Handbook To Life In The Medieval World

987 Pages·2008·18.895 MB·English

by  Madeline Pelner Cosman, Linda Gale Jones

HANDBOOK
TO LIFE IN THE
MEDIEVAL WORLD
MADELEINE PELNER COSMAN
AND LINDA GALE JONES
Handbook to Life in the Medieval World
Copyright © 2008 Estate of Madeleine Pelner Cosman
Introduction, chapter 1, and chapter 2 copyright © 2008 Infobase Publishing
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval
systems, without permission in writing from the publisher. For information contact:
Facts On File, Inc.
An imprint of Infobase Publishing
132 West 31st Street
New York NY 10001
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Cosman, Madeleine Pelner.
Handbook to life in the medieval world / Madeleine Pelner Cosman and Linda Gale Jones.
p. cm.
“Handbook to Life in the Medieval World, looks at the medieval period from the perspective of
Christians, Jews, and Muslims who inherited and inhabited the Classical Roman Empire . . .”—Introd.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-8160-4887-8
1. Civilization, Medieval. 2. Civilization, Christian. 3. Civilization, Islamic. 4. Jews—Civilization. I.
Jones, Linda Gale. II. Title.
CB351.C625 2007
909.07—dc22 2007000887
Facts On File books are available at special discounts when purchased in bulk quantities for businesses,
associations, institutions, or sales promotions. Please call our Special Sales Department in New York at
[phone] or [phone].
You can find Facts On File on the World Wide Web at http://www.factsonfile.com
Text design by Cathy Rincon
Maps by Jeremy Eagle
Printed in the United States of America
VB Hermitage 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
This book is printed on acid-free paper and contains 30% post-consumer recycled content.
C
ONTENTS
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS v 4 WARFARE AND WEAPONS 261
Christian Warfare and Weapons 262
LIST OF MAPS vi Islamic Jihad, Warfare, and Weapons 292
Jewish Military Matters 311
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS vii Reading 320
INTRODUCTION ix
VOLUME II
VOLUME I 5 PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION 325
Christian Theology and Philosophy 326
1 HISTORY 1
Jewish Philosophy and Theology 365
Western Europe 3
Islamic Philosophy and Theology 386
Byzantine Empire 43
Reading 409
Islamic Empire 56
Jews in the Medieval World 75
6 MYSTICISM AND MAGIC 413
Chronology 98
Christian Mysticism and Magic 414
Reading 104
Jewish Mysticism and Magic 439
Islamic Mysticism and Magic 451
2 SOCIETY 109
Reading 464
Christian Society 110
Muslim Society 138
Jewish Society 161 7 MEDICINE, SCIENCE, AND
Reading 180 TECHNOLOGY 469
Medicine in Europe 470
3 ECONOMY AND TRADE 185 Science and Technology in Europe 503
Economy and Trade in Christian Europe 189 Jewish Contributions to Medicine
Economy and Trade in the Islamic and Science 514
Empire 213 Medicine, Science, and Technology
Jewish Economy and Trade 242 in the Islamic World 525
Reading 256 Reading 546
8 ART AND ARCHITECTURE 551 11 HOLIDAYS AND FESTIVALS 763
The Patronage of the Arts 552 Christian Holidays and Festivals 764
Christian Art and Architecture 554 Jewish Weddings, Sabbaths, and
Jewish Art and Architecture 588 Holidays 794
Islamic Art and Architecture 603 Islamic Holidays and Festivals 813
Reading 625 Reading 821
VOLUME III 12 CLOTHING, COSTUME, AND
TEXTILES 825
9 LITERATURE 629
Christian Clothing 826
Christian Literature 631
Jewish Costumes and Clothing 834
Jewish Literature 665
Muslim Clothing and Textiles 845
Islamic Literature 683
A Glossary of Christian, Jewish, and
Reading 708
Muslim Hat Styles and Clothing 858
Reading 870
10 MUSIC AND DANCE 713
Christian Music and Dance 714
Jewish Music and Dance 737 BIBLIOGRAPHY 873
Islamic Music and Dance 747
Reading 759 INDEX 935
L I
IST OF LLUSTRATIONS
Council of Constance, Germany 25 Al-Idrisi’s Geographic Atlas 224
Map of Thames at London 37 Umayyad mosque, Damascus 225
Prophet’s Mosque in Medina 58 Gold dinar coin, Sulayhid dynasty, Yemen,
Richard I and Saladin during the Third 1094 228
Crusade 73 Design of a threshing machine 232
Italian prayer book, 1492 80 Meir Magino 246
Burning of Jews and Christians 89 Maximilian I in an armorer’s shop 267
Interrelatedness 112 Chain mail 271
Field workers 120 Bassinet and camail 272
Gorget 272
A portable wooden tub 124
Jupon 274
A bathhouse scene 126
Caparisoned horse 275
Noble man and woman hunters 128
Joan of Arc 282
Old man and young woman 134
First attack on Constantinople in 1453 301
Madrasa 147
Turkish shield 309
Harim 154
Knights dressed in chain mail 317
Panels with hunting and banquet scenes,
A warrior 318
Fatimid Egypt 158
Adam and Eve 328
Altneuschule in Prague, Czech Republic 167
Last Supper 330
Charity 168
Twice-told Eve 332
Harvesting and a rural banquet 179
Presentation of Christ in the Temple 334
Feast celebrating the crusaders’ capture of
Virgin and Child 335
Jerusalem, 1099 187
Allegorical feast 338
Farm women 190
Sloth 339
An itinerant Italian pastry cook on a street Saint Jerome in his study 341
corner in Constance 196 Four Horsemen 344
Fish market 199 Hell 346
Nest of weights 200 Aquinas confounds the heretics 352
Steelyard scales 201 Aristotle’s Ethics in Hebrew 366
Crescentius discussing herb planting 203 Miniature from Moses Maimonides,
Anti-Semitic Korn-Jude coin 204 Mishneh Torah 377
View of Venice from Marco Polo’s Livres Page from the Quran 390
du Graunt Caam 211 Avicenna’s Canon of Medicine 398
Allegory of human being adrift 212 Arius and Averroës 402
Ariadeno Barbarossa 216 Philosopher’s furnace 426
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
v
Zodiac woman 431 Arches of the Great Mosque of Córdoba 610
Witch and devil 435 Calligraphic pages 615
Four witches 436 King Arthur 637
Witches at the Sabbath 437 A German minnesinger 641
Sefirotic tree 444 Christine de Pizan teaches the power of
Rumi tomb 457 temperance 649
The Dance of the Dervishes 460 Dante’s Divine Comedy 655
Examples of physiognomy 475 Christine de Pizan in her study 665
Physiognomy of foreheads 476 North French Miscellany 678
Nose surgery 482 Udhri poetry 687
Four humors 485 Al-Hariri’s Maqamat 701
Pregnant woman 493 Tabriz carpet 704
Urinalysis 496 Music theory 716
Zodiac man 498 Feast music 723
Tactus eruditus 499 Musical instruments 730
Temperance with mechanical clock 504 Trumpets announce the emperor 731
Sewage system plan 507 Dance macabre 736
Worm condenser 511 Preparations for Passover 746
Distillation chambers 512 Mevlevi dervishes 757
Microcosm/macrocosm 522 Three musicians 759
Four humors 527 Table fountain 768
Jewish translation of Arab text 539 Mummers 778
Astrolabe 541 Jester 782
Colegiata de Santa Julia, Santillana del Mar, Feast 790
Spain 556 Saint Elizabeth feeding the poor 793
Notre-Dame, Paris 560 Feast 794
Outside the monastery walls of the Grande Sabbath lamp 800
Chartreuse 561 Shofar 802
Mont-Saint-Michel 564 Pilgrimage 815
Gold buckle 567 A bridal feast 831
Initial W 570 Chaperone 832
Initial S 571 Brocaded robe 833
Interlaced ITA 572 Judenhut 842
Old Testament 574 Fatimid earrings 849
Byzantine icon 586 Coptic cloth 857
Micrographic masorah 596 Frontlet 860
Moses depicted with horns 597 Emperor Maximilian I, Albrecht Dürer 864
L M
IST OF APS
Germanic Kingdoms, c. 500 6 Islamic Empire at Its Height 65
Holy Roman Empire, 1215–1250 11 Christian Persecutions, c. 1200–1500 85
Crusader States, 1098–1291 28 Main Eurasian Routes in Mongol Times 218
First European Universities 40 Trans-Saharan Trading Networks 220
Byzantine Empire under Justinian, 565 44 World of the Radhanites, Ninth Century 253
Byzantine Empire in the 11th and 12th Centuries 51
HANDBOOK TO LIFE IN THE MEDIEVAL WORLD
vi
A
CKNOWLEDGMENTS
This acknowledgments section is much shorter for the secular and sacred cultures of the Middle
and less elegant than Madeleine would have Ages inspired readers of her many books, genera-
written. It suffers, as do we all, from her absence. tions of students at the Institute for Medieval and
Thanks to Seham al-Fraih, who contributed her Renaissance Studies at City College, and many thou-
erudition to the section on Muslim literature. Thanks sands of attendees at her popular lectures at the Met-
to Linda Gale Jones, who so gamely stepped in to ropolitan Museum and elsewhere throughout the
work on the final sections after Madeleine’s untimely United States and the world.
death. Thanks to editor Claudia Schaab and agent
Jeanne Fredericks, who so ably shepherded this proj- Marin Cosman and Bard C. Cosman
ect to publication.
This volume is dedicated to the memory of our
mother, Madeleine Pelner Cosman, whose passion
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
vii

CI ontents
NTRODUCTION
The medieval world holds enduring fascination is somewhat problematic because the historical cat-
for people today and continues to provide mate- egory does not apply uniformly to Jews, Christians,
rial for popular culture. The desire to experience or and Muslims. For the sake of convenience this book
witness a medieval banquet, the sumptuous court of follows the traditional dating of the beginning of the
the Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid (r. 786–809), the European medieval world from the Fall of Rome in
instruments of torture of a Dominican inquisitor, a 476. This breaking point marks the history of the
crusader battle between valiant Christian and Mus- emergence and expansion of classical culture rede-
lim knights, or a performance by a Provençal trouba- fined as Roman Christian and Latin across northern
dour is seemingly insatiable, judging from the infinite and western Europe. Although the Western Roman
number of Web sites, novels, films, and clubs dedi- Empire fell in 476, the Eastern Roman Empire sur-
cated to bringing these and other themes or events vived intact, having all but abandoned the West to
of the medieval world to life. Handbook to Life in the the Gothic tribes a century earlier with the founding
Medieval World looks at the medieval period from of the “New Rome” at Constantinople in 324. For
the perspective of Christians, Jews, and Muslims this reason some scholars date the beginning of
who inherited and inhabited the classical Roman medieval Byzantium from this year, while others
Empire, which stretched from the British Isles situate it even earlier, during the reign of Diocletian
through continental Europe, the Mediterranean, (r. 284–305), who divided the empire into the “Ori-
North Africa, the Middle East, to Asia Minor, and ental” and “Occidental” provinces. Still others see
beyond. the official Christianization of the empire under
Theodosius I (r. 379–395) as the transition point.
Whatever the date of choice, a major theme of the
medieval world is the contested claims over the
Defining the Medieval World
legacy of classical Rome between the Byzantine
Empire and the Western Roman Empire and the
Treating together the history, culture, economy, and papacy.
societies of Christians, Muslims, and Jews during the From the Jewish perspective, the “medieval” era
Middle Ages allows us to see clearly how closely looks quite distinct. Jewish civilization has its own
intertwined their lives were, even, if not especially, at calendar identifying the events that changed the
times of intense conflict and enmity. At the same course of its history, in which the Babylonian Cap-
time, however, the concept of the “medieval world” tivity (597–537 B.C.E.) and the destruction of Judaea
INTRODUCTION
ix