona: Planeta, 2000.

HALPHEN, LOUIS. Carlomagno y el imperio carolingio. Madrid: Akal, 1992.

HEERS, JACQUES. La primera cruzada. Barcelona: Andrés Bello, 1997.

LUNA-BATLLE, XAVIER. Textos històrics catalans, segles XII al XVIII. Barcelona: Publicacions de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 1999.

MITRE, EMILIO. Historia de la Edad Media en Occidente. Madrid: Cátedra, 1999.

OSTROGORSKY, GEORG. Historia del estado bizantino. Madrid: Akal, 1984.

PIRENNE, HENRI. Las ciudades de la Edad Media. Madrid: Alianza Editorial, 2001.

PHILOSOPHY

Aersten, J.La Filosofía Medieval y los trascendentales. Pamplona: Eunsa, 2003.

De Libera, A. La Filosofía Medieval. Valencia: PUV, 2006.

Fernández, C. Los filósofos medievales. Selección de textos. Vol.I y II. Madrid: BAC, 1979.

Flasch, K. El pensament filosòfic a l’Edat Mitjana. D’Agustí a Maquiavel. Santa Coloma de Queralt: Edèndum, 2006.

Fortuny, F. De Lucreci a Ockham. Perspectives de l’Edat Mitjana. Barcelona: Anthropos, 1992.

Gilson, E. La filosofía en la Edad Media, Madrid: Gredos, 1974.

Guerrero, R. Historia de la Filosofía Medieval. Madrid: Akal, 1996.

Guerrero, R. Filosofías árabe y judía. Madrid: Síntesis, 2001

Jaeger, W. Cristianismo primitivo y paideia griega. México: FCE, 1975.

Mitre Fernández, E (Ed.) Historia del cristianismo. Vol. II. El mundo medieval. Madrid: Trotta, 2004

Reale, G, Antiseri, D. Historia del pensamiento filosófico y científico. Vol.I Antigüedad y Edad Media. Barcelona: Herder, 1995.

Saranyana, J.I. La filosofía medieval. Desde sus orígenes patrísticos hasta la escolástica barroca. Pamplona: Eunsa, 2011.

ART (bibliografia bàsica) 

Bango Torviso, I.; Abad, C. (1996). Arte medieval I. Madrid: Historia 16.

Bango Torviso, I. (1989). El Arte de la Alta Edad Media. Madrid : Anaya

Belting, H. (2007). Imagen y culto : una historia de la imagen anterior a la era del arte. Madrid : Akal

Conant, K. J. (1987). Arquitectura carolingia y románica, 800-1200. Madrid : Cátedra.

Erlande-Brandenburg, A. (1993). La Catedral. Madrid : Akal.

Erlande-Brandenburg, A. (1992) El arte gótico. Madrid: Akal

Schapiro, M., & Balseiro, M. L. (1984). Estudios sobre el románico. Madrid : Alianza.

Williamson, P. (1997). Escultura gótica : 1140-1300. Madrid : Cátedra.

Yarza Luaces, J. (1979). Arte y arquitectura en España 500-1250. Madrid : Cátedra.

Yarza Luaces, J. (1992). Baja edad media : los siglos del gótico. Madrid : Sílex.

LITERATURE

 ALIGHIERI, Dante: Divina Comedia. Edición bilingüe; introducción y traducción de Ángel Crespo, Barcelona, Seix Barral, 2004, 3 vols.

AQUINO, Santo Tomás de: Suma de Teología, Madrid, Biblioteca de autores cristianos, 1990.

BARBIERI, Francisco Asenjo: Cancionero Musical del los siglos XV y XVI, Málaga, Monte Mar, 1987.

CASTILLO, Hernando del: Cancionero General, Editorial Castalia, Madrid, 2004.

CÁTEDRA, Pedro M.: Liturgia, poesía y teatro en la Edad Media, Madrid, Gredos, 2005.

CURTIUS, Ernest Robert: Literatura europea y Edad Media Latina, México, Fondo de Cultura Económica, 1955, 2 vols.

FRENK, Margit: Estudios sobre lírica antigua, Madrid, Castalia, 1978.

HUIZINGA, Johan: El otoño de la Edad Media, Madrid, Alianza, 1982.

MÂLE, Émile: El arte religioso del siglo XII al siglo XVIII, México, Fondo de Cultura Económico, 1966.

MENÉNDEZ PIDAL, Ramón: Textos medievales españoles, Madrid, Espasa-Calpe, 1976.

MENÉNDEZ Y PELAYO, Marcelino: Antología de poetas líricos castellanos, Barcelona, Océano, 1999.

RICO, Francisco: El sueño del humanismo, Barcelona, Destino, 2002.

SAN AGUSTÍN: Obras Completas, Madrid, Biblioteca de autores cristianos, 1994.

YNDURÁIN, Domingo: Humanismo y Renacimiento en España, Madrid, Cátedra, 1994.