HUI216 Italian Civilization

HUI216Italian Civilization Andrea Fedi HUI216

20.0 Announcements • http://www.campo7.com/hui216/ • The midterms will be returned starting this Wednesday (bring an ID) • Makeup or extra credit assignments • The deadline for the paper is May 3 • The submission of drafts • The elections in Italy • http://www.corriere.it/english/articoli/2006/04_Aprile/11/prodi.shtml HUI216

20.0 From the Roman Empire to the Middle Ages • The Eastern Roman empire; the Franks in Italy; the clashes between the Papacy and the Empire • Chivalric literature • Chivalric literature in Italian culture; Ariosto's Orlando enraged, Calvino's Castle of Crossed Destinies; the Sicilian pupi HUI216

20.1 The Middle Ages: the term – Localization and fragmentation • The term Middle Ages was created by humanists to stress the point that their own culture was superior to that of medieval scholars, intellectuals, writers and artists • During the early Middle Ages a system such as feudalism was established to cope with the problems and the necessities of societies which had very limited resources after the collapse of the highly organized administrative/economic system built by the Romans • The localization of the economy and of military defense, and, as a consequence, the fragmentation of political jurisdiction, provided the means of survival during a difficult time HUI216

20.1 The Middle Ages: society and culture • Society was less structured, and technology really suffered a cutback from the age of the Romans • However, culturally the Middle Ages, even during the first few centuries, saw great achievements in all fields, and after the year 1000 philosophy, literature, historiography and the arts developed greatly • It has become easier to condemn the culture of the Middle Ages, mostly because many of the religious practices and ideals of the authors and artists who lived and worked during those times have fallen out of fashion • Nobody can deny that it was a grandiose attempt to renew culture, on the base of Greco-Roman civilization, and on the attempt to unify all aspects of life under the umbrella of religious principles HUI216

20.2 The Middle Ages: the dark age? • One may disagree with this attempt to make religion such an integral part of society, but do not focus just on the persecution of heretics or the burning of witches, especially since those phenomena grew and became systematic exactly during the Renaissance, at the beginning of the so called modern era • For most of the Middle Ages there was usually more freedom than in modern structured societies • Satire even at the expense of members of the Church or the government was widespread, and authors such as Dante or Boccaccio were criticized but did not have to endure, while they were alive, any form of official censorship HUI216

20.2 The originality of medieval culture • Even literature and the arts for most of the Middle Ages were produced in a format that is for us often difficult to grasp and understand in its entirety, and with all its subtleties • The widespread use of allegory and symbolism, and of multiple levels of signification make for endless albeit interesting debates among scholars on the true intentions of Dante or Giotto • Overall it was a great civilization, even if you may very well choose to disagree with some of the principles that their social/cultural project was based on HUI216

20.3 The Eastern Roman Empire expands its influence (6th century) • Under the Emperor Justinian (527-565), the Byzantines reconquered Italy (Ravenna was the center of their domination of the peninsula), and areas of the Western Mediterranean • This partial reunification was short-lived, because soon the Lombards, a Germanic tribe, invaded Italy, settling especially in Lombardy, Northern Tuscany, Umbria, and Campania • Constantinople was besieged by Avars (629) • The battle of Yarmuk, in Syria (636), marked the first great victory of the Muslims over the Byzantines • http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/yarmuk.html HUI216

20.4 The Franks VS. the Arabs - Charlemagne (742-814), king of the Franks • The prophet Mohammad (ca. 570-632) • 622: the year of the Hegira (Flight of the Prophet) marks the beginning of the Moslem calendar: Mohammad leaves Mecca to escape persecution, and reaches Yatrib (later Medina), where his preaching is more successful • 732: in just 110 years the Arabs conquer large areas of the Middle East, North Africa, Spain, and penetrate into France, where they are defeated, at Poitiers, by the Franks of Charles Martel • c. 827-1060: the Arabs in Sicily, http://www.pitt.edu/~eflst4/Islam_in_Sicily.html (click to read a brief, simple description of their domination of the island) • 770 Charlemagne marries Desiderata, daughter of the Lombard king Desiderius • 774 responding to the Pope's plea for help, Charlemagne conquers the lands of his father-in-law after the siege of Pavia • 775-796 Charlemagne attacks and defeats the Saxons and the Bavarians in Germany, the Avars in Austria and Hungary HUI216

20.4 Charlemagne • 800 On Christmas Day, Charlemagne is crowned Holy Roman Emperor by pope Leo III • 814 Charlemagne dies • 843 Charlemagne's empire is divided • If you want to know more, read a few paragraphs (par. 24-28) from Einhard's Life of Charlemagne, (written circa 817-30): • http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/einhard.html • Somewhat humorous, in it, are the attempts to cover Charlemagne's ignorance HUI216

20.5 Papacy and the Empire • The issue of the real source of all political power (and its legitimacy) dominates the Middle Ages • Two powers or authorities, spiritual and temporal, each independent within its own domain? • "render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's" (The Gospel of Mark, 12.17) • For Dante (1265-1321), the pope and the emperor are like two suns, shedding light upon man's spiritual and temporal paths • The metaphor used to characterize the opposite political view is that of the sun and the moon: the pope is the sun, he projects on the emperor the authority that he emanates naturally as the representative of God; the emperor (the moon) depends on him HUI216

20.6 Chivalric literature: secular & religious • 778 Charlemagne's rear guard is attacked while leaving Spain • Chivalric literature is largely based on the defeat of Count Roland and of the other paladins • You can read an excerpt from the French Chançon de Roland (XII century): http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/roland-ext.html • Orlando enraged, by Ariosto: XVI-century best-seller • Italo Calvino, Edoardo Sanguineti, Gesualdo Bufalino, and Gianni Celati are important modern Italian writers who were inspired by chivalric literature • The Sicilian pupi [=puppets] is an old form of theatrical entertainment, still popular in Italy and in some of the Italian immigrant communities around the world HUI216

20.6 The pupi siciliani: pictures and suggested readings • http://www.pupisiciliani.com/eng/Default.htm • http://www.teatropupimacri.it/index_en.htm HUI216

20.6 The pupi siciliani: the great modern pupari Mimmo Cuticchio Don Vincenzo Garifo > HUI216

20.7 Italo Calvino, The castle of crossed destinies (1969) HUI216

20.8 Feudalism • A political system in place in Europe and Asia (Japan and China) • A contractual relationship among single members of the upper classes • One nobleman (the vassal) becomes the man of another (the lord) by swearing homage and fealty • Vassalage brought with it a fief -- land held in return for military service • With the fief went rights of governance and of jurisdiction over local inhabitants HUI216

20.8 The pyramid of power inside Feudalism HUI216

20.8 Feudalism was characterized by… • A pyramidal form of hierarchy, with governmental power spreading over various castle-dominated districts and downward through lesser nobles • Feudalism resembles a pyramid, with the lowest vassals at its base and the lines of authority flowing up to the peak of the structure, the king • The localization of political and economic power in the hands of lords and their vassals • They exercise that power from the base of the castles • These notes were originally taken from http://www.mc.maricopa.edu/anthro/lost_tribes/Feudalism.html (now a dead link). You can now find them here: • http://homepages.paradise.net.nz/willbp/powis_legacy/vampire_swords/medieval_sourcebook/FC06Feudalism.htm HUI216

20.8 The castle of Serravalle (Tuscany, X-XIII): typical medieval castle, on a hill between two valleys, with watchtowers (one later transformed into a belltower) HUI216

20.8 Lord and vassal: mutual rights and obligations • The lord owed his vassal protection • The vassal • owed his lord a number of days per year of offensive military service • garrisoning a castle • owed his lord a fee when he succeeded to his fief • was expected to contribute to the lord's ransom were he captured, and to his military expenses • had to share the financial burden when the lord's eldest son was knighted and his eldest daughter married HUI216

20.8 Lord and vassal: mutual rights and obligations • A vassal had to seek his lord's permission to marry off his daughter or to take a wife • Should the vassal die leaving a widow or minor children, they were provided for by the lord; should the vassal die without heirs, his fief reverted to the lord • Feudalism in Southern Italy survived well into the XIX century • the Mafia imitated its structure, in its relationship with the wealthy landowners and the peasants • the public administration shows traces of feudal culture: Italian state employees do not always act as civil servants; they behave as trustees controlling a fragment of the administration's powers HUI216

HUI216 Italian Civilization