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# Lesson 4 ## Culture and the Church **Essential Question:** What is the role of religion in government? **IT MATTERS BECAUSE** Architecture, education, literature, and religion played very important roles in medieval life. ## European Culture in the Middle Ages **Guiding Question:** What type...

# Lesson 4 ## Culture and the Church **Essential Question:** What is the role of religion in government? **IT MATTERS BECAUSE** Architecture, education, literature, and religion played very important roles in medieval life. ## European Culture in the Middle Ages **Guiding Question:** What types of learning and art developed during the Middle Ages? By the 1100s, the Crusades and the rise of strong governments made medieval Europeans more confident and secure. As a result, trade, banking, and businesses thrived, and a better economy meant more money to spend on building and learning. ### Styles in Architecture In the 1000s and 1100s, Europeans began to construct many buildings. Because medieval society valued religion, many of the new buildings were churches and monasteries. Church leaders, wealthy merchants, and nobles supported the building of large churches called cathedrals. Soaring above the rooftops of medieval towns, cathedrals were built in either Romanesque or Gothic styles. Early medieval churches were Romanesque, a style that combined the features of Roman and Byzantine buildings. Romanesque churches were rectangular buildings with long, rounded ceilings called barrel vaults. These ceilings were supported by heavy walls and thick pillars set close together. The churches' small windows let in little light. About 1150, builders began to construct churches in the Gothic style. They replaced Romanesque heavy walls with flying buttresses. These stone arches extended off the outside walls of the church and supported the weight of the building. They made it possible to build churches with thinner walls and large stained glass windows. Gothic churches were taller and had more space than Romanesque churches. Colorful stained glass windows often presented scenes from the life and teachings of Jesus. They also let in sunlight, which symbolized the divine light of God. ### Development of Universities The universities of today trace their origins to the Middle Ages. Two of the first medieval universities were in Bologna, Italy, and Paris, France. Universities also were founded in England at Oxford and Cambridge. By 1500, Europe had 80 universities. Groups of students and teachers created the first universities to educate scholars. Medieval university students studied grammar, public speaking, logic, arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy. Teachers read from a text and discussed it, while students took notes on small, portable chalkboards called slates. Students did not have books because books were rare before the European printing press was created in the 1400s. To get a degree, students took oral exams after four to six years. They could earn a bachelor of arts and later a master of arts. In about ten more years, a student could earn a doctor's degree in law, medicine, or theology (the study of religion and God). People with doctor's degrees were officially able to teach but could also pursue other careers. For example, the monk Roger Bacon turned from teaching theology to studying the natural world. His interest in using experiments to test ideas helped pave the way for the rise of modern science. ### What is Scholasticism? By 1100, a new way of thinking called scholasticism (skuh-LAS-tuh-SIH-zuhm) was changing the study of theology. Its followers wanted to show that ideas accepted on faith did not have to contradict ideas developed by reason. The first scholastic thinker was Anselm, who served as archbishop of Canterbury in England from 1093 to 1109. Anselm became known for his reasoning about the existence of God.