In contrast to the imperial and military exploits of traditional historiography, historians such as Le Gauve believe that famous figures (including fictional characters) can be typical of a society and an era. In the preface to the book, Le Gauve explains the historical periodization and the choice of characters used in the book, reflecting his unique medieval research perspective and ideas, showing the dynamic and creative face of the Middle Ages outside the traditionally considered dark and oppressive impression.
In this graphic document, the "text" part is completed by a team of outstanding medieval scholars led by the famous French historian Le Gauve, and the "picture" selects paintings, sculptures and other works of art of the same era, and the pictures and texts complement each other, presenting an intuitive and vivid medieval situation. The pictures are high-definition, color printing, and are highly recommended.
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The slow European founder
The way history is presented in this book seems somewhat outdated, as it is clued by important figures. It is true that since the almanac school movement of the mid-20th century, there has been a tendency to look for historical significance in the totality of society and social class. However, the historians who conceived and wrote this book believe that famous men and women can serve as a typical representative of society and an era. Therefore, this book, which was written by everyone, introduces individuals who can reveal the characteristics of the times and are regarded as historical heroes.
This book is heavily influenced by historians Robert C. Davis and E. Lindsmith's book Hommes et femmes de la Renaissance. Les inventeurs du monde moderne (Flamarion Verlagership, translated from English edition). The book inspired me first and foremost from a controversy. As we all know, "Renaissance" is a concept that appeared in historical documents relatively late. In 1860, the Swiss historian Burckhardt coined the concept in La Civilisation de la Renaissance en Italie (Culture of the Italian Renaissance), which was translated into French in 1885. It must be made clear that historians first generally accepted the peculiarities of this period after the Middle Ages, known as the "Renaissance". There is no doubt that the 15th century, and especially the 16th century, did have innovations (we might call them "recent"), but I question this historical periodization. In my opinion, the main features of the Middle Ages continued into the 18th century, which saw two major events that gave birth to modernity in the true sense of the word: the Industrial Revolution, which spread from England to continental Europe; The French Revolution spread throughout Europe in the 19th century. It can be said that this long Middle Ages was interspersed with several revivals at different stages of its development. The Carolingian Renaissance and the Renaissance of the 12th century are remembered, and the period of the 15th and 16th centuries, in my opinion, is only the third Renaissance, but perhaps the most important revival of the Middle Ages. Since the historical periodization that has become a tradition must be respected, in my reflections and works I have identified the end of the Middle Ages at the end of the 15th century, and I also accept that the next stage is what people call the Renaissance. However, I am not quite comfortable with the fact that R.C. Davis and E. Lindsmith, in their writings, classify the 15th century as the Renaissance: the 15th century, although quite varied, was definitely of the Middle Ages. Nevertheless, I chose not to include certain men and women of the 15th century in this book to avoid duplication of information. Savonarole is a classic figure who learned about religious heresy and the cult of the poor in the Middle Ages, but unfortunately I had to abandon him, but I still chose 6 15th-century figures: Saint Bernardin de Sienne, Christophe Colomb, Henri le Navigateur, Jacques B. Jacques Coeur, Jeanne d'Arc and the great painter Fouquet. I also keep Jean Hus (circa 1370-1415), who lived longer in the 14th century than in the 15th century, and is undoubtedly a medieval heretic, not a modern figure. I chose Christopher Columbus somewhat boldly, and in fact, from a geographical perspective, one can consider Columbus as one of the founders of the Renaissance. But what I am trying to prove is that although he discovered the American continent by accident, his way of thinking and acting is still typical of a medieval man, and it may come as a surprise to consider him one of the creators of modernity.
Joan of Arc, miniature painting of the Defenders, Grenoble, Municipal Library
There are a certain number of women among the characters presented in this book, but far less than men. This imbalance is not a reflection of the inequality that has always existed in modern society, including ours, but reflects the true status of medieval women as documented as documented. In addition, we can find that this inferior position is not as obvious as we think. Compared with ancient times, the reason why the status of women was not elevated in the Middle Ages was because Christianity, on the one hand, gave women an important position, and on the other hand, it made them bear the consequences of two major doctrines: one was that Eve was responsible for original sin, and the other was that women could not be elevated to the priesthood. However, the prestige held by certain women shows their importance in the Middle Ages. They are accepted as members of a new rank above everyone else: the saints. In addition, when they became nuns, they also played an important role in promoting the spirituality and devotion of their contemporaries. One will find that in the city, an important product of the Middle Ages, even in secular life, women were given a status with religious overtones, such as the unwilling nuns. Perhaps the event most indicative of the rise in the status of women is the worship of Our Lady, which developed rapidly from the 12th century. Finally, although social and political power was dominated by men, certain women in the highest aristocratic strata still played important roles. Moreover, in society and value systems, chivalric literature gave women of noble birth the upper class of "dame," who, according to feudalism, had every power to dominate men as "vassals."
In this book that looks back at the Middle Ages through important people, I also refer to the protagonists of fictional stories, because in a society, fictional imagination is as important and functional as real life and thought. Important medieval fictional characters have their own characteristics. Some affirmations (or very likely) are derived from historical facts, and they have an impact on time and memory only after they become myths, such as Arthur, Roland and Robin des Bois. There are also characters of Christian origin who play roles in the manipulation of the supernatural in their daily lives, an era that sees human life as a battle between good and evil, with Satan in the evil camp and la Vierge Marie in the good camp. Finally, there are characters derived from folk tales, such as Merlin the wizard and Mélusine, some from literature, such as Renart, and social allegorical characters such as Jacques Bonhomme. Some ancient historical figures were frequently mentioned in the Middle Ages and thus regarded as medieval heroes, so as not to be lengthy, I did not include such figures, such as Alexandre le Grand, king of Macedon, who is believed to be famous in various fields, not only with great combat achievements and political prestige, but also invented many artifact, such as many miniature paintings depicting him riding some kind of transparent diving bell to observe the seabed; Another example is Salomon, the ancient Jewish king, whom the Bible and Judaism regarded as the embodiment of wisdom and the defender of controversy, became a controversial and discussed figure in the Middle Ages, and even more regarded as an almost heretical wizard.
Lena Fox, a liar dressed as a missionary. Early 14th century miniature painting
Looking at these famous men and women, we can see that one of the characteristics of the Middle Ages was the emergence of new heroic images. Some came from the development of Christianity, they were saints between God and mortals, and God performed miracles by their hands. Saints are one of the unique characteristics of Christianity, and there are no such figures in other major religions. Such people were the most glorious group in the Middle Ages, and there were women among them, and the presence of important female saints indicates that there was a tendency in the Middle Ages to try to achieve a certain sense of equality between men and women.
If the saint is a completely new image that appeared in Europe, the king is an image that has changed radically from antiquity to the Middle Ages. In ancient Rome, kings were the object of ridicule, and Greek city-states were suspicious of the Macedonian kings Philip and Alexander, who conquered them. Kinging is an Eastern-origin phenomenon based on the kings of Persia. After the early end of the royal era, the Roman Republic regarded the king as a shameful tyrant who fooled the people; In Rome, even during the imperial period, the people were the foundation of civil society. In Christianized Europe, the emerging nation-state often saw the king as its leader. Gaul is a prime example, where Clovis became king after being crowned (le sacre), a religious ritual invented by Christianity.
On 25 December 498 Clovis I was baptized under the watchful eyes of Queen Clotilde
Finally, among the list of men we have listed are two categories of people who perform duties considered supreme or of particular importance: popes and theologians. Popes are good and bad, and the unique fictional character of La Papesse Jeanne also appears in the book. Scholastic theologians were respected not for power, not for political authority, but for their wisdom, such as Albert le Grand and Thomas d'Aquin. There were also some famous philosophers in ancient Greece and Rome, one of whom regained his influence in the Middle Ages because he aroused the enthusiasm of many university scholars and their suspicion of the church: Aristote. We can understand the rise of these new figures through the new institutions of power that emerged in medieval society: the church, the kingship, the university. These were the three forces of the Middle Ages: the Sacerdotium, the monarchy (Regnum), and the academic (Studium).
The characters in this book are not limited to their lives and fame, but they are also witnesses of their own times, through whom historical research takes a turn at the end of the 20th century, when the history of events (histoire événementielle) gives way to a more comprehensive, deeper, and more brainstormed historical study, promoting important figures in history as symbols of a period, a society, and a civilization. This is the medieval image presented in the form of bullet points through these characters. This is first and foremost my own opinion, which is more or less shared by many historians, which is why they agreed to write one or more articles for this book.
The Middle Ages in my mind is far from (almost the exact opposite) to that obscurantist and backward medieval image (which the British call the "Dark Ages"). This dark image was proposed by Renaissance humanists and further interpreted by philosophers and historians of the Enlightenment (18th century), and although 19th-century Romanticism had a new perspective, positivist research was more document-based and critical, but they only partially corrected it. The "long Middle Ages" I mentioned earlier (the traditional Middle Ages were also very long, from the 4th century to the end of the 15th century) were more active and progressive than one might think (although there was no "progress" in the modern sense during this period). True, one will not find typical figures in modern and contemporary society during this period, such as entrepreneurs, economists, media personalities (journalists, photographers, broadcasters). Although no important names have been left for posterity, as historian Bertrand Gille points out, some engineers have appeared since the 15th century. The 3rd to 9th centuries were a long and turbulent period (tended to be called "late antiquity" rather than "early Middle Ages"), with ancient societies and cultures undergoing a long process of disintegration and the emergence of new societies and cultures very slowly. However, it was not from the 10th century, especially from the Gregorian Church Reformation in the 11th and 12th centuries and the Renaissance in the 12th century, that the new Europe really began to emerge. What we must understand is that when Petrarch and the Renaissance thinkers coined the term "Middle Ages," they saw nothing more than a historical period between a vibrant antiquity and a budding modernity, and the "medium" somehow denied all the dynamism of this period. I think the Middle Ages was a long period of creativity and vitality, and the works of art we can still see today are the product and evidence of it, such as vocal and instrumental music, oil paintings, religious buildings, etc., what Georges Duby called the "le temps des cathédrales" is appreciated, but this appreciation has not changed the image of the Middle Ages.
I have divided this more than 10 centuries into four phases, each of which will be described in detail in later chapters. The first phase is between late antiquity and early Middle Ages. It lasts from the Roman Emperor Constantine's determination of the political status of Christianity (Constantine is not introduced in this book because he belonged to ancient figures) until Charlemagne's death. Although Charlemagne's court was full of literati, he was a retro figure and did not belong to the Renaissance. In fact, after being crowned emperor by the Pope in Rome in 800 AD, he considered and expected to be among the Roman emperors, even though he fixed his capital at Aix-la-Chapelle, hoping to re-bask in Rome's eternal glory and complete the unfinished business of the Roman Empire: to make the barbarians accept and adapt to Roman civilization. He was a Frankish nationalist under the influence of Roman civilization.
Reliquary of Charlemagne's bust, 1215, enamel, gold and precious stones,
Aachen, Paladin Auditorium (Aachen Cathedral)
The second phase lasted from Charlemagne's death in the early 9th century to 1000 AD. Contrary to what has been said, modern historians have good reason to view 1000 AD as an important starting point for change. But for people at the time, this vintage did not have any special attraction. In fact, during this period, under the joint action of Pope Sylvestre II (Gerbert d'Aurillac of Orillac) and Holy Roman Emperor Otto III, Christendom (la chrétienté) gradually took shape, and within the geographical scope of the Middle Ages, "Christendom" became the most important term in Europe. It was also during this period that the alliance of Christian states under the rule of the Pope and the Roman Emperor was gradually formed.
The third phase (11th-13th centuries) was the period of the fastest development, the most creative and the most important people. I use the common term "mid-Middle Ages", but I insist on using a few key words to clearly indicate the most important creations of this period: "cities, monarchies, merchants, scholastic, dervishes". Among the important figures, there were men and women who lived in the cities (the great creations of the Middle Ages, very different from the ancient cities), while the monks and great lords lived mainly in the countryside. During this period, the kings of the monarchy settled in the capital (capitale). Merchants who were initially on the move began to settle. Scholascholastic philosophers taught and wrote in the city's universities. Finally, unlike the monks who used to live often in remote monasteries, dervish monks lived in urban monasteries and usually preached in the cities.
The last phase (the 14th and 15th centuries) has long been seen as a period of crisis. But more recent research suggests that while there was real turmoil in the countryside and cities, the germs of what most historians call the Renaissance were emerging. In any case, it is a period of creativity, so we should call it a period of change rather than crisis, a period of the most common major changes in history. Real crises are more or less related to important historical events, but this period is rare, and changes occur mainly in a specific period of time. The unrest has affected both rural and urban areas. What happened in France is the most typical example. In the countryside, the peasant uprising is known as the "Zackeray Uprising" because people fictionalized an uprising leader named Zach the Hillbilly, which is described in the last part of the book. Urban unrest occurred mainly in Paris (London or Florence were also not inevitable), and the mayor of Paris, Étienne Marcel, a real historical figure, represented the event. Unrest also occurs in the religious sphere; Some historians want to find signs of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century, but we can also think of them as strictly medieval events. The religious unrest was represented by two important heretics, the Englishman Wyclif and the Czech Jean Hus. The historical changes of this period are more clearly represented, and this man also laid the important foundation for the geographical discoveries of the late 15th and 16th centuries, he was Henry the Navigator, Prince of Portugal. In the ever-evolving world of trade, the representative is the mysterious and charismatic Frenchman Jacques Cole.
Portrait of Henry the Princes of Portugal, 15th century (left)
Portrait of Jacques Cole, treasurer and merchant of King Charles VII, 15th century (right)
There are also two figures at the end of this period, who represent two diametrically opposed sides of the Middle Ages. The first figure represents the dark and terrifying side, Vlad III, Grand Duke of Romania, who was called "l'Empaleur" ("Impaleur") by his contemporaries and later became the prototype of the vampire Dracula. The opposite of him is Christopher Columbus, who represents goodness, and what I want to show is that he did not know that he discovered the American continent, which was seen as one of the pioneers of modernity, but whose ideas made him a-for-tat figure against Dracula.
Finally, the fifth part does not follow any chronological order and deals with fictional characters, which I have explained earlier as I chose for this book. Imagination was one of the most important realities of the Middle Ages, not only fantasy, but also a life experience.
Suspected portrait of Columbus. 1519 (left)
Dracula the Impressor eats lunch in front of the stabbed prisoner. 15th century prints (right)
Readers will find very few writers or artists in the book's list of characters. For a long time, it was the rule for artists to remain anonymous. In fact, the concept of art emerged slowly during the Middle Ages. Most of the artists we can name today are craftsmen; Although the value of labor has increased to a certain extent, manual labor, that is, the labor of artists, has buried them in most craftsmen. The recognition of Christian aesthetics was a long process, and Umberto Eco pointed out in a fascinating book that Christian aesthetics did not really take shape until the 13th century.
The Middle Ages are often referred to as the "Age of Cathedrals", and the remains of churches from this period are breathtaking. In fact, churches were an important work of this period, however, we do not know who built most of them. Although some names were left in the 10th and 11th centuries, it was not until the 13th century that the concept of the artist emerged. Often, the term "artist" (which gives creation a new meaning) dates back to the great Italian painter Giotto at the end of the 13th century. The reason why this book rarely deals with artists is because of their relatively poor social situation in the Middle Ages. For example, decorative paintings in manuscripts are the most fascinating works of the Middle Ages, but most of the time, we don't know who their authors are. The book also deals almost nothing with music, but it was very important in this period, such as the emergence of monomelodic chants and polyphonic songs in the field of religious music; Folk music accompaniment to country dances, such as les caroles and the carnival that preceded the Christian fast-haven period, which began at least in the mid-13th century. We can find music-indulging carnival scenes in some miniature paintings of this period, the most famous of which shows a raucous carnival. I chose Gui d'Arezzo of Arezzo as a representative of the musician, and the musical notation he created at the beginning of the 11th century is still in use today. In the field of literary creation, something important and new appeared in this period. People of a slightly cultural culture used Latin everywhere, and at the same time the local language began to compete with Latin, forcing Latin back into churches and universities (where Latin must also be used outside the classroom). The elevation of local languages to literary languages is closely linked to the development of national consciousness. The north of France is the world of the Auï language, and the south is the territory of the Occitan language. At the beginning of the 13th century, the King of France no longer called himself Rex Francorum (King of the Franks), but roi de France (King of France). Literature only began to gain momentum in the 13th century, but it expanded its readership to include a certain number of literate secular people. Representatives of the new literature are Chrétien de Troyes, Dante, Boccace, Froissat and Chaucer of Troyes.
There are also few Muslims and Jews from the list in this book, although there were a large number of Muslims on the peninsula from the 8th century when the Arab Empire conquered the Iberian Peninsula until the 15th century. To show their importance in the Christian Middle Ages, I have chosen an important philosopher, Averroès, who was born in Muslim-occupied Spain and had an important influence on some Christian scholastic philosophers in the 13th century. I also chose the Kurdish Saladin with his miraculous fate, who expelled the Crusaders from Palestine, but who was regarded by Christendom as a great man of virtue in the Middle Ages after his death.
Saladin with a machete. 1490 year.
A large number of Jews once lived in the medieval West, but since the 11th century they have been persecuted and subjected to pogroms, often associated with the Crusades. In the 14th century, Jews in countries such as England and France were completely expelled, and few of them left their mark on history, so there are no Jews in the catalogue of this book. I hesitated to choose Maïmonide in the 12th century, born in Cordoue, Muslim-ruled Spain, where Jews were treated better than in Christendom, but who later settled in Cairo, where his writings were completed. We should not forget the great influence of Muslim and Jewish thought in medieval Christendom, and although the names of some famous figures are not sufficient to fully describe this phenomenon, they must also be mentioned. The famous men and women on the list can paint a vivid and varied picture of a certain historical period, but other elements of this period can only be understood in certain fields, such as society at large or intellectuals.
Finally, although I chose the Virgin Mary to represent good and Satan to represent evil among the most common figures in the medieval human imagination, I think we could be bolder and borrow an ancient figure from the Christian Old Testament, Job. At the end of the 6th century, Grégoire le Grand's Moralia in Job was a success that made the figure popular. Child figures began to appear during this period, and we can also choose the official recognition of the Christian Church in the 13th century, l'Enfant Jésus, which became a household name due to the spread of Christmas manger decoration customs, and one of the earliest mentioned mangers in literature was the manger enshrined in Gubbio by François d'Assise of Assis.
(This article is the preface to The Face of the Middle Ages, edited by Jacques Le Gauve, August edition of the Commercial Press)
Medieval faces
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[French] Ed. by Jacques Le Gauve
Translated by Shen Huaming
ISBN：978-7-100-20490-3
Published in August 2022
【Content Introduction】
Is there another face under the veil of darkness of the Middle Ages?
Important figures who drive history are seen as symbols of a period, a society, a civilization. The famous medieval historian Jacques Le Gauve, leading a team of well-known historians, selects and sketches the images of 112 famous people living in the 4th to 15th centuries, and leads readers to explore this extremely creative historical period from the inside in the form of biographies and contemporaneous art materials (paintings, sculptures, etc.). Whether it is the forerunners who have influenced today, such as Charlemagne, St. Augustine, Columbus, Marco Polo, or women and fictional figures who have not been paid attention to in medieval history, such as Joan of Arc, King Arthur, Robin Hood, the rogue, all appear in this stunning work. These historical figures serve here as witnesses and historical memories, revealing a face far removed from the obscurantist medieval image traditionally believed.
Their vivid faces are those that represent the Middle Ages, and they shaped the face of the Middle Ages.
The book is also accompanied by maps, chronology and a bibliography.
【Translator Profile】
Jacques Le Goff (1924–2014) was a French historian specializing in medieval history, especially the 12th to 13th centuries. He was one of the third generation representatives of the Annals school and was president of the French Institute for Advanced Study of Social Sciences from 1972 to 1977. He was one of the main figures of the "new historiography". He argued that the Middle Ages were a separate civilization in its own right, distinct from Greco-Roman times and modern times. Le Gauve's books have been translated and published in China, such as The Birth of Purgatory (2021), Saint Louis (2002, translated by Xu Minglong), Trying to Talk About Another Middle Ages (2014), Intellectuals in the Middle Ages, Money Bags and Eternal Life: Economy and Religion in the Middle Ages, etc.
Shen Huaming is an associate professor in the Department of French, School of Foreign Languages, University of International Business and Economics, and a doctoral student at the School of French Language and Culture, Beijing University of Foreign Chinese. There are many translations and editions, such as "History of Western Children", "History of Western Youth", "The Charm of Archives", "Dictionary of the Critique of the French Revolution 2 • Character Volume", etc.
directory
The slow European founder
From the Christianization of Europe to Charlemagne
St. Martin of Tours / St. Augustine of Hippo / Egilia (or Etria) / St. Benedict of Nucia / Attila / Diodoric the Great / Clovis / Boethius / Casciodorus / Saint Radgonde / Bronnet / Gregory of Tours / Gregory I of Tours / Saint Colombanus / Isidore of Seville / Saint Amday / D'Abel / Bede / Charlie Matt (Charlie the Hammer) / Alquin / Benedict of Aniana / Beateus of Liebana / Charlemagne / up to Doda
From Charlemagne to 1000 AD (814–1000)
Alfred the Great / Otto the Great / Gébel of Aurac / Saint Adalbert / Saint-Etienne / Canute the Great / St. Wenceslas
Middle Middle Ages (1000–1300)
Guido of Arezzo / Goodred Sorbuyanado / Gregory VII (Hildebrand) / William the Conqueror / St. Anselm of Canterbury / Cid "The Snapper" / Robert of Abriselle and Hersende of Monsoro / Matilda of Canosa / Aberlar and Eloise / Flores / Arno of Brescia / Saint Bernard of Clervo / His Holiness Peter / Hildegaard of Bingen / Peter Lombard / Saint Thomas Becket / Bernard of Wantadour / Eleanor of Aquitaine / Frederick the Redbeard / Averroy / Joassim of Flora / Critien of Troyes / Saladin / Richard the Lionheart / Innocent III / Philip II Augustus / Saint Domingo / St. Hedwig of Silesia (Jadwiga) / Snori St. Strussen / St. Francis and St. Clair of Assisi / Albert the Great (Elbertus Magnus) / Frederick II / Haakon IV , Haakon the Elder/ St. Elisabeth of Hungary / Dusserina / Saint Louis (Louis IX) and Blanca of Castile / Santa Bonaventura / Bruneto Latini / Thomas Aquinas / Jacobs of Valazze / Ramón Ruhr / Alfonso X the Wise / Cimaboue / Giotto di Bondona / Marco Polo / Johannes Eckhart / Bernard Guy / Dante Aliquieri
Upheaval and change (1300–1500)
Philip IV the Beautiful / William of Occam / Giovanni Boccaccio / Cora di Renzi / Charles IV of Bohemia / Nicolas Orem / Bertrand du Gaclan / Etienne Marcel / John Wycliffe / "wise" Charles V / Jean Vovarsa / Geoffrey Chaucer / St. Catherine of Siena / Władysław Jagaila / John Hus / San Bernardino of Siena / Henry the Voyager / Jacques Cole / Joan of Arc / Jean Fuguet / The Impaler Vlad III (Dracula) / Christopher Columbus
Fictional characters
King Arthur / Redneck Zach / Priest John / Pope Jeanne / Virgin Mary / Siren Melusin / Merlin and Vivian / Lena Fox / Rogue Robin Hood / Roland / Satan
appendix
map
Timeline
bibliography