Posted on 10/13/2016 6:24:29 AM PDT by Kaslin
The medieval world was a nearly 1,000-year period of spectacular, if haphazard, human achievement -- along with endemic insecurity, superstition and two, rather than three, classes.
The great medieval universities -- at Bologna, Paris and Oxford -- continued to make strides in science. They were not unlike the medical and engineering schools at Harvard and Stanford. But they were not centers of free thinking.
Instead, medieval speech codes were designed to ensure that no one questioned the authority of church doctrine. Culturally or politically incorrect literature of the classical past, from Aristophanes to Petronius, was censored as either subversive or hurtful.
Career-wise, it was suicidal for, say, a medieval professor of science at the University of Padua to doubt the orthodoxy that the sun revolved around the earth.
(Excerpt) Read more at townhall.com ...
Global warming because the sun orbits the earth!
Serfs general paid between 10 and 30 percent of their harvest to the Manor Baron.
The typical middle class taxpayers easily loses 50% of thier income to taxes today.
Could it be high time for a peasant revolt?
He not only buys into a lot of stereotypes about the Middles Ages, but he misses a major point: Medieval Europe WAS CHRISTIAN and America is rapidly dechristianizing.
Bkmk
Stereotypes generally form because they are reasonably descriptive of reality. Which stereotypes of the Middle Ages presented here do you think are inaccurate?
Perhaps you missed reading the entire article:
There is one great difference, however, between the medieval and modern worlds.What is more, perhaps you are not aware of who Victor Davis Hanson is:People living in the first millennium believed in transcendence and a soul, and sought to keep alive culture until civilization returned.
People living in the second millennium increasingly live for their appetites without worry about what follows -- with little awareness of what has been lost and so not a clue about how to recapture it.
Victor Davis Hanson (born September 5, 1953) is an American military historian, columnist, former classics professor, and scholar of ancient warfare. He has been a commentator on modern warfare and contemporary politics for National Review, The Washington Times and other media outlets. He was a professor emeritus of classics at California State University, Fresno, and is currently the Martin and Illie Anderson Senior Fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution. He has been a visiting professor at Hillsdale College since 2004. Hanson is perhaps best known for his 2001 book Carnage and Culture: Landmark Battles in the Rise of Western Power.Hardly someone who would "buy into a lot of stereotypes about the Middles Ages"Hanson was awarded the National Humanities Medal in 2007 by President George W. Bush. Hanson is a blogger on current affairs, particularly regarding the U.S. in the Middle East and the U.S.-Mexico situation. Hanson is also a fifth-generation farmer, growing raisin grapes on a family farm in Selma, California and a critic of social trends related to farming and agrarianism.
***from Aristophanes to Petronius, was censored as either subversive or hurtful***
From Lysistrata to Satyricon.
Are you saying that the sun doesn't revolve around the earth?
Scene from BECKET the Movie: Henry to Becket in a hovel after getting soaked in a rain:
Henry: I’m freezing. Get the fire going.
Becket: - There’ll be no wood in this house.
Henry:- In the middle of the forest?
Becket: These people are entitled to
two measures of deadwood a year.
One branch more, and they hang.
Henry:- My edict?
Becket:- Your edict.
Get the heat going!
There be no electricity or gas in this house!
Why is that?
Each hovel is allowed two killowatts and 100 btu a month. One watt more and they hang.
My edict?
Your edict!
However, we don't have any problems building huge sports stadiums such as Cowboy Stadium outside Fort Worth, Texas, or Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif.
It might also be noteworthy that the sport of jousting has been revived. Renaissance festivals, which now take place in most states, including Alaska and Hawaii, often feature jousts.
Black Knights Matter!
“He not only buys into a lot of stereotypes about the Middles Ages...”
Dude, this is Victor Davis Hansen, one of the most learned historians in the country. He is not “buying into stereotypes”, he knows more about that period of time than you or I will ever learn.
“Dude, this is Victor Davis Hansen, one of the most learned historians in the country. He is not “buying into stereotypes”, he knows more about that period of time than you or I will ever learn.”
I have a PhD in Medieval History. He has a PhD in Classics. Next time you say something like “he knows more about that period of time than you or I will ever learn” make sure you actually know what you’re talking about, okay?
I am well aware of who he is.
I am well aware that he also has bought into stereotypes of the Middle Ages.
Interesting blog post I found about the lasting effects of the medieval era on Europe:
https://hbdchick.wordpress.com/2014/03/10/big-summary-post-on-the-hajnal-line/
Basically, the areas that the Franks instituted their serfdom agricultural system still to this day display entirely different family structures and marriage patterns, and also correspond to the higher IQ levels and higher levels of technological achievement. The dividing line also mostly matches up with the areas of Europe that did not fall under Communist domination in the 20th century.
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