Medieval Era Synthesis Ash.P4.t5

The uprising of the new middle class comprised of tradesmen shook the power of the aristocracy during the Medieval Period. During the Anglo-Saxon Era, there was a great need to protect the nation’s land from invaders. Citizens could not move up in class, and only the necessities were purchased and utilized. However, as chivalry and became more valued and invasions became less frequent, the cultural transition from the Anglo-Saxon Era to the Medieval Era became more prominent. A shift in the cultural needs encouraged Medieval Europeans to partake in trade, rather than agricultural production and protection of land. This resulted in more urbanization of towns and the mixing of different cultures. As new art, music, crafts, and other goods were introduced into society, people also became more literate. The portrayal of Medieval Europeans in literature that were once bound to the feudal system but now rising up in class proved evident in the epic poems in the style of chansons de geste. In the poem, Geste du roi, Charlemagne’s feudal subjects revolt against him, depicting the prominent transition from the feudal system into the Medieval Era. Along with the creation of poetry and literature, more time was devoted to trade and intellectual thinking rather than physical labor in the crop fields. Scholars prospered, and an increased amount of people would read for their own pleasure, play musical instruments, and learn new skills, among other intellectual activities. As people of this class became more learned and skilled, their wealth and the desire to flaunt these new-found riches increased. The demand for more luxuries and caused the economy to flourish.

Medieval Synthesis Asher Period 2 Team 2

Like in research question number nine stated, many numbers of peasant class apprenticed out to a craftsman apprentices during the medieval period. Many portions of the apprentices went to architectural area to build houses, buildings and many more. From Greek/Roman era, buildings were usually built with stones and took many days to build a building. But during the medieval period, material to build a building has changed to wood. Medieval era continued to have the wood structured buildings as the Anglo-Saxons did. One of the reasons that this era chose to build building was that it was very hard to find an architect and workers who used stone. Two other advantages of using wood structure were that it was cheap and the quality was a surplus. The growth in demand of wood structures, people put in varieties of art work into the wood pieces. Art works such as patterns or shapes were drawn on the wood to express their era’s beauty and culture. Interior designs were important as well. During this era, city hall interiors were designed from bottom to top. In the city hall, the lower part of walls is covered with wainscots and the upper parts are decorated by the paintings. The ease of curving and shaping patterns on wood attracted to have many architects than during the Greek/Roman era. The beauty of making a building with wood comes from more detailed patterns than from the stone. The rapidity of building a house with wood element made quick and easy which meant more money and smoother economic flow. This medieval art made the future to develop more patterns on architect designs.

Asher T8.P2 Synthesis Question

The Medieval Period was a time of unique growth and new ideas that led to the emergence of a new class of people through the advances of the time. The economy changed the way people acted and how they viewed the world, exposing new art that helped the tradesman class and consequently, the economy.

During this period there had been a strict feudal system and aristocracy, but when the Magna Carta was signed in 1215, limiting the king’s power and separating him from the church, the townspeople gained independence and were able to prosper due to their independent classes. Because of this new freedom, the merchants and artisans began exploring new opportunities and embracing their ideas. Ideas were formulated and became influential inventions such as tools to help agriculture, in turn, advancing farming and increasing products produced and sold in town.

Through charters people could regulate their own business and form a money-based economy with coins as currency. Trade increased as more people learned to read, with more leisure time they could enjoy books in many different languages and styles, which helped when signing business papers and reading contracts. This free time people now had without worry or the pressure of their class allowed hem to reflect on life and interpret things differently, which is conveyed through the art of the Medieval Period.

Art changed in the Medieval period, becoming more Gothic, which is shown in many cathedrals as they shifted from the Roman style architecture, as their towers appeared to reach up towards God. For example, the Chartres Cathedral depicts this new art for with natural representations of people as well as high pointed towers. Sculptures often depicted religion and paintings religious scenes, which show the high influence of the Catholic Church. Stained glass also became a common design in architecture during this economic prosperity. Paintings such as Duccio’s Maestà alterpiece for Siena Cathedral was a new kind of painting known as panel painting which became popular in this period.

This new age of economic success was due to a larger and more independent tradesman class that had advanced systems of trading through inventions and change in social status. Although the Catholic Church was still the highest absolute power, people had more freedoms to express themselves in art that reflected the thoughts of the Medieval Period.

synthesis question Asher p2 t4

In Medieval period, improvement in agricultural tools, such as the heavy plow and the innovation of new methods for harnessing animal power enabled farmers to work effectively and use less labor. The innovations in agriculture and development of population resulted in great increase on availability of products and consumption of materials. As people’s lives became better and better, especially in good quantity and quality of food they had to sustain their families, more people moved to cities and started trades, burgeoning urbanization and growth of markets. The chain reaction of improved economy allowed many people to raise their standards of living: these people then became an independent and wealthy class. The tradesmen were respected by both the church and the noblemen, and they were famous for their feats. One of the most outstanding Gothic Sculptures was Chartres Cathedral, which also functioned as an important marketplace for tradesmen. Before the Gothic cathedral was built, Chartres was a place of pilgrimage, and its main focus was devotions of pilgrims. The central theme of the Royal Portal of Chartres Cathedral is Christ en Majesté, which represented harmony, grace and elegance. The architects used remarkable innovations such as flying buttresses and stone vaulted ceiling instead of flammable wood and hay roofs, and tradesmen inscribed their names on the stones within the cathedral. Many different commercial activities centered around it, especially during some regular fairs. Textiles, meat, vegetables, wine, and fuel and were all sold around Chartres cathedral. Not only as a representative of Gothic Sculpture, Chartres Cathedral also played an important role in economy with the influence of tradesmen.

Asher.p2.t1.medieval period

Asher.p2.t1.medieval period

by Brianna Loo, Calvin Chan, Christina Yang, Jane Lu (Period 2, Team 1)

During the Medieval Period, small communities, where a central lord offered protection to all the peasants working his land, were formed. As the feudal system grew, it brought a unifying order by creating an orderly structure. Likewise, the fact that there was only one church—the Catholic Church—furthered unified the continent of Europe during this time period. This directly contrasts the Anglo-Saxon era where there was a sort of religious crisis as, although the Anglo-Saxons stated they believed in Christianity, many still held onto their Pagan beliefs.

Consequently, this order allowed peddlers, the earliest merchants, to go from village to village selling their goods to the peasants and lords who were also able to expand their farms. These merchants were one class of tradesmen and after they became familiar with the complex ways of trading and accounting, they rapidly became savvy businessmen who reaped in the wealth. Other tradesmen, such as the blacksmith or barber, also became quite wealthy by forming guilds that regulated prices and controlled quality, and acquiring higher levels of education to become true masters of their trade in order to complete the vital tasks that normal people could not perform but could not live without either.

This flourishing of the tradesmen class is demonstrated by Petrus Christus’s The Goldsmith (circa 1449), a painting where a goldsmith (another type of tradesmen) is negotiating the price of a wedding ring with a young couple of noble standing. Although the goldsmith’s outfit is a simple, the gown’s scarlet color and the fact that it is lined with fur is a clear depiction of his economic prosperity and wealth.

ashp4t3 Medieval Era Synthesis #2

2. In the year 1066, King William the Conqueror took over England in the Battle of Hastings; an even that marked the beginning of a new zeitgeist. With him, King William brought the feudal system which had the knight’s code of chivalry as a cornerstone. This new system brought high respect and honor to the ones in the social high classes including the aristocrats who controlled most of the economic structure of the society. The aristocrats were the only ones to create the grandest works and because of their wealth, they were able to influence the creation of the immensely intricate buildings of the Gothic Movement. Another example is that the Church also initiated the Crusades which ultimately led to a merchant class of tradesmen. Through this class, the arts began to spread throughout the society and reach the masses as they vividly described bloody battles and their high value of the knight’s code of chivalry. However, not all tradesmen wrote about knights’ valor, as others wrote about life experiences they encountered. A clear example is seen through Geoffrey Chaucer and his exemplary work The Canterbury Tales. Chaucer’s last name derives from the French word chausseur which means “shoemaker,” probably his family’s specific trade. Although he may not have been of the elite social classes, his writings of a compilation of short stories appealed to the common people since they were able to connect with his work. Over all, the arts of the Medieval Era directly reflected the artist; the grander the art, the more elite the artist. Tradesmen such as Chaucer did have an impact on the foundation of aristocracy though, as his art of literature appealed to just as many, if not more, people.

Asher.P4.T6. Medieval Era Synthesis Answer #2

The expansion of the Mediterranean trading routes in Europe, in addition to the steep rise in population of the High Middle Ages, added to the transition of a primarily agrarian society to a newly found focus in building the popularity of towns. The art found in everyday objects created by the Medieval townspeople speaks to the societal clashing that they endured with those in power due to the newfound success they found in guilds. Wrought-iron guild signs were small works of art used to mark individual guild locations. They were crafted and designed with small images and symbols representative of their guild’s craft in iron and sometimes in stained glass. These guild signs can still be seen intact throughout Europe, and can be used to locate where a merchant or craftsmen started their own business and initiated their own dissent from their lord or bishop. Intricate gold, silver, and copper coins from the Middle Ages also illustrate this idea, as miscellaneous feudal coins have been found by different guilds that differ from the other primary royal and crusader coins of the time period. Craftsmen, with their apprentices, ran their workshops and organized guilds to meet growing demand for their goods. Craftsmen, merchants, and entire guilds actually earned quite substantially for themselves, and felt resentment in that they were still held accountable to the lord or bishop of their traditional feudal social structure. These citizens, who felt transported back to the time of serfdom, constantly conflicted with their lords as they wanted self-government. They upset the status quo of traditional feudalism, levied their own taxes, created their own laws, and even issued different coins to upset their lords or bishops.

By Erin, Atty, Mekayla