Page 254 - Western Civilization A Brief History, Volume I To 1715 9th - Jackson J. Spielvogel

While Latin continued to be used for literary pur- poses, by the twelfth century, much new literature was being written in the vernacular (the local language, such as Spanish, French, English, or German). A new market for vernacular literature appeared in the twelfth century when educated laypeople at court and in the new urban society sought fresh avenues of entertainment.
Perhaps the most popular vernacular literature of the twelfth century was troubadour poetry, which was chiefly the product of nobles and knights. This poetry focused on the love of a knight for a lady, generally a married noble lady, who inspires him to become a braver knight and a better poet. A good example is found in the laments of the crusading noble Jaufre Rudel (zhoh-FRAY roo-DEL), who cherished a dream lady from afar whom he said he would always love but feared he would never meet:
Most sad, most joyous shall I go away,
Let me have seen her for a single day,
My love afar,
I shall not see her, for her land and mine Are sundered, and the ways are hard to find, So many ways, and I shall lose my way,
So wills it God.6
Although it originated in southern France, troubadour poetry also spread to northern France, Italy, and Germany.
Another type of vernacular literature was the chanson de geste (shahn-SAWNH duh ZHEST), or he- roic epic. The earliest and finest example is the Song of Roland, which appeared around 1100 and was writ- ten in a dialect of French, a language derived from Latin. The chansons de geste were written for a male- dominated society. The chief events described in these poems are battles and political contests. Their world is one of combat in which knights fight courageously for their kings and lords. Women play little or no role in this literary genre.
Romanesque Architecture: “A White
Mantle of Churches”
The eleventh and twelfth centuries witnessed an explo- sion of building, both private and public. The construc- tion of castles and churches absorbed most of the surplus resources of medieval society and at the same time reflected its basic preoccupations, God and war- fare. The churches were by far the most conspicuous of the public buildings.
Hundreds of new cathedrals, abbeys, and pilgrimage churches, as well as thousands of parish churches in ru- ral villages, were built in the eleventh and twelfth cen- turies. This building spree reflected a revived religious culture and the increased wealth of the period pro- duced by agriculture, trade, and the growth of cities.
The cathedrals of the eleventh and twelfth centuries were built in the Romanesque style, a truly interna- tional style. The construction of churches required the services of a cadre of professional master builders whose employment throughout Europe guaranteed international unity in basic features.
Romanesque churches were normally built in the ba- silica shape used in the construction of churches in the late Roman Empire. Basilicas were simply rectangular buildings with flat wooden roofs. Elaborating on this basic plan, Romanesque builders made a significant innovation by replacing the flat wooden roof with a
Barrel Vaulting. The eleventh and twelfth centuries witnessed an enormous amount of church construction. Utilizing the basilica shape, master builders replaced flat wooden roofs with long, round stone vaults known as barrel vaults. As this illustration of a Romanesque church in Vienne, France, indicates, the barrel vault limited the size of a church and left little room for windows.
216 Chapter 9 The Recovery and Growth of European Society in the High Middle Ages
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Gianni Dagli Orti/The Art Archive at Art Resource, NY