The thing that one is nostalgic for, when contemplating the High Middle Ages, is more a program than a reality: the attempt to synthesize Christianity and antiquity, and develop from there. The synthesis failed, partly due to political events. Remember, the dispute over the three claimants to the Holy See did more than Luther to diminish the prestige of the Papacy, and paved the way to schism. In the Commedia, the dream of a Europe united under the Holy Roman Emperor haunts Dante, but it was never to be achieved.
In the universities, the attempt to add to the stock of knowledge was stifled. Medical faculties taught Galen, and never dissected. Law faculties taught Justinian, and never compiled the pastiche of local laws and customs that actually determined cases. Roger Bacon, a Franciscan, was jailed at Oxford for promoting experimentation. Yes, there were great things too: flying buttresses and Aquinas, the rise of the universities and of towns, the opening of trade routes. But it was hard to change to the habits that would have permitted progress in the crucial areas of science and technology....... |
