And not all medieval women were confined to domestic duties. In fact, some women became leaders in war, musicians, scientists, scribes, and political power players—though education was still off-limits to most women.
Myth: the medieval period was a ‘dark’ time of irrationality
The so-called “Dark Ages” is a myth historians have spent years trying to disprove. The myth seems to stem from some authors’ use of “dark” to refer to everything from a 14th-century poet’s complaints about the quality of local literature to a 17th-century historian’s failed attempt to find historical sources from centuries earlier.
This is a 15th-century wooden reproduction of the first spectacles produced in Germany in 1350.
Photograph by DeAgostini/Getty Images-Getty Images
Despite the era’s dark reputation, though, everything from scholarship to art and technology thrived during the Middle Ages. The age produced everything from the first eyeglasses to mechanical timekeeping, the heavy plow, and moveable type—three inventions that would enable the Industrial Revolution and the Age of Enlightenment. Gunpowder weapons revolutionized warfare forever, while mapmakers managed to create astonishingly accurate maps of the world.
Meanwhile, the formation of guilds allowed artists to rise from the peasantry into roles as coveted craftspeople, while everything from illuminated manuscripts to tapestry and sculpture thrived during the era. Heironymus Bosch, a Dutch painter known for his outlandish religious paintings, and Giotto di Bondone, whose frescoes and architecture added artistic cachet to Italy’s Gothic cathedrals, are just a few of the medieval artists who became famous names in their day.
In fact, medieval people set the stage for the Renaissance. They even had three of their own, creating an explosion of art, scientific innovation, and a renewed world of academia.
Source link : https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/what-life-in-medieval-europe-was-really-like
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Publish date : 2023-05-25 07:00:00
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