Categories: Kings and Princes: Temporal Power

21 May 2010, Comments (4)

The Man Who Believed He Was King of France: A True Medieval Tale

Author: Ann Scott

Synopsis
A story replete with shady merchants, scoundrels, hungry mercenaries, scheming nobles, and maneuvering cardinals, The Man Who Believed He Was King of France proves the adage that truth is often stranger than fiction—or at least as entertaining. The setting of this improbable but beguiling tale is 1354 and the Hundred Years’ War being waged for control of France.

Seeing an opportunity for political and material gain, the demagogic dictator of Rome tells Giannino di Guccio that he is in fact the lost heir to Louis X, allegedly switched at birth with the son of a Tuscan merchant. Once convinced of his birthright, Giannino claims for himself the name Jean I, king of France, and sets out on a brave—if ultimately ruinous—quest that leads him across Europe to prove his identity.

With the skill of a crime scene detective, Tommaso di Carpegna Falconieri digs up evidence in the historical record to follow the story of a life so incredible that it was long considered a literary invention of the Italian Renaissance. From Italy to Hungry, then through Germany and France, the would-be king’s unique combination of guile and earnestness seems to command the aid of lords and soldiers, the indulgence of inn-keepers and merchants, and the collusion of priests and rogues along the way.

The apparent absurdity of the tale allows Carpegna Falconieri to analyze late-medieval society, exploring questions of essence and appearance, being and belief, at a time when the divine right of kings confronted the rise of mercantile culture. Giannino’s life represents a moment in which truth, lies, history, and memory combine to make us wonder where reality leaves off and fiction begins.

14 Mar 2010, Comments (4)

Disease and Divine Judgment

Author: Ann Scott

Leper warning of his presence with a bell

During the Middle Ages, all classes of people visualized diseases and other physical illnesses as the direct punishments of God visited on the sufferer for his or her sins. In this superstitious fashion, people believed that disease was usually the result of a specific sin or of repeated offences. These sins could be anything from offending the church, to slandering the king; lying, cheating, fornication, adultery, or just simply not practicing enough piety (insufficient prayers or offerings).

People often shunned the victims of especially vicious or disfiguring diseases such as leprosy, as much for their fear of the personal wickedness the sickness revealed in the sufferer (spiritual contamination) as they did for their fear physical contamination. The Church generally allowed these superstitions to flourish, if for no other reason than to use examples of such divine judgments as motivation to encourage obedience to ecclesiastical mandates. Furthermore, sick people of means would usually pay generously for the Church’s prayers and spiritual interventions on their behalf and on behalf of their souls. In extreme cases of widespread disease such as the plague, however, the Church and the people  usually blamed their sufferings on the sins of the King or on the collective sin of their nation in disobeying or blaspheming God.

- Ann Scott -

12 Mar 2010, Comments (0)

Catholic Church: The Common Denominator in Medieval Europe

Author: Ann Scott

Baptism of Clovis in 496 AD

After the fall of Rome in 410 AD and Clovis the Frank’s subsequent acceptance of Western Christianity in c. 496, the common denominator of medieval Europe became the Catholic Church. As Clovis conquered nearly all of the old Roman province of Gaul, he forced his conquered foes at sword point to accept Christianity. Catholic monks missionized other unconquered land in preparation for the imminent conquest of the Christian (and thus God-ordained) king.

The Church helped preserve its uniformity by retaining Latin as it’s official language. The priests said mass in Latin regardless of the language of the host country they occupied. The church produced all its scholarship in Latin, a purpose essential to the spread and communication of scholarly learning and theological discussions throughout Europe. In so doing, the Church excluded most of the laity from this exchange of knowledge and ideas, keeping these almost exclusively in its own possession and thus under its control.

As the Middle Ages unfolded, the Church continued to strengthen its position as the common denominator among often-feuding princes and warlords. As a result, the Church emerged as the dominant central force in Europe, in many ways both Europe’s savior and scourge.

- Ann Scott -

30 Jan 2010, Comments (1)

Fourteenth Century English Literature: An Introduction

Author: Ann Scott

By the fourteenth century, England remained culturally deferential to France and spiritually dependent on Rome. Since the Norman invasion, most non-Latin texts available in England were in either Old French or Anglo-Norman. Since literature written in Middle English was a relatively new development, there were far fewer vernacular books available in England than common French books in France. Accordingly, the contributions of English authors writing in their native tongue became significant not only to their readers but also for the national pride of the country itself, as England gave birth to its own literary tradition.

- Ann Scott -

Tags

14th Century 1300s Augustine's City of God Benedict's Rule Benedictine Monasticism Cenobitic Monasticism Christian Philosophy Constantine I Daily Life in the Middle Ages English LIterature Fall of the Roman Empire Medieval England Medieval Sounds polytheism Saint Augustine's Confessions Saint Benedict’s Rule St. Augustine's City of God Theodosius I