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060 - 29 General Literature · Short History of the Christian Church

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  Speaker 1: Part two, Chapter twenty nine of Short History of the
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  Speaker 1: Christian Church by John Fletcher Hurst. This LibriVox recording is
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  Speaker 1: in the public domain, Chapter twenty nine. General Literature. The
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  Speaker 1: example of Charlemagne in rescuing the elder popular myth of
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  Speaker 1: the Franks from oblivion became very influential upon the popular taste.
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  Speaker 1: Poets vied with each other in tracing back the legends
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  Speaker 1: to their sources and recasting them in their own style.
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  Speaker 1: The tendency was towards the marvelous and exciting. A decidedly
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  Speaker 1: religious character was added in many instances to the purely
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  Speaker 1: heathen thread. During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the poets
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  Speaker 1: used the religious factor to a remarkable degree. Wolfrom of
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  Speaker 1: Eschenbach added religious poetry to his Romantic verse. His Parsival
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  Speaker 1: contains frequent allusions to the efficacy of the Atonement and
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  Speaker 1: the excellence of the Christian life. The Church had its
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  Speaker 1: warm eulogists in the Troubadours of Southern France. Walter of
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  Speaker 1: the Vogel Wide sang panegyrics to the Holy Virgin. Gottfried
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  Speaker 1: of Strasbourg celebrated the glories of voluntary poverty and the
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  Speaker 1: longings of the soul for heavenly joy. The taste for
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  Speaker 1: legend was closely allied to the historical spirit. The treatment
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  Speaker 1: was far from orderly or philosophical. The best of the
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  Speaker 1: histories were mere chronicles. The whole of the thirteenth century
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  Speaker 1: was distinguished for its historical spirit. Arnold of Lubeck died
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  Speaker 1: twelve twelve, wrote the Chronicles of the Sclavs, a work
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  Speaker 1: continued to twelve forty one by Alberic of Liege. An important,
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  Speaker 1: larger history was produced by Matthew Paris of England, who
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  Speaker 1: died in twelve fifty nine. Chronological works were written also
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  Speaker 1: by Martin Polonus and William de Nougies oft Denis, France.
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  Speaker 1: Religious theatricals were employed to divert the people and at
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  Speaker 1: the same time to instruct the popular mind. In some
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  Speaker 1: of the more dramatic portions of the scriptures, the passion
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  Speaker 1: of Jesus was represented with a realism which produced great
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  Speaker 1: popular effect. Multitudes thronged from distant parts to witness in
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  Speaker 1: the open air all the details of the crucifixion. These
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  Speaker 1: have disappeared, with the single exception of the Passion Play,
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  Speaker 1: which is still performed every decade in the Bavarian village
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  Speaker 1: of ober Armagon. These theatricals were likewise used for a
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  Speaker 1: different purpose, to hold up the weaker side of the
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  Speaker 1: priests and even of bishops and popes to popular ridicule.
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  Speaker 1: The Feast of the Innocence was modeled after the heathen
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  Speaker 1: December festivities. The three Florentine poets, Dante, Petrarch and Boccaccio,
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  Speaker 1: introduced a severer taste and elevated poetry to a dignity
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  Speaker 1: entirely new to medieval Europe. Dante's soul was stirred by
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  Speaker 1: the theological disputes and papal misdoings of his day. He
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  Speaker 1: saw the needs of the people and was their champion.
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  Speaker 1: He regarded the church as utterly fallen, its doctrines thrown
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  Speaker 1: into the background, and its holy functions performed by unworthy hands.
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  Speaker 1: He believed in God's final justice, and in his divine comedy,
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  Speaker 1: portrayed the certainty of rewards and punishments according to the
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  Speaker 1: deeds done in the body. His whole life was a tragedy.
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  Speaker 1: Due to his heroic espousal of the cause of justice
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  Speaker 1: in church and state. He led the people away from
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  Speaker 1: the dark present to a beautiful future. Without knowing it.
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  Speaker 1: He was the real prophet of the better day of
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  Speaker 1: the Great Reformation. End of Chapter twenty nine,