“12th c. renaissance”; along with A Distant Mirror’s “calamitous 14th c.”, does that make 1150-1300 a high point of the Middle Ages? discuss historical highlights of the “greater 13th c.” (note that includes many things from this column: Florentine politics, later Crusades, height of saga-writing period, Frederick II, Magna Carta, fairs of Champagne, Baltic Crusades, end of Little Climatic Optimum, rise of Valois Burgundy, Eleanor of Aquitaine & Lion in Winter, founding of the Order of the Garter, Avignon papacy?)

things we re-create better than perhaps we realize: evening after the tourney, from William Marshal; Wate pretends to be a novice fighter, from Kudrun; Florentine 13th c. political crisis; Liosliath of Donnelly: “Yes, they would; yes, they did; yes, they do”; [John of Canterbury] controversy over duty of squires to make own armor as armor standards/technology advance

the Icelandic Althing & election of the Lawspeaker; extent to which they are and are not models for democratic government and elections in the SCA

the Protestant Reformation; significance of Luther nailing theses to cathedral door; interaction with German / HRE politics; parallels with challenges to Board openness

compare positionof Europe relative to rest of the world at start of Period (barbarian kingdoms on the ruins of theRoman Empire) and end (beginning to contact & exploit the rest of the world) - what happened?; do as comparative book review: Barbarians and Romans - the transition from empire to medieval, The Measure of Everything - don't know how much I believe the Big Theory (don't like metaphors), The Making of Europe - more "secular" explanation, Guns Germs & Steel - doesn't really cover what happened w/in Europe w/in Period, but does show off the outcome

the Nine Worthies: who they were, what was believed about them (especially the Jewish & pagan figures), how the theme was used; the re-enactment at the TYC

the Borgias, Lucrezia & Cesare; med/ren poisons; Benvenuto Cellini and the ground glass / diamonds

the Renaissance “invention” of the Middle Ages, origin of the terms “Medieval” and “Renaissance,” and the difficulty of talking about “Medieval/Renaissance culture” in the singular

the Avignon papacy, the Great Schism, and how much a person of the time would know or care; rise of the universities as debates of Canon Law become important

the “other” invasions of 1066: Tostig’s first raid, and then Harald Hardradi; what if William and his Normans had invaded first in 1066, and Harald and his Norwegians later?

Pope Joan: the debunking (done by Aryk in TI) / and the new book, Pope Joan

comparing the role of ex-kings in the SCA and the real MA (Richard II, Edward II, Henry VI, all of England; Kristoffer II of Denmark; Emperor Charles V - the most voluntary of this lot - did he keep any title? how was he addressed? note that he’s very late period and in other ways exceptional)

Military Orders from the Crusades; Orders of Knighthood – origin of the Garter

outstanding (dare I say unique?) individuals from the real MA: Frederick II, Harald Hardradi

Kali’s “fuzzy logic” definition of period (a work always in progress):

Medieval-

government: feudalism – i.e., service (especially military) and loyalty in exchange for land (& income from) and protection; hereditary; recursive a/o fractal (subinfeudation); some variations recognized in period, e.g., money instead of military service, or an office instead of land, but recognized in period as variations - anything more different starts to become exceptional

economics: manorial system;

religion: Roman Catholic; one church, permeating society at all levels, as an institution

mostly agricultural society: warrior aristocracy & agrarian peasantry in the country, burghers in the city -- not a “middle class, but a separate society

cultural legacy both Roman (“authoritarian” traditions of State and Law; Latin language) and Germanic (“democratic” traditions of the warrior aristocracy; vernacular languages)

military: dominated by the heavy-armored horseman in the field, and walled fortifications (i.e., knights and castles)

technology: wind, water, animal power; iron-working

and anyone in ongoing direct contact with above (so, Vikings yes, Arabs yes, Mongols maybe, samurai no); indicators/characteristics of “direct contact”:

  • intermarriage
  • routine trade - renewed commercial contracts are especially good evidence, or regular presence at the great fairs (e.g., Champagne)
  • mutual subinfeudation (feudal claims within each others’ territories)
  • geographic proximity at the same time (say, contiguous)
  • temporal proximity at the same place (say, a generation)
  • repeated warfare? - diplomatic relations is not enough

for those who need hard dates:

  • after 700 (Germanic tribes have stopped moving around and are settled kingdoms [by ~600], Franks are starting land-for-military-service feudalism, Mediterranean irrevocably split Christian-Muslim, end of Arianism [711])
  • and before 1500 (before the Reformation, after the final fall of Roman Empire, before sea routes to the Indies (East or West) established; rise of monarchy over the nobility – e.g., end of Wars of the Roses and start of Tudor dynasty, Louis XI in France,)

Renaissance

fundamental problem: the Renaissance saw itself as different from the Middle Ages (they invented those terms, for instance, to draw the distinction), so to what extent is it even possible to recreate “Medieval/Renaissance society” as a singular noun?

possible properties (and implied terminal dates)

  • musketry, but field artillery still immobile (to Gustavus Adolphus [1628]?)
  • Reformation, Protestant churches establish themselves (Peace of Westphalia [1648]? Edict of Nantes [1598]?)
  • dance: circles and sets, before longways “for as many as will” (Playford 1651 ed. has both)
  • strong & centralized (but not yet absolute) monarchy (1649, execution of Charles II)