On the Eve of the Reformation

The basic realities  Lack of security of persons and of property: Chauvigny; CarcassoneChauvignyCarcassone  Despite the apparently unified nature of western Europe in respect to Christianity, the continent was deeply divided politically ;

Population and Economy  Population Population  Economy: –Overwhelmingly agricultural and villages agricultural and villagesagricultural and villages –Feudal: no sense of public property; private armies secured by personal oaths of allegiance –Church ownership significant amounts of land Church

Higher Culture  Universities. Yes, primarily for the study of theology, philosophy, law, medicine --all directed at the support and/or service of ecclesiastical and civil authorities. Universities  Lecture room; sample Lecture sample

Aristotle Why was he important? And why was his vision of the material world so dominant?  Offered a comprehensive cosmology that was consistent with the intuitive  Perspective was consistent with Church dogma

Methodology  basic: define the issue, review the generally accepted views about the subject (thanks to this element we know something about atomism and other "deviant" schemes), present own arguments and conclusions  the dialectic: arguing from first principles (and these might be wrong! movement of planets must be circular) and empiricism

Significance  The important point here is that the re- discovery of Aristotle (and of Greek science in general) in the 12th Century was a powerful stimulus to intellectual development all across Europe. The most important aspect of this problem was simply the translation from Greek and Arabic of all of the Greek texts on science, culture and law.  The major consequence was Aristotle gained the status of a virtual saint in the Church. To dispute Aristotle (something the ancients had done) came to be construed as "heresy".