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Augustinian Synthesis to Aristotelian Amalgam

Stephen Gaukroger

in The Emergence of a Scientific Culture: Science and the Shaping of Modernity 1210-1685

In the 13th century, natural philosophy changed status from an enterprise of marginal significance into one that formed the principal point of entry into the understanding of the world and our place ... More

In the 13th century, natural philosophy changed status from an enterprise of marginal significance into one that formed the principal point of entry into the understanding of the world and our place in it. This was effected through the introduction of Aristotelianism into the University of Paris at the beginning of the 13th century where, in its new role as a philosophical foundation for systematic theology, natural philosophy became the single point of entry into natural knowledge of the natural and supernatural realms. The compatibility of Aristotelian natural philosophy was never wholly resolved, however, and matters came to a head at the beginning of the 16th century on the question of the immortality of the soul, where Aristotelian natural philosophy and Christian teaching were in conflict. In many ways, this conflict, which centred around the work of Pomponazzi, provided a model for the later Copernicanism disputes.Less

Colleges and Halls 1380–1500

A.B. Cobban

in The History of the University of Oxford: Volume II: Late Medieval Oxford

This chapter discusses the New College, founded by William Wykeham in 1379, which was the seventh secular college to be established in Oxford since the inception of the English collegiate movement in ... More

This chapter discusses the New College, founded by William Wykeham in 1379, which was the seventh secular college to be established in Oxford since the inception of the English collegiate movement in the second half of the thirteenth century. It has been regarded as something of a landmark in English collegiate history. It enumerates several preferences in the recruitment of scholars for New College. It explains that Wykeham's purpose for establishing his Oxford college was his concern for the increase and dissemination of the faith; more specifically his college was designed in part to combat the fall in numbers both of the secular clergy and of the student population of Oxford. It details that the King's Hall branched out from an extension of the chapel royal set in the University of Cambridge. It also evaluates Wykeham's contribution to the college tutorial system.Less

Baronial courts in Scotland, 1150–1350

Cynthia J. Neville

in Land, Law and People in Medieval Scotland

This chapter explores the early evidence associated with lordly courts in the late twelfth and the thirteenth centuries, both those of the Anglo-Norman and European newcomers, and more particularly, ... More

This chapter explores the early evidence associated with lordly courts in the late twelfth and the thirteenth centuries, both those of the Anglo-Norman and European newcomers, and more particularly, those of the great native dignitaries. It then examines, compares, and contrasts the ways in which native aristocrats adopted and adapted English and European concepts of justice within these courts down to the mid-fourteenth century. It focuses on the ways in which Gaelic lords used the ceremony and ritual associated with the dispensation of justice to perpetuate — and enhance — uniquely native concepts of lordly authority.Less

Theology and Theologians from Ockham to Wyclif

W. J. Courtenay

in The History of the University of Oxford: Volume II: Late Medieval Oxford

This chapter focuses on the prominent English masters and intellectual activities during the fourteenth century. It discusses the significant changes that occurred in the academic and intellectual ... More

This chapter focuses on the prominent English masters and intellectual activities during the fourteenth century. It discusses the significant changes that occurred in the academic and intellectual life at Oxford in the period from Ockham to Wyclif. Several important internal changes in the faculty of theology occurred earlier in the century. Some of the changes include the reduction in the length of study, change in the written scholastic products, and the change in the content and methods of exposition and debate within the theological faculty. Thirteenth-century Oxford theology was exempted from the analytical benefits of logic or the illustrative and comparative uses of problems and examples derived from natural philosophy. Oxford during Ockham's period has provided an incomplete but nonetheless substantial body of texts and information on its theological faculty. This chapter also examines the relationship between Paris and Oxford and the comparative status of the two universities.Less

Time, Place, and Person

Frederick Christian Bauerschmidt

in Thomas Aquinas: Faith, Reason, and Following Christ

This chapter begins with discussions of the social and intellectual transitions that occurred in the twelfth century, and how these various forces coalesced into institutional structures in the ... More

This chapter begins with discussions of the social and intellectual transitions that occurred in the twelfth century, and how these various forces coalesced into institutional structures in the thirteenth century. Different schools produced universities and other educational institutions; the movements of renewal in religious life produced the great mendicant orders of the Franciscans and Dominicans. Both of these are important for understanding the thought of Thomas Aquinas. The chapter then describes the life of Aquinas.Less

Bastard Feudalism and the Framing of Thirteenth-Century England

Peter Coss

in Italy and Early Medieval Europe: Papers for Chris Wickham

In the introduction to his great work of 2005, Framing the Early Middle Ages, Chris Wickham urged not only the necessity of carefully framing our studies at the outset but also the importance of ... More

In the introduction to his great work of 2005, Framing the Early Middle Ages, Chris Wickham urged not only the necessity of carefully framing our studies at the outset but also the importance of closely defining the words and concepts that we employ, the avoidance ‘cultural sollipsism’ wherever possible and the need to pay particular attention to continuities and discontinuities. Chris has, of course, followed these precepts on a vast scale. My aim in this chapter is a modest one. I aim to review the framing of thirteenth-century England in terms of two only of Chris’s themes: the aristocracy and the state—and even then primarily in terms of the relationship between the two. By the thirteenth century I mean a long thirteenth century stretching from the period of the Angevin reforms of the later twelfth century on the one hand to the early to mid-fourteenth on the other; the reasons for taking this span will, I hope, become clearer during the course of the chapter, but few would doubt that it has a validity.Less

Introduction: The Thirteenth Century

Dimitri A. Korobeinikov

in Byzantium and the Turks in the Thirteenth Century

At the beginning of the thirteenth century Byzantium was still one of the most influential states in the eastern Mediterranean. At the end of the century the Empire was a second-ranking Balkan state. ... More

At the beginning of the thirteenth century Byzantium was still one of the most influential states in the eastern Mediterranean. At the end of the century the Empire was a second-ranking Balkan state. Two events contributed to its tragic fate in the thirteenth century. The first was the capture of Constantinople in 1204 by the participants in the Fourth Crusade. The second was the fall of the last Byzantine possessions in Asia Minor, which had been conquered by the Turks by 1304. From this point on, the Empire ceased to be a great Mediterranean power. The chief focus of this work is Byzantine–Turkish relations in the thirteenth century, from 1204 to 1304/05. A special emphasis is laid on the political contacts that existed between the Empire on the one hand, and the Seljuks, and later the Mongols, on the other.Less

Jacques Verger & Olga Weijers (eds), Les débuts de l’enseignement universitaire à Paris (1200–1245 environ).: Études sur la Faculté des arts dans les Universités médiévales 38 (Turnhout: Brepols, 2013), 439pp. ISBN: 9782503551548

William J. Courtenay

in History of Universities: Volume XXVIII/2

This chapter reviews Les débuts de l'enseignement universitaire à Paris, one of three recent books devoted to the emergence of the University of Paris and its faculties in the first half of the ... More

This chapter reviews Les débuts de l'enseignement universitaire à Paris, one of three recent books devoted to the emergence of the University of Paris and its faculties in the first half of the thirteenth century. The book is a very focused and well-informed group of studies on the disciplines that made up the curriculum of the young University of Paris in the early thirteenth century. Despite some overlap with the other books in the series, it complements those volumes and is recommended to anyone interested in newer interpretations of the origins, organization, curriculum, and teaching methods at Paris in the first decades of the University’s existence.Less

Introduction

Kurt J. Werthmuller

in Coptic Identity and Ayyubid Politics in Egypt: 1218–1250

In the early thirteenth century, Greater Cairo had an expanse spread into a metropolitan; yet even so, some of its urban centers compete for prominence. Al-Qahira, Cairo's namesake, had been ... More

In the early thirteenth century, Greater Cairo had an expanse spread into a metropolitan; yet even so, some of its urban centers compete for prominence. Al-Qahira, Cairo's namesake, had been gradually giving way to the installation of Saladin's own Ayyubid system in the 1770s. This landscape, which was finished as a dynamic and expensive one, is the beginning of the story of this book. This book also deals with the different believers such as the Muslims, Christians, and Jews who were involved in the dynamics of the Coptic-Ayyubid model. Moreover, this book is not just about the Coptic-Ayyubid model, its complexities, and the boundaries of the medieval Coptic community; the lessons that need to be cleared about non-Muslim communities are included in parallel context here.Less

Moral Heroism and Craving for Extremes: The Ming Period (1368–1644)

in True to Her Word: The Faithful Maiden Cult in Late Imperial China

This chapter concentrates on the key historical moments at which the discourse shifted and the faithful maiden act took shape. The rise of the faithful maiden cult highlights a close link between the ... More

This chapter concentrates on the key historical moments at which the discourse shifted and the faithful maiden act took shape. The rise of the faithful maiden cult highlights a close link between the changes in the so-called women's quarters and in the political and cultural realms, indicating the young women as actors who shaped the culture of their time. These faithful maiden cases reveal that the thirteenth century witnessed the rise of extreme rhetoric about female chastity and saw the rise of a radical approach by the state and elite: championing an extreme form of chastity. The Ming society became fascinated with them because they were an embodiment of extremity, strangeness, and novelty. The Ming political climate and the culture brought out extreme actions in both men and women, and such actions eventually shaped the faithful maiden practice into an empire-wide cult.Less

The struggle is nothing new

Andrew Briggs, Hans Halvorson, and Andrew Steane

in It Keeps Me Seeking: The Invitation from Science, Philosophy and Religion

The question of tension between scientific study and religious commitment is examined through two historic examples: the impact of Aristotelian physics on thirteenth-century Europe, and the motion of ... More

The question of tension between scientific study and religious commitment is examined through two historic examples: the impact of Aristotelian physics on thirteenth-century Europe, and the motion of the Earth argued by Copernicus and Galileo. Aristotelian physics was constructed from ideas around change, form, and substance, which together implied the physical universe must have existed into the infinite past. This conflicted with religious ideas about time itself having been brought into being in the finite past. Bonaventure wished to reject Aristotelian science, but others such as Averroes and Aquinas adopted a more nuanced view, in which the meaning of statements is to be drawn with reference to their context. Something similar happened in the resolution of the seventeenth-century dispute about Earth’s motion. From the perspective of Einstein’s General Relativity, statements about motion, including accelerated motion, are never absolute but always relative to frame of reference.Less

Merciful Demand: Fraternal Correction as a Form of Blame

Jeffrey Hause

in Oxford Studies in Medieval Philosophy Volume 6

In the late twelfth and early thirteenth century, increasingly sophisticated ethical thought made its way out of the theology texts and into pastoral guides and sermons, making it possible for a ... More

In the late twelfth and early thirteenth century, increasingly sophisticated ethical thought made its way out of the theology texts and into pastoral guides and sermons, making it possible for a greater number of ethically informed lay people to share pastoral responsibility. One exercise of this responsibility was fraternal correction, through which a person, motivated by charity, rebukes a neighbor for his or her wrongdoing. This essay argues that the practice of fraternal correction is in fact a sort of blaming, since it includes a judgment of blameworthiness and opprobrium for the offender’s bad choice, moral address directed to the offender, the demand for a response, and holding the offender accountable. However, in contrast to other forms of blame, the source of the offender’s accountability to the corrector in fraternal correction is the social system created by the exercise of mercy.Less

Between Syria and Egypt: Alms, Work, and the “Holy Poor”

Peter Brown

in Faithful Narratives: Historians, Religion, and the Challenge of Objectivity

This chapter focuses on a religious struggle over the meaning of work and the definition of “the poor” in late antiquity, illustrating how theological principles and their institutional application ... More

This chapter focuses on a religious struggle over the meaning of work and the definition of “the poor” in late antiquity, illustrating how theological principles and their institutional application affect the economy and society of entire regions. The monks of Syria and Egypt in the last centuries of the Roman Empire were far from being the wonderful drop-outs they were often imagined as; they acted as a catalyst for the social imagination of an entire society. What happened in this era reflects the extremist poverty of Saint Francis and his followers, which arose as a criticism on the economy of the thirteenth-century Italian cities. The monks' insistence that manual labor should be combined with almsgiving to the poor contributed to an imaginative victory in which the rich have a religious duty to support the poor.Less

CITY BUILDING IN SELJUQ RUM

Scott Redford

in The Seljuqs: Politics, Society and Culture

After more than a century of instability, the Rum Seljuq state came into its own following the Third Crusade. After the Fourth Crusade, which began after 1211, the peace with the Laskarid state ... More

After more than a century of instability, the Rum Seljuq state came into its own following the Third Crusade. After the Fourth Crusade, which began after 1211, the peace with the Laskarid state brought prosperity and expansion to the Rum Seljuqs. This chapter discusses this period of prosperity which came at the beginning of the thirteenth century. This is a period marked by Rum Seljuq building. It focuses on the epigraphic programme of some of the cities that the Seljuqs rebuilt from the mid-1210s and mid-1230s. Using the inscriptions on city walls, citadels and gates, this chapter seeks to establish parameters for an examination of the Rum Seljuq building apparatus and the relationship between official and personal, state and military, patronage. It hopes to use building inscriptions as a means to shed light on the Rum Seljuq elite.Less