Dbq Essay On The Middle Ages

The Middle Ages was the time period after the fall of the Roman Empire around 500 CE to the 1350’s. During this time the Roman Catholic Church and the Pope held the most power throughout Europe, the priests often lived in a closed area inside the walls of the monasteries. “Schools were few. Illiteracy was widespread” (Background essay) because of this average person of this time was illiterate .and more than 85 percent of the population were farmers and peasants called serfs and they worked in an estate for the owner called the lord. Almost everyone in that time looked at the Catholic Church to explain the world around them and had faith completely in the churches. Most of the art in this era were focused on Jesus Christ and had deep religious

In the time of the Middle Ages, they focused on the religious value of art, “The [clearest] evidence of the break with medieval culture comes from the visual arts.” (DocA) a popular painting of this time by Duccio Di Bouninsegna’s shows The Mother Mary with the baby Jesus on her lap. This painting was two-dimensional and had very little creativity, the painting mostly didn’t make people feel anything only had religious value. While during the Renaissance they focused on making you feel stronger feelings “[It] was the essence of the Renaissance .... One begins to know the names of the artists ... feel stronger emotions in the subjects ... ... see well-defined landscapes, natural folds in drapery, and three-dimensional figures” (Doc A). The art in the Renaissance had symbolic representation with detailed style and show the self-expression of the

In an English play called Everyman, written by an unknown author in 1485 (Though written during the Renaissance period, these lines carry a message right out of the Middle Ages.) “Ye [man] think sin in the beginning full sweet, which in the end causeth thy soul to weep.” (Doc B) These lines are stating that in the beginning sinning feels good but the consequences will damage your soul and determine where your soul will end up from purgatory. The literature of the middle made it clear that they believed man should show fear in God “For ye shall hear, how our Heaven-King Calleth Everyman to a general reckoning [Judgement Day]” (Doc B) Though in Renaissance-era the literature showed religious value it portrayed it in a totally different way, Shakespeare proves this in his play Hamlet “What a piece of work is a man! How noble in reason! In form and moving how express and admirable! In action like an angel! In apprehension how like a god! The beauty of the world! The paragon [perfect model] of animals!” (Doc B) During the renaissance time, they praised individual and they focused more on how a man was made in god’s image and less on how a man should change to be God’s